“Have a holly jolly Christmas…” JC sang to himself as he pulled the car loaded with a fresh Christmas tree and plenty of decorations into the cabin driveway. He punched in the code that automatically raised the garage door for him and pulled into the heated and dry garage.
Without shutting the garage door just yet, JC headed into the house and toward the sliding deck door. He would unlock it and then drag the tree around to that side of the house instead of taking it all the way through the house and leaving pine needles everywhere. Deciding it was closer to cut around the house, JC jogged down the deck stairs, but as he turned the corner, he was surprised as a snowball hit him on the shoulder.
He ducked down, unsure of who or what the threat was and how to respond to it. As he knelt in the snow, another snowball landed a couple feet in front of him. Then he heard the giggling and saw a flash of a bright pink hat and coat.
Stifling a large smile, JC lifted back to his feet and made a show out of brushing off the remaining snow flakes from his shoulder. “Wow, I’ve never seen snow flakes that big before. I had better get the tree into the house and the Christmas ornaments inside before any more snow falls.” He said in a loud voice. “But first I had better go check to make sure to take the coat off the snowman I made earlier. I may need that pink coat to keep warm tonight.”
He slid his hand along the railing, gathering up snow and discreetly forming it into a loose snowball as he stalked toward the pink hat. Getting closer he could also see a purple hat, much shorter, standing nearby. As JC rounded the fence row, scrambling could be heard then an all out war broke out. JC was hit from both sides with large snowballs. Some of them made their mark but so many more missed him completely.
Barely able to stand, JC was laughing so hard that he tried to throw back as many snowballs as he could in retaliation. The final straw came when the back of his shirt and coat were pulled away from his body and a large amount of snow was stuffed inside. Rolling away, JC jumped to his feet and immediately threw off his coat and tried to get the cold snow away from his skin any way he could.
“Uncle!” He yelled. “I call uncle!”
“Yes!” The two little voices screamed. “We won!” The two girls made their way out of their hiding spots and over to JC, celebrating their victory.
A deeper chuckle came from behind JC that he ignored for the moment. Giving Joey’s daughters huge hugs and kisses, he said, “I see that the two of you are following in your father’s troublemaking ways, I thought I was teaching you girls better than that. Would you girls like some hot chocolate while your ugly father hauls in the Christmas tree? If I ever get warm again, I want to get it decorated and put your presents underneath.”
Without missing a beat, the two girls ran toward the house hoping to search for their presents before the men came in.
Brushing his hand down his chest one more time to dislodge some snow, JC turned around and looked at Joey who was standing there holding JC’s coat.
“About time you showed up, man, the girls have been planning this for an hour while they waited on you to get here.” Joey held the coat as JC shrugged it on then slapped JC on the back with an exuberant hug.
“Aww, I bet you guys showed up right after I went after the tree – and what are you doing here anyway? I thought you guys couldn’t make it this year.” The two men headed toward the house, their long strides covering a lot of distance in the cold air.
“Change of plans, Kelly’s doing her family thing, so she sent us up here to get out of her hair I think. Where’s everybody else? I figured we’d be the last to show as usual instead of the first.”
JC simply shot Joey a look that spoke volumes. “Oh,” was all the Joey could say in response.
“Yeah,” JC said on a long sigh. “I heard from Justin earlier and he and Jess have plans; since Lance thought Justin was coming, he made other arrangements; and I haven’t heard from Chris since he called to tell me he was engaged.”
“So if you thought no one was coming, what’s the tree for?” Joey asked as he stomped on the deck trying to dislodge some of the snow from his boots.
Wincing, JC watched as a large puddle appeared under his coat as it hung on the coat rack. He shivered until Joey finally shut the door behind him. Already he could hear that the girls chatting excitedly upstairs in their room. While he couldn’t make out the words, he assumed they had found the new game he had left on a bed in the hope of their arrival.
