Christmas Eve

"Xanthos, can we borrow the PathMaker for a while?" Anna asked. [Editor's Note: The "PathMaker" was a very heavily customized Nissan Pathfinder that was both lengthened and widened to something close to the size of a Hum-Vee, while being much more comfortable at the same time.]

"Sure. Last minute shopping?"

"Yeah. I just thought of something I wanted to get for Kat, and couple of the others need to do some last minute stuff as well," she replied.

"Okay. Just be careful with all that snow out there. Just because it has 4-wheel drive doesn't mean that it's going to work that much better on this kind of road."

"We'll be careful," she replied sincerely.

I just nodded, and watched her head off with Angie, Amy, and Mei. As I stood there, a pair of arms worked their way around me from behind, and a tender pair of lips kissed my neck. I know it sounds sappy, but the amount of love that constantly flows around this house is more than I had ever hoped for in my youth. I staid there holding her arms for a few moments before turning around to return the kiss.

"Hello, my wife," I gently said, giving her that kiss. Laura still glowed whenever I said that. "Feeling a little frisky?"

"No, just felt a hug," she replied.

I smiled and hugged her back firmly. "That, you can have any time you wish." Then I gave her a kiss and we started walking toward the living room, still holding each other.

"Did you get all your shopping done?" I asked Laura as we casually walked down the hall.

"Yep," she said with a sly grin. "We even managed to come up with something for the man who has everything."

"Oh? Sounds interesting," I replied, not quite with a straight face. (Okay, I admit it. She had my curiosity up!)

"And don't bother asking for any hints, either," she added.

I chucked, and said, "You know me too well, my love."

Laura just nodded and gave me kiss on the cheek.

As we approached the living room, I noticed some familiar Christmas music.

"I see you guys found my Herb Alpert CD," I said, mainly to Tiffany, who was sitting next to the stereo, going through the part of my collection not in the CD changer.

"Yeah. This is nice. Do you know when it was made? I couldn't find any sort of date in the CD case," Tif replied.

"No. I noticed that too. In fact, I think it may be just barely older than me," I replied.

Tif just nodded and said, "May be."

Just then, Kat walked in, moping.

"Hey, Kat. What's wrong?" I asked, holding out an arm, inviting her to sit next to the fireplace with Laura and me.

"Oh... it's my parents. They're still visiting relatives in Finland, and won't be back for another couple of weeks. This is the first Christmas they haven't been around," she said, a bit depressed.

I struggled to keep from grinning, and barely succeeded. At least she wasn't looking, in case I slipped. I hope the others weren't too.

Hugging her, I said, "I'm sure we can keep you from missing them too much."

Laura reached over and hugged her too, adding her own consolations.

"Thanks," Kat said, hugging us both tightly and giving us a friendly kiss before getting up.

Down the hall, we heard Stephanie entering with some groceries for the Christmas-day feast.

"Steph?" I said, getting up.

"Yes, Sir," she said, walking into the living room.

"I though I told you to take a few days off."

"No, Sir. You suggested it. I don't have any family or anyone to visit, so I might as well spend it here. Besides, you're all the closest thing I have to family now anyway," she explained, surprising us all.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know," I said. "You're more than welcome to join us," I offered. The other kittens hurriedly agreed.

"Thanks, everyone," Stephanie said, a tear coming to her eye.

Most of the other kittens got and gave Stephanie a hug. While they did, I whispered to Laura, "Looks like we need a few more presents. I don't think my little gift is going to be enough."