Chapter 26: Dave

Sarah invited me over to her place for Christmas Eve; I guessed that she wanted me to be able to open presents Christmas Morning. She showed up that morning to help me carry the presents over to her house so we wouldn't have to come back to get them tomorrow. It took us a couple of trips to carry them all, Sarah grumbling that we would have to just take them out tomorrow.

We added my presents to the pile of her presents for us to move tomorrow, it was quite a stack. "Wow, there sure are a lot of presents here."

"Yes, but those are for tomorrow. Today is for us. So first things first, let's get you changed." She grabbed me from behind and carried me down to the nursery.

"So what do you have planned for us?" I asked.

"Well first a diaper and then we'll get you dressed. Then we get to bake Christmas cookies," she said as she was pulling off my clothes.

Naked, she lifted me up onto the changing table, powdered and diapered me. She set me down and helped me get dressed. This surprised me because usually I just wore one of my nighties around. We made a stop in the bathroom and she brushed my hair, it still wasn't quite as long as I normally wore it, but it was getting there.

We spent the morning baking cookies, half of which I spent in a wet diaper. We got every thing clean, except me. Well she washed my face and hands, but that was all. After lunch, spaghetti with a spoon, I was even messier than before. I think that she enjoyed watching me get messy while I ate.

She gave me a bath, and took me to get dressed. After a clean diaper, she told me that she had a treat for me, "Dave since tomorrow you can't get all dressy, I decided that you could today."

"What do you mean? I brought over some very nice clothes for tomorrow." I asked her.

"Yes you did, but those are boy's clothes, I'm talking about dressed up in a dress."

"I, ummm, I don't know what to say."

"Then don't say anything, let's just get you dressed." She turned around and pulled out a pair of white tights. Soon I was standing there in the tights; they felt a bit strange and squished my diaper. Next she pulled out a t-shirt, at least I thought it was a t-shirt. It didn't have any sleeves and was lacy, but it went on like a t-shirt.

Next she pulled what I thought was the dress over my head, but it looked too flimsy, "What's this?"

"That is a slip, girls' wear them underneath their dresses."

"Oh, what was that t-shirt thing?"

"That was a camisole."

"Boy, girls sure do have lots of underwear to wear."

She laughed a little, "Just be glad that you don't have to wear a bra too."

I felt my face get warm. I'm not sure, why but it did. "Ummm, yeah."

She opened the closet still chuckling a little, "And here is your dress."

She was holding a dark red dress, with white lace around the collar. The lace was very open and reminded me a bit of paper snowflakes. It looked very Christmassy.

Soon I was zipped into it and standing in front of the mirror. The dress came down to just below my knees, there was a wide shiny belt like thing around the waist that had a fake bow tied in back.

"One more thing, you need shoes," Sarah said.

We walked back to the living room, and Sarah showed me how to sit down while wearing the dress, and she fastened a pair of shoes on my feet. They looked a bit like the red ones that I had worn with my Dorothy dress, but these were a shiny black.

I stood up and spun around, "Dave you look very pretty, let me get my camera."

I waited while she got her camera, but as I waited I could feel my smile slipping away. I don't know why, but I was starting to feel sad. By the time Sarah came back, I just knew that I didn't look happy anymore.

"Dave, what's wrong?" Sarah asked me when she saw me.

"I don't know, I was just standing here and I started to feel sad. I guess it's because it's just me and you. There isn't anyone else to share it with."

Sarah knelt down next to me, "Dave do you really want to share what you look like with other people?"

"I'm not sure, but it seems to be such a waste to get all dressed up and not let anyone see me. Besides all I can do here now is sit."

She gave me a hug and said, "Well if you can wait for me to change we can go walk around the mall, but it's going to be crowded."

"That's better than sitting around here. Not that there's anything wrong with here," I said.

"Okay, I'll go change and you sit here and wait for me."

I went and carefully sat down, after grabbing the remote. Sarah went down to her room to change and I started flipping through channels. It had only been a couple of minutes, when there was a knock at the front door.

I froze, and Sarah yelled, "Can you get that?"

I realized that I had just volunteered to go to the mall, so answering her door shouldn't be a problem. I got up and walked over to the door. Pulling it open, I was nearly run over by Ashley. She came into the house and grabbed me in a bearhug.

"Ashley, I can't breathe," I gasped.

"Oops, sorry." She let me go and stepped back. Meanwhile Judy walked in carrying a coat in her arms.

