George and Amelia decorated their tree, and it was just perfect! They even posed for their very first family picture including all of the pets.
Rosie the dog wouldn’t look at the camera.
And the cats were… cats. Cats didn’t abide by the rules, they made their own.
Their parrot, Polly, was a rescue parrot, and she was always full of chatter. So every time the camera counted down to take the photo, Polly would holler, “Gimme a kiss, sailor!”
And they didn’t know why! Polly had lived a very full, very unexplained life before they got her, and they simply accepted her shenanigans as a part of who she was.
They finally got a good picture of all of them, and Amelia was so pleased that she immediately posted it on social media, and her mother immediately liked it, and her mother-in-law immediately commented, “You all look wonderful!”
And they DID look wonderful!
As Patricia Johns’s editor, Amelia got a few perks. One of those perks was that Patricia’s family embraced the Frogs as part of their own. One day before Christmas, Papa Johns, Patricia Johns’s father, tapped gently at their front door with a gift.
“Hello, Amelia,” Papa Johns said. “I wanted to thank you for all your tireless work on my daughter’s books, and well, I also wanted to bring something for you and George to enjoy this Christmas.”
“For us?” Amelia gasped. “Oh, Papa Johns, this is really too much!”
“No, not at all,” Papa Johns said, and he shuffled his feet uncomfortably. “Mama Johns and I just wanted… I mean… we thought… Well…” He cleared his throat. “Merry Christmas, Amelia. And please give our very best to George.”
“I will!” she said, and she flung her arms around him, making Papa Johns blush even more. “Merry Christmas!”
While she waited for her husband to come home from work, she sat in front of their new fireplace and felt ever so appreciated. She could hear Patricia typing away on her newest book, but Amelia was not thinking about fictional stories. She was thinking about her own wonderful life, and she couldn’t be happier.
Christmas morning, Amelia and George sat down for a breakfast of cookies. Diets and health could wait for the new year, George said. And Amelia agreed. Snow finally started to fall outside the window, drifting down in lazy pirrouettes. Amelia gave George the scarf she had so carefully knitted for him, and he immediately wrapped it around his neck.
“I love it, Amelia,” he said. “It will keep me warm. I’ll wear it every cold day we have!”
“Will you really?” she asked, beaming.
“Of course! I just hope my gift for you is all right…”
“What did you get me, George?” Amelia asked.
“I… well, I wrote you something,” he said. “It isn’t very good, I’m afraid. It’s just a little something, but it came from the heart.”
And he gave her an envelope. In it was a letter that read,
“Dearest Amelia,
I love you so very much. I can’t imagine my life without you, and I don’t even know how to put it into words. So I will just say that you are the frog for me. Forever. For always. And every month for the rest of my life I am going to write you a letter saying so. That is my gift to you this year–my promise.
Your own,
George.”
There were a few more things in that letter that I cannot write here because it was terribly personal and Amelia simply would not share it with me.
“Oh, George,” Amelia whispered with tears in her eyes. “I love you, too!”
It was the very best gift that George could give.
A very merry Christmas from the Johns home to yours. May your holidays be filled with love and family.
Happy reading!
❤
Patricia Johns 
Your comments make me feel warm and fuzzy. Seriously!