CHRISTMAS MAGIC
by
Velvet
CHAPTER
3
THE CHAPTERS
Frank Hardy carefully unwrapped
the breakable ornaments and laid them on the coffee table. Joe and their
mother Laura were busy hanging the ornaments on the eight foot tall Noble
fir. Christmas carols came from the stereo and Joe was currently humming
along with O
Holy Night.
As he laid out each ornament, he
smiled at the various memories that went with each of them. One of the
family traditions was to bring back a Christmas ornament from every place
they visited. Fenton had brought home the most, due to his years traveling
the globe with his work. There were ornaments from Peru, Germany, nearly
every state in the union, England, a little Eiffel tower from France,
Switzerland, various Caribbean islands. Laura often joked that they needed
to set up a special tree just for their “foreign” ornaments!
The one that Frank always stared
at the longest was the set from Russia. It had three ornaments in it: St.
Basil's Cathedral, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, and a little matroishka
doll. Every time he held the little doll, he wondered if it was one his
mother had painted. This was in spite of the fact that it bore none of her
trademark symbols or colors. It was just the longing of a six-year-old boy
who missed his mother terribly.
He sighed softly and laid it out
on the table with the others. The song on the stereo switched over to
Rudolph, and Joe immediately ceased with the humming and began to sing
along.
Laura laughed as Frank groaned
theatrically and threw a wadded piece of tissue paper at his younger
brother. Joe merely grinned cheekily and continued to sing.
“Why does he like that song so
much, Mom?”
Laura shrugged her shoulders as
she lifted a blown glass ornament from the table. “I have no idea, son.
Probably because it irritates you so.”
“Exactly!” Joe chimed in.
“If you didn't let it irritate you, I wouldn't insist on singing it so
loudly every single time it gets played.” He quirked an eyebrow. “I
could sing I
Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas if you prefer, or Grandma
Got Run Over By A Reindeer.”
“No, please no! Anything but
those two, Joe!” Frank held up his hands in mock surrender and
shuddered. “Give me traditional, please.”
“Rudolph is traditional,
bro.”
“Not where I'm from!”
Laura and Joe burst into laughter
at the self-satisfied look on Frank's face. The song changed again and
Frank breathed a theatrical sigh of relief to hear I'll
Be Home For Christmas. Joe normally didn't sing along with that one.
Joe stepped out a moment later to
get the mail, and Frank voiced what he had been thinking about- their new
next door neighbors.
“Mom, do you think we could
invite the Kabanovs to eat with us on Christmas?”
“I don't see why not. Why do
you ask?”
Frank started folding tissue
paper and placing it back in the ornament box. “They won't be doing
anything and I don't want them to feel left out. Orthodox Christmas isn't
until January.”
“How do you know?” Laura
asked, her curiosity coloring her tone.
“Their daughter asked me why
all the houses were decorated so early. I told her Christmas was on the 25th
and she proceeded to argue with me about it being on January 7th.”
Laura smiled. “I seem to recall
you and Joe having that very same discussion.”
Frank smiled too, knowing his
ears were turning pink. He'd been so insistent that Christmas was NOT on
December 25th that he'd actually made Joe cry.
To this day he still felt bad about it, and he and Joe would exchange a
small gift on the Orthodox Christmas so that they could both be right.
“I'll check with your father,
but I don't think he'll mind.” Laura ruffled her son's hair, then headed
into the kitchen to check on dinner.
Frank leaned back against the
couch, staring at the tree, letting his mind wander over all the past
Christmases. So many wonderful Christmases in this house, each one magical
in its own way.
He smiled. None could eclipse the
magic of that very first Christmas with his “new” family.
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.