When they arrived in West Virginia it snowing. Astila sees the happiness shinning through Aisling"s eyes. She is bouncing in her seat like a little kid. They turn into the drive and the house is decorated in lights. There are lights on the evergreens in the lawn as well. It"s beautiful with the snow falling. They see Sam"s truck in the drive. Astila hopes that the entire family is not going to be inside. He loves them but he is tired from driving. They get inside and Debra is taking lasagna out of the oven. She turns to see the smiling. "Dinner is about done why don"t you guys go and get washed up. "
As everyone comes in they all go to get cleaned up but stop when they leave the kitchen. The house is completely decorated for the holidays. There is a huge live tree in the living room, evergreen garland with lights from the top of the staircase to the bottom. Every door has garland and lights. There is a electric train under the tree and a nativity village in the bay window. Aisling looks at them with a questioning expression.
"What"s wrong ?" Looking at all of their faces just staring at the room.
"When you told Debra to make sure the house was ready I guess I didn"t expect this much decoration." Astila looks around .
"I think it"s beautiful I have never seen a house decorated like this for the holidays." Inola looks around touching the tree realizing that it"s alive.
Aisling begins to laugh.
"This is only half done but they did a decent job of it."
Salali looks at Aisling in shock.
"Only half done ,what else is there to do?" Debra comes out of the kitchen .
"I"m sorry Aisling it"s not completely the way you like it. I had to do it with the babies so it"s been slow. Is the tree ok I know it"s on the small side?" Aisling looks at her sister and walks over gives her a big tight hug.
" it"s perfect I"m very happy with what you got done. The tree is fine did you get one with a ball for planting?" She gets down on her stomach and crawls under The tree to look. Everyone gasps and Astila bends down and picks her up like she is a doll. Moll gives her a harsh look.
"Lord child couldn"t you have waited for her to answer you should not be doing that. "
Debra begins to laugh.
"She does that every year that we need a planting tree even if she is the one to pick it out. She was checking the moisture on the roots. To make sure I put enough ice on top of the sack." They give her a odd look. So Debra explains
"We have a tradition when a child is born their first Christmas we get a planting tree. After Christmas when it"s time we have a planting party. If you put ice on the burlap sack it keeps it watered while letting the roots get used to the cold . That way it"s not shocked when it"s planted in the cold ground after being inside. "
Salali looks at her smiling , she now understands why they have so many Christmas trees throughout the yard. They noticed that Astila is still holding Aisling Onacona clears his throat to let him know he can put her down. Astila just shrugged and continued upstairs with her in his arms. The whole room is filled with laughter as they head up to their room. Everyone gets their things settled so that they can get ready for dinner. Aisling takes a few minutes to cuddle his wife . He closes his eyes and they fall to sleep.
Salali calls Randy to let him know she is back. They make plans to meet up the next day so she can go gift shopping. Inola and Moll go down to help Debra with what is left for dinner. Onacona and Maureen are in the nursery watching the twins sleep. She sighs and holds her belly.
" we hat is it?" Onacona hugs his wife from behind kissing her neck.
"I"m just so content you have made me so happy. You know in my first life I was always anxious and preparing for the possible evil that would visit. This life I have only had happiness. I"m so thankful that we are able to be together as living people not just spirits. You know when I came for their wedding she took me to the lake. You are going to love what it"s like now. Well in the spring you will. " they see a glint of light in the window. Looking out they see that a deer has triggered the automatic light outside by the barn. Watching it for a few minutes they think of what they want to do. They hear Debra at the bottom of the steps call that dinner is done. They go to join the others. Sam has brought some firewood in for a fire . He gets it going before coming and sitting. Debra says grace and they all begin to eat. Yona feels slightly left out everyone except him and his sister is a part of a couple. He thinks to himself it"s time for him to think about finding a wife. As if Aisling could read his mind she begins to tell them what to look forward to the next two weeks.
"Ok so starting tomorrow we will begin baking for Christmas Eve . The kids come in the morning and we make gingerbread houses and Santa cookies. Since it"s snowing we will get the sleds out and have a big bon fire so we can play in the snow between cookie baking. There will be about sixty people here tomorrow from about nine in the morning till who knows what time. Yona now I have a lot of very pretty cousins and with how handsome you are be prepared to be bombarded with female attention. Then early Christmas Eve all the family gathers to open a few gifts together and have a nice little party. On Christmas morning it is just us to exchange gifts. Then throughout the day we visit each other . We will all go visit Aunt Norma since it"s hard for her to come out in the cold. As well as Uncke Audis. The day after Christmas is a big day of rest. " she looks at Astila he is just staring at her.
"Oh I"m sorry I forgot to ask what traditions you have . I want to make sure that everyone"s is included. I"m sorry I"m being selfish." She bows her head. Inola looks at her and smiles to rea.s.sure her.
"Actually I was looking at the ornaments on the tree . You have done ver beautiful examples of handmade native ornaments. We also have dances and parties for giving gifts. Your traditions are not that much different than ours. I think my nephews face is because of the sheer amount of chaos that is always here. You see before he met you he was very antisocial." Aisling looks at him and grins .
" well he will get used to it eventually. Oh the ornaments on the tree were made by my great gran. She not only made a dream Catcher for each of us as babies but also a smaller one for our first Christmas. The seven point star ornaments and snowflakes I made. The ones with the intricate painted designs my gran made. We even have a few carved ones that Onacona made . In fact there are less ornaments than before because each child when they marry get their ornaments for their new home tree." Aisling explains.
After dinner Debra and Aisling get the hot chocolate and the ingredients for s"mores . Thanking everyone into the living room they get desert. The room is filled with laughter and love while the snow is piling up outside.