Mary and Alvin

The Christmas Lights

Alvin and Mary held hands as they walked across the snowy field. A gust of wind bent the nearby treetops and a flurry of blown snow swirled down. Mary ducked her face into her scarf.

Hannah shrieked.

"Told you to wear your hat," Mary said.

Mary could not make out her daughter's mumbled response.

"What did she say?" she asked Alvin.

"I think she told you what she thinks you ought to do," Alvin laughed.

"Maybe what I ought to do is tell Santa she's on the naughty list," she said loudly.

"I have, literally, never been naughty in my whole life," Hannah snapped back.

"I have," Bonita said, "but I still get plenty of stuff every Christmas."

The two girls trudged along in front of Alvin and Mary. Their dogs, Buster and Moosie, were exploring the edge of the woods.

"By the way, that reminds me, ladies," Mary said, "Be very careful what you say when Alvy gets here. He's only six, he still believes in Santa Claus."

"How old was I when I stopped believing in him?" Hannah asked.

"I didn't know you had," Alvin said.

"I never believed it," Bonita said.

"Oh, baloney," Hannah scoffed.

"I always knew it was bullshit..."

"Watch your language, Nita," Mary admonished.

"Every little kid believes in Santa," Hannah said.

"Uh uh. I'm half a Jew, don't forget. Jews don't believe in Santa Claus."

"So, you only half didn't believe in him?" Alvin chuckled.

The dogs began to bark, and a fat grouse flew across the clearing.

"That one over there," Alvin said, pointing to a spruce tree on their left, "The one with the red ribbon."

They walked over to the tree.

"Isn't it too big?" Hannah asked.

"Won't be once we take her down and trim her," Alvin said.

"Where is ours?" Bonita asked.

"About thirty yards over there." Alvin gestured over his shoulder while he brushed snow off the branches of the spruce.

A buzzing sound rose from the field behind them. As it grew louder, Mary and Alvin stopped and turned toward its source. Jennifer and Danni approached on a pair of snowmobiles. They glided to a stop and shut off their engines.

Danni dismounted and opened her snowmobile's storage compartment, retrieving a small chainsaw and a coil of rope. Alvin and the girls knocked the remaining snow from the tree, covering themselves in the process.

"Come here, baby," Mary said to Hannah. She brushed snow from her daughter's hair, then removed her own knit hat and pulled it down over Hannah's head.

"Thank you, Mom," Hannah said. Mary wondered when she had stopped being Mama and become Mom. I guess that sounds more grown up to her, she thought.

When the tree was cleared of snow, Danni started the chainsaw and circled it, trimming the longest branches and forming it into a smoother conical shape. She stepped back and took a look.

"It looks great," Jennifer said, and everyone agreed. Alvin held the trunk while Danni knelt and swiftly cut through the truck. They laid the tree on its side and Jennifer turned her snowmobile around and backed up next to it.

When they had tied the tree to her snowmobile, Jennifer climbed off. Danni got on hers, and rode over to the second tree, with the rest of the family following her.

"Where'd your hat go?" Alvin asked Mary. She gestured toward Hannah. Alvin took off his own hat and handed it to her.

"You're awfully sweet," she said, putting on the hat.

"So, I've been told," he replied.

She took his hand. "Well, mostly by me, I hope."

"Mostly."

The second tree was smaller. As they approached, Moosie ran ahead to it and raised his leg.

"Bad Moosie," Bonita shouted, shooing him away. He trotted off to find another tree.

Danni made quick work of trimming the smaller tree and tying it to the back of her snowmobile.

"Anybody want a ride back?" she asked as she stowed the chainsaw.

"Yeah, my feet are cold," Bonita said, climbing on behind Danni.

Danni revved the engine and they rode off, with the two dogs running behind them.

Alvin, Mary and Hannah walked with Jennifer back to her snowmobile.

"Why don't you ride back, too?" Mary asked Hannah.

"Oh. You guys want to be alone, huh?"

"Well I was thinking that you might be cold, but yeah, a little time alone with my husband might be nice."

Hannah got on with Jennifer and they started slowly across the field, dragging the tree behind them.

Mary turned to face Alvin. She leaned against him and raised her face toward his. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.

"We ought to get back to the house and warm up," he said.

"Yes, we ought to," Mary replied, kissing him again.

"Nice to be alone for a change, though," he said. Mary did not reply, just continued kissing him.

Another gust of wind sent tendrils of snow swirling around them.

"Yeah, we ought to go in," Alvin said. He took Mary by the hand and they began their walk back to the house.

