 
Have a Bloody Christmas

By Dairenna VonRavenstone

Copyright 2011 Dairenna VonRavenstone

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Dedication

This Christmas Horror novella is dedicated to all those who participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) 2011. Without your words of encouragement and the forums, I wouldn't have written this novella. A big thank you to Darin and Vicky who critiqued and helped to edit this. Thank you to all my friends, my segregate family and to anyone who listens to my random ramblings.

Author Note

I will be re-working this and other titles in the New Year (2015) so expect some changes in the coming months.

Inspiration:

As I was writing my NaNo novel this year, I thought of a new story idea. The idea was to "paint the town red on Christmas" or "Have a Bloody Christmas." For another week I couldn't think of a story to go along with the title or idea. I actually used the same concept for Book 10 of my crime fiction series. Finally, I read a few more NaNo forum posts: advice, other people's problems, prompts and it slammed into me. I had a plot, I had characters and I realized just how morbid I am. This is NOT your typical Christmas story. You have been warned.

Part 1: December 20th

Snow fluttered through the air in a whirlwind of icy flakes and each was a series of individual patterns. It coated the sidewalks, lawns, roofs, buildings, tree tops and vehicles alike in a non-discriminate cloud of fluffy whiteness. Lights glowed in a multitude of bright colors through covered trees. Porches were wound with ribbons that hailed a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays. Snowmen lined the streets like cheerful guards.

People were everywhere, some in clusters and others darting through the streets as a single unit. With the most joyful time of the year only days away last minute shopping became the norm. People flocked to shopping centers to buy gifts for people they only remembered at the last minute. Children were prancing around on their holidays, lobbing snowballs at one another or sliding down steep hills.

One man in particular had just left his job for the holidays. He was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic as he inched his way to his undecorated home. That would be remedied soon, tomorrow in fact. They would find the perfect tree to cut down first and decorate it before decorating the house and building snowmen on the lawn.

Meetings and last minute projects had kept him at the office and working for five days later than he had originally planned but he was not too concerned. There was plenty of time to catch up and he knew between him and his multi-tasking wife, they would make this holiday special.

The car in front of him moved and he pushed forward humming along with the Christmas carol on the radio. Christmas had always been a special time for him ever since he was young. His sister was born in December and having a new addition to the family had been an exciting curiosity for his five year old self.

He received his first bicycle on Christmas and that created a life-long love of cycling. He had his first kiss on Christmas, got his first real pay check around the holiday season and received his first pet. A mutt of a dog named Spike. He had met his wife on December 23rd at a friend's Christmas party. She told him she was pregnant as one of her Christmas presents to him a year after they had a winter wedding.

For him the holiday season was filled with wonderful memories that could be passed down and cherished. Like his mother's should-be-famous apple pie or his father's stuffing. Thinking of his father's stuffing reminded him about the Christmas dinner he and his wife would be hosting. The whole family would be coming to their home to celebrate and he could not wait for them to be sharing a table together with laughter and joy.

He made a right turn and was soon pulling away from the city proper and coasting into the suburban sprawl. The traffic seemed to evaporate as he pressed deeper into cozy homes with brightly colored lights and various snowmen. Snow lined the streets and the effect was calming on his frazzled nerves. He waved to a neighbour shoveling his snow and cruised into his own undecorated driveway.

"You're not being a Scrooge this year are you Tom?" the neighbour asked with a chuckle.

"No, no, I'm going to be decorating tomorrow. Work has just been so busy and we haven't had a free breath to even pull the boxes up from the basement," Tom responded with a smile as he hefted his laptop bag onto one shoulder and closed his car door.

"I was going to say, your house is usually the first on the block to be decked to the halls," the neighbour joked.

"Tell me about it, I hate that we haven't been able to decorate yet. Heck, we haven't even started Christmas shopping," Tom admitted with a laugh.

"Oh I pity you going into the malls only a few days from the big day," the neighbour whistled with a shake of his head.

"Don't I know it. Well, see you later Jon, it's freezing out and I know Grace has some hot chocolate ready for me," Tom told him with a wave as he began to ascend his front steps.

"Lucky guy, my Maggie doesn't greet me at the door with hot chocolate until I've shoveled the drive," Jon tittered and went back to shovelling the thick white snow.

Tom snorted at that and grabbed the handful of mail before opening the door. A blast of heat hit him and he sighed happily as he entered his home and began stomping his shoes to release the extra snow. He smelled hot chocolate wafting through the air and allowed himself a small sigh of relief as he toed off his shoes. He dropped his laptop bag and coat into the closet.

"Honey, I'm home," he shouted out as he began rifling through the mail.

A bill was first and he rolled his eyes at that before dumping it onto the table with another bill that had to be paid. Junk mail advertising a free credit check for the holiday season was next and that went into the waste basket under the table. More junk mail followed the first bit and another bill went on the table.

He paused slightly when he came to a bright red envelope with no return address. His own address was not even on the envelope. All the envelop read was: "To my Family" in a large almost illegible scrawl that angled off to one side. He made a humming sound in his throat and tucked the red envelop under one arm before throwing out the last two pieces of junk mail.

He shuffled into the kitchen to see his wife baking cookies with his two children. James was ten years old and looked completely unimpressed with the entire baking procedure. Tom knew James was more interested in eating the cookies then helping them come into creation. His little sister Casey on the other hand was begging to make another tray before supper. The two children were disagreeing on whether or not they should be making another tray of cookies as their mother acted as a mock-referee.

"What are we having for supper tonight?" Tom broke into the childish argument with a smile.

"Cookies!" seven-year old Casey exclaimed.

"Yeah!" James backed her up with light shining in his eyes.

"Actually we're having meat loaf," Grace informed him with a giggle.

"I almost want to agree with the kids," Tom moaned in jest.

His comment sent the children in question into a fit of happy laughter. Casey's brown curls bounced along her shoulders as she laughed, her green eyes lighting in merriment. Tom was struck by how much she resembled her mother in that moment and grinned. James was the fairer colored child between the two with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes, like his father.

"Three against one mommy, we're having cookies," Casey informed her mother proudly.

"Is my meat loaf really that bad?" Grace chuckled out.

"No, no, just cookies are yummier. Right guys?" Tom assured her with laugh.

"Right!" both shouted in unison.

"We can have cookies after dinner. Now go wash up," Grace told them.

They lamented about the need for washing up, especially when they would just be getting dirty again later but trudged off towards the downstairs bathroom with slow steps. Grace watched them go with a little giggle and Tom finally remembered the mystery envelope. He sat himself at the table with a little sigh of happiness.

"Who's that from?" Grace questioned as she placed a plate in front of him.

"I don't know. There isn't a return address and I don't recognize the writing," Tom told her as he broke the elaborate seal of the envelope and pulled out a bright Christmas card.

"Maybe someone put it in our mail box by mistake," Grace mentioned as she started portioning out meat loaf and mashed potatoes.

"Maybe," Tom muttered as he studied the snowy scene on the front of the card.

He opened it to see the traditional Christmas greetings. At the bottom of the card was the same nearly illegible hand writing and he stared at it for a long moment before making a small sound of confusion in his throat. The writing was just as sloppy as on the envelope but was written in a red marker that reminded Tom of blood.

"Well, who's it from?" Grace inquired in curiosity.

"I don't know. The only thing it says is: I'm coming home," Tom replied with a shrug.

"We don't know anyone who would be coming home. It must have been put in the wrong mailbox," Grace explained as she poured milk into four glasses.

"Yeah, but as far as I know, no one on this street has anyone coming home for the holidays," Tom told her as he tapped the card subconsciously on the table in front of him.

"Does it really matter? It's Christmas and we got an extra card. If a stranger happens to show up we'll be able to redirect him to the right house," Grace informed him as Casey and James darted to their chairs and waited patiently for the meal to begin.

Grace untied her apron and flicked it over her chair before taking her seat as Tom placed the card on the counter close to his own chair. Thanks were given and soon the mystery card was forgotten until later that night when Tom was helping to clean up. He stared at it for a long moment before shrugging and putting it with the rest of the cards. An extra bout of Christmas greetings had never hurt anyone.

Part Two: December 21st

Tom started his day as usual with a coffee after his shower. The shower and coffee times were significantly later than normal and he was actually able to enjoy a breakfast with his family. The children were dressed in thick winter coats, boots, scarves, gloves and hats and the family piled into the car at 10AM.

The forty minute drive to the Christmas Tree Farm took them out of the city center and into farm country. The farm was so popular that a bus came every hour to take people to and from the farm. It was a special bus taken from the regular fleet that followed a specific route every year and came equipped with a holder for Christmas trees in the front. Smaller trees were allowed to be dragged inside the bus itself and until the bus could be aired out, it always smelled of Christmas.

The drive was spent singing Christmas carols and discussing what the children hoped Santa would leave under the tree. Grace made mental notes about this in addition to the notes she already had in her purse. They reached the tree farm and noted it to be full despite the lateness of the month.

People were milling about everywhere, making it hard for the Hubberts who ran the farm to get between the large groups with trees. Children darted between tightly spaced rows throwing snowballs as adults lined up in front of the big red booth to pay. The line was thinning out some as Tom stepped out of the van.

"Stay close you two," Tom instructed as the children leaped out of the car.

They complied with a bit of whining but Casey reached up to hold Tom's hand. Grace stayed close to James, not quite reaching out her hand but close enough that if he were to try and wander off that she could grab him. They approached Old Man Hubbert, the owner of the Tree Farm.

"'Ello there Tom, Grace, Little Casey-May and James, Merry Christmas to ya'll," Old Man Hubbert exclaimed in a loud booming voice despite the fact that he looked to be nearing a century in age and walked with a thick wooden cane.

"Hi, Old Man Hubbert!" Casey and James shouted back because they knew full well the older man was close to being completely deaf.

"Hello Mr. Hubbert," Grace greeted with a bright grin.

"Hello Mr. Hubbert, do you think we can borrow one of your sons or grandsons to find a tree?" Tom questioned loudly while leaning into the big wooden booth that Old Man Hubbert had set up for the holidays.

This year the booth had been repainted with bright red paint to cover the dull reddish-brown color it had been the year before. 'Merry Christmas' was stenciled in white and gold lettering across the top of the booth and on either side. The back of the booth held the door and there was a heater and a coffee machine stashed to one side. Underneath the main desk of the booth, Tom knew there were specially made Candy Apples and hot chocolate.

The Candy Apples were made from caramel and melted candy canes then partially dipped in milk chocolate before being coated with little chunks of mint. Mrs. Hubbert made each one by hand every year and sold at least one to every single customer that walked through the gate. Old Man Hubbert never revealed how many people came to his farm but Tom knew the older man only sold evergreen trees and apples but was still able to maintain the farm.

"'Course. BILLY!" Old Man Hubbert yelled out.

A tall lanky youth who was barely out of his teens came rushing towards the booth. He carried an axe and wore a flannel winter jack over blue jeans and brown work boots. A backwards blue baseball cap adorned his head with shaggy brown hair sticking out from under the cap. His shoulders and hat were dusted with snow and his hands were covered with thick workman's gloves.

"Yes Grand-pop?" Billy inquired with a cheerful smile.

"Take these youngens out to find the perfect tree," Old Man Hubbert commanded lightly.

"Of course, follow me folks," Billy told them and began leading them into the row upon row of Christmas Trees.

Soon they were deep into the forest of Christmas Trees with Billy as their guide. They passed a few other families, Billy's brothers, uncles, or cousins helping the other customers. Tom knew that Old Man Hubbert had 10 sons and each son had another five or six sons and a few daughters. At any given time, all these various children and grandchildren would be busy leading a person through the maze of trees.

"Oh, that one daddy," Casey called out pointing to a tall tree that sagged a bit to one side.

"That one's crooked Casey, we can't have a crooked tree," James scolded her and peered around.

"What about that one?" James pointed to the biggest tree on the lot which despite its great size was not as full as the other trees.

"That tree is too skinny," Casey complained.

"That one," She exclaimed a moment later and pointed at a small tree with thick, full branches.

"That one's too short," James whined and the group continued on.

"How about that one?" Tom finally pointed out.

The tree in question was just the right height to fit in their living room with thick full branches and stood perfectly straight.

"Yeah," Casey and James agreed in unison.

"All right, one tree coming up," Billy told them and began to hack at the tree with his axe.

Grace wrapped Casey in a hug from behind while Tom held James back by the shoulder. Just before the tree was ready to topple over, Billy got a specially made cart to easily drag back the tree. A resounding crack came from the evergreen as it was severed from its roots and placed onto the cart.

Billy placed his axe in a holder on the cart and began pushing the cart back towards his grandfather's red booth. Tom helped as much as he could with James helping Billy in the back. Grace held Casey's hand and soon the group was back at the front of the booth.

"Hey Bobby, can you help me load this on the car?" Billy called out to an almost identical clone.

"It's the silver van," Tom told them.

"I'll lead them over," Grace suggested as she tugged on James' coat to get his attention and strode back to the car.

Billy and Bobby followed as Tom watched for a moment while the tree was lifted onto the roof of the van and tied down. He nodded once in approval and went to pay. As he was striding to the old man he felt a tingle along his spine. He half-turned on his heel and saw a flicker of someone in a red coat out of the corner of his eye. He blinked and stared into the rows of trees, trying to look for the red coated figure. He shook off the unnecessary paranoia and muttered to himself. He shook his head to clear it before continuing to the red booth.

"That'll be $75 Tom," Old Man Hubbert told him with a grin.

"Can I add a few of those amazing Candy Apples your wife makes and some hot chocolate to go?" Tom asked with a grin.

"Course, gimme a minute to grab it all," Old Man Hubbert beamed as he slid off his stool to better access the items under his desk.

"How many apples?" Old Man Hubbert questioned as two were placed shakily on the desk.

"Another 14 if you have them," Tom told him sheepishly.

"Got a party goin' on at yer house?" Old Man Hubbert laughed.

