December 23
A heavy blanket of snow covered the front lawn when Lori walked outside that morning. Lori hadn't finished Christmas shopping yet but intended to do so after work today. This year however Christmas shopping would be a little different for the family. It was a yearly tradition to have a Secret Santa amongst themselves as a result of being a family of thirteen except Lily couldn't participate. Lori had called Luan, the oldest sister living with Shirley to continue the tradition with Lynn, Lana and Lola. Harold handed Lincoln and Lucy enough cash to buy gifts for all their sisters but Lincoln received a call from Lori last Friday requesting he and Lucy buy presents for their younger sisters.
"Good Morning Mr. Grouse," Lori called out as their grumpy neighbor shoveled snow from his driveway.
He stopped shoveling for a moment to acknowledge her presence.
"Morning Lori, have a nice day," he greeted back in his own cheerful way.
"Same to you," Lori replied.
At this moment Luan, Lynn and the twins were having an early breakfast since Shirley was taking them to finish their Christmas shopping at the Huntington Oaks Mall at 10:00 am to avoid the extremely heavy crowd of shoppers.
With their Christmas shopping completed, after breakfast Lincoln, Clyde and Lucy departed to their bedrooms to start wrapping their presents. Leni and Luna spent quality time wrapping their presents after having lunch at noon. Later Howard drove Lincoln, Lucy and Clyde to watch the newest Christmas themed movie at the Royal Woods cinema.
The next day found Lincoln and Clyde spending a few hours at Gus eating pizza and playing games with their friends. However Rusty couldn't make it since he wasn't finished with his Christmas shopping. Yesterday Lucy received another invitation from Haiku so Harold dropped her off after driving the boys to the arcade. Albert left the house at a quarter past two since he'd another date with Myrtle to celebrate her birthday at the Burnt Bean café at three pm. Lori, Leni and Luna did a general house cleaning that afternoon then later Lori drove to the fusion restaurant Aloha Comrade where the girls ordered from the discount menu.
Christmas Day
"GIRLS WAKE UP, ITS CHRISTMAS," Ethan shouted from the upstairs hallway, waking the sisters.
Ethan listened as Lana and Lola squealed with excitement from inside their bedroom. Within seconds the four girls rushed out of their rooms, completely forgetting to put their slippers on, and made a beeline downstairs to open their presents.
Shirley sat in the living room waiting for the girls to arrive. She smiled at their exuberance as they rushed into the living room and started searching for their names on the presents under the Christmas tree decorated with red, silver, gold and blue decorations.
When Lana recognized her name written in Lola's handwriting she ripped the red and gold wrapping paper to shreds. However the present she received wasn't something she expected anyone to buy, a bracelet.
"Wow Lola, this is unexpected," Lana admitted, still perplexed over Lola's choice for a gift.
"Since you competed in that pageant Lincoln trained you for and you didn't mind dressing up that you wouldn't mind wearing it for special occasions," Lola explained sweetly.
It took some time for Lola to rip off the paper from Lana's present and gasped upon finding a Carley doll within its box.
'EEE, a Carley," Lola squealed with happiness, "Thank you, thank you so much Lana."
Lana bought the doll out of regret for cutting the hair off most of Lola's previous dollies. She smiled at her twin affectionately before Lola enveloped the tomboy into a warm embrace.
Luan and Lynn were each other's Secret Santa but Lynn also received something unexpected, a necklace but one with a football pendant. Somehow Lynn wasn't puzzled by the present from her comedic sister.
"Thanks Luan," she blurted out then embraced Luan briefly.
Meanwhile a similar scenario was taking place in the McBride and Loud living rooms with everyone happily opening their presents. Lincoln received a brand new digital watch from Lori and from Lucy a rare edition Ace Savvy action figure. Clyde received new cooking utensils from his best friend and new clothes from his dads.
When Lincoln finally opened a present from Howard, he gasped in shock
"Wow I always wanted a fuzzy robe, thank you Mr. McBride," Lincoln said.
The robe happened to be in Lincoln's favorite color, orange.
Once all the presents were opened, a wonderful Christmas breakfast prepared by Clyde's dads was served in the dining room. Later Harold drove everyone over to Christmas dinner at Nana Gayle's house.
Later Albert cooked the large roasting chicken all P J employees received as part of their Christmas bonus for dinner served with the side dishes Lori bought the day before at the supermarket.
The next few days Albert, Lori and Leni continued working. On the 27th the McBrides departed at eight a.m. for their annual three day winter vacation to their lodge on the outskirts of Great Lakes City taking Lincoln and Lucy. The boys wanted to ride a famous toboggan slide but were disappointed to find out it was closed for repairs. Despite that setback Lincoln and Clyde enjoyed themselves immensely, even Lucy joined them in snowball fights.
