Christmas in the Country (A Pocahontas FanFiction)

Christmas Eve

The boys got up early to start wrapping presents. Thomas was glad they took care of all their Christmas shopping before they left, they had so many people to shop for. They were lucky some of them got to be sent to the ones they weren't visiting for the holiday. There were still other gifts to worry about. John and Thomas worked wrapping gifts in separate rooms. John worked in their bedroom while Thomas worked in the storage room which was conveniently upstairs. Once one present was finished, it was taken down to the tree and then it was back upstairs to wrap another one.

By the time the boys finished, Mrs. Smith and Grandma had just gotten up to make breakfast. When they saw the boys' presents under the tree, they smiled, "Goodness," Mrs. Smith joked, "Did Santa come early?" The boys giggled. Grandma gave them a fake suspicious look, "Did you boys spend all your money on all that?" John shook his head, "Of course not, I have a well-paying job and Thomas is still getting an allowance until he gets a job." Grandma chuckled, "Well, why don't you boys get the fire going and your mother and I will get started on making breakfast."

The boys got right to work and got a cozy fire going. Then got some juice and sat down. Thomas took a whiff of the piney smell of the tree. It was soon mixed with the smell of Grandma's holly berry scented candle. When the men got up, the air was a mixed scent of bacon, pancakes, coffee, and hot chocolate.

As soon as everyone sat down, it truly seemed like every problem in the world was forgotten. Thomas offered to dish out the coffee and made sure it was prepared just as each of them liked it. As they tasted, they all agreed that Thomas did an amazing job, "You ought to open your own coffee shop, Thomas." Uncle Lon joked, "You'd be selling so quickly, it'd turn into a franchise." Everyone laughed; Thomas blushed modestly. Mrs. Smith looked up, "Could you grab the milk while you're up, munchkin?"

"Sure."

The boys spent their time checking Norad Santa and playing the games. After this, they played the Christmas version of Clue. It seemed like it would be another slow day. They were kept busy though. They helped Grandma make more Christmas cookies, Grandma let them have a couple, they enjoyed them over cold milk and got to watch A Christmas Story again. Thomas kept cringing at the same points again. Uncle Lon, who was sitting next to him, teased him a little, to which Thomas just waved his hand. Uncle Ben had them continue helping him bring in firewood. The best part was getting to watch Uncle Ben chop wood and then they would take armfuls inside or to the woodpile where they kept it all.

Soon, the house smelled of holly berries, cookies, and woodsmoke. The grownups sat down with the boys to watch the movie. Thomas laughed every time the Bumpous hounds came and bothered The Old Man. Uncle Ben couldn't help laughing himself when they got to the part where Flick got his tongue stuck and Thomas would flinch and hold his mouth shut. Thomas never told anyone this, particularly Uncle Ben, but he thought that the term 'you'll shoot your eye out' was getting overused. At the part with the mall santa, Thomas looked over at his uncles and saw them whispering and Uncle Lon gave him the same look he gave him as a kid when he was about to tease him. Thomas gave him a dirty look, "Don't even think about it." He said that because Uncle Lon was trying to hold in laughs.

At the end of the movie, the boys made sandwiches for lunch and sat down to talk. Now that basketball season was over, there was the pep rally when school started again and they would celebrate a successful season. There was going to be contests, cheering, gathering up of the teams, and, of course, the Spirit Stick. It would go to the most participating grade. Last time, the Freshmen won.

After lunch, the boys helped their uncles bring the Christmas stockings up from the basement. Uncle Ben put up Command Hooks while the boys sorted through and found everyone's.  The boys hung up the stockings.  Thomas pushed the snowflake button on his, it had a picture of Rudolph on it.  When you pressed the snowflake, Rudolph's nose would light up and the song would play.  John's played the chorus of The Christmas Shoes when you pushed the candy cane and it had a pair of pretty red shoes with a green bow tying them together. 

