Bill W

Castaway Hotel
Next Generation

Chapters 55-60

On Wednesday evening, Danny received a call on his cell phone and stepped into the other room to answer it. When he did, he quickly discovered it was from his obstetrician friend.

"Danny, the mother of your brother's new son is going into labor," he told him. "Does he, his partner or anyone else want to come to the hospital and be with her at this time?"

"Hang on and let me check with them," Danny advised his friend.

Danny then called the rest of us together and shared the news. Dion and Trey quickly stated that they wanted to go and I said I'd like to join them. Danny and Brandon offered to look after Joshie for them, so that was one less thing they had to worry about. Dion and Trey then suggested we take their car. Since this wasn't the hospital that Danny had worked at and was farther away, they felt it would be silly to take two vehicles. After agreeing with their assessment, I got in the backseat and Dion drove.

Both boys were a bundle of nerves and talked incessantly on the way there. First, they were busy trying to figure out what the baby would look like and then they tried to guess his birth weight, length and what time he would be born. They also began to question if there was anything they should be doing or something they'd forgotten to do. At this point, I'd wished I'd brought my video camera with me, because I was sure a recording of what was going on in the car would easily make it on America's Funniest Videos. It was like watching a collage of the worst-ever expectant father clips.

When we arrived at the hospital, Penny was still in labor, but Danny's obstetrician friend told us things weren't proceeding as quickly as he first thought. Penny wasn't dilated nearly enough to give birth yet, so he advised us this might take a while. The boys and I quickly discussed how we wanted to handle this, and after a rather lengthy conversation, Dion and Trey agreed that they would stay until midnight. If she hadn't given birth by then, Trey said he was going home to rest, but Dion and I had decided to remain. Dion said he would just call in sick the next day, since he would be in no shape to teach after spending the night here.

Just before midnight, Penny still wasn't ready to give birth yet, so Trey left. Dion gave his partner a kiss goodbye and then he and I tried to make ourselves comfortable in the waiting room. As we settled in, we began discussing the situation.

"Why is it that women seem to go into labor at night, but then don't give birth until several hours later," Dion asked.

"I don't know if I have the answer to that question," I replied. "You may only believe this because of your limited experiences, but I can see why you might think it's the norm. It does seem to be what you and I have both experienced when our children were born. Possibly, you should ask that obstetrician about this latter."

I wasn't sure if Dion was going to do this, but I was now curious about his observation as well.

Shortly after 4:00, the obstetrician finally came out and announced the baby had arrived. His birthday is October 7th and he's twenty-one inches in length and weighs seven pounds, eight ounces. Surprisingly, Trey had guessed closest to the correct length, but Dion had been more accurate on both the weight and time of birth. I guess he must have taken notes when Joshie was born and then cashed in on that fact now.

Once we'd assimilated this information, we were taken in to see Penny and the baby. Dion and I immediately noticed something and commented about it.

"Damn, Wyatt looks just like Joshie did the first time I saw him," Dion announced, in amazement.

"I would totally agree with that observation," I confirmed. "He is absolutely beautiful."

"He certainly is," Dion agreed. "Penny, he's absolutely adorable."

Penny beamed with pride when she heard this, but I could also tell she was also a little sad because she had to give him up. However, I think that having met us, as well as knowing she was going to be able to keep in touch with Wyatt, made this slightly easier for her to do. I can't imagine how the women who give their children up for adoption must feel when they have no idea who'll be getting their baby and that they'll probably never see their child again.

Dion then went on to give Penny the information she would need for the birth certificate. He then spoke to the obstetrician and told him the baby was to be circumcised. Trey and he felt that since Joshie had been circumcised, they should do the same with this baby too.

We stayed with Penny a little while longer, but after the nurse took the baby to the nursery, Penny told us she was tired and wanted to get some sleep. Before we left, we told Penny we'd return the next day and she thanked us for coming to be here for her, since neither of her parents were willing to do this. She also thanked us for offering to give the baby a loving home and then told us that she looked forward to working with us in the future.

When Dion and I got down to the lobby, it suddenly dawned on us that we didn't have a vehicle. I quickly glanced at my watch and noticed it was nearly 5:00 and Jake always gets up at this time to get ready for work. Thinking he may be the answer to our dilemma, I stepped outside and called him on my cell phone. When he answered, I asked him if he thought he had time to pick us up before he had to leave for work and he said he did. Fortunately, he'd planned ahead and done most of his usual morning preparations the previous evening, because he figured something like this might happen. He said he'd see us shortly, so I thanked him for having the foresight I seemed to have lacked.

On the ride home, we told Jake all about Wyatt. He said he couldn't wait to see him and we knew he meant it. Once we arrived home, Dion and I thanked Jake for going out of his way for us and then we went straight to bed. We were both beat and needed some sleep before we returned to the hospital.

I awoke before Dion did, but it was already past noon. Even so, I made a fresh pot of coffee and fixed myself something to eat before Dion came down to join me. After fixing him something as well, we quickly showered and got dressed, so we could head back to see Penny and the baby.

When we got there, we went by the nursery first, so we could get another glimpse of Wyatt. Damn, he was so tiny and adorable, but we knew he would also bring about a whole new set of challenges when we got him home. There would be the midnight or early morning feedings to deal with again, as well as the numerous hours required for preparing his bottles and then giving them to him, as well as changing his diapers, giving him baths and just holding him. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying though. Babies are wonderful, but they also require a great deal of work and can take a lot out of you.

When we went in to see Penny, she made an unexpected announcement.

"When I filled out the form for the birth certificate," she began, "I filled the baby's name in as Wyatt Jacob Currie. I also listed Dion as the father."

Dion and I were in shock. We had expected her to list Wyatt with her last name and only use the first and middle names Dion had given her. We also weren't prepared for the idea that she would give Dion's name as the father, but she explained she did this to prevent any chance of Dion losing his claim to Wyatt. Dion and I felt we'd need to run this by Steve as soon as we could, to make certain it is legal.

We stayed with her for the rest of the afternoon and Dion and I both got a chance to hold Wyatt. Dion also had an opportunity to give him a bottle, so he was getting right into the swing of things again. Once he'd burped Wyatt, he began to recite nursery rhymes to him. Penny was smiling as she watched him do this and it was apparent she was pleased with the way he was interacting with her son.

We stayed until shortly after 5:00 and then we told her we were going home for the rest of the night, so we could spend some time with the rest of the family. That's when she informed us about something else.

"I'm being released tomorrow morning, so you should come back then so you can take Wyatt home with you. I hope that's not a problem," she added, hopefully. "I wouldn't dare take him home with me, even for a few minutes, or something terrible is liable to happen."

Penny didn't explain exactly what she meant by this comment, but we got the idea. Luckily, tomorrow is a Saturday, so Dion and Trey will both be available and this won't be a problem. Dion quickly assured her he'd be back by 9:00 to pick Wyatt up.

That night, Dion and Trey sat down with Joshie and told him Wyatt had been born and they'd be bringing him home the following day.

"'Bout time," Joshie stated, just before a smile started to creep across his face.

That night was kind of hectic, as Dion and Trey went out to pick up the formula the obstetrician had suggested, as well as to select a new outfit and receiving blanket to bring Wyatt home in. They took Joshie with them and allowed him to make the final choice on the outfit and blanket. What they did was to hold up three choices they found acceptable for each item and then they let Joshie select the one he liked best. Joshie was thrilled his fathers had permitted him to do this and it made him even more eager to meet his new brother.

When they returned home, the boys went upstairs to put Joshie to bed, but they also put a freshly laundered sheet in the crib and double-checked to make certain that everything else was ready for Wyatt's arrival. I got a kick out of watching them do all of this, as well as listening to them trying to decide how they were going to split up the middle of the night feedings, since they both work. They finally ended up agreeing to alternate nights, with Dion taking the first – tomorrow night.

A little while later, the boys asked if I'd go with them when they went to the hospital to pick Wyatt up in the morning. I wasn't exactly sure why they wanted me to do this, but I agreed. Then, they took the infant car seat out and made certain it was secured in the backseat of the car. They weren't taking any chances that they'd forget something at the last moment.

I'm not sure how much sleep either of them got that night, but they were both up early the next morning. After we'd each downed a quick breakfast, we hurriedly showered and dressed, because Dion and Trey were in a hurry to get going. I rode in the back, next to the car seat, but it was a tight squeeze. That's because the manufacturers of rear facing car seats recommend they should be attached in the middle of the backseat, so it made it a little uncomfortable for me. I didn't complain though and adjusted to the situation, but I wasn't sure if I'd have to do this again on the way back. I suspect one of the fathers might want to ride next to Wyatt during the trip home.

We went to see Penny first, but the doctor was in with her when we got to the room. After he completed his examination, he invited us in to join them. We talked with the obstetrician for a while and he assured us that both Penny and the baby were doing well and would be released shortly. She would be given the baby, once she was in a wheelchair, and then she'd be taken down to the main entrance by one of the orderlies. He told us she would be able to give Wyatt to either Dion or Trey once we arrived there, and then we'd all be able to go home.

After speaking with the doctor, Dion went out and gave the outfit and receiving blanket to one of the nurses and asked her to make certain they were used to prepare Wyatt to leave. She agreed and disappeared, and then he went back into Penny's room.

"Do you have a ride?" I asked Penny. I was concerned and certainly didn't want her to be stranded at the hospital.

"Yes, I called a friend last night and she agreed to come get me. I just have to call and let her know when," she answered.

"Okay, I just wanted to make certain you had a way to get home," I explained. "If worse came to worse, then I was going to let the boys and Wyatt drive you home first and I would wait in the lobby until they returned."

"Even though I appreciate your generous offer," she commented, "it's better that you don't go near my place. My father would absolutely freak out if he saw Dion in the car. He hated my boyfriend as it was and seeing Dion would just make him think I had another Afro-American lover."

I understood what she was saying, although in this day and age I'd hope humanity would have outgrown its petty bigotries. Of course, I know this isn't true, because the gay community has suffered many tragedies because of the archaic and narrow-minded views many members of society still cling to. Unfortunately, there are those, including so-called religious people, who even go so far as to incite this hatred.

When the orderly arrived with a wheelchair a few minutes later, Penny got in it. A couple of minutes later, a nurse showed up carrying Wyatt and handed Penny the baby.

"Oh, what a cute outfit and blanket," she cooed, after looking Wyatt over. "Did you pick them out?"

"Trey and I picked out three different choices for each and then let our other son pick the ones he liked best," Dion admitted.

"Well you all have wonderful tastes," she confirmed.

As soon as she was comfortable, the orderly pushed her down the hallway, toward the elevators, and the rest of us followed behind. We all rode down together and then the orderly wheeled her to the main entrance. Trey ran ahead to get the car, so he could pull it up to the loading area. He didn't want us to have to go very far carrying Wyatt.

"Goodbye, little one," Penny whispered to Wyatt, before she relinquished him to Dion. "I'm doing this so you'll have a better life and I want you to know that I love you. I promise to see you in the future, so I can tell you about your biological father and let you know why I had to let these wonderful people adopt you."

With tears streaming down her cheeks, Penny kissed Wyatt on the forehead and then lifted him up, so Dion could take him. Once Dion had Wyatt in his arms, I looked down at her and spoke.

"Penny, may I help you find a phone to make your call or would you like to step outside and use my cell phone?"

"Thank you, but the phones are just over there," she replied, while pointing toward the far side of the lobby. "I really appreciate all you've done for me and how great you've been about making this so easy for me to do. Thank you so much and please take good care of my boy. I'll contact you when I'm ready to visit."

I kissed her on the forehead before we left and reminded her to make sure the bills not covered by the insurance are forwarded to me. She said she would and then got out of the wheelchair and started walking toward the phones. As she and the orderly walked away, Trey pulled up and Dion and I went out to the car.

As I suspected, Dion rode in the back next to Wyatt, so I got into the front passenger seat, next to Trey. As we were heading home, Dion began talking to Wyatt and explained whom Trey, he and I all were. Dion also welcomed him into the family and began to tell him about his brother, Joshie, and the rest of the inmates in our asylum.

It was kind of comical listening to Dion tell Wyatt about all of these things, because he was doing it as if he expected the baby to understand and remember the details. I'll give him credit though. I was impressed that he didn't use baby talk when speaking to Wyatt, but he did tell him he was his daddy, Trey was his Poppy and I was Papa. The kid would have to be a genius to keep all of this information straight on his first day home.

When we arrived at the house, Joshie and the other boys raced out to greet us. Actually, I was surprised the older boys were up already, but I heard later that Joshie was responsible for this. Danny and Brandon said that Joshie raced from room to room waking the boys and telling them they had to come downstairs, because his new brother would be here soon. They also told us it was cute watching this happen, especially when the other boys tried to shoo him out of their rooms, but Joshie wasn't about to give up. Danny and Brandon said they could tell Joshie was truly excited and looking forward to meeting Wyatt.

In fact, Joshie didn't even wait for Dion to get Wyatt out of the car seat first, before he opened the opposite side passenger door and began talking to the baby.

"Hi. I'm your brother, Joshie," he told Wyatt. "I been waiting a long time for you to get here. You were really slow."

The rest of us were all busting a gut as we listened to him carry on. He had such a serious look on his face, as he chastised his little brother for taking such a long time to get here.

Once Dion had Wyatt unhooked from the car seat, he carried him into the house. Joshie walked beside his father, while still talking to his new brother. Trey and I followed behind that pair, and once we got inside, Joshie had a favor to ask.

"Can I hold him," he wanted to know.

"Okay, but you have to be very, very careful with Wyatt," Dion answered. "Come sit on the couch with me and I'll give him to you. Just keep your arm under his neck, because he isn't strong enough to hold his head up by himself."

"How come?" Jesse wondered.

"It's because babies need time to get strong enough to do things like that," Dion explained. "You were the same way right after you were born too."

Since Joshie understood we had to do the same thing for him, he didn't question the reason further. When Dion placed Wyatt on his lap, he made certain to put Joshie's right arm under the back of Wyatt's neck, for support.

"He looks like the pictures of me when I was a baby, Daddy," Joshie commented, as he scrutinized Wyatt.

"He certainly does," Dion agreed. "I thought the same thing. I even told Poppy that he looked just like you did when you were first born."

That comment caused Joshie to grin. He was proud that his brother looked just like he did.

As it worked out, Joshie only held Wyatt for a couple of minutes. While he was holding him though, his daddy watched him closely. Dion was sitting next to him on the sofa, but only interfered if it looked as if Joshie needed to do something slightly different.

"Daddy, Wyatt stinks!" Joshie announced, as he wrinkled his nose.

"I guess Wyatt must have just pooped in his diaper," Dion replied. "Let me take him and I'll go change him for you."

Without complaint, Joshie let Dion take the baby and head upstairs. That's where Wyatt's room is and where everything is kept. A few minutes later, Dion came back down to join us again, but this time Joshie wasn't so eager to hold his brother. I guess Joshie considered Wyatt filling his diaper while he held him as being rude.

Over the next hour or so, we began calling everyone to tell them that baby Wyatt is now home and part of the family. Many of them asked if they could stop by to see him and we told them they were welcome to come over any time. That's also when I realized we're about to have a whole lot of company.

A couple of hours later, Steve and Mary showed up. I'm so glad we have them in our lives, because they've done so much for our family. I'm also personally grateful that I've had a chance to get close to them, because they have turned out to be wonderful and devoted friends.

The minute they entered the house, they wanted to know where the baby was, so I led them into the family room where Trey was sitting with Wyatt.

"May I hold him?" Mary asked, as soon as she saw the baby.

"Of course," Trey told her, as he handed Wyatt to her.

"Oh, he's so beautiful," she cooed, as she held him out for Steve to see.

"Are you sure he's not Joshie's twin?" Steve asked, after getting his first glimpse of Wyatt. "I swear he looks just like Joshie did when we first saw him too."

"I think we've all made a similar observation," I agreed.

"Dion, have you been messing around with the ladies again?" Steve teased, which embarrassed Dion slightly.

"I was going to say I hoped not," Trey interjected, "but if those liaisons keep producing beautiful babies like this, then I can overlook his indiscretions."

If Steve's comment had embarrassed Dion, then he was totally flabbergasted by Trey's statement. I don't believe he expected his partner would say anything like this and the look on his face was priceless, as the meaning of Trey's words sank in. Once he'd regained his composure, Dion had a question for Steve.

"Uncle Steve, Penny put my name on the birth certificate as Wyatt's father and she even put his full name down as Wyatt Jacob Currie. Is that legal?" he wondered.

"The state doesn't require paternity tests before the information is recorded on the birth certificates," Steve answered, "and usually those responsible just take the parents word for it. If it is a single parent, then they usually take the mother's word that the information is accurate. If she decided to list you as the father, there's nothing illegal about it, but it will definitely make things easier for you, as far as the custody issue."

"How do you mean?" Dion pressed.

"Well, since you are already listed as the father, all you have to do is have her agree to give you sole custody of your son. Then, Trey can adopt him later and agree to share custody with you, so you'll both have paternal rights," Steve explained.

We were glad he'd been able to clear this up for us.

Over the course of the weekend, we had many, many visitors. Sally, Susan, Alice, Dustin and Katie, along with Cole and Beth all dropped by, and they were followed by many of Dion and Trey's co-workers and colleagues from school. Of course, everyone wanted to hold the baby and many of them also brought gifts, as their way of welcoming Wyatt into the family.

Later, after the others had left, Jesse, Elliot and Noah all took turns holding the baby too. I knew Jesse had done this with Joshie when he was first born, but I don't think the other two have ever had the experience of holding an infant before. After watching them with Wyatt, I have a strong suspicion that Elliot and Noah will be spoiling their cousin and Jesse will be doing the same with his new nephew.

Throughout the course of the day, so many different people held Wyatt that I thought he might have trouble differentiating whom his parents are. However, when Dion sat in the rocking chair and held him later, Wyatt looked up at his father and gave him a huge smile. I think he's figured things out for himself, even with all of the confusion.

