Merry Christmas!
Rafael is 10 and Violeta is 12 in this story.
I do not own.
"Circe? What is this?" Rex waved a wrinkled flyer at his wife.
Circe's face paled a little. "Where did you find that?"
"In the trash." Rex narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.
"I knew I should have shredded it." She muttered.
"But this is the best part of the year!" Rex protested. He looked at the flyer.
Deck the Halls! Neighborhood Christmas Decoration Contest
Put up the best decorations in the neighborhood and win!
"Noah's so going down this year." There was an evil glint in his eyes.
"Oh lord." Circe groaned. "Rex, I want you to promise me you won't go overboard this year."
"Overboard? When have I gone overboard?" Rex sniffed.
"Look honey! Come and see what I did!" Rex called excitedly..
Circe holding Violeta and Rafael's hands walked out. "What Rex?"
Rex with a grin held a plug and an extension cord in his hands. "Watch the genius of your husband." He theatrically pushed the two ends together. There was some flickering before the whole house little up in flashing lights. An animatronic snowman shook back and forth on the roof in an attempt to dance or commit snowman-icide. Christmas music blared from the speakers and there were laser lights creating patterns on the house.
"Owww. My eyes!" Violeta flung her arm over her eyes. Rafael put his hands over his ears.
"Rex!" Circe yelled to be heard over the din of bad Christmas music." Isn't this too much"?
"Nothing is ever too much!" Rex yelled. Suddenly the extension cord sparked. The lights flickered and the house went dark. Then one by one each house on the block also went black.
"Well, maybe too much for the electric grid." Rex said sheepishly.
Circe facepalmed.
"That was that one time." Rex explained. "I got back-up generators working now. We won't blow out the grid... again."
"What about last year?" Circe asked.
"What about it?" Rex asked.
"Okay guys ready?" Rex asked his kids.
"Yeah!" Rafael and Violeta chorused.
"Okay. One, two, three!" Rex pulled a chord that dropped a blanket covering the house.
"Oooo." The kids stared at the giant Santa Claus in their front yard. "Ho, ho, ho!" The Santa bellowed. "It waved and turned its head back and forth at a snail's pace."
"Hmm, it's running a little slow." Rex placed his hand on the Santa. "This'll fix it." Blue lines spread across the Santa. It began to speed up.
"That's better." Rex said pleased with himself. But the Santa kept getting faster and faster until... its head popped off. It rolled to the kids feet.
"Ahhhh! Daddy killed Santa!" Rafael squealed.
Both kids screamed and ran into the house.
A minute later Circe came out with a disapproving look in the on her face.
"What?" Rex shrugged.
"Ho, Ho, Ho!" The headless Santa said.
"Don't worry. Nothing like that's going to happen." Rex reassured her.
"Uh huh." Circe said unconvincingly. "Well, as long as nothing explodes, gets decapitated, or the police get involved… again… then I guess it's okay."
"Of course! Hey, Violeta! Come help daddy!" Rex hurried off.
"I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" She muttered to herself.
0o0
"What are we doing, dad?" Rafael asked.
"We are going to create an interactive, Christmas visual extravaganza." Rex declared as he carried boxes out of the garage. Rex forgot Violeta had piano lessons so he had no choice but get Rafael's help.
"Que wha?" Rafael wrinkled his nose.
"We are going to blow the competition out of the water." Rex said ignoring the confused look on his face.
"I thought mom said no explosions?" Rafael asked.
"This will be the biggest, most amazing light show ever… at least for this year." Rex put the boxes down. He opened one and started pulling out some strings of lights. "Help me untangle the lights."
"There's like a million of them!" Rafael complained as glanced into the box.
"Not a million… just a thousand." Rex picked up an armful and gave them to Rafael.
"Owww. It's like holding a heavy porcupine." Rafael said as he cradled the load.
"Just get started." Rex told him.
Rafael gave a heavy sigh and dropped the bundle on the floor.
"Don't do that! You'll damage the bulbs." Rex admonished.
"I can't untangle and hold them." Rafael protested.
"No, I mean don't drop them on the floor." Rex said.
"Where am I supposed to drop them then?" Rafael asked.
"No, I mean… forget it. Just straighten them out." Rex said.
Rafael wordlessly pulled one end and tried to find where it led.
"Are you still on the first strand?" Rex asked.
"This is hard, dad." Rafael whined. "I wanna go play now."
"You'll play when we get all these strings unwounded. Then the fun begins." Rex replied.
