The Christmas Elf, A Secret-Santa Story

Chapter 17 - Time to build a snowman

Author's note: Horrid person that I am, I haven't updated as planned. Will try to complete before Christmas!

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Monday 19 December

By the time Eileen descended the stairs the next morning, Ella was seated at the small kitchen table with bacon and eggs. She planted a kiss on her mom's cheek, then her dad's and then the top of Ella's head.

"Are you sharing?" she asked Ella, who grinned and pushed her plate forward.

"Aww, just kidding," she reassured as her mom handed over a mug of coffee and a loaded plate.

"Are you trying to make sure I don't fit into any of my clothes by the time you leave, mom?" Eileen laughed.

"I like that you give your mom and dad a kiss," Ella announced. "My friend saw momma give me a kiss and said I was being a baby."

Ella blinked, wondering if she would ever gain the capacity to not be surprised at the things that sometimes came out of the little girl's mouth.

"Well, you are a baby," Mrs. O'Connor said, "to your momma – and you will always, always be her baby, no matter how old you get. In the same way my Eileen here will always, always be my baby."

Ella munched her bacon thoughtfully, "That's fine by me. I think it's sad my friend thinks kisses from her momma would make her seem like too much of a baby. I like my momma's hugs and kisses – they make me feel warm and special."

"Very good," Mrs. O'Connor said. "That's exactly how they should make you feel."

Eileen shot her mother a look of gratitude, glad that her parents had been the ones to volunteer to baby-sit. Her mother's agility in dealing with the little girl's views awed her and she wondered if she had ever been as precocious as a child.

"What time does Claudia get back from work?" Eileen asked.

"Around three, she said," responded Mrs. O'Connor.

"Do we know what we have planned for today?"

"Ella wanted to see animals, so we were thinking a trip to the zoo," her dad replied.

"It's been a while since I last went to the zoo! Sounds like fun."

At the zoo, they did a quick walk through of the colder areas and then Ella was happy to be entertained by the gorillas which was a lucky break since the area was heated.

"The only problem now," Eileen observed as she got behind the wheel to take them all home, "is that I feel like I can't get the smell of gorilla out of my nostrils."

Ella giggled.

She parked on the street and was headed to the front door when something hit her solidly in the back. She turned slowly on one heel, to see her mother looking a little guilty and Ella hiding her face behind her hands.

"Mom, did you do what I think you did?" she asked. The height of the snowball and the force couldn't have belonged to the six year old.

"Depends on what you think I did," her mother tried to brazen it out.

A taxi pulled up in front of Mr. Jensen's and a couple got out with two kids. The door opened and another couple with a kid came out with Mr. Jensen to greet the new arrivals. There was much hugging and loud greetings and when Mr. Jensen spotted the O'Connors and Ella he loudly called them over.

"You guys all remember Eileen and her parents – I wanted to introduce my newest and prettiest neighbor," he said.

"Ella, this is my son Max, his wife Laura and their son Nick," he pointed out the handsome dark-haired man, his petite brunette wife and the teenager who was clearly a Jensen.

"This is my daughter Madeleine, her husband Dean and their kids Mark and Aster," he pointed out the blonde female who had to have inherited looks from her mother because she looked nothing like the men of the family. Her husband was dark-haired and looked more like her father than she did. Their son had inherited the dark colors but their daughter was fair like her mother.

Ella immediately zoned in on the six-year old girl while the adults all greeted each other, "Do you want to come build a snowman with us?"

Eileen looked at little Aster's golden curls. "Don't they look like they could be sisters?" she said out loud. Mr. Jensen nodded happily.

"Can I, mom?!" asked Aster hopefully.

"You guys look a little tired," Mr. Jensen said to his daughter and her husband, "you want to get in out of the cold."

"That would be great, dad," said Madeleine, "and yes Aster – but later okay? We need to get inside and sort ourselves out first."

The O'Connors and Ella returned to the O'Connor yard and Eileen's parents went inside to organize hot chocolate while Eileen and Ella started on a snowman.

Somehow Aster worker her own magic and joined them when the base of the snowman was still in progress. Eileen listened as the two youngsters chatted about their likes and dislikes – starting with the eternal basic of favorite colors and moving on to food and things about school.

By the time the hot chocolate came out the base was in place and they were working on the torso. They took a break to sip hot chocolate on the porch before rallying again.

"This is fun," Eileen told her mother as they stood waiting for the girls to make the head so they could lift it into place.

"I am glad to see you so relaxed," her mother responded, "last year you were going on that deadline until the day before Christmas Eve."

Eileen took a step back, "You know what's really relaxing?"

Her mother took a look at her face and read her mind in that way mothers always do. "Don't you dare!"

Eileen scooped up a handful of snow and launched it. The girls saw and shrieked, rushing to join with small handfuls of their own. Mr. O'Connor, who had gone in to return the chocolate mugs, took a faceful of snow that was not meant for him as soon as he stepped outside.

In a wild flurry of snow an impromptu battle raged, and it soon became a cross-territory one when the Jensen family peered outside to see what all the noise was about.

It was a long while before the snowman was completed, but he was there waiting to greet Claudia when she came home.