Christmas in the Country (A Pocahontas FanFiction)

Rise and Shine for an early sled ride!

Early the next morning, John woke Thomas up, "Hey, Thomas!" he whispered. Thomas lifted his head and opened his eyes. He smiled, "Hi, John." John went to the point, "You wanna go sledding? No one's awake yet. We'll just throw on our gear and go have some fun." Thomas nodded eagerly, "Yea, let's go!"

Having snuck downstairs, the boys grabbed their coats and boots and other things and headed to the garage for the sled. New snow was falling and the hill was looking perfect for a sled ride. Thomas sat in the back and held onto John. John got ready to push off, "Ready, kiddo?"

"Ready!"

"Alright, count off!

"1-2-3!"

John pushed and they took off down the hill. As they reached the bottom, they fell off and landed in a pile in a snow drift. Laughing, John got up and helped his younger brother up. Thomas brushed the snow off his face still laughing, "That was fun! Let's do it again!"

They went down several times until Uncle Lon called them for breakfast. The boys quickly put the sled away and ran into his arms. Uncle Lon couldn't help laughing himself as he looked at his young nephews and saw their cheeks as red as Christmas bows, "Goodness, you two look like a couple of rosy elves. Where've you two been, the North Pole?" The boys giggled, "We were just sledding." Uncle Ben looked up from where he was cooking the bacon, "Well, you boys can go sledding all you want once you've eaten breakfast and done your chores." The boys started taking off their coats, Uncle Ben stopped short, "Boys! You're still in your pajamas!" The boys giggled as they headed upstairs to change.

Back downstairs, the boys were dressed in warm sweaters and fluffy socks and sat down to chocolate chip pancakes and bacon, still nice and hot. Mrs. Smith touched John's cheek, "How'd you two get so cold?" Uncle Ben smirked, "They were outside sledding and they didn't even change out of their PJs." Mrs. Smith put her hands on her hips, "Boys! You could've caught a cold like that!" Thomas pretended to pout, "We were just having fun. New snow was on the ground, so we just wanted to take the sled for a ride." Mr. Smith laughed, "Well, don't get too excited next time. It may come back to bite you." Grandma nodded her agreement as she set hot chocolate in front of her grandsons "Of course, I won't let you boys ruin this vacation for all of us." John fist-bumped his brother, "We get it, Grandma."

After breakfast, Mrs. Smith insisted they spend some time inside, "I'm not having you two catching a cold." So, while Mr. Smith read the newspaper, Uncle Ben took out a book, Uncle Lon practiced his guitar, and Mrs. Smith and Grandma knitted, John and Thomas played a game of Chess. John moved his Knight, "Check." Thomas thought hard, he moved his King out of reach.

After the game (John won), as he and John were starting a game of Clue, Thomas heard a laugh from Uncle Lon. He turned and saw the same teasing gleam in Lon's eye, "Don't try it, it won't work this time!" he shouted at him. He knew this could be 'How do the Piggies Eat' again.

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The last time they did that was when he and John were five and seven. They'd been over for Christmas again and, during that time, Uncle Lon established a reputation with Thomas for being a big tease. A day would hardly go by without Uncle Lon teasing him about something. Even though it was all in good fun, it got annoying quickly.

They were having supper and Thomas was, again, refusing to eat. John had looked at Thomas staring sulkily at his food and at Uncle Ben who was slowly getting more angry since this wasn't the first time Thomas refused to eat. Uncle Lon was teasing Thomas for his babyish behavior until Thomas yelled at him to stop. He did, but laughed to himself. Uncle Ben looked up again and, seeing Thomas still hadn't touched his food, "Would you eat for heaven's sake?! Or I'll give you something to cry about." Thomas aimed his lip at him, crossed his arms and pouted, but Uncle Ben wasn't finished, "I mean it, start eating or you'll be sorry." John shot Thomas a worried look, "Thomas, for your own good, just go ahead and eat. He's not playing!" But, Uncle Lon had a new idea. He moved closer to Thomas while Thomas and John exchanged puzzled looks, where was he going with this? Thomas gave him a suspicious look, but Uncle Lon unleashed his newest plan, "Thomas, what sound do piggies make?" Now, five year old Thomas could never resist a game and he played along. When Uncle Lon got to the part that the whole plan depended on, John guessed what was coming next. Uncle Lon coaxed him on, "Be a good boy, show me how the piggies eat." At this, Thomas nose-dived right into it. John snorted and finally laughed. Almost everyone laughed, even Uncle Ben had to admit it was funny.

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After lunch, the boys were allowed to go out. Uncle Ben and Uncle Lon came out and helped them build a snowman for the front yard. Then, Uncle Lon started a snowball fight. They kept it up till they were all out of breath and Uncle Lon had caught Thomas and was tickling him silly. John and Thomas made a couple snow angels and sledded down the hill again. After their fifth time down, Mrs. Smith called them in for hot chocolate.

When they sat down, Thomas was glad to see that the hot chocolate was dished out with extra marshmallows. They all sat around and talked for the longest time about what they were going to do with the rest of their break. Uncle Ben was taking them all to Famous Dave's for supper.

At the restaurant, John and Thomas talked about what the rest of their break would be like. They were both looking forward to putting up the tree and decorating it. Their dad and uncles always let them come with them to the tree farm to pick out the tree, then they would surprise Mrs. Smith and Grandma with it.

Thomas looked up at Uncle Ben, "So, when are we going to get the tree?" Uncle Ben thought for a second as he worked on his steak, "Well, it's been a week." He turned to Uncle Lon and Mr. Smith, "Whatta ya think, men? Could we go out to the tree farm tomorrow?" They both nodded, "Sure, Christmas is coming soon."

As soon as they were home with frozen custard from Freddy's, everyone gathered in the living room for Cinnamon Bear while John and Thomas talked excitedly about what they thought would happen next.

As soon as the last episode was over, John and Thomas fell asleep snuggled next to Uncle Ben and Uncle Lon. The two men chuckled and took blankets to cover up the boys, "They can sleep down here can't they?" Uncle Lon inquired, "Wouldn't really be nice to disturb them now, they've had a long day." Mr. Smith grinned and picked up Thomas, "Ben, you and I can carry the boys to bed." He leaned forward and whispered, "You know how Mary feels about the boys not in their beds." Uncle Ben chuckled, nodded and led the way upstairs.