"I remember the first time we came out here to cut a tree," Mary said.

"You cried. I thought you were upset about killing the frickin' thing."

"I cried because it was the kind of perfect Christmas moment I had always fantasized about. Like something in an old movie."

That first Christmas in Maine felt so different from all the ones before it. Of course, it felt different because she was with Alvin, but it was more than that. Christmas in her new home in a small New England town was what she had always imagined Christmas should be. It really was like in the movies. Even now, as they crossed the pasture, the green pines, laden with a fresh coating of snow, reminded her of a thousand Christmas cards. There were even scattered splashes of red winter berries to complete the traditional Christmas colors.

They reached the alpaca pasture. Most of the herd was huddled inside the barn, but a few were outside, wandering about their enclosure, scraping at the few bare patches of ground in search of a mouthful or two of grass. As Mary and Alvin approached the fence, one alpaca, a beautiful chocolate brown yearling, saunter over to the fence. Mary reached over and rubbed its neck and the alpaca nuzzled her face.

"I'm sorry that I don't have a treat for you, pretty lady," Mary said.

As they approached the house, Mary's thoughts turned to more practical matters. Christmas was only a week away, and there much so much still to be done. She had promised the girls a shopping trip to Bangor. There were a few more things she had to buy herself. Her baking plans were ambitious, with more than a dozen different kinds of cookies on her list. Charlotte and Seth and little Alvy would arrive on the twenty third, so the guest room had to be made ready. The rest of the house needed some cleaning as well, and unfortunately, Hannah wasn't much help and Alvin was spending most of his days down at the wharf selling Christmas trees. On top of it all, she still had clients to attend to before she could take her holiday vacation. But somehow, she knew, it would all get done.

Alvin chuckled as they came around the side of the house into the front yard. Jennifer, Hannah and Bonita were rolling a large ball of snow across the lawn, making a snowman. Alvin leaned down, scooped up some snow and patted it into a ball. He gave it a sidearm toss, and managed to hit Jennifer on her hip.

She stood up straight and looked at her father. "Oh, okay, old man," she said, "it's on."

She made her own snowball and threw it at him. He dodged to the side and swatted it with his hand, causing most of it to spray over Mary. She shouted and grabbed her own snowball as he bent down to make another for himself. Before he could straighten up however, he was pelted, as Jennifer, Bonita and Hannah all scored hits on him. He sat down heavily in the snow and Mary tossed her snowball, clipping him in the shoulder.

"Et tu, Miss Mary?" he said, looking up at her, his eyebrows caked with snow.

"You started it, love," she said, holding out her hand. Alvin took it and she helped him to his feet.

"Let's help with this snowman," he said, squatting down and starting a ball. They rolled it around the yard, packing it tightly, until it was big enough to make the snowman's midsection. Alvin picked it up to mount it, but it began to crumble. Jennifer helped him pack it again, and they mounted it on the bottom section while Hannah and Bonita made one more ball for the head.

"Now we need to make his face," Jennifer said.

"I have carrots," Mary said, "I'll get one for his house."

"What about his eyes?" Hannah asked.

"Supposed to use coal," Alvin said.

"Oh, well, sure, we've got coal just lying around," Jennifer said.

"I have an idea," Bonita said, and took off running around the house.

Mary went inside to get a carrot and Alvin fetched an old broomstick from the barn and a pair of gloves and an old orange hunter's cap from the mud room. He broke the broomstick over his knee and stuck the pieces in the snowman's sides at askew angles. He placed the gloves on their ends to make hands. Bonita came back, carrying an armful of small round black objects.

"Nita, is that what I think it is?" Jennifer asked.

"It's frozen alpaca poop."

Alvin shrugged. "That ought to work."

Bonita stuck two pieces of dung in place for eyes, and used others to make a grinning mouth. Mary gave the snowman his carrot nose and Alvin put the orange cap on top of his head. They stepped back and admired their work.

"He looks like a drunken Mainer," Alvin said.

Jennifer laughed. "He looks like Uncle Harry."

"Ain't that what I said?"

"We ought to get the tree put up before suppertime," Mary said, taking Alvin's arm. "Merry Christmas, Snowman Harry."

***

Alvin was the first person up on Christmas Eve morning. He used the bathroom, dressed and went down to the kitchen. He started the coffee brewing and a few moments later, heard soft footsteps on the stairs.

Charlotte came into the kitchen in her pajamas and robe.

"Good morning, Daddy."

"Morning, sweetheart. The smell of coffee always did get you out of bed, didn't it?"

