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Perfect

Harm had taken leave for the afternoon as his parents and grandmother were flying in today and he was picking them up from the airport. He had offered to pick up Grandma Sarah in Pennsylvania and drive her down this weekend, but his mother and stepfather had insisted on grabbing her themselves and flying out from Harrisburg. Trish had remarked that it had been quite a while since she had visited the old farm. Harm figured that she would arrive with a "sonny-do-list" in hand after visiting, but he had learned long ago not to argue with his mother when she set her mind to something. Stubbornness was one family trait that had definitely been passed down through each generation of the Rabb family whether it came from genetics or marriage. Maybe that was part of the pull that drew him to Mac in the first place, she was just as formidable as the other important women in Harm's life.

Matthew was spending the day at the Roberts' house since his daycare had already closed for the holidays. Trisha only had a half day of school, so Harm picked her up from there so that they could go antiquing at a few stores that Harm had mapped out between their house and Dulles International Airport. His activity for the night was a simple one because they really didn't have much time for anything too extravagant. Besides the fact that after last night's sleigh building and his and Mac's extracurricular activities the night before that plus work during the days he felt like he was preparing for a marathon.

The first two shops that they stopped at hadn't yielded any fruitful results. There was only one more shop after this so he hopes that Trisha is able to find something that she likes or he might end up having to bring Matthew with them to a few of the more local boutiques.

Harm is perusing the jewelry section when he glances over to find Trisha's gaze transfixed on something on a shelf at her eye level. Wondering what has captivated his daughter's undivided attention, he asks the clerk to box up a pair of ruby and diamond teardrop earrings that he was admiring before walking over to her. He finds Trisha staring at an illuminated box with a beautiful winter scene that has a farmhouse in the back, several snow-covered pines, a snowman, and children sledding down the hill in front of the house. He lays his hands gently on her shoulders as he stands behind her, "What do you think? Is this what you want to get for Mommy?"

Trisha whispers awe-struck, "It's so pretty. It reminds me of Grandma Sarah's house. Do you think she would like it?"

Harm smiles, "I think she would love it. We could put it on the mantle over the fireplace." Lifting the item up to search the bottom for a price which he doesn't see, he instead finds a key indicating that the item is also a music box. He winds the key and the music of 'O Holy Night' filters through the store.

Trisha's smile is bright enough to light up the entire shop at the sound of her mother's favorite Christmas carol, "Oh Daddy, it's perfect!"

Harm doesn't mention as he walks over to the counter to have the items wrapped that the music box also plays seven other Christmas tunes. He figures that can be a surprise to his daughter as well. When the cashier rings up the music box and the earrings, the total is a bit more than he expected. However, he knows that Mac will love Trisha's choice and he doesn't want to disappoint his daughter by asking her to choose something else so he doesn't even hesitate handing over his credit card. Purchases in hand, father and daughter head back to the car to continue their trek towards Dulles.

They arrive at the airport terminal ten minutes before the flight is scheduled to land. Harm pats himself on the back for being on time for once until he looks up at the monitor and finds that their flight has already landed, in fact it arrived almost half an hour ago. Harm groans and turns Trisha towards the baggage claim. Hearing his daughter snicker, he inquires, "Just what is so funny young lady?"

Noticing the quick change of direction, she grins up at him, "You're late!"

He adamantly denies it, "I am not! Their flight was early."

Harm sees his parents and grandmother seated on a metal bench directly across from baggage claim six, with all of their luggage next to them, and announces "There they are."

Trisha takes off making a beeline for Trish and Frank barely hearing her father yell after her. Frank catches her in mid jump swinging her around, "Well, 'hello' to you too little miss! Where is your Dad?" Seeing Harm maneuvering quickly around the other folks, Frank chuckles, "Ah. There he is."

Harm catches up in three strides and before he has a chance to chastise his daughter for running off, Sarah Rabb stands up to give her grandson a hug lightly admonishing, "It's about time you got here, Harmon. I was wondering if I was going to have to call the General and report you UA."

Trisha erupts in a fit of giggles as she is passed from her grandfather to her grandmother, "Told you that you were late, Daddy!"

Harm rolls his eyes as his mother laughs, "Better just go along with it, dear. You are totally outnumbered here."

Harm shoots a pleading look at Frank who just shrugs his shoulders, "I know better than to argue with three women, and you should know better than to try."

Harm reaches down to grab his mother and grandmother's luggage. As he slings the duffle bag over his shoulder he moans, "What did you put in here, Mom? Rocks?"

She swats him in the arm, "You are just used to traveling with a Marine. Pretty much every other woman on the planet travels with more things than just uniforms and unmentionables. And just for that comment, I'll make sure she knows that you were late!"

Harm doesn't bother to mention the six or seven books his wife always keeps in her duffle as he gestures in front of him, "Let's get to the car, before I decide to leave you here."

That remark earns him a whack on his backside from the newspaper in Sarah Rabb's hand. He exclaims, "Grandma!"

Sarah Rabb looks at him completely innocently, "Yes?" Harm idly wonders if he will survive the next week and a half with four generations of Rabb women under one roof. Perhaps the General has a nice trip to Pearl he could use to escape….

