"Grandpa? Do you think Grandma's going to like the picture frame we got her?"

Billy smiled at the eight-year-old girl who was bouncing in her seat opposite him in the mall food court. "I think she's going to love it – but you know what she's going to love even more? The photo of you and your brother that you want to put in it."

Sarah beamed with pleasure. "Is it time to go back to the photo booth and get it yet? They said it would only be an hour!"

Billy checked his watch. "Another twenty minutes, Darling. You have time to finish your drink."

Sarah continued to bounce. "This is going to be the best Christmas ever!"

"Is it?" Billy grinned at his granddaughter, enjoying her excitement. "Why do you think so?"

"Because Aunt Jackie will be home with the new baby, and we get to see her and Aunt Jackie said I could be especially in charge of her because she knows I did a good job bringing up Tyrone."

"You brought up Tyrone?" asked Billy, holding in a belly laugh with difficulty. "Your mom and dad didn't help at all?"

"Oh Grandpa, you know what I mean!" Sarah wrinkled her nose at him. "But Aunt Jackie says I'm responsible and that I can be her special helper with the baby!"

Billy gave in now and let out one of his deep wheezy chuckles. "Well, you are a very responsible little girl," he answered. "And I'm sure you will be a big help to your Aunt Jackie."

It was true; his granddaughter was absolutely besotted with babies and Jackie had nothing to fear about letting Sarah help out. The only difficulty he could see was that Sarah was going to be have stiff competition from Jeanie who was equally excited to get to spend time with the newest arrival. It was his favorite part of the season, being surrounded by his family and realizing, as he did every year, just how lucky he was. Yes, he thought, it really was going to be the best Christmas ever.

"I'm going to be a babysitter when I grow up," announced Sarah, interrupting his train of thought.

"Really? Now that seems like an interesting job," Billy said solemnly. "But why do you want to be a babysitter?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Because I like babies, of course. And I like helping people."

"Well, there are a lot of jobs where you'd get to work with babies," he pointed out. "You could be a doctor, for instance. Then you could help lots of children."

"Are there doctors just for babies?" she asked.

"Mm-hmm," he nodded. "But really you can be anything you want to be and still be a mom with your own babies."

"Like Mom is?"

"Exactly." Billy was extremely proud of his eldest daughter, Rose. She'd managed to balance a family and law school and was now working for a very prestigious firm right here in DC. "But not just your Mom – I work with an amazing woman who is one of my best employees and one of the best moms I've ever met."

"So I could be a lawyer like Mom and Dad?" asked Sarah.

"You could – and like your grandpa almost was."

"You're a lawyer?" Sarah asked. "I thought you worked for the government or something."

"I do – but I started out trying to be a lawyer like your mom, went to law school and everything - but then I got a chance to do a job that helped people, so now I do that instead."

"Cool." Sarah made a slurping noise as she finished her drink and lapsed into thought for a few minutes. "Grandpa? Do you think we could do one more thing while we're here?"

"I'm sure we could – what did you have in mind?"

"Well, if we still have time before the picture is ready, can we go get a present for the baby and get some toys for the toy drive?"

"I think that's an excellent idea. What made you think of it?"

"Well, you said you have a job where you help people and I think Christmas must be a special time of year to help people, don't you? I mean, maybe there's someone out there who is extra sad this year and getting a present will make them realize someone likes them and if they're not sad anymore, that might help them be a good person who helps people when they grow up too. That's a good way to help someone, isn't it?"

"That's a very good way, Darling."

"Yeah, I think so too." She jumped to her feet and said, "Let's go, Grandpa!"

As Billy stood up, two young boys moved across his line of vision across the food court, laughing and jostling each other. He had a flash of recognition, and then the younger boy stopped dead, laughing and called out to someone behind him, "You coming, Pops?"

Billy turned to look in the same direction and felt the corners of his mouth turn up at the sight of the lanky, sandy-haired man who was following along behind the boys, laughing and shaking his head.

A small hand tugged at his and Billy turned to smile at Sarah who was dancing beside him. "Christmas is just the best time of year, isn't it? Do you think there are really people like the Grinch who don't like Christmas?"

"Well, I know someone who thought he didn't," admitted Billy as they began to walk toward the toy store. "But just like the Grinch, he met someone who brought him around."

"Was that one of the people you helped?"

Billy's eyes twinkled at her. Scarecrow, I think we've finally found you a partner. "Well, I might have helped a little bit."