Annie! Are you about ready up there? The movie starts in about half an hour! Now remember Esther, We'll be back in about two or three hours. That should give you plenty of time. See you then, Sweetie. C'mon Annie! I'm an old man and I'm not getting any younger!

***

Why the long face, Kitten? I know the movie wasn't that good, but ... Oh you're thinking about HArry again. Honey, you shouldn't be moping about like that. His telegram said that he'd be here at the end of the week. Haven't I told you since you were a little girl that good things come to those who wait. Besides, you've got nothing to be in the dumps about. The war's over and we won. Harry's perfectly fine and he'll be home soon so you two can finally get married. It's Christmas day, and you just had a fine time at the movies with your Pop. And now we're going home to a sumptuous feast.

And look at you worrying about how long the Navy takes to complete somebody's paperwork. There you go. I knew there was a smile buried in there somewhere.

Hey, do you think that since Mel went through all that work remodelling the Gateway, he could've gotten a better movie to show? I was practically dozing off in spots. There we were in a practically new-looking building, walking through the new lobby with all those new neon lights, getting popcorn from the new concession stand, sitting down in new seats in front of a new screen watching a film shown through new lenses. Now at this point please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the whole point of all that to see a good movie? And not only that, I didn’t think it was possible for a pirate movie to be so boring. A pirate movie, for cryin' out loud!

You know what it's like? It's like getting a beautifully wrapped Christmas present with all sorts of ribbons and bow and sparkles and colorful paper and whatnot, and then unwrapping it to find out that it's one of those horrid old fruitcakes your Aunt Evelyn always sends us. And don't tell your mother I said that.

Ooh, look over there. That's where that tree fell over during that windstorm three weeks ago and almost crushed Frank's car. Did I tell you what Frank told me?

He said that he drove downtown that morning and got on the 6 o'clock ferry to go into Seattle to meet a client. Well, the lake was pitching and roiling so much that the Leschi couldn't land over at Madison Park, so they had to come back to Kirkland. So, Frank is upset by now, but he figures that he can call his client to postpone the meeting. Well, when the ferry makes it back to Kirkland, the landing lights were conked out, and it took half an hour just to get the boat tied up. By this time, he's really running late, so he starts racing home. He gets a few blocks from home and what happens? Blam! A flat tire. So he pulls the car over and decides to run home to make his call. By the time he gets there, he's soaking wet and when he picks up the phone, he finds that the phone lines are down. At this point he gives up and figures that since he's already wet, he might as well go back and fix the flat. He makes it back to the car and what does he see, but a big ol' tree laying on top of it! As it turns out the tree trunk missed it and it was only covered by the branches, but Frank told me that until he realized that, he was so hot you could've lit cigarettes off his ears.

Ah, here we are home again. Do you remember when you were about eight and we went to the movies on that Christmas day also? I'll never forget the meal that we had when we got back. That was the year you thought that Santa had forgotten to give you that dollhouse that you had asked for. Your mother and I kept that gift aside and told you that Santa had stopped by again while you and I were out. Ha! I'll always remember that shriek you gave out when you walked into the kitchen and saw it on the table.

Esther, we're home! Hi honey. Oh, the movie was OK and the theatre looked really impressive. Hey, Annie and I were just reminiscing about the time she got her dollhouse. Yep, for years, Annie, you thought that Santa had really stopped by here twice! Ha-ha!

Well, are we ready to eat? Now that there's no more meat rationing, my stomach has got some catching up to do. Annie, why don't you and Momma start bringing out the food? Oh wait Esther, look where I'm standing. Would you believe it, right under the mistletoe. C'mere you ... mm-mm ... OK, wait ... she should be going in the kitchen ... right ... about ... YOW! She can still shriek like a little girl. I guess I can take that sound to mean that Harry made it in OK.

Well, once more Santa strikes again with a second visit to our home on the same day. Don't you think that our daughter must be awfully good to merit an extra visit from Saint Nick? But, then again, she comes from such awfully good stock. Now, I believe we were under the mistletoe for a reason.

Oh yeah, Merry Christmas!

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