New Christmas Traditions with the Scofield and Burrow's Family

Chapter 7

They all sat at the kitchen table drinking their hot chocolate. Lincoln was still giving Michael a dirty look for the snowball fight and all Michael could do was smile at him. Sara decided to break the silence "So tomorrow is Christmas and we still have no Christmas tree and decorations"

Both Nicole and Matt's eyes widened without a Christmas tree Santa won't know where to put the presents for everyone.

Unfortunately due to their last minute plans to come to the cabin they didn't bring any Christmas decorations with them so would have to start from scratch. So their jobs for the next few hours were to get the cabin ready for Christmas. Sara and Hannah got to work cleaning the whole kitchen, the counter, stove, oven, floor and try to get rid of that awful smell. At the kitchen table Michael was teaching Nicole and Matt how to make Christmas origami decorations so they could decorate the tree with them. Once the two were set Michael, Lincoln and LJ went out to find the perfect Christmas tree.

"So what we looking for" Nicole asked as she followed her mom, Danielle and Matt through the forest around the cabin.

"We are looking for anything we can use to decorate the cabin.

Nicole walked over to one of the evergreen trees and pulled off a pinecone. "Can we use this mommy?" Nicole asked holding up the pinecone.

"I think pinecones are a great idea" Sara said with a smile.

The twins gathered some more pinecones and placed them in a bag. Sara and Danielle cut some small evergreen branches and put them in the bag. As they continued their walk Danielle came across a bush that had reddish brown color branches. She cut a few of them off and added them to their collection along with other stuff to help decorate the cabin.

As they headed back inside Danielle helped the twins decorate while Sara went back to helping Hannah with the kitchen. Danielle and Nicole put some of the evergreen branches and other stuff on the fireplace mantle. Much like Michael, Nicole was a perfectionist and everything had to be in a curtain place. It got to the point she was driving Danielle crazy so Danielle left Nicole to do it her way. Danielle could only take Nicole saying "Your doing it wrong" so many time until she went to help Matt. Once Nicole was done and was satisfied with her work she joined her mom and Matt to bake cookies.

Outside in the forest Lincoln and LJ were having the same problem with Michael as Danielle had with Nicole. "How about this one uncle Mike?" LJ asked.

"LJ the tree is skinnier then you and all the needles are falling off it."

They continued walking and saw tree after tree and all Lincoln and LJ heard for Michael was "It's too small, It's too big, It's turning brown, it's too skinny, it's dying as we speak, I think animals are living in it."

Lincoln had had it "Michael! It's a Christmas tree, your not getting graded or judged on it so please can we just pick one" Lincoln was now on the his knees begging him.

Michael laughed "Fine, calm down drama queen" Michael walked a little further until a certain tree caught his eye "How about this one?"

"It's great" LJ and Linc said not even looking at the tree and got ready to chop it down.

Michael smiled "Actually"

"ARGH" Linc and LJ mumble as they dropped to the ground.

"I'm only kidding" Michael said laughing at the two of them.

Lincoln and LJ didn't find it funny, as they stood up and brushed the snow off themselves. Both Linc and LJ gave a laughing Michael an evil look. Finally they got to work, they let LJ do the honors of cutting down the tree and they all dragged it back to the cabin.

As the front door to the cabin opened Nicole and Matt came running to the door all excited at their dad, uncle and LJ brought in the Christmas tree. After Michael sat the tree in the corner of the living room, they all gathered to take a look. "Was it hard to find?" Hannah asked. Both Linc and LJ looked at Michael.

Sara saw the look they were giving Michael and laughed "So how many trees did you guys see until Michael picked one?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around Michael's waist.

"We lost count" Lincoln said. The whole room started laughing.

Matt came into the living room holding a basket of all the origami decorations him and Nicole made and they all decorated the tree together.

Once they had finished and Michael and Nicole were satisfied, Sara and Nicole brought in milk and cookies for everyone. They all gathered together, Michael and Sara sat on the sofa with Nicole on Sara's lap and Matt on Michael's lap. LJ and Danielle sat together on the small sofa and Lincoln and Hannah sat on the floor together. They started to tell Nicole and Matt stories about Santa Clause as they ate their milk and cookies and had both Nicole and Matt all excited for Santa's arrival.