AN: Hello everyone I am super sorry it has taken me this long to get this chapter up. I have been having a horrible time writing this one. I seem to have lost my mojo just a bit. The start of it was rather easy and includes some of my families own traditions. I have been trying to write a particular scene in the middle towards the end of the chapter and I have been struggling. I promise that I won't give up on this one but I may not be as frequently updating it as I am with S.I.U. to K for a while. Anyway enough of my complaining Read, Enjoy and Please Review.

Chapter 45

Saturday Gran enlisted the guys help to put up the Christmas lights. Gran always declared it a success when no one fell off the roof. This year she had them put up the new led lights she had gotten. They were bright blue and really hard to look at for too long but super pretty. She also had them light the porch along the rails. Gran assisted Hadley, Hunter and I in putting up the Christmas tree well more she just directed us on where to put things from her chair. Last year Gran had broken down and gotten a perlite artificial tree. She had gotten tired of puttin' money into a tree that we had to throw out. Not to mention the fact that we had to clean up needles all the time. It was really easy to put up too.

Decorating it took a lot longer that year because of all of Hunter's questions. He wanted to know about all of the ornaments as he helped to take them out of their boxes. Some were ones that Jason, Hadley or I had made when we were younger. You know the ones that you make in Sunday school or just for fun the horribly cheesy crafty ones that you love even no matter how bad they look. Then there were the ones that Gran had gotten us every year. One of her gifts for us every year was a new ornament. I had a big set of ballerinas and Jason had sports themed ones. Then of course there were Gran's she had some of the most amazing angels. We had some other random ones as well that Gran had acquired over the years.

One of my favorites was a glass pickle. It was a tradition that Gran had that I am not sure where it came from but Gran would hide the pickle in the tree and we would have to find it on Christmas Day. The person that found it was the one who go to open presents first as well as get another special present from Gran. She use to change were it was every couple of days leading up to Christmas but Jason and I got a bit too competitive about knowing where it was so much so that Gran stopped. Now she leaves it in one spot until Christmas morning. This year I was planning on helping Hunter find it. I wanted him to get to be a part of all our holiday tradition that he may have missed out on.

Another of Gran's tradition was for us to make huge batches of cookie to take around caroling. I think that our record for number of cookies was two years ago. We made 80 dozen cookies, now a lot of them went to church for the Christmas Eve program but we still gave out two dozen to everyone we could. We would sing rather off tune but joyfully to our friends and neighbors and present them with a plate of cookie. We also made gingerbread houses. That one started after Gran was watching the Food Network one afternoon around Christmas and they a competition for building and decorating gingerbread houses. Well Gran got it in her head that she would be able to do a better job at it than any of the people on the show. The first year was a mess. I think we ended up with more royal icing on us than on the house itself and the darn thing collapsed under the weight of all the candy we used to cover it with. The next year the ginger bread shattered when we were trying to put it together. Needless to say Gran has been determined ever since to get at least one gingerbread house to look the way she wants.

By three in the afternoon we had the tree decorated and the house lite. Jason, Hoyt and John were gonna go to a movie. Mr. Northman had gone into the office and Hadley was puttin' Hunter down for a nap so she could get ready before her date. She had started dating a really nice guy named Rasul. We had not officially met him yet but Gran had insisted on it. Gran, Eric, Alcide and I were sitting in the living room. I still had not figured out what to tell Gran about my "visitors" the previous day. I got a bit lost in my thoughts so I missed Gran's question.

"Sorry Gran, I was not paying attention what was your question?" I turned to her feeling sheepish.

"I asked when the state dance competition was going to take place. It is soon isn't it?" She replied.

"Ahh… I think, wait no it is Friday the 9th and Saturday the 10th. That reminds me starting Monday Lafayette and Tara said we would be having practice every day for the next two weeks. So I won't be home for dinner every night." I rambled.

"That is fine dear do you have a ride home?" Gran asked.

"Yeah, Tara said she would take me home. I forgot to tell you that Mrs. Hyde came over yesterday wanting to talk to you. Anyway Tara wants me to work on my solo she is hoping that I can do something more difficult than I did for tryouts." I slipped that in there hoping that they would miss it.

