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Home For Christmas (updated Saturday 7th June, page 3)
http://www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1838
Author:  Lizzie [ 21 Dec 2006, 23:33 ]
Post subject:  Home For Christmas (updated Saturday 7th June, page 3)
This started as a way to write a Christmas Chalet story because my other drabble is set in the middle of summer at the moment, but it's become more involved and may well end up being longer than I originally planned. And will probably taking a long time to finish. By the time they actually get round to Christmas Day, we'll be well into June...

“Santa Baby, forgot to mention one little thing, a ring, I don’t mean on the phone, Santa Baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight…”
The timer on the cooker buzzed, and pausing in her Eartha Kitt impersonation, Ailie Russell rinsed her paintbrush in a jam jar and went to check on the state of her gingerbread. The contents of the first tray were done, and she carefully moved them onto the wire rack on the counter, sniffing appreciatively at the warm, treacly scent that would, by now have pervaded the whole house. The second tray she deemed perfectly cooked a few minutes later, and soon, gingerbread bears, elephants and butterflies were jostling for space amongst the more regulation snowflakes and stars. With a satisfied sigh, she set about mixing a spoonful of icing sugar with a little cinnamon to sift over her mince pies, which were cooling on another rack, and then went back to Christmas card production. This absorbing pastime held her attention for the next hour, and even then, she was only roused when the word “Biscuit!!” was uttered in her immediate rear by a small but extremely piercing voice. Ailie started and spun round.

“Oh! Oh, Freya, you did give me a shock. I didn’t hear you come in, poppet.” She put down her pen, and gathered the small person onto her lap. “Where are Mummy and Daddy? Come to think of it, creeping up on someone and making them jump is the kind of behaviour I have come to expect from your Daddy, did he put you up to this?”
“Yes, Ailie, I have indeed been training my eighteen month old daughter as a kind of stealth practical joker. Don’t let on, MI5 will be after her covert skills, and her mother and I had some idea about having her home for Christmas.” Reuben appeared in the doorway, unwinding his scarf and shrugging his jacket onto the nearest chair. He stopped suddenly, and looked about him with the air of an astronaut stepping onto an unknown planet.
“Good grief, it looks like Santa’s Grotto in here.”
“I sincerely hope you mean that as compliment, Reuben Harmon.” Ailie looked at him sternly over the head of his daughter. “Nay-sayers receive no gingerbread, you know.”
“I would sooner die than say nay to you, Miss Russell.”
“Good. Have an elephant.”

Reuben fetched a handful of biscuits from the rack, and he, Ailie and Freya munched in companionable silence for a minute or two. Then, shifting Freya onto her father’s lap, Ailie got up from her stool.
“Tea?”
“Mmm, please.”
Ailie filled the kettle and went to the fridge for the milk. “Hey, where’s Liv? Did she get over-excited in Harrods and taken into custody again?”
“What do you mean ‘again’? My wife is the very image of decorum and respectability, I’ll have you know. Actually, she ran into an old friend on the way home and invited him back here for dinner. He had a couple things to do in town, so she stayed with him to avoid one of us having to draw him an embarrassingly poor map on a paper napkin, and I came straight home with Freya.”
“Ah, I see. I remember shopping with the two of you. Was it very boring, pet?” Ailie filled a cup with milk, and gave it to her god daughter. Freya looked up at her and smiled.
“Biscuit.” She said, pointing to the kitchen counter. Reuben laughed.
“I think that’s enough for you just now, monkey, Mummy’ll be home soon and then it’ll be your tea time.”
His daughter looked unconvinced, and continued pointing in the direction of the gingerbread until Ailie picked her up and took her to the other end of the kitchen to see the decorations that she had put up while the family had been out shopping. Liv had left the collection of battered boxes containing all decorations not used on the tree on the kitchen table that morning, leaving Ailie with the strict instructions that she was welcome to “spread a little Christmas cheer in the kitchen”, but that she wasn’t to do anything stupid like climbing on tables in socks, or attempt to use the step ladder without someone standing on the bottom rung.

Abiding by her best friend’s sage advice, Ailie had been careful, although she was glad that no one had been around to witness her standing on the window seat on one leg, clutching the curtain rail with one hand while she attempted to drive a drawing pin into the picture rail. Now, she showed Freya the greenery she had wound along the top of the window and the string of lights that shone out from between the leaves, the glass baubles that hung on ribbons in the fading afternoon light, and the tiny Christmas crib that she had set up amongst the tea cups on Liv’s dresser.
“Mama!” Freya pointed out of the window. Craning her neck, Ailie could just see the familiar brown-booted feet of her friend through the railings, and a minute later, the front door slammed. Reuben drained the last of his tea and dashed upstairs to assist with the shopping bags, and a moment later, Liv burst in.
“Hi, sorry we’re late, the traffic was horrible. Ohh, Ailie, it looks lovely in here. The crib! In the tea cups! Lovely! What’s this? Mince pies? AND gingerbread? Do you WANT me to become obese? Honestly, what were you thinking? You’re not even going to BE here for Christmas, you didn’t have to do that. Hello darling,” she dropped a kiss on her daughter’s head. “Must be about time for your tea, eh? Let’s see what we have in the fridge. Oh,” she paused as a tall man entered the kitchen just behind Reuben, “Ailie, this is Raff. Raff, this is our friend Ailie.”

Ailie turned with a smile to greet the man who stood in the doorway, and was puzzled to find him strangely familiar.
“Hi,” she said, shaking his hand, “Nice to meet you. Did you get all your shopping done? I should think town was fairly manic this afternoon.”
He didn’t answer for a moment, and neither did he let go of her hand, a confused expression on his face. Then, just as she was about to ask politely for her hand back, his face cleared.
“Ailie? Not Ailie Russell, surely?” Even his voice, with its deep, Irish accent was familiar. Raff. Did she know a Raff? And what was Raff short for? Raphael? Rafferty? The only Rafferty she’d ever met was…
“Raff O’Hara?”
“Yup.” He smiled a beautiful smile and gave her a huge hug. “I can’t believe it. Little Ailie Russell. Although, of course,” he smiled a little sheepishly, “not so little, really. I don’t think I’ve seen you since that summer when my Ma took us all to Switzerland. I was thirteen, I think, so that means that you were…”
Ailie did the sum in her head. “Nine. I think.” She gave him another hug. “It’s wonderful to see you, Raff, what are you doing in London?”
Author:  Lyanne [ 22 Dec 2006, 00:44 ]
Post subject: 
Juliet's son? I want some of Ailie's mince pies & gingerbread! My sister does the mince pies in our family & I haven't seen her yet.
Author:  LizB [ 22 Dec 2006, 09:23 ]
Post subject: 
What a lovely domestic scene

Thanks, Lizzie :D
Author:  leahbelle [ 22 Dec 2006, 10:47 ]
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I can almost smell that gingerbread!
Author:  JoS [ 22 Dec 2006, 21:16 ]
Post subject: 
This looks good! Thanks Lizzie. And yum for all the Christmas goodies...
Author:  Miranda [ 24 Dec 2006, 15:10 ]
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I love Ailie's gingerbread creativity - elephants and butterflies!! I had to chuckle at "Good. Have an elephant." :lol:
Author:  Josie [ 07 Jan 2007, 20:47 ]
Post subject: 
:D This looks good. Thanks Lizzie. More please, when you have time! :lol:
Author:  Lizzie [ 08 Feb 2007, 21:43 ]
Post subject: 
I really meant to get a lot of this written over Christmas, and then I had a horrid cold and never came back to it. It's all going to be terribly unseasonal...ah well...

