Chapter 7: Christmas Party

I'm not sure what possessed us that Christmas, but we told Julie she could have a kind of dress-up Christmas party at our house. Not too many kids, we said, everyone dressed up nice, no booze and, yes, her mother and I would be around the whole evening. If she wanted to have Stephanie or another friend stay over, that was OK, too.

"OK, Dad, how many kids?"

I looked at my spouse.

"Six?"

Julie looked doubtful.

"Twelve?"

My spouse chimed in.

"Uh, uh, kiddo. Eight max, no more. They don't have to be couples."

"Thanks, Mom, thanks Dad!"

And she was off, probably to tell Stephanie all about it and decide on the guest list.

My spouse and I looked at each other. I'm not sure, but I think I saw something in her eyes.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked.

"What's that?"

"It will be a night for watching."

"You have a one-track mind, David."

"I know."

She leaned over and kissed me.

"I like it."

"Wow!"

Julie's green dress drew the eye. Slim kid, but curves enough so there was no doubt she was very definitely a girl. Spaghetti straps just begging to be slipped off by some lucky guy, or maybe some lucky girl. A couple of things my spouse and I had seen earlier suggested our daughter liked both.

"Dad?"

My spouse poked me.

"Stop staring, David."

I held out my arms as Julie stepped off the stairs and into my arms. Hugged her tight. Kissed her cheek. Drew back to smile at her.

"You look gorgeous, sweetie."

Julie blushed.

"Thanks, Dad."

My spouse grabbed her for another hug and another kiss.

When she let Julie go I noticed Julie's nipples had decided to join the party. No bra tonight, her neckline just loose enough to be interesting. I was interested. I think my spouse was, too, but there was no way in hell we were going to let Julie know.

My spouse whispered in Julie's ear, and giggled.

Julie gave her a look. Then a grin.

"I know, Mom."

"What did you tell her?"

"To enjoy sharing the view."

I kissed my spouse.

"Good work."

Candles everywhere we could think of. I knew we were going to have to keep a close eye on them. We'd trimmed our tree the week before, and my spouse had put pine branches and red berries on the mantel. It was Christmas. Oh, I almost forgot the most important part: mistletoe above the door between the dining room and the living room, and over the doorway to the kitchen. I was looking forward to seeing how that worked out.

Lee and I had worked up a menu. More than pizza, we decided, less than lobster. Duh. Anyway, it was time for the kids to learn there was more to finger food than chicken wings. Punch, yes, booze, no. The hot food would come later in the evening, though. They could start with chips and soft drinks or punch.

A plan for the evening? Well, not really, although we generally thought we'd let the kids start out with board games. Then food, followed by dancing. Slow dancing, for the most part and sort of an outline of how the evening would go. Christmas music on the stereo to start.

Stephanie was the first to arrive, and it was obvious as soon as she took her coat off that she and Julie had coordinated their dresses. After some thinking about it, my spouse had turned the two of them loose at the mall the previous weekend, telling Julie only that her dress had to be "decent." Well, that covered a lot of territory, but basically it meant no see-through and it had to have straps and the skirt had to reach at least mid-thigh. Those were the only requirements. As we'd seen earlier in the evening, Julie hit the mark exactly. There was no doubt she was a girl, but she wasn't really showing anything too much.

As for Stephanie, well, apparently her parents hadn't been quite so strict in their requirements. Her dress barely covered her panties, I think, and it was cut so low on top that the sides of her breasts were visible. Plus, it was loose enough that I know we were going to be treated to Stephanie boobs before the night was out.

Chloe and Samantha from the swim team made up the rest of the girl contingent tonight. Both very cute, neither one quite as provocative as Julie and Stephanie, but there was no doubt about their gender, either. All four girls were slim, their muscles long and smooth from swimming.

The boys? Ah, who cares? Well, my spouse did, actually, although I wasn't sure she really intended to do anything about it. They looked good, I admit, each with a jacket and tie and actual real live trousers rather than jeans or khakis. And, wonder of wonders, they had on real shoes, not sneakers. And they were shaved. And they all had haircuts!

Officially, none of the girls had steady boyfriends. They were a big group that did stuff together, although I think Julie and William had something going on. As it turned out I was right, although I didn't find that out until later in the evening.

Being dressed up I think puts a brake on some things. The girls felt pretty and special, the guys were admiring, and probably wearing shirts that buttoned up to the neck and ties on top of the shirts reined them in a little, literally. At any rate, they all greeted my spouse and me on their way in, shook hands, and thanked us for inviting them.

OK, my spouse and I were the adults here, no question, meaning that as adults among children, even if they were older children, carried some responsibility with it. Plus, we were the hosts, and the host always has a responsibility to his guests.

That said, only Julie was our child. As far as I was concerned, other than the responsibilities I mentioned before, even if they were serious ones, I wasn't related to any of the others. Did that make them fair game? Well, no, given the disparity in our ages and the adult-and-kid thing, but it did remove any incest questions.

Evidently the kids weren't the only ones keyed up. A couple of moms and one dad had come in to greet us as well. The moms saw the mistletoe and knew what it meant, and I had the pleasure of kissing Stephanie's mom just a little more thoroughly than friendship or fellow-parent-ship might indicate. Her smile told me she this was just fine with her.

"Merry Christmas, David. Nice."

Did she mean the kiss or the party preparations? No matter. I smiled.

"Merry Christmas, Lee. Very nice."

No, I didn't kiss the dad. My spouse took care of that, and I could tell by his rather shaken expression that she'd given him a very clear picture of what she thought a kiss should be. He barely looked at me as we shook hands on his way out.

I poked my spouse.

"What did you do to him?"

She laughed.

"Nothing more than Stephanie's mom did to you."

"No wonder he looked dazed."

She poked me back.

"On to the party, pal."

The kids had sorted themselves into two mixed groups on the carpet in the living room, one with Monopoly, the other with Scrabble. We made sure everyone had something to drink and put the bowls of chips handy.

My spouse and I don't hover. We may watch, sometimes without the knowledge of the person we're watching, and we get off on that, yes, but we know when to stay close and when to keep our distance. We'd retired to the kitchen with glasses of wine--we didn't have to drive anywhere, after all--when we heard a roar of laughter from the living room.

Who knew kids were pretty good at spelling those words, anyway? My spouse and I ended up laughing as hard as the rest of them. Smart kids, the best kind. On the Monopoly side, it was getting cutthroat. Julie was ahead, with houses and hotels all over the place. William, on the opposite side of the board, was making out like a bandit, we could see that.