This chapter is darker than the others.

Disclaimer: I own Hank. Hank is mine. The rest, well, I'll just have to be mad I wasn't born before Rogers and Hammerstein II. And that I don't have their talent. I can't even claim most of Maria's life story. Of course, I embellished on it, but it's mostly true. And she did have a brother from her father's first marriage, but he hadn't wanted to have anything to do with her. But Maria's life couldn't be all trajedy. I had to stick some role model in for her to follow...

The Captain and Maria were sitting together in the gazebo, after finally getting the children to bed.

"Louisa, you can't do that. Father! Tell Louisa she and Brigitta can't cheat like that!" Friedrich exploded.

"Louisa, Brigitta, you can't cheat," The Captain said in a tone that indicated he had no clue what they were doing, as he was spying at Maria putting a puzzle together with Gretl and Marta under the pretense of reading the paper.

Maria rolled her eyes at her husband's answer. "Children, it's time to go to bed anyway." Of course, this suggestion was met by numerous complaints from the children.

"But-"

"Mother! Father, do we have to?"

"It's only eight!"

"We haven't finished our game!"

"But you can play again tomorrow, and you've had a wonderful fun filled day which you spent much of running about outside and singing. Plus, you woke up early." Maria reasoned.

"But that wasn't out choice!" Louisa noted.

"Children, listen to your mother." was Georg's wonderful contribution.

Maria smiled, and gave her husband a quick peck on the cheek. "Thank you, dear." Straightening up she said, "Come now, children, upstairs." She gestured with her arms for them to move.

Collective groans emitted at this, but they did as they were told.

So the children were now tucked safely in bed, with the exception of Liesl who had been instructed to go to bed in promptly half an hour.

"Darling," Georg said, stopping. He wanted to ask Maria to continue her story. Wanted to, but at the same time didn't.

Maria, being able to read her husband quite well, filled in with, "Will I continue the story of my Christmas Past?" She laughed a little, "Of course, love."

Georg smiled; glad he hadn't had to bring up the topic himself.

"Well, my childhood wasn't all unhappy." Maria started the story of her childhood, often stumbling or having trouble with a spot.

"My brother, from my father's first marriage – Henry was fifteen years older my senior, would visit once in awhile. I never called him Henry, at least not that I can remember. His nickname was Hank.

"Hank!" A young girl ran up and hugged a tall, sandy blond haired man who entered the room.

"Maria!" The man returned, hugging his sister, before bending down to her height. "How are you?"

"All right."

Someone near by cleared his throat, obviously ruffled by the amount of noise.

"Want to go to our favorite place?" The man, probably only barely past college, suggested, realizing the mood.

"Always!" The little girl said, pushing a long lock of hair behind her ear before grabbing the man's hand and pulling towards her room to gather supplies before leaving to their retreat. "You have to show me that new chord…" Was the last thing the man in the corner, who was smoking his pipe while reading the paper, heard before the disturbances left for some unknown bower.

We got on splendidly. I loved him very much. He didn't usually come for Christmas though…" The summer memory slowly faded out, and Maria went on a new tangent.

"When my father did come, he never knew what to give me, and more often he would give me a card and a dictionary or something equally as boring.

"Maria." A tall, lean, and stern man walked into the room.

A somber looking little girl replied, "Frohe Wiehnachten, Father." And went to shake his hand.

"Have you been keeping up at school?"

"Yes, sir." The girl was adorable. She had blond hair going down to her mid back, which was currently held back with a red ribbon. Her bright blue eyes usually sparkled with enthusiasm, but they were closer to a shade of grey today.

Once in awhile I would get money, which I saved until I was about twelve, but that'll come later. " Maria continued.

"My life was tolerable, if not ideal, until my father and aunt died almost simultaneously – three months apart - when I was nine.

The girl is a year older, but hasn't changed much except her eyes are again not up to their usual brightness. She's in the parlor of the house, wearing black and crying. Not crying for a man who had barely cared for her, but a woman who had done her best to include the young girl in her life.

A young man is their too. Hank. Hank is also wearing black, also wearing a similar expression, but is not crying. No. Hank is staying strong for his sister.

If he doesn't, who will?

Their uncle is at the bar smashed.

Something happened to my uncle at that time. He, he…" She faltered for a moment, having trouble going on. "Well, I suppose that was when he started to go crazy. He set strict rules for me to follow, including to come right home after school. Directly home. No stops, no talking with friends."

"Maria!" An energetic brunet ran up to the well known blonde. "Aren't you walking home with us like we usually do."

The young girl choked back her tears, thinking it would be stupid to cry. "I can't anymore. I'm not allowed."

Georg situated himself closer to her, wishing he could erase her past. Change it. He couldn't believe what her childhood had been like, compared to his own childhood, or even his – their – children's lives.

"I did follow his rules, however crazy they might have been. But I would get into trouble no matter what."

