A/N: I usually try not to have to send people to read my other stores, but it's Christmas and rules are meant to be broken... This story will make a lot more sense if you're read my story"Enchanted to Meet You" but you might be able to muddle through without as long as you've ever seen an episode of "Bewitched."

"Well, at least for once we'll be at home early on Christmas Eve," commented Amanda as they walked out of the Agency lobby and onto the street.

"Especially since I may or may not have promised that to your mother as one of her presents," admitted Lee.

"You did? With our track record?" Amanda laughed. "You like living dangerously or something?"

"Oh come on, you haven't been late every year since we met!" he protested with a grin.

"We're two for four," she commented. "Let's not make it three for five. Are you coming straight back to the house or are you going home first? And what time does your uncle's flight land?"

"Amanda, are you sure the family is really okay with me staying the night?"

"Oh Sweetheart, that ship has sailed and you know it! Mother even picked you up a toothbrush when she went shopping this week."

"Well, then I don't need anything from my place – I have an overnight bag in the car along with the boys' presents and my uncle said he'd grab a cab from the airport to your house when he landed. He didn't want me to hang around waiting on Christmas Eve in case there were any flight delays."

They climbed into their separate cars, Amanda pulling out first and heading for Arlington, Lee following behind. They were almost out of Georgetown, when Amanda's brake lights came on and she pulled over abruptly beside a park, climbing out and staring along the half-lit paths. Lee pulled in behind her and sprang out.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"I thought I saw something… There!" she pointed into the shadows and plunged off with no further explanation.

"Amanda!" Lee expostulated. "What are you...? What did you see?" He chased after her as she melded into the shadows.

He thought he'd lost her but then rounding a thick stand of leafless shrubs, he found her again, hand on her hips surveying… well, that didn't make any sense. There was the back end of a person, a person whose front end was deep in the bushes.

"Agent Stephens, what on earth are you doing?" demanded Amanda.

Tabitha Stephens, one of last year's Agency recruits, jumped at the sound of Amanda's voice and whirled around with a squeak, followed by a look of relief. "My goodness, you need to learn not sneak up on people like that, Mrs. King!"

"I'm hardly sneaking," said Amanda, "although I'm not sure I can say the same about you. What are you doing to that poor bush?"

"I'm, um, trying to catch something," replied Tabitha.

"A cold?" asked Lee, rubbing his hands together to ward off the freezing December air.

"No," answered Tabitha, laughing a little. "Actually, it's… well, this is going to seem hard to believe…"

"Try me," said Amanda. "Because when you ran across the road in front of me just now, it looked a lot like…"

"Got her!" yelled a new voice from somewhere inside the shrubs. This was followed by a lot of crashing sounds, an odd animal-like bellow, and then the emergence – backwards – of someone obviously fighting to pull something out with him.

"Leatherneck?" said Lee in shock.

Leatherneck looked up at the sound of the familiar voice. "Oh hi, Ace. Good timing – come and grab an antler for me."

"Come and grab a what?" repeated Lee, slack-jawed.

Leatherneck gave another heave, and what was unmistakeably a reindeer's head came out from between the branches, grunting and fighting to get free.

"An antler! An antler!" gasped Leatherneck. "And hurry up! I'm losing my grip." No sooner had he said the words, then the reindeer shook herself loose and took off galloping across the park.

"Dang it," said Leatherneck with disappointment. "I thought for sure I had her that time."

"Can someone please explain what the shell is going on?" Lee paused – he was sure he'd just tried to say 'hell' but had no idea why it hadn't come out that way.

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Leatherneck with rolling eyes. "We're trying to lasso that critter over there and get her home. Oh no," he went on, truly exasperated now. "That is going to make this so much harder."

Lee and Amanda turned to where he was looking and simultaneously both shook their heads to try and clear their vision. The reindeer had stopped running, not too far away, but was now perched on a branch halfway up a hundred-year old oak tree, nibbling on the few remaining leaves and staring down at them with what Lee could only describe as an "I dare ya" expression.

