Mary was standing at the stove when Alvin came into the kitchen. Hannah was at the table, kneeling on a chair and concentrating on a coloring book. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down next to her.
"You got a kiss for Papa?" he asked.
"You can kiss my face," she said, busy with her crayon.
"Well, I'll do just that," he replied, and kissed her on the cheek.
Mary put a plate of scrambled eggs on the table. "Put away your coloring book," she told her daughter, "and eat your breakfast."
"I want ketchup."
Mary grimaced but went to the cabinet to get the ketchup. Alvin watched her cross the kitchen, wearing a Maine Black Bears sweatshirt and a pair of yoga pants decorated with a pattern of candy canes and holly sprigs. As she returned to the table, he winked at her and said, "I just thought of something special I'd like for Christmas."
"You think you've been that nice this year?" she asked him, taking the cap off the ketchup bottle and handing it to Hannah.
"I reckon I been nice enough that I can afford a little bit of naughty now."
Mary laughed and watched Hannah pour ketchup on her eggs with the same concentration she had given to her coloring. "Not too much, sweet girl..." she said, "...yeah, that's way too much."
She turned back to the stove. "How do you want your eggs?" she asked Alvin.
"I'll take scrambled, but hold the half bottle of ketchup, please." He watched her crack eggs into a bowl and whip them.
"I do like them pants," he said, "I ought to get you another pair."
Hannah giggled.
"What's so funny?" Alvin asked her.
"When you say you like her pants, you mean you like her butt."
Alvin stared at her. "You know you are six years old, right?"
"Six going on sixteen," Mary muttered.
Alvin watched her plate the eggs and toast and thought, the kid's right, though. He still marveled over the fact that after a decade as a widower, he had somehow managed to meet and marry such a beautiful younger woman.
Mary brought the plates to the table and sat down.
"So, you are still determined to go in to the wharf today? It's Christmas Eve." she asked.
"Still got about a half dozen Christmas trees we ain't sold. Usually, we'd be sold out by now."
"I wish you'd stay home. We don't need the money that badly."
"It was a slow summer, with the virus and the economy going bad and all."
"I know that, but you have two boats in the yard for winter repairs. That's good money. We aren't hurting."
"But what about the folks who still need a tree? They come down and we are closed, what will they do?"
"That's not your problem."
"If they have always gotten one from us before, then it is."
Mary sighed. She knew it was pointless to argue with him about it. She admired, even cherished, his sense of responsibility; it was one of the things that she had always found most attractive about him. But sometimes, he carried it to what she considered unreasonable extremes.
"Well, be careful, please," she implored him.
"People around here are pretty good about wearing masks," he shrugged, "especially since things got worse again. And we are all outdoors."
"If you have to ask, wear your mask," Hannah chanted.
"That's right, honey," Mary told her, stroking her hair.
She turned to Alvin. "By the way, I have a few things for you to pick up while you are out."
"So, it ain't safe for me to sell a few Christmas trees, but it's alright if I go into a crowded store the day before Christmas?"
Hannah looked up. "Are you guys fighting?"
"No, we are not," Mary said.
"We are just figuring out a few things," Alvin told her.
"Okay," Hannah said, taking another bite of ketchup and eggs, "Fighting is not allowed at Christmas time."
"So, what do we need?" Alvin asked.
"More brown sugar. And I don't think I have enough tape to finish wrapping all the gifts. Oh, and horseradish to make the cocktail sauce for the shrimp."
She looked at the mess on Hannah's plate. "Maybe you ought to get more ketchup, too."
Alvin finished his eggs, stood up and kissed Hannah on the top of her head. Mary rose, and they kissed.
"I don't expect I'll be too late," Alvin told her, "Call me if you think of anything else you need."
As he was backing out of the garage, he saw his daughter Jennifer walking toward her house on the other side of the barren cornfield. He stopped his truck and tapped the horn. She looked over her shoulder, then turned and walked back to him.
"Mary's got me picking up a few things while I'm in town," he said as she approached, "You need anything?"
Jennifer stopped, kicked at the ground a few times, then looked up and shook her head. "No, I think we are good to go."
"Well, alright then. Danni on patrol today?"
"Yeah, but she's she's got the late shift tomorrow. So, not too bad."
"We'll have a nice holiday, even if it's just us. Can't lie though, I'm going to miss your sister and the rest of the family."
"Yeah, me too. But Charlotte is going to set up a Zoom meeting tomorrow so we can all talk and see each other, so at least there's that."
"Well, we will have plenty to eat, that's one thing. Some don't. It's wicked good to have a farmer in the family."
"You know, Daddy, I feel kind of bad that we had such a good year, when so many other people are hurting."
"You got nothing to feel bad about. It's a good thing that folks can buy local straight from the farm."
"I guess," she said. "Well, I want to say goodbye to Danni before she goes on duty."
"Alright," Alvin said, "Love you, sweetie."
"Love you, too, Daddy."
Jennifer walked down to her house, thinking about what her father had said. She was glad that so many people had taken to buying pork, eggs and produce from her farm stand, and at the farmer's market, but she could not help thinking about the reasons why.
She went in the backdoor and kicked off her muddy shoes in the utility room. Danni was at the kitchen sink, rinsing out her coffee mug.
Jennifer leaned against the door jamb and watched her until she put the mug in the dish drainer and turned around.
"Mmm, I love a hot chick in a uniform," she said.
Danni smiled. "You love me out of the uniform, too."
"I sure do," Jennifer said. She crossed the kitchen and draped her arms over Danni's shoulders, rose on tiptoes and kissed her.
"Where's the rugrat?" she asked.
"Don't call me rugrat," Bonita said, coming into the kitchen, still in her pajamas.
"How about ankle biter?"
