The Wild Christmas of 2018 (part one of two)

Merry Christmas!!!! So far we’ve been enjoying our Christmas. We’ve been hanging out, cooing over Dovid, cooking and eating! It has been a nice quiet holiday. I’m missing getting to see family, of course, but it has been a nice day. 🙂

Anyway, for the last couple days I have been working on a short story for today! (It ended up being about 20 pages long, so I will do half of it today and half tomorrow!) This is the first adventure in my new series “Adventures of a wildly fun family”. Their stories will be popping up every now and again here on my blog! Anyway, I’ll stop chattering now and let you read the story! 😉

The Wild Christmas of 2018

“MOOOOM!” A scream came from Kristina’s bedroom. “HEEEELP MEEEE!”

Mary Wild, who was in the kitchen cooking, left the stove and raced up the stairs to her daughter’s bedroom.

“What’s wrong, Kris?” she asked franticly.

Kristina was standing on her bed, with her blanket pulled tightly around her feet. Her eyes were wide with fear.

As soon as Mary saw that her daughter wasn’t seriously hurt, she looked around the room in confusion.

“Why did you scream, Kris?”

Kristina pointed to a tiny spider on the wooden floor. “It’s going to kill me, Mom! You’ve gotta get it before it gets me!”

Mary sighed and silently removed the spider. Then she turned to her daughter. “Really, Kristina, you are ten years old. You don’t need to scream every time you see a spider. What if there is a real emergency and I thought you were just fooling around?”

“But Mom, this was a real emergency!” Kris cried. “Mark told me that there are poisonous spiders that can KILL people! I’m sure that this spider was out to eat me!”

Mary sighed and shook her head. “I’ll be having a little talk with your brother. And Kris, next time you see a spider, don’t scream. We don’t have poisonous spiders in this house.”

“I’ll try to remember, Mom.” Kris promised.

“That’s my girl.” Mary kissed her daughter’s forehead. She glanced around the room. “And now you can clean up this mess. When was the last time you cleaned your room?”

“Umm…well…” Kris hesitated. “I can’t really remember.”

“That would explain the half-eaten piece of pie from thanksgiving sitting on your dresser.”

Kris laughed nervously. “Woops, I forgot about that. I think I meant to throw that away a month ago.”

“I told you no food in here, Kris!” Mary sighed. “If you don’t start obeying, your dad and I are going to have to start cracking down.”

“I’ll start cleaning my room right now, Mom!” Kris said promptly. She jumped off of her bed and started to pick up the dirty laundry scattered all of her room. Mary smiled at her daughter’s sudden inspiration to clean. Suddenly, Kris stopped and sniffed the air. “Hey mom, do you smell that? It smells like something’s burning!”

Mary gasped. “Oh no! The cake!” She raced out of the room and towards the kitchen. A few moments later, she was taking a very charred vanilla cake out of the oven.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Mary moaned, looking at the inedible cake. “My parents will be here in an hour and I still need to finish dinner! I don’t have time to make another cake!”

A young boy wandered into the kitchen and joined his mom in staring at the black mound sitting on the counter.

“What is that, Mom?” the boy asked. “I hope we’re not having that for supper.”

“It used to be a cake, Mark.” Mary sighed.

“Really? I thought maybe you were making coal to put in Kris’s stocking for Christmas!” Mark laughed.

“Thanks Mark.” Mary said. “Maybe I’ll put some coal in your stocking this year.”

Mark stepped back a few steps. “I was just kidding, Mom. That thing somewhat resembles a cake. I’m sure if you covered it with lots of icing no one would mind.”

Mary shook her head. “Mark, I want to talk to you about some things…First of all, what have you been telling your sister about spiders?”

Just then the doorbell rang.

“Oh, I better go get that! It’s probably Grandma and Grandpa. They must be early again! Bye Mom!” Mark raced out of the kitchen, happy for a quick escape.

Mary followed Mark to the living room. Her parents, Amanda and John Miller, had just stepped inside. The snow outside fluttered down quietly and covered everything in a thin blanket of white.

“Welcome Mom and Dad!” Mary hugged her parents quickly. “You’re early!”

“Yeah, well we thought we’d get started a bit sooner so that we could spend a bit more time together.” Amanda laid a heavy suitcase down on the floor and shook the snow from her coat.

“That’s great!” Mary said with a forced smile. She glanced around at the half clean living room that was supposed to be fully cleaned. “I haven’t really finished much of the food preparations yet, so you both can just spend some time with the kids while I finish dinner. We’ll eat as soon as Bruce gets home from work.”

