1 ~ Seasonal Sparkle

December 1, 2016

“Have a holly jolly Christmas.  It’s the best time of the year. I don't know if there'll be snow, but have a cup of beer. ” 

Lilah Bongiovi’s sequined Santa hat caught rays of early afternoon sunlight, casting reflections upon the dining room wall when her head tilted from one side to the other.  There was no Christmas music playing in her unusually quiet home, but it didn’t stop her from singing mangled lyrics to the rag doll undergoing hair surgery. 

Dolly originally began her stuffed life as a blonde, but the winds of change shifted to blow Lilah’s interest in another direction.  Now Dolly was going to have a mop of dark hair with pretty red bows – just like Lilah’s four-year-old daughter, Micah Jane, would wear on Christmas day.

Unless the child threw a fit and refused to wear hair bows.  It happened about every other day, so the chances were good.  It happened today, in fact. 

Her sister-in-law Desiree came to get Micah Jane and her little brother, Lucas, for an afternoon out with their cousins.  M.J. was wearing a cute pair of peppermint-striped leggings and an elf tunic.  When Lilah went to fasten the matching peppermint bow in her hair, the little girl screamed as though she was being snatched bald-headed. 

If ever there was a child who could scream, it was Miss Micah Jane Bongiovi.  Lilah swore that there were dogs in the next county that heard the ruckus and returned their howling sympathy. 

In the end, both Lilah and Desiree agreed the bit of holiday headwear wasn’t worth the fight.  The sassy prima donna was delighted by this decision, and she pranced out of the house with flyaway hair and a cherubic smile.

Damned Bongiovi genes.

As mule-headed and obstinate as they were, it was very handy having Tony’s family living nearby. 

She and Desiree switched off childcare duty at least once a week.  It was always a bit more than that between Thanksgiving and Christmas, to allow them both get through holiday preparations without killing any of their children. 

If Desiree wasn’t available, someone in Jon’s family was usually willing to babysit for a few hours.  Lilah didn’t trust him to do it alone, but if his wife Charlie or one of their six kids was around, then it was okay. 

It wasn’t that she found Jon untrustworthy.  Her children just tended to get the upper hand on him.  The man had a cookie fetish and didn’t mind sharing his stash in order to keep Lucas and Micah Jane happy – and then he sent them home to bounce off the walls. 

Therefore, Jon was on the babysitter non grata list – and so were both of his brothers, quite frankly. 

Last time the little ones went on an outing with their daddy and Uncle Matt, they came home with a pet snake.  

The slithery little sucker barely poked its head through the front door Lilah demanded – loudly – that it go right back out again.  They could let it loose in the woods, down a sewer, or back to the pet store.  She didn’t care where the damn thing lived, but it absolutely was not living in her house.   

In hindsight, she wondered if that wasn’t a devious plot hatched by the Bongiovi boys to avoid little people duty.

Either way, Tony was now crystal clear on the pet policy in their household.  He’d better be, since it was a printed document, laminated and hanging on the refrigerator. 

Bold letters stated that no one shall bring a legless critter through any door, window, heating duct or chimney.  The only welcome animals would be one who could walk, and preferential treatment would be offered to those with hair or fur.  Feathers or scales were subject to management (Lilah’s) approval. 

So, yeah.  Tony could and would care for his own children on a daily basis.  It was the duo of he and Matt together that came in low on her childcare provider list.

Today was worry-free, though, with Aunt Des on the job.  She had taken M.J., Lucas and her two kids to the trampoline park for the afternoon, leaving Lilah with another couple of hours to wade through part of her Christmas chores and visit with Charlie – who was late.

A glance at the wall clock confirmed it was more than thirty minutes past her expected arrival time. 

Lilah put the doll aside with a frown and stood from the dining room table that looked like Santa’s workshop puked on it.  There was glitter on the floor – well, everywhere really – along with bits of ribbon, bells, bows, fluff, flibberties and jibberties. 

She was one of those people who could craft about anything that came to mind, but Lilah wasn’t neat about it.  Chaos ensued with the first spark of inspiration and didn’t stop until everything went back into plastic containers at the end.

