Aunt Santa

Chapter 21

"Mommy!"

BB's yell seemed to rattle the trees as she raced down the driveway.

Mo was waiting, her arms outstretched and her smile wide. "My BB! I missed you so much. Go give Dad a hug, he's cranky from the drive."

"No grumps on Christmas Eve!" Sara called down from the front porch. "You know the rules. Leave it in the car."

"He's mad because we hit traffic," Mo explained as she hugged Sara at the top of the stairs. "Because he forgot I still had shopping to do this morning and we couldn't leave at the crack of dawn."

"Well, if you'd shown up at dawn, we'd all still be asleep. Sam's still knocked out." She helped them bring in their bags. BB immediately dragged her father to look at the tree and all the ornaments she made.

Mo let out a sigh at the kitchen counter, with a murmur of thanks for the cup of coffee Sara placed in front of her. "I love this house at Christmas."

"It's pretty much why I bought it, remember? I bought a whole house for one day of the year."

"So much nicer with electricity though."

"Truth." Sara had laughed with delight as she'd pulled up to the house just a few hours earlier. Every light had been on, including the outside lights. It felt like the house had been waiting for them to come home. "It would be a much different Christmas if the electricity was still out. For one thing, we'd all be at your house."

"Oh, god. The house is such a mess." Mo snorted into her coffee. "I thought I was going to have all this time on my hands to unpack, get everything organized. Nope. It looks like a bomb went off. Like the kids' rooms."

"It's almost as if the kids come by it honestly," Billy teased.

"I remember," Sara said. "I was her roommate once, you know."

"Oh, yes. Very funny everyone, I'm such a slob."

"Well, admitting it is the first step." Billy walked over and gave Sara a hug. "Hi, friend."

"Hi, friend. I'm sorry you hit traffic."

"I should've known there was still shopping to do." He sighed. "We finally made it. That's all that matters."

The business of Christmas kept them busy for a while. Because some of the food in the fridge had spoiled while they were away, she and Mo drove down to the supermarket to restock.

Mo had been certain BB would want to come with them, as she'd basically clung to her side since they arrived, but was surprised when her daughter shook her head with grim firmness. "No cars. No airplanes."

"I might've ruined her for air travel," Sara lamented as they headed back from the store. The drive down and the quick shop had at least given them time to catch up. She wanted to hear about their week at home, what they'd been up to, but Mo just wanted to hear more about the trip. All of the updates while they were away had been mostly dashed off reassurances that they were okay and where they were at that moment.

"Eleven hours in the air." Mo whistled. "And you didn't have any delays! That's a Christmas miracle."

"Oh, yeah. We got lucky."

"Seriously," Mo said. "Remember when we were flying to Vegas and got stuck on the runway for four hours?"

Sara shuddered. "What about the time Sam wanted to go to Miami for spring break?"

"And they canceled our flight and we had to sleep in the airport." Mo shook her head, smiling at the memory. "We still had fun, though. Remember when the TSA guy came and threatened to kick us out?"