Raff opened his mouth to explain, but was interrupted by Liv, who looked first at Ailie, then at Raff, then back again, and then to her husband, who was looking on with amusement. “You. You know him. And you. You know her. How…I mean…when…Reuben? How do our friends know each other?”
Ailie laughed. “Does the world suddenly feel terribly small, Liv? I had no idea you and Reuben were friends with Raff, but as for how I know him, his mother is a kind of honorary Aunt to us Russells. She was a pupil at the school that Mum started, and when her parents died, she sort of joined the family. She became a teacher after University, and was Head of one the branches of the school for a while.”
“Your Aunt Juliet! I remember you mentioning her, I just never made the connection. Maybe you never mentioned her surname.”

“Even if she’d told you her surname, I wouldn’t blame you for not making the connection. O’Hara is hardly an unusual name!” Raff smiled, settling himself at the kitchen table to be out of the way of Liv as she made her daughter’s tea. “She married my Dad in Austria just before the Anschluss, and they moved to Ireland. I know she’s kept in contact with Lady Russell and her sister, but apart from a few holidays when we were kids, we’ve hardly seen each other. As for how I know Liv and Reuben,” he said, turning to Ailie, “I was at medical school here in London with Joe, Liv’s eldest brother, and because his family lived locally and mine were such a long way away, I got invited to Sunday lunches and family picnics and generally got adopted on occasions when I would have been mooching round my rooms on my own.”
“How is it that we haven’t met recently, then?” It was Ailie’s turn to look confused. “I’ve lived in London since I came here to university, and I met Liv and Reuben in my second year, so wouldn’t I have met you at their wedding?”
He shook his head. “Nope, I was working in a hospital in Paris at the time, and a week before I was going to come back to London, I went down with German measles, which I promptly followed up with a rousing bout of pneumonia.”
“He sent the most heart-felt telegram instead,” put in Reuben, “So sorry. Dying. Wine glasses and picture frames on their way. I remember being quite moved.”

Raff grinned. “I’m glad you appreciated it. Anyway, when I’d finally stopped being ill, and was thoroughly bored of being in a hospital bed, I got carted off to a little clinic in the Alps to convalesce. It took a while, because although I was young and fairly fit, I was pretty weak after being ill for such a long time. After the traditional period of feeling sorry for myself, I began to take more of a medical interest in what happened at the clinic, and became good friends with the doctors who worked there. When I was completely better, they offered me some work there, and I’ve been working there ever since.” He paused, and looked over at Ailie. “I think I left London during Liv’s first year at university, so that’d be why we never crossed paths. So did you meet these two at university?”
Ailie nodded. “Liv and I took the same English Literature class in our second year, and we bonded over a debate about the relative merits of Jane Eyre and Sense and Sensibility. I had just found a flat and needed someone to share with, so she took the spare room and we lived together until she married Reuben.”
“And are you living here at the moment?”
“Just for the moment. I was about to move out of my old flat, because there was so much wrong with it, and I’m going out to spend Christmas with my family in Switzerland so was going to hunt for a better place when I got back. I was left somewhat homeless, however, when the ceiling came in last week, and the Harmons very kindly took me in.”
“Out of the goodness of our hearts.” said Liv, sitting Freya in her high chair.
“That, and the fact that she’s an incredible cook, and is very nifty with a hoover.” said her husband cheerfully, peeling potatoes into the bin.
“That seems like a good enough reason.” Raff laughed, looking over at Ailie, who was clearing away her Christmas cards, and putting the gingerbread and mince pies in biscuit tins lined with greaseproof paper. Then he turned to his hosts. “Can I do anything in the way of supper preparation? I may not be as handy as Ailie, but I believe I am equal to slicing things. Or maybe mixing.”

An hour later, dinner was ready. Reuben returned to the kitchen, having bathed his daughter and settled her for the night, to find Liv serving up spaghetti and meatballs, Raff uncorking a bottle of wine, and Ailie bringing French bread and salad to the table.
“What a lovely domestic scene!” He said, sitting in the chair his wife was waving at with her ladle. “Can I do anything?”
“You bathed the wriggling, dirt-magnet child, you’ve done your duty for the evening. Have some wine.”

“Did you say that you’re going to be spending Christmas with your family?”
Dinner had reached the lazy stage, where everyone had finished their first course but couldn’t quite bring themselves to get up and take the plates the short distance from the table to the kitchen counter.
Ailie looked up at Raff’s question and nodded. “I haven’t been back for a really long stay in ages, so I’m really excited. Why do you ask?”
He smiled, shaking his head a little. “Running into you is just such a strange coincidence. The clinic I’m working at is very small, but a lot of the treatment that we do is similar to the work that they do at the Sanatorium on the Gornetz Platz, and I had been thinking about writing to your Uncle Jack to ask if I could go and look round it some time in the New Year. If that wasn’t enough of a coincidence though, I had a letter from Ma this morning, saying that she had been in touch with your Mum and your Aunt Jo, and they’ve decided that it’s been too long since all the families managed a reunion, so Dad’s taken a house on the Platz for the Christmas holidays.”
Author:  dorian [ 08 Feb 2007, 22:16 ]
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Ooh, I like the look of this! (Didn't find it until just now.) I'd love to see some reunions - more please?
Author:  brie [ 09 Feb 2007, 00:28 ]
Post subject: 
thanks lizzie- glad to c this back
is it greedy to ask for more already?? :lol:
Author:  Mary [ 09 Feb 2007, 18:03 ]
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What a nice doctor! Hehehe. Really enjoying this Liz. I don't stand on ceremony- write some more! M xx
Author:  JoS [ 09 Feb 2007, 21:22 ]
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Good to see more - thanks Lizzie. Not to worry about not being seasonal!
Author:  Karry [ 10 Feb 2007, 07:22 ]
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Missed this before Christmas - :(
Sounds intriguing! *Joins the chant for more*
Author:  Josie [ 10 Feb 2007, 15:32 ]
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*g* at Raff's telegram. Thanks Lizzie. This is great.
Author:  Lizzie [ 14 Feb 2007, 14:00 ]
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This story is set about ten years after Prefects, so Madge and Jem are in their sixties. For the purposes of this story, they are living on the Platz now, although they probably still have a house in Wales, and although most likely retired, Jem is still a highly sought after consultant and lecturer. Not that this has any bearing on the story, I just thought I'd give you some of the random background in my head. :D