“Christmas is still coming and I intend to celebrate with or without you - got a problem with that?” JC glared accusingly.
Holding his hands out in surrender, Joey spoke quickly, “Not at all, are we interrupting a private weekend?” His eyebrows rose and fell speculating. “When is the little woman arriving? Hmmm?”
With his back to Joey, JC filled a pitcher of water to make coffee. “That’s over, we broke up a couple weeks ago.”
A new voice piped in, “Who broke up? Don’t tell me that Justin and Jess are breaking up already.”
Swearing, JC swiped at the water that quickly swept over the counter from the pitcher he knocked over in surprise at the new voice. Chris merely chuckled as he watched JC scramble to wipe up the water before it cascaded to the floor.
Chris hopped up on the counter as he watched JC wipe up the spill. Joey sent a glare over JC’s head to Chris warning him not to pursue that particular topic of conversation.
What? Chris mouthed.
Joey pointed to JC then used his hands to illustrate a woman’s curves. Chris nodded his understood. At Chris’ nod, Joey drew a finger across his throat which caught JC’s attention then coughed deeply, pounding on his chest.
Dryly, Chris commented, “Joey is there something wrong with your throat? I think you really should see a doctor about that problem, although a silent Joey would be a nice change for once.”
Joey simply made a hand gesture in response.
“No, Chris, Joey is trying to tell you to mind your own business. Justin didn’t break up, I did. We just decided that she was sleeping with too many other men to continue the relationship. Her loss.” JC tossed the wet towel over his shoulder and into the sink, where it made a loud plop. “What are you doing here anyway? I haven’t heard much of anything from you since you got engaged. Where is she?”
“Not coming; she was going dress shopping with her mom and girlfriends and basically kicked me out of the house. They were turning it into a big girls only weekend and for the sake of my sanity, I escaped.”
Jumping off the counter, Chris twisted at the waist and smiled in satisfaction when his back cracked. “Where’s Lance, I thought he would beat me here and is there a reason that the door to the deck is standing open?”
“Oh crap, the tree!” JC immediately headed to the garage motioning for the other two men to follow. “Lance isn’t coming, he thought Justin would be here and planned to avoid the whole thing.”
Chris stopped in the doorway, puzzled. “I spoke to him this morning, he had his flight booked and was getting ready to head to the airport. Maybe his flight was delayed or he got caught up in some business, but I know he was planning on being here.”
The three men stood for a moment trying to decide the best way to get it into the house, when a crunch of tires had them distracted once more. A taxi was pulling to a stop as the men looked at each other in confusion. Soon a spiky head of hair made an appearance out the back door of the cab.
“Chris – you piece of crap!” Lance yelled as he slung his duffel bag over his shoulder. “You were supposed to pick me up, remember? My flight got in 20 minutes after yours and you were going to be my ride up here!” Lance slammed the car door and waited as the cab began to back down the driveway.
Chris’ face paled and he bit his bottom lip as he looked for an escape route. Seeing no good escape route, he darted behind Joey and JC, shoving them together to form a human barrier. “Hide me…you never saw me…I was never here.” He whispered in a loud stage voice.
Lance tossed his duffel onto the ground and placed his hands on his hips as he viewed his brothers standing together muffling their laughter. Together Joey and JC lifted their hands and shoved Chris forward where Lance immediately grabbed him and placed him in a head lock, ruffling his hair.
Releasing Chris, Lance in turn hugged the other two men.
“Apparently old age has set in for that one,” Lance pointed a thumb over his shoulder. “I always knew he would be the first to go, maybe we should tour some nursing homes while we are here.”
“I think I saw a cane around here somewhere, he might need that to make it around this weekend.” JC started
With good natured arguing, the men fought the tree into place where JC critically stood back and offered directions in straightening the tree until it was perfect.
He took a moment to watch the interactions and smiled to himself. Glancing out the window, he wished on the first star he saw. Christmas was almost perfect – all they needed was one more brother to make it complete.
