A Birth day

Yu walked over to Jessie and chuckled taking Chris off his lap and placing him on a chair next to him "Jessie, he will be fine." he said to Jessie "Thank you, Angus, it will" he said to Angus with a smile " Jessie is being a bit overprotective now that Chris has a cold, good food, sleep and proper treatment and he will be fine" he said sitting next to christ on the opposite side of him.

Ruby chuckled as Evan and Angus began to talk heatedly about when they had pork ragu last when Evan mentioned Angus running away again she shook her head "Oh no the only place he will run to is our bed or the kitchen" she said as she listened further to them talking she was intrested when they mentioned Benjamin and Eileen. She gasped when Even recalled what had happened then looked at Angus noding her agreement with Even's words about having many evening suppers together " Of course you always welcome you and Tara, Caprice would throw a fit if you weren't here, her favourite uncle" she said and chuckled.

"Jessie'll get used to it," Angus said calmly. "The first time is always the most frightening, though. Just think, Jessie, you only have eleven more years to go of skinned knees, colds, dragon pox, and all the rest of it. It won't be long til you're taking it in stride."

"And it won't be long after that til he starts changing diapers on his grandkids," Marcus teased.

"Thank you, Ruby," Tara said. "We've all come to love it here, and I don't know who loves it more--Evan and me or our girls."

"I dont' know that I'm Caprice's favorite uncle, though," Evan laughed. "I have absolutely nothing against being her uncle but she's got some really great uncles right here with Jessie and Yu, and countless other uncles. She's very blessed to have such a massive family here that all love her and want to be part of her life."

Jessie listend as Angus spoke and groaned " wait Dragon pox?" he said some what confused at that. Yu chuckled as they continued talking about changing dipers on their grand children .

"I look forward to that day" he said as Jessie shook his hed and chukled it was now they heard a little voice call out "DADA" from above them and Ruby chuckled .

"okay I'll fetch her " Ruby said and stood up " thought it had been a while since she had her nap. Ruby walked up to the nursary and picked up Caprice , changing her and redressing her she carried her down to the dinning room all the dime she was calling out "dada, dada."

Once there she held out her hands to Angus bouncing on Rubys hip until she was handed to Angus." you might be her favorate uncle but she is always a daddys girl" Ruby said chukaling as she sat back down at thr table.

"Dragon pox," Edward nodded. "Muggle children get something very similar called chicken pox. The difference is that for muggles, their rash is red. Our children get an itchy purple and rash when they get dragon pox. And when our kids sneeze they sneeze fire. Muggle children do not sneeze fire, or so I've heard. I dont' think a muggle would know what to do if their children's noses sneezed out blasts of flame. Nigel tells me either one is a pain in the butt."

"Hm...a werewolf with dragon pox. That should be interesting," Angus said.

"Some werewolves who are not on potion have reported temporarily having green and purple fur, though I've personally never seen it," Sergio said.

"Did you ever have dragon pox?" Simone asked Angus.

"I don't remember," Angus said.

"You did. You set bloody everything on fire for about a week," Edward laughed. That made Evan laughed.

"Laugh all you want but you were worse," Edward told Evan. "You turned all your toys to complete ash, along with your pajamas, your sheets, your blankets, your drapes. Nearly burnt your house to the ground. I had to bring you over to my house because the nannies all quit because of your little fiery schnozz." That made Angus laugh. He took Caprice and balanced her on his lap while he finished eating, even though she was getting down right enraged at just sitting still on his lap.

"I'll take her in a moment," Marcus said, having only a couple bites left on his plate. "She's probably hungry."

"Green and purple fur, you say?" Angus said, thinking out loud. "Hm.. that gives me ideas."

"What?" Tara asked.

"That, my dear," Edward told Tara, "is the sound of some sort of mischief in the making."

"Uh oh," she replied.

"Uh oh is very likely right," Edward laughed.

Jesie sat and listened to them talking about dragon pox " oh boy that sounds fun" Ruby said with a chuckle as she finished her food. Jessie looked at Yu and felt him hold his hand .

"If he gets it we'll cross that bridge, right now he has nothing but a simple cold." Yu said making jessie relax and nod as he watched Chris finish his tea. Listening more to them talking Ruby , Jessie and Yu all laughed when Even said Angus had made several nannys quit when he had it.

"Im sure nether Caprice nor Chris will come down with Dragon pox" Ruby said then saw the look on Angus face " oh boy Tara I feel your right" she said softly to her as she looked at Angus.

"Whatever it is, I'm in," Evan looked at Angus and laughed. "When are we going?"

"Not til I either find some dragon pox to spread around or some sort of spell or potion to make someone think they have it," Angus laughed. "Until then, I'm afraid it is just some mighty find mischief with no place to go."

"Darn it," Evan laughed. Marcus got up and got two of Caprice's baby feeding bottles and put some of the polenta in one for her and flicked his fingers at it to cool the polenta somewhat. He put some applesauce in one, and, in a regular bottle he put some formula for her. He took the bottles and set them near his own place at the table and sat back down and gave her the feeder bottle with the polenta. She seemed content with it.

"Thank you," Angus said. "I owe you one."

"No problem. I was finished. It isn't a big deal," Marcus said. "So what do you suppose is next for the pack?"

"Well, I know they're used to tent living, but I do get concerned about having a whole pack sick in winter weather," Edward said.

"That's not happened, not that we remember of," Ginger said.

"I'm sure Robert and Nigel are thinking about it," Angus said. "For now, I'm sure they're making sure that all the tents have plenty of firewood. As soon as I hear something, I'll let you know." Angus got up and put on a pot of tea and one of coffee to go with dessert. Simone and Tara got up to clear the table and put away the leftovers and to cut the cake. "Oh, Tara, there is some homemade French vanilla ice cream in the freezer for anyone who might like a scoop of homemade ice cream with their cake."

