The Joy of Christmas

by Melody Carlson

  “Oh, I’m so happy to hear from you,” Loraine said. “I just looked up your Meissen design online, and it’s just what I’m looking for. It’s absolutely perfect.”

  “Really, it’s what you wanted?”

  “Yes. It’s so similar to a set my grandmother had that I was stunned. I literally had to pinch myself.”

  “What happened to your grandmother’s set?”

  “Oh, my aunt has it. And she doesn’t even use it.”

  “Will you use it?”

  “Only for special occasions . . . but, yes, I would plan to use it.”

  “I was surprised to see what it’s worth,” Anna said.

  “Yes . . . I was a little surprised myself,” Loraine admitted.

  “One site suggested I could get close to two thousand for it.”

  “Yes. It sounds as if we visited the same site.”

  “And my brother found a set on eBay for $1,400. But it sounded as if that set had some chips, and some of the plates had scrapes and markings on them. I can assure you that my set is just about perfect.”

  “I’d love to see it, Anna. I mean, if you’re really serious about selling it.”

  “I am serious. But here’s the problem: I don’t want Michael to know that I’m selling it. I want his gift to be a surprise, and if he knows I’ve sold my china, well, he would probably get suspicious.”

  “Oh, I understand completely.”

  “And he’s not here this evening . . . but I’m not sure when he’s coming home. I mean, I’d hate to get it all set out and have him walk in.”

  “Yes. That wouldn’t be good.”

  “I could bring it over to your house,” Anna suggested.

  “You wouldn’t mind?”

  “No. In fact, the timing might be good for sneaking it out of here without him knowing.”

  “Oh, that would be wonderful, Anna.” Loraine gave her directions.

  “Okay, I’d better hurry,” Anna said. “It’ll take me awhile to get it all loaded into the car. I assume you’ll want to see all the pieces?”

  “You might as well bring them, Anna. My guess is that I’ll be writing you a check tonight anyway.”

  Anna was so excited that she had to remind herself to be careful as she carried the crates through the house and down the stairs. One misstep and she could ruin this whole plan. But finally they were all loaded into her car and she was driving across town to what turned out to be a very nice neighborhood. One of those old and established areas where the trees were big and the houses were beautiful. Loraine’s house turned out to be a Queen Anne Victorian on a corner. What a great match for this set of china!

  Anna carried one of the boxes up to the door with her, and then both Loraine and her husband Rich helped to carry the crates into the house. Soon they had unpacked enough place settings to set the large cherry dining table in Loraine’s high-ceilinged dining room.

  “Oh, they are exquisite,” Loraine gushed. She turned and looked at her husband. “Don’t you think so too?”

  “I think that if you like them, I like them.” He smiled. “Merry Christmas.”

  “What a wonderful Christmas present,” Anna said.

  “Well, Loraine’s been pining after her grandmother’s dishes ever since we got married more than thirty years ago. I even tried to buy them from her aunt several times, but nothing doing.”

  “And they really do look perfect in your home,” Anna said. She sort of laughed. “Much better than they looked in my small bungalow. I didn’t even have a place to keep them – besides in the crates.”

  “And they really do deserve a place of honor,” Loraine said. She showed Anna the cherry china cabinet that matched the table.

  “What will you do with those dishes?”

  “Those will be my younger daughter’s wedding present in June.”

  “Katy is going to be over the moon,” Rich said.

  “Now, Erika – that’s my older daughter – she’ll probably want me to leave this set to her,” Loraine said as she held up a fragile plate, allowing the light from the chandelier to glow through it.

  Anna swallowed hard against the lump that was suddenly growing in her throat. How she had longed to pass these dishes down to her own daughter someday. Of course, that was a dream that wasn’t meant to come true. A dream she needed to forget about.

  “You really don’t mind letting them go?” Loraine asked as she set the plate back down. “You don’t think you’ll regret this decision later on?”

  “No,” Anna said firmly. “I want to do this for Michael.” Then she explained about his little MG and how it had been sitting in the garage for so long.

  “Wow,” Rich said. “I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on a car like that. Say, if your husband decides he wants to sell – ”

  “No way,” Anna said. “He adores that car. In fact, I do too. And once it’s running, I doubt that he’ll ever want to get rid of it.”

  Rich nodded. “Understandable.” Then he pulled out his checkbook and wrote out a check for $2,000.

  “Oh, I was only going to ask for $1,800,” Anna said when he handed it to her.

  “These dishes are in mint condition,” Loraine said. “Two thousand dollars is a good deal.”

  “You’re sure?” Anna tried not to stare at the check.

  “Absolutely. And I can’t wait to serve Christmas dinner on them.”

  “Well, thank you.” Anna slipped the check into her purse.

  “Thank you!” Loraine said.

  Anna knew she should be happy as she drove home. And for the most part she was, although she knew she would miss her dishes. Still, she could hardly believe that not only had she made enough to buy an engine, but she also had enough to pay to get it installed. She couldn’t wait to give David the green light on this thing. Hopefully it would work out that the MG would be ready to roll in time for Christmas!

  9

  As it turned out, David got so busy that he didn’t order the engine until Thursday. “And it could take up to three weeks for delivery,” he informed her.

