A Merry Merry Christmas

Ten

It was the next day. Once again, it was snowing. There were twenty two days until Christmas and I was in the spirit. I just wanted to sit around and watch Christmas movies all day while sipping hot chocolate. My parents were upstairs getting ready for a Christmas party. They had asked me if I wanted to tag along but I told them I was having Joe and Donnie over. They immediately refused to let me have two boys over while they were gone, being the protective parents they are.

"What if Jackie came over too?" I asked, trying to negotiate.

"Absolutely not, Kendra." My mom said as she put an ugly Christmas sweater on over her T-shirt.

"Mom, it's not like we're gonna make out on the couch while you're gone." I protested, finally knocking some sense into her. She sighed and looked at me for a moment.

"Fine..." She said, finally giving in. I smiled and hugged her tightly.

"Yay! Thanks mom!" I smiled.

"You're welcome." she replied with a smile as well. She picked up her purse and her car keys then left the house with dad by her side. As soon as I knew they were completely gone, I rushed into the kitchen and picked up the phone, dialing Jackie, Joe and Donnie's numbers. I had an idea.

----

It had been about a good twenty minutes since I had called Jackie, Joe and Donnie. They still hadn't shown up yet. I was sitting on the couch waiting for them, listening to Christmas records. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Finally! I got off of the couch and made my way to the door to find Joe, Jackie and Donnie standing on the porch.

"Hey guys!" I greeted with a smile as they allowed themselves inside, sitting on the couch.

"Alright, what's going on?" Jackie asked.

"What do you mean?" I replied.

"You told us on the phone that you had an idea, what is it?" She asked. I turned to Joe.

"Did you bring the pitch pipe?" I asked with a wide gleaming smile. Joe held up the pitch pipe.

"Yup." He replied with a smile as he handed me the pitch pipe.

"Let me guess..." Jackie said. I nodded and smiled.

"Yup... Christmas carols." I added as I walked over to the coat rack, sliding my coat on and putting on a pair of boots as Joe, Jackie and Donnie followed close behind me. As we walked, I could hear Jackie whispering to Donnie.

"Did you know about this?" She asked.

"No idea, Kendra told me that we were having a movie marathon at her house." Donnie explained. I turned around and chuckled.

"If I would've told you the truth, you wouldn't have gone along with this." I laughed.

"Then why did you tell Joe?" She asked.

"Because I know how much he likes to sing." I chuckled once again as we proceeded to walk to the first house. We approached the front door and knocked. We stepped back a little as a woman opened the door with a smile. I blew the pitch pipe and we began singing jingle bells as a group. The woman smiled and pulled out a dollar handing it to me. I looked down at the dollar then looked at the woman who was holding the dollar with a smile.

"'Mam, I can't accept this." I said.

"You guys were very good, you deserve this." She insisted. I looked at the woman once again and took the dollar.

"Thank you Mam." Joe said as we turned away and walked to the next house through the snow. I turned Joe, Jackie and Donnie. They looked back at me with confusion written all over their faces.

"Why are you staring at us like that?" Donnie asked.

"We can't just take this money." I said.

"Why not?" Jackie asked.

"There are people out there in need of money, food, shelter. We have plenty to be grateful for and we can't keep this money, we're gonna donate it. To someone in need." I said. Jackie, Joey and Donnie exchanged looks. They smiled a little and nodded.

"You're right," Donnie said. "We already have so much in life. We have warm houses over our heads, food to keep us full. We can't keep this for ourselves." Donnie agreed. I nodded. We agreed to donate the money and we continued to another house, singing all of our favorite Christmas songs and by the end of the day, we had earned $30. It wasn't much, but in the end it was worth it because we knew we were helping a family who needed it the most.