I blushed, "Hello Judy."

"Hi Sissy, you look very pretty," she answered me.

I blushed even deeper, "Thank you, but what are you doing here?"

"Sarah called and said that you two were going to the mall, so Ashley and I decided to join you. Joe is working all day, and we were bored."

I looked over at Ashley, she had taken off her coat. She was wearing a very fancy dress also. It looked like a holiday dress, but was different from the one I was wearing. It somehow made her look a little older.

I thought about it and realized that there was no way that in the time that Sarah had been changing that Ashley could have gotten dressed that way. "You two had this planned, didn't you?"

She looked at me, "Yes, are you mad?"

"No, I... I'm glad that I get to share this with you, even if it was a set up."

"Good, although it was only kind of a setup. If you hadn't wanted to go out, Sarah would have just asked if we could come over and if you said no, then you two would have spent the afternoon alone."

"Oh, so Sarah did call you up?"

"Yes she did, and I brought you a present. This was Ashley's coat but she's outgrowing it and we got her a new coat. I doubt you have a coat that would go with that dress."

I giggled, "No I don't." I looked around for Ashley to thank her, but she was gone. Then I realized I could just hear Sarah's voice. Ashley must have gone down there.

"Let's go do something with your hair," Judy said, and led me down to the bathroom. She grabbed a brush and started to fix my hair. She made my hair more girlish looking, but it was still too short for my liking.

Ashley and Sarah came down the hallway, "Thanks for the coat Ashley."

"You're welcome," she said as she did a little curtsey.

Sarah looked at us and asked, "Are you two ready to go?"

"Yes," we both said, and we grabbed our coats. We walked out to Judy's car, waving to Deputy Wildler. He waved back. I don't think he recognized me.

We drove to the mall, and Sarah was right, it was crowded. I was getting nervous now, I didn't really like crowds. It took a while, but we found a parking spot and walked in. The crowd was bad, I grabbed Sarah's hand and held onto to it. I looked over at Judy, she had grabbed Ashley's hand. I'm not sure if she always held Ashley's hand, but it made me feel better.

We walked through the mall, looking at the Christmas displays, and all of the last minute shoppers. I was glad that I was done shopping. We were in the center court, watching the little kids riding the train and waiting in line to sit on Santa's lap. I looked kind of wistfully at Santa, wishing just a little that I could sit on his lap.

Sarah must have been paying attention to me. "The line is too long. Next year we'll make a special trip to come and see him," she whispered in my ear.

I turned and said back, "That's okay. I think I've already gotten my wish, even if I didn't know what it was before I got it."

I looked at her face and I could see that there were tears forming in her eyes. We continued around the mall ending up at the portrait studio, where I had my pictures taken over the summer.

Sarah turned, "Let's step in here."

Ashley said, "What? Why? Are we getting our pictures taken?"

Judy answered her, "Of course, how can get dressed up in your Christmas best and not have your pictures taken."

"But they're going to be busy," I said, guessing that they would be.

We walked in the man sitting at the receptionists desk greeted us, "Merry Christmas, may I help you?"

Sarah stepped up to the desk, "Yes, Sarah Johnson. I have an appointment for two girls. Portraits to be taken both separate and together."

"Yes, I have it right here. We're running a little late, it will be about 10 minutes."

"That's fine, I expected it," Sarah answered.

We took seats and looked around. They had sample portraits all around the room. I leaned over to Sarah, "How did you know to make an appointment."

"I was fairly sure that you wouldn't want to sit around, and I knew about when we'd be able to get here. So I made the appointment, if you hadn't wanted to go out I would have canceled it."

"Oh," and we sat and waited.

When we were called back, closer to fifteen minutes than ten, the photographer looked a little harried. The previous customer had been a toddler. He looked at Ashley and I, a slight look of distress on his face.

He asked who wanted to go first, and I spoke up. I figured that I would be just a little easier than Ashley since I wouldn't fidget nearly as much as Ashley. By the time he had finished with me, he had relaxed a bit; and Ashley must have taken her cue from me, because she didn't fidget much either.

The set of us together took a little longer, but the photographer seemed not to mind. It was my fault; I needed to pee badly and didn't want to go here. We finally finished and went to pick out which pictures we wanted made and what types. This took longer than taking the pictures. There were so many to choose from.

