Some links may be affiliate links. We get money if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these links on our site.

Christmas All The Time is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Mind Your Manners, Both Of You

12/21/2024

Sarah snapped the picture and pranced over to Santa’s throne to help the child off of his lap. “You sat so nicely.”

“Santa said you have stickers.” She took Sarah’s hand and hopped down.

“Sure do. They’re really fun. Let’s take a look at your picture with Mommy and you can pick a sticker.” Sarah led her to the kiosk where the child’s mother was waiting. She saw Grace waving.

“Does that lady know you?”

“She’s my sister.” She waved. “Which sticker do you like?”

The little girl fished through the bowl and pulled one up. “This one looks like you! Can I have this one?”

“Of course. Let’s show Mommy how nicely you sat for Santa.”

Leo’s pocket rumbled.

💂 Changing of the Guard 💂

There was a video downloading.

“What’s up?” Josh asked, wiping snow from his face.

“Grace went to pick up Sarah from work. I guess something happened.” He pressed play and Sarah was standing in front of Santa’s throne.

Another elf approached. They hooked elbows and danced around. “That’s cute.”

“Yeah, when we change shifts, there’s no dancing.” Josh chuckled. “She’s a character.”

“She’s really something.”

“Yeah, yeah. Hey, can you plug that in for me?”

Leo looked where he was pointing and grabbed the plug. “I would, but there are no sockets left. Do you have another splitter?”

“Red tote with the green lid.” Josh pointed. “Hey, Ronny, how’s that music coming?”

“We’ve got the playlist, but the transitions are tricky.” He trudged back into the garage. “I don’t know, Joe. If we go from ‘Mele Kalikimaka’ to ‘Run Rudolph Run’, the toy soldiers can keep waving their hands.”

Joe massaged the bridge of his nose and slid his glasses back into place. “Agreed. Good call. Here, take a look at this.”

Ronny looked over Joe’s shoulder at the simulator on his laptop. “It’s glitching in this corner. What’s that about?”

“How’s it looking?” Chris came in from the kitchen with a carafe. “Who needs to be topped off?”

Ronny pushed his cup toward Chris. Joe shook his head and glared at the screen.

“What’s the matter?” Chris filled Ronny’s mug.

“It’s this corner.”

“That’s weird. I wonder why it’s doing that.” Chris scratched his head. “Look, I’m going to make the rounds and I’ll go check to see that everything is plugged in over there. Alright?”

Joe nodded. “Assuming we can ignore this until he fixes it out there, let’s run what we have.”

“Let me get the dads. They’ll want to see.” Ronny clapped him on the shoulder and headed in to find them. “Hey, Mom, where are Staś and MQM?”

She was sliding a tray of rolls into the oven. “I think they went over to Murray’s front yard to check on the inflatables.”

“Thanks.” He stopped to kiss Emma before he pushed through to the living room. “Oh, there you are. Where’s MQM?”

“Bathroom. Is the demo ready?”

“Yeah, Joe has it ready to roll, but there’s some weird thing going on in the corner. Chris said he’d look at it after he gave everyone more coffee.”

“Okay, we’ll be in.” Staś said, thumbing through a yearbook.

Murray descended the stairs. “Whatcha got?”

Staś held up the yearbook. “The good old days.”

“Ha.” He took a quick look. “For you, maybe.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Staś put the book down. “Ronny says they’re ready with a demo.”

“Outstanding.” Murray smiled as he followed Staś to the garage.

Staś grimaced as he entered the project workshop, better known as his garage. ‘It’s my garage but his hundred inch TV is taking up my whole wall. Mr. Big Shot strikes again.’ He watched Murray. He’d expect some smug look of self-satisfaction. Typical MQM, but no. ‘Is he that far gone? He plonks that monster screen in my garage like a gift from the gods and thinks nothing of it.’

Joe transferred the display from his laptop screen to the enormous TV. “Do we want everyone for this?”

“What’s your confidence level? Will it need adjustments?” Murray pulled up a lawn chair.

