Tuesday

Lynn Sr. groggily rubbed his eyes as he slowly woke up. He suppressed a yawn as he sat up. Rita and Lily were still asleep, the blankets covering them rising and falling slowly. He took care to not wake them up as he put on his day clothes. He quietly stepped out into the hallway and took an elevator downstairs.

He walked into the diner passing by the tables he had cleaned up from the previous day. He stepped into the kitchen and began to make toast for the entire family. The kids slowly came into the diner and took their seats. He kept glancing over his shoulder as he worked, half expecting them to start fighting over something.

He placed the plates onto a cart and rolled it out to the table. He began placing the food out for everyone, except for him and Rita. He took their meals and set them down at a separate table. He then waited at the door for his wife to come down.

When she came down holding Lily he greeted her warmly. "Good morning Rita."

"Good morning Lynn," she replied.

"I can take Lily off your hands," he said. She passed her off to him. "I wanted to talk with you, away from the kids, over at that table." He took Lily and set her down at the high chair with the rest of the kids. He then walked back to his table where Rita was already eating.

"So what'd you want to talk about?"

He pulled out his chair and sat down. "I'm a bit concerned with where this vacation is going."

"Well what's bugging you?"

He glanced over at his children. "It's the kids. They just haven't been getting along."

"What do you mean?"

"Well there was Junior on Sunday with her packing day and then yesterday I gave the kids gingerbread house to decorate. I leave them for a little bit and I come back to see them storming off with most of the house's in pieces." He stopped to take a rejuvenating sip of coffee. "I'm just worried that we're starting off our vacation on the wrong foot with the kids at each other's throats."

Rita thought about it before giving him a response. "Try giving them something they can all work on together, something festive to fit in with the Christmas spirit. That should righten the mood."

"Good idea, thanks for the advice. I'll come up with something."

"Happy to help," she said as she pushed her chair back and stood up. "I'll be up in the conference room. Thanks for breakfast."

"No problem honey," he said as she pecked him on the cheek. He watched her leave the room as he ate the last scraps of his meal. He took both of their plates and scrubbed them off in the kitchen sink. He looked at the kids one last time before walking out of the diner and up to his room.

Lincoln patiently waited as his sisters finished eating their breakfast. Lily was the last to finish, leaving a small glob of apple sauce on her face that Luna wiped off with a napkin.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" he asked.

"We have snow-thing planned for today," Luan punned.

"Any ideas, anyone?"

"We could partake in activities outside, including enjoying the vast forests of Michigan that encompass the hotel before the winter storms make such ventures very difficult," Lisa suggested, holding out a miniature clipboard and pen. "I'm compiling a full list of things to do for reference."

"Uh, I'm kind of grounded. Dad told me I had to stay in the hotel."

"Don't worry dude, the 'rents won't be that angry if you bend just one rule."

"Luna, that is one of only three rules I was grounded with. He also made a point to say that I couldn't interact with snow in any way or do sports."

Lisa made an annoyed grunt. She scribbled out her list before crumpling the paper up and onto the table.

"You guys can go ahead without me, I can just stay h-,"

"No, we can include you in something. It's Christmas vacation after all, family time. We'll think of something to do together."

He pushed his chair out and took his plate to the kitchen counter. They cleared off the table before gathering once more.

"So, we take an hour to think of something to do then we come back together?"

"Yeah, see you all then." They all dispersed and went their separate ways. The twins got on the elevator and waited as they ascended.

"So, any ideas?" Lana asked.

"I would ask to decorate but because of how stylish this place was to begin with, how we've used up all the Christmas decorations and how poorly yesterday went I don't think it's a good idea."

"Yeah, let's not do that. How about hide and seek? We have the whole hotel to use."

"That's not a bad idea. I think we should do it."

"Wish I had thought of that five minutes earlier. Now I'm going to have to wait."

The door opened up to their floor and they walked along. "I wouldn't worry about it. Now that you've come up with a good idea it's no work and all play for an hour!"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." She swiped her card in front of the handle and pushed the door open. Lola climbed up onto the bed and continued watching the movies she had accumulated before they came here. Lana sat down next to her bed and began playing with her Tonka trucks.

She alternated between the toy cars and fidgeting with her tools for the better part of the hour. She set down her wrench and looked over to Lola.

"Is it time to go yet?"

"Almost."

"I'm going to ask Dad where the room keys are kept so we can start playing right away." She stood up and walked through the door and turned towards the parents room. She raised her hand in a fist to knock on the door but noticed that it wasn't fully shut. She nudged it and it swung open.

She stepped into the living room of the suite. The only illumination was the muted sunlight filtering through the frosted panes of the sliding door. Her foot fall's were muted by the carpet as she walked further to find Dad.

She came to the doorway into the bedroom. Dad was sitting at the edge of the bed looking at the wall in front of him. He slowly turned his head towards Lana.

"Hey Dad!"

"Hey Lana."

"Do you know where the cards to all the rooms are? We're going to play hide and seek later."

"C'mere first."

"Okay Pops." She walked over to him and to her mild surprise he lifted her up and sat her down next to him. He put his arm around her in an oddly rigid one armed hug. "How are you doing Lana?"

"I'm doing fine." She felt uneasy with how flat his voice was.

"Good. That's good. I just want you all to have a good time."

