Chapter 2 Blow-up Lawn Menorah – 7 ft tall (Sat 1 December 2029)

"Tali and I will be home in about three hours," Ziva grabbed her keys to head to the local Arts Center to help set up for the annual dinner theater performance of A Christmas Carol. "There's leftover turkey pot pie and three-quarters of a pizza in the refrigerator if you want to have that for lunch."

Tony touched his lips to his wife's, "We're good; I have my helpers to set up the outside decorations. Should be done about the time you get home."

"Stay out of trouble, neshama," she patted his arm and pecked his lips again.

Tony smirked at his wife, "Moi? Trouble? Never…"

"Yeah, Abba, famous last words," Tali joked as she headed out to Ziva's minivan.

The other four DiNozzo kids lined up in the garage for Tony to hand them the yard decorations, including the lighted inflatables of Santa, Snoopy, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, a Christmas tree, and a snowman.

"We gotta test each one before we set it out," Tony informed the four. "If we need any parts, we can go to the home improvement store for most of them." He ran an extension cord from the outlet beside the garage doors to do the testing. Once each string of lights or inflatable was tested, the kids carried the item to where it would be set up on the front lawn for the annual DiNozzo Christmas display.

All went perfectly until the inflatable Christmas tree. Its pump refused to turn on. Tony checked the connections and tried several times to get it to work. No dice…

He shook his head, "Air pump is dead on this one. Rivka, put air pump on the shopping list. Copy the info off the label on the busted one or take a picture of the label with Anthony's phone."

He rummaged in the box of cords and connectors for the power, "Anyone seen the Y-splitter? Or the one with the four tails?"

Anthony dug through a second tote of power strips and extension cords, "Found them both, Abba." He held up the two connectors with a triumphant grin. "Oh, and I see another one in this tote box. He placed the others on the front walkway and reached in for the third connector. "Wait a minute… this one has a note wrapped around one of the branches that says, 'bad plug.' Do we need to get another one?"

"Wouldn't hurt," Tony indicated to Rivka to add a connector to the shopping list. "Where are the other two?" He looked up and then around the yard. "Beth! LJ!" he called out.

LJ ran around the side of the house, "Come quick, Abba, there's a snakeskin on the power box on the side of the house. It's really cool… but it's stuck to the box on the underside where the outlets are. And there's a huge spider web over all of it…"

Anthony stopped as soon as LJ mentioned spider webs. He hated spiders; as far as he was concerned, every spider on the planet could just disappear. Beth hung back at the mention of the snakeskin. She despised snakes in any form, even the rubber ones the others used to pull pranks. Snakes were just plain yucky and she would gladly live without any in her life.

Tony followed his youngest around the side of the house. Rivka was poking at the snakeskin with a stick trying to get it lose. Tony grabbed a stick and wiped at the large spider web, removing most of it by winding the web around the stick. Riv moved in and pried the shed skin from the outlet box. She waved it in the air triumphantly as her twin stepped back even more.

"Get that creepy thing away from me," the younger twin shrank into her older brother. "I. Do. Not. Like. Snakes."

LJ and Riv examined the skin and concluded it came from a garter snake or a rat snake. The two agreed to leave the skin outside, which put Beth a bit more at ease. She still refused to look at the skin, while Anthony wanted nothing to do with the spider or its web.

"Let's leave the snakeskin and the remains of the spider web be; we need to get these Christmas decorations up. And we need to make a run to the home improvement store for some things," Tony informed the kids. "I'm going to grab my keys and wallet inside; be ready to leave in ten." He headed through the garage to the inside.

"Shotgun!" Anthony called out first.

"No fair; you always get to ride up front," Beth complained to everyone. Riv and LJ nodded their agreement and glared at their big brother.

"Yeah, not fair…" Riv voiced her annoyance.

Tony came back outside as the kids were commenting, "What's not fair?"

LJ replied, "Anthony called shotgun again. It's not fair that he always gets to sit up front."