“That sounds lovely, dear.” Amanda said. “Do you want me to help you in the kitchen?”

“Oh no, that’s okay.” Mary answered quickly. “You just spend time with the kids.”

“She doesn’t want you to see the cake she burnt.” Mark interjected.

“Thanks for reading my mind, Mark.” Mary sighed and quickly disappeared into the kitchen.

Mark smiled at his grandparents. “I’ll take your suitcases to your room for you!” he picked one of them up. “Wow, this sure is heavy! What’s in this?”

John smiled. “Maybe it has something for you and your sisters.”

“YES!” Mark shouted. “Let me carry this one!”

“Oh wait,” John said, “that one just has clothes in it. This one here that I’m holding has the presents in it!”

“Grandpa!” Mark laughed.

They made their way to a small guest room that was the only bedroom on the first floor of the house.

“So, where are your sisters? I haven’t seen Emily or Kris yet.” Amanda asked when the baggage had been carefully set down in the guest room.

Mark shrugged. “I don’t know. They around here somewhere. Probably in their rooms. I’m surprised they haven’t come to say hi yet. They should have heard you come in.”

“Well, we can go up to their rooms and see what they’re up to.” John suggested.

“Sounds fine to me!” Mark said.

Amanda plopped down on the couch. “If you don’t mind, I’ll just sit here for a while. Driving seven hours has worn me out!”

“Sure Grandma!”

Mark and John ascended the stairs. A racket played loudly upon their ears.

“What is that?!” John shouted over the noise.

“I have no idea!” Mark stuck his fingers in his ears and advanced towards his older sister’s room, where the loud noises were coming from. “Come on, Grandpa!”

Glancing in Kris’s room as they past, they saw that it was deserted. Emily’s room was at the very end of the hallway. As they approached, the noises grew louder and louder.

Finally, Mark and John reached the end of the journey. Sticking their heads through the open door, they saw a strange sight. Twelve-year-old Emily was sitting on her bed, singing as loud as possible. Kris was standing before her, using two pans as a musical instrument. She was also singing. Both girls had their eyes closed and their heads thrown back.

“WHAT ARE YOU BOTH DOING?!” Mark screamed as loud as he could and hoped that his words would find their way over the ruckus and to his sisters.

Somehow, they did. Emily stopped singing and stared at them with her mouth open. Kris dropped the pans and hid behind her older sister.

A deep crimson flushed Emily’s face when she saw her astonished brother and grandfather standing at the door.

“Oh, hi Grandpa!” she said awkwardly. “I didn’t know you were here yet. How long have you been standing there?”

John laughed and rubbed his ear. “Long enough to see your little…uh…band in action.”

Mark burst out laughing. “What were you doing?” He glanced at the pans that lay on the floor. “Kris, Mom isn’t going to be happy that you’ve been using her pans as drums.”

“I was using them as cymbals, Mark!” A muffled voice said from behind Emily’s back. “You won’t tell Mom and Dad, will you?”

Mark laughed. “I think it’s my duty as a brother to tell them! They’ll think it’s hysterical!”

Kris sighed, remembering the talk with her mother earlier. “I don’t think they’ll think it’s quite as funny as you do.”

“What were you doing anyway?” John asked.

“It was Emily’s idea!” Kris said quickly.

“Kris!” Emily gasped. “Don’t tell them that!”

“Sorry!”

Emily sighed. “Okay, so it was my idea. I wanted to have a little band with Kris. Maybe we got a little carried away…”

“A little?” Mark laughed. “You got more than a little carried away! And you defiantly need to improve your band. My first suggestion would be to get some real instruments.”

“We already tried.” Kris said, sticking her head out from behind Emily. “We asked Mom if we could buy some but she said that they’re too expensive. So we had to compromise. Hi Grandpa.” She ran over to her grandfather and gave him a big hug. “I’m glad you came! How long do you get to stay?”

Grandpa smiled. “Well, we’ll stay today –”

“Which is Christmas Eve.” Mark put in.

“I always wondered why they call it Christmas Eve. Why not Christmas Adam?” Kris mused. “What were you saying, Grandpa?”

Grandpa smiled. “We’ll stay tomorrow as well and leave on Wednesday.”

“Which is the day after Christmas.” Mark added.

Grandpa nodded. “Yes. We wanted to be here with you for the holidays.”

“I’m sooo glad that you came!” Kris laughed and hugged her grandfather again. “I’m going to go see Grandma! Bye!” She bounced out of the room.

Emily smiled at John. “Can you just erase this whole scene from your mind?”

“I can try, but I’m not sure it’ll work.” John smiled back.