"Yeah, it still does," she said, hugging him and kissing his cheek. "Hey, I was thinking I'd make waffles for everybody."

"That would be great. Check the refrigerator, make sure we got enough eggs. Mary's been making a lot of cookies."

"Enough eggs? You've got chickens running all over the place."

"Well, they don't deliver them to the refrigerator. And I don't picture you going down to the coop to collect them."

Charlotte checked the eggs and saw that there were plenty. Alvin got the waffle iron down from the cupboard while she mixed up a bowl of batter. When it was ready, she set it aside, poured two cups of coffee and sat down at the table.

Alvin sat beside her. She handed him his coffee. "Thank you, honey," he said. He asked her how her law practice was going, and sipped his coffee while she told him about a few of her recent cases. None of it meant much to him, but he relished the sparkle in her eye as she talked.

In a little while, Mary came down to the kitchen and joined them. Charlotte called Jennifer to invite them to breakfast and Alvin lined a sheet pan with bacon and slid it in the oven.

Hannah and Alvy came down the stairs together.

"Where's your father?" Charlotte asked her son, "Is he still in bed?"

"I guess so."

"Well, go get him up, okay?"

Alvy ran back up the stairs, just as Jennifer, Danni and Bonita came in the front door. Soon, the whole family was crowded around the table, except for Charlotte, who diligently kept the waffles coming. When everyone else had been served she made one for herself and sat down.

"So," Mary asked, "What's everyone's plans for this morning?"

"We were figuring we'd go into town and do some last minute shopping," Charlotte replied.

"When you do, could you do me a favor? There's a new cheese store on Main Street. I ordered a platter. Can you pick it up?"

"And have to browse around a cheese store? Yeah, I guess I can do that. What time should we be back?"

Mary shrugged. "I told everyone they could come by any time after four or so."

"Well, we'll be back in time to help you get everything ready."

"We'll help, too," Danni added. "We made two pans of lasagna."

"Yeah," Jennifer nodded, "I just have a few chores to do, then we are all yours."

Mary smiled and thanked them. She looked at Alvin. "You know what you can do, don't you?"

"Yep," he nodded, "I get to be rugrat wrangler. I was thinking we'd go up to Henderson Hill."

"Oh, hell yes," Bonita exclaimed.

"What's Henderson Hill?" Seth asked.

"Best sledding hill in the area," Alvin told him. Seth looked crestfallen. It was obvious to Alvin that he'd rather go sledding than shopping. That's the breaks, bub, he thought.

They finished their breakfast and went about their tasks for the day. Hannah and Bonita put their sledding disks in the back of Alvin's car, while he went to the barn and placed a ladder under the loft. He climbed up and found the old red Flexible Flyer sled that he'd had since he was a boy. The sight of it brought back a flood of memories. Can't imagine me and Tim and Di all crammed on to this thing now, he thought, chuckling to himself.

He took the sled down and carried it to the car.

"Oh jeez, look at that antique," Hannah said.

"You best be talking about the sled," Alvin said. They all piled into the car and headed out toward Henderson Hill.

Alvin drove about two miles out of town, then turned on to a dirt road that wound up a steep hill. It was slick, but he reached the top without any trouble. He turned right, through an opening in the trees, and entered a wide, flat parking area. The hill descended in a snow covered meadow. To the right, the power lines ran off into the distance under a cloudless blue sky.

The kids tumbled out of the car in excitement. Alvin popped open the trunk. Hannah and Bonita grabbed their disks. Bonita took Theo's hand and they all ran off, whooping with delight. By the time Alvin got his sled out and closed the trunk, Hannah was already sliding down the long, smooth slope, while Bonita, with Alvy tucked between her legs, was just pushing off.

He walked to the edge of the slope and watched them as they zoomed down the hill. There was about a hundred yards of smooth sledding, then a line of snow drifted up against the fence of a neighboring farm. Beyond the fence a pair of horses, draped in red and black checkered blankets, watched the children.

When Hannah came to a stop just short of the fence, Alvin let out a breath and realized that he had been holding it. There wasn't much danger, it was an easy slope, but he had to worry, it was his nature.

Off to his left, a father and a young boy were climbing the hill, dragging a long blue plastic sled behind them. Alvin waved, and they waved back. He set the sled down and sat on it, watching the kids as they trudged back up toward him.

"Grampa, that was fun," Alvy shouted to him as they drew near. "You got to try it."

Alvin laughed. "I'll go down in a little bit. For right now, I'll just watch you guys."