"That's a reindeer," Lee stated. "In a tree."

"Yep," said Leatherneck, with absolutely no surprise in his tone. "That's the problem with them being able to fly."

"Able to fly?" asked Amanda. "Reindeer can't fly."

"Well, no, not all of them," commented Tabitha in an offhand voice as she gazed up at the ornery ungulate. "But Santa's can."

"Santa's can," repeated Lee. "Of course, what were we thinking?" he added sarcastically.

"Don't you believe in Santa?" Leatherneck turned and looked at him incredulously.

"I'm an adult – of course I don't believe in Santa," replied Lee, taken aback by his friend's expression.

"But you have, you know…" Leatherneck gestured with both hands toward Lee.

"I have… what?" asked Lee.

"Magic," said Leatherneck. He tilted his head and gazed at Lee. "Didn't you know that?"

"Okay, cut this out," said Lee, sternly. "You're all acting crazy and pretending it's perfectly normal to be running around in a park trying to catch a reindeer who's up a golf club tree!" He stopped and tried again for 'Goddamn'. "Not golf club! Golf club!"

"Sorry Mr. Stetson, but you can't swear around one of Santa's reindeer," said Tabitha gently. "Especially on Christmas Eve." She grinned a bit at his glare and turned to Leatherneck. "That's not his own magic, it's a keepsafe spell that was given to him," she explained.

"Are you sure?" asked Leatherneck doubtfully. "It's really strong."

"Oh yes," said Tabitha. "I'd recognize it anywhere – in fact, it's from my -"

"There you are, Sweetheart! Do you need help?" interrupted a woman's voice.

Lee turned at the sound of the familiar endearment. "No I don't need help but these two-" He stopped dead, looking at a woman with honey-gold hair and deep green eyes who was smiling at him and who was so familiar even though he was sure he'd never met her.

"Oh Mom! Thank goodness you're here!" Tabitha was saying. "Lucy's up a tree and I haven't the faintest idea how we're going to get her to come down."

"Lucy?" repeated Amanda. "The reindeer is named Lucy? I thought I knew all of the reindeer names but not that one."

"Well, it's Lucasta really," explained Tabitha. "But we just call her Lucy. She's Blitzen's great-great-granddaughter." She turned back to the newest arrival. "Mom, this is Amanda King and Lee Stetson – although I think you might have met him before?" she added with an impish expression. "This is my mother, Samantha Stephens."

Samantha held out a hand to Amanda. "It's such a pleasure to finally meet you, Amanda. Tabitha talks about you two all the time. You're her heroes."

"Mom!"

Samantha ignored her daughter's exasperated comment and turned to Lee. "And Lee – it's been a long time."

"Have we met?" he asked stupidly – confused by that intense feeling of familiarity but unable to place her. If she was old enough to be Tabitha's mother, she must be at least fifteen years older than him, but that wasn't possible - she didn't look a day over thirty. He realized Amanda was watching them with a raised brow and – thankfully – an amused expression.

"We have, but it was a very long time ago," replied Samantha. "You helped my Aunt Clara once when she'd gotten lost. You kept her safe for me."

The memories started tingling at the back of Lee's brain. "But… that's impossible! That was thirty years ago! I was seven and you were…"

Samantha beamed at him. "See? You do remember!"

"No – that was a dream I had when I was little. You look exactly like the woman in my dream but she told me she was…a witch," He trailed off, staring at her. "That's impossible," he said again.

"A witch?" asked Tabitha. "Mom, did you really tell him the truth?"

"He was very small," explained Samantha. "And he needed help."

"Oh! Well, that explains the whole aura thing," said Leatherneck. "Boy, Ace – I always wondered why you rejected the whole Christmas spirit for so long, but I guess if you didn't know you had magic yourself..."

"Does he?" asked Amanda, looking at Lee critically. "I always just thought it was charm and luck, but that make so much more sense."