"How has the rest of it been going?" Eric interjected.

"Really good actually. I mean the JV team has our routines down and Tara and I are almost done choreographing the number for all the girls. The partner routine is still kind of up in the air at the moment. Lala keeps changing things I am doing ok with all the changes but…" I trailed off.

"But what?" Eric queried in earnest.

"Tara was having to work more with some of the guys." I dodged the question. Before he could continue our conversation the phone rang. I ran off to answer it. "Hello Stackhouse residence."

"Sookie dear is your Grandmother in?" Mrs. Hyde asked from the other end to the line.

"Yeah just a second." I put the phone down and called out to Gran. "Gran, Mrs. Hyde is on the phone."

"I'll be right there child." Came from the living room along with the sound of shuffling feet.

"She will be here in a minute." I said picking the phone back up.

"That is just fine dear." She responded just as Gran came into the kitchen.

"Here's Gran." I replied handing Gran the phone and going back onto the living room.

The guys were talking about how sad but still glad that football season was over. It was their last year as a team. I was tremendously proud when they went to the state. I think Gran about broke my hand when they went into overtime during the championship round. It was one of the most exciting games I have ever watched Jason play in. Jason had been offered several scholarships to play college ball. He had not decided just yet where he wanted to go. He had offers from LSU, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Tulane, and Texas. More than anything I think he was waiting to see where the guys were going. I knew that Jason could make new friends easily but I also knew that he wanted to have one of his friends on the team with him after having played with them for so long. John was going to LSU so he could be close to home he had already committed to the coach and everything. He would have a full ride too I was so proud of him. Hoyt had decided that he was done with football. He said that he was good but did not want to get hurt again. He had gotten a bad concussion in the last game which laid him up for a while. I really could not blame him for that. He had applied to LSU, Tulane, Loyola, and Vanderbilt. Eric had been applying to schools out of state. Most of which were Ivy League. I knew that Eric was smart but I did not know he was that smart. I was really sad about it because I figured he probably would not be home much and there was a good chance that he wouldn't move back. I was proud of him though I knew it took a lot of work to get into schools like that. He was not sure if he wanted to study law, medicine or business yet but I know that whatever he chose he would be great at it. Alcide like Jason had many offers and was still trying to decide. I just hoped that I would see most of them for holidays and such. I knew home would not be the same without them next year. I listened to them talk for a while letting my mind wander as a couple of stray tears ran down my cheek.

"Sookie…SOOKIE are you listening?" Gran was trying to get my attention.

"Sorry Gran I was thinking." I responded.

"You seem out of it today. Anyway come with me to the kitchen I want to talk to you for a bit." I followed her into the kitchen sitting down at the table. "Mrs. Hyde was wondering how you were doing. You want to tell me why she is concerned about if you are feeling better? I thought that you were fine when you got home Thursday night."

"Godric's older brother said some things about me that I was not intended to hear. I was trying to find the bathroom and I overheard them talking about me. Victor was questioning why he would waste his time on a girl like me. In Godric's misguided attempt to defend me he basically said that I was a good friend to have cause of my connections. He said stuff about how great a person I am even without the connections. More than anything I was hurt that Victor said he understood why Mrs. Hyde was pushing him at me so hard. His whole family only sees me as a way to make business connections. I feel so stupid Gran I thought they actually liked me." I broke down in to hysterics.

"Oh Sookie, I am sorry but not surprised. How do you feel about Godric?" She put a hand on my shoulder trying to sooth me.

"I still like him as a friend I just don't know if I can be around his family. He really is a good friend and a good dance partner." I sighed.

"As long as you still see him as a friend then I am not too worried. You don't have to be friends or even like his family." She said wisely. I knew that Gran was right. I just needed some time to deal with how I felt. Gran helped me to feel better about the situation. We talked for a while longer till Hadley came in followed closely by a tall exotic man. This had to be Rasul. His eyes were like melted chocolate. He was the perfect gentleman when he was introduced. He had Gran eating out of his hand by the time she was done giving him the third degree. He was officially Gran approved when they left for their date.