Twenty year old Frank Hardy and his younger brother Joe were walking through the Bayport Mall trying to finish up their Christmas shopping for their parents.

Both boys decided to not spend too much money this holiday due to a tight budget. Joe noticed the van needed some work, and they decided to fix the van instead of buying gifts for one another. It was in need of new tires and a couple parts which would not be cheap.

Joe ran a hand through his thick wavy blond hair and turned to his brother Frank, “Do you want to get a personalized silver jewelry box from mom at Things Remembered? I remember she said she wanted one…” Joe suggested as they stopped in front of the store.

Frank stopped and glanced in the window and saw some of the jewelry boxes on display and agreed, “Yeah those look nice. I think she’d like that one.” He said and pointed to the one that had a silver necklace to match. It had a heart dangling off with a purple stone. It was their mother’s favorite color.

“Yeah, let’s get it. She’ll love it!” Joe said happily and walked inside.

Within five minutes they had the order written up and were told to come back in an hour and the engraving would be complete.

“What about Dad? Did he need anything?” Frank asked Joe as he also tried to remember what his father had mentioned.

“He hasn’t really said much. Actually, there is something I think they would like but it’s not exactly cheap. It’s a DVD recorder that takes vhs tapes and puts them onto DVD’s but the best deal I saw on those were for a little under two hundred. Think that’s to much?” Joe asked Frank.

Frank loved the idea, he just wondered if they should spend that much money. He opened his mouth to reply and paused when he noticed two familiar faces.

“Hey beautiful!” Frank exclaimed as Callie, his fiancée walked up beside him and he gave her a kiss and with her was Maggie, Joe’s girlfriend. She walked over to him and wrapped her arm around his waist.

“What’s wrong Joe? You looked stressed sweetie.” Maggie said noticing Joe’s sad look.

Joe looked over at Frank and he shook his head at Joe. “Nothing, we were just shopping. We are trying to think of some ideas for our mom and dad.” He told her.

Maggie knew Joe wasn’t telling her the entire truth but didn’t want to bother him for an answer. “What were you thinking of getting them?” she asked.

“Well we wanted to get a DVD recorder that also allowed you to copy VHS tapes to DVD as well. But we didn’t want to spend too much…” Joe tried explaining.

Maggie looked over at Callie and both girls knew the boys were tight on money. Callie motioned for Maggie to come over and talk to her alone.

“Be right back…” Maggie said and she and Callie went off for a minute. The boys watched as they spoke really quickly and then came back over.

“Sorry, girl talk.” Callie said and both girls laughed.

“Yeah, well… Frank, what do you want to get Dad?” Joe asked him again.

Frank shrugged. “Maybe a new leather briefcase? His last one got messed up while he was on a case.” He suggested.

Joe nodded. “Okay, that sounds perfect!” Joe agreed.

Callie turned back to Frank, “Honey, I am going to finish up my shopping with Maggie and we’ll see you boys in a little bit, alright?” she asked.

“Oh course! We’ll meet you at Mr. Pizza and grab some dinner in an hour, okay?” and everyone agreed.

“Alright, I love you.” She said and kissed Frank goodbye.

Maggie did the same to Joe as her and Callie started to walk off.

Maggie whispered to Callie, “We have a lot of shopping to finish in an hour!”

Callie nodded, “I know. We can do it. Let’s take care of the guys first.”

 

“Whatever they are up to can’t be good!” Joe joked as he watched both girls walk away.

“Yeah, tell me about it!” Frank laughed.

“You know Frank, we must have to two most understanding women on this planet. They both don’t want anything for Christmas, saying they wanted us to take care of our needs then we could get them something if we could.” Joe told him. “How’d we get so lucky?”

“No idea! Come on bro! Let’s get Dad’s gift and we’ll finish up.” Frank said as he and Joe made their way around the mall looking for a gift for their father.

Callie walked into Best Buy while Maggie went to the sporting goods store. Callie went over to the electronics department and spoke to a salesman and was soon out the door with a gift…

Meanwhile Maggie was looking for different sporting equipment to get the guys. She asked an associate for assistance and soon enough she had a large order and she noticed Callie walking in with her bag.

“You got the easy one!” Maggie laughed and Callie did so as well and her eyes went wide at the large boxes the man was pushing towards the registers.