“Josephine Maynard, whatever are you doing?”
Jo paused in the act of breaking the fourth egg into her cake mixture, and looked up as her sister entered.
“Morning, Madge, who let you in? I didn’t hear the door.”
“You wouldn’t have.” Madge rounded the enormous kitchen table and dropped a kiss rather gingerly on the floury cheek presented. “Jack was just leaving as I arrived, and he gallantly held the door for me. He looked like he was in rather a hurry though, I hope it’s nothing serious?”
Jo shook her head. “They’re just short-handed this week, what with Dr Lessing breaking his ankle and Rix being on that course in London.”
“Of course, I’d forgotten Rix was away, when’s he due back?”
“At the end of the week. I think. It’s all written down somewhere in Jack’s study, although I defy you to be able to find it. How I ever put up with such a messy husband, I shall never know.” And with a self pitying sigh, Jo went back to her mixing.
“You’re one to talk, I must say!” Madge surveyed the table, the surface of which was almost completely covered with cooking utensils and handfuls of stray ingredients. “Which brings me back to my original question. What are you doing? I thought you were supposed to be working on the new manuscript this week.”
“I am.”
“So…this is…research?”
“You know, it’s been a while since I wrote about a cookery disaster.” Jo paused in her mixing, and looked at her sister thoughtfully. “That’s actually not a bad idea. This isn’t research though, I just needed to take a break from staring at those lines of print. My eyes aren’t what they were, you know,” she said ruefully, “and when the words began to start swimming around, I pretended I was Jack, or Jem, or any one of the doctors in this family, and prescribed myself a little break.”
“That sounds like a sensible, Doctor’s wifely sort of thing to do.”
“I know,” Jo looked up with a grin, “I must be growing up.”

Fifteen minutes later, the cake was in the oven, and the sisters were drinking coffee at the end of the table, now cleared of the scales, wooden spoons, bags of flour and stray raisins.
“I would suggest we took our cups into the Salon, but the range makes it so lovely and warm in here. You don’t mind, do you?” asked Jo.
Madge shook her head with a smile. “Of course not, your cake stands a much better chance of not being burnt to a crisp if you’re on hand to deal with it.”
“That’s true enough. Now,” Jo reached for a biscuit tin and offered it to her sister, “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company this morning?”
“Well, there are just over three weeks to Christmas, and I know we talked about it at the end of November, but I just wanted to make sure that everything’s being taken care of.”
“I know, I was thinking about it last night. There are such a lot of people coming this year, it feels more like a military operation! We’d better make a list,” and Jo made a long arm for her notepad on the kitchen counter. “Right. Let’s start with your lot.”
“Well, we’re not expecting David, Sybs or Josette this year. Kevin and Kester will be home from university in a week or so, and Ailie should be arriving in the next couple of days.”
“Really? Oh, lovely, I haven’t seen her for ages. That card she made me for my birthday was just beautiful, I must remember to thank her again. So you and Jem will have your three, and Dick and Molly are staying with you as well?”
“That’s right. Daphne will be coming across with the other girls once term finishes, and we’ve also got Peggy and Giles and their two coming. I think they were going to try and travel with Kevin and Kester, so we should have them with us by next week.”

“Right.” Jo was writing furiously. “And I’ll check with Molly about the rest of her lot. Now my tribe. No Margot, of course, and Con and Roger will be staying with Len.”
“How’s she doing?”
“Con? She was fine when we spoke last week. Alexander is getting terribly excited at the prospect of a brother or sister, and I don’t think Con or Roger are far behind him! They should be arriving at about the same time as Peg and Giles, I think. The boys are all meeting up in London and travelling together, which has laid my mind at rest. I can’t say I relished the idea of Geoff and Felix making their way to Switzerland together, visions of lost suitcases and wrong trains have been flashing before my eyes! Phil, Cecil, Felicity and Claire will be coming home as soon as term finishes, and we’re expecting Adrienne and Erica a few days after that.”
“Mary Lou says she and Rix have room for a few if needs be,” put in Madge, “She rang me this morning.”
“That’s good to know, especially if any of the people currently on the ‘Absent’ list decide to put in an appearance! Have you heard from Juliet?”
“Not since I last spoke to you. As far as I know, she and Donal are coming across from Dublin with their youngest, and the rest of the family will be making their way here from their various universities and places of work. They’ve taken the house from the week before Christmas, and are planning to stay until early January, I think.”
“Lovely.” Jo gave a happy sigh, and looked at her hastily scrawled list. “That looks like we’ve covered everyone. We’ll need to make another list to decide where we’re all going to be on the various days, we must all try and get together for at least one day.”
Madge nodded. “That’d be really nice. We’ll need to think about meals as well…” She broke off, for at the mention of cooking, Jo had leapt to the range with a strangled cry, saving her cake just in time.
Author:  Lesley [ 14 Feb 2007, 18:26 ]
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Love the update about where everyone is now!

Thanks Lizzie
Author:  brie [ 14 Feb 2007, 18:29 ]
Post subject: 
thanks lizzie

a lovely sisterly scene there
Author:  JoS [ 14 Feb 2007, 20:27 ]
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Lovely - an update 10 years later.
Imagine having so many people for Christmas dinner - you would need about 10 turkeys. And when did Mary-Lou become a Bettany by marrying Rix?
Thanks Lizzie.
Author:  Mary [ 15 Feb 2007, 00:21 ]
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Mmmm. I now want to eat cake infront of the fire. Darn university. Really enjoying this Liz. Carry on! M xx
Author:  Lizzie [ 17 Feb 2007, 00:02 ]
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JoS wrote:
And when did Mary-Lou become a Bettany by marrying Rix?


Er, not sure exactly. We'll get to that. And maybe I'll write a prequel. I'm fairly sure that people have paired Mary Lou and Rix before, they just seem to work quite nicely as a couple. Thanks for your comments, everyone.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving us!” wailed Liv. “What are we going to do without you?”
Ailie raised an eyebrow at her friend as she took her plate and cup to the sink, sweeping burnt toast crusts and orange peel into the bin on the way.
“Um, I think you’ll do fine, Liv. You and Reuben have been great, taking me in at such short notice, but I really must leave you to get ready for Christmas. You’ve both got your parents coming, haven’t you? Besides,” she grinned, “I may need to beg a corner to sleep in when I come back in January, and I don’t want to outstay my welcome.”
“Don’t be daft, Russell, your room will be waiting for you. You’re always welcome here, you know that. Now,” Liv removed a porridgey spoon from her daughter, gave her a board book, and started filling the sink to do the washing up, “Freya’ll be fine with that book for a few minutes, so I’ll get the washing up done now. Why don’t you go and finish your packing while there’s not a small person running around and ‘helping’ you?”

