“Not by a long shot,” Lucy said. “I haven’t finished the fisherman’s sweater I’m making for Bill, I still have to make an angel costume for Elizabeth to wear in the church pageant, and I have to bake six dozen cookies for Sue Finch’s cookie exchange. And,” she continued, “I still have quite a bit of shopping to do. How about you?”

“Oh, I’m pretty well finished. Of course, now that the kids are scattered from Washington to San Francisco there isn’t so much to do.” Beverly’s voice was wistful. “I just have something sent from the catalog.”

“Don’t knock it,” advised Lucy. “I have my mother and Bill’s folks coming. Christmas is an awful lot of work. I like Halloween, myself. All you need is a mask and a bag of candy.”

“Why don’t you all pack up and spend Christmas at Grandma’s?” asked Beverly. “I’d love to have my brood back for the holidays.” Beverly sighed as she thought of the neat stack of presents waiting in her closet, which she would open all by herself on Christmas morning.

“Oh, we started having Christmas at our house back in the granola years when we had chickens and goats and woodstoves. We couldn’t leave or the animals would starve and the pipes would freeze! Now everyone expects it.” Lucy shrugged, pausing to take an order for a flannel nightgown.

“I don’t know how you girls do it,” said Beverly, picking up the conversation. “You work half the night, and then you take care of your families all day.”

“It isn’t so bad. I like it a lot better than cashiering at the IGA or working at the bank. When I did that my whole check went for day care.”

“But when do you sleep?” asked Beverly, yawning.

“Oh, I usually nap when Sara does. She’s only four,” answered Lucy, stretching and yawning herself. “It isn’t sleep I miss, it’s sex. How about you, Ruthie?” Lucy asked the woman on her other side. “Are you getting any lately?”

Ruthie whooped. “Are you kidding? He works all day, I work all night, and the baby wakes up at five.” She lowered her voice and spoke in a confidential tone to Lucy and Beverly. “I’ve asked Santa for a night in a motel.”