December 15th: Christmas Cards

"Mailman!" Sheriff shouted, entering Flo's, with a large pile of envelopes and several parcels balanced on his hood.

"Wow!" Lightning exclaimed as Sheriff distributed the mail. "There's a lot of stuff."

"It is coming up to Christmas", Sally reminded him. "We have parcels arriving and everyone'll be sending out Christmas cards now too."

"Christmas cards!" Flo repeated in disbelief. "We haven't got one this year yet."

"You're right", Sally realised. "We haven't."

"I think I got a really nice picture while we were ice skating yesterday", Lightning offered. "I remember thinking that it would make a good Christmas card."

"That would be great!" Sally exclaimed.

The two of them hurried home to get started.

Sheriff had handed out all of the parcels and was now passing around the last of the envelopes. "Red, here you go. Doc. Luigi. Mater, these are yours. Whoa! There's a whole heap for Lightnin'. I'll save these for when he gets back." He left them on the counter where he'd put Sally's. "And these last ones are mine."

Fudge looked crushed. "Didn't I get anything?"

Sheriff shook his hood. "Nope. Sorry, kiddo."

The six-year-old looked as though she were about to cry. Everyone else felt sorry for her. Unlike the rest of them, she had no other family or friends. Even Mater, who had grown up in Radiator Springs too, had his cousins. And Red, who had no family left, still received cards from the Donovans, who used to live in Radiator Springs, and a couple of other friends who lived outside of town.

So, Fudge sat back, feeling sorry for herself as everyone else read their cards. Mater laughed loudly at the funny card he'd received from his cousin, Tommy Joe. Flo and Ramone exclaimed over how big their grandchildren were getting. Luigi and Guido smiled wistfully as they saw how beautiful their old hometown of Carsoli looked at that time of year.

Doc smiled at one of his cards. As usual, he got one from his sister in Ohio, the only family he had left. (He didn't see or hear from her very often, though. The last time he saw her was six years ago, right before Fudge was born. Normally, they just sent each other Christmas cards and that was it.) This year, however, he got a new one. A familiar pickup truck was wearing a Santa hat, parked in front of his garage, which had been decorated with tinsel.

Now that I know where you are, Hud. I never thought I'd send you one of these. I know you've never really cared about the holidays, but merry Christmas anyway.

Smokey

It's been a year of surprises, that's for sure, Doc thought to himself. Never had he imagined that he would talk to Smokey again or return to the racing world. (Not for many years, anyway; when he'd first left Thomasville, he'd held onto a glimmer of hope that his sponsor would change their minds and that he'd make amends with Smokey. Yet, the further he got into his new life in Radiator Springs, the less he thought about that.) Now, though, he was back in the racing world, albeit reluctantly; even so, he couldn't exactly say he minded. He was glad to be back in touch with Smokey. He'd been tentative about writing to him, so sure that Smokey would still be angry and throw the letter away as soon as he saw the name on the return address. Now, however, seeing his face on the card, he wanted to go to Thomasville and reunite with his old crew chief face to face.

Doc wondered what his old friends were doing for the holidays. He remembered Christmas parties at the Cotter Pin what felt like a lifetime ago. He remembered one particular moment when he and Louise ended up under the mistletoe. River and Junior had smirked at him, hoping he'd kiss her. He was too nervous; he'd never had the guts to admit that he liked her. So, he was satisfied when she kissed him on the fender. Although, he'd kind of been hoping for more...

Bang! The door to Flo's flew open, interrupting Doc's thoughts.

"We've decided on a photo for the Christmas card!" Lightning announced. He showed everyone a photo of the entire town laughing as they ice skated. Snow fell all over the town.

"What a wonderful picture!" Flo declared.

"Yeah", the others agreed.

"How many does everyone need?" Sally wanted to know.

"Fifteen", Flo answered promptly.

"About a hundred", Luigi responded. "I have a large family. And one for Fudge", he added, lowering his voice.

"Doc?" Lightning asked. He wasn't sure if the old Hudson Hornet even had any family. He never really talked about that kind of thing.

"Two, please", Doc requested. One for his sister and, for the first time, he was going to send Smokey a Christmas card.