gothamgirl28:

25 More Days of the Bransons – Day 7: Tree

Tom and Rory were waiting outside Moira’s Montessori school with
the other parents and younger siblings. She and her classmates would be getting
out soon and he had a surprise waiting for her at home.

Their neighbor and friend Joan came up and greeted them. “Hi
Tom! And hi Rory!”

Rory gave Joan a grin and said, “Hi!”

His father also replied. “Hi. Thanks for having Moira
sleepover last week. She asked if Alice could sleepover this week. Sybil and I
told her we had to ask you first.”

She laughed. “That’s fine. Andrew and I have wanted to have
a date night. Does Thursday work for you?”

Tom nodded. “Yes. Sybil has Thursday off and a later shift
on Friday, so we should be able to handle two three year olds and this little
guy.”

The two adults continued their conversation for the next
several minutes. They were so deep into their talk that they didn’t see the
kids being let out of school. They were only made aware of the kids approaching
when Rory shouted, “MoMo! MoMo! MoMo!”

Moira and Alice approached their parents. “Hi,” they said in
unison. “Hi, Rory,” both girls added.

Tom and Joan informed the girls that they would have a
sleepover at the Bransons on Thursday night. Moira and Alice jumped up and down
and shouted, which amused Rory. After several more minutes of talking, the
group split up and head to their respective vehicles.

Pulling away from the school, Tom began to talk to Moira. “I
have a surprise for you at home. I’ve been waiting to open it since this
morning. I think Rory was curious about it too. He kept crawling over to the
box and even tried to climb it once.”

Moira’s face lit up. “Is it a present?”

“No, but I think you’ll like it.”

Twenty minutes later, the trio was back at home. Moira and Tom
were in the dining room while Rory played in the living room.

“What is it?” asked the little girl.

Tom laughed. “Let’s open it, shall we.”

He grabbed a pair of scissors and cut open the tap on the
box. Once that was done, Moira opened the box and combed through the packing
peanuts. Reaching something prickly, she and Tom pulled out a small Christmas
tree.

“It’s a tree!” she shouted.

Tom chuckled. “It is. It’s a table top tree.”

Moira’s face became puzzled. “What?”

“It’s a tree that goes up on a table instead of on the
floor. Your mummy and I thought that with Rory able to crawl around, this would
be better than a big tree. Also, it’s not real.”

“But I like real trees!”

“So do I, but we’re going to be spending Christmas week at
Downton with grammy and grampy. We won’t be able to take care of the tree.”

She thought over his words for a minute or two. “Okay.”

Tom bent down and kissed Moira on top of her head. “Did you
see the lights?”

“There’s lights on the tree! Oh wow!”

“Now why don’t you help me find the perfect spot for this
tree. It deserves a special place in the living room, doesn’t it?”

Moira nodded her head. “Let’s go, daddy.”

She pulled her father into the living room and together they
chose a place for the tree. This was despite the best efforts of Rory to play
with his sister.

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