Christmas is Madison’s favorite holiday, but this year is different. She has to face it alone, without her father and her best friend/boyfriend Bob, amid the problems of running her own high-stakes business and dealing with family issues.
Can the spirit of Christmas lift a heavy heart?
MADISON’S CHRISTMAS
By Carol Ann Kauffman
“Madison… you ARE coming to Christmas dinner, aren’t you?” Susan anxiously asked her sister as soon as she answered the phone. “You didn’t return my phone calls…any of them.”
“Suze, please, ask me to do anything else, but not Christmas dinner,” Madison said slowly with a sigh. “I can’t do Christmas this year, not without Dad, not without Bob.”
“Oh, honey, I know. We all miss him. And I know how much you miss Bob. But as cruel as it may sound, life goes on, Sis. Tommy and I have to make Christmas a happy day for our kids, and Trina and Scott want their auntie here. Plus nobody believes in the magic of Christmas like you, little sister.”
“Not this year, Susan.”
“Maddie, please come,” she begged.
“I don’t know, Suze,” she said finally, giving Susan hope.
“Come on Saturday. We’ll bake cookies with Trina and dance around to Christmas music, like we did when we were kids. She’d just love it. We need to make those memories for my daughter. On Sunday, you and I can catch up, get some sisters’ time, and then you’ll be here early on Christmas morning to see the kids open their presents. It’ll be simple Christmas fun. Nothing about this is going to be easy for any of us, but it’ll be easier if we’re together.”
“Not really,” Madison said with a laugh. “If I’m not there, I can just pretend that it’s not Christmas.”
“Really? No radio, no TV, no Christmas carols in the stores? You can’t escape Christmas, Madison.”
“I have a plan. I’ll stay inside, drapes drawn. Piles of DVDs, pajamas, a gallon of Rocky Road, and a spoon.”
“That sounds strangely comforting in a ‘hermit in a cave’ kind of way, but Maddie… I need you here.” Madison knew Susan had a rough year as well, and Christmas with two young children needs to be a magical time. She shook her head.
“All right, all right, I’ll do it. For the kids,” she said begrudgingly, all while banging her head on her refrigerator, wondering how she could be a such a formidable force at the office and in the community, and putty in her big sister’s hands.
“I have the best sister in the world,” said Susan.
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
The next morning at work, Madison’s secretary brought her the morning’s express deliveries and a cup of coffee. She sipped as she watched him through the tinted glass pane in her office door.
“Who’s the blue suit with Mason?”
“That’s the new guy, Bob’s replacement. Kyle Miller, from the Cleveland office. You would’ve recognized him if you would just let me use photos on our personnel records like other offices,” said Brittany.
“We go by qualifications here, not looks. No photos. He’s here already? I didn’t expect him until after the first of the year. I thought he’d want to spend Christmas with his family and friends in Cleveland. Hmm. Very professional appearance. Nice looking.”
“Not really. He’s too tall, too thin, too angular. And he doesn’t respond.”
“Doesn’t respond? To what?”
“You know, the hair flip. The giggle. The strut. The slow smile.”
“Oh, so you already tried to pick up the new guy and now you don’t think he’s cute because he didn’t respond to you?”
“Yeah, something like that. But I did it before eight o’clock, and it wasn’t on company time, so you can’t yell at me for flaunting my desirable attributes during work hours.”
“Now, Brit, I don’t yell,” she giggled, knowing the truth.
“Yes, you do. Here are the documents from the legal department you need for the Lowery Project.”
“Thank you. Tell Porter I need to see him before he goes to court for the Buschwoller pre-trial.”
“Will do. Ah… Bob… had a meeting scheduled this morning at VistaCor. Do you want me to cancel it?”
“No. That problem needs solved today before someone gets hurt.”
“Okay. And whom would you like me to send in his place?”
“It’s too late to send in someone unfamiliar with VistaCor’s problem. I’ll go.”
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