A Different Holliday

Toni was upset when her mother left but a couple of days and she was back to herself. She approached Richie in his den watching a ball game on TV.

"Can I have you for a minute?" she asked, sitting on the arm of his recliner

"You have all my minutes Toni. What's on your mind?"

"Christmas...I had planned to cook a big meal you know all the traditional stuff...but now there's just the three of us. I just don't know what to do?"

"Let's go out and eat Toni. Don't go to all that trouble for us. You know I do it just for you anyway."

"I know...it just seems strange. Last year we went to Virginia. This year its summer and we're in Australia. It doesn't even seem like Christmas. I go and look at the tree and look out the window and its...different."

"A lot has happened in this past year, and now your family is changing. Things don't stay the same honey. We have a totally different lifestyle now. Your dad's here and he's about to start a whole new life too. We can have drink on Christmas Eve and open presents if you want and go to Coffs for dinner. How's that?"

Toni twisted a lock of hair and looked at Richie, "Okay...but next year will be different, maybe by then I will have got in the spirit despite the hot weather."

"I think our wedding took away from your Christmas this year. That was the big thing."

"You're probably right," she smiled, "The biggest and bestest thing ever."

"Don't worry about it Toni. It will be Christmas for you." He pulled her down on his lap and kissed her, hearing a roar on the TV he looked over her shoulder to see who scored.

Michael was settled in an easy chair in the living room with a book. He looked up at the twinkling lights on the tree and smiled, his daughter's tree. He thought about all the trees over the years and watching his children decorate hanging all the ornaments on the bottom branches. Later Gena always moved them so everything was balanced.

He wondered at himself. Wasn't he supposed to be devastated? He wasn't. Perhaps this had been coming for years and neither of them wanted to acknowledge it. Since he had retired a few years ago, he found he had no real home life. Gena had made a life of her own that didn't include him. He was left with a few old friends from his life in service to putter around a golf course or sailing on the odd weekend. The decision he'd made to move to Australia lay comfortable around his shoulders.

He would have to go back of course. There would be papers to sign, things he'd want to keep and ship over. Christmas...a different season here down under time to start new traditions if one wanted to. He put on his reading glasses and shifted in his chair.