Jane
“Merry Christmas, Dad!” Florie said.
“Well, you’re home.” Brick Three grumbled as he wrestled himself out of his parka. He was always oddly embarrassed by how much he loved these kids. His own father would never have allowed such a display.
She led her family into the living room, where a fat, ten-foot-high fir tree glittered in front of the window that faced the street.
“Wow, Mom, it’s gorgeous!” Lydia hugged her mother.
Jane beamed. “I saved the last three ornaments for the children to put on.”
Lydia and Lucas exchanged glances. They both disliked it, and so did Florie, when their mother called them “the children,” but what else could their mother call them?
The adults? They knew it had been hard on their mother when her youngest child, Lucas, went off to college two years ago and none of the children were home to help decorate the huge tree the family always put up the Saturday before Stroll weekend.
It had been such a fun tradition, but their lives were changing.
This year none of the three came home for Thanksgiving, which was understandable because Stroll weekend was only a week later.
Momentarily, the thought of their mother putting all the ornaments up herself, or almost worse, with the help of their father, who had no eye for balance, symmetry, or color, gave them each a twinge of guilt.
But the three had agreed that they were starting their own lives and their parents would enjoy the peace and quiet, plus they were all going home for Nantucket Stroll.
Jane enjoyed making their home feel comfortable and organized.
When the children were young, she’d felt so necessary, especially in the summer when wet towels, bathing suits, flip-flops, and tennis rackets lay around the house as if they’d fallen from the sky and only Jane knew what they were and where they should be kept.
When the children all left for college, Jane missed them in so many ways.
She missed their giggles and yells, their adolescent jokes, their spontaneous hugs, the way they raced breathlessly through the front door to tell her about their days.
The rooms of the house were all so relentlessly tidy and the children’s bedrooms felt hollow. Vacant.
She didn’t feel vacant now, she thought, smiling at her private thought.
The Stroll and the Saturday evening Stroll party had become her shining moments.
She had a special notebook for lists of tasks to perform, boxes to bring down from the attic, provisions to buy.
For an entire three days, the house was once again a bright, shining mess.
Wrapping paper, ribbon, bows, tape, and gift cards spread across the dining room table.
She stocked the kitchen with sugar, flour, baker’s chocolate, and nuts, for all her holiday delights.
Cardboard boxes overflowing with baubles and stars sat in each room waiting for Jane to decorate the entire house for Christmas.
Jane knelt on the thick Persian rug and opened the cardboard box marked Children’s Christmas Tree Decorations. Lydia knelt beside her mother and lifted out the miniature teddy bear she’d created long ago out of brown fleece with mismatched buttons for eyes and a red silk bow around its neck.
“Oh, Teddy,” Lydia cooed, and kissed the little weird-looking bear.
Jane watched with a smile, remembering how each child had a teddy bear and often on rainy days when they were very young, they would take their bears to the attic and put them through an obstacle course of boxes and old furniture.
Now Florie asked, “Where did you put Goldilocks? Teddy always hangs next to her.”
She and her mother and sister and brother all searched the tree, its branches covered with all sorts of brilliant ornaments and baubles and figurines they’d made when they were little.
Florie held a small cardboard star in her hand, admiring the many different colors she’d added so long ago. “I miss it,” she whispered.
Lydia scoffed. “You miss that cardboard star?”
Florie elbowed her sister in the side. “Stop it. I mean I miss being young, and innocent, and believing that my ‘artwork’ was beautiful.”
“It was beautiful,” Jane told her. “It is beautiful.”
“Found it!” Lucas held up the small Goldilocks doll.
Florie and Lucas fastened their childhood decorations on the tree. Lucas’s was a misshapen brown lump meant to be a football.
“Perfection!” Jane announced.
Brick Three entered the room carrying a tray holding the family’s ancient crystal glasses. “The drinks are ready.”
The family scattered to perch on their places in the living room in front of the fireplace, which was neatly stacked with kindling and logs, although tonight they weren’t going to light a fire.
The long pine coffee table was centered with pre-dinner snacks—candied pecans in a scallop-edged white bowl, and the time-honored totally-not-cool cheese ball made from cream cheese, grated cheddar cheese, chopped bacon, chopped red pepper, and scallions.