  “Three weeks?” she cried. “That could be after Christmas.”

  “I know.”

  “Isn’t there a way to rush it?”

  “I asked and they said it could get here before Christmas, but that this is a hard time of year to make promises on deliveries. I emailed you a photo of the engine, though. I thought if nothing else, you could print that out and put it in a card for him.”

  Anna knew it was unreasonable to feel so disappointed, but she did. She had wanted this to go perfectly. “I suppose I could do that . . . but I’d really hoped to have the engine in the car by then.”

  “Well, that’s not very realistic, Anna.” He’d already explained that getting a mechanic to install an engine just days before Christmas was pretty unlikely.

  “Yes, I’m starting to see that now.”

  “But I did get another idea for you,” he said. “You could get Michael a gift certificate from British Motors and make an appointment to get the installation right after Christmas. I talked to my friend Ron this morning – remember I told you about him, he owns British Motors – anyway, he said that he might be able to get the engine put in for you by New Year’s if you get it scheduled now.”

  “New Year’s?” She considered Michael taking her out in the sporty little car on New Year’s Eve and smiled. “That might be okay . . . although I’d really counted on having the car all ready to go for Christmas.”

  “The main thing is that you’re doing this, Anna.” David sighed. “Seriously, Michael is one lucky dude.”

  Anna knew that her brother was thinking about his own wife. She could hear the defeated tone of his voice. “How’s Celeste doing?” she asked. “Has she said anything about my nursery furniture yet?”

  “I think she’s still pouting.”

  “Oh . . .”

  “Sounds like we’ll find out whether the baby’s a girl or a boy the week after Christmas.”

&nbs
p; “That’ll be nice. Do you have a preference?”

  He laughed. “Just whatever will make my wife happiest.”

  “What does she want?”

  “Depends on her mood. If she’s mad at me, she wants a boy. I think she hopes she can raise a son to replace me. If she’s not mad at me, she seems to want a girl, and she acts like she’s agreeable to using your baby furniture. But you should see what color she wants the nursery painted.”

  “What is it?”

  “Psychedelic green.”

  “What?”

  “Or maybe it’s chartreuse, I’m not sure, but she painted a sample on the wall, and I think it’s atrocious. Not that my opinion is worth much around here. But even Celeste’s mom thought it was odd. She called it acid green.”

  “Acid green?”

  “Of course, Celeste calls it apple green, but I call it sickening – it makes my teeth hurt.”

  Anna laughed. “It sounds, uh, very interesting.”

  “Honestly, Anna, our baby’s vision could be at serious risk if Celeste gets her way on this one.”

  “Well, maybe she’ll change her mind.”

  “That’s possible. But at this rate, she might go for something like fire-hydrant yellow or traffic-cone orange.”

  “Maybe she should wait to see whether it’s a girl or boy to make up her mind.”

  “That’s exactly what I told her.”

  –––––

  Later that day, as Anna and Meredith met at their friend Nicole’s house to put together their picnic baskets, Anna relayed the story of the “acid green” baby nursery.

  “You gotta be kidding,” Nicole said as she bent down to wipe the nose of one of her fifteen-month-old twins. Anna wasn’t sure if it was Evan or Derrick, but she wondered if they’d get much done with three toddler boys clambering about in the family room. So far it seemed that Nicole and Meri were spending more time refereeing their boys than assembling the baskets. As a result, Anna was trying to work twice as fast.

  “I think Celeste should try getting up in the middle of the night and, while she’s still half asleep, turn on the light in the nursery. Then see what she thinks about that color,” Meredith suggested. “The world looks a lot different at three in the morning.”

  “Poor David said it actually made his teeth hurt,” Anna said.

  Meri laughed. “I can just imagine it.”

  “Here’s another thought,” Nicole said. “When Celeste gets up at three a.m., David should pop in a soundtrack of a screaming baby – then ask her how she likes that color.”

  Meri nodded. “And I have just the baby to make a recording.”

  “You guys should tell David about our little plan,” Nicole said.

  “I think I will,” Meri said. “I mean, just one sleep-deprived night and a simulated screaming baby, and I’ll bet Celeste decides that she hates that bright color.”

  “But I thought you preferred bright colors for babies, Meri.” Anna rolled up a yellow-checked tablecloth and inserted it into a basket, nestling it next to the matching yellow plates.

  “If you’ve noticed, I don’t have bright colors on my nursery walls,” she pointed out. “For my peace and for sanity’s sake, I picked out a nice sky blue shade. But, for the sake of Jackson’s brain development, everything else in there is pretty bright and colorful.”

  “But you said he’s crying a lot at night?” Anna asked.

  “I think he’s teething.” Meredith sighed. “Just when I thought he was beginning to sleep through the night too. It’s like they say . . . a mother’s job is never done.”

  “Tell me about it,” Nicole said. “When Kent heard we were having twins, he acted so supportive, like he was so into this. He told me over and over how he was going to help out with everything – how he couldn’t wait to be a daddy.”

  “But he’s not doing that now?” Anna glanced at Nicole in time to see her roll her eyes.

