Rain, Rain, Go Away (Jo)

[Jeff McIntosh]

Jeff had spent the previous Christmas at Hammel due to having come down with (ugh) the flu. But this Christmas he was perfectly fine, which meant Christmas with the family. Hooray! 

It would have been nice if the weather hadn't been unseasonably warm, though; he had become used to snow in the winter. Instead of snow Alabama had rain. 

Lots. 

And lots. 

And lots. 

of rain. 

Which meant that he was stuck in doors, which was unbearably miserable. His mother had tried to convince him to join her in baking Christmas cookies, but baking was for girls. Also for Nick, who had no problems at all joining his mother in the kitchen to bake. 

At least David had agreed with him that baking was gross, although that had seemed less of a victory when Nick had told them that if they kept making fun of baking they wouldn't be allowed to partake of the results of the baking labor. 

Jeff draped himself upside down off the sofa, watching the Broncos devastate the Blue Raiders while David sat on the floor nearby shoveling caramel popcorn into his mouth. 

"Why couldn't Jo have weather manipulation?" Jeff complained under his breath. "Then she could make it stop raining." 

[Joelle McIntosh]

After her first few months at Hammel, Joelle had started to understand being homesick. Sure, she'd felt it before at gymnastics camp and stuff, but this was different. Still, she had Jeff, and he helped. Sort of.

Flying away from the snow had been a blessing, and Jo was honestly happy about the rain. It was better than snow, and if they had to stay inside, so what? There was baking and Christmas movies and games to play!

Plus she had Nick, who was being awesome enough to bake with them, and even giving Jeff and David heck for calling it girly.

She could still hear Jeff whining in the living room, which was getting old. After smiling innocently at Nick, she swiped one of the still-warm cookies from the tray in one hand and a tube of icing in the other. Hiding the tube in her back pocket, she pointed to the living room and snuck in. Leaning over the back of the couch, she waved the cookie. "These are sooooo good Jeff. It's too bad you didn't help so you don't get any. Nick saaaaid."

[Jeff McIntosh]

"Shut up, Jo," Jeff told his sister irritably. "Nick can't tell me what to do!" 

"Yeah!" David agreed, sticking his tongue out. 

This was, of course, when their mother chose to appear from the kitchen, camera around her neck. "Don't be rude," She chided the boys, wagging one finger in their direction. "You know that telling people to shut up isn't nice." 

She then turned back to Jo, expression softening, "Come back into the kitchen, dear, I wanted to take some pictures of you and Nick decorating together. David, Jeff, you get in here, too! I need pictures of my whole brood." 

She swept an arm towards the kitchen door, and David stomped sulkily into the kitchen. 

Jeff stayed where he was. "But I don't want my picture taken!" He complained. 

His mother remained unmoved. "In. The. Kitchen. I'm sending these to your grandparents, and they want to see all of you. Come on." 

Jeff glared and stormed into the kitchen as well, arms folded across his chest. 

Their mother patted Jo on the shoulder and ushered her back towards the counter. "Smile!"

[Joelle McIntosh]

"He can too!" Jo shot back just as fast. If he was going to be rude, he absolutely wasn't going to get any cookies, even if she had to employ Nick into helping enforce it.

Thankfully, their mother turned up before any of them could escalate. Jo spun and gave her her most innocent smile. "Okay Mom!" She wasn't about to argue. She was having a great day body-wise, and she was perfectly fine with pictures.

Swooping back to the counter, she grinned and latched herself around Nick's waist in a merry snuggle. "Mom's doing pictures and Jeff told me to shut uuup." Tattling never quite lost its appeal, especially when her brothers were involved.

Of course, she adopted her most innocent expression when Jeff stormed his way in. She knew better than to snuggle on him, so she stayed safely by Nick, ready to dive behind him if she really needed to. She just beamed at him sweetly and waited for further prompts from their mother.

[Jeff McIntosh]

Helen directed her children with gentle nudges and prods until they were all around the counter. 

"Now, you need to decorate the cookies. Here, Jo," She handed her daughter a tube of green frosting, "and Nick, here," a red tube, "David," a white tube, "And Jeff." 

"Sprinkles?" Jeff asked in dismay, holding up the tub of red and green sprinkles. 

"If you want any cookies you're going to stop complaining and you'll apologize to your sister for telling her to shut up." His mother admonished in a remarkably cheerful voice for someone giving a lecture. "Now! Everyone smile while you decorate! You don't want grandmom and granddad to see sulking, do you?" 

Jeff attempted (and failed) to wipe the grimace off his face as the four children turned their attention to the cookies. Occasionally he shook the sprinkles over a frosted cookie, but eventually he held the tub out to Jo, "Wanna trade?"

[Joelle McIntosh]

Joelle needed very little prodding to move, content to stand beside Nick and help decorate. Taking the frosting tube, she grinned and drew a small smiley face on the closest cookie.

She couldn't help the giggles that bubbled up over Jeff's complaints. "But sprinkles are the best job Jeff!" Maybe that was only for girls. Whatever. Mom had laid down the law.