“This will be a wonderful Christmas! No matter what happens…” Callie said and both girls smiled.

Christmas night came quickly and the Hardy’s had called an early night to get up early and celebrate.

It was around two in the morning when someone approached the front door and put a key in the door and opened it, quickly turning off the alarm system.

“Be quiet!”

She glanced inside and all the lights were off, the tree was still on and she turned her head.

“Coast is clear! Be careful…” she warned as a few people carried a couple large boxes inside and placed them near the tree and she followed with a couple smaller boxes.

She placed them down and smiled, very pleased with herself.  “Merry Christmas.” She whispered and someone came up behind her.

“The last two boxes are in, let’s go!”

“Good…” she said and they quickly left the house without being heard or seen after setting the alarm… and made sure that their other gift was put where she was instructed to leave it…

Frank rolled over in his bed and opened his eyes. He noticed the sun was starting to rise and smiled.

He was so tempted to go and wake his brother up but knew what would happen if he even tried.

He laughed to himself and decided to call his girlfriend.

When he heard her cheery voice he smiled. “Merry Christmas!”

“Same to you, you’re up early!”

“Yeah, we went to bed early.”

“Did you want Maggie and I to come over now and keep you guys company?” Callie asked.

“Sure, you can give her to job of waking Joe up!” Frank laughed.

Callie gave a giggle. “Alright handsome, I’ll do that and we’ll be there in about twenty minutes!”

“Great, Love you!” he said and they both said goodbye.

Frank got out of bed and made his way to their bathroom to take a shower. Within ten minutes he had taken a quick shower and cleaned up.

He went back into his room and started to get dressed.

A few minutes later he heard someone knock on the door. He went downstairs to see his Father already walking to answer it. He was in a bathrobe, flannel pants and a shirt. He was drinking a cup of coffee.

“You are up early!” Frank said as his mother came in behind him.

“Good morning Mom, Merry Christmas!” He said and gave his parents a hug, and then Frank walked over to the front door and his Father opened it.

Callie and Maggie were waiting and walked inside.

“Merry Christmas!” They both said in unison and gave each of them a hug.

Fenton looked around and didn’t see Joe. “Oh boy, who wants the job of waking Joe up?” He laughed as did the rest.

“Maggie’s got that covered!” Callie said as Maggie made her way to the stairs and started up them.

“We’ll be down shortly!” she said as she turned the corner to Joe’s room.

“Come into the kitchen when you come back down! I made some breakfast!” Laura yelled after her.

“Thanks!” Maggie said from the top.

She made her way to Joe’s door and knocked. She got no answer and wasn’t surprised so she turned the knob and started to walk inside.

She closed the door quietly behind her and walked over to Joe’s bed. She giggled slightly at the sight of his ruffled blond hair and ran her hands through it. He moved and rolled over.

She wanted to burst out laughing. “Joe, wake up…” she started and he mumbled.

She walked around to the other side of his bed and knelt down in front of him. She leaned in and gave him a kiss. When she pulled away she noticed a smile on his face. “You Brat!” she said and he quickly grabbed her in a big hug pulling her onto the bed.

“Well good morning!” She said and gave him a kiss.

“I knew that someone would be coming up here to wake me up. I didn’t realize it would be you. Perfect start to the day.” He told her and gave her a small kiss.

“Come on sweetie, they are waiting for us to have breakfast!” She said and she stood up walking over to his closet she grabbed his blue bathrobe and handed it to him.

“You’re so cute when you wake up,” she said and he put it on and stood up.

He laughed and made his way to his door. “Ask Frank what happens to him when he tried to wake me. He’ll say I am not so cute.” And they both laughed.

They both went downstairs and found everyone at the kitchen table having breakfast.

“Good morning honey!” Laura said and stood up give her youngest son a kiss on the cheek.

“Morning mom, Merry Christmas everyone!” He said and Laura got Joe and Maggie a plate of pancakes and eggs.

“Thanks so much!” Maggie said and sat down next to Joe.

“You’re welcome dear.” Laura said and sat back down near her husband.

Everyone quickly ate dinner and soon they were making their way to the living room.

