Everyone had stayed up late the night before and had slept in the next morning. But it didn't matter, it was Christmas morning! The night before had been Christmas Eve so that was why they had all stayed up so late. It was around nine o'clock in the morning when Celia woke. She looked around. Mandie was still asleep. She couldn't let Mandie sleep through this day! She moved over and shook Mandie awake.

"Mandie wake up! It's nine a.m.! And it's also Christmas I thought you should know," Celia said jokingly. Mandie sat up and stretched.

"Mmm! Okay, I'm awake. I can't believe it's Christmas day! It seems like it's been years since last Christmas! But it's finally here." Mandie sighed happily. "But it's still cold, and look it's snowing! That's perfect! Snow on Christmas is the best thing ever!" the blond girl exclaimed. Celia nodded.

"I think this is going to be the best Christmas ever! But we better get dressed or we'll miss breakfast. If we haven't already," she said hopping off of the bed. Mandie nodded and rolled out of bed. She ran to the closet and pulled out a dark red dress with a green sash. She slipped her nightgown off and and buttoned up her dress. Snowball walked in front of her and meowed loudly.

"Aww! I'm sorry Snowball You're probably hungry," she said picking him up. "I love you Snowball. I have been neglecting you lately haven't I?" she asked burying her face in his soft white fur.

"Come on Mandie we have to go down now!" Celia said walking over to the door. Mandie followed her out with Snowball in her arms. They ran down stairs to meat everyone in the dinning room.

"Hey sleepy heads! You guys were sleeping like rocks!" Sallie laughed. "Merry Christmas you two!" she said and brought them into a group hug.

"Merry Christmas to you too!" Celia said happily. "Also I have to tell you something important. Yesterday Robert well, proposed to me." Mandie and Sallie gasped and stopped so suddenly that they almost knocked Liza over.

"Hey! What you think you doin' almost knockin' a person over like dat?" Liza asked regaining her balance. They laughed. "Sorry Liza, we'll try to be more careful," Mandie answered. Liza nodded. "Well you better be," she said and walked off. They turned back to Celia.

"Really? That's great! I'm so happy for you!" Mandie exclaimed and they went back into the hug. "Well I have to go drop Snowball off in the kitchen. I will meet you guys back at breakfast.' Mandie picked up Snowball and hurried into the kitchen with Snowball.

They hurriedly finished breakfast, because all of them were excited about unwrapping presents. Even if they were older now they were still looking forward to seeing what there friends had gotten them. After Mandie had finished she went upstairs to get her presents. She looked to make sure they were all there.

"Ok, I think I've got everyone's presents here," Mandie said to herself as she got them all up into her arms. She hurried downstairs and laid them neatly under the tree. She stood back to admire the tree. It looked so beautiful with all the presents under it! That was one of the best things to see on Christmas. Everyone would be coming in soon for her Uncle John to read the Christmas Story so Mandie just decided to sit down and wait.

Soon everyone had joined in the parlor and were seated in the room. Mandie's uncle started reading. Mandie listened quietly. She loved hearing the story of Jesus' birth. It was such a special thing that the Savior came into the world as a baby. There was nothing better than hearing of it happen.

after he had finished reading it was time for them to open presents. Carl and Carol dived into theirs' like little animals. This made Mandie laugh. Everyone had a lot of fun unwrapping presents, but Mandie's favorite part of this was giving the presents to her friends and family rather than receiving them.

After they had finished unwrapping presents and had cleaned up the mess it was time for them to eat Christmas dinner. "I'm starving!" Mandie exclaimed taking a piece of ham off of the serving plate. She scooped some mashed potatoes onto her plate as well.

"Me too!" Joe answered dishing some piling the food on his plate. Mandie laughed. "You are always hungry Joe!" They both laughed. They started eating their food. After they were finished some people had to leave. Which was Tommy, Robert, and Jonathan. Mandie said good-bye to Robert, Jonathan, and Tommy, and she gave George a hug.

"Good-bye George. I'll see you when I go back to college," Mandie said. George nodded. "Good-bye to you to Mandie. I'll be longing the days away until you get back," he said. Why did he have to be so sure that she liked him? "Well I'll see you soon. Bye George." George nodded and walked out the door. After he left Joe came to Mandie and took her hand.

"Mandie I think we need to talk," he said taking her into the parlor. "Joe what the..." "Mandie, just come." He took her into the parlor and they sat down. "Mandie I saw you hug that guy George. And I don't think that, that is appropriate for you to do when you are supposed to marrying me," Joe said as calmly as possible.

"Well the fact is, that I am not married to you and that was a good-bye hug. And besides, when did I ever say that I was going to marry you?" Mandie asked. Joe bent his head.
"Once, a long time ago. But what is your answer now Mandie? If it isn't yes then I'll die!" Joe said. This time Mandie lost it.
"Well then you will have to die! Because my answer is no!" she yelled angrily. Joe stood up.
"Fine! I will! I'm going outside into the blizzard!" Joe said opening the door without even putting his coat on.
"But Joe! You still have a cold and you'll freeze!"
"Well what do you care? You just told me that I could die!" He went outside and slammed the door. Mandie started to cry. "Dear God please don't let him die out there!" Mandie prayed. "If he does then it's all my fault!" Mandie waited for a long while hoping that Joe would come back but he never did. she got up and walked out of the room. She was walking out of the parlor when she bumped into Dr. Woodard.

"Hello Mandie have you seen Joe? I can't seem to find him anywhere," Dr. Woodard asked. Mandie hesitated.

"Um... I think I know," she said slowly. "It's all my fault that he's gone! I don't know what got into me!" Mandie said her voice trembling.

"Well tell me what happened. We can't fix anything until I know exactly what happened," he said. Mandie swallowed hard.

"He now wants to die because of me because of how I acted and I don't know what to do!" Mandie exclaimed and at the end her voice broke.

"I see. Did he ask?" Dr. Woodard asked. She nodded. "He did, and he said that if I didn't say yes he would die, and I was mad and I said no, out of spite. I don't know why I can't just act mature and stop acting like such a child. Now he's out in the blizzard probably frozen to death by now!" The tears were streaming down her face and she was crying uncontrollably.

"Shh, calm down Mandie. We'll find him. It's not your fault he tends to overreact." He put his arm around her and brought her back into the parlor. Just then Celia walked in.

"Hey Mandie I was going to, why Mandie, what's wrong?" Celia asked as she noticed her friend was crying. She came over and sat down by her.

"It's all my fault! Joe went out in a blizzard and now I'm afraid he might freeze!" she blurted out. Celia patted her back.

"What happened?" Celia asked. Mandie tried to control herself. "He proposed to me, and i didn't except but that's not really the reason I was so mean about it. And now he said he was gonna go die," she explained.

"It's okay Mandie, I'm sure they'll find him," Celia encouraged. Mandie stopped crying. "And what if they don't?"
"I don't know Mandie, I really don't know," she said.

Mandie said no. Ahhh! What's gonna happen?

Now Joe wants to die. Will they find him?

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