Jo merrily decorated with her brothers, and was honestly a little surprised when Jeff offered the sprinkles to her. Looking up at him, she smiled innocently. "Sure, Jeff!" She'd trade. Just not before she half offered the tube to him, drizzling some on his arm as she went. "Look, now you're pretty too." Maybe that would finally make him smile. ... Or make him mad. In which case she'd hide behind Nick. He made the best shield.

[Jeff McIntosh]

While the children decorated, Helen snapped pictures with her camera. "These are going to make the best pictures, your grandparents will be so pleased!" She chirped. "Nick, move over a little, you're blocking my view of the cookies. Jeff, smile, honey. David, can you turn just a fraction towards the oven. Theeeere we go." 

"Hey!" Jeff yelped in objection as Jo smeared frosting all down his sleeve. "What'd you do that for! Now I'm all sticky!" 

He squirted the tube at her in retaliation. 

"Frosting battle!" David exclaimed with glee, joining in and smearing white frosting on Nick's face. 

[Joelle McIntosh]

Joelle beamed for the camera as she helped her brothers, happy to have all four of them together again, even if it was only for a short time. They may not always have gotten along, but she knew they always loved each other. Even if they were in the middle of an argument over something dumb. (Like the previous night, when she'd wound up Jeff and David over beating their butts in Halo and sparked a yelling match.)

She also knew that mischief went over well in their family, which had helped with her decision to decorate Jeff's arm. Grinning in a cheeky manner, she looked incredibly proud of herself.

That look lasted only a moment, until Jeff had squirted her back. Joelle shrieked in a higher pitch than she'd actually thought she was capable of before breaking into giggles and diving behind Nick. She was weaponless so she needed a human shield.

Until she remembered that she had an extra tube in her back pocket. Drawing it out, she uncapped it and squirted it at David first, then darted out to get Jeff with it too. She didn't care they were making a huge mess, or that their mother might actually get after them for it. It was fun.

[Jeff McIntosh]

Helen maneuvered around the island in the middle of the kitchen so that she could take pictures of her brood from a safer distance; these pictures were definitely going up on her blog. She was already mentally composing a post about this activity and how much love and fun her family shared. 

"Ah! No! I'm hit!" David objected, but there was no time to get Jo back for this; Nick was already getting his own revenge. 

Jeff yelped and ducked, which meant that most of the frosting Jo squirted at him got in his hair. He covered his eyes with one hand and jumped forward, squeezing his tube of frosting in Jo's direction. "I'm gonna get you for that!"

[Joelle McIntosh]

Okay, so hiding behind Nick only worked for so long. Jo shrieked as red frosting made its' way into her hair, and pulled away from her oldest brother. Now she was alone in the fight, but that was okay. She could defend herself.

Except against Jeff. She squealed again and closed her eyes, both hands around her green frosting tube and squeezing as hard as she could in his direction. It was hard to aim with her eyes closed, not to mention laughing as hard as she was. Some of it... may have traveled off-course and less in Jeff's direction. And more at their mother.

Whoops.

[Jeff McIntosh]

The frosting battle had been cute and fun while it was an opportunity for cute family photos, but getting frosting flung at her was where Helen drew the line. She cleared her throat loudly, glaring at her children as she wiped frosting off the lens of her camera. 

"Settle down!" She demanded, "We need to clean up in here before your father sees this mess. Come on, clean up time."

Despite the quietness with which she spoke Jeff shrank down guiltily, hiding the tube of frosting behind his back as if this might convince her he hadn't been part of the chaos. 

[Joelle McIntosh]

Uh oh. Joelle cast a guilty look at her mother, slowly lowering her near-empty tube of frosting out of her line of sight. Setting it on the counter, she went to grab a cloth, soaking it in the sink and adding a bit of soap before going at the counter. "Sorry, Mom." She felt a little responsible, being that she'd sort of sparked it to begin with.

[Jeff McIntosh]

Nick fell into line as soon as Joelle did, holding out his hand for frosting tubes from his siblings. David shoved his at Nick and then slouched his way to the paper towels. Jeff reluctantly handed his over before stomping off towards the mud room, where the mop and bucket resided. He filled the bucket up with sudsy water, dancing about impatiently at the unbearably slow pace.

His mother glared at them. "Clean up thoroughly, now!"

[Joelle McIntosh]

With four of them working, at least the cleaning went fast. Jo was surprised by just how far some of the frosting had gone, but with a big of work and help from her brothers, it vanished quick enough.

Well, except for the frosting that had ended up on the siblings. Smiling innocently at their mother, Jo tucked her hair behind her ear and looked up at her. "Did you get some good pictures at least Mom?" Because if she did, maybe she wouldn't be as mad. Hopefully.

[Jeff McIntosh]

Jo knew exactly how to distract her mother, because as soon as the question had passed her lips Helen was shoving the camera in her daughter's face. 

"Let's take a look!" She beamed, flipping through photo after photo. "Ooooh, this will go great on my blog post about today," She decided as she stopped on a photo of Jeff with his eyes screwed shut while Jo squirted frosting in his face. David was crouched down behind him, using his older brother as a shield, and Nick was sneaking a cookie. 

"But no more food fights for the rest of the holiday, please. One is plenty."