"Well, Grace and I are hosting Christmas and we'll have my sister coming with her two kids and Grace's brother with his two kids plus my parents and Grace's parents make 16 people. I figured I'd be nice and get everyone one of your wife's delicious candy apples for dessert," Tom explained with a light laugh.

"Full house, lemme get a bag for you," Old Man Hubbert chuckled as he turned slowly.

"Thanks but I can just imagine how full your house must be for Christmas," Tom remarked.

"Yep, we've normally got close to a hundred comin' down every holiday," Old Man Hubbert revealed as he packed 14 candy apples into a plastic grocery bag.

"Wow, and I thought we'd have a full house," Tom whistled low as he took the bag and the offered tray of four hot chocolates.

"Ain't no one got a bigger family than us Hubberts. Damage today is $111 Tom," Old Man Hubbert told him with a grin.

Tom happily paid, knowing that the candy apples and hot chocolate were worth the two dollars each. He hung the bag on his arm and took the tray with that same hand.

"Have a Merry Christmas," Tom joyfully said to the other man as he began to stride off with a wave.

"Ya'll come back here next year," Old Man Hubbert shouted back.

"Don't worry we will," Tom assured him with a laugh.

As he strode back to the van he thanked Billy and Bobby who had just finished securing another couple's tree as they walked by. They returned the pleasantries and tipped their hats as Tom walked by them, wishing him a Merry Christmas as he left. Tom felt another chill along his back and turned in time to see a figure in a red coat get onto the city bus that had come around. He scowled at his own paranoia and hopped into the car.

"Hot Chocolate!" Casey exclaimed with a broad grin.

"Did you get candy apples too?" James excitedly asked.

"Yeah, but we're saving them until Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Carol, Uncle Joe, Aunt Melina, Uncle Tim and all your cousins come over on Christmas day," Tom informed them as Grace carefully handed a Styrofoam cup to Casey then to James.

"Aww, do we really have to wait that long Daddy?" Casey whined with a pout.

"Good things come to those who wait," Grace told her with a wink as she set the other two cups into the cup holders and took the bag of candy apples.

Tom was finally able to close his door and put on his seat belt. The city bus was pulling away and Tom could not help but watch it. The figure in the red coat was staring out at the lot but Tom could not see its face as a baseball cap was pulled down low over the brow. Tom frowned at his own unneeded paranoia as he started the van and reversed out of the lot towards home.

Jon was back outside when they arrived home and Tom was grateful to see him. The kids charged out of the van with Grace on their heels as Tom came around the other side of the van to wave to Jon.

"Hey neighbour, do you have a minute to help me out?" Tom questioned with a small smile.

"Of course, that's what neighbours are for. Let me just tell Maggie," Jon replied back before walking up his front steps and opening the door to his house.

"Hey Maggie, I'm going to help Tom with the tree," Jon shouted into the house.

A few moments passed and Maggie appeared, dressed in winter boots and a thick winter coat. Tom watched confused for a moment as the couple began to walk towards him.

"I'll help hold the children back while you two men wrestle with the tree," Maggie offered as she passed Tom with a wink.

"Ah, good thinking," Tom offered with a chuckle.

Soon he and Jon were wrestling the tree off the van and into the house while Maggie, Grace and the kids pulled up boxes of decorations. Only a few pine needles decorated the hardwood flooring and Tom was grateful for the lack of a mess.

Soon lights were being wrapped around the tree and delicate glass orbs in multitudes of shining colors were being hung. Silver strings and candy canes were placed on the tree as Grace and Casey fiddled with the fake snow that would wrap around the pot and litter the floor. Finally, Jon held the ladder as Tom placed the star on the top of the tree.

Grace invited Maggie and Jon for lunch and they dined happily until the children were ready to venture back outside. Jon and Tom went with them and as Maggie and Grace cleared the table and put the dishes in the washer, Maggie offered to watch the children so the younger couple could get their Christmas shopping done. Grace waved her off but after a small battle, she relented with a warm smile.

"Hold the lights a bit tighter there Tom," Jon suggested lightly as he helped the other man string red and green Christmas lights along his roof.

"I need a bit more slack," Tom countered and Jon held the lights up a bit higher.

"Hey dad, there's a bulb that's burned out on this string," James shouted up and held up a string of lights.

"Ah, check the box to see if there are any backups," Tom suggested.

"Here James, look! More lights," Casey exclaimed as she held up a package.

"Good job Casey, just hang on to those for a minute until I get these ones up," Tom told them lightly.

James made sure to keep a hold on the burned out light until Tom descended from the ladder and knelt by his son and daughter. He carefully changed the bulb and made sure it worked before beginning to wrap it around the railing of the porch.

"Daddy, what are we doing with all the green stuff?" Casey asked as she held up the fake Evergreen decorations.

"We're going to put those around the door and in between the lights. Let me finish up wrapping these here," Tom explained to her with a smile.

"Can I help put up the door decoration?" James questioned hopefully.

"Why don't I help you with that James?" Jon suggested with a wink to Tom.

Tom gave him a grateful smile as he finished with the lights and helped Casey wind the Evergreen strings around the porch carefully. The shining red wrapping paper was hung on the door first and fake-wrapped with a golden bow before the wreath was hung. Lights were added to the windows before the group stood back and admired their work from the end of the driveway. Grace and Maggie came out to look with them and congratulated the team on a job well done.

"What about the reindeer daddy?" Casey asked as she pointed to the final large box on the porch.

"Why don't we build the snowman first before we set up the reindeer? This way we know where to put them all," Tom commented to her.

"Yeah, come on Casey, we'll start on the bottom ball," James agreed and grabbed her hand.

Instantly the two were in the snow and packing a fist sized ball tight. Tom and Grace began starting on the second ball after thanking their neighbours as the duo left to start their own supper.

Soon the two children were using all their might to roll the ball of snow across the lawn. Tom suggested they had a big enough base but they begged for it to be larger. Tom and Grace took over while Casey and James began on the head. Grace laughed loudly as Tom lost his footing in the snow and fell forward with a yelp of surprise.

"Oh you think that's funny do you?" Tom grinned wickedly and lobbed a snowball at his wife.

She yelped in shock as it cascaded onto her face and quickly bent to grab her own ball of snow. Tom ducked and ran across the yard with Grace on his heels. Soon James and Casey joined in and it was girls against boys snowball fight.

Tom ran into the middle ball for the snowman and flipped over it in surprise. Grace covered him in snowballs until he relented with a roar of laughter. Finally they went back to work on the snowman as the street lamps clicked on. The base was rolled into the center of the lawn and Tom hoisted the middle up with Grace's help. The head of the snowman was a bit more awkward than the body. Tom and Grace were laughing so hard from it slipping off so many times that the head barely made it to its proper place in one piece.

Casey presented the stones from previous years and Tom lifted her up so she could place them in as eyes and a mouth. Grace wound a scarf around the snowman's neck as James jabbed in two sticks on either side for arms. More round stones were used for buttons and Tom helped Casey carefully put gloves on the ends of the sticks.

James got the honor of sticking in a carrot for a nose as Casey did it the previous year and Tom stuck on the faded baseball cap. The reindeer were arranged around the snowmen and Grace ushered the children into the house to warm up as Tom collected the boxes. As he turned to gather the last box, he caught a glimpse of a figure in a bright red coat.

He rushed down the steps towards the Evergreens separating his property from the neighbours on his other side but by then the figure in the red coat was nothing more than a shadow that had turned and was walking down the sidewalk past the end of the street. Tom stared after the shadow for a long moment, feeling oddly disturbed but not knowing why. He knew there was nothing wrong with a person wearing a red coat but for some reason, this person seemed different somehow as if they were surrounded by a cloud of malice.

"Tom, what are you doing out there? Come inside to warm up," Grace called out from the doorway.

Tom started and turned. He gave her a smile and trotted back up the steps with the last empty box, a chill racing down his spine. He shrugged it off and assumed it to be simply a neighbour from down the way walking their dog. He did not mention to himself that he had seen no dog prints in the snow and heard no such beast.

Dinner was served and soon he forgot completely about the figure in red. A favorite Christmas cartoon had come on the television shortly after and Tom was sitting comfortably on the couch, a mug of hot chocolate in his hands. The children were sitting too close to the television but Tom allowed it for once.

Grace sat happily on the couch beside Tom and curled into him. Tom wrapped an arm around her and they smiled. Their holidays had been long in coming and they would not waste a moment of them now that they were here.

"Maggie offered to watch the kids tomorrow while we go shopping," Grace whispered in his ear.

"Oh that's good," Tom remarked with a grin.

"She's going to drop by at 8AM so we can get an early start," Grace muttered with a little scowl.

"Ah, so we'll have to get up before 7AM to make sure the kids are fed and dressed," Tom pointed out.

"Yes," Grace sighed out with a frown.

"Don't worry honey, it'll be the only day besides Christmas that we have to get up that early," Tom assured her with a little peck on her cheek.

"I hope so, it's my week away from the office too and I don't want to see the underside of 8AM again," Grace chuckled out.

"Trust me, I know. But it has to be done," Tom told her as they looked over at James and Casey who were desperately trying not to show how tired they both were.

"Okay you two, another hour then go get ready for bed," Grace informed them over the sound of the television.

"We're not tired mommy," Casey argued with an enormous yawn.

"I know but we're dropping you off next door at 8AM sharp before we go Christmas shopping," Grace rebutted.

"Aw, but I want to come too," Casey whined with a pout.

"It'll be too busy and we don't want you two getting pulled away by the crowd," Tom butted in with a smile.

"But I'm old enough to watch Casey," James joined his sister in complaining.

"Not quite buddy. But we'll take you two to see Santa at the mall tomorrow when we're done, okay?" Tom bargained.

"Okay!" the duo instantly agreed and went back to watching their movie.

Grace giggled a bit and curled deeper into Tom's arms as he sighed contently. Suddenly a deep shudder ran through Tom and he peered at the window. Something moved outside and he blinked, brow furrowing.

"What is it?" Grace inquired with a small frown.

"I thought I saw something outside," Tom uttered lightly as he moved.

Grace displaced herself from his arms and bit her lip in worry as Tom stood and peered out the window. Nothing seemed to be out of place or came to his attention immediately and he sighed. He shook his head and walked back to the couch with a grin as Grace gave him an amused look. Tom would not notice the extra set of footsteps leading off his porch and would only dismiss them as his own or Jon's.

Part 3: December 22nd

Tom woke bleary eyed to the alarm blaring from the radio. He blinked and yawned hugely, staring somewhat morosely at the clock as he tugged himself out of bed and shook Grace awake. Grace yawned loudly and darted into their en suite bathroom while Tom trudged out into the hallway with clothes in tow to their upper level main bathroom between the kid's rooms.

He showered, shaved and dressed quickly before padding into James' room and shaking him awake. James groaned but slid out of bed and stumbled out the door and into the hall. Tom smirked and opened Casey's room with a smile.

She was wrapped around herself like a cat in the middle of the bed, the pillow tugged under her head and part of her upper body. The blankets were a fort around her and Tom could barely make out the top of her head.

"Casey-May, feet on the floor," Tom uttered loudly as he shook her awake.

Casey whimpered but opened her eyes. Tom helped her untangle herself as the door to James' room closed again, signalling that he was getting dressed for the day. Finally Casey was free from her blankets and she carried her straggly looking bear with her to the bathroom. Tom took that moment to lay out a pair of thick jeans, a pink sweater and some white socks for her.

He knew innately she would pick out something different but it made him feel useful in the mornings to do something besides wake the two up. He strode out of the room a moment later and leaned against the bathroom door to hear Casey brushing her teeth. He muttered about how quick they were growing up before striding down the hallway, back to his own bedroom upstairs.

He placed his soiled clothing in the laundry hamper and made a mental note to put a load or two in sometime over the next few days. He pulled on a pair of socks and strode downstairs, shouting to his kids that it was nearing 7:30 and they only had half an hour to eat.

The smell of bacon, eggs and breakfast potatoes wafted from the kitchen but Tom was more interested in the scent of freshly brewed coffee. He made it down the stairs and turned left to head into the kitchen, taking a quick peak to the right to smile at the lit Christmas tree in the corner of the living room in front of their picture windows.

"Good morning," Tom exclaimed as he strode to the coffee maker and poured himself a cup.

"Good morning. I have everyone on our list prioritized by store when we enter the mall through the main doors. The gift and price is by each name for each store. Yellow highlighting is a few minutes to pick out the gift, orange highlighting means it will take longer. The kids are obviously in orange but I'm still not sure what to get your mother so she's in blue." Grace mentioned as she plated the bacon and scrambled eggs.

"We can get my mother bath soaps," Tom suggested with a shrug.

"No, no, my mother wants the bath soaps and I don't want your mother thinking we gave her the same thing just to get everything done and over with," Grace disagreed as Casey and James came charging down the stairs.

Tom smiled at Grace's purple sweater, pink socks and unicorn embossed jeans. James was wearing a thick green sweater over a white shirt and jeans.

"Aww, no pancakes?" James grumbled as he pulled out his chair.

"We had pancakes yesterday, we can't live off them. And we can get my mother those scented candles she likes," Tom chuckled speaking to both his son and wife.

"That would work. We're getting your sister and her husband those wine glasses they've been looking at every time they're down here. I don't know what it is with them and etched wine glasses," Grace mentioned as she portioned out the plates for her children.

"Okay," Tom agreed after taking a sip of coffee.

"Your father is getting that carving set he's been begging for; I told your mother and sister we'd get it. Oh, my brother is getting the flask with the dragon emblem, and his wife is getting the sewing machine she likes. My mother is getting the bath soaps and my father is getting the ties he's been begging for," Grace concluded as she finally sat.

"He actually wanted ties?" Tom questioned with a laugh.

"He's an accountant, he wants to be fun and have a different funny tie every day," Grace muttered with a little amused roll of her eyes.

"What are we getting Jon and Maggie?" Tom inquired as the children ignored the conversation to eat.

