Part 72

The days before Christmas were growing short. Sam had all the lights, inside and outside on timers. When she trod off to bed the house was lit, and when she woke up the lights greeted her. Their tree decorated with so many stories that it would not have surprised Charlotte if it collapsed. Sometimes during her early morning insomnia she'd hit the override switch for the tree, wrap herself up on the couch and sit and gaze at the tree. Comfortable she walked down memory lane, meandering from ornament to ornament.

This year most of the decorating was done in 15 minute spurts by the girls between their activities. The result was, except for the obvious Barbie territories, the ornaments were hung with no rhythm or organization. Charlotte spotted the Texas boot hanging right next to her grandmother's bell; the space reserved for Sam's mother's bear. Just where was the bear? It had to be up there. All 47 empty ornament boxes littered the living room. She hated the mess, the clutter. Later, she'd truck them up to the attic. Empty or full they couldn't possibly weigh more than a cup of coffee.

She reached under the blanket and beneath her flannel shirt and stroked her belly. She felt the roundness of a twenty pound pumpkin, and couldn't recall being so big this early with the other three. People she knew only casually were starting to notice.

The bagger of her groceries and the dry cleaner both shot her piercing looks over the past week. Granted she generally wore very comfortable over-sized clothes, but hadn't they noticed? It was obvious the bagger wanted to say something. Maybe it was when Lovie knocked over the entire display of mixed nuts that distracted him. Picturing what had to be thousands of nuts cascading to the floor made Charlotte laugh. It was an accident, of course. Lovie just wanted to see if her favorite nut to crack, the pecans were there. So standing on tip toe she grabbed the side of the display to raise her chin above the display. It was the roar that caught Charlotte's attention. She looked up from the parade of groceries on the cashiers belt, to watch her daughter being buried ankle deep in nuts. Thankfully the store manager didn't demand payment.

Returning back to the tree, Charlotte decided she'd have to hang an empty pecan shell as an ornament. One more story wouldn't topple the thing. And it was one she truly wanted to remember.

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