When Shane stepped into the spacious kitchen of the Hamptons mansion-cottage, he was immediately hit with the delectable scents of rosemary, fresh bread and maple syrup. Oh yeah, this was definitely one of his favourite holidays for the food alone. At the counter were Dave, Lanie and Meredeth with each one attending to a different part of the meal.

'Hey guys,' he called out in greeting, and they looked his direction with Lanie visibly disappointed.

'Where's the baby?' she pouted.

'With her mumum getting a nappy change.'

'Oh, okay then. What about your folks?'

'Elenia,' Dave chuckled as he rinsed the first batch of potatoes that would be for the French fry base of their gourmet poutine. 'Isn't it a common North American practice to greet the person coming into the room and not grilling him?'

'But...I wanna see the baby, it's been too long already!' Lanie pouted, hilariously so in Shane's opinion. 'And I wanna see his parents too, it's been too long for that too!'

Before Shane could pointed out they'd have a whole weekend to visit, Chaim and Shir entered into the kitchen with their eyes dancing.

'Sorry for the delay, we were distracted by your charming children, Doctor Parrish-Robbins,' Shir told her as she went to give Lanie a hug in greeting. 'Carey and Finn and Violet are so excited about their new little friend.'

'That is good to be happy about new friends,' Chaim pointed out, 'it means they have loving hearts and they also have good taste as it is my new little shani what makes them so dee-lighted.'

'Meredeth, what is we are doing now?' Ever interested in the kitchen work, Shir rounded the end of the island to find out what was in the works. 'Is the big supper tonight or tomorrow?'

'We are splitting it into two parts,' Meredeth replied, 'almost like a little Thanksgiving Chanukah.'

'How lovely. What is part one tonight?'

'Sweet potato, squash and pumpkin soup, maple-syrup glazed ham, crispy chickpeas, roasted asparagus and for our midnight snack, poutine. Oh and apple cider pound cake for dessert.'

'Poutine? What is that?'

'It's delicious, Shir,' Alexis replied, coming into the kitchen with Petra in her arms; the moment she was there, Lanie let out a little squeal.

'Ooo, hello hello hello pretty girl!'

'Who's that, is that Auntie Lanie with Auntie Meredeth and Uncle Dave? It sure is,' she said to Petra who burbled contentedly in her mother's arms as Lanie came bounding over.

'Oh, please can I hold her, Lex?'

The almost puppy-love in Lanie's eyes had Alexis giggling then letting out a little gasp as she saw Petra's mouth widened and turn up at the corners. 'Oh my god, she's smiling! She's smiling! Shane, look!'

'Hey look at you my little gem!' Shane pulled out his phone, snapped the pictures to capture the moment of his little girl's first ever smile. 'What a charmer, yes you are!'

'Come see Auntie Lanie.' With nimble fingers, Lanie plucked the baby from her mother's arms and tickled her tummy. 'Oh, you are such a pretty girl, yes you are! Yes you are!'

'Uh, Lanie,' Meredeth laughed, pointed to the station of veggies Lanie had so gleefully abandoned in favour of playing with Petra. 'We've got soup to make.'

'I'll take over.' Tugging up his sleeves, Chaim washed his hands and surveyed the station. 'I am no great food-mind like you, Miss Merry-Dot, but I am a soup-master. I taught it to my boy when I learned he was going to be in the United States for university. I told him, Scheine, you have to know how to make ham and pea soup to keep you warm in the winter after being in Israel for so many time.'

'Yes, we will watch Opa make soup won't we pretty girl,' Lanie cooed at Petra, then looked up at Alexis. 'I miss my kids being so small, it's fun to have a new one to play with.'

'And then you'll forget about Petra when Zane arrives?' Shane teased her, making the pretty doctor stick her tongue out like a teenager.

'Then it will be double the fun. Lindsay said that Zane is learning to put himself on his tummy now.'

'He's almost four months old. He'll be almost seven months at Christmas time, he might even be trying to talk by Valentine's Day.'

'No no no,' Alexis pouted playfully. 'Don't talk about the babies getting too big already.'

'Okay, Lex. We'll just enjoy how cute and tiny they are now.'

Lanie pressed a little kiss to Petra's forehead then grinned when she heard the feet outside the kitchen she recognized as belonging to her own treasures.

'Finn! We have to wash our hands first! That way we don't have any germs around the new baby!'

'Oh yeah! They don't have eye-moon systems yet right?'

'They do but they are still being built up, and it's an immune system. Say it with me. Eeee-mune.'

'Eeee-mune.'

Lanie went to the doorway of the kitchen, saw Carey ushering his younger siblings towards the water-closet just of the kitchen, pointed towards them. 'Those are my babies,' she told Petra, 'and they are a handful but I love them very, very much.'

'Blb.'

'Yeah, maybe, you might get one or two of your own in a year or so,' Lanie agreed, then looked up at Alexis with a wink. 'I bet your mumum and papa can't wait to try practicing for a little brother or sister.'

'Considering I feel like I'm still seven months pregnant, I think that part is gonna wait until I'm back to my normal self again.'

'Trust me girl,' Lanie laughed, looking over at Dave and feeling that little rush. 'Your man isn't gonna worry if you think you're too big or small, he just wants to get his hands on you again.'

'Really?'

'A night at the movies says I'm wrong.'

'Deal.'