While we were deciding, I wet my diaper and let Sarah know. She asked me if I'd be okay, and I figured that I would be.

We left the mall and headed home. I gave Ashley and Judy a hug goodbye. Sarah led me back to the nursery where she, undressed me, and changed my wet diaper. We went to watch TV and enjoy each others company.

Sarah made dinner, something that wasn't messy for once. We went back to watching TV and talking. She even fed me another bottle of milk. When I started yawning she told me that I had already gotten two presents, but I had one more that I would get today.

She grabbed a present, it was wrapped in a Disney Christmas wrapping paper. I looked up at her and she said, "Rip it open."

I looked at it, and my eyes started tearing up. This was my first real Christmas present, the ones that my roommate hadn't really counted since we were just exchanging gifts and there wasn't any real feeling behind them.

Sarah scooted over and wrapped her arms around my shoulders, "It's okay Dave. Just rip the paper off."

I tore off the paper and opened the box, inside was a baby blue footed sleeper. I hugged her crying, "This feels like my first ever Christmas present. Thank you."

"You're welcome." She held me; I'm not sure for how long, but I was yawning again when she stopped. "Well, you look tired and pretty horrible, so let's get you ready for bed."

She picked me up and carried me off to the nursery. She undressed me and checked my diaper before I could tell her I was still dry. Then she dressed me in my new sleeper. I almost started crying again when she told me that was why I got to open it that night.

We went and washed my face and brushed my teeth, I felt a bit better then. Before I could I start to head back to the nursery, she had picked me up again and carried me back. She set me into the crib and wound up the mobile. The next thing I knew it was morning, and I was wet.

I sat in the crib and tried to figure out when I had wet my diaper. I hoped that I hadn't done it in my sleep. I was sitting there thinking when Sarah walked in. "Sarah, I woke up and my diaper was wet."

"Well what did you expect?"

"But I've never wet my diaper in my sleep before!"

She started laughing, and I felt the tears building up. Why was she making fun of me?

All of the sudden she stopped laughing. "Dave don't you remember?"

Sobbing a little, "Remember what?"

"Dave, right before I went to bed, you woke up when I looked in on you. You told me that you had to go pee real bad, but it was okay because you would just wet your diaper. Then you said goodnight and went right back to sleep."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely, I swear that was what happened."

"Then why were you laughing?"

"Because you forgot. You looked so scared that you had wet in your sleep. I thought that you would remember, and when you didn't... I thought it was funny. But I wasn't really laughing at you."

"Kinda like when Bob and Joe laughed about Thor walking me around?"

"Just like that, we aren't making fun of you. We are just laughing at what happened. It wouldn't matter who it happened to."

"Okay, I think. I'm going to try to figure that out."

"Yes, and Merry Christmas. Do you want to see what Santa brought you?"

"Merry Christmas. There isn't any Santa."

She lifted me out of the crib, and I waddled out to the living room. Boy had I soaked the diaper. It's a good thing I didn't need to move fast. As I made my way there, I heard a little giggle behind me. I thought about it and decided that I just looked funny and she wasn't trying to hurt me. I turned around and stuck my tongue out at her.

In the living room, sitting next to the Tree, was a large box. It hadn't been there last night. I looked at the tag, it said 'To Dave and Sissy From Santa'. I looked back at Sarah, and she gave me an 'I don't know' look back.

I opened the box and inside I found two Teddy Bears; one about three feet tall and the other half that size. The big one had a tag for Sissy, the other for Dave. I looked back at Sarah, and she was trying not to laugh and doing a poor job of it.

"Okay Dave, I got them. The big one is for here, and the small one is for you to take home."

I waddled back to her and gave her a hug, "Thank you, again."

There were a couple more presents that I opened, including some earrings, another sleeper, and a PS2. "Well," she said, "it was fifty dollars off."

When I had finished, I pulled out a present for Sarah, "This is for you." I had gotten her several presents, this one was a book on the Cubs. Sarah was odd, she was one of the few people that was both a Cubs and Cards fan.

We finished with the presents for now, and she picked me up and sat me in the highchair. I was about half done being fed my breakfast, when there was a knock on the door and Ashley walked in. I opened my mouth to say Merry Christmas, and Sarah took the opportunity to stick a spoonful of oatmeal in my mouth. Sarah said Merry Christmas for us.

