Page 7 of The Twelve Months of Christmas
“Good. I’m glad she liked it,” Molly said.
She’d chipped in for that present and was supposed to have been on hand to see her granddaughter’s reaction when she discovered it under the tree. Santa was going to put Molly on his naughty list for bugging out and claiming she was sick.
No lie, really. She was sick of the holiday stress that came with being a postal clerk. And as head clerk of the Bremerton office, she had more than her share of it. Cranky customers, cranky workers. Hours on those poor feet of hers.
People thought the job ended when the windows closed. Not so. There was always more to be done. Then, after her shift, trying to fit in housework, errands, shopping and grandparenting. It was hard to show enthusiasm for those holiday extras. It seemed like she had ever-dwindling energy and enthusiasm for those holiday extras. Working the post office was like doing hard time.
She’d dutifully attended Paisley’s winter program at school and then dozed off and missed seeing her granddaughter’s appearance as part of the singing snowflake choir. She’d also promised to make Christmas bonbons with Paisley but hadn’t, and Ava had been disappointed over that, too. She and Ava had made them together every year when Ava was growing up and this was the year she was supposed to begin the tradition with Paisley. She was striking out all over the place. Maybe she needed vitamins. Or her own personal team of helper elves. Or a better attitude. How did Santa keep managing to ho, ho, ho year in, year out?
Oh, yeah, he only flew once a year. Delivering toys to good little girls and boys? Piece of cake. She’d like to see him do her job. If only she could run away...to Hawaii, Costa Rica. The North Pole. She’d rather supervise the work up there than where she was.
Ava took the cinnamon rolls. “I’ve got coffee,” she said, leading the way to the living room where her small tree sat, decorated with the princess and animal ornaments Molly had given her every year of her childhood, along with the newer more grown-up ones she was still giving Ava now that she was an adult. There were also the handful Molly had bought for Paisley sprinkled throughout, along with several handcrafted ornaments Paisley had made as school projects.
The presents had been opened and were displayed under the tree, the wrapping paper already disposed of. Ava was a single mom. She worked as a receptionist in a law office and was taking an online course to become a paralegal. Busy as she was, she still managed to keep her place neat, work out at the gym and spend quality time with Paisley. Molly herself had been a single mom, but she’d never been as pulled together as Ava.
It was too late for any pulling together now. At fifty-five Molly was who she was. And tired of it.
Paisley was seated at the little dining table, still in her pajamas and working on the mosaic kit Molly had given her. Her black curls were, of course, perfectly coiled, and Molly was sure Ava had made her brush her teeth before opening her presents. She was a beautiful child, with the same warm tawny skin as Ava, and big brown eyes. She could have been doing ads for The Gap.
“Look who’s here,” said Ava.
Paisley’s eyes lit up at the sight of Molly. “Grandma!” she cried, pushing away from the table. She ran to Molly and almost knocked her over as she wrapped her arms around Molly’s waist.
“Hello, my little elf,” Molly said, hugging her back.
This child was as sweet as she was pretty and Molly adored her. She mentally kicked herself for not getting over the night before like she’d promised.
“Come see what Santa brought me,” Ava said, and towed Molly over to the tree.
There sat the prized iPad. Molly was surprised she wasn’t playing on it.
“We loaded stuff on it but Mommy said I had to wait for you to come over before I can play on it,” said Paisley. “I’m glad you’re finally here. Mommy said you’d probably been kidnapped by Santa.”
Funny Mommy. That had most likely been delivered with a load of snark.
“Well, I’m here now, so let’s have some fun.”
Paisley led the way to the couch. “I haveDespicable Me: Minion Rush. Want to play it with me?”
“Of course,” said Molly.
She wasn’t big on video games, but she was big on sitting on the couch with her granddaughter propped against her. At least Paisley wasn’t mad at her for not being up with them at the crack of dawn.
Ava returned with their cinnamon rolls on a plate and a cup of coffee for Molly. Then she fetched her own cup and settled into a chair.
“One game,” she said, “then we’re going to watch Grandma open her presents.”
Paisley was entirely too engrossed in her game to reply.
Molly helped herself to a cinnamon roll. She used to say that calories didn’t count at Christmas. Now she didn’t care if they counted or not. Cookies and cinnamon rolls were one of life’s greatest pleasures.
“There’s no hurry. We have all day,” she said. “And it’s nice to have the whole day to relax.” She needed it.
“I guess yesterday was awful,” Ava said above Paisley’s squeals and running commentary. A daughterly peace offering.
“It was.” The post office closed early on Christmas Eve, but that didn’t mean the employees got to rush home right away. As head clerk, Molly had to wait for all the carriers to come in and then she had to deliver the mail to the truck that would take it to the distribution center. There’d been a lot. Everyone had last-minute cards and packages to send off.
Before that there’d been the usual seasoning of angry postal patrons all morning, wanting to know why their packages hadn’t been delivered. Molly relayed her run in with one of her non-favorites.