Upon entering the house, the ten year old was met with an obviously uncontrolled, and obviously drunk to someone older than ten years of age, uncle.

"You disobeyed me. I said to come directly home. Not gallivant around the town and come home late…"

"But I didn-" The child tried to protest, soon colliding with the wall.

I came directly home from school the first day, and he said he knew I had disobeyed him and p-per, persisted i-in, in beating me. Now, I wasn't a perfect child, but I wasn't expecting that, as I had obeyed him. Yet it kept happening.

"Maria, you skipped math class today. A shop keeper in town told me he saw you, and you were just complaining last night about how hard it was…"

The child just stood there, awaiting her fate. It wasn't worth the battle.

Then I guess is where I went wrong. I started actually doing the things I was blamed for. Skipping class, not coming directly home, everything.

"Maria," A girl with strawberry blond hair came skipping over, "Will you be my partner for the English project we're starting after lunch today?"

"You should pick someone else, Emma, I won't be there."

"Why ever not?"

"Well…"

I figured I'd get in trouble for it anyway, why not do it?

Maria burst into her uncle's home at five o'clock, hours after she would normally with a bouquet of wild mountain flowers that she cheerfully handed to her uncle before waiting for his usual greeting.

Of course now I know it was wrong…" Maria looked pensive, and realized she had gone off track. "I'm sorry, dear; I guess I went on a not-so-little tangent…"

"I want to know everything about you, Fräulien." The Captain replied before kissing her passionately. In a way he was trying to erase her painful memories, although he knew they would last forever.

The Marauder 1 - Yes, Maria had quite an interesting past. She talks about it herself in her book Maria, which I consider the best source. Who's going to know better than her?And don't rely on all of my facts.Although most of it is true,(I decided to stick tothe truth forfearof going over board)Idid embellish on parts...And I'm mad now, because my aunt's dvd player has Darling Lili trapped inside of it, and itwon't even play andI've only seen the begining! Iwantto finish that movie so bad...

I luv Julie Andrews -I certaintly hope I updated fast enough for you! Thank you for reviewing!

The Lonely Goatherd- Iactually haven't seen it yet. :(My mother wasn't sure ifit was "appropriate"at first but now she has switched to she just has to watch it with me. So I'll tell you how it is once I see it...I'm sure it will be amazing! I'm glad someone would react the same way to Julie...My friends all think I'm nuts...(not that I'm implying that you are nuts...)...I like you, have a nut! (k, I'm sorry, but I couldn't resisit...I sure hope you have seen The Thrill of It All w/DorisDay & JamesGarner oryou will be utterly bemused andconfused (I always wonder why theyuse both in Maria) and havea slightly confirmed suspision thatI indeed am nuts...) Ok, sorry about going offon thatlong tangent...Thank you for reviewing!

edelwyn - yes, the inevitable happened. My love for the childrenwas smotheredby my love for Maria and Georg for a couple chapters.The children (well, Friedrich) will come back in a chapter or two though...I'm glad you like it! Oh, the 40th anniversaryedition is to die for! It's sogood! My only regret is theycut Friedrich out of this shot near the end where the children tell Maria the Captain is going to marry theBaroness, and there's this greatmoment where Maria has a confused look on her face, and so doesFriedrich, and it's a closeup ofthe two of them and its great.But that's the only thing thatmade me sad. The rest is GREAT:)

megs -Yay! I get bonus points:) I absolutely can't wait to see all the movies, butmy aunt's dvd player ate one of them! I'm so mad...I'm glad I captured the mood and spiritofChristmas well, because I think that's the hardest part. Buildingup to this great climax of Christmas, andtrying to make itas exciting asit should be.

cremated affection -You're welcome. I'm SO glad you like it, thank you for reviewing!

Amy - Thank you. As I got to the middle of writing this story, I realized thiswould technically be Maria's first realChristmas. I mean, she went fromabused childhood tocollege student with little money to the abbey. Not much room forChristmas.

jennalynn - I totally understand! I mean, one's life can't revolve around fanfiction. You have to doother things, and go places and stuff. I hope you had fun! I'm glad youunderstand the title, and glad you like it! THANKYOU for saying I kept the characters in character. That is mypet peeve,so I'm glad I achieved not peeving myself off...or people like me...

F.B.Eyefan101 - It took me way too long to understand your username. Anyway, I know tons about her childhood, having read many of Maria von Trapp's biographies and autobiographies. So I'm using a lot of that information and making up a lot too! I am so glad you're enjoying it! Thank you for reviewing!

fran330 - I'm so glad you decided to catch up with my story and you think it's lovely! I can understand that you like historic realism in stories, and it kind of bothers me when I read one and there is random stuff that wasn't invented yet. It just doesn't add to the story. I'm glad you think that adds a new dimension to the story, that was the absolute point:) Thank you for reviewing and spending time reading my story!