“That sounds more like Christmas than anything we ever have here,” I said. Our Christmas meal had been sweet-and-sour pork, rice, and curried goat.

“And then Tad has to get back up to his family,” Beth said.

I could almost hear my mother’s reaction. I could picture her pained expression, thinking that her little girl wasn’t with her own family.

“So you’ll be alone after that?” my mother asked.

“No, there are a lot of us around,” Beth said. “Suzie and Meagan from the swim team are here, and there are a lot of other orphans around campus.”

“You’re not an orphan,” my mother said. I couldn’t tell if she sounded hurt, guilty, or offended.

“That’s just what we’re calling each other. It’s a pretty big gang.”

“So you’re orphans, but the orphanage is full,” my father joked.

“Pretty full.”

“Did you open your present?” my father asked.

“It’s beautiful! Thank you both so much!”

I had no idea what they’d given her.

“I picked it out myself,” my father said.

That could have meant a new set of golf clubs, power tools, or a gift certificate from Macy’s.

“I’m wearing them right now,” Beth said.

That pretty well eliminated power tools and golf clubs, unless she had the golf bag over her shoulder.

“Your mother has the matching necklace,” my father said.

“And it’s beautiful too,” she said. “He didn’t even tell me that he got you the earrings until I opened my present.”

“I couldn’t tell either of you what I got the other without ruining the surprise,” he said.

“So, Dad, nobody helped you pick these out?”

“I don’t know why you should sound so surprised. It’s not like I don’t have taste.”

I snorted.

“No comments from the peanut gallery,” he said, laughing.

“I’m so impressed that you did it all by yourself,” my mother said.

“Well…” Dad said, “not exactly all by myself.”

“He didn’t come looking to me for my fashion sense,” I said.

“You don’t have a fashion sense,” Beth said.

“I did have some help from the salesgirl in Tiffany’s,” Dad admitted.

“Help?” Beth asked.

“I went in and told her I was buying Christmas presents for the two most wonderful and beautiful women in the world, and she took it from there.”

“It’s nice to know that at four in the morning you can still talk like a lawyer,” my sister said.

“Not like a lawyer,” he said. “Like a husband and father who knows how blessed he is.”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” I muttered on the extension.

“Blessed with the most wonderful son, as well,” he added.

“Keep that in mind the next time I do something wrong.”

There was some noise in the background, loud voices at Beth’s end of the phone line.

“I’ve got to go,” she said. “They’ve come to get us for dinner.”

There was a loud chorus of “Merry Christmas” coming from Beth’s end.

“We’ll let you go,” my mother said.

“Enjoy your dinner,” my father added.