Then again, she was the same way about cooking.  Cabinet doors were askew, drawers stuck open, and dirty measuring cups and spoons were everywhere.  She was a disaster waiting to happen, and heaven forbid she make something with powdered sugar.  The kitchen wound up looking like a cocaine deal gone wrong every… single… time. 

She made Tony crazy with it, and he nearly always ranted that an entire army of toddlers didn’t make as much of a mess as one grown woman.  That didn’t stop him from wiping down the counters and loading the dishwasher before her cookies, cakes or meatloaf even made it to the oven. 

Lord, how she loved that man.  He was her Christmas gift three-hundred and sixty-five days a year – snakes notwithstanding. 

Clasped hands pushed high over her head in a stretch that relieved cramped back muscles, and she twisted to one side and then the other on her way to the living room.  Shaking out her fingers, she peered around the obnoxiously large Christmas tree in her front window to find a butter yellow Mustang in the driveway. 

Charlie must’ve just pulled in.

Or so she thought. 

When the car door didn’t swing open after another full minute, Lilah assumed her sister-in-law was texting or talking to Jon.  He was out of town for…  something.  Keeping up with his schedule was nearly impossible, but Lilah knew for a fact he wasn’t home.  It’s why, on Thanksgiving, they chose today to get together and brainstorm all things Christmas.   

When she pressed a palm to the wall and stuck her head between tree branches and double-paned glass, it appeared that Charlie wasn’t on the phone.  Nor was she moving.  From what Lilah could tell, she was simply staring out the windshield and occasionally running a hand through waves that were  tinted more honey than chocolate since summer.

Eyes narrowing with concern, Lilah counted to fifty with still no movement from the vehicle. 

Time to go see what’s what.

Shuffling out into the chilly December sunshine, she descended the porch steps and traversed the front walk out to the driveway.  The first sharp rap of knuckles against the driver’s window snapped Charlie out of her trance, and a startled hand lifted to the center of her chest. 

Her eyes were filled with curse words, but she still smiled upon recognizing who had just scared the bejeezus out of her.

“You okay, Charlie?”

“Of course.  Nice hat.”  The smile was convincing enough, but cocoa eyes were underscored by dark smudges.  It looked as though Santa himself had passed a lump of coal under each, marking her as a naughty girl. 

“Thanks, but I’m not buyin’ it, honey.  You look like you haven’t slept since I saw you at Thanksgivin’ last week.”

“Exaggerate much?” came the dry sarcasm along with a hug that Lilah went into with gusto – until she registered the frailty of the woman beneath the bulky Patriots hoodie. 

“Have you even eaten since Thanksgivin’, woman?”

“Are you asking me if your turkey turned me off food completely?”

This Thanksgiving wasn’t one that their family would let Lilah forget soon – or ever.   

Everyone with the last name Bongiovi or Del Vecchio swore up and down that she would never again be permitted to cook the turkey.  She might be delegated to nothing more than clean-up duty, in fact, because there was something that turned them off about a glitter-coated Thanksgiving bird. 

She thought it was beautiful, fun and festive. 

It wasn’t like she went to Hobby Lobby for an extra-large bottle of metallic glitter and dumped it on top, for Pete’s sake.  That subtle shimmer was one-hundred percent edible, with the recipe featured on both “The Today Show” and the Reynolds Wrap website.  Professionals had developed the idea, not her!

Those Italian men, though.  They were too macho to eat “sparkly shit”, as Tony referred to her glitter and rhinestone fetish.  Her husband went a gross step further, saying he wasn’t going to have “sparkly shit” either.  The other guys laughed their guts out while whole-heartedly agreeing.

Every last one of them cut the pretty glaze off their tiny slices of the bird before they’d consider putting it in their mouths.  She was pretty sure Matt shunned it completely, but Tony had to either taste it or sleep on the couch that night.  He finally admitted – albeit grudgingly – that it tasted okay. 

Charlie’s chef brother, Dominick, was the least mocking of the bunch, but even he gently remarked that it probably wasn’t worth the trouble she’d gone to.  Nearly every one of the ungrateful wretches said they would’ve rather had the Hot Cheetoh turkey featured on that same episode of “Today”.

 Now that was disgusting. 