"We are." He looked at Lana. She couldn't help but feel that there was something off about his face. It was the eyes, she thought. They were glazed over, as if they were focusing on the space between things.

"Dad, are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah. I'm just a bit sleepy. That's all."

"Why don't you take a nap?"

He slightly shook his head. "I can't. I need to think of something fun for all of us to do." His hug grew tighter. "I just can't think of anything."

"Well that's what I was coming in for, I wanted to ask where the employee cards are so we can play hide and seek."

"No, no, not that. Something related to Christmas Lana."

"How about a Christmas Tree? There's so many around us I'm sure they wouldn't mind if one went missing."

Dad looked down at her again. She saw as his face underwent an almost unnoticeable transformation as if waking up. "Lana, you're a genius," he said, life returning to his voice.

"Yeah, people keep telling me that," she said proudly.

"I'll go find some tool's. I'll be down at the lobby, want to help me pick out a tree?"

"I do!"

She jumped off the bed and ran out of the room. Entering her room she saw that Lola was already gone. She quickly pulled on her neon gray and yellow coat and boots before heading for the elevators. Dad was already there in his puffy coat calling an elevator. The doors slid open and they both stepped in.

The door slid open and they both walked outside. The snow was piled up to Lana's knee's around the perimeter of the concrete canopy. She leaned on Vanzilla as Dad went around to collect some tools.

She started picking dirt from underneath her fingernails when Lola came towards her. "Hey Lana, what are you doing out here? The rest of us are already in the diner."

"I'm going to help Dad pick out a Christmas tree."

"Oh that's nice, should I just tell them your idea?"

"Yeah. Just wondering, do you want to help?"

"No, I'm sure you and Daddy are more than capable of doing all the heavy lifting."

"Suit yourself. Wait, hold on, Pop's will be right back." After a few minutes Dad turned the corner dragging a slay.

"Hey Dad, where are the cards that open all the rooms?"

"Behind the desk at the front. Here," he removed the keychain from his pocket and tossed them to Lola. "Don't lose that."

"I won't, thanks!" She caught the keys and headed back inside.

"Ready to go looking for a Christmas tree?"

"Yeah! Can I hop on the sled?"

"Of course."

She climbed over the side of it and sat down in the back of it. Dad began pulling the sled onto the snow heading towards the tree line. The sled rolled over a knot from one of the tree's roots, knocking a hatchet out from under the railing into the middle. Lana eyed the glinting edge and reached her hand down to grab it.

"Don't touch that, it's very sharp. Just kick it by the handle back under."

She nudged it with the toe of her boot back under the railing and they continued on. They eventually came within sight of the river. The sled came to a stop and Lana stepped out of the sled.

"Try finding one that can fit in the lobby," Dad said.

She walked along the shoreline looking up and down the line of trees with Dad trailing behind her with the sled. After passing by a few dozen tree's she found one. Fraser fir, about a foot taller than Dad and about Lynn's height in width.

"This one Dad, it's perfect!"

"It is. Stand back," he said as he picked the hatchet out of the slay. Lana stood back as he stepped up to the tree. He swung the hatchet back before swinging it into the tree's base. He dislodged it before striking again. The tree wobbled before falling over after another few cuts.

"Wow Dad, you're really something with that ax!"

"Huh, I guess I am," he said as he spun the hatchet around with the tip of his finger on the point. He had a glint in his eye and a small smile from how easily he had cut the tree down.

Lana started tugging at the tree. "Dad?"

He turned to her, still spinning the ax in his hand. "Yeah?"

"Can we put the tree on the sled?"

The glint in his eye disappeared. "Oh, of course." He put the hatchet back in the sled before helping Lana. They pulled the tree next to the sled before heaving it over. They both grabbed the reins and pulled the tree through the forest. They broke through the tree line and hauled it over to the hotel entrance.

"Okay, now we just have to shake off the snow before we bring it in."

"I'm on it!" She began rifling through the folds of the tree knocking off snow. "I'm done!"

"Let's bring it in." The doors slid open for them as they brought the tree inside the lobby. They looked around. No one else was there. Mom was still writing and Lana's siblings were in the middle of a hide and seek match.

"Where do we put it?"

"Right over here," Dad said as he dragged the tree next to the piano in front of the diner. He left Lana alone with the tree before coming back with a large plant pot. They slid the tree into the pot before putting it up against the wall.

"Now we just need to have it decorated."

"Yup. I'll go take down some of the other decorations for this. We can wait until we're all together to do it. That'll be fun right?"

"Yeah! I'll go find everyone!"

"You do that, I'll get Mom." They both separated to bring the family together.

Lynn Sr. and Rita watched as their children put the finishing touches on the Christmas tree. They had pulled a table out from the diner to use as scaffolding to put the golden star on top. Leni stood on it holding Lily as high up as she could as she tried to stick the star on top.

"Making a homemade Christmas tree was a great idea Lynn, look how happy they are."

"Well it was actually Lana's idea. I got stuck trying to think of something and she just handed me the perfect solution."

"That's my girl." Lily finally attached the star on top of the tree and her siblings cheered. Lynn Sr's heart swelled at the sight. There it was, the good Christmas times he wanted his family to have. The episodes of lightheadedness and drowsiness he had from earlier was forgotten in the face of his cheering kids.

He wrapped his arm around Rita's waist and she did the same.

"Merry Christmas Rita."

"Merry Christmas Lynn."