Christmas, Cartwright Style

Part Three: Christmas Day

DISCLAIMER: Nope, not mine, never will be. Tough luck. XP


"Joe! Psst, Joe!" Adam tried to shake his brother awake, but Joe just turned on the bed with a moan and continued dreaming.

"Come on, Joe!" Adam pushed his brother again. "JOE!" This time, he pushed so hard that Little Joe fell out of his bed with a loud thump. Joe was still tangled in his blankets as he sat up on the floor and glared at Adam through half-open eyes.

"What did you do that for?" he demanded angrily. "I was trying to—"

"Will you be quiet?" Adam hissed, looking over the bed at his brother. "We had this planned over a month ago, remember?"

Joe struggled to his feet and made an attempt to get the covers off of him and back onto the bed. It didn't go very well.

"Yeah, yeah, but did you have to shove me out of bed?" he asked, still annoyed. He yanked off one of the blankets, which had been tangled around his right arm and his middle, and put it back on the bare mattress.

"Yes, I did," Adam replied. "Now will you hurry up? It's five-thirty already!"

"'Five-thirty already'?" Joe disentangled himself from a sheet and threw it back onto the bed. "What do you mean 'five-thirty already'? Pa won't be up for another half-hour at the very, very, veeerrryy least!"

"You want everything to go well, don't you?"

"Woulda gone better if you hadn't shoved me off the bed," Joe muttered as he struggled with another blanket.

"Will you quit moanin' and get downstairs? Hoss can't carry it by himself, you know." Adam turned and left the room.

"Sure he could," Joe grumbled, finally managing to get all his blankets and sheets back onto the bed. He heaped them all into a big pile, too lazy to remake the bed. He turned to Rocky. "Looks like I don't have much choice. But the least older brother could have done was help me with the blankets."

"So is he awake?" Hoss asked, leaning on the back of the settee.

"Sure. Didn't you hear him mumbling about my shoving him out of bed?" Adam replied. Hoss chuckled. Little Joe was never the friendliest of people in the morning, especially if someone woke him up.

"Well, it's his own fault. He agreed to our plan," Hoss said.

They stopped talking as Little Joe came downstairs with Rocky at his heels. Joe was still pulling his pants up over his nightshirt, not bothering to put a shirt on or take his night clothes off. Adam sighed.

At least he has a blanket. At least he actually remembered something.

"What?" Joe shrugged, pausing at the foot of the stairs. "I'm going to have to take my clothes off again anyway, so why should I get fully dressed?"

"Just come on, will you?" said Adam. He headed for the door, closely followed by Hoss. Joe tossed the blanket onto the settee and ran out the door after his brothers.

"Stay here, Rocky!" he commanded while shutting the door. Rocky whined and sat down, waiting for his master to return.

"Sheesh! It's freezing out here!" Joe shivered.

"If you had gotten properly dressed, you'd be warmer," Adam scolded. "Not to mention it snowed last night."

"Really?" Joe looked down. His boots were covered in four inches of snow. "Hey, it did snow!"

Soon, the three Cartwrights were out in the barn. They had been hiding a very special surprise in there for weeks now. It hadn't been easy to hide, but they had succeeded. Now it was time to take the surprise out.

"Joe, go up there and uncover our present," Adam said, pointing up to the hay loft. "We don't want straw all over it when we give it to Pa."

"It was your idea, why don't you do it?" Joe muttered under his breath as he climbed the ladder. He crawled over a huge pile of hay and started to move it all to one side, but stopped. A little smile crossed his lips. Joe grabbed a huge armload of hay and threw it down on his brothers.

"What the—?" Adam never finished the sentence as hay rained down on them. It stuck in his shirt and hair and tickled his nose. He sneezed and Hoss did the same. All Little Joe could do was sit up there in the hay loft and laugh until he cried.

"Don't make me come up there and get you!" Adam hollered, shaking a fist at Joe.

"'Will you be quiet?'" Joe giggled, throwing his brother's words straight back at him. He laughed some more and said, "'We had this planned over a month ago, remember?'"

Adam glowered up at Joe, but Hoss couldn't help but laugh. He had to admit, Joe could really get even when he wanted to. Pretty soon, even Adam was smiling a little.

"Okay, up there, just do your job," he said, picking hay out of his hair. Joe giggled again and pulled some more hay off the present. He smiled as soon as it was in clear view. Adam, Hoss and Joe had been working on this for months, and now it was finally time to give it to their father. He would be so surprised!