Accepting that she had years of this ridicule to look forward to, Lilah only popped out a sassy tongue at Charlie.  “There wasn’t a damn thing wrong with that turkey, and it was gorgeous.”

“Lilah, you know I love you, but come on.  That was over the top, even for you.”

With a snort, she looped an arm around Charlie’s waist and strolled her along the front walk toward the house. 

“That’s nowhere near close to ‘the top’ for me but come on inside.  I’ll give you a little peek at somethin’ that might be.”

“My God,” Charlie marveled, drawing to a stop just inside the door and gawking at the nine-foot Christmas tree they’d put up over the weekend.  “Your tree is blinding in broad daylight.  How many lights are on there?”

Christmas was one of Lilah’s favorite holidays, mostly because of all the multicolored lights and homemade ornaments that adorned their tree.  The time that she and Tony spent decorating was precious to her, and she absolutely loved snuggling on the couch with him after the kids were fast asleep.  Some of her dearest memories were lit by nothing but that tree. 

“I think it’s ‘bout three thousand?  I keep adding an extra strand every year, so I can’t remember exactly what we’re up to, but it’s close to that.”

“Unbelievable.  I barely have the patience for a pre-lit one.”

“You have half a dozen young folks to order around that tree,” she chuckled.  “I’m sure one or two of ‘em can handle lights.”

The casual remark wiped the smile from Charlie’s face.  “All the kids are coming to Jersey day after tomorrow, so we can put up our first official family tree.  I think I’ll probably just hang wreaths on the Brooklyn doors.”

“Seems kinda sad, if ya ask me.”  There was something about a home without lights at the holidays that was a bit gloomy.  “So do you, for that matter.  What’s goin’ on?”

Charlie loved Lilah like a sister, but she didn’t want – couldn’t – talk about it.  There were so many things running through her mind right now that her thoughts were nothing but a snarled ball of yarn.  Making sense of them wouldn’t be possible until she found one end and could start unraveling a bit at a time. 

That wasn’t going to happen today and left her denying Lilah’s astute observation with a shake of the head.   

“I’m just having trouble getting into the spirit this year.  Christmas shopping for a wealthy man is a pain in the ass.”

That was the truth.  Last year, she’d given him a check for four million dollars.  Blood money, in some respects, to compensate for forcing him to buy his ex-wife out of the East Hampton house.  Stubborn man that he was, Jon tore it up and then handed her a new life in the form of a bundle of legal documents. 

There would be no topping last year for either of them, and it left her floundering.

“You’re an artist,” her Southern sister-in-law scoffed.  “Paint him somethin’ and call it a day.”

“There’s too much of my stuff around as it is.  A mural here, a portrait there, another mural and a few landscapes.  No.  I’m not doing it.”

“Alright, if that’s what you think, but I personally think you’d wet your drawers once for every song he decided to write you.  What makes you think he doesn’t feel the same way about your paintin’s?”

Chocolate eyes rolled to the big, homemade bow on top of the tree before locking into irises that were a pretty shade of beach water.  “He’s not exactly the ‘drawer wetting’ type, although I get what you mean.  It just feels… blah and lazy to do another piece.”

“Hmpf.  I think you’re bein’ stupid, but if anybody knows there’s no arguin’ with a determined woman that would be me.  Come on.  I’ll show you what I’m workin’ on.  Maybe it’ll be inspirin’.”

Charlie followed her hostess through the two-story farmhouse that had become very familiar over the last year.  She and Jon were close to both of their families, and each sibling’s house was just another place to call home.  That made her comfortable in her surroundings, just not so much in her skin, and Charlie worried that keeping this date was a bad idea. 

The endearingly kooky Lilah was psychic – or practically so – and often knew things about Charlie before Charlie did.  With the secret that Charlie carried today, spending time with her sister-in-law was equivalent to playing Russian roulette.

Jon should be the first to find out.  It was only right for him to find out about this newest family… development before anyone else.  Charlie believed that wholeheartedly, and that was exactly how she planned for it to happen. 

Unfortunately, unless Lilah’s intuitive radar was jammed by all the Christmas lights, Charlie’s plans might not mean a damn thing.