t was a cold, winter day and the usual things were happening in the 釘ig Apple. The sounds of sirens and car horns filled the air as people were rushing to get to work. The Monday morning attitude had everyone in a bad mood, as the New York City citizens shuffled passed each other on the sidewalk. One of the people in a hurry that morning included Jennifer. Jennifer was a single, working mother. She was a partner in a very popular law firm of Thompson & Smith. Her morning was not going very well, as she started off her day by sleeping through her alarm.
Jennifer tossed and turned, as she heard a repetitive knocking sound. As she rose from bed, in a panic by the display of her clock, she opened the door to find her little girl Noel dressed and ready to start the day. With a big smile she greeted her mother, Good morning Mommy!
Jennifer knelt down to give her a hug and replied, 敵ood morning sweetheart! Walking down the hallway, still half asleep, Jennifer knocked on her son痴 door. Matt grunted and rolled over at the sound of his mother痴 voice demanding, You need to get up now! Jennifer felt a little awkward telling Matt to get up when her daughter had wakened her. After a few minutes with Jennifer not noticing any signs of Matt getting ready, she opened his door and told him that if he didn稚 get up he would not be allowed to see his girlfriend today. Knowing that throwing the girlfriend card at Matt always worked, she went back across the hallway to check on Noel. Jennifer peeked inside Noel痴 room and saw her finish making her bed. Noel began to exit her room, and continue down the stairs. Following after his sister was Matt. Jennifer saw the smug look on his face and suggested, 展hy can稚 you be more like your sister?
Matt sarcastically relied, 展hat, you mean short and annoying. Jennifer smacked the top of his head, stopping the snickering that filled the stairwell. Moving as slow into the kitchen as possible, Matt was also greeted by his sister, 敵ood morning Matthew.
He passed by her disregarding her comment and said, Whatever. Jennifer thought to herself as she saw Matt lay on the couch, how the age difference was hard on the children with Matt being sixteen, and Noel only nine. Jennifer fixed a quick breakfast consisting of Cheerios for Noel, Rice Krispies for Matt, and a Tylenol for her splitting headache. Thoughts of a major board meeting raced through her head as she cleaned the dishes. She was already embarrassed about even showing up, since she was already fifteen minutes late. As she collected her cell phone to put in her purse, she announced to her children that it was time to go. Grunting again, Matt pried himself from the leather couch and sluggishly headed for the door.
Before realizing that he was out the door, she reminded, 泥on稚 forget your coat Matt, it痴 unusually cold outside today. Taking a glance at the coat rack and seeing that his coat was missing, she thought to herself how she really shouldn稚 treat him like he was a young child anymore, and that he was responsible enough for simple things such as remembering to wear a coat. Jennifer didn稚 mean to treat Matt like a child, except with the obligation of being a single mother, she took on the role of two parents, and sometimes became over protective. Tracing her mother痴 footsteps out the door Noel eagerly asked,溺ommy, can we stop and see the doll house today?
Thinking of the smile that overcame Noel痴 face when her eyes came upon the doll house at Duncan's Toy Store, she replied, 鉄ure sweety, forgetting that it was fifteen minutes out of her way.
They crossed Third Street, and Noel remarked, 敵uess what?
Jennifer seeing no interest in Noel痴 comment in her son痴 face she answered, 展hat?
Noel skipped across the crosswalk saying, Friday in school we learned that before you crossed the street you should look both ways.
Jennifer said, That痴 very good honey. Matt smirked as he put on his headphones to his C.D. player and said under his breath, 展hat a dork.
Jennifer heard his comment and said nothing, as she knew that he acted the same way when he was her age. Jennifer thought of how when Noel was just a baby and he was her age, he would pretend to be a policeman directing traffic. A smile came upon Jennifer's face as she could picture Matt dressed up in his police hat, with his badge and whistle saying, Hold on ma誕m, you can cross when this light turns. The thought of him at that age made her want to cry, as she suddenly had a brace of reality as to the fact that her little police officer was growing up so fast.
Around the corner awaited Duncan痴 Toy Store. Noel rushed on by a yellow fire hydrant that was being used to put out a fire down the block, and came to a stop when she reached the storefront. Noel痴 eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw the dollhouse front and center.
Jennifer became a little discouraged at the advertisement that read, 滴oliday fun for everyone, bring home a doll house with the Wilson family this holiday season. Jennifer took a step closer to read the fine print that people often don稚 bother to read. She was even more discouraged when reading that the dollhouses were sold out at the moment and she would have to be on a waiting list to get one. Noel turned and faced her mother asking, 展ill Santa left me have one for Christmas?
Jennifer didn稚 want to see a frown on Noel痴 face by telling her that a dollhouse were near to impossible to get, so she simply said, 展e値l see, and continued walking passed the store. Matt had stopped at magazine rack while his mother and sister stood in front of the toy store. As he skimmed through a skating magazine, he was gestured by his mother that they were leaving. Ignoring her signal, Matt continued to stand there. Jennifer turned around and pulled on his headphones, jerking him backwards, almost making him trip over his untied shoelaces. Matt finally continued forward with his family, staring his mother down with the evil eye.