Now that we're into October, Jesse and Elliot have become totally immersed in preparing for this year's haunted house. Jesse's friends also offered to help again and Elliot asked Hayden to give them a hand too. A short time later, we discovered that Elliot had asked someone else if he wanted to help as well.

Following one of his meets, Elliot had just finished taking his shower and was getting dressed when Ian came over to speak with him.

"You're looking better on that handstand dive every day," Ian began. "That's got to be really hard to do and it looks as if it must be a little scary to pull off as well."

"Yeah, I don't get to do too many handstands, except at practice and meets and I'm always a little concerned about losing my balance before I'm ready," Elliot answered, "but you've just given me an idea. Maybe I can find a way to work it into something scary for the haunted house this year."

"Haunted house?" Ian asked.

"Yeah, my family has one nearly every year," Elliot explained.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Ian responded. "I went to it a few times when I was younger."

"Did you like it?" Elliot wondered.

"Yeah, it was cool," Ian agreed. "It didn't scare me, but it scared the crap out of a few of my friends."

"Neat," Elliot told him. "I didn't get to do much last year, because my uncle wanted me to go through it first, when they did their practice run. Then he let me help out on Halloween night and it was pretty cool."

"I'll bet it was," Ian replied. "It sounds like it would be a blast to be able to scare the other kids."

"Hey, would you like to help us then?" Elliot offered. "We always need extra people to pull it off."

"Sure," Ian agreed. "I think it would be fun."

Elliot's wish was finally coming true, when Ian began showing up at the house to help them out with this year's haunted house. Now, Elliot had a better opportunity to find out if Ian was only being friendly or if he might have an actual interest in him. Elliot figured Ian might be more willing to open up here, rather than at school where there are so many others around.

When he showed up the first time, Ian was glad to see Hayden at the house as well, since he already knew him. He'd felt a little weird about being here at first, since he didn't know Jesse or his friends, but having both Elliot and Hayden there made him feel less out of place. Gradually, he began to relax and permitted himself to focus on what they were trying to do.

Once everyone who was going to take part in the planning had arrived, the group started to narrow down who was going to do what this year. Not only were they trying to determine who was going to work at each specific station, but they were also taking time to discuss each idea that had been used in the past, so they could see if they needed to modify or even eliminate any of those activities this time around.

In addition to the various things they were working on, the boys asked me to hook up the suspension walkway again, since they felt it had worked so well last year. They also came up with something new they wanted to add to the outside experience and asked if I'd help them set that up as well. I won't tell you what we are planning just yet, but the idea for it originated from something the boys saw during our visit to Ghostly Mansion. We only have to modify the idea slightly, in order to make it work to our advantage.

The boys are also trying to make sure Noah doesn't get involved in or see what is going on with the haunted house, because they want him to be surprised when they take him through it. Since he doesn't have anyone else to do things with, he's started spending a great deal of his free time with Joshie instead. Whenever Noah isn't involved with his soccer team, Joshie and he play together outdoors while it is still light out. They also compete against each other on the Wii in the family room, watch cartoons and other shows on the television or do a variety of other things, once it starts to get dark. This is actually working out quite well and it is allowing those two boys a chance to grow even closer to each other during this time.

I think all of us are enjoying the time we get to spend with Wyatt too. I take care of him during the day, while his fathers are at work, and then they take over the responsibility once they arrive home. The boys are also spending time with Wyatt and will either take time to play or talk to him when they're home. Whenever Noah isn't around, Joshie will play peek-a-boo with Wyatt or tell him about his day. It is really cute to watch him when he does this and Joshie is continually proving that he is a really good big brother.

Whenever Wyatt and I are alone, I spend a lot of time sitting in the rocking chair holding him. I do this whenever I am giving him a bottle, reading him a story or merely telling him about our family. Sure, I'm aware of the fact that he probably doesn't understand what I'm saying, but I believe it is helping to develop his language skills. Besides, I love watching him as he stares up at me or even occasionally flashes me one of his sweet smiles, but I also hope that by doing this it is helping him to bond with me. In fact, I hope he is bonding with the others and developing his social skills as they interact with him.

Even though we haven't heard from Penny since we brought Wyatt home, she did tell us that she might wait until he was older before she contacted us. She'd stated that she wanted him to be able to understand what she had to tell him first, before she would get in touch with us again. I hope she comes to see him before then though, because I think Wyatt needs to bond with her, as well as with his daddies and the rest of the family.

In the interim, we also have to be concerned about how the other boys are doing too, since they all came to us with their own set of problems. Fortunately, they've all been handling their various situations quite well, so we are able to spend more time focusing on the positives, rather than dealing with other issues.

Noah and Elliot are both doing quite well on their sports teams, even if their squads aren't winning every contest. Even though they are both participating in a team sport, Elliot's competition is more individually oriented. He has been gaining confidence in the dives he's doing and his scores have been showing improvement, even if they aren't falling in what might be considered the outstanding range right now. Seeing he is only a sophomore this year and has two more years to compete, his coach feels he is showing significant progress and this will pay dividends during his final two years on the squad.

Noah is also doing very well, and even though soccer is most definitely team oriented, his individual performance and growth has been remarkable. We've only recently discovered that he is the youngest member on his seventh-eighth grade team, but that hasn't stopped him from earning a starting spot. So far, he has scored three goals, made several assists and has also pulled off some very impressive defensive stops. His coach seems very pleased that he'll still be eligible to play on the team again next year and I think we all consider his accomplishments as being outstanding. I only hope that both boys stay active in these sports throughout their school careers.

During the weeks leading up to Halloween, the various fathers and I tried to discover how the boys wanted to dress up for the holiday this year. We felt we needed to take care of this early and not leave it until the last minute, so we could ensure they would have the costumes they desired.

Since Joshie loves to watch football games with me, he's decided he wants to go out as a football player. This created a minor problem for his fathers, because they've never been involved in sports themselves, so neither of them is quite sure what he would need to do this. When they asked me if I'd be willing to do the shopping for a uniform that would fit Joshie, I quickly agreed. I then contacted a friend of mine who coaches a youth football team. After telling him what I needed, he immediately offered to let me borrow a helmet, shoulder pads and football pants for Joshie to wear. Then, I went out and bought Joshie a jersey to go with it and a pair of athletic shoes that looked like football spikes to complete his outfit.

While I was taking care of this, Dion and Trey used their free time to go shopping for something for Wyatt to wear. They ended up buying him an infant Teddy Bear costume, so they could bring him along while they were taking Joshie door-to-door to the houses of our extended family and some of their friends. They wanted Wyatt to go with them, even though he won't be getting any candy, so their friends and our extended family could see him too. His costume, however, is merely meant to help keep him warm while they are outdoors and to make him blend in with the holiday theme.

Danny and Brandon also questioned Noah about whether he was planning to go out trick or treating this year. When he stated he'd like to, they told him they'd take him along with Dion and Trey, while that pair is taking Joshie and Wyatt out. At this point, Noah decided to ask Elliot if he is going to go with them, but Elliot explained he'd be busy with the haunted house. Elliot stated it this way, because he didn't want to tell Noah he was too old to go begging for candy. He was afraid that if he said it like that, then Noah wouldn't want to go either and Elliot didn't want his brother to stay behind just because he wasn't going trick or treating.

After taking Noah to several stores and looking at a multitude of costume choices, Noah still hadn't decided on what he wanted to be. This inability to select a costume for Halloween continued for another week, so we were becoming concerned that he wasn't going to settle on something in time. We were almost ready to confront him about this, when he suddenly informed us of his decision.

"I've decided that I want to go as Uncle Frankie this year," he announced, one evening at dinner. "He's better than Batman, Superman or Harry Potter, so I want to dress up like him."

To say the least, this surprised all of us, but we were very supportive of his decision. I know my first reaction was a desire to call Frankie and inform him about what Noah wanted to do, but first I had to help Danny and Brandon work out some other issues. Since they had never done anything like this before, meaning a homemade costume, they weren't sure how to proceed.

When I saw their confusion over this detail, I quickly suggested they should just leave the matter to me and I'd work something out for Noah. I explained that I know a seamstress who will probably be able to help us with this problem, if she isn't too busy. Once I spoke with her on the phone, she agreed she'd be happy to assist us and then explained what she would need. The following day, I went out and bought the material she'd indicated and took Noah over to her place after his practice, so she could measure him. She needed to do that first, so she could transform the cloth into an authentic looking uniform.

Once this had been taken care of, I called to tell Frankie about what Noah was planning to do. As soon as he heard this, Frankie immediately stated that he wanted to send a few items for Noah to use with his outfit. He told me he was going to buy some things that Noah could use on or with his uniform, because he was totally thrilled that Noah had chosen to do this. Frankie also planned to include a card in the package, so he could add a special handwritten note that Noah could open and read when these items were delivered.

The package arrived a few days later, but I held onto it until after I'd picked up Noah's uniform from the seamstress. When I got home, I presented Noah with the uniform, which he immediately went to try on. When he came back to show us how it fit, I was impressed with how good he looked in it. The uniform consisted of a light-gray, long-sleeved shirt, with dark epaulets on each shoulder, and a darker colored pair of pants, complete with piping. It was perfect and Noah looked just like a real little trooper.

As I stood admiring how great he appeared, I suddenly thought about the package from Frankie and went to get it. When I came back, I handed it to Noah.

"What's this?" he asked, while looking at me quizzically.

"Well, I called your Uncle Frankie and told him that you wanted to go trick or treating dressed like him," I began. "As soon as he heard about it, he told me that he wanted to send you a few accessories to help make your uniform appear real. Those items are in the box, so open it up and see what he sent you."

Noah hurriedly tore the box open and looked inside. When he saw what was contained within, his mouth dropped open and his eyes bulged out from their sockets.

"It's a real trooper hat!" he exclaimed, as he pulled it out of the package. "And there's other stuff in here with it. There's two trooper patches, a badge, a pair of handcuffs, a holster and gun, a tie and a pin with the name 'Currie' printed on it."

"I know," I confirmed. "The trooper hat is the smallest one Frankie could buy and the patches are the same ones he wears on his shoulders. I'll have my friend sew one on each arm for you, like the troopers wear them. I'm afraid the badge, handcuffs, holster and pistol aren't real, but they'll serve the purpose you need them for. The nametag is real though. Frankie sent you one of his and said he'd just order a couple of new ones. The tie is one of his too."

"Wow, that's so neat!" Noah agreed, "and there's a card in here with everything else."

"Yes, Frankie sent that to you as well," I confessed.

Noah had heard what I'd said, but he didn't immediately react. Instead, he merely stood there looking at the envelope, so I thought I'd better prod him.

"I think he expects you to open it," I teased.

Noah suddenly snapped out of his trance and turned toward where his fathers and I were standing. He glanced up at us briefly, grinned and then began to rip open the envelope. He didn't say a word for a few seconds and merely stood gawking at the card.

"Well, what does it say?" Brandon wanted to know.

After another moment or two, Noah found his voice and responded.

"It's a Halloween card, but Uncle Frankie wrote something inside," he informed us.

"What did he write?" Danny asked.

"Uh, Uncle Frankie wrote, 'I'm very proud to have a nephew like you and I'm honored that you want to dress up as a Pennsylvania State Trooper. Although you told everyone you were doing this because you wanted to be me, I think every member of the State Police department will be honored to see you dressed up as one of us. I'm sending you these things to make you look official and I hope you have a great time trick or treating. Please make sure to have your fathers or Papa take some pictures of you when you're in your uniform, so you can send me copies. I want to keep some for myself, but I want to hang one or more up on the bulletin board at the barracks, so everyone else can see you too. Love, Uncle Frankie.'" Noah read.

When he looked up at us again, his eyes appeared to be quite moist this time.

"Wow, that was really nice of your Uncle Frankie," Brandon acknowledged. "Yeah, it was," Noah agreed. "I'm glad I decided to dress up as him."

We still had a few days to go, but I'm sure Noah will not only look impressive, but he will possibly also become the unofficial Troop M mascot. I have a feeling that once Frankie's co-workers see the pictures of him dressed up in his uniform, they will be as impressed as the rest of us are with his choice of costume.

As we reached the final days of the month, the boys were hurriedly putting the final touches on the haunted house. I had to help them with a couple of the things they were still trying to accomplish, but for the most part this had been entirely their project. They finished getting the last of these items in place two nights before Halloween, because they are planning to do a practice run the following night.

Joshie and Noah will be going through it then, so they'll be able to go out trick-or-treating with their fathers on Halloween. The brothers and sisters of those working on the haunted house will also be going through it with them during the practice run, so the boys can see how they react to the various things they've prepared. This way, they'll be able to iron out any glitches they discover and correct them before the big night.

On Sunday, the 30th, our place was transformed into a 'spooktacular' haunted house. Once I was given the signal, I brought out the group that was going on the practice run and we moved from the front of the house to the backyard. Once we were in position, we passed by our impromptu graveyard next, which contained tombstones with the names of some of the worst murders in history. There was a headstone for Jack the Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacey, Son of Sam, Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson, Joseph Stalin, Vlad the Impaler, Mao Zedong and Saddam Hussein, but this year the tombstone for Osama Bin Laden was appropriately placed here and not just wishful thinking.

Some of the children were prepared for our first little surprise, because we've done the same thing in the past. It's where one of Jesse's friends emerges from under an artificial grass rug in front of one of the tombstones, but while they were focused on him, some of the other boys were geared up to surprise them with a little misdirection. Three others, dressed completely in black so they'd blend in with the night, then slipped up on our 'visitors' from behind and grabbed some of the unsuspecting children. This unexpected scare caused those individuals to emit terrified screams, as our three culprits, Ian, Hayden and Elliot, released maniacal laughs.

After that little surprise, the children had to make their way across the small, suspension walkway, which I had hooked up again this year. As they were watching their step, so they wouldn't fall as they crossed it to get to our backdoor, the next surprise was unleashed upon them. Three ghosts – white, billowy and flowing, suddenly came rushing toward them from the side.

This new wrinkle had been added as a result of something the boys had seen during our trip to the Ghostly Mansion. Once they figured out what they wanted to do, they had me hook up a device near the chimney to initiate this new wrinkle. After this was in place, I connected three ropes to it and then fastened the other ends to various spots on the old apple tree, which is located on the other side of the walkway. In order to set this surprise in motion, I allowed Jesse to go up on the family room roof, where he released the trio of apparitions.

These ghostly forms were made from white bed sheets, but their heads were weighted and attached to rollers, so they would glide down the ropes, toward our unsuspecting guests. The weights, rollers, angle of the ropes and gravity took care of the rest, once Jesse let them go. At the same time, he also let out with his best imitation of ghostly sounds.

Hearing this new disturbance caused the children to look in that direction and they suddenly became aware of the three ghostly figures floating toward them. This unexpected sight elicited a new round of screams and even made a few of them jump backward in fright. This, in turn, caused a couple of them to lose their balance and fall over the side of the walkway. Since it is only a few inches above the ground, they didn't get hurt, but seeing them go down also helped to frighten the others even more, since they didn't fully understand why their companions had fallen.

After the children had recovered from this scare, we had them finish crossing the walkway, before they proceeded to the rear entrance of the house. As they were going inside, Jesse was busy repositioning the ghosts for the next group to show up. What he did was to utilize the strings I'd attached to each of the ghosts, so he could pull them back to the starting point again. Tonight, he would do this only once, but tomorrow night he would have to do this after each group entered the house and began their tour.

Once our visitors were in the rec room, they encountered the next series of ghoulish surprises that lurked within. As soon as the door opened, the sounds of maniacal laughter and screams filled the air, along with the sounds of thunder, which were accompanied by flashes of lightning that we created by using strobe lights. This gave the room the feel of walking through a thunderstorm, since the strobe lights were flashing on and off at various intervals to coincide with the sounds of thunder. This was another idea the boys had picked up at the Ghostly Mansion.

As the children entered this room, most of them immediately looked toward the coffin on their right, because they expected Dracula to open it and sit up, as he had in the past. However, the boys once again relied on misdirection and Dracula approached the children from behind instead. When he made his presence known, Dracula ended up surprising them yet again and this led to another round of screams. While the visitors were still focused on him, some other ghoulish forms rushed up and grabbed the visitors from the other side and this elicited another round of wails, which now echoed through the house.

These 'ghoulish forms' were Elliot, Ian and Hayden again. After frightening the children outside, they had snuck into the house while the 'floating ghosts' were distracting and scaring the children next. Once inside, this trio slipped on the rubber masks and fake hands we had waiting for them there, so they could scare this group once again. The three boys will still have time to take the masks off and go back outside, after the children continue on, but by utilizing this trio again it limited the number of 'helpers' we needed to pull this off. They'll still be ready to scare the next group outside and will be in place long before those children make their way around the house to begin the experience.

Once the children had gotten over their most recent shock, they found they now had to walk, single file, between two skeletons made of solid plastic bones, but which appeared to be very real. It was impossible to get past these skeletons any other way or else they'd be forced to step on the headless corpses, rubber snakes and other artificial creepy crawlers that were strewn over nearly every inch of open space on either side of the slender walkway. This year we'd also added a robotic spider, which one of the boys controlled and could make move toward anyone at any moment. The skeletons were also arranged so our visitors would find it difficult not to bump into one or both of them as they passed by.

When the children got by this obstacle and reached the hallway beyond, they were then confronted by one of the big hits from the previous year. Once again, we had the large plastic replica of the front-end of a snub-nose cab of an 18-wheeler, complete with battery-generated headlights. As the children started down the corridor, one of the boys sounded an air-horn and the headlights were suddenly turned on. Then the cab was very rapidly moved a short distance toward our guests, to make it appear as if it was driving at them. The same way as had happened the previous year, the combination of the noise, lights and movement caused those in the front of the line to either stop dead in their tracks or attempt to jump backwards, in order to get out of the way.