Thursday December 28
Luan, Lynn and the twins were eating a late breakfast when Uncle Ethan entered through the back door after spending a few minutes shoveling the driveway. Still wearing his winter coat and fuzzy hat Ethan approached the kitchen table
"Girls," he stated grabbing the girl's attention, "Last night your Aunt and I agreed for you to spend a few days with your sisters until January second."
The sisters were caught off guard momentarily before giving way to joyous shrieks from the twins while Luan and Lynn eyes widened in surprise.
"You really mean it, Uncle Lucas?" Lana uttered.
"Sure, you can start packing a few things after you tidy your rooms, be ready at two-thirty p.m," he replied.
As Ethan departed, the girls couldn't wait to finish their breakfast to start packing.
On December 30 the last day of their mini vacation, the McBrides, Lincoln and Lucy woke at nine a.m. After breakfast, they loaded their bags into the trunk of the minivan and climbed aboard, with Howard behind the wheel. The children fell asleep halfway through the journey and eventually they reached home. Before retiring to bed Lincoln checked his texts which he hadn't done in four days and found one that Albert sent on the twenty seventh.
Hey kiddo, I have bad news, yesterday while moving your dresser to sweep behind it, I found the back had completely rotted away so Lori and I had no choice to throw it out. Sorry in advance.
Dec 31
At eight thirty am Leni woke up to get ready for work. Her friend and coworker Fiona would arrive in forty minutes to pick her up and Lori would drive her home. Tonight the mall would close at seven-thirty like always on December 31 and remain closed on January first.
Later while Luna ate breakfast Lori entered the dining room. Lori grabbed a plate from a kitchen cabinet then poured coffee into a mug. Sitting in Rita's chair, Lori stabbed a couple of pancakes from the warming dish on the table with her fork then poured maple syrup on the pancakes.
After breakfast Lori and Luna decorated the living room with festive New Year's decorations. Lori helped Albert transfer Lily's crib into Lynn and Lucy's bedroom since Lucas and Sara's children were staying over after ringing in the New Year. Albert bought down the two air mattress from the attic and placed them in Lincoln and Lisa's old room for extra beds.
The Loud residence
Lori's car pulled up beside Albert's car with Leni beside her. The sisters hurried as quickly as possible up the pathway as they shivered a little due to a sudden chill in the air.
Sara and Lucas had arrived at 7:50 p.m. with their children and Lisa and Lily in tow. Just five minutes ago Harold dropped off Lincoln, Lucy and Clyde. When Lori and Leni stepped inside everyone was in the living room watching reruns of Operation Desert Storm. Albert had moved the coffee table near the fireplace and most of the children sat on the carpet in front of the TV.
"Hi everybody," Lori and Leni greeted cheerfully.
"Hi Lori and Leni," Lucas, Sara and their cousins greeted in unison.
Lori and Leni removed their coats and placed them on the coat rack before Lori went upstairs to change into another outfit.
Leni reheated the rest of the leftover spaghetti and meatballs from last night's dinner on a paper plate in the microwave. After eating at the kitchen table, Leni threw away the plate and showered quickly
While everyone enjoyed the show Luna noticed Lily had fallen asleep in the armchair.
"Well Lily's sleeping," Luna announced then picked her up and carried her into Lucy's bedroom where Albert and Lucas placed the crib.
Eventually Lori and Leni returned to the living room. Lori told everyone to help themselves to the large platter of sandwiches, mini meatballs and fruit Albert bought that afternoon.
Clyde's dads returned at nine pm with Harold immediately putting the champagne in the fridge he brought yesterday to chill. When Sara noticed her youngest Andrew fell asleep in the armchair she picked him up gently and was heading upstairs but Albert stopped her.
'Sara come with me you can put him in Rita's bedroom," he suggested.
He opened the door and Sara placed Andrew in the center of the bed.
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9:15 p.m.
"Lisa, Lana, Lola, Lucy, Lincoln, Clyde, Natalie, Jenna, get some sleep. We'll wake you at 11," Albert said.
Without question they scattered upstairs, with Lynn taking Lenis bed, Lincoln, Lucy the twins and Lisa their old beds and Clyde the air mattress beside Lincoln.
Soon it was eleven pm and Albert yelled upstairs for the kids to wake up. Washing their faces to keep awake they rejoined the adults, Lori and Leni downstairs where they ate more of the sandwich platter, drank more soda and watched the coverage of the New Year Eve celebrations at the Royal Woods Mall.
Soon two minutes remained until 12 a.m. then…..
"10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ….HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Everyone shouted enthusiastically with Catherine Mulligan and Patchy Drizzle.
As the music continued playing on the TV Sara and Lucas then shared a quick kiss on the lips while Harold and Howard embraced each other affectionately. Albert kissed Myrtle on her cheek with his girlfriend returning the loving gesture. Hugs were exchanged between the children before everyone returned to watching the remainder of the New Years celebration at the mall.