Catherine then continued to warmly say, “All the Christmas traditions, and customs you have begun here, are all so rich and meaningful. I am just so happy my Dad and I were invited to share them with you.”
Jacob smiled at this dear girl he had grown so fond of, and with an affectionate fatherly squench, he told her, “We are pleased to have both you and your Father with us on this Christmas Eve. You know Christmas Eve is always very special night for us.”
To which Catherine replied, “Yes, I have always felt Christmas Eve hosts a magical quality, and it has always been my most favorite night of all.”
Rebecca thoughtfully agreed, saying, “Yes! All the anticipation and wonder of what’s to come on Christmas morning, well, on Christmas Eve, its all still before us.”
Rebecca giggled as she admitted, “I guess it’s the child in me talking.”
Vincent looked to Rebecca and affectionately recalled, “Ahh yes, you were always so eager for morning to come, it was hard for you to sleep. Back then we had the dorm chamber, and there were about ten of us bunking together, it seemed as if every ten minutes or so you would ask, if it was morning yet.”
Rebecca smiled as she said, “The hours seemed to just drip by.”
Devin too added, “We would try reading to you, or tell you some stories, nothing seemed to help. You were just too excited to nod off.”
Guiltily Rebecca said, “I know, and I ended up keeping everyone else awake in the process. I just couldn’t help myself from wondering what kind of treat or surprise awaited us.”
To which Pascal admitted, “I think we all felt that way, it was difficult for any of us to sleep.”
“After all, Christmas Eve…” Said Vincent, “… IS the night which hosts all the wonderment, and magic of the Season.”
Jacob softly chuckled as he noted, “And at times, the wonderment and magic can be quite a driving force! I recall one Christmas Eve, when let’s see it was Vincent, Devin of course..."
Jacob looked toward his son Devin, and teasingly accused, "...who was the ring leader I suspect."
To which Devin nodded guiltily, and replied, "If this is the story I think you are gonna tell, then yes, I was the ring leader."
Jacob laughed, as he continued, "...ah let's see where was I, yes, OK we have Vincent, Devin, Pascal and Winslow too, oh my you were all quite young, when you decided to trek through the tunnels at midnight, and head here from the tunnel main to this Great hall! You lads had pillows and quilts, all prepared to camp out here by the Christmas tree, intending to catch St. Nicholas.”
Wanting to give Mitch credit for being there as well, Pascal spoke up and said, “Hey Mitch was one of those young lads too Father!”
As Jacob thought back, he corrected himself, by saying, “Ahh yes, so he was, so he was.”
To which Rebecca pouted as she chimed in, "Lisa and I wanted to go too, but none of you would let us."
With a nod, Devin explained, "We were on a mission Becca! And we didn't want any scardy cat girls tagging along!"
And then realizing he sounded chauvinistic, Devin cleared his throat, and added, "At least that's how we felt at the time."
Shaking her head, Rebecca responded, "Nice save Devin..."
And so after the chuckles died away Jacob continued, “Well anywhooooo, luckily you boys were spotted by the sentry on duty, and he of course alerted me to your where abouts. Needless to say, I was half asleep trudging here to fetch you, intending to send you all directly back to bed! However, when I arrived here at the Great Hall, I found you four, hunched together under the light of the flickering night torch, all wide eyed, and determined to catch St. Nicholas in the act, well, I didn’t have the heart to end your quest…”
Feeling a little melancholy, Devin warmly recalled, “I remember thinking you were gonna yell at us, but instead, you told us to move over, and make room, cuz you were gonna join us in our endeavor.”
Smiling at his Father, Devin said, "I will never forget that feeling when you sat down to wait with us..."
Pascal then laughed as he also admitted, “Yeah, well I remember thinking I was never so happy to see Father in my life! I was scared to death in this big dark empty hall, but was afraid to admit it to you guys.”
To which both Vincent and Devin laughed as they also admitted to being very frightened too.
With a chiding manner, Rebecca teased, "Ah, so who were the real scaredy cats? Uh?"
With a raised brow, Vincent had to admit, as well as Devin and Pascal, that indeed, they were very scared that night, but felt it was their boyhood duty to conceal it.
And then Devin recalled, smiling at his Father and said, "And then Father...you came up with the idea of taking shifts..."
To which Jacob nodded, and shared, "Well I thought at least you could get a little shut eye that way."
With umbrage, Pascal then recalled, “I remember waking up feeling so bummed cuz St. Nick came during Father's watch! And Father was the only one who got to see him!”
Vincent raised a brow as he looked at his father and knowingly relayed, “Yes that’s right. Cleverly, Father told us he would take the first watch, and of course once the four of us fell asleep, Father had free rein to invent any story he wished.”
Looking downward as he chuckled once more, Jacob confessed, “Yes, it's true...I told you all I had seen St. Nicholas as he unpacked his bag, leaving all kinds of gifts, candy canes and other trappings under the tree for us...”