Once the children managed to get over that fright, they were then led to the door leading into the basement. Before they were able to start down the stairs though, one of Jesse's friends reached around the corner and squirted them with a fine spray of water, which was meant to feel like the gentle mist blowing in from a nearby waterfall. The perpetrator was dressed entirely in black and had been hiding out of sight, around the corner in the foyer, armed with a mist spray bottle for this purpose. After he sprayed them, he ducked back out of sight, so no one knew where the water had come from as they were being led down the steps to the cellar. As they proceeded down the stairway, they were forced to walk through an array of fake spider webs, rubber spiders and plastic cockroaches, which were either dangling or attached to the walls along the way.

When the group reached the bottom, they had to walk very close to four large aquariums, which the boys had filled with various creepy delights. One of the tanks held spiders, the next a variety of bugs, another was filled with worms, snails and slugs, and the final tank held a collection of snakes in it. Even though we had done this in previous years, this time the tanks had been placed in a different order, so those who had been through this before wouldn't know which of these creepy delights they were going to encounter next.

As in the past, the boys had covered the tanks with clear, plastic lids, so our 'props' wouldn't escape, but we had also hooked up spotlights above and slightly behind each tank. As the children moved near each one, the light that shone on it would be turned on, to highlight what was contained within. When the children suddenly became aware that they were standing so close to this series of revolting creatures, we heard a few gasps and more screams, as their bodies shuddered uneasily, as if they'd just felt a sudden chill. Their reactions were then quickly greeted by the sounds of some gleeful cackling from more of Jesse's friends.

After hurriedly moving away from this area, the children were led past a table containing an array of body parts, most of which seemed to be able to move on their own. First there was a bloody arm, which would occasionally reach out and attempt to grab a passerby. There was also a severed head, which appeared to be setting on a platter, and the head would open its eyes and speak as the children walked by. In reality, the head belonged to Vinnie, who had once again volunteered to help and was made up to look like a very haggard Osama Bin Laden, complete with his infamous turban. We weren't planning to use Osama again this year, but after he was killed during the raid in Pakistan, we felt we couldn't pass up the opportunity to feature him one more time.

Above this table, and throughout the basement, we had hung pairs of glow in the dark eyeballs, which made it appear as if the eyes were floating without a body. We'd even hung them over the table where the children would collect their treats, but those items lost their impact when the entire area was lit up, so the children could see what treats we were offering.

As we had in previous years, our visitors were allowed to choose from an assortment of seasonally appropriate treats the boys had either made themselves or purchased specifically for this occasion. The children were now permitted to select any five items from what we were offering. All they had to do was indicate what they wanted and someone would place those things in their bag. The selection included some new treats this year, such as Marzipan Fingers, licorice bats and cat poop cookies (although the ingredients didn't call for actual cat poop), along with our standard white chocolate eyeballs, gummy worms, thumb lollipops, bones made from pretzels and covered in white chocolate, and chewy candy tongues.

"That was great and really fun!" Noah exclaimed, once we got back upstairs. "I've never done anything like that before and it was super neat. Thank you for letting me go through it tonight."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," his brother told him.

I think Elliot was even more thrilled than Noah, and he was ecstatic that Noah was so pleased and excited about having had this experience.

"Yeah, I didn't think I would be frightened this year," one of Jesse's friend's sister told us, "but you changed a bunch of stuff around, so I still got scared."

"That was fun," Joshie added. "It was better than last time."

We understood Joshie meant he enjoyed it more than when he'd gone through it last year, and seeing the kids' enthusiastic reactions made all the hard work we had done worthwhile. I think we were now invigorated for tomorrow night and pray it will go just as well.

Once everyone else went home, Noah and Joshie told Jesse and Elliot the things they liked the most about the haunted house and where they experienced their biggest scares. I think this was good feedback for the boys, along with what they heard from the others who had gone through it this evening. After they add these comments to the ones they'll hear tomorrow night, I'm sure they'll find a way to use this information to make this experience even better next year.

The boys all went to bed on a high, which was possibly made more intense by a sugar rush, since they indulged in a few treats afterward. Noah was thrilled that he got to go through the haunted house, which meant even more to us once we learned he'd never been to one before. Elliot, on the other hand, was still walking on cloud nine because Ian had participated and they've been growing closer. During the past couple of weeks, they've been able to hang around each other – more than just being on the swim team together, and they've even found a few opportunities to be alone. I'm not sure if anything happened during those times, but Elliot did seem to enjoy each occasion. Now, I wonder which one, Noah, Elliot or both, might experience sweet dreams tonight or will they possibly have to deal with nightmares.

On Monday, which is Halloween, Dion and Trey started getting their sons' costumes ready when they arrived home from work, so they'll be able to take them out trick or treating as soon as it gets dark. Danny and Brandon also urged Noah to make sure he had all of his things ready too, so he wouldn't have to run around searching for something at the last minute.

That evening, we had an early dinner and then the fathers started to help the boys get ready to go out. Actually, Dion and Trey asked me to help Joshie, since they had no idea how to help him put on the shoulder pads or which was the front and back of the jersey. While I was doing this, they started getting Wyatt ready.

Noah was taking care of dressing himself, although Danny had to help him with his tie. Once that had been taken care off, Noah placed the handcuffs in his back pocket, so a part of it hung out for people to see, and then he strapped on his holster and gun, before he put on his hat. It was a little large for his head, but Brandon had stuffed it with tissue paper so it wouldn't drop down over his eyes.

Once he was completely dressed, Noah looked almost as handsome as Frankie had, when we went to see him receive his awards. We immediately snapped a bunch a pictures of him, along with some of Joshie and Wyatt, so we would have lasting memories of this night. We were also sending a duplicate copy of Noah's photos to Frankie, so he could use them however he wished.

Once the trick or treaters drove off with their dads, Jake and I turned our attention to the haunted house. We had to organize each group of Halloweeners as they arrived and then wait with them until the previous group came out the front door. That would be our signal to take the next group around to the back to begin their turn. In the end, it turned out to be a great night for all of us, each in our own way.

Once the boys returned to school, things quieted down for the time being. Noah's soccer season ended and he's decided he isn't interested in participating in any of the winter sports. The reason for this is that he feels he's too short and unskilled to play basketball, plus he has absolutely no interest in wrestling. Therefore, he came to the conclusion that he'll just take the winter season off. Elliot, however, is still involved with the swim team until the end of January, so Jesse and I, along with Hayden's mother, are still required to take turns picking that pair up after practice, as well as attending as many of their meets as possible.

Following their first practice after Halloween, Ian pulled Elliot aside for a couple of minutes, before they went to meet up with their rides.

"I really want to thank you for inviting me to help with the haunted house," Ian told him. "I had a great time."

"Great! Then you can help us next year too," Elliot offered. "I'm pretty sure we'll do it again."

"I'd like that," Ian confirmed. "I liked working with you, and I enjoyed being around your family. They're all pretty cool."

"Thanks. I'm glad you approve," Elliot confessed. "Not everyone is as open-minded about my dads, grandfathers and uncles."

Ian stared into Elliot's eyes for a few seconds, as if he were studying him. What Elliot didn't know was that Ian was trying to determine if he should say what he was thinking, but unfortunately he never got the chance to do it. Just when he had worked up the courage to speak, Hayden showed up and ruined the moment. This meant Ian just lost his opportunity to tell Elliot what was on his mind.

Hayden, on the other hand, had merely wandered over to get Elliot, so they could go outside and see if their ride had arrived. It was my turn to pick them up, but I hadn't gone inside to let them know I was there, as I usually did. I had become distracted by a call I received on my cell phone just as I was pulling into the parking lot.

The call was from a friend who wanted to let me know that a mutual friend was very ill and had been taken to the hospital. After hearing this, I got really involved in our conversation for a few minutes, as I tried to learn all of the details.

Before I'd finished my discussion, the boys came out and spotted me. They didn't seem bothered by the fact that I hadn't come inside to let them know I was here. In fact, they both appeared to be in a very good mood, as they climbed in and buckled up.

"You guys look unusually happy. It must have been a good practice," I acknowledged, after ending the call and noting their broad smiles.

"Yeah, you could say it was pretty good," Elliot admitted. "I did a dive today that I've never been able to do consistently before, a back 3.5 somersault pike. Today I did it well all three times I tried. It has a 3.6 degree of difficulty, which is a tenth higher than the handstand dive I've been doing, so I'm hoping this new dive will help me improve my overall score."

"Well, that explains YOUR mood," I agreed.

"And Hayden knocked almost a half-second off his best time in the 100 m butterfly during a practice heat," Elliot added, immediately after I finished speaking.

"That's fantastic!" I exclaimed. "It must be the spirits from All Hallows Eve were pleased with your efforts on their behalf with the haunted house, so they decided to grant you a boon."

The boys both looked at me rather oddly, before they burst into laughter.

"Yeah, the ghosts and goblins were chasing Hayden and that's what made him swim faster," Elliot teased.

"And they were helping Elliot when he did his dives, like a puppet on their strings," Hayden shot back.

The boys continued joking around about their recent accomplishments, all the way to Hayden's house. As I watched them interact, I was glad they were having such a good time and their hard work is paying off.

After we dropped Hayden off, we continued home. When we got there, Elliot leaped out of the car and raced off to find Jesse. Unlike my grandson, I took my time going inside and then merely resumed working on dinner. I didn't see any of the boys again until we sat down to eat later.

After he bolted through the front door, Elliot rushed upstairs and went straight to Jesse's room. He found Jesse doing his homework, and when Jesse looked up, Elliot began talking excitedly. However, instead of telling him about his diving milestone, he had something else he wanted to discuss with him.

"Ian pulled me aside after practice and thanked me for including him in the haunted house," he began. "He said he liked working with me and being around our family, and thinks we're all pretty cool. I think he was going to say something else, but Hayden showed up just then and spoiled the moment."

"So what do you think Ian was going to say?" Jesse wanted to know.

"I'm not sure, but he was looking at me kind of strangely," Elliot admitted. "I got the feeling that he wanted to ask me something, but then Hayden came over and said we should go outside and wait for our ride."

"Damn, that was bad timing," Jesse teased.

"Yeah, I know. Now, I'll have to wait and see if Ian works up the nerve to say what he was going to," Elliot mused, although he didn't look confident it was going to happen now.

During dinner, when Danny and Brandon asked him how his day went, Elliot eagerly switched gears again and told them about the dive he'd pulled off that afternoon.

"Hey, how come you didn't tell me about that when you came up to my room?" Jesse whined, while showing a mild pout.

"It must have slipped my mind," Elliot replied.

"Yeah, right!" Jesse moaned. "You just forgot that you'd finally mastered a dive you've been working on the entire season."

Elliot ignored Jesse's protest, because he didn't want to share the detail of the conversation they'd had with the rest of us. Instead, he turned back to his dads and told them about Hayden's accomplishment too. He figured he'd explain this to Jesse later and tell him that thinking about what Ian might have said made him forget about the other stuff.

The problem was, Elliot found it difficult to find time to be alone with Jesse later, because Noah wanted to hang out with them after they'd finished their homework. However, once Noah went to bed, Elliot slipped into Jesse's room and explained the oversight to him. Jesse just smiled and said he'd already figured it out for himself, but he liked watching Elliot squirm when he mentioned it at the table. In response, Elliot punched Jesse in the shoulder for putting him on the spot in front the rest of the family.

Fortunately, neither boy chose to escalate the incident into a crisis. In fact, they had a good laugh about it before they went to bed. I'm certainly glad they understand each other and get along so well.

The next day and a half went by fairly quickly and uneventfully, until we went to see Elliot's next meet, on Thursday. During the competition, Elliot threw caution to the wind and did his newly perfected dive in the optionals, along with the handstand dive and the forward 2.5 somersault pike. Since the first two dives are both rated more difficult than the two dives he had done at the first meet we watched him dive, Elliot dramatically increased his chances to score higher than on his previous outings.

Even though Elliot executed both dives fairly well, the scores the judges awarded him didn't fall into the exceptional range, so he still finished behind three of his competitors. On the bright side, his coach was extremely complimentary about his effort and pleased that he had attempted both of those dives today. He told Elliot that if he kept working on them and improving, then his scores would raise accordingly. Now, he just has to find a third dive that will compliment those two, so he can consistently place at the top of the field.

On Friday, after everyone arrived home from school, work and practice, we had to get ready for another big event. As quickly as we could, we loaded our suitcases into the Suburban and then hopped inside. We were now ready to drive to Allentown to pick up Frankie. This was the weekend he was going to be honored in New York City and we were eager to be there to support him.

We'd sent back our R.S.V.P. for this event as soon as the invitation arrived, because we wanted to be certain to let them know how many family members would be attending. A few days later, we received a letter back notifying us that the appropriate number of rooms had been reserved in our names, for both Friday and Saturday evenings. It also stipulated that the reservations were being paid for out of the mayor's budget and all we had to do was provide our transportation to the hotel and check in.

Once we arrived in Allentown and met up with Frankie, he immediately told Noah how complementary the other troopers had been concerning his Halloween costume. He said they were all thrilled that Noah had chosen to do that and thought he looked fantastic in his uniform. They even framed the pictures and hung them on the wall just inside the main entrance. See, I told you Noah would become the Troop M mascot.

We planned to go out to eat first, before we continued our journey. Today also happened to be Noah's twelfth birthday and this dinner was going to serve as our celebration with him. We had intentionally avoided wishing him a happy birthday earlier, to see if he'd say something, but now we began making a big fuss about this being his special day. I believe Noah thought we'd all forgotten about his birthday, but now he was grinning, ear-to-ear and it continued as we headed out to eat.

I'd previously asked Frankie to make reservations at the same restaurant where we'd celebrated with him, after he'd received his awards. On that occasion, the owner and staff had proven to be extremely friendly and very accommodating, the menu selections were varied and the meals delicious, plus the atmosphere was conducive to holding a family celebration. For those reasons, we felt it was the perfect choice for this special event too.

After enjoying a lovely meal, the wait-staff brought out the cake I'd had Frankie special order for the occasion. They even joined in singing happy birthday to Noah, along with the family, and clapped and cheered as Noah blew out the candles. One of the waiters then cut the cake for us, as the others served it, and once we'd had our fill, I told them to take a slice for themselves and then give a piece of cake to any other children who were dining here this evening.

Before we left, Danny and Brandon gave Noah one of his presents. It was a cell phone, so he'd be able to call whenever he needed a ride or have the ability to contact us if something happened. They had preset each of our phone numbers in it for him and Noah was thrilled with his gift. The rest of us told him he'd get his other presents when we got home.

It was getting late as we started out on the final leg of our trip, but we were all excited, especially once we were close enough to spot the lights from the Big Apple. Frankie, on the other hand, was a bundle of nerves as he thought about what was going to happen and the attention he was bound to generate again. He wasn't exactly looking forward to receiving this additional recognition, but he did feel obligated to attend. I think having the rest of us with him helped to calm him down slightly and he told me later that he preferred to think of this as a family vacation, rather than as another award ceremony.

Our reservations were at the Paramount Hotel at Times Square and we were blown away with how elegant the hotel and individual rooms were. After we each enjoyed a wonderful night's sleep and downed our complimentary breakfast the following morning, we were taken to City Hall to formally meet the mayor.

After Mayor Bloomberg greeted our family, a member of his staff went over the itinerary they had scheduled for us. Once this briefing ended at City Hall, we were to be taken on a horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park and then we would attend a matinee performance of one of the newer Broadway shows, "The Book of Mormon." Incidentally, this is the first musical written by the creators of "South Park," with the music provided by the composer of "Avenue Q." Since this show had won nine Tony awards the previous season, I was looking forward to seeing it and I'm sure the others were too.

After those two activities, we were to be given some time to return to our rooms, so we could shower and change for the evening. Then we'd be taken to Gracie Mansion by limo, where Frankie would be the honored guest at a dinner ceremony to honor his heroic deeds.

The carriage ride in Central Park was relaxing, yet at the same time wonderfully stimulating. The temperature was cool, but not cold, and the leaves had previously changed color and were just beginning to fall, so it was also quite beautiful. I could tell Noah and Joshie were having a good time, since this was something they had never experienced before, and their enthusiasm ended up making this activity quite enjoyable for the rest of us.

"Wow, this is awesome!" Noah exclaimed. "This park is huge. I didn't even know they had trees in New York City."

"Even though most of it is pavement and skyscrapers," Brandon replied, "the city managed to keep this area green and natural for the city residents to enjoy."

"Papa, is this how you went places when you were little?" Joshie asked.

I immediately glared at his fathers, to see if they had prompted my grandson to say this, but they just shrugged their shoulders. I guess Joshie must have come up with his question without any assistance from anyone else.

"No, Joshie, there were cars when I was little," I answered. "I think maybe my grandfather or great-grandfather may have traveled in a carriage or a wagon at some point though."

That answer seemed to make Joshie happy, so he went back to looking around and trying to spot squirrels and other animals in the park.

Once our ride ended, we were then whisked over to the Eugene O'Neill Theater to see "The Book of Mormon." This musical is about two Mormon missionaries who are sent to Uganda to covert the natives. I found the show to be hilarious and very enjoyable. I especially got a kick out of a comment one of the missionaries uttered after he first arrived and observed, "Africa is nothing like the Lion King."

Not only was the dialogue witty and the songs catchy, but the sets were also excellently done. It was one of those shows that can be appreciated on several different levels, so there is something in it that each of us was able to enjoy.

Throughout the day, I'd noticed that Elliot was quieter than usual. He also seemed to be sticking closer to Danny and Brandon, instead of hanging out with Jesse and Noah. When we got back to the hotel, I pulled him aside as everyone else was crowding into the elevators to head up to our rooms.

"What's up," Elliot asked, once the doors closed and the others were underway.

"I was hoping you could tell me," I replied. "You've been pretty quiet today and you've hardly let your dads get very far from your side."

"Oh that," Elliot replied, nonchalantly. "It's nothing."

"Are you sure?" I pressed. "It sure seems as if something is bothering you."

"It's just that I've been here a bunch of times with my dad," Elliot admitted. "I guess being here just brought back some memories of when I was here with him."

