Yay! Chapter Four has arrived:) I was so excited about the amount of reviews, and I want to thank all of you:) as always, if you reviewed look for your name at the bottom!

Disclaimer: I don't own Little Women (from previous chapter), or Great Expectations, or A Christmas Carol. I think I would be sitting on a yacht now if I did. Actually, I would probably be buying ownership of the Sound of Music...either that or Doris Day's movies...that'd be cool...

CHAPTER FOUR

"Liesl, Brigitta said you had something for me." Fredrich called as he meandered into the kitchen.

"Yes, I made you a little snack!" Liesl replied, glad Fredrich couldn't see the slightly over excited, adrenaline filled smile on her face.

"Well, what is it?" Kurt walked up behind Fredrich at this point.

Liesl then walked over with a saucer and hot chocolate, with fluff, in one hand, and a plate with blue strawberries in the other.

Kurt burst into laughter, while Fredrich turned bright red, and started stammering, "H-how, di…did you do that?"

"Well, it's been so cold lately…" Brigitta said innocently from behind Fredrich, making him jump. Fredrich then realized the whole rest of his family was standing behind him, either grinning broadly, trying not to laugh and not succeeding, or attempting not to appear amused.

"Will I ever receive any mercy for that one mistake?" Fredrich asked no one in particular.

"I doubt it, darling," Maria replied, and Georg interjected with, "Not with six siblings."

Then the cook walked up to Liesl, "Fräulien, are you finished with the blue food coloring yet?" And the poor lady was rather taken aback when the family all erupted into laughter.

"Mother! I can't find my red ribbon!"

"Has anyone seen my hairbrush? Louisa, did you take it again?"

"Kurt! That's my tie!"

Maria groaned, and looked heavenwards, asking for help. "Marta, your ribbon's in the bathroom where you left it last night. Liesl, Louisa didn't take your hairbrush, it's on your bedside table where you leave it every night." Maria somehow managed to get all this out with pins in her mouth, trying to sew a ripped seam in Gretl's dress, though Gretl wasn't too keen on standing still. What's the fun in that?

Fredrich popped his head in at this point, his tie neatly on. "Mother, I'm finished, do you need any help?"

"I'd love it, Fre…" Maria thought for a moment. "Would you go help Marta get ready? I know you can't really do hair…but could you help her get into her dress and button it, and do her shoes and stuff?"

"Definitely."

"Oh, and Fre…"

Fredrich popped his head back in, "Yes?"

"Thank you. You're getting to be such a mature young man." Maria smiled at him, then went back to the annoying seam.

Fredrich smiled, and was close to skipping on his way to help Marta, until he passed his father and assumed a more manly stride.

Georg was next to make his appearance. "Darling, are you and the children almost ready?"

"Not exactly, dear…" His wife's voice was slightly muffled, as she had her head under the fluffy top layer of Gretl's dress.

Georg chuckled, "Here, let me help you…" He lifted the top layer of the dress so Maria wouldn't have to be under it to sew the seam.

"Thank you, darling."

"It's no trouble, my love."

"Now," She said, pinning the top layer of Gretl's skirt up and wondering why she hadn't thought of it before, "Could you please go check on Kurt and see how he's doing, then see if the girls need any help?"

The Captain saluted with a smile. "Anything for you, Fräulien."

Somehow or other, everyone eventually was dressed nicely in their Christmas outfits, and was ready for church. Now they just had to get into the car.

They all managed to get in when:

"Mother, I forgot my book!"

Grumbles issued from the four eldest siblings at this point.

"Do you really need it, Brigitta?" Maria inquired. "We're only going to church, and you will not be reading during the service."

The young girl nodded her head. "Yes, but there'll be the line for confessional, and the car ride!"

"All right, but quickly." Her father replied.

As Brigitta came running back, this time with Great Expectations, Gretl interjected, "I have to go to the bathroom!"

"Then by all means go." Louisa told her sister.