The trip home from the airport is filled with laughter as Trisha fills in the elder members of the family on all the things they have missed since they last visited and what she found for her mother today. She is extremely excited that Santa will be visiting soon, that she is out of school until after the holidays, and that Daddy will have a surprise tonight when they get home.

Slightly curious, his mother asks, "What is this about, Harm?"

He smiles, "Can't tell you yet, Mom. That would ruin the surprise! You will have to wait until we get home, just like everyone else."

Trisha narrows her eyes at her son, but he won't budge. Exasperated, she replies, "I guess I can wait like everyone else."

Harm chuckles, "It won't be too much longer, Mom."

They have barely pulled into the driveway when Mac steps out the door with Matthew on her hip. Matthew watches Harm open the back door of his SUV to give his grandmother a hand out and Matthew is squealing, "Gigi's here!"

Mac chuckles, "Yes she is. Grandma and Grandpa are here too."

Matthew begins squirming in excitement, "Mommy, put me down!"

Mac releases him as he scampers over to great their guests. He just isn't quite sure who to hug first. Harm announces to their visitors, "Why don't you head inside with the kids and take a load off while Mac and I get your bags. Feel free to freshen up if you like, we will be making dinner as soon as I get you settled."

Frank scoops up Matthew in his arms, "What is for dinner?"

Matthew answers before Harm can, "It's a surprise!"

Harm tells Mac, "Don't touch Mom's duffle, it's heavy! Let me get that one."

Mac gives him a death stare, "I am a Marine, you know."

Trish laughs, "Maybe one of these days you can teach him how to follow your Marine clock. Apparently, the Navy issued one allows unlimited snooze buttons."

Mac nudges her husbands' hip with her own, "You were late again, weren't you?"

Harm stands firm for the second time tonight, "I was not!"

Mac raises one eyebrow glancing at her mother-in-law, "Let me guess he blamed it on traffic?"

Harm narrows his eyes, "It wasn't traffic, we took a little longer at the store than anticipated searching for the perfect gift."

Mac whoops in laughter, "A man blaming his tardiness on shopping, that's a new one! What would all the other Sailors think?"

Harm's cheeks redden as he points his finger at her, "Get in the house, Marine!"

Mac walks over and interlocks her arms with Trish and Sarah heading towards the house, "Getting out of carrying bags was easier than I thought." The ladies' laughter continues as they walk in the house together leaving a stunned Harm in their wake.

Twenty minutes later, the entire Rabb family is assembled in the kitchen impatiently waiting for whatever Harm has planned. The only one who has any clue is Mac since she has viewed his integrated master schedule. She whispers in his ear, "We still doing pizza?" Harm nods his confirmation.

Now, normally Harm would make his own dough, but time wasn't allowing for that tonight so he was just going to have to rely on good old Pillsbury™ for a little help. He pulls out a couple of containers of Crescent dough sheets and rolls them out flat over large cutting boards. Then he reaches in another cabinet and pulls out four baking sheets and two cookie cutters and places them on the island. Matthew claps his hands together, "Cookies!"

Harm corrects, "Not cookies. We are going to make snowflake and angel pizzas." He turns to his parents, "Mom, Frank, can you help Trisha and Matthew cut out the dough while I prepare the sauce? Just press the cutters into the dough, pat them against your hand until it falls out and place them on the baking sheets. If you have extra dough, you can roll it back out to cut more."

Even after the long flight, both are eager to help. His mother offhandedly remarks, "I've never done this before. What made you think of this, Harm?"

Harm smiles and shrugs his shoulders, "I got a few ideas off the web, and then came up with a few others on my own simply modifying some recipes I have tried out in the past. We are making different things every day for the twelve days of Christmas. Mac is even making a photo album to document our journey. I'll show you some of the pictures of what we have already made later if you guys aren't too tired."

Trish beams, "You do have my famous popcorn on the list, don't you?"

Harm laughs, "Yes mom. We will be making that tomorrow to coincide with the show. We've been letting the kids watch a few of the Christmas shows or movies airing on television each night when we have time."

Trisha turns to her Grandma, eyes wide, "What popcorn?"

Frank tousles her hair, "We wouldn't want to spoil the surprise, but it is really good. I promise!"

While Harm gets the oven ready and places his sauce on the burner to heat as well, Grandma Sarah offers to grate the fresh mozzarella.

With the adults' assistance, the kids have assembled two full trays each of snowflake and angel dough cutouts. Frank asks, "Is the sauce ready, Harm?"

He replies, "Just about, but the dough actually needs to bake on its own first. Go ahead and set them in the oven for eight minutes. Then we will add the sauce and whatever toppings you would like and put them on for another few minutes, just long enough for the cheese to melt."

His parents are surprised at just how good these little pizzas turned out even though they all have different toppings. Grams remarks, "They aren't quite as tasty as your home-made focaccia ones, but they are pretty darn good. I never would have even thought to try something like this, and I really want to see what you have already done if they are as creative as this."

Mac offers, "I'll show you the photos while Harm gives the kids a bath. We've really made some neat things already. Things I definitely would have never thought of, and he has plenty more left in his arsenal."

Trish smiles fondly at the man her little boy has become. She wondered for a long time if he would ever get his head out of the clouds. She realizes looking around at their family that he was just waiting for the perfect landing strip and he definitely found it.