Upstairs, Ailie surveyed the items still waiting to be packed into her suitcase. It was a relief that she didn’t have to worry about taking everything with her to Switzerland; Reuben was storing most of her boxes for her in the garage, and short of a particularly nice rocking chair given to her by her parents for her twenty-first birthday, she had practically no furniture to worry about. All her clothes were packed in her suitcase, and the only things that remained out on the dresser were things that she’d either need during the journey, or right before she left. She glanced round the room and spied her journal where she’d left it on the chair by the window. She fetched it, and went to put it in the smaller bag that she’d be keeping with her while she travelled. As she did so, a few photographs fell out, along with a theatre programme, a letter and a few sheets of drawing paper covered with crayoned dinosaurs. At the last two, she smiled, and sitting on the edge of her bed, unfolded the letter. It had arrived two weeks ago, and she was taking it home for it to form part of the great ‘News Swap’ that would take place once everyone was assembled on the Gornetz Platz.

Dear Ailie,

I’m sorry it has taken me so long to write back to you, especially after the lovely long letter you sent with the book for Theo’s birthday which, if you’ll let me digress for a moment, he absolutely loves. Thanks to you, he’s now going to be a palaeontologist when he grows up, and spends most of his time in the flowerbeds, looking for dinosaur bones. He keeps his collection of ‘finds’ lined up on the top step of the veranda, and while most of them look like odd-shaped potatoes, he is extremely proud of them. He sent his love to you when I told him I was going to write to you today, and said that he was going to draw you a picture of a Tyrannosaurus Rex this afternoon which, if it materialises, I shall enclose with this letter.

In answer to your question, we’re all very well, thank you. Hugh has been working terribly hard these last few months, but at the end of October, he was given the promotion he was hoping for, which is great news. It means more money, obviously, but hopefully, it’ll also mean that he’ll be able to work from home for a few days a week, which would be lovely. In a way, it’s a shame that it should have happened now though, because the rearrangements in the office mean that he really doesn’t feel that he can be away for too long, which puts pay to any ideas we might have had about Christmas in Switzerland. It’s a pity that we won’t be able to see everyone, but to look on the bright side, after all the snowy winters we’ve had (and some of the wet ones in Wales), I must admit that there’s something rather luxurious about wearing a sun dress on Christmas day! I hope that you all have a wonderful time together, it sounds as if Mum and Auntie Jo are both going to have very full houses this year, even without the few of us who can’t make it! Make sure that someone takes lots of pictures, and then when we do next manage to make it over, we can…

Later…

Why is it that I am never interrupted when I’m cleaning the bathroom, or some equally unexciting task? First, Alice climbed into my lap and spilt my coffee over us both, and then, once I’d found her another dress, mollified her with a biscuit and changed my own clothes, I was accosted at the front door by a woman selling dishcloths. I positively yearn for a distraction like that when I’m sewing name tapes into socks! Where was I? Ah, yes. Taking lots of photographs and comparing them when next we meet. We’ll also have to make sure that the new babies in the family are well documented, pass that along to Con, won’t you? I shall certainly tell Josette, and hopefully, it’ll take her mind off the fact that she has at least another month of sitting still to do after the scare she had a couple of weeks ago. The doctor has told her not to do anything too strenuous until the baby arrives, which isn’t supposed to be until the middle of January, which is easier said than done where our sister is concerned! If she was a lazy woman, Ailie, it would not be a problem, but as I’m sure you can well imagine, she simply will not sit still! Once we had realised that we were both going to be in Oz for Christmas, she invited us all down to stay with her and Alistair, but now, I wonder whether our presence will be more of a hindrance than a help. If there’s just the two of them to worry about, maybe Alistair can convince her that they don’t need to cook a full roast, with all the trimmings and multiple dishes of vegetables that would otherwise appear!

I’m sorry that this letter is not longer, but I must get it posted before lunch if it’s going to leave today and get to you before you leave for Switzerland. I’m posting it to Liv and Reuben’s house, because I know that you were staying there, and even if I’m wrong, they should know where you’ve gone! I’ve also enclosed a Christmas card for them, so if you’d deliver it for me, that’d be great. Have a wonderful holiday darling, do give everyone our very best love, and I shall hope to see you really soon.

With all my love,

Sybs xxx
Author:  brie [ 17 Feb 2007, 11:37 ]
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thanks lizzie
Author:  Mary [ 17 Feb 2007, 20:07 ]
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Mmmm. That was lovely. M x
Author:  JoS [ 17 Feb 2007, 20:57 ]
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Look forward to reading more about Mary-Lou and Rix's relationship Lizzie. Thanks for this instalment.
Author:  Lizzie [ 20 Feb 2007, 19:20 ]
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Having packed the rest of her belongings, she glanced round the room once more to make sure that everything was as neat and tidy as possible. Then, leaving her bags where they were until it was time to go, she went back downstairs. She found Liv at the kitchen table, wiping mushrooms and attempting to prevent her daughter from hurling them on the floor.
“No, sweetie, in the bowl! See, in here. Let’s count them in, shall we? One, two, thr…oops, three, oh, Ailie,” she looked up as her friend came in, “put the kettle on, would you? I think I’m going to need a coffee after this!”
Ailie did as she asked, and then leant on the counter as the kettle started to hiss on the cooker top. “So, what we making, ladies?”
“Soup. We need a quick lunch for today, and since it seems to be something that this young lady likes, we’re making gallons of it for the freezer.”
“Sounds lovely. Want a hand?”
“What makes you think I haven’t got everything in hand?” Liv grinned, simultaneously diving to catch another mushroom as Freya sent it rolling off the table, “I think we’ll be OK thanks. Although if you’d make the coffee and warm some milk up for Fanny Craddock here, that’d be brilliant.”

“So,” she continued, glancing at her friend’s back as she retrieved the milk from the fridge, “that was a pretty weird coincidence the other day, eh?”
“Coincidence? When?”
Liv rolled her eyes. “Raff. Raff knowing you, you knowing Raff. You can’t have forgotten, it only happened two days ago!”
“Oh, right, yes, I suppose it was rather coincidental.”
“And even more of a coincidence that he’s going to be spending Christmas with you.”
Ailie turned round and narrowed her eyes at her friend, who was studiously chopping onions. “Yes,” she said slowly, “except for the small fact that he’s not actually going to be spending Christmas with me, idiot, he’s going to be with his family, and will just happen to be down the road from us.”
“If you say so,” Liv got up from her seat and took her chopping board over to the cooker. “Would you keep an eye on Frey for me? I’m going to start frying these onions.”
“’Course. Your coffee’s on the side.” Ailie went to sit next to her god-daughter, handing her a gingerbread elephant and her cup of milk. “There you go, Fanny.”