"I didn't realize you'd been here before," I responded, as I contemplated the mixed emotions he must be dealing with. "I'm surprised you never told us this."

"It wasn't a big deal," Elliot stated. "Just sometimes when I wasn't in school my dad would bring me here with him, when he came down on business. The job he had meant he worked with people and companies that are here."

"Are you certain you're alright then?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's nothing. Trust me, I'm fine," Elliot assured me.

"Okay, if your sure," I agreed, "but if you need to talk about it later, promise you'll come see me or your dads."

Elliot agreed to my request and confirmed that he would, and he also reassured me he was fine. I gave him a quick hug before we caught the next elevator, and when we got to our floor, I sent him off to get ready.

After everyone had cleaned up and changed, we still had some time to catch our breath, before the limo arrived to take us to Gracie Mansion. On the ride there, I noticed that Elliot was the only one of the kids who didn't seem overwhelmed by our new surroundings. While Jesse, Noah and Joshie were totally engrossed by this new experience and eagerly exploring the various features and hidden compartments in the limo, Elliot merely stared out the window.

When we arrived at our destination, Elliot immediately got out with the rest of the adults, but we almost literally had to drag the other three out of the limo. They were so enthralled with their investigation of the interior that the only way we could get them to leave was to promise we'd let them continue this activity on the ride back. That seemed to work, because they jumped out and joined the rest of us.

When we went inside Gracie Mansion, Mayor Bloomberg greeted our family again and then introduced us to a variety of other dignitaries who had been invited to attend. After we had met the last of these important guests, we were led inside and shown to our table.

Once we'd been seated, the meal was served. It was an elegant affair and one that the boys weren't accustomed to. Since there were items the boys had never tried before, we spent some time persuading them to take at least one bite of everything. Although they didn't care for every item they tasted, they did at least try it, which we, as parents, were glad to see.

I also noticed that Elliot had instructed Noah to place his napkin on his lap and was helping all of the boys get acquainted with the proper fork and glassware. I often forget the background he comes from, given how well he's adapted to our household. When we finished eating and the dishes were cleared, Mayor Bloomberg rose from his seat and moved in front of the podium, which was located next to his seat at the head table.

After a few words of greeting and a brief explanation about how Frankie had prevented the City from being targeted by another terrorist attack, he asked Frankie to stand and approach the dais. When Frankie got up, a very loud and lengthy round of applause greeted him. Once this died down, Mayor Bloomberg told those in the audience about the awards Frankie had received previously and then he re-presented Frankie with the 'Key to the City.' Frankie received a standing ovation from those in attendance as he took the key again, and although he was slightly embarrassed by this adulation, he managed to accept it with grace and dignity.

Once the ceremony ended, many people approached Frankie, so they could offer him their personal thank you and shake his hand, as well as to commend him for his actions. They also approached the rest of us and stated that we must be very proud of Frankie, while at the same time shaking our hands.

After nearly an hour of this, I thought it was becoming fairly obvious that Frankie was growing uncomfortable from all of this attention. I could tell he was eager to escape being the main attraction, but he also felt obligated to stick around. When I mention this to him, in a private moment, he told me he felt we should stay for another hour. I was fine with that, so he continued chatting with some of the others in attendance.

As soon as another hour had passed, we finally decided it would be acceptable and not appear rude if we excused ourselves. With that in mind, we made our way over to Mayor Bloomberg again and thanked him for the city's hospitality. We then politely told him we felt it was time for us to head back to our rooms and explained that Noah and Joshie were tired and getting restless. After thanking Frankie once again and praising his diligence a final time, he bid us goodnight and sent word to have the limo pick us up in front of the Mansion.

After spending a second night in our wonderful hotel accommodations and enjoying another complimentary breakfast, we were taken on a brief tour of the City next. First, we were escorted to the observation deck of the Empire State Building and then we were given an unprecedented glimpse of the work being done at the former World Trade Center site. After we left that location, we were then taken for a VIP tour of the Statue of Liberty.

I will say that Mayor Bloomberg and the city went all out for us and we greatly appreciated everything they did. After meeting up with the Mayor and thanking him for everything he did for us again, we said our final goodbyes and made the return trip to Allentown. After we dropped Frankie off at his apartment, we traveled the final leg home, thus ending the whirlwind of activity and an extremely hectic, yet wonderful, weekend.

I believe we were all dragging a little throughout the following day, but we managed to survive. I'm sure that being a little tired also accounted for Elliot being caught off-guard when Ian approached him after swim practice.

"Elliot, there's something I'd like to ask you, but I don't want to do it here," Ian began.

"Oh, okay," Elliot replied simply. "Where do you want to do it then?"

"Would you mind if I called you tonight, so we can discuss it privately?" Ian followed.

Although Elliot wasn't sure why Ian was being so formal and cryptic, he was also somewhat excited and eagerly agreed to Ian's suggestion. After Ian left, Elliot was a bundle of nerves until after dinner, when Ian finally called.

"Elliot, I know this is probably asking a lot, but I really need a favor," Ian began. "My parents are going away after Thanksgiving and I don't want to go with them. They're visiting my dad's college, so they can go to a University of Florida football game. I'm not really interested in football and my parents will be going out after the game with my dad's old college buddies. I'm sure they'll be partying all night and I'll end up spending the entire weekend in the hotel room by myself, which will suck. I was wondering if maybe your family might let me stay with you from Friday through Sunday?"

Elliot's heart leaped into his throat when he heard this and numerous scenarios played out in his mind. After several seconds of delay, which kept Ian on pins and needles, Elliot finally found his tongue again.

"Sure, I'll ask my parents," he replied, "but I'm positive it won't be a problem. What about your sister? Is she going to go with your mom and dad?"

"No, she doesn't want to go either, so she's going to be staying with one of her friends," Ian replied. "I know it's the holiday weekend and all, but you don't think this will be a problem?"

"I'm sure it will be fine," Elliot responded. "We're going to have tons of company anyway, what with everyone coming home for Thanksgiving, so what's one more going to matter? Beside, everyone likes you. Papa is probably going to insist that you stay, once I explain the situation."

"Are you certain?" Ian asked, concerned. "I don't want to be a problem and mess up any of your holiday plans."

"Trust me. You won't," Elliot confirmed. "I'll check with my dads after I hang up and then I'll call you back to let you know what they say. Okay?"

"Yeah, that would be great," Ian agreed. "Thanks."

"Don't worry about it," Elliot assured him. "I'll call you as soon as I get an answer and I'm sure we'll have a great time while you're here."

Elliot was a bit tongue-tied when he first came down to speak with us, but eventually he was able to spit out his question. The four of us quickly agreed this would be fine and then watched, in fascination, as Elliot raced off to call Ian back. At this point, we didn't fully understand the nature of their relationship, but after we heard Jesse making some catcalls, we suspected this might be more than just an ordinary friendship.

Once Elliot relayed our decision, Ian said one of his parents would call the following evening to confirm things with either Danny or Brandon. We thought this sounded reasonable and seemed like a wise precaution, to be certain the boys hadn't just made this decision on their own. Therefore, Danny and Brandon looked forward to speaking with them, while Elliot spent his time walking around the house in a daze.

Since this discussion had reminded me about how quickly the days leading up to Thanksgiving were passing, I decided it was time to firm up our holiday plans. I knew we were going to have a larger turnout for this holiday, because the married couples were coming here for Thanksgiving this year and then going to their in-laws for Christmas. The only exception I knew of was going to be Shannon and Nick, who had somehow managed to get on the opposite rotation from everyone else.

When I mentioned this fact to Jake later, he decided to call the boys and mention it to them. Once Shannon and Nick were aware of this, they decided to alter their plans and get on the same schedule as the married couples. This way, they wouldn't miss seeing the same people every year. Their decision was fine with us, but Jake told them they would need to call Nick's parents and see if they would also agree to this change as well. Nick and Shannon agreed they would and then called us back later to say the Lawrences were fine with this arrangement too.

Over the next few days, while the boys were in school and their fathers were at work, I did my shopping and made certain I had everything I needed for the menu I'd planned. I also took time to confirm that the various extended family members were coming, so I could get a good grip on the number of people we will be feeding. When I spoke to them, they also informed me what they were planning to provide for the meal, so we didn't duplicate our efforts.

Mark and Duck each confirmed that they and their wives would be coming for Thanksgiving as well, so they'll be with all of us this year as well. This means everyone is going to be on the same schedule now, so we'll be having a huge gathering for Thanksgiving and a much smaller crowd at Christmas.

Elliot and Noah are excited that their Grandpa Pat and Grandma Brenda will be joining us as well. Noah is anxious to meet them in person, but I think he is also just as excited about meeting all of his new cousins too, since my grandchildren are all going to be here as well. Elliot had told Noah about his cousins and Noah is thrilled that there'll be others here who are around his age.

Jeff, Kevin's friend, has already arrived in the area as well and is currently staying with Kevin and Vinnie. His mother didn't come with him, since he wanted to get settled into his new job and be able to find a place for the two of them to live first. For that reason, she'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with some of her friends back home, while he's spending the holiday with us. We can tell Jeff feels badly about this, but he doesn't want to travel home for just the one day, since Kevin and he will be needed to work both the day before and the day after the holiday, since it is such a busy time.

We are all looking forward to the holiday now, although I have warned Elliot and Jesse that they probably won't be able to fool around with Nicky and Jordan while they are here. Not only will the house be more crowded than normal, which will mean it will be more difficult to find enough privacy to do anything, but Ian will also be joining us. Danny, Brandon, Jake and I talked it over and thought it would be best that neither Noah nor Ian accidentally discovered what the rest of them did when they were alone. Reluctantly, both Jesse and Elliot agreed to this stipulation. Now, all I have to do is figure out the room assignments.

As we entered the week of Thanksgiving, I thought I had ironed out the final, and most significant, detail for our holiday gathering. The primary issue that had kept me preoccupied was making sure we had a bed for everyone who was coming. As the family continues to grow, the house feels as though it's getting smaller, so I'd begun to fear we weren't going to be able to find sufficient space for everyone.

To make matters worse, my younger grandchildren are all old enough that it is no longer appropriate to have them bunk in with their parents. In order to alleviate some of this problem, Megan and Kylie are going to share a room, the same as their brothers have been doing, and Lucas will stay with Joshie.

Some of the others have also come forward to assist me with this problem. Cole and Dustin have each agreed to have one of our guests stay in their spare room and Mark and his wife would be staying with his mother, Susan, while Duck and his wife would be staying with Jesse's mother, Alice. Sally and the Shays have also offered to take in any of our overflow guests, so I think we've got more than enough room for everyone who is coming.

On top of everything else, we are also having an additional houseguest this year. After Ian asked to spend the weekend with us, Elliot asked Noah to stay in with him over the holiday, so Ian could use Noah's room. Elliot thought Ian might be more comfortable if they didn't have to share a bed, because he still isn't convinced Ian is gay. Elliot felt it would be best if he took things gradually and then had that discussion with Ian some other time, rather than expose a potential problem. Seeing this temporary arrangement is fine with Noah, our additional guest is all set too.

Many of our visitors began to arrive on Wednesday, but a few of them didn't show up until Thursday morning. We greeted everyone when they got here and helped each one get settled in. What I didn't notice was that Elliot had managed to pull Ricky aside for a heart-to-heart chat.

"I want to call a truce," he began. "Will you please promise not to pull any pranks on Noah or my friend, Ian, while he's with us?"

Ricky feigned a look of hurt and surprise, but Elliot knew it was just an act. Seeing Ricky still hadn't given him an answer, Elliot continued to press him for a response.

"Promise! No Pranks!" Elliot insisted.

"Do you think I'd do something so insensitive?" Ricky asked innocently, continuing his little game. Elliot frowned and spoke to him again.

"Judging from your track record, YES!" Elliot confirmed. "That's why I'm asking you to please promise that you won't do anything to Noah or Ian."

"Okay, okay. You win. I'll be good this year," Ricky confirmed, "but you have to promise not to pull any pranks on me either."

Ricky's request brought a grin to Elliot's face, as his thoughts drifted back to the pranks he'd pulled on Ricky the previous year. He'd only done that to get even with Ricky for the pranks he'd pulled on him.

"Fair enough," Elliot agreed. "Shake on it?"

They shook hands and then went in opposite directions. I'm not sure if they completely trusted each other, but with the house being so crowded, I think we'll all enjoy the holiday much more if their truce holds.

When the O'Haras arrived, Elliot and Noah raced out to greet them. After Elliot introduced Noah to Brandon's parents, they enthusiastically welcomed their newest grandson to the family. The boys then carried their grandparent's luggage to the room where they would be staying and helped get them settled in. When Patrick and Brenda came back out, Brandon and Danny greeted them and they chatted for a few minutes, before allowing the boys the opportunity to spend more time alone with their grandparents.

The rest of us spent Wednesday night and much of the next morning catching up on the various developments in each of our lives since we last saw each other. Eventually, the kids went off to spend their time doing things together and this gave the adults a chance to visit, uninterrupted. Of course, everyone wanted to see and hold Wyatt, so he got passed around nearly as much as the Thanksgiving turkey.

Frankie also received a great deal of attention, once he and his girlfriend arrived, because this was the first time most of the family had seen him since he'd been recognized for his heroic deeds. Now, they proceeded to tell him how proud they were of what he'd done and then explained that they'd received many wonderful comments from their friends and colleagues about his actions too. They then added that this made them realize how fortunate and honored they were to be related to him.

Kevin, Danny and Brandon went on to tell Frankie how the news of his accomplishment had helped their businesses as well, which I think surprised him. In order to make light of this additional information, Frankie asked if this meant they were going to give him a cut of their profits. Hearing his retort made everyone laugh, while our entrepreneurs momentarily tripped over their tongues while trying to respond to his query. It also helped Frankie to suffer through his time in the spotlight until the conversation shifted to other topics.

We sat down for our Thanksgiving dinner at 3:00 and began our meal by sharing what we were thankful for. A lot has happened over the past twelve months, so everyone had plenty to say. The various lists included items such as Noah and Wyatt's addition to the family, the boys' new businesses, Frankie's extraordinary deeds and the fact he survived his injuries, as well as for everyone's continued good health and that we were all here for another year.

There was plenty of food, so everyone was able to eat as much as they wanted and we were all stuffed by the time we left the table. I had been holding my breath and expecting some kind of prank to be pulled before now, since I didn't know that Elliot had called a truce with Ricky, but I was glad when nothing like that happened. All in all, it turned out to be a very enjoyable day.

A couple of hours after we finished eating, I summoned everyone back to the dining room to celebrate some birthdays. Since we hadn't had a true family party for Noah, he was one of the birthday boys, along with Jake, whose birthday was the previous Friday, and Dion, whose birthday is this coming Sunday. After I announced that Noah is now 12, Jake is 45 and Dion will be turning 24, we let each of them cut their own slice of cake. When they had the size piece they wanted, we served up the rest of it and dished out the ice cream.

On Friday morning, Ian's parents dropped him off at the house and then hurriedly left for the airport. They were flying to Florida this afternoon and then attending the football game and other festivities tomorrow, before returning home on Sunday.

As soon as he arrived, Elliot took Ian around and introduced him to the rest of the family. Even though he had warned Ian that we'd be having a lot of company, I think Ian was somewhat bewildered by how many people were staying at the house and how many more showed up before we ate. This was probably due to the fact that Ian comes from a fairly small family, so this probably felt more like a reunion to him, rather than a holiday gathering.

Since Ian already knew Jesse, Noah and Joshie from his time with us before Halloween, he felt comfortable with that group. He also quickly warmed up to Jordan, Nicky, Lucas, Megan and Kylie. With all of the kids getting along so well, Danny, Brandon and I were able to focus on spending time with the others.

Not only was Ian amazed by how many people had shown up for dinner, but he also commented about how we had to rearrange things so we'd have room for everyone to sit down to eat. He was in awe that we utilized the dining room, living room and foyer and set up tables in all three areas to accommodate the troops.

"Jeez, this is more like the annual swim team banquet than dinner with the family!" Ian exclaimed.

The rest of us could only agree with his observation. Noah probably related to Ian's reaction the best, since this was his first holiday with us too. He had been equally awed when he saw how we set things up yesterday, but the basic difference was that Noah had entered the day with a better idea about how many people would be showing up. He was just amazed at how we made room so everyone could join us.

After dinner, the younger group entertained themselves and spent most of their time out in the rec room. They played games, listened to music and just spent their time catching up. The adults, however, either remained at the various tables to continue their discussions or retired to the family room to relax.

When it got near bedtime, Elliot explained to Ian that he would be sleeping in Noah's room. When Ian asked where Noah would be sleeping, Elliot explained that Noah would be bunking with him. From what Jesse told me later, he said it looked as if Ian was disappointed that he wasn't going to be staying in Elliot's room instead. When I asked if Ian had said anything about this, Jesse said he hadn't, but he could tell by the look on his face that he wasn't exactly happy with the arrangement. This might just mean that Ian wasn't comfortable sleeping alone in a strange house, but it did make me wonder if more was going on here than met the eye.

We kicked off Saturday by holding our annual Currie family touch football game. At first, Ian was going to sit this out, because he didn't particularly care for football, but Elliot wouldn't allow him to do this. He informed Ian that he wasn't much of a football fan either, but if he had to play then Ian did too. Elliot then added that this was just a friendly game and assured Ian that he'd have a good time, regardless of his skill level.

Elliot also explained that he's quick on his feet and doesn't mind putting in the effort to catch a ball thrown to him, so he's agreed to play end for one of the teams. After hearing this, Ian offered to play lineman. He figured that position wouldn't require him to be proficient in any particular skill set, but it would also allow him to line up next to Elliot.

Noah, on the other hand, was excited about playing. When they picked teams, he wound up being an end on the opposite team from his brother. The boys even let Joshie run the ball a couple of times and make some sizable gains, although they refused to let him score. That would just be asking too much from them today, since this was still a fairly competitive event. Come on! The winners will have bragging rights until next year and they always take great enjoyment out of rubbing salt into the wounds of the losers.