"I'm not sure. Jon uses that rusty old shovel every year; maybe we can get him an electric one. As for Maggie, we can get her a new mixer, she mentioned to me yesterday that her old one is barely working," Grace suggested with a thoughtful little frown.

"Sounds good, I'll tell Jon about the mixer, you tell Maggie about the electric snow shovel," Tom planned.

"Good idea, speaking of, finish up guys, we have to get you two dressed and ready to go next door soon," Grace gestured while she hurriedly finished her own food.

"Do you think we can play Candy Land and Monopoly today?" Grace inquired happily.

"I'm sure if you ask you'll be able to," Tom told her as he cleared his plate and stacked them into the dishwasher.

Both children let out excited whoops and helped to clear the table. Grace bustled them off towards the front entrance of their house and helped Casey pull on her coat and boots. Grace tucked gloves into the pockets, wrapped a scarf around Casey's neck and pulled a hat onto her head. Tom pulled on his own winter boots and coat as James zipped up his coat, pulled his hat and boots on then tucked gloves into the pockets of his coat.

"Scarf James," Grace instructed as she dressed.

"But mom," James whined.

"No buts, if you go outside to play, I want you wearing a scarf," Grace reiterated as she pulled on a hat.

"Okay," James grumbled and pulled his scarf down from the rack.

Instead of hanging it off his neck like his sister, he stuffed it into his coat pocket with a minor pout. Tom tried not to laugh at his son's disinterest in scarves or anything wrapped around his neck. Grace merely smiled and ushered the children out the door as Tom grabbed his keys and Grace's forgotten purse.

He locked the door behind himself as Grace walked Casey and James to the neighbours. Tom began to follow swiftly behind after subconsciously studying his front porch for extra footsteps from the night before. He made it to the neighbour's house just as Jon was opening the door and handed over Grace's purse which she accepted with a sheepish smile. Maggie greeted Grace a moment later and the two began chatting.

"Hey Jon, we're going to get a new mixer for Maggie," Tom said nonchalantly with a smirk.  
"Oh, she'll love that. We're getting Grace that lamp she's been pestering about for the front room," Jon told him with a grin.

"That's great. Hey, why don't you two come over to our house Christmas morning to open presents? You can stay over for the day and play with the kids then have dinner with the family," Tom invited smoothly with a smile.

"That would be wonderful since my kid can't make it down this year," Jon replied happily.

"Thanks again Maggie, Jon and sorry about the short notice," Grace iterated as she gently grabbed Tom's arm and stepped out the door.

"It's all right Grace, dear, we suggested it. Have fun at the mall," Maggie told her with a wink.

"Oh we'll try," Tom laughed and led Grace down the steps and towards their waiting van.

A flash of red disappeared behind the back of his home and Tom glanced at it for a long moment with a frown. Grace looked at her husband than the back of the house, seeing nothing to be worried about as she opened the door to their now unlocked van.

"What is it?" Grace asked as she slipped into the passenger seat and sat her purse on her lap.

"I keep thinking I see someone in a red coat," Tom muttered as he closed her door for her.

He walked around the front of the van, keeping his eye on the back of the house before getting in. Grace was watching him carefully and waved at Casey, James, Maggie and Jon as Tom buckled in and started the van.

"Maybe you're seeing Old Saint Nick," Grace joked with a smile as they started down the street.

"Yeah," Tom uttered as he made the first turn towards the city.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Grace tried again with a small frown.

"You're probably right," Tom agreed with a small smile.

"Now, we've got a busy day ahead of us, let's try to make it go as smoothly as possible," Grace suggested as she flicked on the radio.

"Sounds like a plan," Tom chuckled as he began to ease out of his worried state and into one filled with Christmas happiness.

The mall was a disaster area and Tom wished with all his might that they would be able to get in and out quickly enough to make it back home in time for supper. Grace took his hand, grabbed her purse in an iron grip and strode through the main doors with her head held high. Tom smiled at her confidence and pushed through the crowd with her.

Soon they were in the main foyer of the mall. Tom let Grace led the way and watched as parents struggled with crying children in carts. A few people were waddling out of the mall, laden with brightly colored shopping bags and looks of half-distress and half-happiness on their faces. Some looked outright annoyed but he said nothing as Grace hustled into the first stop in their journey to Christmas joy.

Hours later Tom was sweltering in his winter coat and carrying five shopping bags in one hand. Each one held something larger and more awkward to carry then the last and he was hoping none of the handles would give out. He diligently followed Grace into the over-crowded toy store and winced as a bag knocked into someone's knee.

"Sorry," Tom managed over his shoulder.

"Honey, why don't you drop off that load in the van and come back here? I'm going to be a while," Grace mentioned as the bags knocked into another person.

"Sorry miss and okay, I'll see you in a few minutes I hope," Tom told her and released his wife into the hoard of parents and children in the toy store.

He backed out gratefully and sucked in a deep breath as he transferred two bags to his now free hand. He walked back towards the main entrance with a purpose while skittering around other shoppers as he moved. Someone in a red coat passed by in his peripheral vision and he turned to look. Because of the distraction, he walked into a man pushing a baby stroller and almost fell to the floor.

"Sorry," Tom muttered out embarrassed.

The man merely huffed and grumpily forged ahead as Tom darted around other consumers and finally made it to the much clearer main entrance. The cold air was refreshing on his damp form as he stepped outside. Soon he had crossed the parking lot and stuffed the bags into his van. On his way back he noticed an envelope on his windshield.

"What the?" Tom asked in curiosity as he grabbed the damp envelope.

He opened it quickly to see another Christmas card inside. This one had a snowman coated in sparkles that stood in front of a snow-covered house that looked eerily similar to his home. Tom shoved down the bubbling fright and opened the card.

'Merry Christmas' was inscribed in gold writing. Below this was 'I'm home now, can't wait to see you' in the same scrawl from the mystery card days ago. This was written in the same thick red marker and Tom scowled. Tom crumpled the card and tossed it into a garbage bin as he passed. The writing stuck in his mind and Tom could not get the thought that the lettering had looked like it was written in blood out of his head.

He finally entered the mall again and bee-lined for the toy store he had left Grace at. He was swallowing hard, trying to knock down the terrified feeling that his wife would not be where he had left her and it would not have been of her free will that she left. He called himself ridiculous and entered the toy store.

He did not see Grace's hat right away but ploughed through the crowd and searched with darting eyes. He breathed a sigh of relief as her form came into view and pushed to stand beside her.

"Hey," He muttered out in a surprisingly calm voice.

Grace turned and smiled at him then promptly handed him four boxes. Tom laughed in relief and made no comment as Grace continued to select toys from various shelves. Soon Tom was overburdened and Grace had to go back to carting boxes around.

"Please tell me these aren't all for Casey and James," Tom groaned out from somewhere behind the pile of boxes in his arms.

"Oh no, there's some for Jessie, Jackie, Christina and Samantha," Grace assured him as she helped him to the cashier.

"Oh good," Tom breathed.

"But we still have to go to one more store to get a few things for James since trains, puzzles, ponies and dollies don't interest him," Grace informed him a moment later.

"Aw," Tom whined as he carefully placed the toys onto the counter.

"Oh and we still have to find an electric shovel and a mixer for Jon and Maggie," Grace commented as she used the cashier began ringing in the items.

"Great," Tom breathed as the total continued to add up.

"You may have to go back to the van," Grace remarked with a little chuckle.

"Right, I'll meet you where?" Tom enquired as he began picking up the already full bags.

"By the food court, I'm starving and it's close to noon. We should eat first before hitting the last leg of our journey," Grace suggested with a smile.

"Good plan," Tom agreed as he picked up the rest of the bags while Grace paid.

"I'll meet you in front of that burger joint you love," Grace told him as they were released from the store.

"Okay, see you in ten," Tom told her and began to stride off again, his eyes still looking for a figure in a red coat.

Tom sighed heavily as he and Grace finally left the mall. The sky was still bright and Tom was glad they would have enough time for supper before the sky got too dark. Once supper was finished and the appropriate presents hidden, they would pack Casey and James in the van to see Santa.

Tom adjusted his hold on the bags in his hand and smiled when Grace gave him a satisfied smile. One more thing was crossed off their to-do list and Grace always received a wonderful jolt of happiness from completing things. Tom was merely grateful that there were two days after Christmas for him to just relax.

Grace got into the car as he put the final load of bags into the truck of the van. A few items would not fit so he reluctantly opened the side door and placed the rest on the back seats. He walked around the back and blinked at the foot prints in the snow.

A second set of long, wide, and heavy looking prints was there and Tom scowled as he followed them to the front of the van. They continued on a bit further, enough to place something on the windshield before striding off towards the mall again. Tom sighed and got into the van, glad that he had gotten rid of the other Christmas card before Grace could see it.

"Something wrong?" Grace questioned with a frown.

"Just tired," Tom assured her as he started the car and buckled himself in.

"Well, we still have to come back to see Santa. We did promise the kids," Grace informed him with a little chuckle.

"I know and the line-up looked huge. We're going to have to bring something to entertain them while we wait," Tom remarked as he pulled out and began the drive home.

"Well James has his portable game player and you know Casey will be thrilled to merely people watch and do a running commentary," Grace remarked with a little giggle.

"Yeah, that's our Casey," Tom agreed with a grin.

He noted a small chunk of paper on his side of the windshield then. Without breaking his grin, he flicked on the windshield wipers and the paper was disengaged. He felt a bit horrible for littering but he did not need some mysterious stalker ruining his favorite time of the year.

The drive was over too quickly and Tom found himself almost disliking the fact they had to go out again. Grace helped unload some of the bags into their bedroom closet. They would spend tonight wrapping their children's gifts and bring the rest downstairs so Casey and James could help wrap the rest.

Grace organized the bags swiftly so only Casey and James presents were hidden behind pants and shirts. Tom left the rest by the Christmas tree and hoisted down a three pack of wrapping paper and some ribbons. He stared at the electric shovel for a long moment and tucked it and the mixer behind the larger piles.

Grace darted into the kitchen a moment later and Tom decided to gather the kids. The walk to next door was brisk but Tom continually looked to the back of his house and the ground to find any extra footprints. He knocked on the gaily decorated door with a smirk a few moments later and Jon answered with a smile.

"Howdy neighbour, how did the shopping go?" Jon asked and stepped aside to let Tom in.

"Good, we got everything we wanted and Grace is making dinner right now. I'm here for the munchkins," Tom told him.

"I'm not a munchkin," James protested from the kitchen.

"Okay, you're a munchie then," Tom bargained as the two came charging out of the kitchen to greet him with Maggie on their heels.

"What's a munchie?" James asked as he pulled on his coat and stared up at his father.

"A slightly bigger munchkin," Jon informed him with a laugh.

James rolled his eyes as Tom helped Casey into her coat. Tom merely chuckled when James finally began tugging on the rest of his winter outwear.

"They weren't too much trouble today were they?" Tom asked as Casey plopped her own hat onto her head and wrapped on her scarf.

"Not at all. We had fun, right guys?" Maggie iterated with a smile.

"Yeah, we played Monopoly and I won," James beamed with bright eyes.

"I won Candy Land," Casey jumped in with a little squeal of delight.

"And we helped make pie and cake," James exclaimed happily.

"Did you help eat it too?" Tom joked with a grin.

"No, Maggie says the cake and pie are for Christmas dinner," James commented with a small pout.

"So we're going to have lots of dessert," Casey called out.

"That's great. Okay you two, let's head on home to eat then we'll go see Santa," Tom instructed.

James and Casey gave twin shouts of joy before darting past Tom's legs and out the door. Jon chuckled at Tom's flabbergasted but joyful look. Tom thanked the older couple again before saying his good-byes and chasing after his children. The warmth of the house was welcome and watching the two try to get out of snow clothing quickly for food was amusing.

"We're back," Tom shouted out as he tugged off his own coat.

"Oh good, I've got a tuna casserole that's almost ready," Grace informed the trio as they made their way into the kitchen.

"Go wash up you two," Tom told Casey and James as they tried to sit at the table.

Moans of protest met his ears but the two ran off again to wash their hands before coming back to the table. Tom set the table and sat tiredly in his chair to rub at his temples. Soon the children were back at the table and Grace was piling food onto their plates.

Supper was finished quickly and Tom found himself driving back to the mall with his family singing 'Jingle Bells' around him. Tom tried to get into the song but still kept seeing that piece of paper on his windshield. He found a cherished parking spot close to the front doors and helped the children out of their seats.

James protested holding Grace's hand but she insisted while informing him that the mall was exceptionally crowded and it would be easy for him to get lost. He reluctantly agreed and shuffled along behind her while clutching her hand in a soft grip.

Casey was easier to handle and instantly took Tom's hand the moment it was free. Tom smiled to himself and grabbed Grace's free hand as the family entered into the overly-populated mall. They navigated around shoppers until finally reaching the line to see Santa Claus. Before James could start complaining about the long wait, Grace had pulled out his fully charged portable game system and given it to him.

Instantly he was lost in a world entirely not of his own and was quiet. Casey began talking about a lady with a cute baby and narrating other things that caught her interest. Tom helped her pull off her coat when she asked but James was still too absorbed by his fantasy world to notice the heat.

"Are we getting pictures this year?" Grace asked slyly with a smirk.

"Don't we always?" Tom chuckled back.

Grace laughed along with him and he wrapped her in a hug while pushing James forward slightly when the line moved without his notice. Casey skipped ahead; clutching Tom's pant leg now and pointed out a woman with vey sparkly earrings. This went onto a monologue of if Tom was going to get Grace a pretty pair of earrings and what they should look like if he did.

Tom went along with the conversation, wondering how a seven year old could amuse herself so much with other people as she spoke. Grace was grinning the entire time, wondering if she would get a pair of earrings this year. They both had enough time to themselves after work to sneak in a quick trip to snag something for Christmas. Both also carried large enough bags to work to hide a present for the other.