“There’s some wiggle room on the order of the playlist, but we’re pretty happy with the current program.” Ronny said.

“I think the boys deserve a break from the wind and snow.” Staś said, heading to the garage door. “Josh, guys, come in a minute and watch this.”

The setup team crunched through the snow to join the technical team inside. Despite the garage doors being open, placing space heaters created a bubble of relative warmth in the workshop. The ladies joined them to see the show.

“Is that Grace’s car?” Mary asked, pointing at the approaching headlights.

Emma nodded. “The girls are home. Can we wait a minute for them to join us?”

“Hi, Emma.” Chris was blowing into his hands to warm them.

“Chris.”

“Have you seen Amanda?”

She pursed her lips to suppress a grin. “Amanda Gajewski? She was here for Thanksgiving and Andrzejki.”

“Uh-huh.” He nodded. “Andre what?”

“Saint Andrew’s Day.”

“Ah, got it.” He rubbed his hands together and huffed on them. “Guess she’s got her quota filled.”

“Maybe, but she’ll probably be over for Wigilia to get to know her new cousin.” Her eyes scrunched up, in spite of her attempts to play it cool.

“Sure, sure.” He nodded, chafing his arms. “Wiggle what now?”

“Christmas Eve Vigil. If you want, I can see if she’ll teach you to speak Polish.”

His eyes went wide and darted around the room. “I don’t want to impose or anything.” He bit his lip and studied the big screen. “Lots of benefits in learning a new language, or so they say.”

“Definitely.” She feigned itching her nose to cover up the geeky grin that was stealing onto her face. “I’ll let her know you’re interested.”

“In Polish language lessons. Yeah, interested. Thanks.”

“Sure, no problem.” She closed her eyes to stop herself from laughing. His eyes were so wide open, he looked like a tarsier. “She might even come over tomorrow to see the light show.” She peeked at him.

Chris shuddered from head to toe as a grin stole onto his face. “Hope she likes what she sees.”

She smiled and shrugged. ‘Oh, boy. He’s crazy for Mandy. Grace, where are you?’

Sarah and Grace hurried in through the open garage doors.

“Ooh, there’s a show?” Sarah sidled up to Leo.

“This is a demo of how it’s supposed to look outside when we’re done.”

“Looks like we’re all here, Joe. Go ahead.” Staś held his arm around Elka’s waist.

“Starting with the traditional Carol of the Bells. Yay, love it.” Grace scuffed Josh’s hair.

Ronny smiled. “We figured it’s very evocative. Great way to start the show.”

“And I like how Josh and Ronny integrated the remote bells.” Joe said. “You guys went all out, so there’s enough for both yards. It’s going to be quite stirring.”

Emma took a few steps back so Chris couldn’t see her pulling her phone out. Grace’s pocket vibrated.

😲🤯 Chris is out of his mind in love with Mandy!!! 💘😲

Her mouth dropped open. She searched for her sister. Leo read the message and nodded.

😲 Leo thinks so, too? 😲

Grace showed him the message. He smirked and nodded vigorously.

The presentation on the screen wowed them all. The music swelled as lights danced and bells on their armatures rang in time with the music. The Carol of the Bells transitioned into The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

Sarah watched in wonder as she hugged Leo’s arm. She noticed the flurry of activity on Grace’s phone and threw a hand over her mouth.

Grace nodded emphatically and grinned. She tapped away, and Sarah’s phone vibrated.

We are SO setting them up

Sarah nodded as she watched the spectacle on the giant TV. ‘This is going to be so cool. I don’t see how we can’t win.’

Grace smiled and looked back at her sister. Emma was biting her lip to keep from giggling. She looked down at her phone.

Sarah says Josh and Ginny Gallagher

She gasped.

I ship it

Grace grinned and switched to her conversation with Sarah

Emma ships it

Sarah buried her face in Leo’s side to smother a laugh. He looked down at her phone and appeared to think about it. He shrugged and seesawed his hand.

Really? What’s the matter?

Leo whispered into Sarah’s ear.

