Summary ~ The story of the Christmas Eve traditions of the Carter family.

Disclaimer ~ Once again, nothing is mine. Well, actually, a couple people are mine, but, yeah, basically nothing is mine.

Author’s Notes ~ I wrote this in like, 20 minutes one night, but it turned out a lot better then I thought it would. It takes place about 10 years from now, give or take. This whole story is basically some romantic fantasy of mine. Hey, it’s a long summer, the reruns are taxing and the spoilers annoying. My mind wanders. I’m a Carby, I can’t help it.

Feedback ~ My life is very boring. My life is very simple. My life is nothing but one giant routine day in and day out. If you wish to give me one ounce of joy and break me from my routine for at least a few seconds please, please, please, please send me feedback about anything at all at greeneblob707@yahoo.com. My life is so pointless that hearing form you would give me such great joy. I’m begging you, tell me what you think.

Abby stood in the kitchen, rolling pin in hand. Her hair was a mess. It was tied back sloppily and several loose strands feel into her face. She was constantly blowing them away and brushing them back with her wrist. Her hands were covered in flour and cookie dough, and she desperately tried not to get some in her hair. Of course her attempts failed, but never the less, she still tired.

She must have been a funny site, covered in flour. She wore an apron Mary Elizabeth had given her for mother’s day. It was a cute little apron with a snowman on it. Abby loved it because it made her feel like a real mom. At that moment it was covered in flour and sugar and loose pieces of dough. She had flour on her face and sugar under her nails. She smelt like cinnamon and chocolate sprinkles. She was a far cry form the person she use to be. She was a far cry from the person at work. She was at home, baking Christmas cookies for her family. She was different when she did that.

Around her were stacks of finished cookies in all sorts of shapes and sizes. In between all the full cookie sheets were balls of dough or cookie cutters. Sprinkle containers and cookie jars. The sink was full of dirty pans and silverware. It was more work then she ever imagined it would be. And she did it all herself. She ran around constantly taking one cookie sheet out of the oven and putting another in, or making room on the cooling racks for the new batch of cookies. It was a lot of work for one person. But she liked it in some odd way.

Just as she was taking the last batch out of the oven she heard a voice yell, “Cookies are done! Mommy got the cookies done!” Abby swung around to see Mary Elizabeth standing in the doorway with a huge grin plastered on her face. She was wearing the red and green stripped dress her grandmother gave her. Abby swore it made her look like a princess. She loved that dress on her daughter.

“No, no, I’m not done yet!” Abby said, placing the sheet on what little counter space she had left.

“Yes you are! The bowls are empty and the oven is off! You are done!” the little girl giggled.

Abby smiled and quietly wished her daughter wasn’t so smart all of the time. “Yes, but please don’t tell your-“ Abby was cut off.

“Maggie! John-John! Mommy got the cookies done!” Mary Elizabeth yelled running towards the stairwell.

Abby sighed and waited for the three children to come running into the room and start grabbing cookies. She braced herself for the ambush she was about to undertake.

“Cookies, cookies, cookies, cookies, cookies!” Maggie squealed, running past her sister and into the kitchen where she immediately began ransacking the jars of freshly made cookies.

“Mags, Mags, Mags, slow down!” Abby scolded teasingly while picking up the four-year-old.

“But mommy! I want cookies!” Maggie smiled.

“Yes, well, you can have cookies, just give mommy a chance to clean up.” Abby laughed, placing her daughter on the table.

Just then her two other children ran into the kitchen and began stuffing as many snowmen shaped cookies into their mouths as they could. Seeing her older siblings eating the delicious Christmas treats, Maggie hopped down from the table and began pushing her way through to the cookie jar. Abby sighed, giving up. She leaned against the refrigerator and watched her children scramble for the cookies. She chuckled a bit at the sight of the three of them.

Just then John walked in, and seeing the mess around him he smiled and said, “Hey, you made cookies!” Abby smiled and wiped her hands on her already messy apron. When he walked over to where the kids were and also began eating the cookies Abby laughed. Maggie clung to his leg and John-John began incessantly asking him all sorts of foolish questions. It was quite a site to see.

Seeing the mess they were making and knowing she would have to clean it all up she decided to ‘put her foot down.’ “Okay!” she stated, “Who ever eats cookies before mommy is totally finished gets to help clean up this mess!”