“Will Raff’s family be out in Switzerland when you get out there?” Liv asked a few minutes later, her mouth full of gingerbread.
Ailie shrugged. “Don’t know. I shouldn’t think so though, I know that Uncle Donal’s still a very busy man.”
“It’ll be nice for you all to catch up, I’m sure you’ve all changed loads in the last fifteen years.”
“I know,” Ailie smiled, “it’s very strange seeing people when you haven’t seen them in so long.”
“So, what was Raff like when he was a little boy?”
“I hardly remember, to be honest.”
Liv groaned. “Oh come ON! You must have something!”
“Really, Liv, it seems like such a long time ago. We stayed with my Aunt and Uncle one summer holiday, and Raff’s Mum and Dad came to visit too. I remember that it was a very hot summer,” she said, remembering hard, “and we kids were allowed to sleep outside in hammocks one night. We had a big picnic all together, I think, and Auntie Jo made some more of her sandwiches.”
“What’s so special about sandwiches? Don’t you always have them on a picnic?”
“Yes, but Jo’s sandwiches are special. Or, to use another word, weird. The first time she made them, I heard that they had to be incinerated, they were so ghastly. She’s moderated her recipes now, and they’re actually quite nice, but they are still very odd. Marmite, apple and cheddar cheese springs to mind,” she said thoughtfully.

“So don’t you remember anything about Raff then?”
Ailie sighed. “Seeing as you asked so…persistently, I remember that he was very tall, and was very good at playing cricket. He was nice to me, I think, even though some of the Maynard boys were a bit above paying attention to their nine year old cousin. Oh,” she stopped, looking off into the distance, still remembering.
“What?”
“I just remembered something. He brought me an empty wasps nest to look at. I’d seen it at the top of a tree, and asked my Dad what it was, and later, he came and just handed it to me. I suppose he must have climbed right to the top of the tree.”
“Reeeally?” Liv looked up from her soup, grinning. Ailie laughed, shaking her head.
“Honestly Liv, you’re incorrigible. The poor man came to dinner with you and happened to reveal that he knew me and was nice to me when we were kids, and all of a sudden, he’s my intended?”
Her friend said nothing, but smiled infuriatingly and seasoned her soup.
Author:  JoS [ 20 Feb 2007, 20:55 ]
Post subject: 
Great - another new relationship on the horizon. Thanks Lizzie.
Author:  Mary [ 21 Feb 2007, 16:00 ]
Post subject: 
A-ha-ha-ha-ha! Smooching ahoy!
Author:  brie [ 21 Feb 2007, 16:53 ]
Post subject: 
*agrees with mary*

thanks lizzie
Author:  Lizzie [ 27 Feb 2007, 18:21 ]
Post subject: 
“Daddy!” Kate Bettany climbed down from her perch on the window seat, and went dashing into the study. Her mother, who was frowning at pages and pages of closely typed text, looked up as her daughter entered.
“What’s that, my love?”
“I saw Daddy’s car!”
Mary Lou frowned. “I don’t think it can have been sweetie, he’s not due home for a couple of days yet. What made you think it was Daddy’s car?”
Kate thought for a moment. “It was big and blue and shiny.”
“Well, it certainly sounds like his car, that was very clever of you to notice.” Mary Lou shuffled the pages on her desk into the correct order, put them out of the way, and gathered her small daughter into her lap. “Do you remember though, that Uncle Jack has a big, blue car too?”
“Oh. Yes.”
Mary Lou gave her rather woeful looking daughter a hug. “Don’t be sad, darling, he’ll be home ever so soon, you know. Shall we go and find a drink and a biscuit? It’s not really supper time yet, but all this reading has made me hungry.”
Kate brightened a little. “Can I have tea, like you?”
“’Course you can.”
Twenty minutes later, Kate was playing with her dolls house in the little living room, and Mary Lou, taking her biscuit and second cup of tea back to the study, sat down with a sigh to look over the journal article she was writing. They were both so absorbed in their pursuits that they didn’t hear the front door opening, and the sound of a suitcase being put down in the hall.
Author:  LizB [ 27 Feb 2007, 18:46 ]
Post subject: 
*pinches a biscuit*

Thanks, Lizzie :D
Author:  Mary [ 27 Feb 2007, 19:36 ]
Post subject: 
Oh! Lovely. Nice to se some more Lizzie. Carry on writing though. Or I'll cry. M xxx
Author:  JoS [ 27 Feb 2007, 20:30 ]
Post subject: 
Ah - we get to see Rix and Mary-Lou as a couple I suspect. Waiting in anticipation!
Author:  Lizzie [ 28 Feb 2007, 01:04 ]
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Rix hung up his coat in the silent hall, wondering for a moment if anyone was home. Passing the living room however, he looked round the open door to see his daughter chatting happily to herself as she rearranged the furniture in her dolls house. He stood for a minute, smiling at the way her curly hair fell in her eyes, at her high-pitched little voice. Then, hearing muttering coming from the study, he went to look round that door too, where he saw his wife sitting with her back to him, paper strewn all over the desk. She had one leg drawn up onto her chair, and was attempting to look at four pieces of paper at once, talking to herself while waving a biscuit in the air and balancing a mug on her other knee. Rix smiled again: she had obviously reached the ranting stage of her ‘process’. This was the stage that he knew she hated. The research was done, all the notes were there in front of her. All that remained was the small task of writing the blessed thing.
“Engaging imagery…moon animal…distinctive features…ceramics… Callejón de Huaylas…north-western Andes…wait, no, north-central…” She had disposed of her biscuit by now, and was riffling through her papers, taking more notes with her free hand. Rix decided to make his presence known, and coughed impressively. Mary Lou spun round, spilling her tea.

“Rix!” She leapt to the door, and flung her arms around his neck. “We weren’t expecting you for another two days! What on earth are you doing home so soon?”
Rix grinned, and kissed her before answering. “We finished early, and I thought I’d surprise you.”
“You finished early?” Mary Lou’s face registered complete bemusement. “If anything, you generally finish a day late! When have you ever finished early?”
“Er…never?” He grinned again at her confusion. “Would you believe me if I told you that over half of the attendees of the conference were in the throes of food poisoning yesterday morning?”
Mary Lou’s mouth fell open. “Really? Over half? What on earth can they have eaten?”
“We all went out for dinner to an extremely fashionable Italian restaurant two nights ago, and they laid on a huge seafood platter as part of the main course. Well, you know my views on shell fish,” he shuddered expressively, “So I politely declined the oysters and such, and stuck with my rather lovely beef ragu, a decision on which I congratulated myself the next morning, when the breakfast room rather resembled a ghost town.”
“How horrible for them all,” Mary Lou went back to her desk, and once more sorted her papers into order, “Although I suppose if you were going to be ill, there’d be no better place to do it than in the company of about twenty other doctors.”
“You’d think that, wouldn’t you? The poor blighters I saw to were decidedly ungrateful at my ministrations.” said Rix indignantly.
“Probably jealous of your decision to avoid the shell fish.” said his wife, soothingly.
“You’re probably right. Now,” he picked up a handful of her notes from the desk, “What have we here?”
“The Recuay Culture of Peru's north-central highlands: A reappraisal of chronology and its implications.”
“Sounds like a page-turner. Are there any car chases?”
Author:  LizB [ 28 Feb 2007, 09:41 ]
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They're lovely :D

*giggling madly at the last line*

Thanks, Lizzie
Author:  JoS [ 28 Feb 2007, 20:12 ]
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They make a great couple. I actually like Mary-Lou in this. Thanks Lizzie.
Author:  Lizzie [ 01 Mar 2007, 23:37 ]
Post subject: 
Thanks for your comments. I'd like to say that I'm the person who first thought of writing about Mary Lou and Rix as a couple, but I'm really not. The first time I came across the idea, it was in a story of my sister's, who then sent me a link an archived story of Mia's, the first part of which is archived here.