After this, the boys played another game of Chess. Thomas tried his best to concentrate. The one time he did beat John, it was a lucky shot. This time, he might not be so lucky. After John made each move, he tried to look at the situation carefully to decide where and what to move. As he moved his Rook, he saw their dad watching from the couch over his paper, "Hey, Daddy, you wanna play the winner?" He nodded, "Sure. You boys keep playing and let me know who wins." John made his move, "Check." Thomas looked carefully, John had moved his Knight where he could easily get his King. Thomas looked at his own pieces. His other Rook could take it out. He took down the Knight, "Ha, beat that!" John gave him an impressed look, "Smart move." In the end, Thomas won by a very close call, "And it wasn't luck." he insisted, "It was on skill." He turned to their dad, "Daddy, you're playing against me." Mr. Smith put down his newspaper, "Alright, let's see what you got." Even with the same thinking and concentration, Thomas lost to his dad. Mr. Smith took out his King with, of all things, a Pawn, "Checkmate."

John and Thomas took turns competing against their dad with John beating him the most. They ended when Mr. Smith said he had to go help Uncle Ben. So, John and Thomas took Victor and Lucky out for a race. Victor won by a head, so Thomas demanded best two out of three. Victor won again, so John won. Lucky seemed pretty disappointed, so Thomas gave him a pat, "Don't worry, Lucky. We'll get em next time." John checked his watch, "Let's put these big guys up, Thomas. It's about supper time."

The boys put the horses up, put the tack away and walked back to the house, just as Uncle Lon came up to call them. He was so surprised to find them there, he held out his arms to them. It was too tempting to refuse and the boys ran into them. Uncle Lon wrapped them up in tight hugs, "There you two boys are. Come on in for supper, I'm sure you're freezing." Thomas started shivering and nodded. Uncle Lon rubbed their sides, "Let's get you two inside." He ushered them in, "Go cozy up by the fire. Supper will be ready soon."

The boys gladly did as they were told and sat down by the fire for a game of Tiddlywinks. After they won a game each, Thomas suddenly realized how comfortable the fire was and John had draped a blanket over him. Before he knew it, he'd laid his head in John's lap and fell asleep. John smiled and began stroking Thomas' back. Everything was now so cozy, neither of them noticed Mrs. Smith take a picture. Mr. Smith rubbed John on the head, knelt down, and planted a kiss on Thomas' cheek.

"Boys," Grandma called from the kitchen, "Wash up for supper." John gave Thomas a gentle shake, "Thomas," he whispered, "wake up, it's suppertime." Thomas stretched and started to sit up, "What happened?" Uncle Ben chuckled, "I'll tell you what happened. You took a twenty minute long nap is what you did." Thomas blushed, "Well, I do feel a little better."

The boys didn't realize how hungry they were until they smelled the warm soup. It was their grandma's own creation made with nacho cheese premade soup, shrimp, and crab. It was very famous in the family and the boys practically nose-dived into it.

After supper and chocolate pie, there was two things they needed to do before getting ready for bed: finish Cinnamon Bear and Mr. Smith would read aloud The Night Before Christmas like he did every year.

Thomas felt that the show had a bit of a melancholic ending. It was nice that Judy and Jimmy got the silver star back and it was right on the top of their Christmas tree where it belonged, but it was kinda sad that it was over now. He voiced this to Uncle Ben who told him, "Well, the nice thing is, we'll get to do this every Christmas from now on. The best you can do, as the announcer said, is to always remember Cinnamon Bear, because if you do, he'll be much obliged to you." He turned to Mr. Smith, "Now, David, you got something you need to do. Don't you?" Mr. Smith smiled and nodded and took out The Night Before Christmas. The boys listened intently, the last line of the famous poem was their signal to go to bed.

At the last line, Uncle Lon did a little something for the boys he and Uncle Ben always did. He looked at the clock above the fireplace, "Goodness, look how late it is." he looked at the boys, "I hope Santa didn't have to pass by here because you two weren't in bed." Uncle Ben rushed to the window and looked out, "Oh, gosh, is that Rudolph? Alright, both of you, upstairs." The boys raced upstairs as fast as they could.