"It's second-hand magic but he does. I gave him a keepsafe spell that day we met," said Samantha. "It was only supposed to keep him safe until he met the person who would take over that job." She tilted her head and studied Lee. "But it looks like that actually just enhanced the magic. How interesting."

"You mean, meeting Amanda made it stronger?" asked Leatherneck. "Cool."

"It would explain why I can see it so clearly," added Tabitha. "And it also explains so much about how you two can always solve the most difficult cases."

"And here I thought we were just really good at it," said Amanda with a smile.

"Oh you are! The magic doesn't solve the cases," explained Tabitha seriously. "But the magic of you together – that absolutely helps."

"ALL OF YOU! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!" bellowed Lee. "Stop with the magic and the witches and the spells and the Santa's reindeer nonsense! You know that's just crazy!"

"But Lee, there's a reindeer in a tree," Amanda reminded him. "How else do you explain that?"

Lee glared up at the reindeer who was now giving him side-eye from its perch. "Well, obviously…. It just… jumped," he said, uncertainly.

"Oh Sweetheart…"Amanda murmured, under her breath.

"Okay fine!" he turned and glared with an exasperated expression at the quartet facing him. "One of Santa's reindeer is up a tree. What are you going to do about it?"

"Well we can't do a lot about it for now except try and talk her down," said Leatherneck. "There's a kind of rule about using magic on Christmas Eve – everyone agrees not to use any extra so that Santa can have it all in order to get all his rounds done in the one night."

"Of course – there's a rule," said Lee, rolling his eyes. "What was I thinking?" He narrowed his gaze and looked at Leatherneck. "Wait a minute – what are you doing here anyway?"

Leatherneck shifted uncomfortably. "Well, Tabitha came and asked for help, and of course, I couldn't refuse because, well, I mean, who else in Washington is going to be able to track a magic reindeer except an elf?"

"An elf?" asked Amanda, wide-eyed. "You're an elf?"

"Half-elf," said Leatherneck, squirming slightly. "On my mother's side." He could see the look of disbelief on his friends' faces. "My father was working on an oil rig near Alaska and he met my mother when she was in Anchorage on a day trip from the North Pole and it was love at first sight. She gave up being an elf and moved down south with him. It's why I'm so good with cars and stuff – remember when I told you I can run a hand over a car and know what's wrong with it? That's my elf magic."

"Elf magic," repeated Lee, running a hand over his face. "Of course."

"And because I'm half mortal, most of my magic is mechanical, but I still have the whole reindeer thing going on, because all elves do," said Leatherneck, with a shrug. "Not that it's doing me any good now, since she's way up there. Unlike reindeer, elves can't fly."

"What is she even doing here anyway?" asked Amanda. "Did she come loose from the sleigh or something?"

Lee looked at his wife incredulously at the way she could ask that with compete seriousness.

"Oh no, Santa still uses the original girls," answered Tabitha. "Lucy just got loose from the barn, tried to follow the sleigh and got lost. Mrs. Claus sent out an SOS on the Northern Lights line and everyone's been trying to find her."

"Well, if you can't use magic, how will you get her home?" Amanda continued. "Do you have to keep her until tomorrow? If you can catch her, I mean?"

"No – we just have to get her somewhere on Santa's path tonight and he'll collect her," explained Leatherneck.

"But first we have to get her down," said Samantha.

"So does one of us have to climb up there and get her?" asked Lee, eyeing the tree. He'd given up on even fighting the crazy – it was easier to just go along with it at this point.

"It would be easier if we could just get her to come down by herself," sighed Tabitha. "But I don't know how we talk her into that."

"My mare used to come for sugar cubes," said Lee. "But I don't suppose that works with reindeer – not that we have any of those handy anyway."

"Pity – that might have worked," commented Leatherneck, sadly.

"What about candy canes?" asked Amanda tentatively. "Do reindeer like those? Because I have some in my purse."

She paused as the three immortals swivelled to stare at her.

