Eden's First Christmas by Kristen Saari

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Eden's First Christmas (2/4)

"Alonzo! Careful with that tree!" Bess exclaimed in a loud whisper. "You almost knocked over my nativity scene!" "Sorry, but pulling this thing is easier said than done!" Alonzo was dragging a large evergreen across the floor of the dining hall. The main eating area had beenm converted into a veritable "winter-wonderland" with tree boughs made into mistle-toe, strings of popcorn (from the colony's first harvest), sea-shell and coral decorations from the beach...which in any other siutation would've looked horrible, but that's to Bess' gift of decoration, looked beautiful. Bess had been working on stringing more popsorn to wrap around the tree and polishing small rocks to use as ornaments. As she worked, she thought about the Christmases she'd had back home on Earth with her father. They'd had special oraments, and things like tinsel, but then again, they'd never been able to use a real tree, so this was her first real Christmas tree, and was looking forward to it, even if they didn't have all the trimmings.
"Bess...c'mon, we have to get this thing up!" Alonzo was fighting with the long trunk, trying to make it fit into the make-shift stand Yale had made for them.
Bess put down the string she had been working on and helped Alonzo put the end into the small wooden stand.
They both stood back and admired it for a moment. Alonzo knew that Devon would love to know what they had been up to, as would the rest of the group, and he smiled as he remembered the incident that morning when she had tried to find out. Only Bess, Yale and himself were allowed in through that door...not that it stopped the others from trying of course, but one of the three had always managed to detour the tresspasser in another direction.
"Well," Alonzo said. "we'd better get started on decorating this thing if we want it done before everyone wakes up, and tries to get in again." Bess nodded. "Yeah, and I would like *some* sleep before the party tonight, so let's go."
She grabbed some of the ornaments and as she was placing them on the tree, she wondered how Uly and True were doing with their surprise.

As Bess had hoped, both of the kids were hard at work. They were in a small storage room of the hospital, surrounded by various coloured paints...both in cans, and on thier clothes and faces from numerous paint fights.
"C'mon True! Hurry. If my mom finds me gone she'll go nuts!" Uly was drying off one of his hands after cleaning them with different soaps Yale had provided.
True looked up at him with an exasperated sigh. "Look, if you don't want you mommy upset then go run home, but I'm going to stay here a while longer, at least until the nest watch comes out." "Fine, but why are we here now? Why can't we do this during the day?" Uly sat down beside her.
True put down the dish of paint she had been working with. "Because if we did it during the day, someone might walk in on us...besides, this is when Alonzo and Bess are doing all their stuff too! Now stop complaining, and if you're going to leave, then leave, if not, help me by handing me the yellow."
Uly sighed and, not wanting to be out done by a girl, handed True the paint. If she could stay up longer, so could he.

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