Joe looked it over and made sure there were no more pieces of hay stuck on it. Then he lugged it over to the ladder, grunting and groaning every step of the way. It was very heavy, especially to Joe.

"Need any help little brother?" Hoss called up, still brushing hay off his shirt.

"No, I can do this myself!" Joe replied, crawling down the ladder and dragging the present with him.

"Careful, don't ruin it now," cautioned Adam.

"If you don't trust me, how come you made me go up and get it?" Joe said, annoyed. "Or were you just too lazy to do it yourself so you decided to let 'Little Brother Joe' do the dirty work? Then again, I can't really blame you for being lazy. After all, laziness is one of the unfortunate effects of getting old. Let's face it, big brother: you're over the hill!"

Hoss laughed again.

"You know perfectly well that I would have done it myself, except you're the only one who can fit into the corner where we hid the present. So will you quit bothering me?" Adam said, scowling up at Joe, who had managed to make it half-way down the ladder.

"I'll take that," Hoss offered, gently removing the gift from Little Joe's grasp.

"Well, at least somebody around here is polite!" Joe hopped off the ladder and stared directly at Adam. "At least somebody has some decency left in him!"

"Why, thank you, Joe," Hoss beamed. "Now, come on. Let's git this inside before we freeze."

"I'd be more concerned if the present froze. It took months to make, you know," Adam said.

"Well, Hoss and I took months to make, too. Or don't you remember?" Joe smiled as Adam and Hoss carried in the present.

"You wouldn't joke the way you are if you had to lug this thing into the house. But seeing as your so puny you wouldn't be much help anyway," Adam retorted. Joe's cheeks turned red and his fists clenched. If there was one thing in the whole world that he hated, it was someone calling him 'puny'.

"You're lucky it's Christmas, or I'd slug you," Joe shot back, opening the door for his brothers.

"Likewise," Adam said.

"Come on, you two," Hoss scolded. "Like Joe said, it's Christmas. You know, the time of peace and love? You ain't been showin' much peace and love lately, always at each other's throats an' all. Cain't we have a vacation from all that? Just ONCE?"

"Well…" Little Joe thought it over. "I guess you're right. We can fight any time, but Christmas only comes once a year!"

"This fight has officially been postponed until after the holiday season," Adam announced with a smile. Joe laughed out loud, and then slapped a hand over his mouth, hoping Pa hadn't already heard. Lucky for them, he was still wrapped up in his dream.

"Joe, you go upstairs and wake up Pa while we set up everything down here," instructed Adam. "And make sure you do everything right!"

"I will!" Joe insisted. "But I'll need to take off my pants, and you need to get back in your night clothes as well. We want to make it seem like I got up first, remember?" Joe smirked at the look on Adam's face when he remembered something that older brother hadn't.

"He's right," Hoss said. "Come on, let's hurry up!"

The boys were so busy that they hadn't noticed that Rocky wasn't there to greet them on their way back in.

-

Ben turned from one side to the next then stopped somewhere in the middle, totally absorbed in his dream. He was still begging the Spirit to let him sponge the writing away from the tombstone with his own name on it. He was desperately telling the Spirit that he was a changed man, that he was—

"MERRY CHRISTMAS, PA!" a voice yelled. Ben felt something—or someone—pounce onto his stomach.

"Ow! Watch it!" he scolded, knowing exactly who his wake-up call was.

"Come on, Pa! Wake up! It's Christmas!" Joe shook Ben's arm vigorously.

"Okay, okay, I'm up, I'm up," he replied. Ben glanced at the clock on his bedroom wall. Six o'clock, he thought ruefully. The one day of the year you don't need to wake him up is also the one day of the year HE has to wake YOU up!

Ben pulled on his dressing gown and left the room. He met Adam and Hoss (both of whom were pretending to be half-asleep) in the hallway.

"And a very Merry Christmas to you, too," Adam greeted sarcastically.

"I'll never understand that Little Joe fer as long as I live," Hoss added with a big yawn. Ben sighed, falling for the boys' act, and went downstairs.

Adam and Hoss smiled at each other. So far, so good.

As soon as his work was completed, Joe bounded out of the room, all but fell down the stairs and almost banged into the Christmas tree. He picked up a box that had his name on it and gently shook it. No noise. Little Joe sighed and glanced at the settee. The surprise present was covered with the blanket he had left there earlier. He smiled. This was definitely going to be the best Christmas he had had ever since his mother died.

Joe stood up and walked over to Ben's desk. There were three gold-framed pictures on it. The first two women Joe had never known, but the third was still remembered and loved. Little Joe picked up the photograph and looked at it. Marie was just as beautiful as he had remembered.