"The law of this state is that no one under age ten can sit in the front seat," Tony reminded the three younger kids. "So only Anthony is legally allowed to sit in the front… and Tali, but she's not here."

"Still not fair," Riv grumbled as she climbed in the rear seat of her Abba's truck. "I got the middle this time, but coming home, I get a window."

Beth groused as well, "We are almost ten; yeah, so not fair. Ha ha, LJ you gotta wait two more years!"

"Enough with the grouchy grumbling," Tony warned the twins. "It's out of your control, so let it go." He started the engine as the kids buckled seatbelts. "Who has the list?"

"You have it, Abba," Riv replied. "I handed it to you and you put it in your jacket pocket before we found the snakeskin and spider web."

Tony rummaged in his pocket and found the list of items needed from the home improvement store. "Got it," he held up the paper. "Did you get the picture of the dead air pump?"

Anthony held up his phone, "I have it."

Beth nudged her twin, "Phones are something else we get when we turn ten. I can't wait to have my own phone. Hey, Abba, is there any chance we can get our phones for Christmas instead of birthday?"

"Good try, mini-Ninja. Nope, the rule is you get a phone on your tenth birthday. That's what Ima and I decided before Tali turned ten. Tali and Anthony got theirs on tenth birthdays. You two will have your phones soon enough." Tony pulled into a parking space between the entry and exit doors at the store. "Alright, DiNozzos, we are on a mission to find a replacement blower, two splitter cords, and extra stakes for the blow-ups just to have… Let's go!"

The five trekked into the home improvement superstore; the twins grabbed a shopping cart from the queue and followed their brothers and father to the Christmas decorations section. Tony quickly found the stakes and two choices for the blower. He read over the specs and chose the one he wanted. They started towards the electric cords when LJ stopped in his tracks and nearly got run over by Riv with the cart.

"What the heck LJ? I almost ran over you," she complained to her younger brother.

LJ ignored her and pointed to a display of sale items, "Abba… look!"

Tony followed the boy's gaze and pointed finger and his mouth opened in surprise, "I didn't even know they made these…" He approached the large box with awe. "A giant blow-up menorah!"

"We need to get that for Ima," Anthony decided on the spot. "Holy cow; it says it is seven feet tall!"

"Yeah, Abba, we need this," echoed Beth. "Ima would like it."

"Yep, definitely need it," Rivka added with a grin.

LJ looked at his Abba with his best puppy eyes, "Please Abba? Please? It's only one hundred fifty dollars…"

Anthony did some quick mental math, "It's also forty percent off since the box is open; that makes it ninety dollars, Abba. We should buy it."

"Let me check the contents to make sure nothing is missing," Tony peered in the box. "Looks like it may have been a display; the stakes may be missing, but we can get some more extras just in case. Everything else seems to be here." He sized up the box and the empty space in the cart, "We're going to need a flat cart for this though."

"LJ and I'll go get one," Anthony volunteered. "That way someone can stay here so no one else tries to buy the menorah." When Tony nodded, the boys went off to find a flat cart; they soon returned with one in tow and Anthony and Tony lifted the box on the cart.

"Just the splitter cords left on the list," Tony noted as the family moved in the direction of the electrical cords, timers, and splitters near the end of the Christmas displays. He found what he wanted and they pushed the carts with their purchases to the check-out area.

~Menorah~

Once back at home, the five set up all of the lawn decorations and the new giant menorah. Tali and Ziva came home just as Tony switched everything on for the final test.

"Ima, is that a giant menorah in front of the playroom windows?" Tali spotted the large Chanukah decoration as her Ima parked the minivan.

Ziva chuckled as she exited the van, "I cannot believe your father sometimes. But I like this new decoration even if it is a bit overboard."

Tony glanced up from checking the connections on the cords and that all the timers were correctly programmed. He grinned at his wife, "Chag urim sameach, Sweetcheeks. We found it on clearance and all of us agreed it was a perfect addition to the outside decorations."