While waiting for Gretl, Kurt realized, "I forgot my gloves!" And hastily went to retrieve them.

Once he returned, Georg offered one last time if anyone needed anything at the house, and hearing a slight edge to his voice, all of his children wisely declined.

The town was absolutely gorgeous. All of the shops were decorated elaborately for Christmas, with wreaths, garland, mistletoe, bells, and everything else Christmas-y you could imagine. It even started to gently add to the inch of snow all ready covering everything. It was a perfect Christmas scene.

Georg smiled at his wife and children's enthusiasm at the beauty of the village; they helped him remember to enjoy the finer details of life. He knew he had dampened his children's reactions in past years by his own somber mood. He was excited to put that in the past and truly enjoy this Christmas.

In my past replies ( I was reading them) I put stars in, but they didn't show up. So I apologize if that made reading them hard.

OMG, I was just looking for my story to reread the reviews so I could reply to them, and I almost flipped out, because I thought mine was first and it said I had27, when I had last had 17. It turned out to be The Lonely Goatherd's lovely story, I Trust In My Heart, so apparently (and I understand that this is because I just don't have The Lonely Goatherd's talent) I'm not quite that loved, but that's ok. :) By the way, if you haven't I demand that you go read I Trust In My Heart. It's fantastic, and you can't miss it because it'll probably be right below or right above mine.

megs- I am SO glad I was able to brighten your day! That was the point of this story, to make everyone feel warm and fuzzy. :) I absolutely ADORE Doris Day. My friends all call me Doris. She's just the coolest person ever! Along with Julie of course! (I don't want to get in trouble for leaving her out...I think that leaving Julie Andrews out when you're talking about amazing actresses is proabably a sin when you're on SoM fanfiction...)

I luv Julie Andrews - Hey, I love Julie Andrews too! I met her, you know...Anyway...thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying this!

jennalynn-You've never had marshmallow fluff? You should go buy some, and eat it (yes, plain) now. It's like the best stuff ever. (of course, you have to like sweets) I'm glad you feel I simulated that feeling, because that was what I was going for. By the way, your last chapter (in your story) was great. I can't wait for more!

Amy-Thank you!I'm glad you can tell how much research I put into it, although a lot of it (like references to the movie) come from watching the movie VERY often, lol. I love fluff:)

TSOM fan - I'm not offended at all! I'm honored that you would put that much thought into a review for my story! First off, I think Fredrich is caught between wanting to be a mature man, and still wanting to be a kid. I think he's extremely mature in some ways (like you said, helping with his younger siblings, etc) but I think in other ways he's just trying tohave fun and be a kid. And sometimes, yes, he's a little spazzy (watch the lonely goatherd scene. there's a certain point where he just pops up behindMaria with his hands in the air and a broad grin on his face, and its the most hilarious, spazzy, Fredrich-y thing ever.), but he's begining to outgrow that a little bit. I love your idea about himmeeting a girl hehas acrush on after mass, andthere's avery good chance you might see that in here sometime soon... Oh, and iLOVE imnotacommittee's stories, and have read them lovingly hundreds of times (note the quoting ofher at the begining of the first chapter) but it wouldprobably be a good idea to rereadthem fromanauthor's point of view.

praticallyperfectjulie- She is rather perfect, isnt she? Unless, wait...it just occured to me that quite technically you, or any of my other reviewers, could be Julie Andrews...whoa...ok, anyway, Thank you so much! I love fluff too:)

prettycrazy- Thank you! I am so glad I captured the feeling of a real family, which is what the SoM is all about! Oh, and after Fredrich, I love Brigitta. I can identify a little of myself in her, and I love her bookishness. The books she's reading are all my favorites that would have been written in her time period.

A/N: The next chapter might take awhile for me to post...I don't know if it will or not, but I have to write an essay for LA...which isn't exactly torture, because I'm writing it on when I met Julie Andrews...