Numb3rs

Chapter 5 Christmas Party

Chapter5 Christmas Party

Thankfully by the late afternoon I was feeling a lot better so I had managed to get myself cleaned up and in a nice red dress for the Christmas party. My dad and I had cooked some food to bring over. I made brownies and Dad made a casserole. I was feeling a lot better than I had the day before. I was also truly happy instead of faking it for everyone else's sake. "You ready Dad?" I asked slipping my white sweater jacket on before picking up the brownies.

"Yeah, let's go." He put his coat on before picking up the casserole and joining me at the door. Neither of us was big on parties. Bear was sitting at the door, we had been told to bring him too. We both walked across the street to Charlie's house which was also a Victorian. It was beautiful with touches of the craftsman's style. The wood work was amazing. His home was warm and cozy and had felt more like home than my own house for the past several months.

I knocked on the door before heading on in. "Charlie! Don! Allen! Amita!" I called sticking my head in the door. No one came to the door but there was lots of noise coming from the kitchen. I walked on in and headed for the kitchen. "Charlie!" I called again coming into the kitchen. My heels clicked across the floor and I set the brownies down on the dining room table before entering the kitchen.

People in the kitchen were all talking over each other and I whistled to get their attention. They all looked at me and silence fell. "Come on guys, it's Christmas, let's not fight." The kitchen was a mess. "All right, everyone out, I'll sort this out," I said removing my sweater and pulling on an apron.

"We're the host, you shouldn't be doing this," Charlie said.

"And your guests are going to be here in an hour. Just send my dad in and we'll get this straightened out." Allen took my sweater for me so I wouldn't get it dirty. I went straight to work to fix this mess. I put the cookies in the oven as I started the noodles and started putting the lasagna together in a pan to throw it in an oven.

"What prompted this?" dad asked as he came in. "Oh," he said apparently looking around. There were about 15 different dishes started and in various stages of being finished. "How much time do we have before everyone else shows up?"

"One hour," I said frying chicken in the skillet. He started at the table behind me, chopping vegetables for soup as I fixed noodles and boiled chicken for it. I switched the cookies out for the lasagna. Half an hour later Charlie stuck his head in the kitchen.

"How's it going in here?" he asked.

"Good," I said pulling the chicken from its frame to put into the stew as my dad started to carry food out to the table. "Start getting the table set Charlie, dinner will be done soon." I threw out the chicken bones and put the stew together in the chicken broth. I brought out the lasagna and put it on the table and went back for the cookies. I would bring the stew out when others started to get here.

I came out of the kitchen to join the others, "soup is on the stove." I took my sweater from the back of the chair.

"And with five minutes to spare before everyone gets here," Don said.

"What would you do without me?" I asked. "Or my dad?" I added. Everyone laughed. Minutes later the party was in full swing with everyone bringing food. Colby had brought apple pie, Sinclair had brought pumpkin pie, Nikki had brought snickerdoodle, and Larry brought egg nog. The party was quite enjoyable, we had secret Santa, a huge meal that stuffed all of us, watched A Christmas Carol. It was nine at night before my dad and I got home.