The line had finally moved enough that Casey could see Santa and Grace pulled James out of his world long enough to point out the jolly man. James saved his game, turned off the system and handed it back to Grace without being asked to as the children three ahead of them in line moved to sit on Santa's lap.

Casey began vibrating in excitement, rattling off her list of Christmas presents so she would not forget. James was watching the line move and the cameras flash with wide eyes as they finally stood at the front. A cheerful elf asked who would go first and James allowed Casey the chance. Casey thanked him profusely and kissed him on the cheek before darting off to meet Santa. James winced at that and wiped the kiss off his face, much to the amusement of Tom and Grace.

"What's your name little girl?" Santa inquired with a deep but gentle voice.

"Casey-May Taylor," Casey proudly stated as Grace smiled in affection.

"What a beautiful name! Have you been a good girl this year?" Santa asked with a grin.

"Mommy and Daddy said I have," Casey informed the happy man with a quick glance at her parents.

"Well I know you have; I check my list twice you know," Santa told her with a wink.

"All ready? Really?" Casey inquired with sparkling eyes.

"Oh yes, I have to be prepared you know. Now, what would you like for Christmas?" Santa asked with another smile.

"Could I have the pony play-set with the sparkly baby ponies, a new bicycle, and a mermaid doll that swims and for my daddy to get mommy some pretty earrings?" Casey requested with hopeful eyes.

"Oh I think we have that ready for you at the North Pole. And I'm sure you're daddy got your mommy a sparkly pair of earrings," Santa promised with a belly laugh.

"Smile for the camera," One of the elves said.

Casey turned part way and beamed as the elf lined up the shot and took the photograph. Casey jumped off Santa's lap after giving him a hug and thanked the elf who gave her a candy cane. Tom took her hand on the other side of the gate as Grace moved to the elf taking money for photos to pay for two prints.

"And what's your name young man?" Santa asked as James got on his lap.

"I'm James Taylor and that was my sister," James told him as he waved at Casey.

"You're a lucky young man to have such a nice sister," Santa commented.

"Yeah, she's better than other girls," James agreed.

Santa laughed heartily at that and Tom joined in. Grace was hiding a chuckle behind her hand demurely and Casey grinned.

"Have you been a good boy this year?" Santa questioned.

"Mom and Dad said so," James told him with a smile.

"Well you're on the good list too," Santa informed him with a grin.

"Cool," James remarked in awe.

"And what would you like for Christmas?" Santa inquired with a smile.

"The new Creature-Catcher game, a new bicycle, a new blanket and for mom to get dad the new music player he wants, maybe, please?" James requested with a smile.

"I know I have some of those around. And I'm sure you're mom will find the perfect music player for your dad," Santa assured him with a deep laugh.

"Smile for the camera," the same elf called out.

James turned and gave the peace sign at the camera as the elf took the picture. Tom chuckled lightly as James gave Santa a half-hug and leaped off his lap. He thanked the elf handing out candy canes and challenged Casey to a duel with their canes while they waited for Grace to finish paying for their pictures.

Once Grace returned, the troop began to move back through the crowd with Casey and James candy cane fight ending in a forced draw. Casey requested to look at some toys and Tom reluctantly agreed. Someone walked by in a red coat and Tom ground his teeth to ignore it. Soon James and Casey were poking and prodding at different toys while Grace and Tom watched attentively.

Finally Tom all but dragged the two away from the display as another person in a red coat walked passed. Grace gave him a little frown but he ignored it, intent on getting his family safely home. Casey and James asked to eat their candy canes and Grace allowed it, only once they got home.

They agreed and began discussing the excitement of Santa and Christmas presents as Tom peered around to find the mysterious person in the red coat. He found it to be in vain as many people were wearing red because of the holidays and was happy to get out of the mall. Soon a gnawing feeling began at his stomach as he realized they might all find a new envelope on the van's windshield.

The feeling intensified as they approached the van and Tom frowned to himself. The van came into view and Tom tried to vainly check the windshield. Soon he was hitting the button to unlock it and they were piling in. He let out a sigh of relief: there was nothing being held down by the wipers.

The drive home was relaxing and Tom found himself singing along with the Christmas carols on the radio. Grace smiled at him as they pulled into the driveway and Casey and James rushed out of the van. Tom followed behind and unlocked the door as Grace followed behind. The children peeled off their winter wear and plopped in front of the television to watch more Christmas movies and eat their candy canes.

"Want some hot chocolate guys?" Grace questioned as she shook out her hair.

"Yes please," the synchronized reply came.

"Sure," Tom wearily replied as he all but fell onto the couch.

Grace gave him a kiss on the cheek and went about preparing the hot chocolate. Tom watched the movie without paying attention to it and accepted the mug Grace handed him a few moments later. Only the television was sounding and soon even it was silenced as Casey and James were told to sleep.

Tom climbed the stairs after plopping his still almost full mug of cold chocolate on the coffee table. Grace puttered around downstairs for a few moments and Tom stretched out on their bed, listening to the little noises she made. Soon he heard her climbing the stairs and got off the bed.

"Are you okay?" She questioned lightly upon entering the room.

"Just tired. We've been going non-stop as if we've been working," Tom groused as he plopped onto the floor in front of the closet and began pulling out the presents for Casey and James.

"I know, but you seem distracted," Grace mentioned as she took out the hidden wrapping paper and bows then kneeled beside him.

"It's nothing," Tom absently told her as he pulled the pony play-set Casey had asked for out of the bag.

Grace frowned but made no comment and soon the gifts were being wrapped. Grace was the one who did the actual wrapping as Tom filled out the gift tags with the appropriate child's name and 'From Santa'. Soon all the presents were wrapped and Tom snuck some of them downstairs into the hallway closet.

A shadow shifted across the floor of the living room as he was starting back up the stairs and Tom darted into the room to look. He flicked on the light but saw nothing. His heart was beating like a caged animal in his chest and he took two deep breaths to calm it. He strode to the window and peered into the darkness again but saw nothing. With a frown, he shut the blinds and walked away from the window.

He shook himself to try to relieve the tension in his shoulders and the coiling doubt in his stomach as he took a final look around the room over his shoulder. He flicked off the light and began the walk back upstairs, wondering again what the strange Christmas cards meant.

Part 4: December 23rd

Tom stretched awake to hear the joyous shouts of Casey and James from downstairs. He smirked and pulled himself out of bed, noting that it was just about 11AM. Grace was not in the room with him and he assumed she had been the one to wake up early and drag the kids out of bed. He had never been an early riser without an alarm.

He puttered around on the upper level in his morning routine before descending the stairs and rounding into the kitchen. He stared for a long while at the scene presented to him, blinking as he tried to make sense of it. Finally he started laughing and Grace shot him a flour-covered glare.

"What happened?" Tom questioned as he knew Grace was normally very particular about what the children helped with when she baked.

"The bag of flour exploded when I opened it," Grace admitted wearily.

Tom grabbed a broom and dustpan while chuckling and started to clear the exploded flour. Grace offered him a smile as Casey rushed to grab more rags for Grace to wipe the counter with. James was all ready helping to get the flour out of the decorations on the table where Grace had opened the bag.

"Mommy was going to make a ginger bread house," Casey informed him with a smile.

"Do we still have enough flour for it or do you need me to venture to the mall for more?" Tom inquired as he dumped the spoiled flour into the garbage container.

"Actually we do need more flour since that was the last bag and there isn't enough to make the size I want now. Plus we do need more gumdrops and candy canes," Grace told him with a sheepish grin.

"All right, let me grab some coffee and something to eat and I'll head down to the grocery store," Tom offered as he finished clearing the floor.

"I'll make a list because I'm sure we're missing something else for dinner," Grace informed him and turned to open the refrigerator.

Tom merely nodded and poured himself a cup of coffee. Grace handed him a pre-made tuna sandwich and he smirked as he opened the cellophane wrapping. Grace began making her list as Tom ate and the children finished up cleaning.

"So no gingerbread house until Daddy gets back?" Casey inquired with a jutting lower lip.

"Well, we can start wrapping presents while Daddy's out. When he comes back, we'll get the dough and icing ready for the house," Grace told her as she penned down more things on her list.

"Okay," Casey agreed with a happy nod.

"But the dough takes two hours to set though," James mentioned with a frown as he remembered from last year.

"Don't worry kiddo I'll be back by 2 at the latest. The dough will be finished setting by 6 and you guys can cook it up after dinner," Tom explained with a smile after he finished swallowing a bite from his sandwich.

"Okay," James said satisfied.

"All right, I'm ready with my list," Grace mentioned triumphant and handed the list to Tom.

Tom read over it with a small grin: flour, gravy, salt, milk, soda, (candy store): gumdrops, gummy worms, mini candy canes. He tucked the list into his jeans pocket and finished his sandwich as Grace and the children covered the rest of the ingredients for gingerbread.

"All right I'm heading out now. Don't have too much fun wrapping gifts without me," Tom stated as he made his way to the front of the house.

"Don't have too much fun at the mall," Grace countered with a wink as she ushered the children into the living room.

"Thanks," Tom chuckled after he zipped up his coat.

He gave a wave to the children and opened the door. A blast of frigid air caused him to shiver and he tucked himself deeper into his coat to stave off the cold. Jon was inside today and Tom frowned slightly at the thought. He peered up at the sky and noted there would probably be more of the fluffy white stuff by tomorrow morning. The van was started a few minutes later and Tom was scraping frost off his windshield.

A chill tingled down his back and Tom knew it was not from the cold. He turned and stared down the empty street. A few cars passed on the main street in front of his side street but nothing more. He scowled and finished scraping and hurriedly got into the van, not noticing the figure hiding amongst the evergreens. Once he was out of the driveway, the figure made to follow behind him with a crazed smile on its face that would have caused the most hardened man to shiver in fright.

Tom finally found a parking spot after circling the lot for five minutes. He parked gratefully and turned off the van. The wind blasted the door back towards him and he frowned slightly before pushing out of the van and into the blowing snow. The walk to the grocery store took five minutes with how far back he was parked and a few cars followed him, thinking he was leaving.

Tom pointed to the entrance to the grocery store when he noted them and they drove around him after. He disliked giving exasperated shoppers false hope. Heat blasted him a few moments later as he stepped through the sliding doors and into the crowded store. He seized one of the few carts left and navigated in the store as quickly as he could.

There was a line-up in the bakery isle and Tom had to wait five minutes before he could even see the flour. Flour and salt obtained he stood in the soda and water isle for a few minutes deciding what to get. He finally settled on a mixed pack of cream soda, diet soda, regular soda and orange soda.

Gravy was found after touring the isles aimlessly for a few fifteen. He had to wait ten minutes for the milk to be refilled but grabbed a few jugs and some extra eggnog while he was there. He strode down the candy isle and found gumdrops, gummy worms and mini candy canes. He grabbed a bag of chocolate drops and some decorative candy in the shape of Christmas trees before moving to stand in line. The entire process had taken well over an hour.

He checked his cellular phone for messages in case Grace had forgotten to list something and saw nothing. He did see a missed call from an unknown number and frowned at it. He dialed back the number, knowing he had a few minutes to wait and got Grace's brother's answering machine.

"Hi Dave, its Tom. I just checked my phone now. I'm at the grocery store so I couldn't hear it. Dinner's at 5 on the 25th but you're welcome to come any time during the day. We're opening presents early, probably around 8AM on Christmas. Uh, if that's not what you called about, give me a call back. I'll keep my cell on. Thanks, bye," Tom stated as he moved up in the line.

He hung up his phone but kept it in his hand in case Dave decided to call back. Tom knew Grace's brother was forgetful and had probably misplaced his datebook reminding him what time Christmas dinner was. Tom also knew the two had discussed what Grace wanted for Christmas and they had bought her presents the week before. Unless Dave and his family could not make it, there was no reason for him to call.

Tom's phone vibrated in his hand but the grocery store was so crowded that the ringer was drowned out. Tom fumbled but managed to answer before it stopped vibrating.

"Hi Tom, its Dave. Yeah, I forgot when dinner was," Dave said in his deep voice.

"No problem. If you want you can come down to open presents," Tom told him with a grin.

"Maybe, I'll talk to Kelly and the kids. I mean, it is only an hour drive but I'm not sure if they'll want to hoist all their gifts into the car and drive down at stupid o'clock," Dave laughed lightly.

"Good point, don't worry about it then," Tom informed him as he moved up in line.

"We'll probably come down for 10AM though. I know Samantha and Christian are looking forward to seeing Casey and James again," Dave revealed in a cheerful voice.

"That's all Casey has been talking about at bedtime. What she, Samantha and Jackie are going to be playing on Christmas," Tom chuckled lightly.

"Hey, did you go to Old Man Hubbard's for your tree this year?" Dave asked slyly.

"Yeah, we got candy apples for everyone too," Tom mentioned as he smirked.

"Great, I mean, good, anyway. Kelly needs me to help with something or other so I've got to go," Dave commented.

"No problem, I've got to start unloading the grocery cart, we'll see you in two days," Tom told him as he pushed his cart ahead and began unloading it one handed.

"See you in two days, bye," Dave concluded and hung up.

Tom pressed a button on his phone and tucked it back into its holder. He finished unloading the groceries and grumbled to himself when he realized he had forgotten to bring his own bags. He answered affirmative to the cashiers question about bags and the teen at the end began packing. Tom paid and pushed his cart along back outside.

He made it to the van with a car following him and hastily packed away his groceries and dropped the cart off into the cart holder beside him. He nodded at the other driver and got into his van only to notice another Christmas card under his windshield wiper. With an aggravated grunt, he leaned out the door and snatched the card before starting the van and tossing the very damp card onto the seat beside him.

This card was soaked, in a green envelope and had the same scrawl as the others before it. Tom ignored it until he was out of the parking lot. He then turned onto a side street and parked on the side of the road. The green envelope was ripped open haphazardly and he pulled out a dampened green card with gold ornaments on the front. This card had been sitting on his windshield for at least an hour, long enough for someone to travel to the mall and back home before Tom was able to read the card.