"That's perfect!" beamed Tabitha.

"Mother magic," muttered Leatherneck.

"Wait – is that why I always have just what we need in my purse?" asked Amanda. "Because of magic?"

"Oh no, that's just being a mom," laughed Samantha. "But you two are probably luckier that way more than most people!"

"So… candy canes?" Lee interrupted them. "That'll work?"

"Let's find out," said Amanda, turning and hurrying back to the Jeep to grab her purse.

Lee watched her go, then turned to stare at Leatherneck. "An elf. You're an honest-to-God elf."

"Half elf," Leatherneck corrected him with a snaggle-toothed grin. "If I was full elf, I wouldn't be this tall."

Lee couldn't help grinning back at him "You think you're tall?"

"Hey, you can just quit it with your tall-ist insults, Ace," grumbled Leatherneck good-naturedly. "Or I might just lose my magic touch with your cars."

Lee held up his hands in surrender. "I'm sorry! No more height jokes, I swear!" He pursed his lips and looked at the mechanic with another smile. "Is that why you can't go up the tree after her? It's against the Occupational Elfin Safety rules?"

Leatherneck grinned and shook a finger at him. "Just keep it up, Scarecrow, I can still get you put on the naughty list, you know. Ma can pull strings… and you could end up transferred to the Agency office on the Island of Misfit Toys."

Lee laughed and turned to greet Amanda as she returned, clutching a handful of red and white striped candy canes. "Amanda King - saving the day as usual!"

Amanda returned his smile, then turned to hold them out to Leatherneck. "Will these do?"

"They will," he answered. "But not for me. She's still mad at me after that last little wrestling match. How about you try?"

"Me? Why would she come to me?" Amanda looked doubtful.

"Lots of reasons," answered Samantha. "Reindeer gravitate toward especially nice people and you have that whole motherhood thing too." She pushed Amanda into place. "Just hold out a candy cane and tell her she has to come down."

Amanda looked at her askance for a moment then shrugged and held out the candy cane. "Lucy? Please come down from there."

The reindeer ducked its head and eyed the candy, but stayed put.

"Try pretending she's one of the boys," muttered Lee. "Be a mom."

Amanda nodded, then put her hands on her hips and tried again. "You get down out of that tree this instant, Young Lady!" she said firmly. "What would your mother say if she could see you right now?"

Lucy shifted on the branch and gave a sad little chirp.

"You got up there. You can get down!" said Leatherneck. "Come on, Darlin'!"

Another sad little chirp came from the tree.

"Lucy, please? You're frightening me – it can't be safe way up there," coaxed Amanda.

They held their breath as Lucy tensed, then let it out with a whoosh as she leapt gracefully from her branch and floated down to land beside them.

"Good girl," murmured Amanda, holding out the candy cane and letting her nibble at it gently. "That's much better." She reached out and scratched the deer behind her ear, which seemed to please Lucy very much as she leaned into it with a happy rumble and began to glow slightly.

"Now what?" said Lee. "Won't she just take off again?"

"I doubt it - that glow means she just spirit-bonded with Amanda but just in case, it's a good thing you've always given us scarves," laughed Leatherneck. "Amanda, can I borrow yours?" Amanda pulled it off and handed it to him. He knotted it together with his and then wrapped it around Lucy's neck as a leash of sorts. "Okay, now we just have to get her somewhere Santa will see her."

"How about the light display near Amanda's house?" suggested Lee. "We can hide in the dark part of the park so no one asked what we're doing with a reindeer and Santa will definitely go near there, with all the kids in that neighborhood."

"Perfect!" beamed Tabitha. Then her face fell. "But how do we get her there? It's too far to walk and people would see us. If it was any other day of the year, we could just magic her over there, but the rules…"

"She's pretty small," commented Amanda. "We could just put her in the back of the Jeep."

"That'll work," agreed Leatherneck. "She's only about as big as a Great Dane."