Jennifer dropped her children off at a private school just five blocks from the toy store. Kissing Noel on the cheek, she moved in to kiss her son. Bending backwards almost as far as in the movie the Matrix, as if trying to dodge a bullet, Matt avoided the kiss. Jennifer tried to approach him again, this time faking a hug and when she was close enough, pecked him on the cheek. Seeing a smile from the corner of her eye upon his face, he said goodbye and ran to catch up with his friends that were entering the school. Jennifer walked Noel inside to her classroom, said hello to her teacher, and hurried back onto the street. She hailed a cab and directed the cab driver, Twenty First Street, please. With a nod of the head the cab driver took off.
As Jennifer was going over her presentations for the board meeting, the cab came to a sudden halt. Monday morning traffic had finally caught up with her. The cab driver turned to her and said, 鏑ady, you池e better off walkin, that sittin in this mess. 笛udging by this traffic, you壇 be twenty minutes late to where you池e going. Jennifer sat in her seat, amazed at the fact that this had to happen to her today. Taking the friendly man痴 advice, she decided to walk to six blocks to her building. Handing the cab driver the fifteen dollars and eighty-two cents she owed him, she then opened the door to the cab. After reaching the sidewalk she took a sigh of regret. As she began to walk she thought of how sitting in the cab would have been better than walking all this way in three-inch heels. The sidewalk challenged her every step, as Jennifer tried to avoid the cracks on the sidewalk.
Staggering up the stairs, she finally reached her building. She opened the door and was over taken by the sounds of phones, fax machines, and printers. She unlocked the door to her office and turned on the light to find mountains of paper work that smothered her oak desk. Jennifer sat her briefcase down, and played the two messages that waited on her answering machine. After hearing the messages, Jennifer was now informed that her parents were flying in on Tuesday, and her root canal appointment was Thursday at four o団lock. Jennifer chuckled to herself as she remembered the joke that her best friend Amy and her had shared. Every time they got their messages, they would act disappointed to the fact that no one had called to tell them that they had won a million dollars. On her way to the coffee room, Jennifer went to each of her partner痴 offices to say good morning. She stopped first at her partner Tom痴 office. Tom was a middle-aged man, with no kids and had been divorced twice. To anyone he knew, he was clearly a workaholic. Jennifer peeked inside to see if he was there, and to no surprise, she found him working. The sound of the clicking of the keys on the keyboard made Jennifer thank God that she had outside responsibilities, such as her kids, to take her away from her working environment. Jennifer said hello, to then have him reply with a mumbled hello. Not even making eye contact with Jennifer, he continued to work.
Leaving Tom痴 office, Jennifer moved along down the hallway to her other partner Allison痴 office. Alison was thirty years old, had never been married, but was not as consumed with work as Tom. Allison痴 office was so neat and proper that Jennifer always felt like she was walking into a museum, where nothing could be touched, or taken out of place. Before Jennifer could say a word, Alison excitedly said 敵ood morning! Startled by the loud noise, Jennifer jumped a little. That was the thing about Alison, she was always happy. Jennifer often wondered how she could be so happy all the time. She thought to herself that she could never do that, not because she didn稚 like being happy, just that it wouldn稚 be healthy to not experience any other emotions. Jennifer headed to the coffee room after saying good morning to Allison. Despite their personal qualities, Jennifer痴 partners were very talented and professional lawyers and she would not of known what to do without them. Finally making into the coffee room, she was ecstatic at the sight of coffee and donuts. It was ten minutes to the board meeting and the clock seemed to be moving as slow as possible. The ticking of the clock was like a rhythm such as a drum roll that pumps someone up for something they are about to do. In Jennifer痴 case, the ticking of the clock made her more anxious, than pumped up. Jennifer had trouble speaking in front of people in high school, and her parents always wondered why she had chose to go into a profession that required it. In truth though, the fear of speaking went away, when Jennifer realized that she had the power and ability to let her opinion be heard on a certain matter, which not many people have.
Jennifer went to her board meeting and impressed her authorities as usual. Finishing out the rest of the day was very easy, because file work was a simple task. Jennifer was shocked to be the last one to leave, knowing how Tom was always working. She locked up the office building and decided to just walk to her children痴 school, without dealing with the afternoon traffic. Before she had left she grabbed the flat shoes she kept in her office in case of days like these, and changed into them. When she arrived at the school, she saw her two children looking behaved as ever. In the back of her mind she thought, 展ho are these people and what have they done with my real kids?