Frank and Callie walked in together and sat in the loveseat, and Joe, Fenton and Maggie sat on the sofa as Laura made her way over to the tree.

“Oh My! Look at all these gifts! I don’t remember seeing these here last night…” she started as she read the tags.

Frank looked over at Joe and he just shrugged his shoulders.

Joe figured maybe his mother was joking and put extra gifts downstairs while they were in bed.

“Well, I’ll give everyone something to start with,” Laura said and handed everyone stockings to start with.

Within minutes the boys and girls had opened theirs receiving various candies, socks, and things they needed.

Laura went back and grabbed some of the smaller boxes and handed them to everyone.

Laura gave Callie a small box that was from her and Fenton and did the same with Maggie. Both girls opened their gifts and they were both jewelry boxes. Maggie didn’t have one and Callie needed another one.

Both girls thanked them and watched Frank and Joe open a small gift up as well. Frank laughed when he noticed it was a season of one of his favorite shows, CSI. He thanked them and Joe laughed when he opened his gift. It was a MP3 player.

“This is cool, thanks!” He said and then his mom

“Now, there are a couple big gifts here. Fenton, honey, take this box and these…” She said handing a large box and two a little smaller. “There is one for you and me and then one for each. Let’s do the separate ones first from the boys.” She said. Both her and her husband opened their gifts.

“This is lovely!” She exclaimed and saw the engraving on the small box had Christmas, 2006 Love Frank and Joe.

“Open it mom,” Joe said and she did and she took the necklace out.

“This is beautiful!” She took it out and put it around her neck. “I love it! Thanks Frank,” she paused getting up and gave him a kiss, and then walked over to Joe. “Thanks Joe.”

“Nice briefcase boys! I was just going to buy myself one, I love it!” He said and thanked his sons.

“Okay honey, let’s open this one…” Laura said and sat next to her husband as they opened the gift that had their names on it.

Both Frank and Joe were looking to see what it was and their eyes went wide as they saw a DVD recorder.

“OH MY GOSH!” Laura exclaimed, and looked at her sons. “You boys didn’t have to do this! This is wonderful! Now we can put all the old tapes onto DVD’s! Oh, and there is even a small box of DVD’s so we can start taping!”

She said and Fenton gave the boys a big grin, “You two went all out!” and Frank and Joe looked at one another and were confused.

Suddenly they both had the same idea and turned to their girlfriends who just shrugged. “Nice pick guys, that’s a nice one too!” Maggie said and smiled.

“Oh my goodness, I am so excited!” Laura said and stood back up. “Okay, let’s get you the rest of the gifts boys.” Laura said and went and grabbed each of them a box. “These have both your names on them, so…” she said placing one in front of each of them and a couple small ones on top.

Joe opened the smaller of the two boxes and saw it was a car washing kit, and he grinned. Frank opened the smaller box on top of his and had a tackle box for fishing. “Wow…”

Joe went to the second box and opened it. He was surprised when he saw a tent him and Frank had been eyeing recently and looked over at Frank who gave a big grin, “This is wonderful!”

Frank opened his box up to reveal a camping kit with lanterns, first aid kits, sleeping bags and other various items for camping.

“Thanks Mom, Dad…” and they shook their heads and pointed to the girls who smiled.

“Wait a second I see one more,” Maggie said and got up to walk behind the tree and bought out two new fishing rods and handed one to each brother.

“You girls are amazing!!!” Joe said and grabbed the new fishing rod and placed it down to give her a big hug. Frank did the same with Callie.

“Why thanks so much,” Maggie mumbled as Joe squeezes her tightly.

Joe laughed and released her.

“Your turn,” He said and went and grabbed the gifts he and Frank got for them.

Maggie and Callie both opened them at the same time. Callie’s was a silver charm bracelet with various charms hanging off. She lifted it out of the box and saw a heart charm, a star, a snowflake and two other charms that had both her’s and Frank’s initials engraved on them.

“You have plenty of room to add or remove any of the charms, I thought it was cute. There is a stand in the mall where they sell charms specifically for these bracelets.” Frank explained to her. “I saw you looking at them one day…” he said and she leaned in and gave him a kiss.

“I love it Frank, thank you!” she told him and he helped her put it on.