Alvy rode down with Hannah on the second trip, and on the third, he rode by himself, while Hannah sat with Alvin on the sled. He put his arm around her. "You warm enough, sweetheart?" he asked.

"Just my nose is cold."

"Go like this," he said. He took off his glove and held it to his face, so that the wrist opening covered his mouth and nose. He huffed a few breaths, then lowered the glove and put it back on.

Hannah gave him a skeptical look, then took off her mitten and followed his instructions.

"That actually worked," she said, putting her mitten back on.

"Well, sweetie, I know damn well that you are smarter than me, but I been around enough to learn a few tricks here and there."

A mini van pulled into the lot, and a group of young teens piled out. They took sleds from the back of the van and hit the slope, while the driver, who Alvin supposed was someone's Mom, sat inside with the engine running.

Halfway up the hill, Bonita waved at the new sledders as they passed by, and a couple waved back.

"You know those kids?" Alvin asked Hannah.

"Yeah, of course," she said. She stood when Bonita got to the top, and together they watched the other group climbing back up. Alvy was tugging at their coats, urging them to go again.

"Hey," Alvin called to them. When the girls turned around, he said, "If you want to join your friends for a while, go ahead."

"You sure, Papa?" Bonita asked.

"I'm sure." He stood up. "Me and Alvy will take a ride."

Hannah and Bonita went over to meet their friends. Alvin aimed the old sled downhill and sat down on it.

"Come on, bub, time for a real sled ride," he said. Alvy sat down in front of him. Alvin reached around him and took hold of the steering rope.

"You ready?" he asked.

Alvy nodded. "I'm ready, Grampa."

Alvin scootched the sled forward with his feet, then as it began to slide, pulled them in. "Hang on," he shouted, as they began to pick up speed. Alvy wrapped his arms around his grandfather's legs and held on tight, squealing in delight. Alvin began to shout as well, overcome with the exhilaration of the ride. The was something more as well, he felt an intense rush of nostalgia, remembering rides with his brother and sisters, with Bonnie and Charlotte and Jennifer. By the time they reached the bottom, he had a broad smile on his face, but his eyes were damp with tears.

They banked against the snow drift, slowed to a stop and tipped over into the snow. Alvy came up laughing. Alvin rose to his knees. He was completely covered in snow.

Alvy pointed and laughed even harder. "Grampa, you look like a snowman!"

Alvin pointed back at him. "You do, too!" He got to his feet and brushed as much of the show off himself, and his grandson, as he could. He looked up the hill. Jeezum, that's a long way back up, he thought. It wasn't always that high, was it? He took Alvy's hand and they began to climb. When the boy stumbled a few times, he asked him if he was getting tired.

"Yeah, a little bit," Alvy replied.

"Well, hop on the sled, then." Alvy got on and Alvin continued up the hill, towing it behind him. He was about halfway up when the whole gang of kids came flying down the thread to his right.

"Hi, Papa!" Bonita shouted as they zipped past.

By the time they got back to the parking area, Alvin was breathing heavily and his shoulders and knees were aching. He could feel his heart pounding as he sat down next to Alvy to caught his breath.

"You think you're about done for now?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm getting cold."

"Hold on a minute." Alvin got up and went back to the car. He returned a minute later, knelt, and set a small metal can on the sled next to Alvy. He took out his pocket knife and pried off the lid.

"Want to see something neat?"

Alvy nodded and Alvin took a box of wooden matches from his pocket. He lit one and dropped it in the can. A tongue of blue flame flared out.

"Wow! A can of fire!" Alvy said in amazement.

They sat and warmed their hands as Hannah and Bonita climbed back up the hill, and then took another ride down. On their way up, they veered away from the rest of the group and walked back to Alvin.

"You guys getting ready to call it quits?" he asked them.

"Yeah, it's getting pretty cold out here," Bonita said.

"Hey," Hannah said, pointing at the can. "You've got sterno, but you told me to blow on my nose to keep it warm?"

"What would you do, stick your nose in the can?" Bonita asked her. Alvy found that hilarious and laughed long and hard.

"It will be warm in the car," Alvin said, dropping the lid on the can and standing up. His back ached as he straightened out. The kids put the sleds in the trunk and got in the car, but he lingered for a minute, looking out over the slope of Henderson Hill, and then past it. He could see miles of countryside, perhaps hundreds of miles, all green and white, under the bright sky. Inside the car, Alvy said something and the girls both laughed. His sledding days were over, it seemed, but as long as he could hear those laughing voices, everything was alright.