A typical seasons greeting message was inside the card with the scrawl of: "I'll be home for Christmas," underneath in the same red marker.

Tom scowled and shredded the card in his hands before shoving it into the glove compartment to hide the pieces. He knew Grace never went in the glove compartment so until he could get to a place with a garbage container on his own, the remains of the card would be well hidden. Tom noted the time to be nearing 2PM and sighed before pulling away from the curb carefully and heading back home.

Tom stacked the last of the now-wrapped presents under the Christmas tree as Grace and the children began to prepare the dough for the gingerbread. The new card was still on his mind but he was trying to ignore it. He wanted to mention it to Grace but did not want both of them suffering through the holidays. He knew that next year he would be looking back at this and laughing at his paranoia.

Once the electric shovel for Jon was in place, Tom carefully went upstairs to begin transferring the rest of Casey and James' presents from their closet to the hallway closet. The two bicycles had been hidden in the hallway closet as they had been purchased and wrapped two weekends prior when the children had been at Tom's parent's home.

Grace had tossed a plastic tarp over them and the children did not notice the new addition under all the winter coats and behind the shoe rack. Tom carefully slid Casey's pony play set and mermaid doll in the upper part of the closet behind some shoe boxes. James new blanket was tucked behind winter coats, a top the tarp. His game was easily tucked into an empty shoe box.

Tom grinned and peeked into the kitchen to see the children still distracted by mixing dough and icing. He winked at Grace and darted back up the stairs to grab the last of the presents they had bought for the children. Some doll clothes, a painting set and a jewelry making kit for Grace. Some new Creature Capture cards, a remote control monster truck and a model airplane kit for James.

Tom was just sliding in the last gift when a light tapping came to the door. He cursed under his breath and shouted out that he would get it. The last gift was slid into place and he examined the hiding spot for any tell-tale wrapping quickly before closing it and turning to the door. He opened it a moment later, an apology on his lips but only cold air greeted him.

He blinked and looked down to the porch to see nothing but a snow globe sitting in the snow at his feet. He lifted the globe and took a single step outside after sliding into his winter boots but not tying them up. There was no one around and Tom noted none of his neighbours were even out on the street.

He scowled and went back inside. He locked the door, something he and Grace only did at night and glowered at it for a few minutes before toeing off his boots and staring at the snow globe in his hand. The scene in the globe showed a home eerily similar to his and he felt a chill run down his spine.

He calculated the time it took for someone to get to the mall by bus and back to his street. He scowled when he realized that it would take no more than an hour and a half for someone to have followed his van, place the card and sit outside his home.

He turned it over and noted that it had the name of a well-known company that custom made snow globes. He glared at it but resisted the urge to pelt it into the garbage can by the front door. Grace found him frowning at the globe with it half propped to slam into the garbage can.

"Who was it?" Grace asked as she wiped her hands off on a rag.

Tom started and looked up at her. He could not make himself smile as broadly as he normally did and Grace noticed the forced grin immediately. Tom shrugged and placed the snow globe on the table in the front hall as he moved forward.

"Not sure, but they left a snow globe. I think someone is playing a Christmas prank on us. Oh, your brother called while I was out. He'll be here around 10AM on Christmas day," Tom informed her and wrapped her in a half hug.

"Okay good. Tomorrow we can decorate the ginger bread house in the morning since it will be too late tonight by the time it's finished cooking. Then tomorrow afternoon I'll cook the roast while you and the kids make sure the house is clean," Grace commented as the two went back into the kitchen.

James and Casey looked up from covering the bowl of gingerbread dough with cellophane wrapping.

"Who was it daddy?" Casey asked with a beaming grin.

"No one was there but I think Santa left us an early Christmas present," Tom said with a wink.

Both children gasped and he finally revealed the location of aforementioned present after their prompting. They darted into the front room and Tom could hear them chattering about the snow globe. Music started playing and the two rushed back in to show Tom and Grace that the snow globe played Silent Night as well. Tom put on a fake pleased smile for them but Grace could tell something was wrong.

That night the smell of baking gingerbread filled the house after supper. Tom had put in the family's favorite Christmas movie A Christmas Carol as the gingerbread baked. Grace would intermediately check on it and Casey would get up to follow her with a smile. Hot chocolate was brought out and Tom felt relaxed despite the strangely gifted snow globe that had a new place on the mantle above the television.

Soon it came time to pull the gingerbread out of the oven and allow it to cool. Half an hour later, the movie was paused as the children and Grace began to cut out the shapes they needed for the gingerbread house that would stand a foot tall, a foot long and six inches wide. Casey and James held the patterns to the cool gingerbread as Grace carefully cut along the edges. Tom observed with a smile.

James would carefully take each cut piece and put it to a side to be stored for decorating tomorrow. Soon all the pieces were cut out and the family was munching on the excess gingerbread while finishing the movie. As 9PM approached, Grace informed the children they had to get ready for bed.

A few soft whines of protest came but Grace reminded them that they would have to be up a little earlier so they could finish decorating the gingerbread house before lunch. James and Casey leaped to their feet and ran upstairs at that and Tom snickered a bit as he heard them arguing about needing more room over the sink to brush their teeth.

"We won't be able to actually relax until Boxing Day," Tom mentioned as he put the movie away.

"My mother and father are staying here since the drive takes three hours and we all know they won't leave until 10 or later. So, we'll probably be going shopping on Boxing Day," Grace commented.

"Oh right, well, you and your mom can go. Your dad and I can stay and watch the kids," Tom tried with a grin.

Grace laughed lightly and swatted him on the arm. Tom tackled her onto the couch and dropped a kiss on her lips lightly. She tugged him in closer and Tom hummed in approval as she deepened the kiss. A door closed upstairs and the two jolted up to make sure the children had not wandered back down to see them kissing on the couch.

Another door closed and they waited for a five long minutes. Tom smirked and laid another kiss on Grace's damp lips. She allowed the contact, drawing him in deeper and wrapping a leg around his waist. Tom moaned lightly at the contact and hugged her tighter to his own body before running a hand down her side.

"We can't on the couch," Grace breathed as she broke the kiss with a smirk.

"Sure we can, isn't this where Casey was conceived?" Tom joked with a wink.

"Very funny, but I'm not as flexible as I was seven years ago. So, we can't on the couch," Grace informed him with a wink.

"Hey, for 35 you're pretty damned flexible. I'm sure some couch wrestling wouldn't be too much trouble for you," Tom told her with a grin.

"Okay but the special wrapping paper is upstairs," Grace remarked and laughed when Tom grumbled.

"Fine, fine, upstairs it is then," Tom muttered and helped her to her feet.

"Oh please, you're still getting some," Grace chuckled as she turned off the television and tidied the coffee table.

"Yeah," Tom brightened as he took two of the mugs from her hands.

They strode out of the living room and Tom turned off the light. The mugs were deposited in the sink and the light was turned off before they quietly took the stairs two at a time. Tom was the one to skitter almost silently into the bathroom before entering his own room with a happy grin.

Part 5: December 24th

Tom yawned enormously as he woke, the sheets a tangled mess around his nude form. He grinned to himself and stretched on the empty bed. He heard something clanging downstairs and knew he had to get up to help Grace with their personal Christmas dinner, cleaning the house and finishing off the traditional gingerbread house the hosting family made.

Tom finally pulled himself out of bed and pulled on a pair of boxers and a tee-shirt before gathering some clothes for the day and making his way out of the room. He heard Casey laugh happily from downstairs and allowed himself a grin as he walked into the bathroom, a skip to his step.

Soon he was tossing all the dirty laundry that was lying haphazardly around the room into the laundry basket and dragging the entire thing down the stairs. Grace peeked out the kitchen door from the noise and gave him a wink. He kissed her on the cheek as he passed through the door and headed towards the basement door.

"Remember to get all your dirty clothes in the baskets after lunch, kids," Tom reminded them before trotting down the stairs.

James groaned out a yes and Casey agreed well enough to Tom's back. Soon he was down in the cool basement and the hamper was placed beside the washing machine. Tom stretched and charged back up the stairs for a quick breakfast before helping with the gingerbread house. Grace had already set a plate of toast with peanut butter and jam on the only clear spot on the table for him.

Tom grabbed his coffee and marvelled at the various candies in bowls on the rest of the kitchen table. Gummy bears were in a red bowl, candy canes hung over the edges of the bowl for easier access. Another bowl contained gummy worms with more candy canes hanging off the edges. Chocolate drops over-filled another bowl. Hot rods and gumdrops took the other two. Red licorice was laid out in rows on a plate beside a plate of evenly cut graham squares for the shingles on the roof.

Tom watched idly as Casey held up a wall for Grace to mortar to the half-formed house. James was holding up the other two walls until the icing dried completely and Tom studied his wife's gentle but firm hand as she sealed on the third wall. The fourth wall was erected soon and the roof was put into place with some help from Tom.

"Okay, what do we want to use for the sidewalk this year?" Grace asked the children as the icing stabilized and sealed the house together.

"Gumdrops!" both children shouted in unison and Grace grinned.

She dabbed icing in a pattern leading from the house to what would be the end of the "lawn" on a flat sheet of gingerbread. Casey and James carefully placed a pattern of red and green gumdrops along the path. The edges of the flat sheet of gingerbread the house stood on were lined with red licorice a moment later.

Grace took a moment to seal the house to its lawn as the children picked out white gumdrops for the snow. Grace coated the gingerbread lawn with icing and finished the first batch. As the children carefully placed the gumdrops, Grace refilled her decorators pouch. Soon the graham crackers were being added to the roof as Tom worked on sticking together some gumdrop trees for the lawn.

Orange, purple and yellow gumdrops became decorations and Casey instructed Tom where to put his trees when they were finished. Grace plastered them in place with more icing and Tom smiled at her when she intentionally smeared icing on his hand. He licked off the icing with a wink and Grace chuckled lightly.

"Can we make candy cane windows?" Casey questioned with shining eyes.

"Sure," Grace agreed and soon the candy canes were unwrapped and stuck onto the sides of the house to make long thin windows. Some windows were combined to make four panes and James suggested they use the gummy worms as Christmas lights. Lights were strung along the roof of the house as Casey selected gummy bears to use for a multi-colored snowman.

Tom helped her form the gummy bears into a shape resembling a snowman and the completed piece was stuck on the lawn of the house. James and Grace put multiple colored bears together to make a larger bear for the family. Chocolate drops formed a front and back door and a railing leading from both.

"It's so cool," James pronounced once Grace added the last bit of icing to the railing.

"Can we take a picture of it Daddy?" Casey inquired with a smile.

"Sure, let me get the camera," Tom stated as he pulled out of his chair and began walking back upstairs.

On his way out of the kitchen he peered at the door. He frowned at its unlocked state and locked it before charging back upstairs to get the camera and tripod. He found it a few moments later and returned with a happy grin. Grace had finished clearing the area around the gingerbread house by the time he returned.

"Okay, let me set this up," Tom remarked as he set up the tripod and stood the camera on it.

He adjusted the height of the tripod after looking through the lens and shifted it over an inch to negate some of the mess on the table. Grace pulled a chair close for Casey to sit on and James stood to the left of the gingerbread house. Finally Tom finished fiddling with the camera and put it on self-timer mode.

"Okay, ten seconds," Tom commented with a laugh as Grace stood behind the gingerbread house.

Tom got in behind her and wrapped his arms around her and Casey. Grace pulled James in close and the family smiled. The flash went off a moment later and Casey broke into infectious giggles. Grace jointed her and James smirked. Tom chuckled as he checked the picture and saw it to be perfect, considering it was the first try.

"Is it okay?" Grace asked as she came up beside him and tried to peek over his shoulder.

"Yeah Daddy, can we see?" Casey inquired as she bounced in front of him in curiosity.

"Looks good, see?" Tom mentioned as he showed first Casey than Grace.

"Can I see?" James questioned as he peered up at Tom.

"Sure," Tom said and lowered the camera again.

"Cool," James informed him with a grin.

"We should put it on the fridge," Casey exclaimed.

"You don't put pictures on the fridge," James rebutted with a frown.

"You can too, right Daddy?" Casey insisted.

"Well we can but I think we'll put this one in the special frame Grandma Joy got us last year for Christmas," Grace injected with a smile.

"The one that has the pretty writing that says 'family' on it?" Casey asked happily.

"That's the one," Grace told her with a nod.

"Are we going to hang it in the living room?" James inquired while looking at his father.

"Sure, I've got to set up the computer to print it out first though," Tom commented as he flicked the camera off and removed the SD card carefully.

"Can I load it?" James questioned hopefully.

"Sure, we just have to make sure there's shiny paper left," Tom told him and led him to the computer in the living room.

"Casey and I are going to go track down that frame," Grace remarked as she and Casey followed them.

"Sounds good," Tom told them after James had turned on the computer.

Casey led the way upstairs with a running commentary on the picture frame in question with Grace following behind and Tom listened for a moment before gently instructing James how to upload the right picture. James carefully placed a sheet of shiny paper onto the tray and hit print.

The printer began to whir as the image was imprinted onto the shiny piece of paper. A few moments later, and Tom placed it carefully on the desk to cut away some of the excess white area with an Exacto knife. Casey darted into the room, holding the frame and watched in wonder as Tom made the final clean cut.

Grace loaded the picture into the frame as Tom located a hammer and a nail. James helped him locate the nail and he pounded it in gently above the mantel over the television. Casey handed him the picture and he hung it quickly, adjusting it left and right when Grace told him it was crooked. They admired the picture for a moment.

"Okay, let's get ready for lunch," Grace broke in with a smile.

Casey and James agreed whole heartedly and jogged back into the kitchen. Grace followed in behind as Tom leaned in close to study the picture in the frame. The curtains had been open to show the glass doors of the back porch and Tom was staring at this now. A bit of red was showing up behind the glass, outside the house. Tom blinked and stared as the red made itself out to be the elbow of a coat sleeve.