When Frank and Callie finished up Maggie opened her bow and inside was a gold locket. She glanced up at Joe and smiled. He gave her a big grin in return.

She took it out and opened it. It was a picture of her and Joe, the first one they had taken in the summer at one of Callie’s party’s. She smiled at the picture. They had been dancing and quickly posed for a picture.

“Thanks Joe, this is lovely! One of my favorite pictures of us too…” she said and he helped put it around her neck.

“You’re very welcome,” he said and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Well I guess this leaves the final gift for you boys,” Laura said and Fenton stood up to find one last box hidden behind the tree.

It was labeled for both Frank and Joe.

“This gift is for the both of you…” He said and Joe let Frank open the gift. “All of us pitched in on this gift, your father, Callie, Maggie and I.”

Frank’s eyes went wide as he noticed two pairs of keys and looked at his parents, “What are these for?” he asked and handed Joe a set.

His father grinned, “Well, you’ll have to go look outside!” He said and the boys stood up and walked to the front

Both girls giggled knowing what the boys were about to see would thrill them.

Joe opened the front door and waited for everyone to come out but when he turned he let out a yell and grabbed Frank and spun him in the same direction. His jaw dropped. They were both starring at a Toyota Tacoma Double Cab pickup truck!

Both boys were left speechless. They turned to their family and girlfriends. “How on earth did you afford this?” Frank asked.

His parents shrugged and the girls laughed.

Maggie walked up beside Joe, “Well, what matters is it’s yours, go look at it! It’s nice!” She said and pulled Joe towards the truck.

“All you two have to do is cover the insurance,” his Dad told them and the boys nodded.

Joe went over to the driver’s side and opened the door and climbed in. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

“This is so cool!” he said as Frank walked up beside him.

“We figured you could use something for your camping trip,” Callie winked at Frank.

“Wow, this is absolutely… wow…” He was still surprised and shocked.

Laura and Fenton watched as their boys went in and out of their new truck and smiled, “They are so thrilled, I haven’t seen them so excited since they were little. I am glad we were able to get that truck honey,” Laura said to Fenton who nodded.

“I was able to put that money aside that we were given from helping Mr. Hart on his daughter’s case earlier this year. I never touched it. I am glad; we were able to get our boys a wonderful gift. Merry Christmas dear.” He said and hugged his wife giving her a kiss and walked down to see his son’s.

“Dad, this is awesome! Thank you all so much!” Joe went over and gave his parents hugs and Frank walked over to do the same.

“You boys deserved it; it’s been one hectic year.” Fenton said and everyone agreed.

“There is only one thing more that would make this day perfect,” Joe said and everyone looked at him. “If it was…” he started and felt something wet hit his cheek. He looked up and a light snow was starting to fall. He smiled. “Snowing…”

Everyone looked up and a light snow was starting to fall.

“Merry Christmas everyone!” Frank said and hugged Callie.

“Merry Christmas, Mom, Dad, Frank, Callie and you little lady,” Joe said and gave Maggie a kiss on the forehead.

“Come on boys, let’s get inside and make some cocoa, we have a fun day ahead of us!” Laura said and everyone went back inside.

Frank and Joe were the last ones to enter. They took one last glance at their new truck.

“This Christmas was absolutely amazing, after all that’s happened it was perfect,” Joe said and Frank and he nodded.

“It couldn’t be better, Merry Christmas little brother,” Frank said and wrapped his arm around Joe’s shoulders and both walked inside.

“Boys, we should put on tapes of when you were little while we start to put come on DVD, this thing will be great! Hey girls, want to see Frank and Joe when they were kids! I got some nice Christmas tapes, or birthdays…” Laura said and the girls laughed only imagining what could be on those tapes.

“Oh no…” Joe moaned. He looked over at Frank and both boys laughed. Soon the DVD recorder was set up and they were watching various home videos of the Hardy’s and each couple sat next to each other wrapped in blankets.

“This is wonderful, isn’t it dear?” Laura asked her husband.

“Indeed it is Laura,” Fenton said and looked over at their sons. He smiled and couldn’t be more proud of his sons. Both had accomplished so much in their lives that he wanted to show how proud they were of them, and he hoped this Christmas and the New Year would get better and better for them.

Then again, what could possibly go wrong in the lives of the Hardy Boys?

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!