Beginning of Merriness

Into the month of Christmas. It had come up so fast on Collette that year. Snow still lay on the ground under gray winds and wisps of frozen rain.
Lucia was in a festive mood from the Christmas atmosphere. She had been heard singing the other day:
“O Come, all you Lucias…”
Linnea mixed a cup of white hot chocolate for Collette while she instructed Francis in Portuguese.
Mom had set up the tree and various Christmas decorations all over the house. They were all set in for merriness over the next five weeks.
In between school hours, Francis lit orange, turquoise, and yellow smoke bombs in the snow and whipped up a batch of Ghirardelli chocolate chunk brownies.
Rose was not happy that morning.
“They forgot to put me on the schedule!” she exclaimed, after Olga’s called her, wondering where she was for the morning shift.
Two hours later, she returned. “Too slow today,” she said. “They didn’t even need me to work. Five dollar tip. I gave it to the Salvation Army.”
In the afternoon, Linnea fired up the bathtub to have a pool party with Puck. Collette changed him into his green and white flowered swimming shorts, as he ran away, screaming for help. Baths were not top on his fun list.
Eventually, however, Linnea coaxed him into a happy half-hour bath. He never purposefully sat in the bath, but enjoyed patting his Lila on the head with fingerfuls of bath water. Then Collette wrapped him in a fuzzy turquoise bath towel, and Carrie held him in a warm bundleful while Collette found his change of clothes.
By this time, Juliet had arrived to hang out with Rose for the afternoon. After returning from a brief and cold jaunt to Busch Wildlife, they made plans for gingerbread houses. They later joined Carrie at OLeif’s and Collette’s to make cream cheese holiday mints and watch Dr. Who.
And Carrie had a new tattoo behind her ear, regarding a nebula and time lords.
“Awesome!” said OLeif, who was always up for a new creative tattoo.