by BSC Writers
We are nine authors brought together for one purpose -
to write a holiday fanfic for your reading pleasure! This
story is inspired by Ann M. Martin's BSC Super Special,
"The Babysitters Remember" (SS #11).
Chapter One: Kristy
by greer
I grinned as I looked around my bedroom at the faces of my closest friends, minus a few who could not attend--Claudia, Stacey, Mary Anne, Shannon, Abby, Jessi, and Mallory. They've been my closest friends for years; we've shared everything together and been through so much.
Including countless sleepovers, most of them occuring at my house, since there's so much room. Making up weird popcorn toppings and giggling over Nicky Cash's attempts at singing, each sleepover was special.
This one was especially special, if that makes any sense, for it was a BSC Holiday sleepover. The holidays conjure up all sorts of memories for everyone, both good and bad. It was Jessi, I think, who started this sleepover on the track of holiday memories.
I thought hard about this, realizing that there was not one single memory, but two major memories that come to mind whenever someone mentions the time between Thanksgiving and New Year's, the time when people get together and get stressed out and trees and menorahs are lit up.
One is painful, one contains an epiphany. But both are equally life-changing, or at least show a shift in my life.
"Okay guys," I said to my friends. "I'll go first."
"Some things never change. Kristy is one of them," Claudia said, grinning.
I ignored her comment and continued.
The first memory is the first Christmas we spent without Patrick. It feels funny calling him Dad, even though as I've gone through my adolescence he's made more of an effort to be there, but that doesn't make up for an almost decade-long absence.
We were very short on cash at the time. Mom had worked hard, trying to make it a good Christmas. She managed, in between her demanding job and keeping the Thomas household together, to put up a tree and even spend one late evening making cookies with all of us kids. Sam and I were so young at the time didn't really really understand what was going on at all. Despite Mom's efforts, it was still a very sad Christmas, especially when Sam wrote a letter to Santa asking him to bring back his father.
The pinnacle moment, is, I think, when we lit the tree. Like Rockefeller Center, my family makes a big deal of the time when the tree is lit. When I saw the tree with all the same ornaments from my childhood (or what I then considered to be my childhood, since I was only six years old at the time), I felt, wow, things might turn out all right, even though Mom is sad at the time and everything is harder right now, maybe one day things will be easier.
Even though it wasn't a particularly happy time, and it is still a painful memory, it was the first time that I felt that everything was really final, and it wasn't so great, but I knew that we would pull through as a family.
As soon as I said that part of about Sam and Santa, Mary Anne started crying. Claudia was right; some things never change.
But some things do. I think that with Watson, Mom is much happier than she ever would've of been with Patrick, and I love all my brothers and sisters, biological and non. I love being a part of the raucous Brewer-Thomas clan.
Which brings me to my second memory: the first Brewer/Thomas joint Christmas.
We didn't have Emily Michelle yet, so it was just me, my brothers, Mom, Watson, and Karen and Andrew. Which still is an awful lot, really.
I felt like Watson was an intruder. It was okay for the rest of year, but Christmas was different. I didn't want him getting all mushy on us. I was worried that he'd get me a dumb dress or make some grandiose statement during Christmas dinner about this being our first Christmas all together and all. Sure, at Thanksgiving he had a chance to mess everything up too, but Thanksgiving was spent at Nannie's and it was mostly her show.
I watched him carefully all through the selection and the trimming of the tree, and he seemed to be doing all right. Even when Karen and Andrew and David Michael were tearing through the mountain of presents underneath the tree, he was doing a good job of not being too corny (Karen and Andrew spent Christmas Eve at their mother's house, and then arrived early Christmas Day and went to their mother's for New Years).
But dinner--that is where I just knew he'd mess it all up. He'd probably get all misty-eyed while he was carving the turkey and get the meat all wet.
Christmas dinner really started at noon, when Watson began cooking like mad. Roast potatoes, macaroons, and yes, turkey--it all smelled wonderful. I hated to admit it, but in addition to being a fantastic gardener, Watson was also a wonderful cook.
Nannie and Watson were a mean team in a kitchen, and by "mean" I mean wonderful. For the first time in years, Mom got to lie down on the couch while someone else did all the cooking and cleaning.
Lord knows she deserved it.
Finally, around four we all sat down to dinner together. Charlie called out, "Speech, speech!" as Watson stood poised above the huge turkey, knife in hand. Obviously Charlie felt differently about Watson than I did.
Watson grinned. "Well, I just want everyone to take a moment to think of how much we've grown together as a family during these four months. This big house feels fuller than it has in years, and also much happier. Love and happiness are the greatest Christmas gifts one can receive."
It was a bit corny, but it was also true, I realized. I liked being part of this big new family, with all the negative aspects--Watson's corniness--and the positive--Watson's kindheartedness.
I knew then that I wouldn't want to go back to the way things were on Bradford Court. Just seeing Mom's face at Christmas dinner was enough to convince me.
"Well," I said. "That about wraps it up. Who wants to go next?"
"I will," Claudia replied.
greer is the author of the "Fall Series", "The Time of Year For Letting Go", "Abbyss of BSC Story Ideas", and several other stories. She is also the webmaster of stoneybrookite.net, a BSC fansite, and she is a player in the babysit RPG.