{"id":7203,"date":"2025-12-21T00:24:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T18:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/?p=7203"},"modified":"2025-12-21T19:29:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T13:29:06","slug":"the-two-and-ten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/?p=7203","title":{"rendered":"THE TWO AND TEN\u2026A CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0Well, it’s December 20th, 2025 and I might not write another blahg before Christmas.\u00a0 I guess I better make this one count. I’m going to debut a new Christmas short story.\u00a0 It has the distinct title of “THE TWO AND TEN\u2026A CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE.”\u00a0 I think I did a good job with it but then I’m biased.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0This story relies heavily on some real traditions and real items in my house or events that have happened over recent Christmas or some when my children were younger.\u00a0 None of the conflict with the Father and his Brother are based on fact but we really do have a two and ten Christmas gift exchange in our house.\u00a0 We draw names twice.\u00a0 The first person selected, you purchase a gift up to a value of two dollars.\u00a0 Of course that amount has risen to five dollars this Christmas.\u00a0 The second amount is no more than ten dollars.\u00a0 You can’t draw yourself and you can’t draw the same name for both the two and ten.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Other items mentioned in the story rely on real events.\u00a0 The following five pointed star was our tree topper up to a few years ago when it failed and couldn’t be repaired:\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Original<\/a><\/p>\n

It was replaced by a eight pointed starburst version which is nice but wasn’t the same:\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Starburst\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Recently I found the exact same five pointed store at a thrift store and it was in the original box.\u00a0 Here it is now, atop our tree:\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Renewed<\/a><\/p>\n

Other items incorporated in my story include our mantel display.\u00a0 Here’s our 2025 Christmas mantel Christmas display and if you zoom in you can see some of the unique items:\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Mantel<\/a><\/p>\n

One of the favourite items also mentioned are the carolling bears atop a book:\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Caroling<\/a><\/p>\n

A second mention goes to the naked Santa:\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Naked<\/a><\/p>\n

Again, even though there are some real elements in my story, it is not reflective other real events.\u00a0 Here’s the story, enjoy!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE TWO AND TEN\u2026A CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE<\/strong><\/h4>\n

BY<\/strong><\/h4>\n

SCOTT HENDERSON<\/strong><\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Truth be told, it didn\u2019t start out as two and ten.\u00a0 In fact, it could have been one and done in the beginning but there was no second amount back then so one stood alone.\u00a0 Lately, however, it had risen to five and a second amount of fifteen or what the son had conjectured that the market could bear.<\/h4>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It was a family gift exchange and the two and ten referred to the dollar amount each person was allowed to spend on the family member whose name they randomly selected in the draw.\u00a0 By the end of October the selections would be made and a corresponding list was pinned to the refrigerator.\u00a0 By early December everyone had forgotten for whom they were to have purchased a five dollar gift and who was the secondary at fifteen.\u00a0 The list would be referred to and poked at and smudged by fingerprints until the presents were all purchased and wrapped; \u00a0with the list eventually recycled.<\/h4>\n

Dad always claimed it was based on a family custom but there was little fact in the legend.\u00a0 Dad had said when he was younger, he didn\u2019t have the wherewithal to buy his brother a gift but one Christmas he found a quarter and turned it over to his brother with nothing expected in return.\u00a0 Lore had it that the brother was so touched he gave his younger sibling a baseball card which would have been worth forty-eight dollars today if dad hadn\u2019t mislaid it over the years.\u00a0 Father sometimes also offered a different version of the story.\u00a0 Yes, he had found a quarter but it had belonged to his brother and he had had no intention of giving it up.\u00a0 Forced by his parents to return it, he did so reluctantly; all the while vowing and plotting his revenge.\u00a0 The brother immediately bought himself a package of hockey cards and quickly consumed the solitary gum in the pack lest he be forced to share.\u00a0 Father, even more incensed by the lost opportunity of sharing in the gum than the loss of the rightful finders-keepers-losers-weepers quarter eventually got even.\u00a0 In the spring, he liberated one of the cards from the pack and attached it to a spoke in the rear wheel of his bicycle with a clothes pin and rode around the neighbourhood until he could no longer hear the clacking sound.\u00a0 The card was lost for all time and the legend grew of a rookie card worth several hundred dollars floating among the sewers, devoured by a stray canine, or mulched among the leaves by a gas powered mower.\u00a0 One and done.<\/h4>\n

Father carried the spirit of the exchange forward with his own children.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t remember how old they were when the practice started anew.\u00a0 He remembered well, however, that none of his three children, when they were younger, ever really had much pocket money so the parents were often called upon to bankroll the two and ten.\u00a0 Mom and Dad both found it oddly strange to subsidize their own gifts when either of the two daughters or the son drew their parents\u2019 names.\u00a0 Father also recalled walking through thrift stores with the children and pointing out items he thought were suitable ideas for the exchange.\u00a0 He\u2019d often had to put on a very surprised face when he was one of the recipients of an article he himself had pointed out days or weeks earlier.<\/h4>\n