He hastily put the photograph away again as the footsteps of his brothers and father sounded on the stairs. He ran over to the tree and shook another present, trying to find out what it was.

"Joe, don't do that. Whatever's in there might be—what's under that blanket?" Ben made his way over to the settee and placed his hand on Little Joe's blanket, which was still covering the gift.

"Pa, not yet!" Adam pulled Ben's hand away. "It's… well… a surprise that we'd kind of like to save for later."

"Oh," was the simple reply. On the outside, Ben appeared calm and patient. But inside, he was dying to find out what was under the blanket.

Little Joe, however, did not bother to hide his impatience. "Will you just hurry up so I can open my presents already!" he said. Once again, Joe started hopping around from one foot to the other.

"Can't you ever be patient, even for a moment?" Adam sighed, putting his hands on his hips and looking at his brother.

"No! Now will you please just hurry!" Joe replied, still hopping around excitedly.

"Okay, okay," Ben laughed. "You can open your presents now, Joe."

"Whoopee!" Joe leapt into the air and grabbed a box from underneath the tree. "Who is this one from?" he asked, looking at the silver wrapping eagerly.

"That's mine," Hoss said. "Go on an' open it. I've been waitin' for the past three weeks to see the expression on yer face when ya see what it is."

"Hoss, you're almost as bad as Little Joe!" Adam cried.

"Come on, older brother, it's Christmas!" Joe announced, defending both himself and Hoss. Joe tore open the present and peeked inside the box. He pulled out a leather strap that had the word "Rocky" burned into it.

"What is it?" Joe asked.

"It's a collar. Remember Adam made paper collars for the wolf pups you brought home this summer so we could tell 'em apart? Well, I figured Rocky might like one, too. I made it myself," Hoss added proudly.

"Wow! Gee, thanks! I know Rocky will like this!" Joe exclaimed. He looked around. "Hey, where is Rocky? Has anybody seen him?"

"Last time I saw him was just after the party," Ben shrugged.

"Rocky!" Joe called. "Here, boy! Rocky! I don't understand it. Where could he be? I wonder if—"

A little whining sound interrupted Joe's speech. He stood up and walked over to the desk. The others stood watching him.

Little Joe looked at one of the drawers, which was open. His eyes grew wide.

"Pa! Adam! Hoss! Rocky, he's… I mean… he's not a… it's a…"

"Joe, will you quit stammering and tell us…" Adam stopped in mid-sentence. "Pa! Joe's right! Rocky's not a… he's a… it's really a… she!"

"A she?" Hoss asked and came over to the desk drawer. Hoss was the only one who wasn't at a loss for words when he said, "Puppies!"

Ben walked over and looked at his desk drawer. The boys were right. Rocky was lying there calmly with five little puppies who were whining and crawling blindly around. Rocky looked up at the crowd and wagged her tail. At least there wasn't anything important in there, Ben thought.

"I'll be!" Joe scratched his head. "I guess it wasn't all the table scraps that were making him… her… so fat. It was puppies!"

"Looks like you're going to have to rename him… I mean, her," Adam said.

"Are you kidding? I've been calling him—AUGH!—I mean, her, 'Rocky' for the past three months. I think it's a little late to change her name," Joe stopped and smiled. "Hey, what do you know? I just called him 'her' without calling her 'him' first!"

"Joe, I don't understand a word you jist said," Hoss shook his head.

"Neither do I," Joe answered. "Can we continue the present-opening now?"

"You're the one who stopped it in the first place," Adam reminded him. Little Joe just stuck his tongue out, grabbed a box out from under the tree and checked the tag on it.

"This one's for you, Hoss." He handed Hoss the box. "It's from me. I hope you like it."

"I'm sure I will." Hoss took it and unwrapped it almost as hastily as Joe had opened his. Meanwhile, Ben took another present out from under the tree and handed it to Adam. They smiled at each other as Adam accepted the package.

As Adam and Hoss were busy unwrapping their presents, Ben's eyes wandered over to the settee with the blanket-covered object. He was beginning to know how Little Joe felt about opening Christmas presents: what could possibly be under that blanket?

No matter how preoccupied they seemed, the boys couldn't help but notice the look in their father's eyes. They gave each other sly, knowing smiles and continued with their own gifts.

"Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe." Adam read the cover of his new book slowly. "I've heard of this one. It seems really interesting. Thanks, Pa."

"Well, what do you know?" Hoss carefully removed a beautiful leather gun belt from the package. "I've been needin' one o' these."