Tom jumped back with wide eyes and turned back to the computer with the image still on the screen. He zoomed in as much as he could and centered on the red-coated elbow at the edge of his glass doors, just beyond James' head.

He moved the image up until he could make out part of the porch beyond the table. It was covered in shadow when there should be no shadow, if no one was standing there. Tom scowled and closed the program as Grace called out to him.

"Coming," Tom shouted back and pulled the SD card from the computer before shutting it down.

He peered back at the image and wondered if he would be able to look at it with a grin ever again after noticing that scar. He scowled and turned away, heading towards the kitchen. His back was turned when a shadow darted across the picture windows of his front house to hide in the evergreens beside his property.

Lunch was a happy affair (despite Tom's sour mood) with multi-meat sandwiches and flavoured chips. Grace outlined what needed to be done around the house and informed the group that Casey would be helping her while James helped Tom.

Tom and James were to do the laundry while Casey and Grace cleaned up the kitchen and started on the roast for supper. They would meet in the living room to neaten it up and clean then Grace and Tom would clean the bathroom while the children made sure their rooms were tidy. Grace shooed the children off to gather their laundry and Tom helped her stack the lunch dishes into the bursting dish washer.

"Okay, what's wrong now? You seem so distracted," Grace told him before he had the chance to go down into the cellar to start separating clothes.

"Nothing, just tired," Tom lied with a soft smile and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Are you sure? You know you can tell me if something is bothering you," Grace mentioned with a small frown as she wrapped her arms around his neck to hold him in place before her.

"I'm sure. Really, I'm just burned out from the extra days at work and rushing to get Christmas ready this year. I'll be fine once we're done cleaning," Tom insisted and gave her another peck on the lips this time.

"All right but you will tell me if something's wrong, right?" Grace agreed with a sigh and released him.

"DADDY!" Casey called from upstairs.  
"I bet you she can't carry her basket down," Tom chuckled at the welcome interruption.

"Probably," Grace nodded with a deeper down-turn of her lips.

"I'll tell you if something comes up, don't worry," Tom assured her.

"Daddy?" Casey's voice floated down the stairs again.

"I'm coming munchkin," Tom replied with a shake of his head as he turned away from Grace and made his way out of the kitchen.

Grace sighed and leaned against the counter, looking at the disaster area that was disguising itself as her kitchen. She ran a hand through her hair and shook out the pony tail to re-tie it before pushing away from the counter and gently moving the gingerbread house to a safe spot on the kitchen counter. With her back turned, she missed the figure looking through the glass doors at her before it grinned and darted back into hiding.

Tom helped Casey hoist her laundry basket down the stairs as James insisted he could bring his own down. Tom observed carefully as James succeeded and Casey happily trotted to Grace who was putting some left out ingredients away. They began attacking the mess of the kitchen while James and Tom carefully navigated downstairs.

The cleaning went well. Soon clothes were being folded and brought to each room to be put into their proper place and the kitchen sparkled as if it was brand new. Grace asked Tom to find the small table they used to display the gingerbread house so Tom and James spent one hour hunting in the garage to track down the table.

Once it was located underneath a tarp, Tom brought it inside to be washed off. Grace and Casey made it gleam then covered it with a white sparkly cloth. Tom moved the table to sit beside the Christmas tree then carried out the gingerbread house carefully. Once it was placed, the family went on to clean the living room.

Strings of garland were hung along the walls while wreaths with candles in their centers covered the side tables by the couch. The coffee table was covered with a sparkly red cloth and the center piece of three large red and white candles surrounded by a wreath filled with berries was added.

The regular nick knacks were removed from the mantle and a drape of shining red cloth was placed over it. The snow globe took the center as many snowmen and Christmas trees grew from the middle to the edges. Tom avoided looking at the picture on the mantle as he helped Grace arrange these decorations but she barely noted.

The carpet was vacuumed by Tom as Grace and the children took the empty boxes of living room decorations back downstairs. Grace returned and sprayed down all the furniture with a deodorizer before lighting the candy cane scented candles on the coffee table. The railing was wrapped with more garlands and Tom strung up some indoor lights around the railing, masking the cord with the garland.

He plugged them in at the top of the stairs while Grace dusted the staircase and vacuumed the carpet that ran down the middle of the stairway. Casey and James were sent to their rooms to clean as Grace continued vacuuming down the upstairs hall.

Tom began cleaning the bathroom, starting with wiping down all the surfaces before cleaning the toilet and the bathtub. The children's area rugs were vacuumed and the vacuum was put away for another week. Grace bustled into the kitchen to check on the slow cooking roast and Casey trailed along behind her like a miniature Grace.

Tom and James went back outside to the garage to put it back in some semblance of order after they had virtually torn it apart looking for the table. That task complete they re-entered the house just as the roast was coming out of the oven and the mashed potatoes were being placed in the center of the table.

James ran to wash up as Casey sat at her chair. Tom cut the roast and Grace finished with the gravy and steamed vegetables. Soon the family was dining after an exhausting day of tiding up before company came. Casey and James spoke excitedly about Santa's coming and Tom asked what kind of cookies they were planning to put out this year.

James mentioned they should leave Santa some of the home-made cookies Grace had made a few days prior and Tom agreed. Grace said they would use the only bare table left in the living room to place the platter of cookies with the milk.

"But what about the reindeer?" Casey questioned in distress.

"We'll leave them some carrots. I bought extra the last time we went shopping," Grace assured her with a smile.

"Santa's reindeer must get hungry flying all that way and carrying all those toys," James commented in awe.

"Well I'm sure a lot of kids leave them all sorts of treats along the way," Tom mentioned with a grin.

"They should because the reindeer are just as important as Santa," Casey stated with a serious nod of her head.

Tom tried not to laugh at her overly serious look and Grace hid a smile behind her napkin. She surprised the children with a cake with dripping chocolate and vanilla filling. They ate happily, sipping on hot chocolate topped with red and green marshmallows. After the cake was eaten, Grace put the remainder in the refrigerator as Tom and the children helped to clear the soiled dishes.

Grace ran the dishwasher and put on some more hot chocolate for the family while Tom put in another Christmas movie. Casey mentioned the treats for their guest later that night and helped Grace selected the perfect plate for the cookies. James and Tom sneaked a cookie a piece but were caught when Grace turned to see their full cheeks.

"You two look like chipmunks," Grace laughed as she set the plate on the table.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tom uttered around the cookie in his mouth.

"Me neither," James muttered as crumbs fell between his lips.

"Well since your brother and father got a cookie, take one too Casey," Grace giggled.

Casey eagerly accepted the treat and nibbled on it as Grace arranged the other four cookies on the plate. Tom swallowed his cookie and poured the milk into a Christmas thermos so it would not get warm too quickly. James carried the plate of cookies out of the kitchen when instructed as Casey carried out the large milk glass.

Tom added the thermos to the table and the children added their two hand-written and sealed notes. The notes were decorated with sparkly snowflakes and had been made on the final day of school. James and Casey had both thanked Santa and wished him a safe trip once he left their house. The note was sealed with a golden snowflake and Casey carefully propped hers against the thermos. James left his over the cookies and the two settled down in front of the television to finish watching the movie.

The sky darkened as the night wore on and Tom remembered to call the neighbours to remind them to join them at 8AM for gift-unwrapping and breakfast. Jon agreed happily and Tom exchanged good-byes with him as the movie finished and 9PM began creeping along.

"Okay you two, time for bed," Grace mentioned as the clock struck nine.

"But can't we stay up a little longer?" James whined as Casey hugged her pillow to her chest and pouted.

"Not tonight, Santa won't come if you two are awake," Tom told them with a smile.

"Okay," James grumbled and tugged himself to his feet.

Casey joined and the two shuffled slowly out of the room before climbing the stairs and heading into the bathroom. Tom and Grace waited until they heard the bedroom doors close before laughing lightly at the children's disappointment in not being able to see Santa.

"What time do you want to set the alarm at?" Grace inquired as Tom stood and placed the movie back in its casing.

"Around 1 AM. That gives me a couple of hours of sleep before I have to move the presents," Tom told her with a smile.

"Are you going to be okay waking up at 7AM after so we can all get washed and dressed? The kids might not like having to wait to get dressed before opening presents but I don't want them in their pajamas when Jon and Maggie come over," Grace commented with a little worried frown.

"They'll be fine. We'll try to navigate them away from the tree until the neighbours get here," Tom assured her as he sat back on the couch.

"I feel so bad for those two sometimes. Their only child lives just three hours away and never comes down to visit," Grace remarked as she curled into Tom like a warm cat.

"Well, they have us so that's something," Tom told her and wrapped an arm around her.

"I know but they never see their own grandchildren. They shouldn't have to make do with someone else's family," Grace muttered softly.

"I know but we don't know what happened between their son and them to cause it. Not everyone comes from the perfect family," Tom mentioned to her as he pulled her close.

"Right, but we haven't even met their son and we've lived here 12 years," Grace groused as she leaned her head on Tom's shoulder.

"Well, we can only pray that doesn't happen with us when our two get older. I mean, we haven't even ventured into teen years yet and Dad keeps telling me it'll be the thing that turns my hair gray," Tom joked and gave her a gentle hug.

"I can only imagine what our kids will be like as teens. What are we going to do when James turns 12 and we have to break it to him that Santa doesn't exist? We can only hold onto this for so long until his classmates start mentioning things," Grace iterated.

"We'll tell him that Santa was really me and the true story of Saint Nicholas while Casey is at a friend's house or something. We'll have to tell him not to mention it to Casey since she'll only be nine and no nine year old should know Santa isn't real," Tom muttered softly.

"Is that what your parents told you?" Grace questioned with a smile.

"Yeah, except I had to keep the secret until I was 17. It broke my heart to see Amy burst into tears when she found out. Then she said she hated all of us for not telling her and ran into her room," Tom reminisced.

"I did the same thing when my parents finally told me. Dave was 16 at the time and I remember he told me not to cry and tried to wrap me in a hug but I kicked him in the shins," Grace giggled at the memory.

"Oh that's mean, kicking your older brother in the shins when he's trying to help," Tom remarked with a light laugh.

"I know but I was 10 years old and just found out Santa didn't exist. I remember I asked about the tooth fairy and Easter bunny too so my parents were forced to explain. I cried all night over that," Grace sighed as she snuggled deeper into Tom's warmth.

"Aw, you got all three at once? My parents didn't tell me about the Easter bunny and tooth fairy until I was 13. Actually, my friend told me about the tooth fairy by accident and I asked my mom and dad when I got home," Tom remembered with a grin.

"I was the first one in the class to know none of them existed. Do you know how hard it is for a 10 year old girl to keep that kind of secret when the girl that's bullying her is making fun of her? I remember sometime before school ended that year, this girl Emily kept making fun of my hair so I told her Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter bunny weren't real in front of half my class. You should have seen the look on her face; it was like I told her I kicked her puppy or something. She never did make fun of me again after that. My parents had to apologize to all the other kid's parents though and I felt so bad," Grace explained with a shake of her head.

"You were a mean kid," Tom jested with a chuckle.

"Oh be quiet you, you didn't ruin the dreams of half your class," Grace giggled as she swatted him gently on the leg.

"That's true. You are a horrible, horrible person," Tom commented with a shake of his head.

"Oh please," Grace muttered with a smile and a roll of her eyes.

"I killed the class hamster in second grade, so we're even," Tom uttered with a wink.

"How did you kill the class hamster?" Grace questioned in wonder.

"Well back then we were allowed to bring it home. So after I brought it home and set up its cage in my room, I was trying to play with it but it bit my finger and I dropped it. Then it ran out of the room and our cat attacked it," Tom explained after clearing his throat nervously.

"Oh my God, the poor hamster," Grace gasped and started to laugh.

"It's not funny, the next morning I brought the empty cage back to class and I had to explain to a bunch of seven year olds that I killed the class pet. Do you know how many of those kids cried? Half of them didn't even know what killed meant. We had a funeral for Mr. Blinky and I wasn't even allowed to attend because I was the one that dropped him," Tom gripped lightly as he remembered the day.

"Mr. Blinky?" Grace questioned as she tried not to laugh.

"Yeah, he blinked a lot," Tom remarked and Grace burst into light giggles.

"I know, I know, it was lame. But we were seven. It was either that or Chubby Cheeks," Tom informed her with a wink.

"Oh you can't make that up," Grace whispered out as she tried to stem her laugher as to not wake the children.

"Nope, we got a new hamster after a few weeks," Tom reminded himself.

"What did you name it?" Grace asked as she wiped away the tears of joy from her eyes.

"Waldo," Tom informed her.

Grace looked at him confused for a long moment and Tom tried not to laugh.

"Why Waldo?" Grace finally inquired.

Tom smirked at her and she prodded him to reveal the reason. Finally Tom relented when she started tickling him and he could not contain his laughter. He kissed her to stop her and wrapped her in his arms. She burst into fresh peals of laughter after he whispered in her ear:

"Because we couldn't find him after he got out of the cage on the first day,"

Tom woke groggily to the alarm beeping from his night table. He slapped it off and sat on the edge of the bed. He stretched hugely before turning to look at Grace. She was sleeping peacefully, her chest rising and falling gently. Tom knew that by the time he got back into bed, she would be in the middle of their mattress with all their blankets wrapped around her in a fuzzy cocoon.

Tom smirked at the thought and stood. He stretched again and shook his head to clear it as he carefully stepped out in the hall. He passed Casey's room without looking in and strode into the bathroom to relieve his complaining bladder. He did not wash his hands or flush for fear of waking his children, despite the fact that both were such heavy sleepers a cow could fall into their rooms and they still would not wake up.

Tom snuck out of the bathroom and tip-toed down the stairs silently. He reached the base of the stairs and shivered slightly, wrapping his arms around himself. He scowled and checked the kitchen to see if Grace had left the window open from when she was cooking earlier. The windows and doors were tightly sealed.