"Are you sure, Sweetheart? What if she's not house-trained and leaves a deposit of reindeer ship?" Lee rolled his eyes again at his inability to swear in front of the deer.

"It'll be fine," said Amanda, lips twitching at his frustration. "Thanks heavens I got another wagon. Can you imagine trying to get her into the Corvette?"

They walked Lucy to the Wagoneer and waited for Amanda to open the back. "Now how…?" she started to ask but before she could get any further, Lee had simply wrapped his arms around the reindeer and lifted her bodily into the car, then closed the door behind her.

"Did some steer wrestling when you were young, did ya, Ace?" laughed Leatherneck.

"Calf roping actually," Lee grinned back at him. "She's not much bigger than them. Although at least calves didn't have antlers." He peered in at the reindeer who was peering back out at him with a mystified expression at finding herself in a car. "Did you say Santa's reindeer are female?" he asked Tabitha.

"Oh yes," she nodded. "You can tell because the males lose their antlers in the winter – Santa's always used females. Well, except Rudolph of course, but he's the exception," she added seriously.

"Oh!" they all turned at Amanda's soft exclamation. "What time does Santa get here?'

"Usually around midnight," said Samantha. "Is that going to be too late?"

Amanda gave a quiet groan. "Mother is never going to believe why we were late on Christmas Eve again!"

Lee had just about started to think the whole thing was a convoluted practical joke by 11 o'clock. Samantha and Tabitha had gone to fetch them all hot chocolate from an all-night diner and Leatherneck had regaled them with stories about growing up in Oklahoma with an elf for a mother – stories that Lee was getting more and more convinced were fairy tales of a different kind. Lucy was out of the Jeep, pawing through the snow of the park near Amanda's house and grazing on the brown grass underneath. Amanda was holding onto the scarf leash, talking to Lucy quietly as Lee watched fondly. Leatherneck was right, the reindeer was definitely sticking close to her – she really did give off some innate goodness that attracted its own magic.

"How's your uncle?" asked Samantha, suddenly appearing at his elbow, making Lee jump.

"Oh! I forgot you met him. He's good," answered Lee. He slapped his forehead, and looked horrified. "And he's probably at Amanda's right now, wondering where the shell we are." He looked at Samantha apologetically. "I mean, he's probably worried – I completely forgot he was coming for Christmas Eve dinner as well. Amanda phoned her mother and told her some tale or other but he'll think we're doing something dangerous."

"Well, don't worry too much. Santa will help out with that, I bet," said Samantha with a warm smile. "But you're close? He still worries about you? He was just about out of his mind with worry that day we met, when he thought he'd lost you."

"Well, we butted heads for a lot of years," conceded Lee. "But it's better now. She made it better now," he nodded toward Amanda.

"Of course she did," agreed Samantha. "She has the knack."

Lee gave her a sideways look. "Is that yet another way to say magic?"

"No," laughed Samantha, "She's just nice. It enhances everything around her. Even other's people magic." Her emerald eyes gleamed in the moonlight. "Just how often has she saved you from something? Because the spell I gave you is much stronger now than it should be – it's like it's been reinforced."

"Oh, more times than I can count," he admitted. "She's pulled my tail out of a lot of jams." He paused. "Not all of them physical."

"Ah – that explains it," Samantha smiled. "You can't beat true love- it has a magic all its own."

"It sure does," agreed Lee. "But if you'd told me that a few years ago…" He shook his head, then stopped dead, cocking it. "Do you hear that?"

Everyone else had also stopped to listen – it was the faintest silvery sound… Bells, thought Lee and in that same instant, there was a flash and suddenly a sleigh was skidding to a stop in front of them.

Lucy tugged free from Amanda and ran over to bump noses with the deer who were stamping and prancing and blowing out steamy breaths.

"Now, what's all this then?" asked a hearty laughing voice. "Lucy! How did you get here?"

Lee – who really hadn't believed any of this, not really, up until this moment, watched slack-jawed as someone who was absolutely, definitely Santa Claus hopped out of the sleigh and went to greet Lucy, who was nuzzling his coat and lipping at his hand.