“I certainly won’t ever forget this!” Mark laughed. “This is the funniest thing that you’ve done yet! Oh wait, no, it isn’t the funniest thing. Remember when you and Kris thought it was a good idea to try to unclog the toilets using toothbrushes?”

“That was a long time ago!” Emily cried. “And you were right there with us!”

“Toothbrushes?” Grandpa looked quizzically at his young grandchildren.

“Never mind, Grandpa.” Emily said. “We should probably go see if it is supper time.”

Grandpa laughed loudly. “That sounds like a good idea!”

They all walked downstairs. They saw Amanda and Kris chatting in the living room. Just then the door opened and a man stepped through. He shook the snow off of his hat and took off his boots.

“I’m home!” He called.

“Daddy!” Kris jumped off the couch and into her father’s arms. “Grandma and Grandpa got here early!”

Bruce smiled at his little daughter. “I’m glad they got here safely.” He glanced towards the window. Everything was already dark outside. “They think we’ll have a big snow storm coming through here tonight.”

“Who are they, Daddy?” Kris asked.

Bruce laughed and tousled her hair. “Now that’s what we all wonder, don’t we?”

After greeting his in-laws, he went into the kitchen to see how his wife was doing. He found Mary standing in front of the stove, near tears.

“What’s wrong, Love?” He asked.

Mary started crying. “Everything! Mark scared Kris. Kris screamed about the spider and I went to kill it. And the cake got burnt and then I started supper and added too much broth to the soup and then I remembered that my mom hates soup! And so I got decided to make mashed potatoes and fried chicken, but I didn’t have enough potatoes and I burnt the chicken and –”

“Calm down, Mary!” Bruce said. “I can’t understand a word you’ve said! A spider and burnt food? Calm down and start from the beginning.”

Mary took a deep breath and began to explain her afternoon. After she had finished, she started crying again and added, “And now everyone is hungry and I don’t have anything to feed them!”

“We could call out for pizza.” Bruce suggested.

“You sound like Mark.” Mary managed a smile.

“So that’s where he gets it from!” Bruce chuckled. “But seriously, we could go out to eat tonight.”

Mary nodded wearily. “Might as well. I think today is just a bad cooking day for me.”

“Let’s go make the announcement to the kids.” Bruce took his wife by the hand and led her to the living room. “I don’t think they’ll complain.”

“Hey Mom, are you okay?” Kris asked, as her mother entered the room. “Your eyes look a little red.”

Mary smiled. “I’ll be fine.”

Bruce cleared his throat. “We thought we’d go out to eat tonight, if that’s fine with everyone.”

“YES!” Kris and Emily shouted together.

Mark smiled brightly. Then he looked at his mother and said, “Hey, what were you doing in the kitchen all afternoon? I hope you weren’t playing video games!”

Bruce looked sternly at his son. “Mark, I don’t want you to talk to your mother like that.”

“I’m sorry, Mom.” Mark said, somewhat shamefaced.

“I forgive you, Mark.” Mary smiled and patted his head.

“Where are we going to eat?” John asked.

Bruce shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. Where do you guys like eating?”

“I want to go eat at a buffet!” Kris said happily.

After much debate, and some angry outbursts from Mark and Kris (when the seafood restaurants were mentioned), everyone finally agreed on going to Culvers.

“Okay kids, let’s head out to the car! We can all fit in our van!” Bruce called.

A few hours later, the family returned home after a nice meal. It had already begun to snow heavily and they were all thankful for the warmth of the house.

“I’ll go make some hot chocolate for our dessert.” Mary said after she had taken her coat off.

“That sounds wonderful, dear, thank you.” Bruce said.

“I’ll come help you, Honey.” Amanda said.

Mary and Amanda disappeared into the kitchen. Bruce and John settled down on the couch to talk. The three Wild children sat down on the carpet to have an in depth talk about the use of the rest of their evening.

“I think we should have a board game marathon!” Kris suggested brightly.

“Nah, I’m looking for something with a little more excitement.” Mark said.

“We could stay up all night and play music and…do fun stuff…” Emily said.

Mark’s eyes lit up. “You know, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea!”

Emily blinked. “I was joking, Mark.”

“But I wasn’t!” Mark said, jumping to his feet with excitement. “We need to plan!”

“Plan for what?” Emily asked.

“Our great Christmas adventure!” Mark shouted enthusiastically. “We are going to stay up all night!”

“Define all night….” Emily said unenthusiastically.

“You know, we stay up the entire night. We don’t go to sleep until tomorrow night.”

Kris gasped. “But you told me that people die without sleep!”