“You know, I was worried that the middle section was going to drag. Maybe I should include a high-stakes baccarat game and a charming secret agent as well…”
Rix shook his head solemnly. “No, see, you’ve just described the story of Casino Royale there, Lou…OUCH!”
“Sorry, did I accidentally elbow you in the ribs?” His wife smiled sweetly.
“You did rather.” He slung an arm round her shoulders as they left the study together. “Are you really having trouble writing this paper?”
Mary Lou shook her head. “You know how I work, Rix. I just get to the point where it’s all there in front of me, and all I have to do is pull it together. Once I get started, I’ll really enjoy writing it, but at the moment, I’m still at the stage when I’d like someone to come and take all my notes away and craft something coherent from them.”
“I know the feeling. I’m sorry I’m not much use as a proof reader, it just goes completely over my head.”
“That’s OK. You didn’t make me read the stuff you took to London for this conference. What was it about again? Madge asked me the other day, and supportive wife that I am, I don’t think I was exactly listening when you told me last week.”
Rix laughed. “It was held in response to an article about TB in the American Journal of Nursing last year. It’s not the San’s main focus any more, but Jack and I think it’s a good idea to keep on top of current opinions and treatments.”
“And did you feel it was worth your while?”
He nodded. “It was quite interesting. Nothing a good car chase couldn’t have jollied up though…”

They had paused for a second outside the door of the living room, but were suddenly joined by Kate, who flung herself on her father with such force, that she nearly took his legs from under him.
“Easy, Katie!” He swung her up into his arms and gave her a kiss. “How are you, young lady? Have you been extra good for Mummy like I asked?”
Kate nodded vigourously. “Yes, I have. I saw your car, Daddy.”
“So you did!” said Mary Lou, remembering their earlier conversation. “I told you it was probably Uncle Jack’s car, didn’t I? I expect it was Daddy taking all his papers to his office before coming home to us,” she looked enquiringly at Rix, who nodded. “Well Miss Bettany, it’s official. You are a first-class Car Spotter. Now, if you’ll come through to the kitchen, I shall see that you are awarded your prize in the form of sausages, mashed potatoes and peas.”
Author:  Dawn [ 01 Mar 2007, 23:41 ]
Post subject: 
Aww - what a lovely domesticy scene

and I love the prize of sausage and mash!
Author:  Mary [ 02 Mar 2007, 16:09 ]
Post subject: 
I WANT SAUSAGES MASH AND PEAS.
And I wouldn't say no to marrying Rix.
Author:  Lizzie [ 06 Mar 2007, 21:27 ]
Post subject: 
“So.” Rix added another log to the fire, and returned to his seat on the sofa. “What’s been happening in my absence? Anything worth reporting?”
Her victory supper cheerfully consumed, Kate was fast asleep in bed, and her parents had just finished their own, rather more lazy supper of bread and cheese in the living room. Mary Lou sat up from her sprawled position on the sofa next to her husband, and filled their wine glasses.
“You were only away for four days!” she protested.
“Yes, plenty of time for a landslide and an outbreak of chickenpox at the school. When I came home from school for holidays, it quite literally took my sisters hours to describe the various crises of the previous term. No,” he shook his head, “I simply refuse to believe that the last four days on the Gornetz Platz have been incident-free.”
Mary Lou laughed. “Well, seeing as you asked, there was the small matter of the scenery collapsing at a rehearsal for the Christmas Play.”
“No injuries, I take it?”
“I believe that Cecil Maynard’s pride was mainly the injured party. No one especially relishes being flipped backwards off a platform in full view of all your classmates, especially when you have to be cut free when your hair becomes entangled in the Christmas tree at the back of the stage.”
Rix winced. “Poor Cecil. I can’t imagine that anyone’s going to let her forget that any time soon.”
“I know. She’ll be fine though, she’s past that horrible age when it feels like any small faux-pas will ruin your social standing forever, and she’s also got some really nice friends who won’t tease her too much.”

“Good.” Rix took a sip of wine and looked appreciatively at his glass. “Mmm, this is lovely.” He shifted on the sofa so that he could put an arm round Mary Lou’s shoulders. “So, we had the Great Scenery Collapse, hitherto known as That Which We Do Not Mention In Front Of Cecil. Any more happenings I should know about?”
“Nothing that I can think of, it’s all been a bit quiet really. Jo and Madge are gearing up for the mass arrival of family members in the next few weeks, so Len and I have spent the last couple of mornings going through lists, trying to convince them that five turkeys might be enough, dissuading Jo from making all the beds up right now, that kind of thing.”
Rix grinned. “And when Mum arrives, the planning will only get more strenuous.”
“I know. This is going to be the most rigourously planned Christmas ever.”
“So when’s everyone arriving?”
“You’ll have to consult The List.”
“The List?”
“Oh yes.” Mary Lou sat up a little so she could look her husband in the eye. “Actually, it’s more complicated than that, there are lists of who’s coming, when they’re coming and where they’re staying, and they’re all cross-referenced in this fairly confusing manner. How Jo ever plotted a novel and wrote one successfully is beyond me. Anyway, Madge made copies for Len and me for just such an occasion as this. Unfortunately, I’m very comfortable here, and suddenly extremely tired, so if you can do without it, I’d be much obliged.”

