Phew, just about made it in time! Hello from Liverpool and here's the penultimate story! Thanks to Lizbet2008 for the nudge to write this one, I do hope you enjoy it. Thank you for all the reviews for the last chapter, I'll send replies tomorrow as it's so late tonight.

The Messers were the last to arrive. All four of them stood huddled together on the doorstep as Stella opened the door.

'Happy Christmas!' they chorused in unison.

'Come on in, come and get warm.' Stella opened the door wide, shivering at the wintery gust that blew past her.

'Thanks, Stella.' Rubbing his hands to warm them, Danny ushered Lucy and Louie in first, then he and Lindsay entered, passing Stella a box of chocolates and a bottle of wine.

'You didn't need to bring anything,' Stella admonished them, shutting the door and the freezing draughts out, but Lindsay grinned.

'We wanted to. It's not every day we get invited to a double Christmas and housewarming party.'

'Holly is so excited about seeing you guys,' Stella said to Louie and Lucy who demanded to be taken to Holly immediately.

Stella led them through to the living room, where Mac held Holly as they talked to Sid. As soon as Holly caught sight of the youngest Messers, she squealed in delight and tumbled free from her father's arms to rush over to them.

The noise level increased in magnitude as the three children raced around before Mac suggested he went with them and Holly could show them her new, very own bedroom. His suggestion proved popular, Danny asking to join them, and Mac guided them all through.

Sid approached, his smile warm. 'Stella, your new house is beautiful. It really is lovely. You've made it into a real home.'

'Thank you so much, I'm so glad you like it.' Stella smiled, proud of what she and Mac had done to bring the run-down and neglected Brooklyn townhouse back to life, to make it a home for all three of them. 'There's still some work to do before it's completely finished, but we're almost there.'

'With Holly's help, of course,' Sid remarked with a grin as the cherubic-looking tornado that was three year old Holly flew past them, screeching with excitement.

Before she could run right into the tree, Stella swept her into her arms. 'What are you up to, baby girl? Where are Uncle Danny, Lucy, Louie and daddy?'

'Coming,' Holly said, wriggling to get free. 'I showing them my tree.'

'Your tree, huh?' Stella dabbed her nose. 'Can daddy and I share it with you?'

'No!' Holly clapped her hands over her mouth and giggled. 'My tree.'

'Well, daddy might have something to say about that,' Stella said, with a grin at Sid. 'He made sure he picked the very biggest tree he could find and it's his pride and joy.'

'It's certainly the biggest I've ever seen.' Sid looked up at it, at the tip of the tree, touching the high ceiling. 'I guess moving to an old house with high ceilings has been a bonus for Mac.'

'He was overjoyed when he realised he could fit an even bigger tree than we'd ever managed in the apartment,' Stella said, before Holly's wriggling and shouts of 'my tree!' became too much and she set her down.

'Go find daddy and Lucy and Louie, then you can show them the tree.'

Holly rushed off in the direction of her bedroom and Stella guided Sid through to the kitchen where food was laid out, and the other guests mingled.

She was in the middle of a conversation with Hawkes when Louie and Lucy barrelled into the room, breathless and giddy with gleeful horror.

'Aunt Stella! Holly's in the Christmas tree!'

'Holly's what?' Stella rushed through to the living room, everyone else close behind.

They stopped in shock at the sight of Holly clinging to the middle of the Christmas tree, ornaments cascading to the ground below her.

'Mommy, I stucked in the tree,' Holly wailed and Stella groaned.

'It's OK, baby, keep still and we'll get you down…'

Some time later, Mac carried a very subdued and prickled Holly off to bed and the Taylors' guests helped adjust the tree and replace the ornaments.

'Look on the bright side,' Flack said with a smirk. 'You're going to have no trouble next year putting the star on top of your tree, you've got your very own miniature mountaineer.'

Many thanks for reading! Please do leave a review, and the last story will be up tomorrow :D Lily x