Starry, Starry Night Three Holiday Stories

Mom, look at these. Aren't they cute?" Melanie Barton jiggled a pair of dinosaur-shaped baby booties under her mother's nose. Melanie and her mother, Connie, stood in a baby superstore, surrounded by aisles of adorable merchandise. Her mother leaned heavily against a shopping cart heaped with diapers, newborn-size clothes, crib sheets, and a mobile and eyed the bright dino booties. "Yes, they're cute, but I think they're too big for a newborn. Your feet weren't any bigger than this." Connie held out her finger and thumb to indicate a couple of inches, then arched her back and rubbed the hollow. "I need to get off my feet, Mellie. I'd forgotten how much your back aches when you're pregnant." "How about the paint store? You said we could stop there before we go home. I need more yellow to finish the nursery walls." "You'll get it done before the baby comes, I'm sure. Right now, I want to get home before I collapse." "But I still have Christmas shopping to do." "It'll keep, Mellie," her mother said patiently. "I need to rest. You can go to the mall anytime." Melanie told herself to be sensitive to her pregnant mother. In only a couple more weeks, Melanie's little brother or sister would be born. Since Christmas was also only two weeks away, it was possible that the baby could be born on Christmas Day. Which was what Melanie was secretly hoping. "If only I could drive," Melanie grumbled as she and her mother walked to the car, pushing the cart full of purchases. "This time next year you'll have your license, and you can take Baby Mortimer Christmas shopping while I sit around eating candy and reading a book." Suddenly Melanie stopped. "You and Dad aren't really going to call him Mortimer, are you?" Her mother laughed. "Don't be silly. It could be a girl. Then we'll call her Morticia." "Mother! Don't joke. We can't give the baby some crazy name. It has to be something special." "I'm sure you have some suggestions." "A few." "Can you save them for later? I just want to get home and lie down." On the drive home, Melanie gazed at the Christmas decorations hung from lampposts, the store windows decked out with lights, glitter, and holiday displays of toys and clothes. Santas stood on street corners, ringing bells and collecting money. Outside, the world looked expectant, ready for the most wonderful day of the year. Inside, Melanie's heart felt full to overflowing. What a Christmas this was going to be! In the spring, when her mother had first told Melanie about her pregnancy, Melanie had been shocked, then embarrassed. Weren't her parents too old? Forty-two and forty-five seemed pretty old to be having a baby. And she had wondered what her friends would think. As it turned out, her friends thought she was lucky to be getting a newborn baby to cuddle and hold. Now she couldn't wait. Back at the house, Melanie unloaded the car. "You go lie down," she told her mother once they were in the foyer. "I can start dinner." Her mother patted Melanie's cheek. "You've been such a help to me. I don't know what I'dMcDaniel, Lurlene is the author of 'Starry, Starry Night Three Holiday Stories', published 2000 under ISBN 9780553571066 and ISBN 0553571060.