Epilogue
By the time the last story had been finished, eleven empty mugs sat on the table and everyone was laughing.
"You certainly have had some colorful Christmases!" Grace said once she caught her breath. "There's never a dull moment in this family, but that goes double for the holidays."
"That's what happens when you've got ten of us," Flip said with a smirk. "And boy, I forgot how goofy we could be as kids. Thinking Chu-Chu had to write Santa a letter?"
"And those cookies," Alan said, rolling his eyes. "Even Nancy and Stanley didn't want any! But at least we found out fairly early that Annie's no chef." He smiled. "She sure was a big help with the songs, though. And so were you, Tom." Tom beamed.
"A logical conclusion of all my studies. I'd held quite the interest in yuletide celebrations of yore long before, which I knew would someday prove a practical application to everyday life."
"Yet you still don't know how to talk in English," Scooter said with a snort. Tom huffed slightly and rolled his eyes, leaning back against Henry's shoulder.
"Someday you'll know the value of an expansive vocabulary."
"I just can't believe Suzie earned all that money all by herself," Nancy said. "And she was only Scooter's age then! Last time I had a lemonade stand it ran for a whole weekend and I only made four dollars!"
"Probably because you and the rest of the kids kept drinking it all," Stanley teased. "But it's okay, I did the same thing the first time Henry and I had a lemonade stand."
"Hey, it was hot that day," Mimi said with a pout. "What did you want us to do, dry up?"
"You could have gone into the house for water," Anne said.
"Or taken your canteens outside with you," Henry added. Grace chuckled, taking in the children's banter. They'd done their best to make her feel like one of them after she and Charlie had been married, but tonight was the first time she truly felt like she was one of the family. She'd heard plenty of stories about the children from Charlie and Miranda, of course, but these were tales only the children could tell her themselves.
Miranda could never be replaced, the love her children still held for her shone through in their memories. But she could feel the love and care they had for her in them sharing those memories, letting her imagine a young Suzie carrying a bag full of change to the jewelry store, Henry and Stanley spying on Santa, Anne and Tom spilling flour and eggs all over the kitchen floor.
"Thank you," she said. "For sharing all of these stories. I feel like I know you kids much better now."
"Aw, it was nothing." Anne smiled. "Those were some of the best times we ever had! It was fun reliving them."
"And besides, you're one of us now! You deserve to know all our dirty little secrets," Stanley quipped. Henry rolled his eyes and gently bopped him on the head with a nearby pillow.
"Grace, we're really glad you and Pop got married," he said. "And even if we couldn't bring you in on the usual tradition, this was still a great first Christmas Eve with you." Grace blinked back tears, smiling as she hugged each of her stepchildren.
"We'll have plenty more wonderful Christmases to come," she promised.
When Charlie came home much later that night, he was greeted with smiles and hugs from everyone followed by a cup of cocoa from Suzie and ten children eager to tell him all about how they'd spent Christmas Eve.
A new tradition was born that night. From then on, they would spend every night before Christmas eating dinner beside the tree, opening presents and sharing memories of Christmases past.