  “Yeah, right.” She tore open the plastic on a package of plates. “I keep telling him that as soon as the boys are potty trained and a little older, he’s going to be taking them with him everywhere he goes on the weekends. I don’t care whether it’s fishing or a ball game or going to Home Depot or whatever – boys need their daddy time, and trust me, they’re going to get it.” She sighed. “And me . . . well, I’ll just be relaxing in a bubble bath or reading a good book or getting a pedicure or eating chocolates . . . or all of the above.”

  “Sounds like a good plan to me,” Meredith said. “Mind if I send Todd and Jackson along with them? I could use a little downtime myself.”

  “Yeah, we’ll send them on boy trips,” Nicole continued. “Like camping for the whole weekend.”

  “Better make sure they can swim first.” Meredith set a finished basket off to one side. “The way Todd keeps an eye on Jackson is frightening.”

  “I know what you mean,” Nicole said.

  “I asked Todd to watch Jackson while I fixed dinner last night – you know, a home-cooked meal for a change – and after a while I noticed it was really quiet in there. So I look out, and Todd’s sitting on the couch, reading the paper, and Jackson is sitting on the floor with a piece of newspaper shoved into his mouth, like he’s eating it. At first I think it’s kind of funny, but then I realize that Jackson has shoved so much newspaper into his mouth that he’s literally gagging. So I run over and stick in my finger and pull out this huge, gray gob of wet newspaper that’s nearly suffocating my baby, and Todd doesn’t even look up from his paper.”

  “You’re kidding,” Anna said. “Was Jackson okay?”

  “Well, as soon as I got the gunk out of his mouth he started crying really loud, and I think he was scared. But other than ink stains all over his face, hands, and tongue, he was okay. Although it may set back his reading skills.”

  “What’d Todd say?” Nicole asked. “Was he sorry?”

  “He acted like it was no big deal, like Jackson was fine – end of story.”

  “So typical.”

  “Surely Todd felt bad,” Anna said. But the glances the moms both gave her looked skeptical. So Anna got quiet. And she just packed baskets and listened as her sister and friend went on with more horror stories of daddy neglect and how men were basically useless when it came to babies. These were occasionally interrupted by settling squabbles between the three toddlers.

  Anna didn’t comment on their stories, but she felt certain that Michael would’ve been different as a dad. If only they’d had the chance. She’d always imagined Michael taking an active role with their baby. Of course, she had nothing to base this assumption on. And, to be fair, she was feeling a bit neglected herself these days – what with him putting in so many hours on the new business. How much worse would she feel if she were stuck home with a baby and no help? But, no, she knew that would be different. For starters, she would be so thankful for a baby that she felt certain she would rarely complain, if ever. And, although she would never mention it, she secretly resented the way Meri and Nicole took their gifts of motherhood so lightly. What if the tables were turned?

  “Oh man, do you remember how it felt to sleep in on weekends?” Nicole said. “You’d see the sun coming in the window and just roll over and snooze.”

  “Now I can hardly remember what it felt like to sleep uninterrupted through a whole night.”

  “Or how about how it felt to take a nice long shower or use the bathroom without little fists pounding on the door, saying ‘let me in!’?”

  “Are you kidding?” Meredith said. “I don’t even bother to close the bathroom door anymore – the second I do, Jackson starts howling like I’ve abandoned him.”

  Nicole laughed. “Speaking of closed doors . . . what about when you want a private moment with your man – it’s like the twins have this special radar, like they have some sixth sense that I’ve slipped into a sexy nightie and dabbed on some perfume – and suddenly they’re dying of thirst and they both desperately need a ‘dink a wata.’ ”

 
“Well, that’s not a problem in our house,” Meredith said in an uptight voice. “I told Todd that he’s not getting any until I start getting a full night of sleep.”

  “Seriously?” Nicole looked concerned. “That can’t be good for your marriage.”

  Meri just shrugged. “It is what it is.”

  Nicole pointed at Anna. “You’re the lucky one, you know. You and Michael totally have it made.”

  Anna didn’t know how to respond to this. So she didn’t. She just kept focused on filling the basket in front of her.

  “Not having kids can be very rewarding,” Nicole continued blithely. “Do you know how good you have it, Anna?”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Meredith said quickly, her eyes flashing a warning at their friend. Anna knew that Meri was fully aware that this was still a sore spot with her. For that matter, so was Nicole.

  “There are lots of times when I’d gladly trade places with you, Anna.” Nicole sighed loudly as she adjusted the bow on the basket. “Seriously, you are so lucky to be able to call your life your own.”

  “Yes,” Anna said slowly, trying to prevent the bitterness from overcoming her, although she knew that it was useless. There was no way she could ignore Nicole’s insensitivity any longer. “I am so lucky . . . like when I went by myself to get a Christmas tree last weekend, I so enjoyed watching other parents with their children while I so conveniently had none. And I’m so lucky to have an empty nursery with expensive baby furniture that my sister-in-law, who doesn’t even want to be pregnant, feels isn’t good enough for her baby. And I’m so lucky that Michael and I are still in debt over all the painful, and did I mention humiliating, treatments that we endured all for noth – ”