"Yeah, well I figured I owed it to ya after Montague chewed your old one to little, itty-bitty pieces," Joe replied, giggling at the memory. "Too bad I didn't have the money to replace your scarf and wallet, too. But I do have something else: once the puppies are old enough—and if Pa says its okay—you can have one of them."

"Really?" Hoss' eyes lit up at the thought of having his own dog. He and Joe looked up at Ben with big, pleading eyes. Ben sighed.

"I just know I'm going to regret this later," he mumbled, just loud enough for them to hear. Joe and Hoss cheered.

"Will you please knock it off?" Adam commanded, but he didn't look like he really meant it.

"Adam's right for once!" Little Joe cried. "Let's get on with the present opening!" He picked up a present from under the tree. "This is for Adam—from me. Merry Christmas, older brother."

"Why, thank you, younger brother." Adam took the package with a smile and unwrapped it slowly and carefully. Joe got impatient and cried, "Do you have to open it so neatly? What are you trying to do, save some paper for next year?"

"It's my gift, and I can open it any way I like," Adam replied. Little Joe realized the truth in this, although he didn't want to admit it. He hated admitting that Adam was right and he was wrong.

"Looks like you and Pa are telling me to read a little more," Adam stated as he removed a copy of Shakespeare's As You like It. "But how did you know what books I did and didn't have… Joe?"

Joe gave him a wide grin and laughed weakly. "Well, see, it's like this… um… you're never in your room during the day, right? So I kind of, well… you know… I just… so, do you like the book or not?" Joe rapidly changed the subject. Hoss laughed and Adam gave his brother a wry grin.

"Yes, I like the book, thank you. Howzabout you and me sitting down some night and reading it together? I'm sure there'll be a lot of those dictionary words you love," Adam said.

"Uh…" Joe looked away. Hoss laughed harder and Ben smiled. So did Adam. Joe, however, found his way out of it—at least for the moment: "So can we continue opening presents? I haven't opened all of mine yet!"

"Alright, alright!" Ben exclaimed, but he was laughing with the rest of them. "Hoss, this is for you. I think you'll find that it's just what you asked for."

Hoss took the package and unwrapped it as fast as he could, much to Joe's delight. When the lid was removed, a navy blue scarf was exposed. "You're right, Pa, this is just what I asked fer! Thanks! And the color's real nice too."

"I'm glad you like it," Ben smiled. "So, may I see what's under the blanket now?"

"How many times must I tell you, Pa?" Joe wagged his finger at Ben and pretended to be angry, although you could plainly see a smile struggling to spread across his face. "Not yet!" Adam looked away, trying not to laugh. Ben, recalling his own words, couldn't help but laugh.

"Then I have to wait?"

"YES!" All three boys shouted. "Now let's see," Hoss looked under the tree. "I think there may jist be somethin' fer me under here… a-ha! Found one! And it looks like it's from Adam."

"Maybe that's because it is," Adam suggested.

"Oh… right." Hoss quickly tore the paper away from the box and opened the lid. Inside was a leather wallet with his initials burned into it.

"Well, the last of my chewed-up items have been replaced. Thanks, Adam." Hoss looked over his present.

"You're welcome. But next time, don't leave your wallet on the floor for wolf pups to chew on, please?" Adam grinned. Hoss gave him a look and said, "Don't you worry none, Adam. I'm gonna take real good care of this one."

"How about me? Can I open another present now?—please?" Joe added hastily when he saw the look Ben gave him.

"Okay, Joe, you've somehow, miraculously, managed to be patient these past five minutes, so I think you can open another present. Here," Ben handed Joe a package from under the tree. "That one's from me."

"Thanks," Joe cried, and ripped the paper off. "A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens," Joe read.

"That's supposed to be a really good book," Adam said. "It's about—"

"I can read!" Joe protested. "And if I can read, I can find out what it's about for myself! You don't have to tell me everything!"

"Does that mean you like it?" Ben asked.

"Of course I like it!" Joe exclaimed. "And I hope you like yours as much as I like mine."

"I will, as soon as I can open it!" he hinted, looking straight at Adam.

"Not yet, Pa. There are still a couple of presents under the tree. You'll just have to wait."

"Yeah," Hoss agreed. "I think there's still one present under here for you, Adam. It's from me."

Adam took the gift and opened it just as slowly as he had Joe's. This made Joe a little annoyed. I won't say anything, I won't say anything, I won't say anything, Joe thought. But, boy, Adam should hear what I'm thinking!