Devin laughed as he agreed, saying, “It was a good tale you told all right, and we re-told it for many years, even as we got older. I guess cuz we still wanted to believe.”
Pascal smiled as he expressed, “Yes it was a doozy of a story all right!”
Looking over at Jacob with a wide smile, Pascal wanting affirmation from the story teller himself, asked, "Wasn't it a doozy of a story Father?"
To which Jacob with a raised brow, replied, "Was it a story? Or...had I merely recanted what occurred while you boys slept?"
As Jacob stayed quizzically quiet after presenting his proffer, this prompted Vincent to look at his brother, and then to Pascal, and then back to Jacob, as he with wonderment, asked, "Father?"
And so mysteriously Jacob replied, "Only I know for certain...but though, one cannot help but ask ones self...where HAD all those presents come from?"
Once again Vincent, Devin and Pascal looked at each other, and then Pascal daringly said, "Oh no you don't Father...you may have convinced us when we were kiddo's, but we are grown men now! You're not gonna get me to fall for it again."
With defiance, Devin and Vincent too started to say they weren't gonna fall for it again either, when Jacob finally said, "I'm just saying...I AM the only witness..."
As the eerie wonderment turned into chuckles, the three realized that even after all these years, they still were not sure if it was fact or fiction, and maybe admitting only to themselves, they wanted to believe it was fact, and that Jacob had really seen Santa Claus!
Catherine smiled warmly all around, and said, “I love hearing all these stories when you were kids growing up here, kinda makes me feel as if I missed out on something very special…”
Feeling so thankful for knowing the tales being told by the children who had grown up there, were happy ones, Jacob felt taken aback and a bit humbled as he expressed, “We may not have had much in the way of material goods, but we elders always tried to instill in the young, the key to life is learning to appreciate, and enjoy what we do have.”
Meanwhile, Mary who had been listening to Vincent, Devin, Pascal and Rebecca speak so fondly of their childhood, sincerely conveyed, “It appears you have been successful.”
Gleefully, Mary then noted, “Oh listen, William and the children are singing again.”
As they all stopped to listen to the Christmas Carols, it was then, Sam and Mouse cheerfully walked up and joined the group. And because Vincent had just bent down to pick up the hankie Mary had unknowingly dropped, Sam didn't realize that Vincent was also there!
And so openly, Sam asked Catherine, “Were you able to pick up Vincent’s snow globe from the repair shop in time for Christmas?”
Just then Vincent stood up with hankie in hand, and knew he just heard something perhaps he wasn’t supposed to hear!
And so in trying to cover up the awkward moment, Vincent acted as if he hadn't heard what Sam had said, and so he turned to Mary, and offered, “I believe this is yours.”
In the quake of this “Uh Oh” moment, Sam was wondering what to do now that he had just given Catherine’s surprise away! And so poor Sam tried to cover up, by saying, “What I meant to say was…”
Meanwhile, Catherine also was in shock for a moment, but she then started to laugh, and said, “Its all right don’t worry about it Sam, I was trying to figure out the right time to give Vincent his gift tonight anyway, and so you actually helped me to decide that now, would be the perfect time.”
And so Catherine went over to the end of the table to retrieve Vincent’s gift, and as she gave it to him, she smiled and said, “Merry Christmas Vincent.”
Now that everyone else got the gist of the situation, they began to laugh at Sam's faux pas too, and though Jacob himself chuckled a bit, he privately admired the way Catherine handled the situation, good-naturedly, and so very kindly to Sam.
And Vincent himself found a bit of humor in the situation, thinking back on how upset he was getting when he couldn’t find his treasure, and of how he really put his Father on the spot, nearly causing him to give Catherine’s surprise away.
Vincent then referred to the gift he was holding, and thoughtfully asked Catherine, “Shall I open?”
Excited to see his reaction, Catherine smiled as she nodded, and said, “Yes Vincent, please.”
As Vincent took the repaired globe from its wrapping, he shook it and watched the magical crystals fall once more. Looking back at Catherine, he tipped his head in wonder, and with a look so sweet it took her breath away, he said, “Thank you Catherine, to have my snow globe restored, is the best present you could have given me this Christmas.”
He looked firstly to his Father, and then to Devin, and with relief said, “The missing snow globe, it is safe, and appears tonight, the mystery is solved…”
To which Devin happily noted, “Yeah, and looking as good as new!"
Satisfied that it did, Catherine then told everyone her story of retrieving the snow globe, explaining the espionage took place on the day Peter was doing the physicals for the tunnel community.
Kindly Catherine looked toward Sam, and conveyed her gratitude by saying, “Sam was actually key to the success of the whole operation. Your giving Peter my note asking him to retrieve the snow globe was vital, otherwise, I never would have gotten the globe in time to be repaired for Christmas.”
