A Christmas to Remember

Joey’s POV

“Danny, tell me something. Why do you spoil these children so much?” asked Jesse.

“Because they are my daughters. I need to show them that they are cared about in this household,” explained Danny.

“And you do this by spoiling them with presents?” I asked. We were putting all the Christmas presents in storage up in the attic.

“Yes,” Danny replied. “Is that so wrong?”

“Of course it is, Danny. When I was a kid, I only asked for one thing, and that was the Elvis Comb,” Jesse said.

“There was an Elvis Comb?” I asked, bewildered.

“Uh, yes,” replied Jesse. I noticed he was saying it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and rolled my eyes.

Then I noticed a present and picked it up. “What’s this?”

“That’s my present to D.J.,” explained Jesse. “It’s a book about good hair keeping.”

“She will sure love that,” Danny said to himself.

“I also got her a book about music,” Jesse added.

“And what did you get me?” I asked, holding out my hands.

“A nut,” Jesse said.

“Why?” asked Danny, holding out his arms.

“Cause he is a nut,” Jesse replied, letting out a laugh that sounded more like a bark.

“Very funny, but you should leave the funny stuff to the professional comedian,” I said seriously.

“You mean Michelle,” Jesse replied. I rolled my eyes.

“Why isn’t Pam helping us?” I then inquired after a few minutes.

“She’s keeping the girls busy downstairs. They’re making string popcorn to hang on the tree,” explained Danny.

“Really? Well, count me in,” I said and ran off. Jesse just shook his head.

Pam’s POV

“Isn’t this fun, girls?” I asked my daughters.

“Yep! I’m on a popcorn roll,” Stephanie said proudly. Michelle just made a little noise.

“It was fun when we started. Now what’s the point of putting popcorn on a string?” D.J. asked; her teen side was taking over.

“Hey, I bought at least two big bags of popcorn for us to use, so get making popcorn,” I replied sternly. D.J. rolled her eyes and continued back to work. “Now I know how Santa feels, having all his little helpers do all the work for him,” I remarked after a moment.

“Hey there. I thought I heard popcorn string being made,” Joey said, walking downstairs. We all waved a hello and made room for him at our table.

“Joey, I have a question. Where does Santa get his little helpers?” asked Stephanie. Joey paused and thought for a few moments, while Stephanie waited patiently for him to answer.

“Well... uh... they come in packages. They’re part of the Santa workshop expansion pack,” Joey finally explained, looking uncertain.

“Right,” D.J. said sarcastically.

“Mommy, I want a Santa workshop expansion pack for Christmas,” Stephanie demanded.

“No, honey, we don’t need one. Great job, Joey,” I said, looking at Joey.

“Can I go upstairs now?” D.J. asked. “I want to see if there is anything more that I want from catalogs.”

“Not now, honey. Do your popcorn first, and then you can go upstairs,” I answered. D.J. sighed.

“You know, D.J., if you throw in a little sad puppy face, and then go for the guilt trip, that might work,” Joey advised.

“OK,” D.J. replied; she then looked at me with sad eyes. “But, Mom, I might never be able to get new books for my future education and things to keep my mind occupied during vacation, so I won’t bug you or Dad.”

“Haha, nice try, Deej. Thanks a lot, Joey,” I replied, while turning to Joey with the last few words.

“Hey, just doing my job,” Joey said in defense. I nodded as though I knew what he meant (which I did).

“I’ll have Kimmy over less,” D.J. added.

“Now, do you expect me to really believe that?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

“No, not really,” D.J. replied. I just smiled.