All four of them stopped in their tracks. Carter, who was about to put a cookie in his mouth, smiled and put the cookie back into the jar. The three children placed their cookies down on the counter and quickly swallowed whatever was in their mouths. Then, one by one, they left the kitchen and went off to play, eagerly awaiting the time when their mother would tell them she was finished.

Carter tried his best to sneak out of the kitchen so he wouldn’t have to help, but it was no use. Abby caught him. “John,” she said in a scolding voice, “Aren’t you going to help?”

“I didn’t eat any cookies.” He stated teasingly.

“No, but you did call me up from work today, requesting I make a whole bunch of cookies that would last till the new year.” She said, washing a large mixing bowl.

“What’s your point?” he asked with a laugh. With that she smiled and threw the dishrag at him, telling him to get to work. He reluctantly grabbed began cleaning up the flour covered kitchen, sneaking cookies when she wasn’t looking. Abby, of course, knew he was eating them.

This is how it was every Christmas Eve in the Carter house. Abby expected John to move his shifts around so he was working half of Christmas Eve and got New Years off. She expected him to call her mid morning to make sure she was making enough cookies. She expected the kids to storm the kitchen and make a mess. And Carter expected Abby to make him clean and he expected the kids to do no work. They were both happy with their Christmas traditions. The routine never got tiring. And they expected it never would.

“Did you get the costume?” Abby asked curiously.

“Of course, it’s in my car.” He said placing some bowls in the cabinets.

“Oh, thank God. Maggie has been asking me all day if Santa was going to be coming tonight.”

“You have no reason to doubt me. I have always gotten that costume before.” He said jokingly.

“Yes, but you have never waited till Christmas Eve to get it. I was worried the costume store would be out.”

“It’s okay, I have connections,” He laughed.

“Connections?” Abby asked, giving him a weird look. “What? Like a bunch of little elves or something?” she teased.

“Something like that.” They both went about tiding up the kitchen, and soon it began to look somewhat presentable again. Suddenly Carter asked, “Hey, tell me something. How come you never dress up as Mrs. Claus?”

Abby stopped what she was doing and looked at him. She put her hand on her hip and smiled to the side a bit. “Mrs. Claus? That would require me getting some sort of white wig and old lady glasses, wouldn’t it?”

“Well, not necessarily. Mrs. Claus could be a trophy wife or something. Nothing says she is old. Besides, I would like to see you dressed up as something.”

“Forget it, John. Besides, someone has to stay here with the kids.” She stated.

“Fine, hide behind your children.” He joked giving her a quick kiss and leaving the room. “Hey guys, mommy is done!” he shouted up the stairs.

The sound of several doors opening and shutting quickly and then six feet running down the hallway and the stairs made Abby laugh. As the children ran past her she felt as if she was going to be knocked over. She chuckled and left the room.

“Mommy, is Ella coming over tonight?” Mary Elizabeth asked sweetly.

“No, not this year, sorry sweetie.” Abby said, looking at her seven-year-old daughter.

“Why not?” Mary Elizabeth asked, giving her mother a pouty look.

“Because Ella is spending this Christmas in England!” Abby smiled.

Mary Elizabeth gave Abby an odd look and then John-John piped in by asking, “But mommy, how will Santa know where Ella is?”

“Yeah, won’t Ella’s presents be delivered to the wrong house?” Maggie asked curiously.

“No, see, Santa knows where everyone is all the time. So he is going to bring all of Ella’s presents to her in England. One Christmas when Mary Elizabeth was only a couple years old and John-John was just a baby, we spent Christmas in Minneapolis with Grandma Maggie, and all your presents were there! Because Santa always knows exactly where you are.” Abby explained smiling.

“I don’t remember that.” Maggie stated, crawling up next to her mother.

“Of course you don’t Mags! Because you weren’t born yet!” Abby exclaimed, pulling Maggie onto her lap.

“Yeah Maggie! You were not even inside mommy’s tummy yet! Right mommy?” Mary Elizabeth asked her mother grinning.

Abby nodded her head. “Mommy, when can we hang up our stockings?” John-John asked eagerly.

“Well, do you want to do it now or wait for daddy?” Abby asked looking at her kids.

“Now!” Mary Elizabeth said jumping up. “Lets do it now!” she said running to get the box where she knew the stockings were. Abby smiled and followed her daughter to the closet. Mary Elizabeth tried to reach up to the shelf where the box was located, but she couldn’t do it. Smiling Abby picked her up and Mary Elizabeth happily got the box down. She then scampered into the family room giggling all the way.