"Ice cream and cake always sounds like such a special occasion," Tara said. "Still, why not? We don't need a special occasion to enjoy that." She cut slices of cake and put a scoop of ice cream on each one and drizzled each scoop with just a wee little thread of honey as a garnish. She and Simone served the cake as Angus served the coffee and the tea.

"This is gonna be my new favorite cake," Sam said. "This is great."

"I say that every time I eat one of Rosaria's cakes," Evan said. "At this point, I'm guessing I have about 400 different favorite cakes."

"Oh, that reminds me," Tara said. "Anise and Ginger, just so you know, I will include you with Evie and Faith for lunch on your school days. You don't need to bring a lunch. I'll be cooking for our girls anyway, and I wouldn't hear of you not eating with them."

"Thank you," Anise said."

"Maybe Anise and I can furnish an afternoon snack for us," Ginger suggested.

"That would be lovely," Tara said. "It's a deal."

"Great!" Ginger said. "I found some recipes for some Christmas cookies, and I'm hoping I can figure out how to bake them." 

Ruby chuckled as Angus said it was a prank that would have to wait " thank goodness" she said and smiled as she saw Marcus fetch some bottles for Caprice and smiled at him as she saw Aria pulling faces to make her laugh as she happily drank her bottle. She sat and listened as Angus spoke to Ginger and Anise about their things being at Even and Taras for their start at Beauxbatons during the week.

Jessie watched Chris wiping his nose when it began to run but Yu placed a box of tissues close to Chris " he can get it when he needs it Jessie" Jessie sat back in his chair and looked to Yu. " I know your worried about him but he is indipendant and can do things for himself too" he said just as they saw Chris take a tissue and wipe his nose " see" he said smiling to Jessie who nodded.

Angus accio'd one of the kids' paper lunch bags, and he handed it to Cris and told him he could use it to put his tissues in when he was done with them. He also gave him a pocket sized bottle of hand sanitizer that was scented like shortbread cookies and explained what it was used for. Cris thought it was a great idea, and he sat the paper bag neatly on the floor beside him and put the little hand sanitizer bottle in his jeans pocket.

"So you know, we did already talk about why it's important for him to learn to sneeze and cough into his elbow and not into his hand," Angus said. "You know, you could leave a pair of pajamas and a change of clothes here for him for nights when you both might have night patrol or just want an adult night in. He's welcome here any time, you know, just like we know Caprice would always be welcome at your place."

"Moș Crăciun vine aici de Crăciun?" Cris asked Angus. "Va ști că sunt aici? Și va crede că sunt obraznic pentru că nu mai sunt cu familia mea?" Angus listened to Cris and was moved by the little boy's question.

"Bineînțeles că Moș Crăciun știe că ești aici și știe adevărul. El știe că aveți o nouă familie care vă iubește foarte mult și se simte foarte binecuvântată să vă aibă și, de asemenea, știe că nu sunteți de vină pentru că sunteți aici acum. Pentru noi toți, tu și Capriciul sunteți cadourile noastre de Crăciun din acest an," Angus replied. Cris looked at Sergio and Ana, and they nodded. Cris nodded, satisfied for the moment, and he took another bite of cake.

"He asked me if Santa would know he's here and if Santa would think he's not been good this year because he isn't with his bio family anymore," Angus told Jessie and Yu. "Basically, I told him that Santa knows the truth of how he got here and that he and Caprice are our Christmas gifts this year. Maybe we should help him embrace some British traditions to replace some of the Romanian ones that might be too painful for him to have this year. Just a thought. You do what you like, of course."

"

Yu and Jessie watched Angus with Chris and nodded "That is a good idea" Yu said " I'll drop off some nightwear in the morning and of course she is welcome" he said smiling as Jessie nodded as he tucked into his cake. They both listened as Chris spoke to Angus then looked to Sergio and Anna. They listened to Angus explain and nodded.

"I think that's a good idea, we want him to know that he's not bad because he's not with his bio family but is on the good list," Jessie said then looked at Yu we really should put up our decorations and get a tree, maybe Chris could help us chose one" he looked at Angus hoping he could ask Chris if he wanted to help them.

"He doesn't doubt that he really isn't bad," Angus said, trying to clarify. "He just wants to make sure that Santa doesn't have it wrong, that's all." That made Evan laugh.

"Can't say I blame him," Evan said. "After all, who wants their haul of Christmas goodies to be buggared up because Santa put them on the wrong list? He really is quite a clever boy to think of that."

"I'm sure Cris would like that," Sergio said. "We do have Christmas trees in Romania, after all. Many of our traditions are the same as here, but he is certainly going to be interested in any activities you do for Christmas. Our Christmas holidays actually start on December 6th when Santa leaves small gifts in the children's shoes--somewhat similar to your tradition with stockings. Our Christmas trees are put up a few days before Christmas, and then on Christmas Eve, the children go from door to door singing Christmas carols to get little treats, liked cookies, fruit or a little money. Later that night, there is usually a big feast, families exchange gifts perhaps, and there are traditionally sweet pretzels to commemorate the midwife who helped to deliver the Christ child. Our Christmas Day is more like yours here with gift giving and feasting."

"There are quite a number of traditional foods that are different from ours, though, aren't there?" Angus asked.

"Oh, many," Sergio nodded.

"I will send you a cookbook of Romanian Christmas dishes," Ana told Angus. "Preferable in English, yes?"

"Either one, but if I am going to share it with anyone else here, then English is important, yes," Angus nodded.

"I'll make sure you get one as soon as I get home," she nodded.

"Thank you," Angus said.