Holidays with the McDowells Chapter 3 by Noopster. DISCLAIMER: This story is a work of absolute fiction based on nothing real or plausible at all. Fantasy is legal and this shit is ridiculous anyway. Thanks for reading. --- It's Christmas morning and the house is full of energy. Full of Charlie's nieces and nephews playing with the toys Santa brought them and running around the huge living room. The adults are laughing. All of them wearing pajamas and slippers, talking loudly about their own childhoods and the kind of toys they used to get. Everything smells like pancakes and bacon and hot cocoa, and the younglings shout and squeal, jumping over the empty cardboard boxes and wrapping paper that litter the beige carpet. One of them trips on Charlie's foot, falls face first on the floor, and gets up quickly, completely undaunted, speeding to the hallway as if nothing happened. "So much energy," Charlie remarks, taking the opportunity to hold Lily's hand. She ...