Kelsey's Christmas – Part 3

Oh, good morning FFFs,

I'm looking for a missing day or two. Can anyone tell me what happened to them? Has anyone seen them? No? Well, I guess they're gone for good. Sorry, because I was going to post on those days, but since they seem to have vanished without a trace, I can't. I'll try to get some other things up next week. I won't promise, but I'm going to try.

This week has not been good for writing. Why? Because every evening except Monday was busy. And Monday I did write. 

Tuesday the kids came over, and we made Christmas cookies! So much fun! And the decorating of them was quite something. And the sprinkles and sugar that ended up on the floor and all over the counter,  . . . well, you can imagine that, I'm sure.

Wednesday. I was scheduled to work in the nursery at church, but got someone to cover for me so I could spend time talking with my best friend before she heads up to Canada. She'll be gone until the middle of January! (Her twin sister is due to have baby #3 on the 20th!)

Thursday my grandparents came down, and we went out to eat to celebrate my dad's birthday. Then Grandma, Grandpa, and I went to a concert. It was lovely. It was a vocal group from Germany, and they sang Christmas songs! I loved listening to them talking, and hearing the old German folk songs was a delight. They did sing some English songs as well.

Tonight my brother, his wife and their kids are coming over to celebrate my dad's birthday with supper, pie, games, and fun. Dad and my brother are going to help the kids put up the electric train set around the Christmas tree. Dad had wanted to do that last year, but Miss Ti-K was too young. Now she's almost three, and the baby isn't mobile yet.

Tomorrow is empty! Maybe I can write then. :) I'll have to try as I really need to get somethings written.

And now, enjoy the next part of Kelsey's Christmas

    If Kelsey had thought things were wild before, they doubled as everyone scrambled to pull on gloves, find the hat someone else was wearing, or ran around trying to remember where they had laid their coat before hurrying outside. The younger girls were lifted into the back of the truck by Mike, Wally and Mr. McKenzie. The older girls climbed in, and with much laughing and chattering, they all settled themselves in the hay and wrapped blankets around themselves and the younger ones.

    “I don’t have to tell you to be careful, Mike,” Mr. McKenzie said.

    Mike shook his head. “No, sir. I’ve got precious cargo in this truck.” And he put an arm around Lauren who was the only girl not in the back. “I’ll bring them all back safe and sound.” He turned to Wally and held out his hand. “Keys?”

    “Already in the truck.”

    “Right. Come on, Lauren.”

    “Wally.”

    Kelsey turned and watched Wally step over to her father. She heard their quiet voices.

    “Watch out for my girls. Don’t let any of them do anything foolish. Penny is like Lottie, high strung and impulsive. I’m not so worried about the rest.” Mr. McKenzie held out his hand. “And have fun.” A smile crossed his face.

    With a grin, Wally shook the offered hand and replied easily, “Don’t worry, sir, I think I can manage. And if not, there’s always Mike.” Then Wally stepped up on the fender and swung his legs over into the back of the truck. “Let’s be off, James!” he called out.

    “That’s Mike, not James,” Penny giggled.

    “Well, I call all my chauffeurs, James.” And Wally leaned an arm on the tailgate with a look of some rich movie star. A sudden lurch of the truck make him grab the sides as he added, “Then again, I think maybe I’ll stick with Wally.”

    Merry shouts were called, and hands waved as the truck began to roll down the street under the cold, star-filled winter night.

    Zoe and Lottie started a popular Christmas song, and the other joined in. It would take a bit of time to reach the higher class neighborhoods where lights twinkled and winked on the outsides of the houses, and where large Christmas trees sparkled in the windows. Everyone was in such merry spirits that there was much laughter mixed with the songs.

    As Kelsey rode along, singing with the rest of them, with Belle snuggled beside her, she tipped her head back and looked up at the sky. Gleaming like diamonds on a velvet curtain, the stars shown down. Clouds, small ones, blown quietly in, played hide-and-seek with the small lights, first hiding them, and then letting them shine forth as they covered others. So enraptured had Kelsey become with the lights above her, that she didn’t even notice she had stopped singing.

    The hilarity had begun to wear off, and a silence fell on the back of the truck after the last lines of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” were finished. In the cab, Lauren sat beside Wally, his arm around her shoulder. Softly Kelsey began to sing, her clear soprano voice sounding sweetly in the night.

“O little town of Bethlehem,

How still we see thee lie;

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by;”

    Lottie and Marie added their voices in perfect harmony.

“Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee tonight.”

    The other joined in on the second verse and in the stillness of the winter night, their singing brought many folks to their windows.

“We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us,

Our Lord Emmanuel.”

    Mike rolled down the window and called back to them, “Do you want to do Main Street now or on the way back?”

    “On the way back,” Lottie and Zoe called.

    “Mike,” Kelsey called, “I think we’d better do it first. Some people might not be awake enough on the way back to enjoy it.”

    “Oh, I didn’t think of that,” Lottie exclaimed. “Do it now.”

    “Now it is,” Mike replied, and rolled up the window.

    “Are you cold, Belle?” Kelsey whispered.

    The little girl shook her head. “Are we going to see the toys in the shop windows? And the great big, huge Christmas tree Lottie told us about?”

    “Uh huh.”

    Soon delighted squeals and exclamations, elaborate sighs and cries of “look at that one!” and “oh, that is so pretty!” filled the back of the truck. Kelsey, forgetting that there were others in the old truck besides her sisters, let her natural reserve fall away and reveled in the sights as much as the little girls. It was a side of her that Zoe had only witnessed a few times, and Wally never.

    After twice driving completely around the city park where the massive Christmas tree stood in all its splendid glory, Mike headed into the residence of the upper class citizens. Oohs and aaahs, were the common exclamations, for everyone was too busy trying to catch a glimpse of all the marvelous lights at once to attempt any talking or singing.

    When Mike turned into a half-circle drive and approached a large house, Kelsey started up and would have stood had not Wally caught her arm and pulled her back down. “But what is Mike doing? Where are we?” she demanded, suddenly nervous.

    “We’re at our house,” Zoe explained quickly as Mike brought the truck to a stop. “Grandma has been wanting to meet you all, and my mom talked to your mom, and your mom said it was all right if we took a break here to warm up and visit Grandma. Now, come on.” Rising, Zoe dropped the blanket, brushed the hay off her clothes and offered her hand to Shannon who had been sitting beside her. “Brrr! It’s cold without that blanket!”

Have you ever ridden in the back of a truck in winter?

Do you like to go look at Christmas lights?

Do you enjoy singing?