1970

Chapter Eleven: December 24th, 1969

Elora's point of view:

Christmas was always a busy time for my family and I. We celebrated Hanukkah in November and we had maybe a week or two to relax before we celebrated Christmas. That's what happened when your father was Jewish and your mother was catholic. It was all a bit of a bustle but when the time came around it couldn't be better. The celebrations and the whole of our family staying with us, it was quite the good time. Even my aunt Carina and uncle Karl came with our cousins.

It was always a huge celebration, a nice and comfortable party. My mother and now, my grandmother, were spending the day cooking food for the night and the appetizers and desserts. My mother and Carina, my sister, were usually the ones to cook. Now that Carina had her daughter, my mother was lucky to have my grandmother. I never helped since it was easy for me to lose myself in the cooking, and not in a good way. Not to mention I preferred cooking on my own in a relaxed setting

Flynn and my grandmother were newly added to the group in which would come and spend Christmas with us. We invited Max, but he was with his family on their own. He never usually came to Christmas, since he and Molly had the same things to do as we did. Max was Jewish and Molly was Protestant. They had just as much to do with their kids as my parents did. We also invited my parents' friend David Canmar, but he lived in Portugal with his wife. He had no time to travel up here, plus I heard his wife had trouble with meeting new people, even though she knew my parents from the Cuban Revolution back in the fifties. They helped Castro in his time, even though he didn't like Americans. Apparently, he trusted them and only them. But that was a story for a different time.

"Is the turkey ready? I'm starved!" We heard Lorelei speak as she made her way into the kitchen. At seven months pregnant, she had blown up like a little balloon and ate like an elephant. She was all about food, and she could smell it from a mile I swear.

"Soon, Lorelei, calm yourself. Give it a few more minutes, darling," my mother said with a chortle. My mother wasn't in a huff as some mothers would when Christmas cooking became the dominant aspect of the day and night. For some reason, it seemed supernatural at times, she never had a stress line. This was because of the simple fact that she was never worried or anxious about anything.

"Does anyone know where Flynn is?" I asked. My grandmother nodded and told me he was getting ready in his room. I thanked her and travelled across the living room and up the stairs. When I found his bedroom door, I knocked and entered on my own.

He was standing in front of the mirror as he struggled with tying his tie. Flynn turned his head and looked at me as I walked in, motioning for me to come in and see him. I walked to the mirror and turned him around so I could tie the tie for him. My father showed me how to do this. He always used the joke that he needed someone to help him do it when he was so old that he would forget. It seemed to me that he was confident he was going to lose his mind by the time he was seventy. He seemed pretty sane to me.

"I don't know what I would do without you," he said to me. Ever since the time we went to the Lincoln Memorial, we were stronger than ever. It and been a fantastic two months. Things were so romantic and intimate, we spent the days together, going different places or staying at home. It didn't really matter to me as long as we were together.

"You'd be the same as you were before. But I like it better now," I replied as I stood on my toes to plant a soft kiss on his lush lips. I tightened the tie fully as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into him. The kiss went deeper and I felt my face and chest become flushed, heat radiating from every inch of my body. This happened every time I kissed him, every time he was even near my lips.

"Let's just stay up here for a while," he pled. I chuckled and shook my head as my forehead held itself against his, my toes starting to ache from standing on them for so long.