The children practically tore open the box and began searching for the stockings which had all of their names written on them. “Here’s mine!” Maggie yelled, grabbing the stocking out of the box. She beamed as she held it up to her mother, extremely proud that she recognized her name. “Look mommy! M-A-G-G-I-E! That’s me!” she squealed.

“Very good Mags! You want to put it up?” Abby asked grinning.

Maggie nodded her head eagerly and held her arms up, signaling for her mother to pick her up. Abby did so and carried her daughter over to the fireplace. John-John handed his mother the hook on which to hang the stocking on. Grinning a huge grin, Maggie happily and enthusiastically hung her stocking on the fireplace then hopped down. The other children followed. Mary Elizabeth then took her mothers stocking out of the box and handed it to her.

“Here Abby,” Mary Elizabeth said, putting emphasis on her mother’s first name. Abby smiled at her daughter and took the stocking and hung it next to Mary Elizabeth’s. She then took John’s from Maggie and hung it next to her.

“There!” Abby said taking a step back. “It’s perfect!”

“Yes! Perfect!” Mary Elizabeth smiled jumping up and down. “I can’t wait for Santa to come tonight and fill them up!” John-John nodded in agreement and Maggie started laughing in excitement. The children started bouncing around in excitement and Abby couldn’t help but laugh when Mary Elizabeth started to sing “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” and Maggie tried to imitate her.

Just then there was a knock on the door. Abby smiled at the kids, whose eyes were wide in excitement. “I wonder who that could be?” Abby said, trying to build excitement up. She walked towards the door and the children followed. Abby swung open the door to reveal Carter dressed in a Santa costume with a bag swung over his shoulder.

“Santa!” Maggie squealed. The other kids echoed her sentiments.

“Ho, Ho, Ho!” Carter said entering the house. One could clearly tell that it was indeed John Carter under the beard, but the kids bought it anyway. He sounded jolly enough and looked the part, so the kids were fooled.

“Mommy, mommy! It’s Santa!” John-John stated, as if his mother couldn’t see the man in the red suit.

“Yes I see! Wow, what are you doing here Santa?” Abby asked, trying to sound as surprised as she could.

“Well ma’am, as you know, tonight is my big night. And I wanted to stop by and say hello to these three special kids.” Carter said, picking up little Maggie.

“You came by just to see us?” Mary Elizabeth asked in awe.

“Of course Miss Mary Elizabeth. I come by every year to see the best behaved kids on my list.”

“Best behaved?” Mary Elizabeth questioned. “How can we be the best behaved? We get in trouble a lot!”

Carter looked at Abby who then laughed. “Oh, but that doesn’t matter. You were good all year! And you helped your mother out a lot, didn’t you?” he asked.

John-John nodded his head. “Did you bring us any presents Santa?” he asked tugging on the bottom of the red jacket.

“Of course I did!” He laughed, sitting down on the sofa and opening the bag. “I have special gifts for all of you!”

One by one he gave each of the children a gift. And each time he gave them a gift they became very excited. They tore open their gifts faster then Abby thought was humanly possible. Their faces lit up when they saw what they got. When they had each opened their gifts and began playing with them Abby sat down next to Carter. They both watched their children play with their new toys in excitement, and they both smiled. “Looks like you knew exactly what they wanted Santa.” Abby teased.

“Well, it’s easy when they give you lists.” Carter stated. After a few minutes Carter stood up and said, “Well you guys, I have to be on my way. I have lots of little boys and girls to visit tonight.” He swung the now empty bag over his shoulder and began walking towards the door.

“Thank you Santa.” Maggie said.

“You are very welcome little lady. You all be good for your mom and dad, okay?” They all nodded their heads, silently promising to be good. “Merry Christmas!” he said, leaving the house.

After Abby shut the door the kids began laughing again. “I can’t believe Santa always comes to visit us!” Mary Elizabeth stated. They immediately went back to playing with their new toys. They didn’t even notice when their father came in.

“Hey guys.” He said, standing next to Abby. “Where did you get this stuff?”

“Daddy! Santa came to visit us!” Maggie giggled jumping into her father’s arms. “He gave us all presents!”

“He did? Wow! He must like you!” he said in amazement. Maggie nodded her head in excitement. “Were you polite to Santa?” He asked his daughter.