“Can do.” Rix smiled as his wife stifled a yawn and tucked her feet up on the sofa. “Aren’t Peg and Giles travelling out from London with some of the boys?”
“That’s right, Kevin and Kester, probably. See, you don’t need The List!”
“I’m afraid that’s where my knowledge ends. Except, I do remember Madge saying that Ailie was coming out a bit earlier than everyone else.”
“That’s right too, she should be arriving first thing on Saturday morning.”
“It’ll be nice to see her, I’m not sure I’ve seen her for more than a passing ‘Hello’ in about three years. Do you know what she’s doing now?”
Mary Lou paused for a moment, thinking hard. “I’m not exactly sure.”
“Didn’t she do English at university?”
“Yes, and she did really well, too. I think that Madge and Jem were rather expecting her to come back to the Platz and start teaching like Len did, but she stayed on in London and has had quite a few different jobs. I don’t mean to say that she’s unemployable or anything, I just don’t think she really knows what she wants to do. I remember sitting with her at one of the San’s garden parties a few summers ago, and one of Jem’s old colleagues was asking her what she was doing with herself in London. She told him about the book shop she was working in, and the secretarial work she had done for an arts charity and the old boy listened to what she had to say and then said ‘So when are you going to get a proper job?’.” She shook her head. “I nearly punched him. He didn’t mean to hurt her feelings, of course, but the look on her face in that moment spoke louder than a thousand words would have done.”
“So you’re hoping that she’ll be able to avoid similar situations this Christmas?”
His wife nodded. “Or we’ll have to swoop in and change the subject. It’s not fair on her, Rix, there’s plenty of time for her to decide what she wants to do, but unfortunately, ‘I’m not sure what I want to do’ doesn’t sound too good at big reunions, especially when she’s got her sisters to live up to.”

Rix raised his eyebrows. “Do you think she sees it that way?”
“I’m not sure how she could fail to, really.” She paused for a second, and looked anxiously at her husband. “I haven’t really thought this out, so I’m sure it’s going to come out wrong. I don’t want you to think I’m interfering or criticising anyone, so feel free to tell me to mind my own business, OK?”
He smiled and nodded, turning a little so he could see her properly as she talked. “Go on.”
“Well, it just seems that whatever she’s done, Ailie has surprised people. She was never top of her class, or certainly wasn’t while I was at school with her, and people were surprised at that because she was Josette’s sister. She didn’t really seem to enjoy needlework or art very much, and people were surprised at that because she was Sybil’s sister. And then, when she got a really decent degree, and started sending people beautiful birthdays cards that she’d made, people were surprised all over again because they thought she wasn’t very good at anything."
“I see.” Rix nodded. “Not as creative as Sybil, and not as academic as Josette. That had never occurred to me. Doesn’t it happen in every family though? Take Daph for example, she has three older sisters. Or what about Phil? She has five!”
“I know. I don’t know how it’s different with the Russell girls, but it just feels like it is.” Mary Lou shrugged, looking a little puzzled. “I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m blowing it out of proportion. It wouldn’t be the first time.” She laughed.
“Yes…” said Rix slowly, looking less convinced. “Except that you do have a fairly unblemished record where sticking your oar in is concerned. Maybe you should keep an eye on my young cousin this holiday.”
“You make me sound awful!” His wife wailed. “Sticking my oar in? Oh well,” she laughed, “I suppose you at least have truth on your side if not tact and diplomacy. OK, I’ll keep an eye on her. You too, Bettany, you’re not so bad at the advice-giving, you know.”

Rix finished his wine and, putting down his glass, stretched luxuriously and looked at his watch. “Ouff…it’s getting late, Lou.”
“Is it?” His wife reached across and grabbed his wrist to see the time. “Gosh, is that right? Are you sure that’s not on London time?”
“London’s an hour behind us, idiot.”
“Ah yes.” They stood up and collected their plates and glasses from the coffee table to take through to the kitchen.
Rix went to fill the sink, but Mary Lou stopped him. “Don’t worry about that now, there’s so little there, it hardly seems worth running a bowl of hot water. Leave them on the side and I’ll do them with the breakfast things tomorrow.”
“Really?” He wrapped his arms round his wife and kissed her.
“Yup, it’s no problem.” Mary Lou kissed him back, and then tightened her arms round his waist. “I’m glad you’re home, Rix, Kate and I get on OK without you, but I don’t like it when you’re away.”
He smiled, and kissed her again. “It’s nice to be home, sweetheart.”

They were just leaving the kitchen, when Mary Lou remembered something. “Oh, I know what I meant to check with you. Madge had Juliet O’Hara on the phone the other day, saying that her son is going to be coming out to Switzerland in the next few days, and will need a place to sleep until the rest of the O’Haras come out to take their holiday house. I said I’d check with you, but that it would probably be OK for him to stay with us, what do you think?”
Rix nodded. “That’d be nice, I’m not sure I’ve ever met any of Auntie Juliet’s children, or if I have, they were very small. I think I was in my first year of Med school the year that they all came out here for the summer.” he added thoughtfully.
“Great, I’ll give Madge a ring tomorrow. And now,” Mary Lou turned the kitchen light off purposefully, “Come on, or it’ll be daybreak, and Kate will be bouncing on the bed demanding porridge.”
Author:  Dawn [ 06 Mar 2007, 21:34 ]
Post subject: 
I do like Rix and Mary-Lou in this - a lovely teasing loving relationship
Author:  JoS [ 06 Mar 2007, 21:45 ]
Post subject: 
Lizzie wrote:
She paused for a second, and looked anxiously at her husband. “I haven’t really thought this out, so I’m sure it’s going to come out wrong. I don’t want you to think I’m interfering or criticising anyone, so feel free to tell me to mind my own business, OK?”


My, how Mary-Lou has grown up!
This is great, thanks Lizzie. Looking forward to the next update.
Author:  Cath V-P [ 07 Mar 2007, 01:51 ]
Post subject: 
That was very nice Lizzie - Rix and Mary-Lou are so friendly and loving.

Loved this:
Quote:
How Jo ever plotted a novel and wrote one successfully is beyond me.
!!! :D
Author:  Jennie [ 12 Mar 2007, 16:56 ]
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Waht a change in OOAO! You'd think she'd be at the head of hte organising committee.
Author:  Mary [ 04 Jun 2007, 19:57 ]
Post subject: 
Oh Lizzie?
Could you write some more please?
Thank you
Author:  Lottie [ 13 Jun 2007, 16:04 ]
Post subject: 
Lizzie wrote:
By the time they actually get round to Christmas Day, we'll be well into June...

We're almost half way through June, and I think Christmas Day is still a little way off...... :lol:
Any chance of any more, please.
Author:  Lizzie [ 21 Dec 2007, 19:24 ]
Post subject: 
Yes, well, I did say it might take me a while to get back to this. Maybe posting a couple new installments of this can become a Christmas tradition for me. I should be done in 2012 maybe...

Here's another bit.

It was 5:30 when Len woke to the sound of the bedroom curtains being drawn back ever so slightly. She had always been a fairly light sleeper, but since the birth of her first child, the smallest noise would rouse her. Now, propping herself on one elbow and squinting through the gloom, she saw that selfsame first born child kneeling on the window seat in the gap between the heavy drapes with her fingers pressed to the glass. Careful not wake her sleeping husband, she climbed out of bed, pulled on the sweater that he’d left on the chest at the end of their bed, and stepped into her slippers. She had succeeded in doing all of this without being noticed by the small person at the window, but the creaky floorboard by the dresser gave her away. Mary spun round, her face a picture of excitement.
“Mummy! It’s snowing!”
Len sighed. Like mother, like daughter, she thought. She sat down on the window seat, gathered her daughter into her lap, and tried to look stern.
“It may be snowing, Miss Mary Jo, but it’s too early to be jumping out of bed, especially,” she found a small, chilly foot, “without slippers.”