I won't say it was a great game or that any of us played very well, but I think we all had fun. Ian even commented about how surprised he was that he'd enjoyed himself, considering it wasn't one of his favorite pastimes. Once the game ended, he even went around and thanked the others for making it so enjoyable. I think he was referring to the number of laughs he'd had over their stumbles, falls and lousy plays, as well as the unscripted gags my troops played on each other.

One stand out moment was a particular pass play. Elliot was going for the ball, but so was Ricky, because he was playing defensive back at the time. Neither saw the other until it was too late, so they ended up crashing in a heap just as the ball reached them. As they were ending up on their butts, the ball ricocheted into the air and was caught by a very observant Noah before it hit the ground. As Noah was celebrating his catch, the other two were scurrying to pick themselves off the ground. I'm not sure which was bruised more, their pride or their backsides.

Throughout the rest of Saturday, the kids spent most of their time together and only joined the rest of us for meals. While it was still daylight out, they opted to enjoy the late fall air by taking Ian on a hike, so they could show him how much property we owned. They also took him by the tree house and Joshie was eager to tell Ian about the games they'd played up there on other occasions. Ian took it all in and told Joshie it sounded like fun and he hoped he could join them sometime, much to Joshie's, and probably also Elliot's, delight.

After hearing about the ravine, Ian was eager to see it and the others were only too happy to oblige, so Jesse led the way. When they reached the edge, all of the boys gathered as close to it as they dared – except of course for Elliot. This caused him to endure some light ribbing from Jesse and his cousins, but it was Ian who managed to upset him. When he noticed Elliot's discomfort, Ian leaned over the edge and pretended to be frightened.

"It's really high, Elliot," Ian teased, unaware of Elliot's condition.

"If I fell would you save me?" Ian added, as he pretended to be losing his balance.

Elliot turned away, mostly disgusted with himself. He didn't understand how he could climb to the top of a ten-meter platform, do a handstand and then launch himself into the pool, yet he couldn't get near the edge of this drop-off. He knew that if Ian or any of the others did fall, he wouldn't be able to help them.

Although Elliot didn't see what happened next, Ian appeared puzzled by Elliot's reaction. He was also concerned, because he didn't wish to jeopardize their budding friendship.

"Ummm, I'm sorry," he apologized, as he moved toward Elliot.

In an attempt to defuse the situation, Jesse suggested they should start heading back and the others quickly agreed. Before they started back, Ian put his arm around Elliot's shoulder, as a friendly gesture and to apologize for his antics. However, when Elliot glanced over and looked at Ian's face, he thought he sensed something more hiding behind the smile he saw there.

Later, as the daylight began to fade, they came inside and played table tennis and air hockey in the rec room as they had done the previous day. Once they tired of that, they moved to the family room and competed on the Wii, listened to music and watched a DVD. Joshie also talked Elliot into playing some songs on the piano for him, starting with the Peanuts Theme.

While Ian was playing games against Jesse, Jordan and Nicky, it gave Elliot and Noah an opportunity to spend some of their time with their Grandma Brenda and Grandpa Pat. I was glad to see the boys hadn't completely forgotten about their grandparents and found a way to set aside some time to spend with them too. It was obvious the O'Haras greatly appreciated the boys' thoughtfulness, but they also understood that Noah and Elliot wanted to spend time with the others closer to their own age. Therefore, the O'Haras made the most of the time they had with their grandsons and then sent the boys back with the others. After that pair had gone, Brenda and Patrick spent the remainder of the day with Danny, Brandon and the rest of the grown-ups, so the boys wouldn't feel guilty about leaving them.

That night, Ian spent most of his time hanging out in Elliot's room, chatting with the other boys. When it came time to go to bed, Jesse told us it appeared as if Ian was reluctant to leave again, so he assumed Ian was hoping Elliot would ask if he wanted to stay with him tonight instead. To Ian's dismay that didn't happen and he wound up sleeping alone in Noah's room again.

The following day, our visitors began to say their goodbyes and head home. We knew we'd be seeing a few of them again at Christmas, but this would be the last time we'd be seeing most of them this year. For that reason, many of the farewells were very emotional and difficult to make, but we all got through it in fairly good fashion.

Ian stayed with us the rest of the day, since his parents wouldn't be back until that evening. It wasn't a problem, since he fit in so well, but unbeknownst to us, Ian had something on his mind and was simply biding his time. After Jordan and Nicky had gone home with their parents, he asked Elliot if he could speak with him alone. Even though Elliot wasn't sure what he wanted, he agreed and took Ian up to his room. Once they were inside, Ian made sure the door was shut first, before he began to speak.

"I've really had a good time with your family and want to thank you for getting your family to let me stay," he began. "I've been watching you with your dads and everyone else, and well, I think I can tell you something I've been keeping to myself."

Ian paused momentarily after getting that much out, but Elliot wasn't about to interrupt him. Instead, he decided to remain quiet, because he was worried that if he said anything it might cause Ian to lose his courage to continue. Therefore, he merely waited to see what Ian had to say.

"Look, what I'm trying to tell you is… well, I'm gay," Ian finally blurted out. "I thought it would be easy to tell you, given your family and all, but it was still hard. I've never told anyone else before, although I think my parents probably suspect. I just hope I can trust you to keep my secret."

Elliot didn't say anything for a few seconds, as he considered how he wanted to respond. Ian was growing a bit apprehensive, until Elliot stood up and hugged him.

"It was very brave of you to tell me that," Elliot began, "and just so you know, I'm gay too."

This revelation caused Ian's jaw to drop and he stood gawking at Elliot for a few seconds. Finally, he regained his composure, found his tongue again and spoke.

"Seriously?" he responded, rhetorically. "I was convinced you were straight. I kept sending you signals, but I wasn't getting anything back. I only decided to tell you because I've seen you with your family and thought you wouldn't have a problem with it."

"Sorry about not catching on sooner, but I was a little dense at first," Elliot admitted. "I've never flirted with anyone before and was afraid I was just seeing what I wanted to see. I didn't want to ask if you were gay and risk offending you, so I talked it over with Jesse instead. He suggested I try flirting back and see what happened."

"So Jesse knows too?" Ian asked.

"Yeah, I told him I thought you were checking me out after practice," Elliot confessed. "If I hadn't gotten such good advice from him, I never would've worked up the courage to start talking to you or asked you to help with the haunted house, so we wouldn't be here now."

"Then I'm glad you talked to him about me," Ian agreed, and then he paused again.

"So do you think you might eventually be interested in being my boyfriend?" Ian asked, as he blushed a deep crimson. "I mean, I think you're cute, in case you're wondering."

It was Elliot's turn to blush, before he answered.

"I think you're cute too and I would be thrilled to be your boyfriend," he continued.

The boys sealed their new relationship with a kiss. Elliot suspected it was Ian's first, so he wanted to make it special. First, he hugged Ian tightly and rubbed his neck soothingly, as they tilted their heads and pressed their lips together. It was a soft, sweet kiss and they held it for as long as they could. When they broke apart, they panted for breath amidst a steady stream of giggles.

"I wish you'd told me this when you first got here," Elliot teased. "I had you sleep in Noah's room because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to control myself."

"Damn, if I'd known that I would have told you at Halloween," Ian laughed.

They kissed again and both boys were thrilled at the possibilities this new aspect of their relationship would present them. For Ian, there would be many firsts. For Elliot, he would be able to feel the deep emotional bond that develops with the one you love. Sure, Elliot had kissed other boys and done just about everything he could do with another boy's penis, but none of that had warmed his heart the way Ian's slightest touch did. Elliot hadn't felt like this since he'd developed a crush on Nicky, but after Nicky rebuffed his love, he hadn't felt it again until now. It just felt right as they kissed and convinced both of them that this was meant to be.

They were still kissing in Elliot's room when Ian's mother and father arrived a short time later. Since I was unsure what they might be up to, I sent Jesse upstairs to let Ian know that his parents were here. A minute later, Ian brought his things downstairs and got ready to leave. Jesse told me afterward that the boys had been giggling like a couple of schoolgirls when he'd knocked on Elliot's door.

Before Ian and his parents left, they each thanked us for letting him stay and Ian confirmed he'd had a wonderful time. We then advised them Ian was welcome to stay with us any time and they thanked us again before they headed home. After they'd gone, the rest of us found ourselves alone for the first time in days.

It certainly didn't take Elliot long to pull Jesse aside, so he could tell him what Ian and he had talked about. Jesse was thrilled that the two of them had finally gotten things out in the open, but was surprised by Elliot's next bombshell.

"After he told me he was gay," Elliot continued, "Ian asked if I wanted to be his boyfriend. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah, it's fantastic!" Jesse agreed. "I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks, I'm kind of excited myself," Elliot agreed. "Ian said that he figures we'll be able to find time to get together over the Christmas break, if we can't do it before. He's eager to try some things, but we both want to take it slow, you know to make it more romantic."

"Awesome, but does this mean we won't be messing around any more?" Jesse wondered.

"Nah, I think we can still get together from time to time," Elliot replied. "I don't think it's cheating if I'm open with Ian about it and there isn't any romantic love involved. I mean I love you, but not in that way."

"I know and I love you too," Jesse agreed.

"Of course if I'm open with him then it means he'll know we've been having sex," Elliot confessed. "You don't mind, do you?"

"I don't think that will be a problem," Jesse agreed. "Ian seems trustworthy… and he's cute, so I wouldn't object to a little three-way action."

"Let me get him beyond kissing and feeling each other up first, before I spring that one on him," Elliot laughed.

"I'm glad you still want to mess around with me," Jesse responded, with a grin. "I'd hate to have to go around with blue balls for the next few months."

Elliot giggled at Jesse's comment and then gave him a hug. He might have done more, but he hadn't locked the door and realized Noah was just down the hall and could burst in at any moment. He did give Jesse's butt a firm squeeze though and promised they could play later.

With Thanksgiving now behind us, we were now officially into the Christmas season. This means there will be lots of baking, decorating and loads of shopping to do, as well as numerous concerts and parties to attend. I decided to start with the decorating first and asked the boys to help. The first thing we needed to do was to rearrange things in the rec room, so we'd have plenty of room for the Christmas tree and still leave enough extra space for the presents.

We started this process by taking some of the larger items, such as the ping-pong and air hockey tables, down to the basement. Then, we rearranged the remaining items, before we assembled the tree. I've stuck with the artificial tree again, because so many family members have allergies and I didn't want them to suffer while they were here. After I was satisfied the tree looked good and there were no large gaps between the branches, I had the boys help me string the lights and hang the ornaments.

As soon as all of this had been accomplished, Elliot suggested that we let Noah place the angel on the top of the tree this year. When Noah heard his brother say this, he was ecstatic and eagerly agreed that he'd like to do it. Since he was so short and I didn't want to go fetch the stepladder, I simply lifted him up so he could place the angel in its special location at the very top of the tree. He was absolutely thrilled that he'd been given this particular honor and I'm glad Elliot was the one to suggest it. I think that helped make this privilege mean even more to Noah.

Once we were finished hanging the decorations, we all took a few moments to stand back and admire how lovely the tree looked. Then, the boys called everyone else back to the rec room, so they could check it out too.

Over the following couple of days, I had Danny, Brandon and Jake help me hang the outdoor lights and put up the other external decorations, such as the wreaths, our lighted nativity scene, the inflatable snowman and Santa, with his sleigh and reindeer. When we finished setting everything out, the exterior of the house looked quite festive too. I just hope the neighbors don't complain about the excessive quantity of lights and decorations we've used this year. We usually don't put so many lights on the house or decorate more than one tree, but since this is Noah and Wyatt's first Christmas with us, we went all out to make it special for them.

Wyatt is totally fascinated by the colorful lights and Joshie enthusiastically explained to his brother what each of the decorations is. Not only are the boys excited, but Noah is also proving that Christmas is a very special time for him and he's actually much younger at heart than his actual years. Although he may be too old to still believe in Santa, it's clear he's desperately attempting to cling to the magical aspect of Christmas. He knows the holiday season is a time for miracles, and although I'm sure Noah feels he's already experienced one miracle – when Danny and Brandon came to his rescue and gave him a place to live when his mother died, I believe he's hoping there might be more to look forward to.

Now that the decorations are in place, the next thing on the agenda is to start baking the Christmas goodies. Over the next couple of weekends, I recruited the boys to help me make several batches of Christmas cookies. Since Jesse, Elliot and Joshie had done this with me last year and had such a good time, they eagerly told Noah what a blast it had been. Once he heard this, he was excited to lend a hand with this too.

After we got started on this project, I once again noticed that a rather substantial percentage of the ingredients wound up covering the boys and never made it to the oven. My assistants, however, did prove to be very helpful in completing this activity and we got a lot accomplished, so there will be plenty of cookies to go around, both prior to and during the holiday.

Since the boys had worked so hard, I allowed them to sample some of the goodies after they came out of the oven, had time to cool and were decorated. I also permitted them to lick the excess icing off the utensils and out of the bowls before we washed them. This seemed to be reward enough for everything they'd done, but it also gave them bragging rights for when these items were eventually offered to the others.

While everyone was at work and school, I was busy checking my various lists and going to a wide variety of stores to purchase all of the things that we required. There was food to buy for the holiday meals, supplies that were needed for the assorted holiday activities and parties, plus plenty of gifts that needed to be procured. It seems as if everyone is asking me to look for specific items that they want to give to one of the others, since I have more time to do this than they do. Of course, I readily agreed to help out, but unlike Santa, I don't have a bunch of good-natured elves to help me pull this off.

I was somehow able to accomplish a little more every day, but it was clear this process was going to take a while. With a little bit of luck, I'll be able to get everything done before Christmas Day, because if not, there will be a lot of unhappy campers when it comes time to open the gifts.

Now that all of this is being taken care of, the next thing on the list is an assortment of holiday parties. Each of the boys will be having a party at school, Jake and their fathers will be having similar celebrations at work, I've been invited to a get-together with some of my former colleagues and the Shays will be throwing a party for the family.

Last, but not least on the list, are the boys' concerts. Although Noah doesn't play an instrument, I've discovered that Dion managed to talk him into joining the middle school chorus, so this means we'll have three concerts to attend this year. Joshie will be participating in the elementary school concert, Noah in the middle school concert, under Dion's direction, and then Elliot will take part in the high school concert, since he's agreed to play with the orchestra and accompany the chorus again.

Those in charge of planning the district calendar always do their best to ensure these events are spread out so no two are scheduled on the same evening. They have to do this because quite a few of the parents, like our family, have children participating in activities at more than one school. Since those in charge don't want to force these parents to have to choose which child they'll support, they do their best to avoid these types of hassles. Even though it's not always possible to avoid all of the scheduling conflicts, especially when it comes to the sporting events, they do pay particular attention to the special activities, such as concerts, award ceremonies and graduations. For this reason, we should easily be able to fit each of the boys' concerts into our schedule

One day, prior to the first of these activities, Noah came home all excited. He wouldn't tell me what was up, but he wanted to know when Elliot would be home. I told him Hayden's mother should be picking him up within the hour and then bringing him home shortly after that, and this information seemed to suffice. After our brief discussion, I concluded that whatever had excited him had more to do with Elliot than the rest of us. It might even have something to do with his upcoming concert.

When Elliot arrived home later, he said hi to me and then took his things up to his room. Since I had forgotten about my earlier encounter with Noah, I failed to mention to Elliot that Noah wanted to see him. Hopefully, Noah will correct this oversight when he's ready.

Once Elliot was in his room, he threw his belongings onto the bed and turned on his music. A few seconds later, the door to his room opened and Noah walked in – stark naked.

"Look, you have to see this!" Noah exclaimed, all excited.

"I've seen you naked before," Elliot teased in reply. "You're cute, but I don't think that's what you mean."

"No. Look!" Noah added, and he rushed toward Elliot. "I've got hair."

"You've got lots of hair," Elliot joked.

"I mean I've got hair down here," he stated, while pointing at his groin. "See!"

Elliot had to bend down to look, because it certainly wasn't obvious, but there were a few scattered hairs on his pubis. None of them were very long or dark, but Noah was obviously very proud of them.

"Great! See, I told you," Elliot replied, once he'd seen them. "You'll have a lot more hairs soon and then other things will start to happen too."

"Yeah, my dick will get bigger, or at least I hope it will," Noah agreed.

"It will. You don't have to worry about that," Elliot confirmed.

"I know and I'm glad I have you around to tell me these things," Noah admitted.

"You'll be much better off when you realize your big brother is always right," Elliot smirked.

"That's why I asked you, because I figured if anyone would know about dicks it would be you," Noah giggled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elliot asked, slightly nervous.

"Well, it takes one to know one, doesn't it?" Noah teased, as he stuck out his tongue.

Elliot was both shocked and relieved. Shocked that Noah had zinged him and relieved that Noah hadn't been alluding to something else.

"Ok, that's it. You're dead!" Elliot threatened, jokingly.

Hearing this caused Noah to dart from the room, so Elliot gave chase. The boys quickly made it into the hallway, where they promptly ran into Jesse. When he saw them, he reacted as if he was totally shocked by their actions.

"Dear Penthouse, I was walking to the bathroom when my nephew came running out of his brother's bedroom, naked…" Jessed mused, as if he were composing a letter.

Both boys blushed and then Elliot sent Noah back to his room to put on some clothes.

The week before Christmas was extremely hectic for the family. It all began with Joshie's concert on Tuesday, which we were eager to attend so we could cheer him on. His fathers dressed him up again, just like they had the previous year, and Joshie looked adorable as we got ready to leave. However, that's when we suddenly realized we had a minor problem to solve first.

The boys were very vocal about wanting to ride together, but there was no way we'd all fit in the Suburban. In order to rectify this situation, Dion and Trey offered to take their car and Danny and Brandon opted to ride with them, so the four boys could be together. Satisfied, they rode in the Suburban with Jake and me, but once we reached the school parking lot, we all went inside together.