"Really? What?" Rafael perked up.
"We hang the lights up!" Rex said.
"That's it? I thought you said fun," Rafael pouted.
"That is fun." Rex insisted.
"We have different ideas of fun then." Rafael said.
"Just work on your pile." Rex said exasperated.
It took them a while but they finally had several ropes of light neatly coiled on the ground.
"Okay, I'm done." Rafael said walking away.
"Wait! Don't you want to help me hang the light?" Rex asked.
"No." Rafael answered. As he opened the door, Violeta appeared. "Your turn." He said as he walked past her.
Violeta looked at the lights on the floor. "On no, not again!" She groaned.
"What do you mean? This'll be fun." Rex said.
"Fun, like when you fell off the roof and into mom's rose bushes and I had to pull the thorns from your butt with tweezers?" Violeta asked.
"Yes… I mean no… I mean… just come help your father!" Rex snapped.
Violeta sighed and trudged over to pick up a coil.
"Wait! I have to show where each string goes." Rex stopped her. He pulled out a piece of paper from inside his jacket. He carefully unfolded it and proudly showed it to Violeta. Violeta stared at the scribble.
"Is that a dragon with a Christmas hat?" Violeta squinted at the picture.
"It was on sale." Rex pulled the paper back. "You start on the left side and I'll start on the right. We'll meet in the middle."
Violeta took her string of lights. Her Boogie Pack sprouted from her back. She flew off and hovered in the air as she strung the lights. Rex's Punk Busters lifted him off the ground so he could reach the roof line.
"Ok, I'm done." Violeta shouted.
"That fast?" Rex peered over the side of the house.
"Yeah. I'm going over to Adrian's now." Violeta said.
"Oh no, no, no. You can't go over to the enemy's territory." Rex withdrew his Punk Busters and walked to Violeta.
"Enemy? Uncle Noah's your best friend." Violeta frowned.
"But until the contest is over, he's my competition." Rex declared.
"What about everyone else on the block?" Violeta queried.
"I am going to beat Noah this year." Rex pounded his fist into his hand, ignoring his daughter's question. "He's not going to outdo me again. And you are going to help me."
"But dad wouldn't it help if I went over and checked out the… competition?" Violet asked thinking fast.
Rex's face brightened. "Good thinking. Go over and report back what he's doing. See if he's going to bring out the whole dancing Nutcracker bears."
"Sure dad." Violeta left before he could change his mind.
Rex spent the rest of the afternoon hanging lights and setting up decorations; cursing in Spanish when he accidently hammered his fingers… luckily he healed quickly.
"Rafael! Come help me set up the Christmas dragon." He yelled as he wrestled with the inflatable decoration.
"Christmas dragon?" Rafael walked out.
"Yeah, it was on sale." Rex said as he turned on the blower to inflate the dragon.
"I'm not sure it fits with the rest of the…" Rafael turned to look at the house and winced. The house was decorated with a hodgepodge of random lights and themes. The nativity scene was staffed by elves. The colored lights were mixed with the colored one. One side of the Christmas tree in the yard blinked and the other side didn't. Blue colored snowflakes were randomly placed around the house. The Nutcracker soldiers were dropped next to the tree as if they were an afterthought. The giant Santa from Christmases years ago had what looked like a neck brace to keep its head from falling off. "Never mind… I guess it fits perfectly." Rafael noted.
"The judges are going to be speechless!" Rex said triumphantly.
"I know I am." Rafael said.
"That's my boy." Rex said misunderstanding him. "After the dragon, help me take out the train set."
Rafael gulped.
0o0
"Wow… dad, it's… wow." Violeta said as she stood outside her house.
"Yeah, I know." Rafael agreed.
"I bet Noah's house doesn't look like this." Rex beamed.
"No… no it did not." Violeta agreed.
"So, what did he have?" Rex asked.
"Oh, it was so cool! He had a carousel with Santa and his elves…" She stopped when she saw her father's face darken. "But it's not as… uh interesting as this." She concluded.
"Dang straight." Rex said.
"Dinner!" Circe called from the house.
"All right kids, time to wash up." Rex said as he proudly strutted into the house.
"He's gonna lose again, isn't he?" Rafael asked Violeta.
"Big time." Violeta nodded.
"I mean he tries." Rafael said staring at the epileptic elves on the lawn.
"He's just not very good at… designing." Violeta continued.
"Do you think we can… help him?" Rafael asked.
