It was Christmas Day, and I couldn't wait for me and Namęšéme to join the McBrides for their annual holiday family gathering. But first, however, we needed to open our presents and tend to the cattle. Joni, a Belted Galloway cow (or an Oreo cow, as I liked to call her) and one of Namęšéme's personal favorites, seemed sad to see us leave her and the other cattle behind. Namęšéme promised her that we would be back soon enough, and before I knew it, we were already on our way to the McBride grandparents' house in Miami (no, not the Miami in Florida; the Miami in Ottawa County). It took us nearly half an hour to get from Vinita to Miami, and boy was I glad for that. I wasn't sure I wanted to wait an hour just to see Frankie and her family for Christmas.

Almost as soon as Namęšéme had parked his pick-up truck out on the street where Frankie's grandparents' house was, he said something to me.

"That was really nice of Frankie to ask us to spend Christmas with her family," Namęšéme said like I didn't already know.

"It sure was," I replied. "I'm so glad we got to know our neighbors, Namęšéme."

Namęšéme smiled at me. "Me too, Jessica. Me too."

We made our way up to the front door and knocked. We waited a few seconds before the door opened up to reveal a little old lady who couldn't have been any larger than a small child. I couldn't help but think that this was Frankie's grandma.

"Hello," Frankie's grandma said. "You must be Warren and Jessica Traversie."

"Yes," Namęšéme replied. "Yes, we are. And I guess you must be Frankie's grandmother... one of her grandmothers anyway."

Frankie's grandma nodded. "That's right. My name is Anita Crafton, and I'm Frankie's grandma on her mother's side."

Namęšéme reached out to shake Anita's hand. "Nice to meet you, Anita. Did, uh, Frankie tell you that we would be spending Christmas with you guys?"

"Of course she did. She didn't want any of us to be taken by surprise. Why don't y'all come on in?"

We followed her inside, and we saw right away just how decked out Anita's house was for the holidays. Tucked away in the corner of the living room was a Christmas tree that seemed to decorated top to bottom in ornaments and popcorn garlands and metallic tinsel (at least, that's how it looked at the front). Underneath were presents, most of which had already been opened. That same metallic tinsel that was on the tree... it was everywhere. There was, I guess, also a plastic life-size Santa figurine. Man, these people seemed really excited to celebrate the holidays, huh? Anyway, me and Namęšéme just scouted around Anita's house, trying to get a feel for the place. Not long afterwards, we met up with Newt, Jewell, Glen, Homer, Shelly, Melba, Frankie, and then some other people I could only assume were relatives of theirs.

"Hey, Carnelian!" I called out to Frankie. "Namęšéme and I made it!"

"Carnelian?" another old lady asked. "Frankie, what's that about?"

"Oh, 'Carnelian' and 'Jasper' are nicknames we gave each other when school started," Frankie explained. "See, on the first day, this kid in our Homeroom was handing out rocks he and his parents collected over the summer. His name's Benton. I think he's out in Hawaii right now, collecting obsidian rocks and peridot crystals embedded within olivine minerals."

"What's the deal with that? That like a hobby or something?"

"He said it was a passion for him and his folks. They plan to sell whatever they can find into the new year."

"That's some hobby they got there."

"It sure is, Grandma McBride. I bet they make good money off those rocks they collect." Frankie then focused her attention on me. "Jasper, I'm so glad you and your grandpa could make it. Why don't I show you around and tell you more about my family?"

"Okay, sounds good." I started following Frankie down a hallway. "I'm sure it'll be interesting somewhat."

Frankie led me into a room that I guess must have belonged to Jewell when she was younger. Everything was exactly where it needed to be, frozen in time as a sort of artifact of the early 1960s. For starters, Jewell's bedsheets were linens that had patterns of multicolored flowers draped throughout with matching pillowcases. The bed itself had a striped crochet afghan throw neatly laid out on top of it, and it looked to be a twin-sized bed that could've easily fit one person. Shag carpeting lay beneath our feet, and there were still remnants of lead paint on the walls. Namęšéme had once told me how people had to stop using lead-based paints in 1978 after the government had banned manufacturing the stuff (Frankie and I would have been five years old at the time). I had to wonder how many people had been using lead paint before they became aware of lead poisoning. As we looked around some more, we observed what looked to be a rectangular wooden office desk that was four feet long and two feet tall situated right next to the bed. The desk looked to have been made of chestnut and was probably a Scandinavian Modern Teak Desk, complete with removable storage compartments.