Joshie was brimming with excitement and eager to sing with his classmates, and we were happy to be here for him. Before he went down to join his class, Dion advised him he didn't have to wave at us this year while his group was singing and Joshie agreed he wouldn't do that. Then, the rest of us watched as Dion and Trey followed him down to his classroom.

We had to wait a while before the concert began, so Elliot and Noah went off on their own to check out the school, before they came back to sit with the rest of us. Since he hadn't attended school here when he was younger, Noah was interested to see what the elementary school was like. Elliot had conducted a similar investigation last year but chose to go with his brother anyway, so he could look out for him. I guess the school must have passed Noah's cursory inspection, because it wasn't long before they returned to their seats.

Shelly and her parents arrived a short time later, eager to see Joshie perform as well. Joshie had asked his father to call and tell his mother and grandparents about the concert, because he wanted to make sure they would come to see him sing too. Once she learned about it, Shelly told Joshie they wouldn't miss it for the world, so he was pleased.

We had to sit through the Kindergarten performance before the first graders came out to sing. This year, Joshie's group sang "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer" to the delight of the audience. They did remarkably well with these songs and enhanced their performance by using a few props. During the first number, several of the students (including Joshie) shook sleigh bells at the appropriate moments, and then during the second number, a select group dragged out a paper mache reindeer, complete with a lighted red Christmas bulb nose.

Joshie kept his promise and didn't wave to us this year, but once he located where we were sitting he flashed us the biggest grin, which made us feel very special. I guess it was his way of thanking everyone for coming to support him. I could tell his grin had a very positive effect on Shelly and her parents, because I saw them all coyly waving back at Joshie while he was singing.

Once Joshie's grade finished and they returned to their classrooms, we sat and listened to the second, third and fourth graders perform too. They all did very well and watching their performances truly helped to lift us into the Christmas spirit, even if we may have already been leaning in that direction.

Once the concert ended, Dion and Trey led Shelly and her parents down to Joshie's classroom, so they could say goodbye and tell him how much they had enjoyed his singing. Once again, Joshie asked each of them if he did okay and if they liked the songs his class had sung, and they all assured him they had. He did the same thing to the rest of us on the way home, so Elliot and Noah spent most of the ride telling him how fantastic he and his class had been. They also started singing the same two songs with him until we reached the house, and I must admit that it looks like Joshie will have a marvelous singing voice too, once it is fully developed, just like his mother and father.

On Wednesday, it was Noah and Dion's turn to perform. I say this because Noah will be singing, and since Dion is the vocal music instructor, he will be conducting the chorus. Dion was the one who talked Noah into joining the group in the first place and he'd told us that Noah has some vocal talent as well. We hadn't really heard him sing very often around the house, so we willingly accepted Dion's professional assessment.

Once again, the fathers rode in one car, while the boys piled into the Suburban with Jake and me, as we made our way to the middle school to watch Noah perform. I think Joshie was more excited about this than Noah and he told his slightly older cousin that he hoped he did as well as his class had done, which put a lot of pressure on Noah. Of course, Joshie was also anxious because his father was going to be leading Noah's group too.

This concert was slightly different, in that it wasn't all singing. The middle school orchestra and band performed first, under the direction of the instrumental music teacher. They were then followed by the fifth/sixth grade chorus and after they finished the seventh/eighth grade chorus took the stage. Dion directed both of these final two groups, so he would be on stage for half of the concert.

The wait proved to be frustrating for Joshie, because he first kept asking when his daddy was going to be on stage and when Noah was going to sing. With each query, we kept telling Joshie he just had to be patient, which is a quality he has yet to master.

After listening to the instrumental groups do their thing, Dion came out with the younger group first. Joshie was excited to see his daddy up there and even yelled out to him.

"Hi, Daddy," he shouted, so Dion could hear him – much to the amusement of those in attendance.

Before they began to sing, Joshie scrutinized the chorus and realized Noah wasn't there. This bothered him.

"Where's Noah?" he wanted to know.

"This isn't his class," I heard Elliot advise him. "He'll be in the next group."

Although Joshie wasn't happy about this, he accepted Elliot's answer. Once that group finished performing, Noah's choral group finally came out and the students moved to their assigned places. Joshie was thrilled that Noah was about to perform.

The seventh/eighth grade chorus sang three selections: "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas," "The Little Drummer Boy" and then they ended with "The Rose." This is a pop song that had been made famous by Bette Midler in the late 1970's, but the lyrics are very beautiful. I think the message in the lyrics was what Dion was trying to impart to his students and the audience when he selected it. After all, Christmas is the time to spread peace and love.

Just in case you aren't familiar with the lyrics, I will give them to you now. Not only are they beautiful, but I also think they impart a very special, and appropriate, message.

Some say love, it is a river That drowns the tender reed Some say love, it is a razor That leaves your soul to bleed Some say love, it is a hunger An endless aching need I say love, it is a flower And you, its only seed

It's the heart, afraid of breaking That never learns to dance It's the dream, afraid of waking That never takes the chance It's the one who won't be taken Who cannot seem to give And the soul, afraid of dying That never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely And the road has been too long And you think that love is only For the lucky and the strong Just remember in the winter Far beneath the bitter snow Lies the seed That with the sun's love, in the spring Becomes the rose.

Once they finished singing this song, the concert ended. I thought it had gone very well and felt Noah's group had performed brilliantly. I had also noticed that Noah was smiling throughout the entire time he was on stage, but I'm not sure if it was because he enjoyed singing, liked showing off for the rest of us or if he was pleased that we had all come to watch him. Whatever the reason, it was good to see he was happy and truly enjoying himself.

During the ride home, Joshie kept pestering the other boys to sing Christmas songs with him again. Seeing it was easier to give in than to argue the point, the others agree. Therefore, Jake and I were serenaded during the entire ride home.

Once we got to the house, Noah asked what we thought of the concert, but I think Dion was just as interested to hear what we had to say. Noah carefully avoided asking what we thought about how he had done, because he realized we couldn't single his voice out of that large group, but he did want to know if we'd enjoyed being there. We assured him we had, and Elliot and Joshie raved about how well his group had done, so it seemed to be enough to satisfy him.

After the boys had finished with Noah, Joshie decided that he didn't want to leave his daddy out of this assessment and eagerly evaluated his contribution.

"You did really good too, Daddy," Joshie told him. "But why didn't you sing?"

"Thank you," Dion responded, "but this concert was for the kids to sing, not me."

Dion's answer seemed to answer his son's question, so Joshie raced off with the other boys.

The following evening was Elliot's turn to shine. Just as he had done last year, he was going to play with the orchestra and then accompany the chorus, but he hadn't divulged any further information about his involvement than that. This made us curious about why he was being so secretive this time around, but it's possible he merely concluded we already knew what he'd be doing, since we'd seen him perform with these groups the previous year.

After finishing another rushed dinner, Danny and Brandon offered to drive tonight and asked Dion and Trey to ride with them. The boys still wanted to be together, so they'd be going with Jake and me again, but we'd have to leave before the others, because Elliot wanted to be able to go to the music room first, so he could limber up on the piano there.

However, before we were ready to leave the house, Elliot surprised us with an additional announcement. He informed us he had invited Ian to come to the concert with us this evening, rather than Hayden, and wanted to know if I'd mind swinging by Ian's house to pick him up. If not, he said he could call and let Ian know he should have his parents drop him off at the school instead. Since Ian's place isn't very far out of our way and we were leaving with plenty of time to spare, I readily agreed to do this for Elliot. After hearing my response, he gave Ian a quick call to let him know we were on our way.

Even after picking Ian up, we still arrived at the school well ahead of the scheduled time for the concert to begin. When Elliot left us to go to the music room, I led the boys to the auditorium. We selected seats in the front, on the left side, where we would have the best view of the piano. Then we got comfortable and waited.

Joshie and Noah talked the entire time and continually asked Jake and me questions, such as how long it would be before Elliot came out, if we knew what songs he'd be playing or if he would have a solo. We answered them as best we could, but seeing Elliot hadn't shared this information with us, there wasn't a great deal we could say.

Jesse and Ian chose to sit at the end of the aisle, so we could save the seats in between for the two sets of parents who hadn't arrived yet. Over the times he's been with us, I've noticed that Ian is a very polite and charming boy, so I can easily see why Elliot and he have become friends. Although I'm glad that Elliot asked him to join us, I hope it didn't prevent him from also inviting Hayden.

When the concert started, the orchestra was up first. When they came out to play, Elliot walked out and took his seat at the piano. Once he got comfortable, he looked around and located us. As soon as Joshie and Noah saw him looking in our direction they began waving at him, which caused Elliot to smile. Joshie, however, didn't yell 'hi' to him this time, as he had last year or as he had also done with his daddy.

As we expected, Elliot still had to perform on an upright piano, but he didn't appear to be as put out about doing it this time. We still understood he would have preferred to play on a baby grand, like the one he had at home, but he willingly made this adjustment. A few moments later, his instrumental music teacher/conductor lifted his baton and gave the orchestra the signal to begin.

The orchestra played four pieces in total, which consisted of two Christmas songs and two traditional selections. Once again, they played very well and we didn't hear the typical squeaky strings or catch any serious miscues from the other instruments. We did detect a couple of sour notes, but those missteps were spread out over the various numbers and didn't have a major negative impact on any single piece or their overall performance.

Once again, we thought Elliot had done a masterful job at the keyboard and Noah and Joshie clapped very loudly to show their appreciation when each song ended. None of us had detected any errors Elliot might have made throughout the four selections and he looked very pleased when the audience gave them a heartfelt round of applause following each number.

After those playing in the orchestra took their final bow and began to leave the stage, I was surprised to notice that Elliot was staying put. Then he began to play a medley of Christmas songs as the band members came out and took their places. They used the same seating arrangement as the orchestra and were ready to play after a very brief transition. Elliot wasn't part of this group, but we all remained patient and politely listened to their musical program, as Elliot sat quietly at the piano, waiting to perform with the chorus. The band also played four selections and did fairly well, but once they received their final ovation and left the stage, the chorus strode out on the stage to take their turn.

As the choral members assumed their positions on the risers, which were located behind the area where the orchestra and band had been seated, Elliot played a version of "The Holly and The Ivy" that I had never heard before. This made me wonder if this was a professional arrangement I was unaware of or if Elliot had tweaked it himself.

Once the last of the singers were in place, Elliot watched the vocal music teacher and began to play on cue. The chorus also performed four selections, beginning with two Christmas songs. First, they sang "Silver Bells" and then followed up with the "Carol of the Bells." After they finished those two pieces, they switched to two secular selections.

The first of these was "Seasons of Love," from the musical "Rent." You may not recognize the title of this song, but I'm sure you will recognize the first stanza. It goes like this:

"Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes, Five hundred twenty-five thousand Moments so dear. Five hundred twenty-five thousand Six hundred minutes How do you measure, measure a year?"

This particular selection gave Elliot a very nice solo on the piano before the chorus joined in. I thought he played it brilliantly, as the melody flowed from the introduction to the point where the vocals began.

Once this song ended, the chorus closed the evening with "This is the Moment," from the musical "Jekyll and Hyde." This proved to be a very rousing finale and brought the audience to its feet. They were all clapping, whistling and cheering loudly, as the chorus members, Elliot and the vocal music teacher took their final bow.

Once the ovation ended and the vocal music teacher got the audience to quiet down and retake their seats, she began to speak.

"I wish to thank all of you for coming and showing your appreciation of what your sons, daughters, friends and neighbors have accomplished this evening. However, before I let you depart, I have one final announcement to make.

"On behalf of all of those who performed this evening, we wish to thank Elliot Currie, our pianist, for playing with the orchestra and chorus again this year, as well as providing the musical interludes while the groups were changing. Although we can't take credit for his talent, since the school doesn't offer piano lessons, the orchestra director, Mr. Burns, and I were able to persuade Elliot to share his extraordinary ability with us. It isn't often that we come across such an accomplished pianist at the high school level and I can only add that we hope he'll be willing to perform with us in the years to come, since he is just a sophomore.

"Please join me in expressing our sincerest appreciation for sharing his skills this evening with a final round of applause."

After she finished speaking, the auditorium filled with a thunderous applause, as those in attendance showed their approval of Elliot's performance. As I shifted my gaze from Elliot and glanced over at Noah, I could tell he was absolutely blown away by the special recognition Elliot had just received. Ian also wore a huge smile on his face and seemed to be involved in an animated conversation with Brandon as they applauded.

When we met up with Elliot a few moments later, he had a 'Cheshire cat' grin plastered across his face and joked that he wasn't prepared to sign autographs. Even though we knew he might end up with a swelled head from this, we all congratulated him, but Noah went way beyond what the rest of us had done. He was finding it difficult to come up with enough superlatives to describe how well he thought Elliot had played and let him know he was proud to be his brother, but apparently he wasn't the only one who'd been impressed.

"That was spectacular, Elliot," Ian gushed, while also flashing Elliot a broad smile. "I knew you could play, but wow, that was really great!"

As we made our way out of the auditorium, several other people came up to Elliot to pat him on the back, shake his hand or tell him 'great job.' Since Elliot enjoys this kind of attention, he was soaking it all in and happily accepted these additional accolades.

Once we were outside and making our way to the car, Joshie began talking a mile-a-minute to Elliot. He not only told his cousin what a great job he'd done, but he also wanted to know why Elliot hadn't played the Peanuts Theme for him. Elliot laughed and assured Joshie he'd do that for him when they got home, which seemed to make Joshie happy.

Once we were in the Suburban, Noah continued expressing his thoughts.

"You were amazing," he gushed. "Nobody else got singled out for what they did except you. That was so awesome."

"Yeah, it was really nice," Elliot replied. "I wasn't surprised that she thanked me, but I didn't think she'd say all that other stuff."

As soon as Elliot finished speaking, Joshie began to pester the boys to sing more Christmas carols with him, as he had after the previous two concerts.

"I'm all out of songs, Joshie," Elliot replied, "but why don't you ask Ian if he knows any?" Elliot then gave Ian a wink.

"Will you sing something, Ian? Pretty please," Joshie begged.

"Hmmm, I think I remember a song," Ian answered, as he smiled at Elliot.

Ian cleared his throat and then in a light, melodic voice began to sing.

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas, Let your heart be light From now on our troubles will be out of sight

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas Make the Yuletide gay, From now on our troubles will be miles away

"Here we are as in olden days Happy golden days of yore Faithful friends who are dear to us Gather near to us once more.

"Through the years We all will be together If the Fates allow Hang a shining star upon the highest bough, And have yourself A merry little Christmas now."

As he sang, Ian reached over and held Elliot hand in his. Noah and Joshie didn't notice this, since they were sitting in the seat in front of them, next to Jesse, but I happened to spot what was going on when I glanced in the rearview mirror. When Jake noticed that I seemed to be intently focused on something, he turned around to see what I was staring at. Once he discovered what had garnered my attention, he turned forward again. As he did, he glanced in my direction and we traded knowing smiles.

We pulled up to Ian's house just as he was finishing the song. As he looked over at Elliot, both of them began to blush and then he gave Elliot's hand a final squeeze before saying goodnight.

As soon as he disappeared inside, we continued on to our place. When we arrived at the house the others were already inside, so Noah and Joshie dashed off to be with their fathers. Jake and I held on to Elliot for a moment to discuss what we saw on the ride home.

"You should have kissed him," Jake offered, as he smiled.

"Huh?" Elliot asked, confused.

"We noticed that Ian and you were holding hands while he sang for Joshie," I explained. "I think that might mean someone has a boyfriend."

"Ummm, yeah," Elliot confirmed, with a blush.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked.

"Not long. Only since Thanksgiving," Elliot confirmed.

"So this started when he stayed at the house?" Jake wondered. "Why didn't you say anything then?" "I don't know," Elliot stated. "I guess it might be that Ian and I were still getting used to the idea."

"I won't ask for any details," I began, "but you boys are being safe. Right?"

"We haven't done anything like that yet," Elliot confessed. "We've agreed to take things slowly, since this is the first relationship for both of us. When that time comes though, I promise we'll be very careful."

"Then I'm glad you found each other," I assured him. "Ian's a very nice boy and I think we all like him very much, including your dads."

"I still think you should have kissed him," Jake teased, as he winked at Elliot.

Now that this had been settled, we went inside to join the rest of the family. Almost as soon as the door shut, Elliot went into the family room and kept his promise to Joshie by playing the Peanuts Theme. This made Joshie very happy, but then Elliot discovered that some of the others wanted to request that he play various other tunes as well. Noah wanted him to play "Seasons of Love" next, but Elliot said it wouldn't sound right without the vocals. Hearing this, Dion quickly assured Elliot it wouldn't be a problem, but asked him to wait a minute before he started. After Elliot agreed, Dion exited the room and left the rest of us wondering where he was going.

What none of us realized was that Dion had gone to his computer, so he could look up the lyrics for that song. Once he found them, he printed out several copies to bring back with him. He also did something else, but none of us would know about that until later. When he returned to the family room, Dion passed the copies out and then announced that he thought we had enough decent voices in the family to do the vocals along with Elliot's accompaniment. Hearing this, Elliot spun around on the bench and began to play.

Following Dion's lead, the rest of the family belted out the lyrics to the song, while Jake and I chose to sit back and enjoy their effort. We thought they were doing very well without us and didn't wish to diminish their effort by adding our less than trained croaking.

Once that song ended, Dion asked Elliot if he would mind playing "This is the Moment" again, so he could sing it with him. Dion said he'd been contemplating doing a benefit to raise donations for the local food bank, so they could better assist the families of the unemployed and others who were finding it difficult to make ends meet in the current economy. Dion also stated that he thought this might be a wonderful song to use for this occasion and just wanted to test it out, to see how it sounded with him as the soloist.

After Elliot agreed, Dion then asked me if I'd be willing to record it for him, so he could play it back and analyze it later. I quickly agreed and then went to grab the appropriate equipment from his room. He had a fairly sensitive recording device that he kept there, specifically so he could playback various performances and evaluate them for himself.