"Hey, now this is nice," Adam said as he lifted a rich, gold-colored coat out of the box. "I like the color, too."

"I know ya do, that's why I chose it," Hoss smiled. "Besides, iffen Joe keeps throwin' snowballs with rocks in 'em like he's doin', you're gonna NEED a new coat—you'll get holes in yer other one from the rocks real fast."

"Which I can guarantee will never happen again," Ben said, looking directly at Joe.

"I get the message," Joe muttered.

"Make sure you do," Ben warned.

To lighten the mood, Adam picked up the last box from under the tree and handed it to Little Joe. "Here, it's from me. Merry Christmas."

"Thanks!" Joe tore into the paper enthusiastically. When he saw what was inside, Joe's eyes grew wide, his mouth dropped open and he froze in place.

"Well, don't jist sit there with yer mouth open catchin' flies! Let's see what's in there!" Hoss exclaimed impatiently. Little Joe moved slowly as he gently, carefully, removed a pearl-handle gun from the box. Hoss whistled.

"That sure is a beauty, Shortshanks. Are ya sure it's fer you and not for me or Pa?" Hoss commented jokingly as he gazed at Joe's present.

"No, it's not for you!" Adam snapped, but he didn't look very annoyed. "I got it for Joe and nobody else!"

"And don't you forget it!" Joe added emphatically, still mesmerized by Adam's present. He had never expected to have one of these for at least another year. But how had Adam known that he had wanted it? And besides, Adam had rebuked him every time he got within a foot of the rifle rack. Joe asked Adam all this as soon as he thought it.

"Listen, kid, you'd have to be blind not to see how bad you wanted one of those things. And I told you to stay away from the rifle rack when you were five or eight, not ten. Don't worry, Pa says it's okay, too—not that you ever worry about what Pa does or doesn't say," Adam explained. "There's a box of bullets and a gun belt in there, too. After Christmas, I can teach you how to use it, if you like."

Joe seemed stunned for a minute, and then said, "I'd like that. Thanks, older brother." Joe stood up and wrapped his arms around Adam's middle. Adam returned Joe's embrace.

There was a pause, and Ben broke the silence. "Well, if nobody else minds, I would like to see what's under this blanket!"

"Good idea," said Little Joe, breaking free. "Let's see what Pa gets for Christmas!"

"Yeah!" Hoss added. Ben walked over to the settee and took the blanket off. Underneath was a saddle. It was, of course, made of leather and had intricate detail that only one person could do so well.

"Hoss, did you make this?" Ben asked.

"I did, too," Adam said.

"What about me!" demanded Joe. "Let's not forget me! I helped, too!" Ben laughed.

"You all made this then?" he corrected himself.

"Yes, and I helped!" Joe repeated.

"We know. You just told us," Adam rolled his eyes.

"Well, I did!" Joe insisted.

"This is beautiful!" Ben exclaimed, running his hand over the saddle. "I don't know how you boys kept it a secret for so long."

"We hid it in the far corner of the hayloft," Hoss answered. "And we made Joe go up and get it." Adam grinned to himself at the memory of his little brother struggling with the saddle up in the hayloft.

"Yeah," Joe scowled at his brothers, obviously disgusted by them. "But I got even. I—"

"I don't know how to thank you boys for going through all that trouble," Ben interrupted, not wanting a fight.

"The question was, how we could thank you," said Adam. "You have to put up with us all year, so that's why we did it."

"Yeah," Hoss put in. "We wanted to… pay you back… I guess."

"But that's impossible, considering…" Little Joe's voice trailed off. Ben understood, and put his arms on Adam's and Hoss' shoulders.

"And I love you, too," he said softly. Pretty soon, Joe had joined the group, and they stood there for a moment, looking up at the star that shone on the highest bough of the tree. All knew that they would remember this Christmas forever.

Happy Holidays!

The End

NOTE: YES, "The Night before Christmas" WAS written before 1852—it was written by Clement Moore in 1822, and so there.


Me: There. All done. And I changed some of the text so nobody could accuse me of plagiarism. (AH-HEM) However, I would never plagiarize anybody, I don't care what you say! XP

Dick: Quick question-if they could tell the gender of the wolf pups in your other story, then how come they were surprised to find out that Rocky was a girl instead of a boy?

Me: Who cares? It's fiction, and that would kind of ruin the plot.

Dick: ...Plot?...

Me (ignoring him): Anyway, when I re-uploaded this story, all of the reviews for it got deleted. Sorry 'bout that, but I'd still like to thank everybody who has reviewed for this fic. I really appreciated it!