"This must be your mom's room, huh?" I asked Frankie.

"Oh yeah, my momma grew up in this house along with Aunt Leota and Uncle Hal," Frankie replied.

I tilted my head at her curiously. "What was it like for Jewell and your aunt and uncle?"

"Oh, she loved them and they loved her. Uncle Hal, in particular, would dote on her... at least, that's what Mom says. He still dotes on her."

"What about Aunt Leota? Does Jewell still get along with her?"

A solemn expression washed over Frankie's face. "Aunt Leota's been dead since before I was born. Mom still misses her. In fact, that's where my middle name comes from."

"Your middle name is Leota?"

Frankie nodded. "Uh-huh. I even look like her."

"You do? You got any pictures of her that I can look at?"

Frankie rummaged through one of the desk compartments. "There should be one in here somewhere..." It didn't take long before she retrieved it. "A-ha, there it is! Have a look for yourself."

She handed me the picture and I had to study it for about ten minutes. Something about this fascinated me. While Jewell had dark chestnut brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, Leota happened to have the same strawberry-blonde hair and yellowish-green eyes that Frankie had. I remembered asking once about how Frankie could've looked so different from her parents, and they told me that it was a genetic offshoot of some recessive gene. Jewell had also said something about some of her relatives being strawberry-blonde hair, and I guess that was all it took to sate my curiosity at that time.

"Wow, you look so much like your Aunt Leota," I said, still astonished by the picture.

"I know, right?" Frankie replied. "Mom likes to bring it up a lot."

"You think maybe there might be more to this or...?"

Frankie just laughed. "Nah, I don't think so. My momma told me that I was the cutest thing to come out of her, and my birth certificate even says that I came out of her, so that's that."

"But you don't think...?"

"No. What are you trying to suggest with that anyway?"

I chuckled nervously. "Nothing. I guess I'm looking too deep into it. It's probably not that big a deal."

Soon, Frankie's laughter died down. "Oh, okay. Hey, I think Mom's calling for us."

I instantly realized it. "Oh, right! We gotta put the picture back before anybody knows it was gone!"

Without any hesitation, we stuffed the picture of Jewell and Leota back into its desk compartment where it belonged.

Frankie and I soon joined her family at the grown-up table. Namęšéme sat at the table, too, eagerly awaiting some food. We looked around, observing everyone else who sat: Newt and Jewell, Anita, Grandma McBride, Uncle Hal, some other adult relatives, and then a whole bunch of cousins. Some much younger relatives were designated to eat at the kiddie table. Frankie and I couldn't help but occasionally glance back at the kiddie table and find ourselves glad we were too old to sit there.

"I'm so glad you could all make it," Anita began. "For most of us, it has been a great year. We've done so much throughout this year and even made new friends along the way. Here's hoping 1986 will be just as great as 1985."

"Same here, Mom," Jewell began. "I have a good feeling about 1986."

Everyone else clamored about their hopes and dreams for 1986. While that was happening, Frankie and I were gazing into each other's eyes, locked into what seemed to be a loving trance. I wasn't sure how Frankie's family would've felt about us being in love, but I wasn't about to risk getting her in trouble with her folks. For now, the most we could do was just stare into each other's eyes with big smiles on our faces and hope no one noticed.

Soon, Grandpa McBride brought out some food. Namęšéme and I had to say grace with the McBrides and the Craftons before we could eat. The food we ate consisted of turkey, honey-glazed ham, elk meat, mashed potatoes with gravy, roasted root vegetables, and some fruitcake. I didn't know what the deal with fruitcake. I thought it was strange that people would make it and then try to get rid of it. Why would they even make it in the first place if they didn't want it? We ate it all within an hour. It felt like most of the McBrides and Craftons were watching me eat all that food. Surely, Grandma and Grandpa McBride must have spent hours on all that food, making sure all the servings were right and that it all tasted good for those who were going to eat it. I'm sure Anita and her husband must have helped with the food as well. The majority of the McBrides and the Craftons just stared at us with awe.

"My goodness," Grandma McBride said. "You must have been hungry."

"I sure was," I piped up. "This is some damn good food."

"Jessica," Namęšéme chided me. "Language."

The rest of the McBrides and Craftons laughed at this. Once the laughter died down, Namęšéme and I proceeded to join them for the rest of the festivities. It was like we'd always belonged with them.