Mark scratched the back of his head nervously and hoped that Bruce hadn’t heard. “Kris, we don’t die because we missed one night of sleep.”

Kris still looked suspicious. “Fine, I’ll do it. But if you start looking pale or start fainting, then I’m going to sleep right away.”

Emily interrupted. “Hey guys, I’m sure you both are really excited to stay up all night long, but tomorrow is Christmas Day. If we’re all exhausted and grumpy, then we won’t have any fun!”

Kris nodded and looked at Mark. “She has a good point, you know.”

Mark smiled. “What better way to welcome Christmas in than to stay up all night playing loud music and keeping everyone awake?!”

Emily sighed. “I really don’t think we can stay awake all night.”

Mark took that statement as a challenge. “Watch me!”

Emily sighed again. “Well, I’ll do it. I guess it could be kind of fun! But we still have to ask Mom and Dad.”

“I’ll go ask them right now!” Mark said, jumping up.

“I’ll help you!” Kris said, getting to her feet.

“Wait guys!” Emily held up her hand. “If you want this plan to work, you two had better just sit down. I’ll go ask Mom and Dad.”

A few minutes later she returned with a triumphant smile on her face.

“What did they say?” Mark questioned eagerly.

“They said that we could do it!” Emily squealed with delight. “They asked what we planned to do and they said no loud music.”

“Oh no!” Mark cried.

“They also said no movies.”

“What are we supposed to do for fun?” Mark wailed.

“They said not too many snacks because they don’t want us sick on Christmas.”

Kris gasped. “Not many snacks?!”

“No science experiments. No using the stove. No making a fire in the fireplace. No peaking at the Christmas presents.”

“But they said no to all the fun stuff I was planning to do!” Mark looked distressed.

Emily continued. “They said that we have to be quiet because all of the adults will be sleeping. If we wake them up more than three times, they said that we’ll have to go to bed.”

Mark jumped up and down. “This is going to be so much fun! I can’t wait! I am going to stay up until tomorrow night!!!”

Kris yawned. “Hey, can I take a nap before our big night? I’m feeling kind of tired already.”

Emily giggled. “Sure Kris. Lay down for a while.”

“Thanks Emily.” Kris mumbled sleepily. She grabbed a couch pillow and lay down on the floor. In a matter of minutes, she was off in dream land.

For the next few minutes Mark and Emily talked and planned for the night ahead of them. Then Bruce called everyone into the living room.

Once everyone was settled on various pieces of furniture, Bruce said, “I know that everyone is excited for this Christmas.”

“I know that I am!” Mark laughed.

“Thank you, Mark.” Bruce said, secretly hoping that he would be able to finish his little talk without too many interruptions from his talkative son. “It’s easy to forget what Christmas is all about. We get so wrapped up in the gifts and the lights and the food that we forget why we celebrate Christmas. We celebrate Jesus’s birth and his coming to the world to save us from our sins! I want to read about his birth right now.” Taking a bible from the coffee table, he turned to Luke chapter two and proceeded to read it aloud. “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with angel a multitude of heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” Bruce laid down the bible and looked tenderly at each of his children. “We’ve heard this story so many times that sometimes we forget how important it is.”

John nodded. “This was God coming to earth for us.”

Emily’s face was serious as she said, “I think God really loves us. If he was willing to live in this world and then to die the terrible death on the cross for us, I think that shows that he loves us.”

“I agree with her.” Mark added solemnly. “God really cares about each part of us.”

Mary smiled. “You know, Mark, I’ve never heard you say anything like that.”

Mark smiled. “I think about it all the time, I just don’t let on much.”

“Maybe you could let on a little more!” Bruce ruffled his son’s hair. He turned to John and Amanda. “Well, I think Mary and I are going to head to bed.”

John stood up. “Yeah, I think Amanda and I’ll get some shuteye, too.”

After saying goodnight to their kids and grandkids, Amanda and John headed to their bedroom.

“Goodnight Dad! Goodnight Mom!” Mark said brightly. “We’ll see you after you get up in the morning!”

“Goodnight, Emily and Mark.” Mary said. “I hope you won’t regret this!”

“I never regret my choices!” Mark laughed.

Emily glanced at her brother. “Mark, just about every time you make a choice like this, you regret it.”

Mark hung his head. “Well, I hope this one will turn out better than the last one…or two…or ten…”

“Or twenty!” Emily laughed.

Mark growled. “Don’t rub it in.”

“Goodnight kids!” Mary and Bruce called once more.

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Uh oh! What’s going to happen to the kids?! Find out tomorrow! 🙂