Dina picked up the boys and together they rushed home to bake cookies for the school concert.
“I made an angel for Mom for Christmas,” Kazu whispered to his brother when their mother was out of the room.
Gustavo looked up from the dough he was shaping into a bell with a cookie cutter.
“You did?”
“Yeah, I made her one from paper mache at school.”
Gustavo thought of the orange and clove pomander ball he’d made for his mother and felt sad. He wished he too could give her an angel for Christmas.
Julio came home to a house was filled with the sweet scent of sugar cookies. Claire and Mitsuo joined the family for dinner before they all headed to the boys’ school.
Despite feeling disappointed earlier about the angel, Gustavo was proud to have both his parents and grandparents at his first school concert. The kindergartens sang “Up on the Rooftop” and Gustavo was one of the sleigh bell ringers. It was also Kazu’s first time playing in the school recorder band.
“I must say I’ve never heard “Ode to Joy” done quite like that,” Claire whispered to Dina while clapping heartily.
The family came home late from the concert, filled with too many cookies and too much punch. Julio carried Gustavo, still clutching a candy cane, into the house since he’d fallen asleep on the car ride home. After they’d gotten the boys into bed, Dina and Julio collapsed on the sofa.
“Brr…” Dina snuggled closer to Julio. “At least the cold weather sets the mood for Christmas.”
“You know, I never really got that. There wasn’t snow in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. It probably wasn’t even that cold,” Julio said. “Yet, we make such a big deal about a white Christmas. What’s that about?”
“Well, in a lot of places it does snow at Christmas time.”
“But, the holiday isn’t about the weather,” Julio went on. “It doesn’t even snow here and everyone’s decorating with fake snowmen and snowflakes and icicle lights…”
“Is the Grinch back?” Dina asked him.
“It was just an observation.” Julio said, putting his arm around his wife and giving her a squeeze.
“Still, I wish we could light the fireplace,” Dina mused.
“The spare the air alert is still on?”
“Yeah.” Dina sighed, staring into the cold, dark fireplace.
**********************************************************
In Tennessee, Arella Washington answered the door to let in one of her most faithful customers. Meery Fulton had been buying Arella’s fruitcakes for almost two decades. The price of the cakes had risen over the years, but Merry was happy to pay the higher cost to send her son in California his annual fruitcake.
And, everyone said that Arella’s was the best.
Merry packaged the cake as soon as she got home and then hurried to the post office. The fruitcake was on its way that afternoon. Mary smiled contently, knowing she’d fulfilled her yearly obligation. Still, she wondered how anyone could like fruitcake.
To be continued December 16...
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