They were surrounded by crackers on the holiday platter Brick Three’s parents had given them years ago.
Glittering heirloom glasses sat on a silver tray, next to the cold bottle of Perrier-Jouet.
Brick Three popped the cork. His family cheered. He filled their glasses and lifted his own in a toast. “Merry Christmas!”
The family raised their glasses and yelled “Merry Christmas!” and drank.
“Don’t move!” Jane took her phone from her pocket and snapped shots and a quick video of the family. “You all look wonderful. Now, tell us everything.”
Lydia laughed. “I’ll tell you the best news—tomorrow Jari is coming here for Stroll weekend. He’s staying at the White Elephant.”
Jane perked up. “You’ve been seeing him for quite a while, haven’t you?”
“Well, almost a year, but he travels so much we don’t get to see each other that often.”
Brick Three asked, “He’s in business, right?”
Lydia turned to her father. “His father owns G-Bots.”
“Good God,” Brick Three said. “That’s based in Finland.”
She’d impressed her father. Lydia preened. “True. Jari is opening the U.S. office in Boston.”
Brick Three looked thoughtful. “I see. So, you’ll be looking for a hotel position in Boston.”
“Yes, but once it’s opened, he’ll go to New York and Chicago to open offices there. He travels so much that he and I are thinking of moving in with each other in June.”
Jane almost lifted off her chair with excitement.
“That’s wonderful, darling!”
Her father rumbled like a pre-eruption volcano, that meant he was happy that Lydia was happy but worried that the Finn might not be totally committed to her if they were just moving in with each other and what would Brick Jr., seventy-six, think about this.
It probably also meant he was hungry for dinner.
Jane rushed to change the subject. “Florie?”
Florie sat up straight. Even at her best, she was still, and would always be, the smallest one in the family.
It was hardly her fault that she was born like this, five foot two, small-boned, and pretty in such an obnoxiously sweet way.
Her blue eyes were too large and her lashes too long (and she didn’t even use mascara) and her face too heart-shaped.
She looked like a damned flower in a Disney movie, so although her name was Florence, her family had always called her Florie.
“My turn. I’ve been acing my courses,” Florie told her family. “And I met Daniel’s family when I went to his house for Thanksgiving and he’s coming to the island tomorrow for the Stroll. Mom invited him to stay with us.”
Lydia squealed and hugged Florie. “I can’t wait to meet him.”
“I can’t wait to meet Jari,” Florie squealed back.
Brick Three asked, “What does he do?”
Florie squirmed, just a little. She could guess what her father would think. “Well, Dad, Daniel is a poet!”
“A poet?” Brick Three was rumbling again. He really was hungry. “Fine, but how does he make his money?”
“He teaches.” Florie raised her shoulders to her ears, as she always did when nervous. “You’ll meet him tomorrow. He’s awfully nice.”
“He can make money teaching?” Brick Three looked dubious.
Jane turned her attention to her son. “How about you, Lucas? Anything exciting to report?”
“Nothing new. I’m just excited to be home.” Lucas was usually chill, although tonight he looked nervous.
“We’re excited, too!” Jane clapped her hands. “Let’s have dinner and then we can watch a movie. Last year in my planner, I wrote down who gets to choose the movie this year.”
Lydia waved her hand. “It’s my turn! Love Actually!”
Florie snorted. “Come on, Lyd. We’ve seen it a hundred times. I vote for Home Alone.”
Lydia groaned. “You’re such a child.”
Jane leaned forward. “We haven’t seen White Christmas for a while.”
“I vote for It’s a Wonderful Life,” Brick said.
“No!” Lydia, Florie, and Lucas yelled together.
Lucas cleared his throat. “Actually, I’m going out after dinner. I have a kind of date with a friend.” He blushed.
Florie nearly flew off her chair. “You’ve got a gf? Who is she?”
“You don’t know her.” Lucas stared at his plate. He’d had girlfriends all his life, but he’d never looked like this.
Jane took pity on him. “Leave Lucas alone. Let’s go have dinner.” She pushed back her chair.
“So, this is the end of our family tradition,” Brick grumbled.
“And that’s just fine. Things change.” Jane flashed a smile at her husband.
Brick blushed, but the three children didn’t notice. They were chattering together and bumping into one another and whispering and snorting with laughter as they headed into the dining room.