My winter wonder land…. CONTINUED (see My winter wonder land for part one, and My winter wonder land (part two) for part two):
Christmas Eve
I laughed heartily as my brother made a joke. It was Christmas Eve. My mother, my father, my brother and I were all sitting at the kitchen table eating supper; my brother, Peter, had arrived earlier that day.
I pushed my chair back from the table and looked at my mother as I said, “That was delicious.”
My mother only laughed and said, “If you think that was good, wait until you taste what I’ve got planned out for tomorrow.”
“Ooh, what is that, Mother?” said my brother, raising his eyebrow. “I can’t imagine anything better than this.” My mother merely rolled her eyes and started cleaning up.
“Come with me, Pete. I want to show you my hideout!” I said happily. I hadn’t seen my brother since the beginning of the school year. His job as a vet in New York kept him pretty busy.
I grabbed my brother’s hand and practically dragged him out to the play yard. My brother only laughed good-naturedly and said, “Okay, okay, Kacey, don’t pull my arm outta its socket. Now where’s this hideout of yours?”
I let go of him and ran to the tree house and called back to him, “Here it is. Come on up.” Then I climbed up myself. He followed, smiling.
When he saw it, he gasped, “Wow, Kacey, this is really cool, and I mean cool in both ways.” He laughed and shivered as he said it.
I smiled and also shivered, “Don’t blame me that it’s freezing. Blame the time of year and the place.” Then I scowled. “At least on the farm, we got snow along with the cold.”
Peter sighed, nodding. Then he rubbed his hand across the latch hook rug. “So this is what you did with this old thing. Beatrice looks almost as beautiful as she does in real life.”
I laughed. “Almost, but not quite. And it isn’t old. It isn’t even a year old yet! So you like my hide-out?” My eyes sparkled.
“Yeah, I love it, except for the freezing cold. I don’t mean to make the wrong impression, but let’s go in before we turn to ice-cubes and can’t open presents tomorrow.” I agreed, and we went in.
(more…)