Noel got one glimpse of her mother and sprinted to embrace her. Matt followed after her, as slow as possible. Jennifer asked the question that every parent asked and rarely ever got an actually answer. Hoping to get an answer she asked, 鉄o, what did you guys do in school today? their normal answers were the opposites of each other痴 this time. Noel simply replied with nothing, and Matt told her of his good grades. Jennifer was so proud of Matt, so she kissed him, and he didn稚 move this time.
They returned home and they all relaxed. Matt went upstairs to talk to his friends on his computer, Noel went to take her evening nap, and Jennifer sat on the couch to look for something to watch on television. She flipped through the channels to find nothing that appealed to her. She finally put the channel on CNN News and started to make dinner. She took the easy way out of dinner and made pasta that night.
A few weeks had passed and it was two days until Christmas Day. The traffic now was even more congested because of all the last minute shoppers. Jennifer had finished work early that week and decided to pay a visit to Duncan痴 Toy Store. She entered the store to be paralyzed from the beautiful view. Glistening silvers and gold filled the entire store, with train whistles blowing and Santa痴 shouting 滴o ho ho! Jennifer approached the front counter and asked to register for a dollhouse. Thankful as ever, Jennifer put her name on the list as the last five people to receive one. The clerk at the desk informed Jennifer that she could pick the dollhouse up on Christmas Eve. Later at home that evening, Jennifer and her children were surprised to find their grandparents at their home. That night they all watched Christmas movies and sat by the fire. Jennifer痴 mother had made her traditional meat loaf and potatoes, so they were all full by bedtime.
Christmas Eve had finally arrived, and everyone was very excited. Noel had marked off all the days until Christmas Eve on the calendar. Matt was happy that Christmas Eve was here because now he hoped to get a new guitar. Jennifer asked her parents of the favor of picking the kids up from school that day. They agreed to do it, not knowing why she herself couldn稚. Jennifer痴 workday went slower than ever. Her concentration often wondered to the thought of picking up the dollhouse on time. Jennifer finally left work and reached the toy store just in time. It was ten minutes to closing time and the store was prepared to be locked up. Jennifer told the person at the front desk she was registered to pick up a dollhouse today. The person confirmed it and then sent another employee to carry the dollhouse to her cab. Jennifer was filled with joy, as she took her seat in the cab. She arrived home and checked with her parents to see if the children were pre occupied. She had also picked up a new guitar for her son. Jennifer痴 father helped her carry her gifts inside and her mother helped her to begin wrapping them. After a late night off wrapping gifts, and placing them under the Christmas tree, Jennifer went upstairs to say goodnight to her children.
Matt was already asleep, so Jennifer gave him a kiss on the cheek and left. She then entered Noel痴 room, to find her little girl wide-awake. Jennifer asked, 展hy aren稚 you asleep honey?
I can稚 sleep, I知 too excited about tomorrow, confessed Noel.
Jennifer replied, 典he sooner you go to sleep, the sooner Santa will come. After hearing that reassuring statement from her mother, Noel gave her mother a kiss, and laid her head on her pillow go to sleep. The next morning was wonderful. There was snow outside on the sidewalks, and Christmas music filling Jennifer痴 house. The smell of cinnamon came from the cookies that grandma was making. Also the smell of pipe tobacco came from grandpa痴 pipe. When the children awoke, they both rushed down the stairs. The children screamed at the sight of all the gifts that covered the living room floor. After two hours of opening presents, the children were happy, but had not gotten what they wanted the most. Jennifer came from behind the corner with a guitar, followed by Grandpa, with the dollhouse. The children were so surprised, they screamed even louder than before, ripping off the reindeer print wrapping paper. When all the morning excitement was settled, Jennifer痴 parents left to catch a plane back home.
Jennifer felt successful after Christmas to see that after a week the children were still playing with their toys. Although she thought that her daughter was acting a little strange with the Wilson family figurines. Jennifer said that Noel had told her things such as that the son of the Wilson family told her that when she first opened the door to the dollhouse he was scared. His heart was pounding. He was sure he had seen the doorknob turn. Jennifer was a little worried about her daughter痴 behavior. Finally after noticing that she was barely doing anything else but play with the dolhouse, Jennifer took her to a therapist.

As the therapy session took place, the therapist observed Noel as she played with her dollhouse. The therapist left the room, and joined Jennifer in her office. Jennifer wondered, 的s it normal for a child her age to still imagine that her figurines can talk to her?
The therapist grinned and said, 的t is perfectly normal for Noel to be behaving like this at her age, I知 actually surprised to that her friends talking to her are objects and not invisible. 典his is just a phase she is going through and she will grow out of in time, she assured Jennifer. When Jennifer and her daughter returned home, Noel went upstairs to play and Jennifer got a glass of apple juice. Jennifer wanted to check on Noel to see if she was okay from the therapy. She knocked on the door and the entered the room. Noel turned around and said, 溺rs.Wilson said that she thinks you look pretty in your new shoes! Jennifer thought to herself, 的 think I知 starting to like these Wilson痴. Then Jennifer joined her daughter to play, and was introduced to the Wilson family.