Once I had it set up, Elliot began to play and Dion began to sing. The rest of us settled in to listen, but we remained very quiet so we wouldn't interfere with the recording. Dion was absolutely brilliant as he belted out the song and I immediately realized this was obviously not the first time he had sung it. I don't think anyone could master the lyrics and the phrasing so well on their first attempt, so it was quite apparent that he had either been practicing this in private or he'd been listening to a great many recordings of this particular piece prior to this evening. Anyway, once he finished we all raved about his brilliant rendition, but he merely stated that he'd listen to it later and make that decision for himself.

As the rest of us were leaving the family room and heading to our bedrooms, Dion asked Elliot to stay behind, so they could talk. Once the last of us had departed, Dion turned to Elliot and asked him a question.

"I was wondering if you would agree to accompany me when I do the benefit?" he began. "I'm going to perform locally first, probably at the high school, but I'm not sure how much money we'll be able to drum up just doing it there. I mentioned the idea to a friend of mine and he suggested I might want to do a second benefit at Penn State. He said he had contacts there and could arrange it for me, so maybe we can collect even more for the food bank by performing for the extended college community, staff and faculty. What do you think?"

Elliot was tongue tied for a few moments and didn't know how to respond. He was ready to agree to do it locally, but the thought of going to Penn State and performing there was a little overwhelming. When Dion saw his reticence, he assured Elliot he was confident he could do this and explained that he really wanted them to do it together. After a little more coaxing, Elliot agreed and Dion went off to outline exactly what songs he wanted to perform and in which order.

When I heard what the pair had agreed to, I was not only pleased that they had decided to team up, but I was also extremely confident their collaboration would be well worth the price of admission for those who decided to attend. Over the years, Dion has built an outstanding reputation as a soloist, so I am confident this will help him attract a large enough audience to make a significant and positive impact for the community food bank.

I also knew a collaboration of this magnitude wouldn't happen until early next year, since there are numerous arrangements that have to be made first. They need to design the advertising to publicize the event and print the programs that will be distributed to the attendees. Besides taking care of those details, they'll also have to allow plenty of time for Elliot and Dion to practice together first. I can't wait to see how this works out, but I'm certain many of our family and extended family will be there for each performance.

Now that the school concerts were behind us, it was time to turn our attention to a couple of other matters that required our attention, beginning with the following evening. That's because Shannon's birthday is tomorrow and he'll be turning twenty-seven. We wanted to be with him and help him celebrate, but it just isn't possible for all of us to travel to Atlanta to be with him, because of the time of year and the other things we have going on. For that reason, Jake and I at least wanted to call and relay our best wishes to let him know we hadn't forgotten.

"Hi, son. Happy Birthday!" Jake told him, when Shannon answered the phone. "I wish I was there with you, but we just couldn't work it out this year. Josh and I wanted to call you though, so we could wish you our best personally on this special day."

"Happy Birthday, Shannon," I yelled into the receiver, once Jake finished talking.

"Thank you, both of you," he responded. "I wish you were here too, but I understand. That's what happens sometimes when your birthday is so close to Christmas"

"Speaking of that, I'll bring your birthday and other presents with me when I come to celebrate Christmas with you at the Lawrences," Jake assured him. "Since that's only a week away, I'll be seeing you real soon."

"I know and I'm looking forward to seeing you then too," Shannon assured his father.

"I'm sorry I won't be there with you," I added, "but we'll have a houseful here as well."

"I know and I understand," Shannon replied. "At least next year we'll all be together for Christmas."

Jake and I agreed that will be wonderful and we're definitely looking forward to it. We then chatted with Shannon a little longer before ending the call. I know Jake sincerely misses being with his son for his birthday, but I do too. The problem is, the distance, the number of people we'd have to take with us and the other things we have going on makes our being there for him impractical.

Immediately after we got off the phone with Shannon, I called Steve Shay next. I was working with Mary and him to arrange a birthday party for Vinnie the following evening, when he turns twenty-six. We'd decided to do this jointly, because we all think of Vinnie as our son. I had taken Vinnie in to live with us shortly after his parents were killed on 9/11 and he lived with us until he and Kevin got their own place. Steve and Mary had adopted him, instead of me, to help Vinnie address the concerns he had that Kevin and he couldn't be brothers and lovers too. This way, with the Shays adopting him, it meant he and Kevin weren't brothers, so his concerns were no longer relevant. Since we are all his parents in a way, we decided to join forces when planning his party.

When we started doing this a few weeks ago, Steve first wanted to hold the party at his place. After thinking it over, I explained that I felt it would be too crowded to hold it there. As an alternative, I suggested we should just reserve one of the private dining rooms at the restaurant and have everyone meet us there. After agreeing to this arrangement, Steve insisted that he was going to pay for everything, even though I offered to split the tab with him. Although he thanked me for my offer, he said I'd already done more than my share, so Mary and he were going to foot this bill. Mary also drew up the guest list and then sent out the invitations, so now I was merely checking with Steve to make certain everything was set.

We met at the restaurant at 7:00 on Saturday evening and Vinnie was a bit surprised when he saw everyone there. He thought this was just going to be a small gathering and he was only having dinner with Kevin, Jeff, Steve and Mary. For that reason, he was shocked when he walked in and realized the rest of us were here too. Not only were all of the boys who lived locally and their partners here, but so were Sally, Susan and Alice. It was a very nice turnout.

After enjoying a couple of drinks and sharing some appetizers, we ordered our meals and then waited for them to be delivered. In the interim, we talked to Vinnie and asked how things were going at school. He told us he was thoroughly enjoying his students this year and thrilled that so many of them were making significant progress. He commented that one particular boy, who had been very withdrawn and aloof last year, was finally beginning to accept that he was handicapped and willing to learn to cope with his physical disability. In this case, his condition was the result of an accident, not a birth defect, so it had been much more difficult for him to accept and cope with his new limitations.

We told Vinnie we were glad the boy was adjusting, but we were also confident that he must have made a significant impact in getting this boy to accept what had happened to him and then adapt to it. Vinnie didn't agree entirely, but he did admit he felt he'd helped in minor ways. He then went on to tell us that the boy finally realized he could either make the best of a bad situation or he could hide in his room and be miserable for the rest of his life. Vinnie said he wanted to believe he'd played at least a small role in helping the boy come to this conclusion, but he thought it was more likely that the boy's parents and some of his peers had been the ones that had provided the required motivation.

Once this discussion ended, we then talked to Kevin and asked how he was making out at the pharmacy. Kevin responded by telling us that things were going well at the store and business had remained steady. He added that they haven't had a downturn in volume after the initial 'Frankie' effect, even though I thought they might.

I also asked how Vinnie and he were getting along with Jeff and how he was working out at the store. Kevin said they were both enjoying Jeff's company and that Jeff was a tremendous help at the pharmacy. Kevin told us that Jeff had removed a great deal of the pressure off of him, since Jeff was there to fill the prescriptions, and this gave Kevin a chance to do other things. Kevin now had more time to get around the store and check things out, as well as being able to make certain supplies were ordered, but it has also allowed him time to double-check the books. I think we were all glad to learn Jeff's addition was working out so well and everyone made sure to tell him so.

Jeff then told us that he liked being here too and he couldn't wait to move his mother to the area as well. He said he enjoyed spending time with Kevin and Vinnie, and he was glad that Kevin trusted him and gave him so much responsibility at the pharmacy, but there were still a few drawbacks. Jeff said one of those was that he missed his mother and was worried about her being alone, but he thought she'd do well once she got here, since this is such a nice community. I was pleased that things were working out so well for each of them.

After our meals were delivered and we'd finished eating, a birthday cake was brought out and set in front of Vinnie. After we sang to him and he blew out the candles, the cake was cut and a slice was given to each person there. Once we finished our cake, we gave Vinnie his presents and watched as he opened them.

It turned out to be a lovely evening and I think we all had a good time. As we were leaving, I reminded everyone that we were expecting to see them again on Christmas Eve and mentioned the time we'd be sitting down to eat. Then we all said our goodbyes and returned to our homes. I know I was happily thinking ahead to the next time we would be together again and I hoped the others were too.

There was a lot of rushing around left to do as the final days before Christmas passed by. Even though I have completed the last of the present shopping, there's a whole lot of food to prepare and the boys and I were busy fixing the last few items for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals. Many of the side dishes have to be prepared early, because there is just too much to do to get it all done in a single day or at the last minute, so we continued to work on these final few dishes now. Once we were done, they will be refrigerated until they are needed. If it's a hot dish, it won't be cooked completely and we'll take care of doing that before it's served.

Jake isn't involved in helping with any of this, because he is spending his time getting his clothes ready and packing the gifts he'll be taking with him. He will be flying out to spend this holiday with Shannon and Nick in Oklahoma and they'll all be spending the holiday with Nick's parents. I'm going to miss him, but I can understand why he wants to spend this time with his son. He'll be leaving for the airport after he finishes work tonight, so we've already said our goodbyes, but I'm looking forward to when he returns home on Monday.

Those coming for the holiday began to show up at the house on Friday, the 23rd. Andrew arrived earlier than most, because he had taken the last of his finals the previous day and his trip back from college wasn't as long as some of the others had to make. He pulled into the driveway even before Little Ricky got home from work, so it gave us some time to chat alone first. When Little Ricky came in, Andrew and he spent their time together so they could catch up a little before dinner.

Pat arrived next, because he had taken a half-day off from work to drive here from Pittsburgh and arrived well before dinnertime. Ricky, Sammy and Graham were the next to make it. Jay had picked each of them up on his way home from New York City and the boys all chipped in to cover the cost of the gasoline (that's petro or petrol for non-Americans). When they arrived, Jay didn't stick around to chat with us. He wanted to get home to see his parents, but he and his family will be coming here for Christmas Dinner.

Our numbers have changed dramatically since we gathered for Thanksgiving, but this was expected. We knew that Michael, Marie, Elizabeth, Mark, Duck, Dustin, Cole, Frankie, Nick and Shannon were all spending time with their spouse's or partner's family this holiday, or in Nick's case his own family.

Since Christmas is on Sunday this year and Monday is the official holiday from work, it means we'll have the entire weekend to spend together. The boys won't have to leave until Monday and then they'll still get home in plenty of time to get some rest before they have to return to work on Tuesday.

The O'Haras were the last to arrive, but they also had the furthest to travel and didn't get to the house until nearly 10:00. Even though Patrick had left work a few hours early, the combination of the long flight from Texas and the drive from Pittsburgh to our house took its toll. The funny thing was, once they saw their grandsons, son and son-in-law they seemed to get their second wind and the weariness drained from their bodies.

Noah and Elliot were thrilled to see their grandparents again and hugged them both, energetically when they arrived. They also gave their Grandma Brenda a kiss, which only endeared them to her even more, if that is even possible.

Once the boys helped get their grandparents settled into their assigned room, they sat down to chat with them for a brief time. Danny and Brandon joined them as well, but the rest of us understood they had some catching up to do and gave them some space. Elliot and Noah eagerly told their grandparents about how their Christmas concerts had gone and Brenda and Patrick were more than willing to listen to the boys rant on.

Just before midnight, the O'Haras finally admitted they were exhausted and needed to go to bed. Everyone else was pretty tired too, so most of us went to our rooms to get some sleep. I'm sure not all of the boys turned in immediately and I suspect at least a few of them used this time to relieve a little sexual tension, but that was their prerogative. I was just happy to have so many at home for the holiday.

Saturday was Christmas Eve and there was much to be done. Before getting started, however, we took a couple of hours to spend time with each other. During the course of the morning, a few of the boys realized they'd forgotten a minor detail or two, so there were some last minute trips to various stores to correct these oversights.

The rest of the day was spent doing a number of different things. Some of the boys decided to challenge each other at various games, although they did have to go down to the basement to play table tennis or air hockey, while others watched DVDs or spent their time listening to music. While they were doing that, I was busy getting Christmas Eve dinner ready. As I was working, different people wandered into the kitchen from time to time and offered to help, but I assured them I was doing fine on my own and they should use this time to enjoy themselves. However, my words often fell on deaf ears and my advice went unheeded. Even though I would have done fine without their help, I have to admit that their assistance was greatly appreciated.

Kevin, Vinnie and the extended family began to arrive about an hour before dinner, giving us plenty of time to chat first. I could tell Susan was a little disappointed that Mark wasn't here this year, but it was the only downside to our celebration. Sally, Alice and the Shays were all in the holiday spirit, so I knew the evening would go very well.

When the last of the dishes came out of the oven, I called everyone to the table, so we would partake of this holiday meal. On the way to the dining room, Elliot and Noah asked their grandparents if they could sit with them, and when Patrick and Brenda agreed, the boys took seats between them. Brandon then sat on the other side of his mother and Danny took the remaining chair next to his father-in-law. I could tell the O'Haras were thrilled with this arrangement. Living so far away, Brenda and Patrick miss out on a great many things, so they relish the time they get to spend with their son and his family.

Everyone was in high spirits and eagerly looking forward to both tonight's and tomorrow's festivities. This, in turn, meant the conversation was not only upbeat, but also very playful.

"Uncle Ricky," Noah began innocently enough, "how come everyone says you're a pain in the butt? You don't seem so bad to me."

While the others were snickering about Noah's comment, Ricky had a different reaction.

"Who told you that?" he demanded, so strongly that it startled Noah.

"Ummm, everybody," Noah stuttered.

Before Ricky could come up with a rejoinder, a few of the others came to Noah's rescue.

"We've all said it and the only reason Noah doesn't agree yet is because he's new and you've been taking it easy on him," Danny answered, before turning toward his son. "I don't think you'll be so fortunate now, Noah, since you've brought it up."

"Yeah, you should have seen what Ricky did to Elliot when he joined the family for his first holiday dinner," Jesse added.

"Yeah, Elliot told me about that," Noah confirmed. "He said no matter what anyone else tells me, I'm not to let Uncle Ricky put a dog collar on me."

"But did he tell you about all the things he did to me?" Ricky challenged.

"I don't think so," Noah answered, hesitantly.

At this point, Ricky went on to fill Noah in about all the pranks Elliot had pulled on him. As he listened, Noah's mouth hung agape and his eyes bulged from their sockets, as he turned to look at his brother. Elliot, on the other hand, tried to give his best 'who me?' innocent expression, which I don't believe fooled anyone.

"Well, I think I know several members of this family who will be getting coal, instead of gifts this year," I teased.

"Hey, he messed with the bull and got the horns," Elliot laughed. "Besides, that happened last year!"

"And you've been a perfect angel ever since?" Brandon challenged.

"Of course I have, Daddy!" Elliot shot back, while tilting his head slightly to one side and offering his best impression of an angelic smile. I think the smile made him look more sinister and conjured up images of Damien, from "The Omen" instead.

This carefree prattle went on throughout the entire meal, as various family members took shots at each other. Brenda and Patrick were totally enjoying the boys' playful banter, since they live alone and don't get to be part of something like this very often. However, by the time the meal ended, we were all ready to move on to something different and eagerly retired to the family room, so we could relax for a while. We knew it wouldn't be long before we'd have to get ready to attend the Christmas Eve service.

When we arrived at the church, I think everyone was eager to see our friends from the congregation again. After visiting with a few of the parishioners before the service began, we went inside and took our seats. It wasn't very long before we were listening to the typical upbeat sermon about the birth of Christ. We also enjoyed singing the wonderful Christmas hymns, which are such a vital part of this service. Dion sang with the choir and was the featured soloist when they sang 'Angels We Have Heard On High." When Dion was singing, I heard Joshie whisper to his brother.

"Wyatt, that's Daddy singing," Joshie explained. "He's a really good singer."

I couldn't help but smile when I heard him say this and when I looked in their direction I could see Trey had a huge grin on his face too. I take it this means Joshie's comment tickled him as well, so I'm certain he'll fill Dion in about it later.

When the service ended, we said goodbye to many of our friends and wished them a Merry Christmas, before we returned home and prepared to gather in the family room. It was time for me to offer my yearly reading of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas,' as we awaited Santa's appearance.

Steve had enthusiastically volunteered to do this again, so the children wouldn't notice any of us missing when Santa peeked inside. While the rest of us were making our way into the family room, Danny ducked into my bedroom and made a quick call to Steve and let him know it was just about time for him to show up.

After I finished reading and snapped the book closed, Santa appeared in our picture window and peeked inside, right on cue. Joshie spotted him immediately and squealed out.

"Wyatt, look! It's Santa Claus," he squealed. "We gotta hurry and go to bed, so he can leave our presents. Come on. Hurry! If you don't go to sleep, then Santa won't leave you anything."

Everyone got a kick out of Joshie's antics, because he was acting as if Wyatt could actually get up and do what he told him. I could also tell that Noah was enjoying this as well. Even though he's too old to still believe in Santa, he followed Joshie's suggestion and went off with him, so he could pretend he was getting ready for bed too. However, once the two little ones were in their rooms, Noah came back downstairs to rejoin the rest of us.

We normally watch one of the many versions of 'A Christmas Carol' at this point, and this year it was decided that we'd watch the musical rendition, instead of a purely dramatic presentation of the tale. Therefore, we all got comfortable and settled in to enjoy the rousing songs and familiar themes in "Scrooge," starring Albert Finney.

Once the DVD finished, nearly everyone went to his room, except for the few of us that still had presents to place under the tree. There were only a couple of items that needed to be assembled this year, so we finished rather quickly and then turned in. We expected Joshie and Noah might wake us up early, since we felt they'd be the most excited to see what presents they got.

In the past my grandchildren have gotten up as early as 4:00 Christmas morning, however it was after 6:30 before I heard anyone moving about in the foyer this year. Of course, it was Joshie who had awakened first, and then he also woke up Noah, Elliot and Jesse. They were the first ones downstairs, but the older boys looked as if they could have used some more sleep when I spotted them.