Tom noted that the glass patio doors were unlocked and frowned. The tiles were cold on his bare feet as he crossed the kitchen floor and turned the lock on the doors. For his own sanity, he pulled the blinds closed and padded across the floor again. He slowly opened the front closet so it would not rattle and started with the smaller presents.

Grace's pony play-set and jewellery kit were arranged near the front of the mound of presents. Her art kit, doll clothes and mermaid doll that could actually swim were placed onto the floor and Tom adjusted one of the tags until the 'From Santa' was easily visible.

Next he arranged James monster truck, Creature Capture game and cards, blanket and air plane model kit beside Casey's gifts. He carefully began pulling out the shoes in the shoe rack, peering up the stairs every so often just in case one of the children had to go to the bathroom.

The rack came out after a moment and Tom thought he heard a noise from upstairs. He stilled and waited, ears perked to listen for the slightest sounds. Nothing else came to him and he grinned as he placed the shoe rack against the door and began pulling out the coats. He laid each coat carefully in order on the shoe rack before slowly pulling back the crinkly tarp to reveal two bicycles with bows.

Something creaked upstairs and Tom stared around the closet door to look. Nothing was there and Tom lightly laughed at his own paranoia. He shook his head and slowly wheeled Casey's smaller bike out of the closet. It was a white and pink 10 speed. Tom had installed a bright pink basket on the front with colorful streamers on the handle bars.

He tucked the bike behind the tree so only a back wheel was visible. He chuckled at his own genius and went back for James' bike. James' was a black and blue 12 speed. Tom had been tempted to install a basket and streamers but did not with Grace's logical argument that James would think himself too old for that.

Instead Tom installed rattlers on the wheels near the reflective lights and a light on the front. James was allowed out longer during the school year as well as the summer and sometimes the sky turned dark before he made it all the way home. Tom and Grace fretted over him with the other bike since it had no head light in the front.

Not that James' friends lived far, the walk was only a five minutes but James insisted on his independence in a walk that short. James did call when he was leaving and both parents were on edge for the two minutes it took him to bike home at night. James always groused when Grace greeted him at the door with a hug but Tom knew deep down beyond the ten-year-old pride, James loved getting hugs from his mother.

Tom smiled at the thought and tucked James' bike on the other side of the Christmas tree, the wheel barely visible beyond the branches. He carefully and quietly folded up the tarp before hiding it in the back of the closet and placed the coats one by one in their proper order on the metal bar.

The shoe rack was added and the shoes were placed in their proper spots. Tom looked over the closet to be absolutely certain everything was in its proper place before slowly closing the door. He dusted off his hands and strode into the living room. It was then that he noticed that something seemed off about the room.

He blinked and stared for a few long moments, taking in the details of the room. The candles had been put out and the room still smelled of candy canes. There was another smell hovering just below the candy canes but Tom could not place it. It reminded him of the days he used to play soccer in high school and a few of the boys did not know to shower after a big game.

He strode slowly towards the tree and peered at its branches. None of the ornaments were misplaced and the presents were just as he had left them before adding new ones. Tom scowled and turned slowly, taking in everything leisurely. He caught it then and blinked in confusion.

The table with the cookies was the trouble. The thermos had been moved and the milk glass had been used. The four cookies were nothing but crumbs and both notes had been opened, read and placed back on the plate. Tom stared at the plate for what seemed like hours before looking up towards the door of the living room.

A shadow was cast where there should have been no shadow. The lights on the banister blinked it in and out of existence and it took Tom a few cycles to note that it was the shadow of a massively built man. Tom swallowed with some difficulty and noticed that the shadow-man was carrying a long knife.

An image came back to Tom then and he bit his lip to stop from gasping. When he had gone into the kitchen he had regarded the clean counter with pride. On the counter was the knife rack that held all of Grace's cooking knives. The detail Tom recalled had been missed then but it came clearly now. Grace's largest butcher knife had been missing.

Tom stepped to the side and went around the far side of the couch. He could no longer see the door to the living room clearly but that was what he wanted. There was no other exit in the living room, he could not get behind the man but he was trying to make it to the wall before the man came into the room.

Tom slid along the wall slowly, trying not to think of what that knife meant and desperately blocking out the plop-plop sounds of a liquid dripping off the knife. He finally made it to the spot just beside the entrance of the living room. There were no weapons for him to grab and Tom had realized instantly that the portable phone they had kept along this wall had been left in the kitchen.

Tom wondered if he could surprise the man and shuddered at the thought. His eyes began to blur as the plop-plop of the liquid came closer and the gentle clunks of the man's boots sounded over the hardwood. Tom slid along the wall until he had backed himself into the opposite corner of the tree.

The man stepped into the room then as Tom's knees weakened and he slowly glided down the wall until his buttocks met with the carpet in the living room. The implications of the dripping sound and the fact that liquid was falling from the blade came to the forefront of Tom's mind. The sounds of a footstep from a heavier man upstairs as he made his way to the end of the hall where the master bedroom was echoed in Tom's head as he tried to desperately swallow the ball of emotions in his throat.

The man turned and for one crazy instant Tom felt like laughing. The lights from the Christmas tree glowed along the man's bright red coat. A thick white beard coated the man's chin and cheeks and covered his neck. The red hat with a white ball of fluff at the end was perched haphazardly on the man's head.

Then the small details came clearly to him. The blood littering the white beard looked almost black. The wetness around the man's eyes that were clearly not tears. The large butcher knife coated in blood that continued to make that frustrating plop-plop sound as the man stood there staring at Tom with a grin that split his face into a crazed mask.

Tom noted the man was wearing red pants and despite the character he was playing, the man was more muscle than fat. The coat was not fur-lined in white but it was damp in places where blood had spurted onto it. The boots left dark footsteps on the floor as the man strode towards Tom. Tom's only thought was that Grace would be so angry upon seeing the dirty floor when she woke up.

It hit Tom then that Grace would never wake up. Casey would never ride her new bike or squeal in delight upon seeing her long sought after swimming mermaid doll. James would never put together the model air plane or beat the Creature Capture game on his portable gaming system. Tom would never get to see the look on Grace's face when he presented her with the carefully selected earrings.

The reflection of the sparkling earrings as her eyes widened in shock would not be present. The little 'o' of surprise when she gasped after opening the box would not been observed. The smile that would spread across her face as her eyes tear up in pleasure would not be stashed away with his other memories to be cherished long after this Christmas was done. He would not feel the warmth of her lips pressed against his as the children moaned out in protest.

By this time the man had walked far enough to stand a mere foot in front of Tom. Tom looked up at him and found it strange that the man blocked out all view of the room behind him. The grin was even wilder up close and Tom perceived that the man's teeth were yellowed and crooked.

Tom blinked when he realized the man's eyes were bright blue and glowing in happiness. For a brief moment, Tom wondered if his children had woken up just before the knife came down on them. He prayed, not for his own life, but for the hope that his children had not seen Santa Claus aiming at them with a knife.

"I told you I was coming home," the man whispered in a baritone voice ruffed with cigarettes.

"This isn't your home," Tom managed to get out of his parched throat and dry lips.

"You guys didn't argue as much this year and I'm glad. But you forgot to invite me home after all I've done for you," the man explained with a little shake of his head.

"This isn't your home," Tom reiterated and tried to stand despite knowing he had no chance against the other, bulkier man.

"That's okay though, I'm home now. We're going to have a great Christmas," the man virtually purred.

Tom tried to open his mouth to scream but the knife slashed into his throat a moment later. He gurgled in protest and he hit his head on the wall behind him, his life blood making an arch as it was forced out of the gash in his throat. He grabbed at the wound and tried to close it but the blood pooled under his hands and flowed down his chest until it gathered around his waist.

"Don't worry Dad, I'll clean you up before getting you and the others dressed for Christmas morning," the man muttered.

Tom wanted to ask him what he meant but his vocal chords were severed. The man began to laugh in a bellowing tone as Tom's world began to fade to gray. He fell over to one side and the Christmas tree came back into view. Tom finally began to cry. Christmas used to be his favorite holiday.

Part 6: December 25th

Jon woke in a happy mood at exactly 6:02AM. He got out of bed, wincing slightly when his back twanged in pain and hobbled off to the shower. He nicked himself shaving and grumbled a bit before slapping on a piece of toilet paper and waiting for the blood to stop. Gel sparingly went into his thinning salt and pepper hair and he finally came out of the bathroom just as Maggie was waking up.

She took over the bathroom and Jon smiled as the shower turned on again. He dressed in pressed black slacks and cringed slightly when he had to bend to pull on his socks. A white tee-shirt was pulled over his head followed by a red and green Christmas sweater. He made sure his hair was still styled perfectly before peeling off the hunk of toilet paper on his face and running a hand over his smooth chin.

The shower had turned off by this time but Jon knew Maggie would be another half hour at least. She still needed to apply her make-up and fix her own hair. Jon whistled as he tucked his feet into his green slippers and shuffled down the hall. He pulled out the surprise presents he bought for Tom, Grace, Casey and James and sat them by the front door.

He found Maggie's desserts in the refrigerator and settled them onto the small table by the front door beside the presents. He stared at the pile for a moment, wondering what was missing before snapping his fingers and heading back into the kitchen. A white envelope with a Christmas card that thanked their neighbours came next and he reverently put it atop the presents.

He shambled back down the hall and watched as Maggie virtually flew out of the bathroom in a whirl wind of bathrobe and hairspray. She quickly donned undergarments, a long red skirt, a white chemise, and a red sweater. She fixed her hair in the mirror and applied a thin coating of petal pink lipstick to her lips.

"You look ravishing," Jon told her with a grin.

"And you actually picked out a tame Christmas sweater. I'm impressed," Maggie joked.

Jon laughed and offered her a wink as she gathered the appropriate purse to go with her outfit and hustled down the hallway. Jon followed and toed off his slippers before pulling on his coat and winter boots. Maggie picked a pair of red fashionable but logical heels and pulled on her white winter coat.

"I'll carry the cake, pie and card. If I don't we won't have any dessert tonight," Maggie told Jon as he zipped up his coat.

"Okay," Jon laughed but scowled when he bent to pick up the four wrapped gifts.

"You should bring along your pain pills if your back is hurting you that much," Maggie noted with a little worried frown.

"I'll be fine. It only hurts when I bend over," Jon insisted.

"Well you'll be bending a lot today. Wait right there," Maggie instructed as she put the dessert back on the table to stride briskly into the kitchen.

"Women," Jon grumbled but smiled after the thought.

He watched as Maggie opened the pill drawer in the kitchen and dumped in the pain pills and his nightly supper pills. She added her own vitamins and pills and zipped her purse closed. She closed the drawer and Jon was struck by how lovely she looked as she walked back towards him.

"You're beautiful," Jon told her again.

"Charmer," Maggie commented as she blushed lightly and picked up the desserts.

She opened the door for him and he strode through carefully, grumbling at the fresh coating of snow on the walkway. Maggie shut the door but did not lock it and she led the way down the snowy walk towards the sidewalk.

"It's a pity Jeremy didn't change his mind," Maggie sighed out as they stepped through the fine dusting of snow.

"That boy's as stubborn as they come. No matter how much we tell him we miss him when he's not around he won't change his mind about proving himself to be independent," Jon grumbled.

"I wonder where he gets that from," Maggie commented lightly as they turned onto the sidewalk.

"Your side for sure but let's not talk about Jeremy and the grandchildren we've never seen. We've got a surrogate family we're about to see and we don't want to be dour Dora's," Jon informed her as they strode up the driveway next door.

"Fine, but we should call him again tonight," Maggie agreed and took the two steps up to the porch.

Jon nodded in reluctant concurrence and stood back a step so Maggie could knock on the door. Before she could call out, the door squeaked open of its own accord. Maggie blinked at it in wonder and Jon scowled.

"Get back and don't come in unless I say something," Jon commanded in a whisper as he sat the Christmas presents on the relatively clean front porch.

"And what are you going to do?" Maggie whispered in slight anger.

"I don't know, go back to the house and hit 9-1. Don't hit the other 1 until I tell you," Jon demanded.

Maggie scowled and opened her mouth but Jon shushed her with a look. She placed the desserts atop the presents and skittered quickly towards the house. A few moments later, she was coming back out with the portable phone in her hand. Jon gave her a peck on the cheek when she got back on the porch and she frowned.

"Be careful," Maggie demanded curtly.

Jon flashed her a wiry grin and stepped over the threshold of the door. The first thing he noticed was the bloody foot prints that started somewhere upstairs and paused in front of the stairs before continuing into the living room. The prints had made a few trips up and down the stairs and there were copious amounts of blood along either side of the carpet along the stairs. Drops of blood had pattered along the white floor and Jon turned.

Maggie was staring at him, her face white as the crystals outside under her make-up. She swallowed hard a few times before nodding swiftly and pressing a few buttons on the phone. Jon gestured for her to step away and she disappeared from view.

He steeled himself and decided to first check the living room. He stepped around the blood and noted that the Christmas tree was undisturbed. As he stepped into the living room proper, the couches came into view. Jon blinked in wonder as he saw three heads peeking over the back of the couch. A sense of relief washed over him and he prepared a berating speech directed at Tom for the sickening prank. He strode forward and came to the front of the couch, his mouth open and prepared to yell at Tom for playing such a horrible prank on Christmas.

"Heya Grandpa, glad you could join us. Do you want some hot chocolate?" a stranger asked with a little laugh.

Jon felt the bile rise up in his throat. The stranger had wrapped his muscled body in a Santa Claus costume, complete with the hat. The morbid aspect of the costume was that Santa's beard was drenched in blood. Dark spots showed all over the suit where blood had leaked into the jacket and pants. Blood spattered along Santa's face and was coating his bare hands.

Jon's eyes flickered to the other forms on the couch and he began swallowing rapidly, desperately trying not to throw up as his stomach lurched painfully. His heart began beating rapidly in his chest and Jon clutched at it, willing it to slow down.