Santa gave her a head rub, then turned to the collection of people watching him. "Samantha! Oh it's been far too long! And here's little Tabitha with you!"

"Not so little anymore, Santa!" laughed Tabitha leaning in to give him a hug.

"And who else is here? Bosworth, is that you? What are you doing here when you should be home with your mother for Christmas?"

"Bosworth?" chortled Lee. "Your real name is Bosworth?"

"You tell anyone at work, and the Corvette gets it," threatened Leatherneck, sotto voce, as he stepped forward to take Santa's outstretched hand. "I couldn't get home this year, Santa," he went on more loudly. "It was a little too far to go when I had to work today."

"Well, you can catch a ride with me, if you want," winked Santa. "I like to stay on your mother's good side, you know. She still sends me gingerbread cookies every year, regular as clockwork."

Leatherneck's face had lit up. "Can I really? Ma would be so surprised!"

"Of course you can – it looks like I'm going to need someone to hold onto Lucy and keep her from wandering off again," laughed Santa, heartily. He turned to look at the last two people, who were both staring with open mouths and wide eyes. Santa gave a deep rolling laugh.

"Well, well – if it isn't Lee and Amanda Stetson! I should have known you two would be mixed up in this!"

Tabitha and Leatherneck exchanged an amused look.

"Did you say Amanda Stetson?" said Leatherneck. "Would you two like to share something with the class?"

"I don't know, Bosworth, would I?" asked Lee in a mock threatening tone.

"Your secret is safe with me, Ace," drawled Leatherneck, chuckling.

"With me too" smiled Tabitha. "Witches are good at keeping secrets, after all." She turned to her mother. "We should get going – Daddy and Adam must be wondering where we are."

"I left a note," said her mother. "And let's face it, they're used to it. But maybe…?" she looked at Santa, question on her face.

"Go ahead," he smiled. "I'm over halfway done and I'll have Bosworth along for an added boost. A little more time-twisting won't hurt at this point."

"Merry Christmas, Santa," said Samantha, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek. "All the best to Mrs. Claus." She held a hand out to Tabitha. "Ready, Sweetheart?" Tabitha nodded. "Good bye everyone! Have a wonderful Christmas!"

And with a twitch of the lips and a wrinkled nose, the two women vanished in the blink of an eye.

"You two should be getting home too," twinkled Santa. "I know you have people waiting."

"Probably very angry people," groaned Amanda. "My mother is going to kill us. It's the middle of the night and we were supposed to be home for dinner."

"And my uncle," added Lee. "They've probably spent the evening discussing all the ways we've let them down and formed a united front of disapproval," he sighed.

"I think you might be surprised," said Santa cheerfully. "You two head home – we can take it from here."

Amanda crouched down to look Lucy in the eye. "Now you behave for Santa, you hear me?"

Lee would swear the reindeer nodded.

"Come on, Amanda – let's go face the music." He held out his hand, grinning at the familiar tingle of joy that warmed him when she took it, smiling up at him with love in her eyes.

"Merry Christmas, Santa," she said, turning to the man in the red suit. She gave a breathless laugh. "I can't believe I just met Santa Claus!"

"Well, I can't believe I just met Amanda Stetson," laughed Santa. "Merry Christmas, M'dear. You too, Lee! Now scoot! I have places to be and so do you!" He turned to the sleigh where Leatherneck and Lucy were now perched on top of a pile of gifts. "Ready?" he asked, climbing in and picking up the reins. With a final wink and a hearty laugh, he…vanished.

Lee and Amanda stared into the empty space where the sleigh had been just a second before and blinked.

"Did that really just happen?" asked Lee.

"We both saw that, right?" asked Amanda at the same time.

"Come on, let's go home," laughed Lee. "I think I need a good stiff drink."

A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of the house, Amanda in the driveway, Lee along the curb. He stepped out and met her halfway along the path to the door. She put a hand on his arm and looked around.