"You can take a quick peek and see what it looks like in the rec room," I warned them, "but we have to get the others up first, before any presents are opened."

The younger boys quickly raced out to see what it looked like under the tree, while Elliot and Jesse exchanged morning groans with me, which I translated as "good morning" and "Merry Christmas." A few seconds later, we were rejoined by Noah and Joshie, when they came back to the kitchen to ask me a question. I was making a pot of coffee when they entered.

"Should we start waking everyone up?" Noah asked, tentatively, so I looked at the clock.

"It's only a few minutes before 7:00, but I think it will be alright," I suggested. "Just do it nicely and don't startle anyone."

"Does that mean Ricky too?" Elliot asked, with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Yes, that means Ricky too," I replied.

"I'll be right back," Elliot grinned, as he grabbed a couple of pans from a nearby cabinet and headed for the stairs.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I yelled. "You'll be sorry."

Elliot didn't heed my advice and continued up the steps. Before long, I heard a loud clanging, followed by a muffled yelp. A moment later, Ricky came down the stairs with Elliot in a headlock.

"Good morning, Ricky. May I ask what you're doing?" I wondered, as I gestured toward Elliot.

"Oh, nothing. Just resetting my alarm clock," Ricky grinned, wickedly.

"Come on, it's Christmas morning boys," I admonished my pranksters. "Try behaving yourselves today – for my sake, please."

Ricky grinned again and reluctantly released Elliot.

Shortly after that, the rest of the bodies began meandering throughout the house, even if some of them reminded me more of zombies than living beings. I think a few of the boys had done a little personal celebrating in their rooms before they went to sleep last night, so they were relying purely on their instincts to go through the motions of moving about.

Once we were all in the rec room, Danny and Brandon started passing out the gifts. When Ricky saw them handing something to Elliot, he spoke up.

"I certainly hope that's a lump of coal, after what he did to me this morning," Ricky challenged.

"But I only do it because I love you, Uncle Ricky," Elliot responded, with mock concern.

"Oh, he's such a sweet boy," Brenda remarked, as she walked by and patted Elliot on the head.

As soon as his grandmother was out of sight, Elliot stuck his tongue out at Ricky. Ricky couldn't help but laugh, and despite his complaints, I think he likes the idea that his nephew takes after him a bit, at least where the pranks are concerned. If the two of them ever decide to team up and start targeting the rest of us, we're definitely going to be in big trouble.

After everyone had been given a present to open, the sounds of wrapping paper being torn and exclamations about what the various individuals had received began to fill the room. Most of us tried to see what everyone else had gotten, but we also took time to thank the givers of our gift for their thoughtfulness.

After all of the presents had been opened, everyone began to take their new acquisitions to their rooms. After they began to disappear, a few of us took a few more minutes to clean up the mess that had been left behind. Nearly everyone had thrown the wrapping paper into the trash bags we had placed throughout the room, but there were still small pieces that had fallen onto the floor and were left behind, along with an assortment of used tags, ribbons and bows. Once the mess had been cleaned up, I went out to the kitchen and began fixing breakfast. I knew it wouldn't be long before the troops would come looking for something to eat, so I wanted to get a head start on the process.

Danny and Brandon came into the kitchen and offered to help me fix the food. While I began cooking the eggs and bacon, Danny set up the waffle irons and began mixing the batter. As he was getting prepared to make waffles, Brandon got busy making oatmeal, English muffins, bagels and toast. Brandon also made many trips to and from the dining room, as he carried the various items in and placed them on the table.

The others began to make their way into the dining room, just as soon as the smell of the food began to waft through the house. Danny, Brandon and I made sure everyone else was fed first and had everything they needed, before we also sat down to eat.

Once everyone's belly was full, some of us remained in the dining room to chat, while many of the younger family members went to check out their recently acquired treasures. As I chatted with those who had remained behind, I could also hear the muted sounds of music and DVDs being played in the other rooms.

As soon I noticed what time it was, I began urging everyone to get ready to go to church again, since this was both Christmas Day and Sunday. The service was only slightly different from the one we'd attended the night before, but seeing this is such an important religious holiday and we enjoy singing and listening to the Christmas hymns, I don't think anyone minded.

When we returned home, I immediately began to get things started for Christmas Dinner. I put the hams in the oven first, and after they had been baking for a while, I began to warm up the previously prepared side dishes that needed to be served hot. The extended family members would begin arriving soon and I wanted to have everything going, so we'd be ready to eat shortly after they got here. We could visit with them both while we ate and after we'd finished, but I wanted them to enjoy the food while it was hot.

Susan arrived first, closely followed by Alice, the Shays and Sally. A little while after they got here, Jay and his parents pulled in, followed by Kevin and Vinnie. Jeff wouldn't be joining us this time, because he had gone back to be with his mother. I think we were all happy that he was able to spend some time with her on this very special holiday.

Since this is a much smaller gathering than we usually have, it means we'll also have more time to spend with each individual this year, seeing there aren't so many vying for our attention. I think it worked out rather nicely this way and I enjoyed being able to chat with each of those who were here. It was a wonderful holiday and I know I really enjoyed it, so I just hope the others feel the same way.

After dinner, I called Jake at the Lawrences. I had waited to do this until now, primarily because of the time difference, but I wanted to wish my lover and his son, along with Nicky and his parents, a very Merry Christmas.

Mrs. Lawrence answered the phone, but she quickly summoned everyone else into the room and put us on speaker. I did the same for the crowd here, so it was a very interesting, and sometimes chaotic call. We all had a good time chatting with the others, but we eventually said our goodbyes and then screamed Merry Christmas again, before we hung up.

When we'd finished the call, Danny drove Elliot over to Ian's house so the new couple could exchange gifts. Danny offered to wait in the car while he did this, so they could do it in private, and I think Elliot appreciated this thoughtful gesture.

When he'd first come out to Elliot, Ian had lamented that he had no one to talk to about his homosexuality and this gave Elliot an idea. Elliot's gift to Ian was a handsome, leather-bound journal with his initials embossed on the cover. He felt Ian could write his thoughts down in it, so he'd always feel as if he had someone to talk to.

Ian, in turn, gave Elliot a framed picture of the two of them, taken on the night of our haunted house. Ian had brought his camera with him that evening and had asked Jesse to take a picture of them together, before they got dressed up to scare the others. Elliot and Ian weren't a couple back then, but even a blind man could see there was more going on between the two of them then met the eye.

When Elliot came back out later, Danny was surprised to see Ian with him. It turned out that the holiday festivities at Ian's house had ended earlier, and since the boys were on vacation from school, Ian's parents had agreed to let him spend the night. When Elliot asked his dad if this was okay with him, Danny quickly agreed and the boys got in the car with him.

We definitely had more than enough room for Ian at the house, but I doubt he'll be sleeping in Noah's room this time. Since the night of the Christmas concert, Elliot and Ian have been more open with the family about their relationship, so no one was surprised to see Ian when he walked through the door. I'm also happy that Ian has been able to bring Elliot out of his shell. Elliot is no longer afraid to hold hands with Ian or hug him in front of the rest of us now, and I know this was a big step for him. Despite his bravado, he is basically a fairly shy boy.

I also noticed that Noah pulled Elliot aside later that evening. I knew it wasn't because he was surprised that Ian and Elliot were boyfriends, but I eventually discovered Noah merely wanted to let his brother know he was happy for him and that he approved of Elliot's choice.

When we sat down to dinner, we merely snacked on the leftovers and then served up the desserts. Once everyone was full again, we returned to the family room to watch a DVD one of the boys had received as a present. When that ended, the extended family said their farewells and returned to their own homes, and then the rest of the boys disappeared to do their own thing.

After going to Elliot's bedroom, Elliot and Ian stared at each other nervously as they put on their pajamas. They were used to seeing each other in Speedos or naked in the locker room, so this wasn't the reason for this awkward moment. Instead, they were feeling shy about sharing a bed for the first time.

"Are you nervous?" Elliot finally asked.

"A little," Ian confessed. "I've never slept with another guy before, especially someone I like as much as you."

Elliot grinned and then turned back the covers, before he made his way over to where Ian was still standing like a statue. He took Ian's hand and gently guided him to the bed. After encouraging him to slide under the warm blankets, he slowly slid in behind him. After a few moments, Ian began to get comfortable and started to relax.

"I love you, Elliot," Ian almost whispered, surprising Elliot.

Elliot had been spending his time trying to determine how he could help Ian adjust to the situation. Now, he could just speak to him honestly.

"Having you here with me is the best Christmas present I've ever gotten," Elliot replied, as he leaned in for a quick kiss.

That was all they did that night, other than to snuggle closely as they drifted off to sleep.

A short time later, I realized I was also getting tired and decided to make my final tour of the house. I always did this to make certain all of the doors were locked and everything was in order. When I passed by the dining room, I noticed a solitary figure sitting alone in the dark. Concerned, I went in to investigate and see if anything was wrong. When I got closer, I noticed it was Graham who was alone at the table.

"Why are you sitting in here all by yourself?" I asked. "I thought everyone had gone to bed."

"I'm sure everyone else has," he responded, "but I just wanted to be alone for a few minutes before hitting the sack."

"Is anything wrong?" I wondered aloud.

"Not really," he replied. "I just had a bunch of stuff I wanted to sort out. I couldn't do it earlier, because there were just too many people around. It seemed that the others wanted to chat, so I wasn't able to find any time to concentrate on other things."

"Yes, I love it when everyone is home and the house is full again," I mused.

"Dad, you don't know how full it was," Graham countered, with a slight chuckle.

I paused momentarily, as I thought about his comment. I suspected I knew what he was talking about.

"Are you telling me we weren't alone?" I inquired, and Graham laughed again.

"Yeah, you might say that," he answered. "I think they're around most of the time, but I have a feeling they only show themselves when they want us to know something is on their minds. I guess this year must have had some special significance, because I think I saw nearly everyone today, at one time or another."

"I hope you're only talking about our missing family members and not just a whole bunch of spirits mulling around," I countered, and Graham laughed again.

"No, I don't see generations of spirits moving about," he confessed. "I think that once the deceased's loved ones are also gone, they must crossover or something like that. They only seem to hang around while they still have ties to this world."

I thought about this for several seconds and reflected upon how Graham's comment made sense. Of course, the spirit world would tend to move on once their loved ones were gone. They might watch their descendants for a short time, but seeing they'd have no real connection to them, other than the blood ties, I think they'd eventually grow tired of doing that and then move on. I concluded Graham's observation was both enlightening and probably quite accurate.

"So how many of our loved ones did you see today?" I followed.

"You might say I saw them all," Graham responded. "It started with Cody. I tend to see him around quite often, probably because we were boyfriends before he died, but today he was here with Brent. For some reason, the two of them seemed to be hanging around Danny and Brandon. I know Brent was close to that pair, but I didn't know Cody felt such a strong connection to them."

"Were they just hanging around Danny and Brandon or was there something more to it?" I wondered. "You know Elliot and Noah are around the same ages that Brent and Cody were when they lived here."

"Well, when Cody noticed that I knew he was here, he acted as if he was patting them on the back," Graham explained. "Once he did that, Brent started doing it too."

"Hmmm. Brent and Cody might have been showing their approval for what Danny and Brandon have been doing," I suggested. "They might be saying they're happy that Danny and Brandon have started their own family and are continuing the tradition of the Castaway Hotel, or maybe they're showing their approval for the work they've done creating the Children's Health Center. I wonder which it is?"

"It might be both," Graham confessed. "They've been hanging around that pair all day, so I think by staying so close to them they're trying to tell me it's about more than just one of those things."

"You might be right," I agreed, "and you said you saw most of the others as well?"

"I did," Graham confirmed. "I saw a man and a woman hanging out beside Noah, so I figured they must be his parents. I also noticed Elliot's parents hovering near him again and I saw a man hanging around Jesse. I've never noticed him before, so I'm not sure if this was the first time he's come around. He may have been here before but kept his presence hidden from me, or it might be that I just didn't pay attention to him, seeing I didn't know who he was. I now think he must be Jesse's father."

"You're probably right," I concurred. "Jesse had been with him when he was murdered."

"Yeah, I remember how Jesse reacted and how he stopped talking when he witnessed his father's death," Graham confirmed. "I also saw John and Margaret Spence. They were moving around a lot and not following anyone in particular, but I did see them pointing at Frankie's picture a few times. I'm not sure what that was about though."

"Well, the Spences did feel as if they were grandparents to all of you boys," I announced, "so they might have shown up just to express their love for all of you. When they pointed at Frankie's picture, it might have been their way of showing pride for what Frankie did earlier this year. If what the authorities have told us is accurate, then Frankie prevented a lot of souls from crossing over to the other side."

"Yeah, that's probably it," Graham agreed. "I also saw the Beckers hanging around Little Ricky."

"They're probably pleased that he graduated with his M.S.W. degree this year and is working for Sally now," I suggested. "So is that it?"

"Hardly," Graham replied, "there were plenty more. I saw Dion's grandmother and his father too, along with Trey's parents. They were staying close to that pair and seemed very pleased that Dion and Trey have such a strong relationship. I think they were also quite enamored with Joshie and Wyatt."

"I'm sure you're right about that as well," I agreed.

"I also saw your wife and the other parents who have passed on," Graham continued. "Your wife made her rounds and I saw her near everyone, at one time or another, but she spent a lot of time beside you too. I also saw Ricky's mother, so I guess she must still love him and is sorry for ruining their life together because of her addiction to drugs and alcohol. I saw Vinnie's mom and dad too, and they seem pleased their son is doing so well and that he's so happy being with Kevin. Sammy and Andrew's mother and farther were here as well, but their father still acts as if he's ashamed about having killed his wife and himself."

"I wonder if he'll ever be able to forgive himself for doing that?" I pondered.

"I don't know, but I also saw Andrew and Sammy's grandparents. I recognized them from when they came here and when we went to Japan to visit them, but they seemed okay being here with their son and his wife."

"It makes me wonder if these spirits are always around?" I pondered. "I'd sort of expect them to show up around the holidays, but I'd like to know if they're here the rest of the time too?"

"I've seen most of them on the various holidays before, but usually not all of them," Graham replied, matter-of-factly. "Other than that, I don't usually see them when I'm home, so I'm not sure if they're here the rest of the time or not. It's also possible they only show themselves when they want me to pass along a message to their loved ones or during the holidays when the feelings of love are so intense. Whatever the reason, this year they all just decided to show up."

"I wonder what made this holiday so different then?" I mused, more to myself than to Graham, but he responded nonetheless.

"I'm not sure," he countered. "Even though not everyone came home this Christmas, I think nearly everyone they came to see was here. I'll admit I was finding the house to be pretty crowded, especially when you add the family to the spirits of our dearly departed. It was definitely a full house.

"I think your wife would have liked to have seen your biological children and grandchildren here and maybe the Spence's would have preferred it if Frankie had showed up too. Otherwise, everyone else was present that the spirits came to see. I don't think that's a bad thing, but it certainly made it an interesting day for me. That's why I needed to take a few minutes to think things through before I went to bed. I'm glad you stopped by though, because you helped me sort out a few things."

"I'm glad I did too," I agreed, "although I'm not sure I did much of anything."

"It really helps to have someone to bounce my thoughts off of," Graham confessed, "and I'm glad I have you to talk to about 'my gift.' Outside of the family, I don't let many others know about my ability."

"I can understand that," I admitted. "I'm sure there are others who would be happy to belittle you or make light of your claims."

"To put it mildly," Graham countered.

Graham didn't seem to have any more to say, so I hugged him goodnight, kissed him on the forehead and left him to his pondering.

While getting ready for bed, I took a little more time to reflect upon what Graham had said, but more importantly to consider what the coming year will bring. Jesse will be graduating from high school in a few short months and then he'll turn eighteen three months after that. This combination of events will mean that I have fulfilled the last of the promises I'd made to the boys I adopted. I've done my best to give them the love support and guide they needed, while making certain they learned the skills they need to lead a productive, and hopefully happy, life.

As far as Jesse is concerned, I'm sure he'll do fine. He has more than enough money in the account that I set up for him to cover his college expense while he works on his degree in radiology. Once he has that, he'll be ready to either take a job working for Danny or someone else, but he'll still have some money left over to tide him over for emergencies. He'll also have the skills necessary to make him an individual capable of running his own life.

When I took time to consider everything that Graham had told me, I tried to put it all into perspective. It's been quite a few years since I took my first tentative steps down this long path, starting with Ricky and then with Danny. Now it is Danny, along with his wonderful partner, who are willing taking over the reigns from me.

Danny and Brandon now have two sons of their own and I'm certain there will be more as they continue the tradition of the Castaway Hotel. They aren't the only ones, however, because Dion and Trey are also playing a significant role. Not only are they raising Dion's biological son, but they have also assumed responsibility for another youngster. Joshie and Wyatt may have started out life under less than favorable circumstances, but I'm confident their fathers will see to it that they have everything they need while they are in their care. Of course, there will be the typical ups and downs, because that's a part of life, but Dion and Trey will teach both boys how to survive those rough spots and make the most of them.

No matter what happens to me now, I know I can rest assured that my boys are all grown up. I took them in as children, but now they are strong, confident men, and a few of them have also become loving fathers. I'm convinced that Wyatt, Joshie, Noah and Elliot are safe and will do well in the capable hands of the boys I raised. I'm honored that the boys are continuing the tradition I began. My wish for them this Christmas is for God to always watch over them and to continue to bless them with much love and happiness.

Before I fell asleep, however, I noticed a light come on in the other room, so I got up to see what was going on. As I peeked through the slight crack I'd created when opening my bedroom door, I spotted Ricky carrying a container of Saran Wrap, along with my backup roll, upstairs. It appears as if Elliot is about to get paid back for how he woke Ricky up this morning, but unfortunately this means Ian is also going to suffer the consequences. If my hunch is correct, that pair is going to wake up securely Saran wrapped to Elliot's bed. Some things never change.

The End

Continued in Castaway Hotel, The Next Generation, Book 2