She opened her mouth to suggest that they both go back to bed for at least another hour, but found her attention wandering to the window where, in the faint blue half-light of the morning, the snow was falling thick and fast. Mary twisted a little to look up at her mother, red curls falling in her eyes.
“Isn’t it pretty, Mummy?”
“Yes.” With a hundred snowy childhood memories flooding back to her, Len tightened her arms around her daughter. “It’s lovely.”

“Well I’m certainly glad we spent all that time in teaching our first born to tell the time.” The sleepy voice from the bed made both Len and Mary jump, and they both turned to see Reg, sitting up in bed with his watch in his hand. “Was there any particular reason why you ladies thought you’d get up at half past five, or did it just seem the thing to do at the time?”
There was a pause.
“It’s snowing Daddy!”
Reg grinned sleepily, and caught his wife’s eye. “Ah. I see. That explains it then. There’s clearly something about snow and the women in this family. I seem to remember your Grandpa saying much the same thing last year when Grandma was outside leading the school in the building of that fort. However,” he got up from the bed, and lifted his daughter from Len’s lap, “it’s too early to be getting up, and if we’re going to be feeling like showing the boys how to make a snowman after breakfast, I think we all need a bit longer in bed.”
Len got up from the window seat. “Speaking of the boys,” she said, “I’ll just go and check on them.”

She opened the door to the adjoining room, once a dressing room but now the nursery, to be met with a plaintive cry of “Mamma.” Tom had managed to push his teddy through the bars of his cot, and as she entered the room, was sitting up, a mournful expression on his face. Quickly, Len retrieved the lost bear and mollified her son before he could wake his brother, who was still sleeping peacefully. They had celebrated their first birthday the previous week, and the room was still hung with the decorations that Mary had made for them. Standing between the twins’ cribs as Tom drifted back off to sleep, Len reflected, not for the first time, on how time flew faster and faster. She remembered, as if it were yesterday, the night that Reg brought her and Mary home from the hospital, when neither of them had got any sleep, terrified that she would wake, but equally terrified that she wouldn’t. Yet here she was, a mother of three. A mother of three reduced to childhood nostalgia at five thirty in the morning by a fall of snow, she thought with a smile, as she tucked another blanket over each of her sons, especially mindful of Will’s tendency to kick them off.

She left the room in silence, closing the door quietly behind her, and found to her amusement that Reg had failed in his task of taking Mary back to her own room. He stirred as she climbed into bed beside them, and opened his eyes.
“Everything all right?” he murmered.
Len nodded. “Tom had lost his bear. Went back to sleep though, I reckon we have about an hour.”
“Fine.” Reg leaned over to kiss her, careful not to wake their sleeping daughter. “See you later darling.”
Len smiled and closed her eyes as peace, however short-lived, returned to the Entwhistle household.
Author:  Alison H [ 21 Dec 2007, 19:48 ]
Post subject: 
Nice to see more of this :D .
Author:  Chris [ 21 Dec 2007, 21:25 ]
Post subject: 
So pleased to see this back - but pleeease don't make us wait another year for more!
Author:  ness [ 22 Dec 2007, 15:21 ]
Post subject: 
I agree. This is too good to wait that long for.
Author:  leahbelle [ 23 Dec 2007, 21:38 ]
Post subject: 
Lovely to see this back and looking forward to more soon!
Author:  Lizzie [ 07 Jun 2008, 20:57 ]
Post subject: 
Erm, well, here we are in June, and I have another little bit of my decidedly festive story. Having said that, it practically feels like winter today, I can't believe I have been actually considering lighting a FIRE...

Madge surfaced slowly from a very deep sleep, conscious of someone moving quietly around the room. Still in the drifty stage between asleep and awake, she was beginning to think about opening her eyes and sitting up to find out the time, when she felt a kiss just above her eyebrow, and heard the sound of a cup being put down carefully. She finally succeeded in opening her eyes to see Jem smiling down at her.
“Morning, darling, sorry to wake you so early, I just wanted to let you know that I’m off down to Berne to pick up Ailie.”
“Oh,” Madge rubbed a hand across her eyes, “I’ve overslept, Jem. I was going to come with you.”

Her husband smiled. “You still could if you wanted to, the train isn’t due in for a couple of hours. You just looked so comfortable there, I thought maybe you’d prefer to make the most of all the sleep you can get before the troops start arriving.”
Madge yawned. “Well, I’d be lying if I said that going out in the snow was exactly what I fancied right this minute, are you sure you wouldn’t mind if I stayed here?”
Jem shook his head. “I don’t mind at all, love, and neither will Ailie.”
“What time is her train getting in?”
“It should be getting in at just past eight. I thought that I might take her out for some breakfast in Berne if she hasn’t had too bad a night’s sleep. That OK with you?”
Madge nodded. “Fine by me, that’s a lovely idea. I’ll expect you back some time before lunch then?”
“Oh yes, I should think so. I’ll phone from the station if it looks like we’ll be later.” He gestured to the bedside table. “I made you a cup of tea automatically when I was making mine, so don’t feel you have to drink it.” He got up from his position on the edge of the bed, and stooping down, kissed her again. “Goodbye, darling, see you later.”

The front door slammed a few minutes later, and Madge got out of bed, pulling on her dressing gown. Jem looked up at their bedroom window just as she appeared, and waved before climbing into the car and disappearing round the bend in the drive. She stayed there for a minute, looking out over the snowy garden fringed with dark trees, the wooded slopes behind them and the mountains, only just visible in the early morning light. Everything was perfectly still, waiting for the sun to come out. It was almost, Madge decided, as if the world had taken a deep breath, readying itself for the bustle and business of the coming weeks. This was the time of year she loved the most: the planning, the anticipation, the getting ready. Christmas would be wonderful, but Advent, Advent was something special. She stood there a few minutes longer, enjoying the stillness, until the icy wooden floor became too much without hunting for her slippers, and she retired to bed to drink her tea.
Author:  PaulineS [ 07 Jun 2008, 22:23 ]
Post subject: 
I agree with Madge Advent is a special time. Thanks for the update.
Author:  Catherine [ 09 Jun 2008, 10:37 ]
Post subject: 
This is such a lovely drabble, Lizzie. Please write some more soon. :D
Author:  leahbelle [ 09 Jun 2008, 17:17 ]
Post subject: 
I agree! This is lovely and I hope to see more soon. :lol:
Author:  jilianb [ 16 Jul 2008, 07:46 ]
Post subject: 
Thank you Lizzie, this is lovely. any chance of some more soon :?:
Author:  Sandra [ 18 Jul 2008, 22:35 ]
Post subject: 
I've just found this and it's lovely - please don't make me wait until Christmas for more.
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