First Day of December:
Charlene and Tonya were listening to Christmas music and making Christmas cookies in the kitchen. The song currently playing on Pandora was I Saw Momma Kissing Santa Clause. As Tonya measures out the flour, Charlene watches and dumps it into the large mixing bowl. They had made three batches of cookies so far. She helped Tonya with the first batch and part of the second batch. But she wasn’t helping Tonya with the third batch at all.

Charlene follows her father’s recipe for making chocolate rum balls. She asked Mary to buy the rum since she was technically underage. She may run a business and take care of Tonya, but they’re still things she can’t do.

She looked at Tonya and could see how much fun she was having. The red and green chain they had made to count to Christmas was hanging on the refrigerator. The Christmas tree that Henry had helped them set up was in the living room, with the lights blinking on and off.

Custom ornaments were hanging from the tree from when Charlene was growing up. She also had some made with her Tonya or just from pictures she took of the different events she had been in.

Tonya looks at Charlene when she carefully pulls the cookie tray out of the oven. She hopes they were cooked right.

“Are these cookies ready?” Tonya watches as Charlene looks at the cookies.

“They are perfect, Tonya.” Charlene saw that the cookies were golden brown.

A huge smile appears on Tonya’s face as she puts the tray on the counter. She lets them cool as she starts another batch of cookies. Tonya was enjoying herself. Christmas was never anything like this with her mother. They never made cookies or wrapped Christmas gifts.

Tenth Day of December:
Grease Monkey Garage:
Charlene watches as a car carrier pulls up to the garage. She saw that Dave’s Car Courier was painted on the side of the truck. She picks the phone up and announces over the intercom for Henry. Afterward, she puts the receiver back on the phone.

Henry hears his name over the intercom in the garage and walks into the office. He spots Charlene looking outside “what’s up?”

Charlene turns to face Henry “were you expecting a load of cars?”

“Yes, you won’t believe how much everything cost me.” Henry walks past Charlene and outside to the carrier.

Charlene follows behind Henry. She couldn’t believe he had managed to buy five vehicles at the auction. She spotted that he had managed to buy two pickup trucks. One was a Ford F250, and the second was a Ford Ranger XLT. He managed to snag a Toyota Prius as well. It was an older model, but it looked like it was in great shape.

“That’s an old car.” Charlene points towards the Prius.

“I thought you might like driving that one. It’s a hybrid and will help you on gas.” Henry had spotted it and knew it would be perfect for Charlene.

“Thanks. So, what are you going to do with the rest of the vehicles?”

“Flip them of course. I thought I would hire Eddie Crawford to come over and clean them up. After I check them over and make sure they are in good running order.”

“What year is the Prius?” Charlene was curious.

“It’s a 03,’ and it has one hundred thirty-five miles on it. Everything is in good working order and the battery is still in good shape.”

“Cool. I’ll go in and call Eddie.” Charlene turns and walks back into the garage.

After Charlene calls Eddie, she calls a catering business they usually use and places an order for them to cater their Christmas party. She doubled their normal order because she was inviting everyone they were leasing parts of the shop.

Afterward, Charlene looks over all the paperwork and started filing for ownership of the cars. She puts the cars in the company’s name and get spare keys made. She knew Henry liked to have a second set for each car. She registers the Prius as a work car and puts it on company insurance.

Fifteenth of December:
Henry, Mary, and Charlene watch as Tonya’s class takes part in a play. Tonya got a part as an elf in the play. All three were so proud of her when she came out on stage. Mary was recording the whole play. They all head back to Henry and Mary’s place to celebrate when the play is over.

Charlene enjoyed watching Tonya as she enjoyed the holidays. She steps away from everyone and heads towards the back porch. This was the first Christmas her father wouldn’t be with her. Just like Thanksgiving was. She wipes the tears away as she tries to keep from crying.

Mary had noticed Charlene stepping out onto the back porch to be alone. She nudges Henry to get his attention. She nods towards Charlene out on the back porch.

Henry gets up and joins Charlene on the back porch. He knew why she was crying and why she was standing on the porch by herself. He wraps his arm around her and pulls her to his side. She’s been like a daughter to him.

“I miss him as well, Charlene. Your father loved the holidays, and he loved watching your expressions when you opened your presents.” He pulls Charlene into a hug and hugs her. He could feel her crying against his shoulder.

Once she finished crying, she let Henry escort her inside the house. Mary gives her a cup of her homemade eggnog, which is spiked with rum.

Christmas Eve:
Charlene and Tonya sing with everyone else while caroling throughout their neighborhood. It was a tradition that Charlene had always done with her father. Mary and Henry joined them as they sang. Henry was off-key a few times, but no one in the group minded.

The office Christmas party had gone off without any problems. She had to call cabs for several of her people, but they could come and get their cars once they sobered up. There were some leftovers from the party. She let whoever wanted them take them home.

After they finish caroling, Charlene takes Tonya to Henry’s house, where she can open her gifts from them. Mary takes plenty of pictures of Tonya opening her gifts. She also opens a few gifts as well. She knew Mary always picked out the perfect gifts for her.

If it were left up to Henry, she would get work clothes and tools. He was much like her father when it came to buying gifts for girls. He always needed help from his wife to figure out what to get them.

When they get back to their house, Charlene tucks Tonya into bed. She looks down into Tonya’s eyes “go to sleep, and Santa will drop by with your gifts.”

Tonya looks into Charlene’s eyes “why didn’t he ever drop by before?”

“I don’t know, sweetie, but I have a feeling when you wake up, he would have left you Christmas gifts under the tree.” Charlene kisses Tonya’s
forehead and walks out of the bedroom.

She gives Tonya an hour or more before sneaking downstairs and placing all the gifts she bought for Tonya under the tree. She watched Tonya when they went shopping to see what she would like and bought it. She puts some more gifts Mary had wrapped for Tonya under the tree. She drinks the milk they left out and takes a bite out of the cookies.

Before she goes to bed, she takes a picture of everything. A smile appears as she yawns and heads toward her bedroom. She checks on Tonya one last time before crawling into bed.