"I think it's a little late. The judges come tomorrow." Violeta replied.
"That's too bad." Rafael sighed.
"But there are some good things here." Violeta closed one eye and studied the yard.
"Yeah, he just needs to get rid of the dragon." Rafael said.
"And the elves."
"And redo the lights."
"And move the train."
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Rafael asked his sister.
"Meet you outside after mom and dad are asleep?" She responded.
"Yup."
0o0
Early the next morning, Rex got up excitedly. He shook Circe.
"Come on, the judges should be here soon." He jumped out of bed. Circe groggily raised her head before dropping back on her pillow.
"Circe!" Rex poked his head out of the bathroom.
"Okay, okay. I'm up." Circe peeled the covers back and slowly moved to get out of bed.
"Let's go!" He was pulling his pants on.
"Rex, the judges aren't going to be here for another hour." Circe protested.
"But I want to see the look on their faces when they see my masterpiece." Rex pulled her up.
"Rex! I'm going. But I'm taking my time. If you want to be helpful, go make breakfast." Circe grumbled as she made her way to the bathroom.
"Breakfast! Got it." Rex bolted out of the bedroom.
Circe couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. She might as well enjoy his jubilant mood. After the judges leave, he'll probably mope for hours.
"Kids! Come and get breakfast!" Rex yelled as he passed their bedrooms.
Rex grabbed some cereal bowls and poured cereal into them. "Kids! Where are you?"
When there was no reply, he bounded up the stairs. He pounded on Rafael's door. "Come on, sleepy head!" He opened his door.
Rafael's head was face down on his pillow while his butt was in the air. Rex smacked his backside.
"Oww!" Rafael fell off the bed. "Daaad!"
"The judges will be here any second now." Rex said excitedly. "Breakfast is ready, let's go." He ran to Violeta's room while Rafael tiredly dragged himself up.
Rafael and Violeta sat hunched over their breakfast bowl barely able to keep their eyes open. Violeta kept nodding over her bowl. Rafael's head actually fell into the cereal. He bounced back with cereal stuck on his nose.
"Why are you kids so tired?" Rex asked. "You've had a full 8 hours!"
Before the kids could answer, the doorbell rang.
"That's them!" Rex jumped up. "Circe!"
"Coming!" She said as she came down the stairs.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the door. Swinging it open, he came face to face with three people with clipboards.
"Mr. Salazar?" One of them asked.
"Yes. That's me." Rex said.
"This is remarkable. We've never seen anything this elaborate yet classy." She said.
Rex beamed. Circe looked confused.
"It looked amazing." The other sighed.
"It does." Rex agreed.
"Well, I'm proud to give this ribbon to you this year for the best decorated house." The third produced a blue ribbon.
Rex stared at it for a second before whooping and jumping in triumph in the living room. "In your face Noah!"
"I think he means thanks." Circe said with embarrassment as she accepted the ribbon.
"Well, he should be proud. It's a stroke of genius to only use white lights with blue accents. Have a good day." They left.
"Wait what?" Rex stopped his rejoicing. He ran outside. It looked nothing like what he had yesterday. All the colored lights were replaced with white lights. Blue colored snowflakes were embedded in the shower of white lights blinking on and off so that it looked like it was snowing. The tree was also decorated with white lights and blue snowflakes. The train traveled along the edge of the roof. It carried the rest of the color lights. In the front yard was the nativity scene sans elves. Also missing was the Santa, dragon, and snowman. Two nutcracker soldiers stood at attention on either side of the door. Electric candles were in every window. In the attic window was the silhouette of Santa.
"Oh, Rex. This is beautiful." Circe breathed.
"Uh…" Rex stood with his mouth opened.
"I was worried when you bought that dragon, but you did a great job." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Let's finish breakfast and take some pictures. I can't wait to show, Bev."
"Uh…" Rex shook himself. "Hey, where is the dragon?"
0o0
Nearby, a middle-aged man got up and yawned. He shoved his feet into his slippers as he got up. Shuffling to the shuttered bedroom window, he pulled back the curtain and screamed.
Peering back at him was a green dragon with a Christmas hat.
I wrote this during my physical therapy session. I'm okay… mostly. The story was inspired when we went to see some houses with crazy Christmas decorations. Someone said that there was an unspoken competition between the owners of the houses as they try to outdo each other every year. Sounds like something Rex would do, doesn't it?
Hope you like it and wishing you the best this season and next. Take care! Drop a line and say hi!