FINISHING OUT THE YEAR... Christmas (Part 148b)

FINISHING OUT THE YEAR... Christmas (Part 148b)

Having the day after Christmas off was a blessing in any number of ways. When we turned the light off we’d had only about 3 hours sleep since getting up at 7am Saturday. It was readily obvious that we needed sleep. Elle slept through two of her bathroom alarms and both she and the bed were wet when she woke up. I was so ‘out’ that I hadn’t felt the wet sheets. Somewhat amazing was that all three of the girls were still asleep and it was almost 9am. Elle headed for the shower leaving me to strip the wet things off the bed. By the time she returned I’d picked out the panties I wanted her to wear. Both pair were ‘fancy’ but before she could protest I reminded her that it was Christmas and she should show some “Christmas Spirit” and indulge me. That got me a smile and the panties went on just as I wanted. I had one other request and that was for her to wait to get dressed in clothes. I picked out a filmy short nightie that was basically like tissue paper and once she had it on her panties were clearly visible. Because we knew the kids would be on the floor with their presents on Christmas day I turned the heat up and hadn’t turned it back down. That meant she couldn’t use being cold as an excuse. Reluctantly, she agreed to wear it through breakfast.
             

Filmy nightie

We had nothing planned for the whole day. I was looking forward to playing games with the kids while Elle finished getting the house back in order. However, there was one thing that both Elle and I looked forward to and that was having turkey club sandwiches for lunch. Right from the time we moved back home we’d had a Christmas dinner at her parents house and we got left over turkey to go home with. For some unremembered reason we started what had become somewhat of a tradition by having turkey club sandwiches the following day and this was to be no different.

Even though Elle had only promised to wear her nightie until after breakfast she was still wearing it as lunchtime approached. One of the games we’d gotten was kind of a war game for two people (or four if you played in teams). It was called Situation Four and used a jig saw puzzle concept as it’s basis. Each player had a complete set of pieces to complete the whole puzzle with each set being a slightly different color. The idea was for each player to start building the puzzle while situated opposite the other and to see who could get the most pieces when it was completed. Even though Anne was only seven she immediately grasped the concept and after only a few times was quite good at it. I’d watched her beat her older sister a couple of time so challenged her. That was a mistake! Elle got involved and the next thing we knew it was early afternoon. It was decided to call a truce and to eat. Elle had all the fixings ready and was putting them out on the counter while I set the table. I thought I heard a knock at the kitchen door. I took a look and saw it was Barbara and with a stack of boxes in her arms. When I told Elle she was shocked and looked down at her gown. As I said, it was tissue paper thin and she was obviously embarrassed even though Barbara was still outside. When she knocked again Jean heard it and came running in from the living room and almost without stopping opened the door. As Barbara stepped in I glanced over at Elle. You’ve heard the statement “Like a deer in the headlights...” Well, that was Elle.

The girls saw the presents and could almost smell that they were mostly for them. With Barbara’s attention being given to the girls Elle tried to slip past them to head up the stairs but Barbara saw her and thrust the biggest package towards her. As I stood watching it came to me that Barbara had no idea what Elle was wearing. Elle had to stop and as as soon as she took the box Barbara insisted that she needed to open it. When Elle didn’t move I called to her to go ahead and open the package. She had to move to the counter to do it. The girls had taken their packages and dropped to the floor to open them leaving nothing to block Elle’s now embarrassed plight. But Barbara was concentrating on the box now on the counter. By then I was really curious.

It turned out to be a whipped cream filled bundt cake that Barbara had made. Because of the whipped cream it needed to be refrigerated and that was the cause for the immediacy of opening the package. As soon as I saw it I wanted some even though I hadn’t eaten my sandwich. As soon as Elle had the cake in the refrigerator Barbara explained that the pan that she cooked it in had come from Germany and had belonged to her mother’s grandmother. Back in her day the cake was known as Gugelhupf. (The reason I remember this is that Elle’s mother, also from Germany, after seeing Barbara’s creation was determined not to be outdone by a teenager and would make a Gugelhupf for us about once a month after that.) The pan had survived WWII and had been shipped to Phyllis by her mother. This was the first cake made in it by Barbara and she was really proud of it.

Elle was ‘taken’ by Barbara’s thoughtfulness and, forgetting about her embarrassment, invited her to have a club sandwich with us. She initially declined but the girls just overwhelmed her and she agreed by taking her coat off. I honestly think that was when Barbara recognized that Elle was still in her nightie as I caught the look on her face. Picking up on it I tried to explain that we’d all slept in and then had gotten involved in playing games. That got Barbara’s attention and she asked what they’d all gotten in the way of presents. Situation Four was all they wanted to talk about and made Barbara promise that she’d stay and play after we ate.

After getting everybody seated and food on their plates Elle disappeared upstairs to change. The girls were still in their pajamas and I was in a robe with only t-shirt and boxer shorts. Sitting there like that I tried to think back when Barbara spent the weekend with us and trying to remember if we’d ever gotten that ‘casual’ with her around. She didn’t seem to mind and didn’t say anything so I stayed the way I was.

As soon as the club sandwiches were devoured the cry went out for Barbara’s cake. It was chocolate with only a sprinkling of powdered sugar for icing. However, the whipped cream inside was what made it. (It was something like a Devil Dog but with real whipped cream inside.) By the time we finished half the cake was gone. After that the girls prevailed upon Barbara to go play Situation Four. I followed because I wanted to see her reaction to having a seven year old beat her.

To be continued...