Ashley sat at the table, and giggled a little at Sarah feeding me. The rest of the time she chatted about all of her presents. It got to the point where I was wondering how she was breathing. When the last of the oatmeal was either in me or on me Sarah carried me into the bathroom, where she took off my sleeper and washed my face.

She told me to run off to the nursery, while she went to check on Ashley. I waddled down the hallway, hearing a giggle. I turned and saw that Ashley had sat so that she could see me. I hurried to the nursery and Sarah showed up a moment later.

She lifted me up onto the changing table and changed my diaper. I asked her why she was putting another diaper on me. Her answer was that we weren't going over until this afternoon, so we may as well have fun.

She sat me down and told me that I should go get one of my other sleepers in the living room. "But Ashley's out there, she'll see me..." I stopped, she had just seen me in a soaked diaper, so what was the difference.

I walked to the living room, and Ashley was holding my new pink sleeper. She insisted in helping me get dressed. Then had me lay across her lap, my head on the couch arm and my butt on the cushion, so she could feed me a bottle of milk. While she was feeding me the bottle, she resumed her monologue about her presents.

I showed her my bears and new earrings when I had finished. Then she pulled out a couple of games for the PS2 and we spent some time playing them. I was sitting there when I realized that I really needed to poop. I got up to go find Sarah. She told me that I knew the rules. I sighed and hid in the nursery until I had finished.

Sarah cleaned me up and I took a shower. I got dressed and went out to rejoin Ashley. She looked disappointed that I wasn't still diapered. We played some more games and talked until it was time to cart all of the presents over to her house.

Chapter 27: Judy

It was a good thing that we had made sure, that Ashley understood that if she woke us before 7:00 AM on Christmas morning she wouldn't get any presents. Because when I looked at the clock, just after a small bundle of energy had woken Joe and I, it said 7:01.

Joe looked at Ashley, "Give us another half hour sleep Pumpkin."

Ashley ran around the bed, "No Daddy, you said after seven, it's after seven. Get up. Get up. Come on."

Joe was facing me, and I could see him smiling, his eyes wide open. He started to pretend to snore and Ashley grabbed his shoulder and shook him. I poked him and swung out of bed.

As I stood up, I heard a thump. Joe had somehow pulled Ashley over him onto the bed. He asked her, "Why do want us to get up to so early?"

"Cuz it's Christmas, and there's presents. I want to open them."

I grabbed my robe and pulled it on while they continued talking, "Well if it's important, I guess I can get up."

"Yay, hurry." Ashley slipped off the bed and started down the hallway.

I looked over at Joe, he was sitting on the edge of the bed. I grabbed the camera, I had set it on the dresser the night before, and headed to the kitchen for coffee. Just as I was reaching for the pot, Joe grabbed me around the waist and gave me a hug, then a kiss. "Merry Christmas honey."

I kissed him back, "Merry Christmas. We better hurry before Ashley comes and drags us in there."

"Okay, you go get her ready and I'll get the coffee."

"I knew there was a reason why I married you. Ashley you better not have opened any presents yet."

"I haven't mommy, but I'm ready to."

I walked into the living room and Ashley was sitting on the floor, with a present in front of her. She had plugged in the Christmas tree and the TV was on, with the sound muted.

Joe walked in with the coffee and we sat down. I took a sip, set it down, and told Ashley to go ahead. She ripped open the present and let out a little scream of joy. We spent a while opening the gifts and taking pictures of each other as we did it.

When there were only a couple left Ashley slowed down. She looked over at the presents that were for Bob, Sarah and Dave. Then she looked a bit thoughtful, "Mommy can I save one to open with everyone else?"

"If you really want to, but I'm pretty sure that at least one of them has gotten you a present."

"I believe you, but I want to make sure that I have something to open with them."

Joe answered, "You can, just set it with the others. Now you go get dressed, while we get breakfast ready."

She looked down at the toys and games, hesitated and then got up and ran down to change. I looked over at Joe, "So do you want to clean up or get breakfast ready?"

He looked at the mess, "I'll clean up, and you get breakfast."

I went back into the kitchen, tore the bag open over the Danish and cut it into small slices. Getting some glasses out, along with milk and juice, and breakfast was ready. Refilling our coffee finished the process.

I put a few slices on a plate and walked out to the living room. Joe had stuffed most of the wrapping paper into a garbage bag and laid the new clothes on the couch. He grabbed a slice of pastry and took a bite.