Good match, but she’s seeing somebody

Grace’s nose crinkled in irritation, and she tapped away.

Taken
Who else?

Emma’s eyebrows furrowed as she studied her brother. ‘Aha’

Whitney Maldonado from church

Grace watched the dancing lights and waving animatronics on the screen as she pondered that. ‘Whitney and Josh? Hmm…’

Emma mentioned a girl from church
We’ll introduce you tomorrow

Sarah smiled and nodded, showing her phone to Leo. He gave it some thought and nodded. She handed him the phone.

How about Joe?
He said he’d put
an engagement ring on
somebody who could make
Shepherd’s Pie like mine

Grace snickered at that. ‘So would my Grammy.’

Leo says Joe will
put a ring on someone
who can cook

Emma winced.

Kind of a low bar

She looked at Grace and her phone buzzed again.

Someone who can cook like
Leo’s Shepherd’s Pie

‘Oh, I get that. Holy smokes, that stuff was incredible. It’s a wonder Grammy left me any to try.’ Emma nodded. ‘We’d better slow down. Who can afford all these weddings at the same time?’ She put her phone back in her pocket and watched the show.

Grace saw that and put hers away. She was impressed by how intricate it was. Joe and Ronny worked well together. They’d done all this since Wednesday.

Sarah tucked her phone away and hugged Leo’s arm tighter. She tugged on him to lean in. He dipped his head near for her to whisper.

She kissed his cheek and whispered, “I love you.”

He smiled and squeezed her hand.

Staś frowned and whispered to Elka. “I don’t like that.”

“They’re just holding hands.”

“And kissing and whispering. It’s too much, too soon. We need to slow things down.”

“Oh, Staś, the only reason they’re not engaged is because she’s not Catholic yet.”

“Yes, all this can wait until after OCIA.”

“Not here. Not now. We’ll talk about it after dinner. I have to check on those rolls.” She patted his hand and headed for the kitchen.

He stuffed his fists into his pockets and scowled at Murray. ‘If you’d have taught your sons to be gentlemen…’ Staś watched the rest of the simulation, seething.

Murray noticed the glare and leaned into Mary’s ear. “What’s the matter with Staś?”

She glanced his way and shrugged. “I’ll check with Elka.”

‘Now they’re both looking at me. She’s the one who put him up to all this. He used to be a pitiful little nobody in school until she changed him.’ Staś crossed his arms and went back to watching the show. “What’s that?”

Joe and Ronny turned to see what he was asking about. They looked at the screen.

“Oh, it’s that corner again.” Joe said.

Ronny scratched his head. “I don’t get it. That was all plugged in. Wasn’t it, Chris?”

“Yeah, it was. I guess if there’s a short, it could take out that corner.” He zipped up his coat. “Anybody want to come help me check?”

Leo squeezed Sarah’s hand and let go. “I’ll come.”

“Me, too.” Staś said. “I’ll get my coat and meet you outside.” He stormed out of the garage to fetch his coat. ‘Murrays are all the same.’ He zipped up and pulled his hunter’s cap down over his ears. ‘Ought to change their last name to Handsy.’ He barged out the back door in search of the brothers.

“Hey, Staś.” Leo squatted down to check some connections.

“It’s Mr. Chmielewski to you or Mr. C. if that’s too hard for you to pronounce.”

“Sorry, Mr. C. What’s the matter?”

“I don’t care for you pawing at my daughter is what’s the matter. Have some respect.”

“You’re right. We’ll respect your wishes. I’m sorry to have offended you.” Leo stood and clasped his hands in front of him.

Chris watched, his mouth agape. ‘What the heck?’

“You Murrays think you can just do anything you want.” He wagged a finger at them both. “Sarah will sit with us at church from now on. You can just show some respect until she’s been through OCIA and you’re properly engaged. This isn’t some game. That girl has so much pain already. She doesn’t need you pawing at her and making her confused. Mind your manners, both of you. This is still my house.”

“Yes, sir.” The brothers said.

“Plug that one in. It’s hanging halfway out.” He spun away and returned to the house.