I cant believe I agreed to it, two weeks dressed like this a thousand miles away from home I thought as I climbed into my moms car that morning for the long drive to my aunts house.

Spring Hills was in a state of total excitement! The small mountain town full of eclectic little shops and mostly geared towards the tourist trade went all out for the major holidays. Christmas this year would be no exception. Now Spring Hills wouldn’t forget about the religious meaning of this holiday, but that was mostly left for the churches and the individual families. The town itself was going all out for the business end and the commercial pageantry that would draw these tourists into town.

Inspired by the Hollies song, this story is about a young man who shares his umbrella with a beautiful girl during a rainstorm; his growing affection toward her is compromised when he discovers she has a secret!

“Okay. How about this. Girls first, then the eldest kids.”

“That's enough young man.” Leonard said to his son. “Let's just get through the presents without you being more of a pest then you already are.”

Big thanks to Djkauf for the editing again.

Part two of the family meal and a little time with Tracy

The log in the stove had begun to burn. It lit up the room through the tempered, frosted glass enough to show him Tracy walking towards him. She had a blanket in one hand and Mr. Cuddles in the other. Her hair was flattened on one side and sticking up on the other. She had on a thicker nightgown and flannel pajamas. He smiled at her as she stopped at the couch. The image reminded him of how Troy looked when he had been younger, before their Dad insisted that boys didn't need teddy bears after a certain age. She looked like a small child, security blanket in one hand, bear in the other. “Can we join you?” She whispered.

A big thanks to Djkauf for the editing again.

More of Tracy at Christmas time.

Note: The rating has gone up because of Tracy recalling events at Brooke's place

Only the Lonely….

It was the song that was playing on the radio when she woke up in the morning and already saw the start of another hot day. That became a promise as she slipped out of the sheet she had draped over herself last night and had tried to curl up to another night alone.

Out of the mouths of babes...

Synopsis: He thought it was simply a case of helping a friend out of difficulty over Christmas, at the same time solving his own problem with a faulty central heating boiler. OK, when Bob was told what he had to do, he was both terrified and exhilarated by the prospect, but no one could have forecast how it was going to turn out.

Santa School

Jacob Burrows answered the ad for a mall Santa, and was surprised to discover that one had to actually attend a class before you were allowed to put on the red suit and beard. In fact, he was sent to a day long “Santa School”.

At the class, Jacob spent the day learning how best to act “jolly”, even when things were not going well. Things like when a kid pulls on your beard or pees on your pants.

The Christmas Letter

Dreaming of Cheers Standing Up to Life: Book 3 Part 20 of 23 by Tiffany Shar

Intro by Carla Ann

“Tiffany, I’ve asked you how everything is going with people and the activities you’re involved in, but you haven’t mentioned how you are coping with everything.” She emphasized the ‘you,’ when she asked that.

“Well, better than I was last year,” I started. “Way better than last year… I have a lot of friends now, and I’m not getting picked on every day.” I saw her eyes boring into me looking for something else. “Alright, I don’t know how I’m doing right now.” I told her honestly.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Well for one I’m really tired of everyone guessing I’m five if I wear the wrong clothes.” I told her hesitantly. I was sure my parents had filled her in with everything anyway, “Tuesday was pajama day. Mom and I had found some cute pajamas with feet on them that would fit Amy and me, so we wore them for pajama day. We really did look cute dressed like that, and I was having a lot of fun with it. That was until the sub in English class thought that I was someone’s little sister that had come them to school that day.”

I was really surprised Dr. Reynolds didn’t laugh about it, but I continued, “Then the next day the whole squad was wearing shortalls and our hair done in pigtails and I looked to be about five again. One of my best friends even brought a doll to school to play a joke on the sub that we’d had. I don’t think she knew that it really upset me though. I’m not five, I’m twelve! Amy has grown about five inches here in the last couple months, but I’m still the same height I was last year. It’s good for cheerleading stuff because people can toss me so easily… but…” I was doing my best to not go into tears over all of this. “as long as we’ve got my puberty stopped then I won’t be doing much growing. That’s all on top of the fact that I’m never going to be able to have periods like my friends… and I’m stuck with this stupid thing between my legs,” I told her with a great deal of exasperation. “I’m so tired of having to look at it, or hide it, every time I turn around. I know you can’t do anything about it till I’m eighteen – but I wish it could be gone now!” I had gone to tears now.

"Honey, what's wrong?" he asked as I felt the doorknob turn.

I panicked and yelled at the closed door, "YOU STAY THERE AND DON"T COME OUT! I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU OPEN THE DOOR!"

Just then, I felt the doorknob being turned again from the other side, "I MEAN IT!"

"OK, OK. I'll wait. Wrong day of the month?" he asked from the other side of the door.