I ate some pastry and gathered up the clothing, and carried it down to the laundry room. Ashley finished dressing and headed back to the living room, "Ashley eat some breakfast first, and drink some milk and juice."

"Yes, mom." I heard her answer.

I went and changed into some comfortable clothes, and by the time I got back into the living room, Ashley had all of her toys and games opened and the boxes in the garbage. Joe got up, gave me another quick kiss and went to change.

"Ashley, do you want to go over to Sarah's, Dave spent the night there."

"Can I?"

"I wouldn't have asked if you couldn't. Also, Sarah got a Play Station, so why don't you take a couple of games over to play."

"Okay," she said as she jumped up and got her coat. She grabbed some games, yelled bye, and ran out the door.

Joe came back after getting dressed, "Did I hear Ashley leave?"

"Yes, she went down to Sarah's. This way we can get everything ready without her 'help'."

"Come on, her 'help' isn't that bad. She, well, she doesn't get in the way too badly. Besides today will be much easier than Thanksgiving, no turkey to stuff and cook."

We spent some time getting everything prepared for dinner. Then we spent some time sharing a private Christmas 'present'. That was one good thing about Ashley being gone.

We relaxed the rest of the time, until we had to start to cook dinner. Having all of the prep work done made it simple. Bob had already said he was bringing bread, and Sarah had dropped off pies the other day. So with everything done we were ready for our guests.

Ashley pushed open the door and held it while Dave and Sarah carried in some presents. I sent Ashley to get ready, and Joe out to help Sarah and Dave. Meanwhile I began organizing the presents around the tree. There was now a large pile of presents around the tree and Bob still had to bring in his.

I took Dave and Sarah's coats. Dave's surprised me, he must have spent a long time finding it. It was a man's coat, that screamed I'm an adult, but I wouldn't have thought that they made one that small. The clothes he was wearing also said I'm an adult, and for the first time I'd seen him, he looked like an adult. It was rather surprising.

I was a little worried, I had bought Dave a bunch of presents and none of them were for an adult. I hoped that they didn't make him feel bad. I know Sarah got him a bunch of kids' type stuff, but I doubt he was dressed like this when he opened them.

Ashley, had finished changing and came back out, she got a big grin at the pile of presents. I know she saved one to open, but she didn't know that I had saved her one too. Then again there were a couple from Dave and Sarah there also. I saw a couple in there for Joe and I too.

Ashley grabbed Dave and dragged him down to show him what she had already gotten, I was a little surprised because he didn't seem to be resisting. I guess he was really interested in seeing her presents. They came back a little while later and we talked until Bob got here.

With Bob here, our little Christmas party was complete, Joe helped him bring in the presents, and some of them were rather large. I hoped he wasn't over doing it. I finished up dinner, and then we sat down to eat.

We ate in relative silence, only the clinking of silverware and an occasional murmured compliment. Ashley started with very little, until I told her that she would have to wait for everyone to finish. She sighed and added some more to her plate. While we ate, I kept an eye on Dave, it was a joy to watch him eat. The pleasure that showed in expression was unbelievable.

We finished, cleaned up the table rather quickly, and then retired to the living room. Ashley sat down next to the presents and looked up expectantly. I told her to pick one out and give it to whomever it belonged. She started passing them out and we spent the afternoon opening presents.

It was fun watching everyone open their presents, but Dave was a pure joy. He was delighted by each of them, although he blushed when he opened the dolls that he had been given.

Some of his gifts had really surprised me. Bob had gotten him, what I recognized as, a very expensive set of cookware and a promise to teach him how to cook. Sarah had gotten him some baseball game that he had had a puzzled look over until he read the back. The nurses had, once he stopped by, gotten together and bought him a pair of earrings. He turned almost a beet red when he opened his present from Ashley, permission to raid her closet. Ashley also went and grabbed her old jewelry box and gave it to him.

The presents he gave out were just as surprising, and despite the protests Bob, Joe and I accepted the invitation to a home basketball game, once we could get together on a date. The most surprising though was what he gave to Sarah.

She opened it, and found two pictures; after she looked at them, she set them down and picked up Dave and gave him a huge hug. I thought she was going to suffocate him. I was expecting to see some sort of portrait of Dave, but when I finally got a chance to see the pictures they were of two baseball teams. One I recognized as being the St. Louis Cardinals, the other I didn't recognize, and it had a big 'M' on the cap. I read the inscription on the Cards photo, 'To Sarah Our biggest fan' and all of the player's signatures. The other one though said, 'To Sarah, We hope you're our biggest fan too' and the player's signatures.