Feeling so humble for the credit Catherine was giving him, Sam smiled as he told her, “Anytime.”
Jacob then chimed in, “And of course Peter had to tell me about his mission of confiscating the globe, because at the time it was in my Chamber! Ahh, and here I am in the middle, as Vincent kept coming in to look for it! I must admit, I was very close to telling him the whole story, because he was becoming quite concerned about its whereabouts!”
Vincent next chimed in with his side of the story, by adding, “I was beginning to believe my snow globe had met a destructive end, and Father didn’t wish to break the news to me.”
“Ahh but then…” Inserted Jacob, “…Vincent finally accepted my assurances, and put an end to his search at least for the time being.”
Vincent did admit to everyone, “It was then I perhaps suspected a repair, or something of that nature was being done! And then I thought it had to be by someone who had immediate access to it...however I didn’t know who to suspect.”
Looking at his brother, Vincent confessed, “I must admit, I first thought it was Devin.”
Raising both hands up, Devin laughed as he said, “I wouldn’t have been able to pull this one off little brother!”
Then looking at Jacob, Vincent said, "And then I thought Father must be behind the globes secret where abouts. After all the globe was lastly in your possession."
With a nod, Jacob replied, "Reasonable assumption..."
Vincent then looked toward Mouse, and relayed, "And then I thought it must be Mouse, after all...who else can fix anything."
Humbly Mouse looked downward, and said, "Wanted to, but couldn't find it! Father told me to stop looking too!"
As everyone's laughter died away, Vincent then looked toward Catherine and with a smile in his eyes, he said, “However, as I now realize, I should have known.”
Catherine held his gaze for just a moment, before she sweetly replied, “I just wanted you to have your snow globe back as it was, and wanted it to be a surprise.”
It was then Mouse suspiciously stepped up to better see how the repair was done, and after determining he couldn't have repaired this fine of an item, his angst gave way to joy, and he was just excited it was able to hold water again. Looking up at Vincent, Mouse happily said, “Better than good, uh Vincent?”
Knowing this repair was as important to Mouse as it was to him, Vincent gave Mouse a hug about his shoulders, and as he turned the key to play the music, he warmly replied, “Yes Mouse, better than good.”
Vincent then looked at Catherine and marveled, “I commend you Catherine, to think you managed to find someone talented enough to do the restoration.”
Catherine humbly nodded, but then explained it was really all by accident she did. Catherine admitted she was actually looking for a replacement for this broken one, but then the owner of the Christmas Cottage told her of a specialist, by the name of Dick Heibel.
Seriously, Catherine then noted, “Happily, Mr. Heibel was able to restore it, and in fact, he was so excited by this unique Snow Globe, he took time to look up its history, and told me all he learned about it.”
Having been in an art research department before, Devin curiously asked, “Oh really, what did he find out?”
Thoughtfully, she replied, “Ah let’s see, he found out it was made in the ‘40’s, the glass globe is lead crystal, and Oh the snow, well Vincent I am happy to tell you, you were right! The snow flakes are little diamond chips!"
As Vincent looked down at the little glass encased village with the snow settling on the roof and trees, he softly replied, "I only imagined they were bits of diamonds...thinking that was why the snow glistened so.”
Meantime, Mouse who was listening, asked Vincent to shake it again, and when he did, the stirred up snow, swirled about and as the crystals caught flashes of light, Mouse excitedly said, “Yep, I see the prisms! Neat!”
Everyone agreed with Mouse about seeing the prisms, and this feature spurred Rebecca to remark, “So that is what gives such a magical quality.”
Jacob also agreed, but because he had an uncle who was well known for doing this sort of art form during the 40’s and 50’s, was anxious to hear if Catherine found out who made it. And so curiously he asked, “Hmmm, I had an Uncle who fashioned snow globes, and I am familiar with his inner circle of fellow artisans...did this Mr. Heibel say who had fabricated it?”
Nodding, Catherine answered, “Yes, he did Father, he said it was a British man by the name of Jacobus Holmes.”
At the immediate mention of this name, Jacob expounded, “Jacobus Holmes?!"
Curious by Jacob's reaction, Mary asked, "Do you know of him Father?"
To which Jacob replied, "Know of him? I should say, you see Jacobus Holmes WAS or I should say IS my uncle, on my mother’s side! Though he has passed, he was a most talented, talented man.”
Jacob then proudly added, “In fact, I was named after him.”
Everyone was astounded at this coincidence and so each one there had a comment to make about this news, and because Mary could hardly believe what she was hearing, had to ask once more, “So you are saying your uncle made this snow globe, this snow glove right here?”
Jacob nodded, declaring, "It is Mr. Heibel who is saying it! If he discovered that Jacobus Holmes was the British artisan who crafted this globe, then yes, I will be glad and very proud to say it too! It was my uncle who made this very snow globe!”