“Yes, they were all very polite and thanked him for the gifts.” Abby said, rustling her daughter’s hair. The children played for a little while longer. Then Abby said, “Okay guys, it’s time for bed!”

“Aww, but mom!” John-John said, starting to protest.

“But nothing, you have to go to bed or else Santa won’t come with the rest of your presents.” Abby said, picking up the wrapping paper that was sitting on the floor.

“Come on guys, lets get some milk and cookies to leave out for Santa.” Carter said enthusiastically. The children’s faces lit up and they all scampered into the kitchen to get milk and cookies. Carter started to follow but Abby grabbed him and pulled him back.

She grinned and said, “Did I ever tell you just how cute you are when you dress up as Santa?”

“Well, once or twice.” He said giving her a kiss. She kissed him back and just at that moment Mary Elizabeth came in the room.

“Ewwwww!” She stated after a few seconds of watching her parents kiss.

Abby laughed and said, “Ew? That’s ew?”

“Yes! You aren’t aloud to do that at Christmas!” she pointed out, scolding her parents.

“Really? What about mistletoe?” Carter asked his daughter playfully.

Mary Elizabeth made a face and said, “That’s the only time you can kiss! But we don’t have any mistletoe so you aren’t aloud!”

Abby walked over to her daughter and said, “Well, I like kissing your dad, and one day you will find some guy and you will like kissing him too.”

“Yuck! I won’t ever, ever kiss a boy! That’s gross!” Mary Elizabeth stated making a face of disgust.

“That’s good, keep that attitude till your 25. It will save us a lot of trouble.” Carter said kissing his daughter on the head.

Both Abby and Mary Elizabeth laughed as he walked into the kitchen. A few minutes later Carter reappeared with John-John and Maggie in tow and a plate of cookies in hand. John-John had a glass of milk in his hands. They placed them on the table and Mary Elizabeth grabbed a mint and put it on the plate.

“Okay guys, bedtime for real now.” Abby said, picking up Maggie. “Lets go get you into your jamies and then we can read night before Christmas, okay?” Both Mary Elizabeth and John-John headed up the stairs. “Come on Mags, let’s go.” Abby said, heading up the stairs.

A few minutes later they were all gathered on John and Abby’s big bed. The children sat at the foot of the bed. They all snuggled under a blanket and waited as their mother and father got comfortable and prepared to read. After a few minutes Abby pulled out the book and the children’s eyes became wide. She cleared her throat and began to read in an enthusiastic voice, “‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse.”

The children listened with contentment and silent excitement. Their faces were filled with joy and they grinned ear to ear as Carter and Abby rotated reading. They seemed to be under some sort of spell.

Abby felt like she was in heaven. She felt like everything was right with the world. Most of her life she spent in fear and sorrow. But she didn’t feel that way any more. She felt perfect. She had three beautiful children and a wonderful husband. Everything was in place. She wanted to stay on that bed with the four of them and that book forever. She tried to savor every second of it, because she knew that one day soon the children wouldn’t believe in Santa Claus and they wouldn’t want to hear this story. She was living in the moment.

Before she knew it she was reading the words, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.” When she looked up from the book she noticed that Maggie was asleep and John-John was getting there. She chuckled a bit at the site. She put the book down and looked at Carter. He picked up John-John and she picked up Maggie. Mary Elizabeth got off the bed and slowly followed her parents down the hall and into her bed. Both Carter and Abby tucked them all in and gave them all a kiss on the forehead.

A few minutes later she found herself on the family room sofa, starting at the Christmas tree, which was adorned with homemade ornaments and colorful lights. To others it might have looked cheap or not elegant. But to Abby it was the most beautiful tree in the world. Not even the tree in Rockefeller Center could compare.

She helped Carter get the kids presents out and under the tree, and before she knew it she was ready for bed. She kissed Carter goodnight and climbed into bed. She snuggled under the covers and tried to warm her freezing feet. “Peace on earth, good will towards men.” She whispered under her breath.

She rolled over and looked at John. “Merry Christmas Abby.” He said, giving her a kiss.

“Merry Christmas John.” She said, kissing him back. “I love you.” she sighed.

“I love you too.” He told her back. She smiled and snuggled even deeper into her covers. She had never felt so comfortable or at peace in her life. That night had been the most perfect night ever. Christmas meant so much more to her now that she had a family. It had meaning, it had purpose. It was fun. She fell asleep that night excited about the next morning, and excited about next Christmas.