After looking at the second photo, I realized that it had actually been signed just for her. I went back to the first and realized that it too had been signed just for her, some of the players had added a 'To Sarah' along with their name. I don't know the memorabilia market, but I knew that to Sarah these were priceless.

Sarah finally put Dave down, and asked where he gotten them. He explained that his exroommate knew one of the players on the Memphis team, that explained the 'M', and he contacted, through management, the Cards who signed and sent the photo. Then, the Memphis team got together and sent their own photo.

We cleaned up the wrapping paper and moved most of the presents out to Sarah's and Bob's car, before having pie, and spending the rest of the evening together. By the end of the night, I wasn't sure who was more broken up; Dave, who had never had a Christmas before, or Bob, who had spent so many alone. I made arrangements for Dave to come over and go through Ashley's clothes tomorrow.

Finally everyone left, and we got Ashley to bed, before going to bed ourselves. It had been a long day, especially after Midnight Mass. I imagine that Ashley would probably be up early tomorrow too.

And I was right although she didn't wake us, I found her playing video games when we got up. Joe left for work, and I waited for Dave to come over. He showed up after lunch with a bit of a scowl on his face.

"Hi Judy, did you do it?" He said after he taken off his coat.

"Good afternoon Dave, did I do what?"

"When we carried in my presents, I found more presents under my tree. Did you put them there?"

"No, why would you think that I did?" I was perplexed. Someone had snuck into his house and left presents.

"Are you sure, only you and Sarah have keys to my house."

"I'm positive. Who were they from?" Ashley had heard us and walked in.

"Hi Dave," she said and gave him a hug.

He returned the hug, "Hi Ashley. Santa, they said they were from Santa."

"There isn't a Santa Claus," Ashley blurted out.

"I know that, I figured it out fairly early. I certainly wasn't getting presents and I didn't think that I was a bad boy. Therefore there was no Santa." Dave said.

'Dave must have been a pretty logical kid, to come up with that' I thought. "So maybe Sarah put them there," I suggested.

"No, I don't think so. She gave me teddy bears from Santa, and couldn't keep from laughing when I accused her. Bob denied it too," Dave looked pretty flustered.

"So what were the presents?"

"This necklace," he said, showing off a silver necklace with an 'S' dangling from it. "A reference book on aircraft that I didn't own, and a video game I didn't own. That means that whoever did it, had been in my home before."

"Well I didn't do it, and I don't think Joe did. Actually I'm almost positive he didn't, because he would have woken me up. He might have gotten Bob to put them there though." I said. "That is a pretty necklace."

"Yeah, that's the other thing. It's an 'S' that means that whomever did it knows about Sissy. I thought the only ones that knew that were Sarah, Bob, you, Joe and Ashley."

"I didn't tell anyone," Ashley abruptly said. "I figured I'd get the spanking of my life if I did."

"You're right Ashley, you would," I said, "and I doubt Joe or Bob did. I don't think Sarah would either."

"Besides," Ashley continued. "It would probably hurt your feelings, if I told someone."

"So if no one told, then who could have done it?" Dave asked.

"Ask Steve to check it out," I suggested.

Dave had a weird look on his face, "Steve?"

"Deputy Wildler." I clarified.

"Oh, I was trying to figure out how my friend would help. That's a good idea though."

"So are you ready to go raid Ashley's closet?" When he nodded. "Okay, Ashley you stay out here." She started pouting.

"She can come help," Dave said. I was about to cut in when he continued, "It's okay, I wore a diaper. I would need to make sure that the clothes fit over one, and I didn't think it would be fair if Ashley couldn't help."

"Okay, let's all go." Ashley jumped up and we went down to her room. We spent several hours going through clothes. Dave eventually left with several dresses, and other outfits. Ashley had fun picking out the clothes and telling Dave which ones she liked the most. Dave seemed to enjoy trying on all the clothes, but it might just have been that we were paying attention to him.

Before Dave left I asked him if he had plans for New Year's Eve. He said no, so I asked if he or he and Sarah would mind watching Ashley. I had to work and Joe had to work early New Year's Day. He said he would, even if Sarah couldn't.

When Joe got home, I told him that Dave and probably Sarah would watch Ashley New Year's Eve, and asked him about Dave's presents. He was as perplexed as me.