Tom sat at one end of the couch, his eyes rolled back into his head and his jaw completely slack. A long gash careened across his throat and caused his head to loll to one side, almost completely severed from the neck. The eyes were glazed over and completely vacant and his skin was ashen. Despite this he was dressed in fine gray slacks and a bright red sweater.

Grace was propped up against him, her hair neatly combined and half hiding the matching gash along her throat. Her eyes were staring straight at Jon and he could almost see straight down her ruined throat for how loosened her jaw had become. She was wearing a lovely red skirt with a white and red striped sweater.

Jon tried not to continue looking at the forms on the couch but his eyes would not obey. Casey-May was staring straight ahead, wearing a white skirt and a green sweater. Her eyes had rolled back completely in her head and her throat was slit so deeply her head had been tied back onto her body. Despite this, her hands were clutching a brown teddy bear.

James was propped up against the other arm rest of the massive couch. He wore a pair of blue jeans and a red sweater. His throat was a mangled mass of flesh and his eyes were peering somewhere to the front. His tongue had escaped out of his open mouth and hung there like a useless hunk of meat.

"I can get more hot chocolate, Grandpa, you want some?" The stranger inquired again, forcing Jon's eyes to stare back at him.

"Who, who, why did you, oh my God," Jon gasped out as he fell to his knees.

The stranger merely belted out an enormous belly laugh. Jon could only watch as hot chocolate spilled over the other man's pants to join the stains that would never come out. Not now that they were embedded into the fabric because of drying time.

"You know who I am Grandpa, it just took me a while to get home," the stranger informed him with a crazed grin.

Jon had no response to that and tightened the grip he had on the material over his chest. He made it to his feet and staggered forward. He caught himself before falling head-long into Tom and leaned back to cease the forward fall. Gray spots were beginning to cloud his vision and he wanted to get out of the house before he fainted.

"I'm going to get Grandma from the car. You wait here," he gasped out as he stumbled forward.

He used the doorjamb for support to turn back once. The stranger was happily singling Jingle Bells and had obviously accepted Jon's excuse for leaving the room. Jon tumbled forward but managed to make it back into the front foyer. He almost tripped over the threshold but Maggie caught him and guided him to the banister.

He gasped in immense breaths of air to clear his head as Maggie's voice fell over him. He grabbed her by a coat sleeve and began dragging her down the porch towards their house. Maggie let out a surprised yelp and apologized to the person on the phone.

"Jon, what are you doing?" Maggie insisted.

"He's still in there," Jon managed to get out between pants.

"Who's still in where?" Maggie asked in curiosity.

"The guy who killed them, he's still in there," Jon informed her as he dragged her up their front walk and pushed open their door.

Maggie gave a strangled half-scream at the information and Jon quickly surveyed their own house before slamming the door closed and locking it. He stumbled into the kitchen and locked their back door as Maggie insisted he sat down. He finally collapsed in a chair and vowed to always keep his doors locked, no matter what.

Blue and red lights flashed over the new coating of snow, bouncing off a snowman in the front lawn and reflecting off the silver reindeer. Curious people peered out picture windows and watched as police charged around the back of the house. Two ran in the front door. No shots went off and soon a man dressed in a Santa costume was being dragged down the front steps by two armed officers.

Parents covered their children's eyes even as they gathered in front of the house. The man cackled and they knew it was not red food coloring in his beard. Another ambulance pulled up and soon two stretchers were being wheeled up the front porch and into the house. Jon and Maggie finally ventured back outside, Maggie insisting as Jon needed to give a rendition of what he had seen.

Neighbours stared at the now-pale and trembling Jon. They knew he was old but he looked as if he had aged a century since their last sight of him shoveling snow the day before. He was hunched over and had to be supported by a struggling Maggie. His hands trembled as if great earthquakes ran through him. His steps were short and shaky like he was a new-born doe walking for the first time.

An officer told them to step back but Maggie informed him that she had been the one to call and Jon had been in the house all ready. The officer nodded and led Jon to a police cruiser. The passenger door was opened and Jon was seated before the officer knelt down in the snow to whisper to him. Jon began whispering back in a trembling tenor.

A stretcher came out as the neighbours watched in awe. Underneath was a covered form but one hand had fallen from the stretcher when it jolted along the snow. Most neighbours instantly recognized the hand and the sweater that wrapped around the sleeve. The other stretcher followed and another form came out.

Women recognized the outline of the pert form under the sheet and held back sobs. When one maintained a curvy figure after birthing two children, other women made sure to study said figure for flaws in jealously. They had never wished this on the woman that now lay dead on the stretcher.

Two more stretchers went into the house and neighbours held back gasps. They waited with baited breath as the first stretcher was pulled back out, a sorrowfully small form wrapped under the sheet. Couples began to burst into tears and drag their own confused children back inside as a second, larger but not full grown form was taken from the house and put into the back of an ambulance.

The police car containing the grotesque Santa pulled away, sirens flashing once, twice and a third time before disappearing down the street. The unmarked black van that was there stayed behind even when the other police cruisers and the ambulance left. A red mini-van turned down the street and parked in one of the spots an ambulance had just vacated.

A middle-aged man hopped out and told the two children and his wife to stay where they were. He slammed his door closed on the still running vehicle and trotted to the only police cruiser left on the scene.

"What's going on? What happened to my sister?" He called out loud enough to be heard over the broken sobs of neighbours.

The officer not speaking with Jon pulled him to a side and explained the situation. The man let out a wail of utter agony and dropped to his knees in the snow. His wife came out of the car then, warning her children not to move before rushing to her husband to console him.

"Some demented freak killed her! Grace is dead," the man howled out when his wife questioned him.

She stared in silence, eyes wide and mouth dropped open in awe. Finally tears dropped over her cheeks and she wrapped her arm around her sobbing husband as silver sedan pulled up to the curb. An older couple got out, looking to be in their late sixties. Both came towards the sobbing younger couple.

"Someone killed Grace, the kids and Tom," the man keened out again.

The older man screamed in pain and fell to his knees beside the younger man. One could see the resemblance now that they were side-by-side in their grief. One could see the semblance of the two men to the now dead Grace. Another sedan, this one blue pulled up and a man who looked like the older version of Tom stepped out of the car. His face was serious as a final van, this one green pulled in behind the red one.

A young woman came out of the passenger side, her blonde hair the same shade as Tom's had been. Her dark haired husband followed after commanding the children to stay in the warm van. The two new couples approached the two others.

"Someone killed them all," the woman on the ground lamented.

The older man closed his eyes to stop the flood of tears from falling but they passed under the lids regardless. His wife wrapped him in a hug and he sunk to his knees when they weakened. The younger woman went into hysterics and grabbed at her husband's chest while screaming about the injustice of it all.

The police officer stood awkwardly by, looking as if he wished to say something but did not want to intrude. Slowly, neighbours went back into their own homes, driven away by the cold and the grief. Christmas dinner plans were cancelled, gifts that were wrapped remained wrapped and families locked doors they had not once locked before.

As the day wore on, the black van left. Jon was guided back into his home and joined by the extended family of his now deceased neighbours. The two remaining officers hung yellow police tape over the door after gently closing it. It was strung in front of the drive to prevent any other cars from pulling into the driveway. Another ambulance squealed down the street only minutes after the cruiser had finally pulled away.

Neighbours peered back out the window as it stopped in front of Jon's home. Maggie opened the door and yelled at the two men pulling out the stretcher to hurry, make-up streaming down her face. Jon was carted away on the stretcher, hands clutching at his chest. Maggie jumped into her car to follow the paramedics and the strangers in her home kindly locked her door before getting into their own vehicles and pulling away with somber looks, the holidays effectively ruined for the remainder of their days.

"Police have captured the mad-man known as the Christmas Killer. Forty-five years ago, Roger Mitchelle, then only a 14 year old boy slaughtered his entire family on Christmas Eve. He was found talking with his deceased family after a visiting family had called the police when there was no response from their phone calls. Mitchelle's reasoning behind his original crime was that the family, including his seven year old sister and ten year old brother, would not stop arguing and were ruining the holidays,

"His remedy was to silence his family so they could have a happy Christmas for once. When asked why he killed them his response was: "They aren't dead, I could never actually kill someone." The deranged teen was taken to a mental institution after he was apprehended from the home.

"Mitchelle's escaped the facility on the 15th and travelled by bus 200 miles before stopping in our town. No one is sure what he did after that but comparing the images of his old home to the Taylor household produced eerie results. It seems that Mitchelle's believed he was returning home for the holidays, to the family that was forever alive in his mind..."

Part 7: The next year

Old Man Hubbert sat diligently on his stool and stared out at the empty parking lot. Rows of trees coated the farmland in front of him and dozens of candy apples were stacked neatly under his desk. Hundreds more lay in wait in the house located just behind his booth, hidden by a row of apple trees.

Billy was leaning against the red booth, a tooth pick swirling in his lips as he regarded the empty lot with a scowl. Bobby and the others were inside, playing card games and watching the television. Only Billy had ventured outside to keep the older man company.

"I don't think anyone's coming this year Grand-Pop," Billy mentioned again.

"'Course they will," the Old man stubbornly insisted.

Billy shook his head and sighed heavily. The entire region had heard about the Taylor's gruesome ending and so far the farm had remained cold and lonely despite it being only three days before Christmas. When Billy had gone into town for a few things he had noticed that no decorations graced store windows. Even the big evergreen downtown was barren of lights and adornments.

"We should close up Grand-Pop, no one's coming," Billy tried again.

"They will, you just sit thar an wait for 'em," Old Man Hubbert persisted.

"They won't. Not after what happened to the Taylor's," Billy told him with a frown.

"The Taylor's will be 'round too. Probably got stuck working late again an have to rush to get things together. Ya know he bought 16 of yer Grand-maws candy apples last year, he did," Old Man Hubbert persevered.

"Right," Billy muttered and lowered his hat over his brow.

Old Man Hubbert had deteriorated swiftly in the past year. On good days, he could carry on a conversation and acted normally. But on bad days, he could barely remember his own name and often thought his grand children were his brothers or friends. Dementia had hit him hard and there were many more bad days than good days.

"Ol' Jon will be 'round with Maggie soon, I don't know why they're all so late," Old Man Hubbert complained.

Billy rubbed his cold cheeks and swallowed back the sorrow in his throat. Jon had died en route to the hospital of a heart attack from the shock. Maggie stayed with her husband's corpse for a few hours before saying she had to make some phone calls. She had driven full speed off a bridge and into the icy water below a mere fifteen minutes after leaving the hospital. Old Man Hubbert had forgotten this fact, just as he forgot that the Taylors were dead. Old Man Hubbert was re-living a Christmas past, one without murder and death.

"Right," Billy gave up and agreed with the older man.

Agreeing with the Old Man's dementia was easier than arguing against it. Billy had no hope of convincing his grandfather that this year, Christmas was over before it even began.

"The Johnston's and their brood will want that great big fir in the back. Hope they bring 'round their truck this year," Old Man Hubbert continued on.

The Johnstons had lived across the street from the Taylors. They moved out of their sprawling home in March. Billy did not blame them or the other neighbours that moved away to never be heard from again. The entire street where the Taylors had lived was nothing but a never ending line of 'For Sale' signs. There was a rumour going around that once the surviving Taylors settled the estate that dead-end street of Mulberry Lane would be levelled since no one dared buy any of the homes there. Old Man Hubbert neglected this fact and Billy was certain he would not ever remember it.

"Right," Billy uttered softly.

"The Carsons will buy a box of candy apples. I don't know where they's gunna put 'em all," Old Man Hubbert maintained.

The Carsons had lived on Mulberry Lane. Billy had been in town one day and saw the moving van in their drive when he passed. He had always brought the tree back for them since the Carsons could never seem to get the tree they picked into their home. Old Man Hubbert allowed him to do this since the Carsons always paid extra for the service.

"The bus it late," Old Man Hubbert muttered with a frown.

"Yeah," Billy mumbled gently.

The bus had not made an appearance since last year and Billy was fairly certain it would be another few years before it was needed again. He wondered if the farm could hold out that long or if the family would be forced to sell their land and move on. If no one came for years, they would have no way to pay the bills. Billy loathed that thought as he had grown up in the rambling ranch-style house and loved working on the farm.

Old Man Hubbert was silent. Billy relished in the silence for a few moments before it got too quiet in the booth. He pushed himself off the side he was leaning on and stared inside. Tears froze on his cheeks as he stared at his grandfather.

Old Man Hubbert sat there with a happy smile on his frozen face, his eyes glazed over and his body slumped forward to lean on the desk. He had died in his dementia-induced delusions and Billy was thankful that Death had given the old man those final peaceful thoughts, taking Old Man Hubbert away from the worry of selling the only home he ever knew.

Billy wiped away the frozen chunks of tears on his face and promised himself that he would carve out a life on this farm until he was weathered to the bone like his now lifeless grandfather. He pulled free his walkie-talkie and sighed heavily before powering it on and muttering to the icy winds:

"I fucking hate Christmas,"

###

About the Author

Dairenna VonRavenstone hails from the snowy North (Canada) where it's not all that snowy for six months out of the year. She enjoys reading a good story and boasts a personal library of over 1,000 books. Writing came as a hobby to her when she was 10 and she spent the better part of a decade honing the craft, writing an estimated 1 million words and 40 stories (novel-length and short) in various stages of completion. She is assured that most of those words will never see the light of day and be burned in a ritualistic fashion eventually. Dairenna (Renna to her friends) writes to bring joy, happiness and love into the hearts of her fans...or something like that. Learn more about her here: http://www.vonravenstone.com.

Other works:

Small Slice of the Undead: A Zombie Anthology

Apocalyptic: A Doomsday Anthology

'Tis Hallows Eve: A Halloween Horror Anthology

Connect with me online:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/vonravenstone

Blog: http://dairennav.blogspot.com