"This is really weird," she said. "It looks like everyone on the street is still up."

Lee glanced around and realized she was right – every house still had all its lights on. "You're right, that is weird. Is it just because it's Christmas Eve or do you think something happened and we missed it?"

"Well, we usually never miss anything like that," she laughed.

The front door flew open. "Oh Amanda, there you are! I was starting to get worried!"

"I'm so sorry, Mother – we got caught up in helping a couple of people from work…" Amanda began to explain.

"Oh, don't even think about bring your work home for the holidays!" scolded Dotty. "Now you get in here, and we can get the final parts of dinner done!"

"The final parts…?" echoed Amanda, following her inside. "Did you hold back dinner for us all this time?"

"Not really – I just figured with your track record you'd be running behind," said Dotty over her shoulder. "So we delayed a little. It didn't matter that it's late when the boys are out with Joe and Carrie anyway. And good thing too, your uncle Robert called to say he's only just on his way from the airport now."

"Was his flight delayed?" asked Lee, confused by how calm Dotty was.

"Oh no, it was on time – he just wanted to confirm that he should come straight here," replied Dotty, moving a pot onto a burner and turning to the oven to check the roast. Nodding with satisfaction, she turned to pour out glasses of wine and handed them to Lee and Amanda. "I think we should have a toast – to you two finally managing to get home for Christmas on time for once!"

"On time? Mother, it's past-" Amanda started to say until Lee grabbed her arm and pointed at the television.

"Good evening, and welcome to the 6 o'clock news," intoned the anchorman. "Let's begin with wishing all our viewers a very merry Christmas Eve!"

Lee and Amanda both lifted their wrists to stare at their watches, then at each other.

"Six o'clock? That's impossible," whispered Amanda. "We were out there for hours!"

"Out where, Darling?" asked Dotty.

"Out helping those friends," said Lee, craning to check the clock on the oven and shaking his head in disbelief. "But I guess it wasn't as long as we thought?"

"Oh, time is just different on Christmas Eve, I think," said Dotty. "When I was a child, it seemed to drag on forever because I was waiting for Christmas and now that I'm older, it just flies by! Must be magic," she laughed, turning back to the stove. "I mean, how else does Santa get all that done in one night?"

"Magic!" they answered her in unison and began to laugh.

The doorbell rang, followed immediately by the front door opening and Robert Clayton sticking his head in. "Merry Christmas, everyone! My Lord, that was the fastest cab ride I can remember – he wasn't speeding but according to my watch, he got here all the way from National in less than a minute! The Air Force should figure out how to bottle that for our jets!"

He was still taking his coat off when Amanda reached him first, tipping up to give him a kiss on the cheek. "It's Christmas," she said, smiling brightly. "We were just talking about how time behaves differently tonight." She took his coat to hang it up as Lee held out his hand to shake his uncle's firmly.

"Merry Christmas, Sir. Glad you could make it."

"Merry Christmas, Son." His uncle grasped his shoulder with his spare hand and squeezed it. "I'm glad I could be here."

"Now that's what I like to find under my Christmas tree," said Aunt Lillian coming down the stairs. "A house full of handsome men!" She stopped on the small landing and crooked a finger at Colonel Clayton. "You must be this rascal's uncle – come along and tell me all about his misspent youth – and I'll tell you all about his misspent night here last week."

"How much time have you got?" The Colonel laughed over his shoulder at Lee and Amanda. "Just covering his teenage years could take a while!"

Amanda stepped into Lee's arms, wrapping her own around his waist and smiling at him. "You know, Sweetheart, I think this just might be my favorite Christmas ever!"

"It's definitely my weirdest," said Lee, dimpling. "Santa, elves, and reindeer - if this is a hallucination…"

"It's the best one yet," finished Amanda with a deep chuckle, pulling him down for a long kiss. "Merry Christmas, Lee."

"Merry Christmas, Amanda."