Five Miracles Until Christmas

Fifth Miracle - December 24

Denise, Jennifer, Johanne and Margareth spent the morning in the kitchen while Gregory, Harrison and Jacob spent it around the house hanging Christmas lights, colorful socks and garlands; rearranging the furniture to make more space for the guests; cleaning the floor; setting up the backyard and the table where the food would be placed.

The day was busy and went by fast. When most of the food was made and there were just the ones that needed to be cooked later, it was already two in the afternoon. The girls took their separate ways to get ready for the night.

Margareth took a shower and slipped on some jeans and a gray t-shirt along with a coat to go get her father from the hospital. He should be ready to go by now, as was instructed to his nurse when everything was settled.

Harry was going with her, so she called him and watched as he came from the backyard, leaving the last final touches to Gregory and Jake.
"Let's go get my father. I told the nurse to have him ready at one thirty. It's two already." Margareth explained to her husband.

He nodded, got his car keys from his front pocket and gave them to his wife. "Let's take my car. It's bigger and will be better to bring the wheelchair." Harry told her while he walked towards the stairs. "Just let me take a shower really quick. I smell horribly. Go and set up the car while I'm at that."

His wife did as he said and waited in the car for him. Harry got out of the house a few minutes later with his hair wet from the shower and drove them to the hospital.

When they got the front entrance, Paul was sitting on a wheelchair with a nurse behind him and two duffel bags at their feet, both ready to spend the rest of the day and the next at Margareth's house.

The woman hugged her father, kissed his cheek and introduced herself to the nurse before picking up their bags from the ground to carry it to the car. The nurse, Nora, was a lovely young lady and started to push Paul towards the car and helped Harry putting the old man inside it.

When Paul was comfortably secure in the back sit, Nora took the wheelchair and handed it to Margareth so she could put it in the trunk with the bags.

Everybody got inside the car and headed back to the house, getting there in less than fifteen minutes. The three of them repeated the process from the hospital, getting Paul and the bags out of the car now.

Harrison placed the bags in front of the door and opened the it before getting them back up and entering the house, along with the other three, his wife pushing her dad this time and Nora walking beside them.

Margareth leaded her father to the living room, finding Gregory and Jake organizing some gifts under the big tree. The boys got up from the floor to hug their grandfather.

"Jake, do your grandpa a favor and get the gift inside that black bag with your father." Paul told Jacob and watched as he ran towards his father.

"Dad! How did you buy that?" Margareth asked confused.

"Paul looked up to his daughter and smiled. "I asked Nora to buy it for me. It's just a little thing for Jake." The old man explained and glanced at the little boy running back towards him.

Jacob showed the little green wrapped box. "Here, grandpa."

"Thank you." The man smiled and pointed to the tree a few feet away. "Can you put it with the others?" The boy nodded and went to do what Paul asked him to.

Margareth shook her head. "You know it wasn't necessary, dad. You being here is a big present on it's own."

"You say that, Margie, but he's a kid. I just wanted to make him happy." Paul replied and used him arms to move the wheelchair closer to the couch while his daughter looked for something inside her purse. "Nora, help me seat on the couch, please?"