The girls were always thoughtful with their time and gifts; even if they had needed financial support when they were younger.\u00a0 The son needed a little more coaching.\u00a0 Father remembered once pointing out to the lad a ceramic ornament in a second hand shop of three small bears caroling while balanced atop a stack of books.\u00a0 He commented how nice it would look seated atop their mantel.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t surprised when the son immediately asked for the loan of two dollars and the decoration found itself wrapped beneath the tree.\u00a0 The item had only cost half of that which Father had spotted his son and the boy might have pocketed the difference.\u00a0 Still, Father, observed later, it was the thought that counted.<\/h4>\n

Sometimes the son could be full of other surprises.\u00a0 Father would often comment about a book he\u2019d like to read or an album he\u2019d like to own and then be pleasantly stunned to receive it labeled from the boy to him.\u00a0 He often thought that Mother had lent a hand on those occasions but it was Christmas and he preferred to give his son the credit.<\/h4>\n

The mantel items grew through the gift exchange every year and annually the process of cleaning off the yearlong items from above the fireplace, and replacing them with Christmas themed notions, lengthened.\u00a0 Soon there wasn\u2019t a space left.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t stop the items from coming and older curios removed to make room for new ones.<\/h4>\n

Father also loved nutcrackers and these ranged in size from the handheld versions to ones that dwarfed two feet or more.\u00a0 The whole family indulged him and they spent the whole year looking for unique nutcrackers to add to the collection.\u00a0 Ones purchased after the holiday season would sit atop a book shelf in the living room and then be added to the main assortment the following Christmas.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t uncommon to spot seven or eight new figures grouped together even in the middle of summer.\u00a0 By the following Christmas there would be another dozen and a half new acquisitions.\u00a0 The mantel soon became a nutcracker free zone as the collection grew and they required relocating in another part of the living room.\u00a0 Father built a special shelf to house them all but this too, like the mantel, required adjustments and additions to the shelving to accommodate the growth of the nutcracker family.<\/h4>\n

Not all of the nutcrackers were new and some had suffered damages even before they found their new home.\u00a0 There was a pirate version that was missing his eye-patch.\u00a0 A couple had lost their swords or walking sticks while others were missing their beards, appendages, or other items they once held in their hands.\u00a0 There was one missing a hat and another a boot.\u00a0 Father would joke about these and talk about the nutcracker wars and how these veterans had not made it through unscathed.<\/h4>\n

The mantel menagerie continued to grow as well.\u00a0 There were more than a hundred items crammed across the ledge above the hearth.\u00a0 There were numerous Santas and snowmen.\u00a0 There was a trio of ice-skating penguins.\u00a0 Christmas trees festooned with colored lights and trifles were surrounded by angels and other holiday themed characters.\u00a0 There were cats and dogs and birds and polar bears and reindeer and other sundry animals in festive costumes or holiday scenes.<\/h4>\n

\u201cWhy are there no Christmas monkeys?\u201d Dad would ask every year when they worked to put up the display.\u00a0 He would often add \u201cthis mantel is getting too full.\u00a0 It needs another tier.\u00a0 Is there such a thing as a bunk mantel?\u00a0 You know, like bunk beds?\u201d\u00a0 He was the only one who would laugh at this joke.<\/h4>\n

Front and center was always the little caroling bears ornament given by the son years before.\u00a0 It was a favourite of Father\u2019s as was the comical trinket that stood next to it.\u00a0 The youngest daughter had gifted Father a ceramic outdoor shower with a door that swung open to reveal Santa in the altogether with only a stocking strategically placed to cover Santa\u2019s nether-region.\u00a0 The youngest daughter had a wry sense of humour when it suited her.<\/h4>\n

On Christmas Eve there was always a fire in the grate.\u00a0 Mother would turn off all of the lights except those dancing on the tree.\u00a0\u00a0 The family would stand back and look over the mantel display and enjoy the warmth of the room.\u00a0 Usually one of the daughters would rearrange certain items to bring forward a favoured treasure.\u00a0 Father would smile and watch and then think to himself that huge delights came in small wonders.<\/h4>\n

The family would inevitably turn and take in the Christmas tree.\u00a0 A real one always stood in the corner.\u00a0 Father did not believe in artificial replacements.\u00a0 In addition to the lights it would always be decked from top to bottom in items of various sizes and array.\u00a0 Old baked dough ornaments, crudely hand-painted by younger hands, nestled in the tree.\u00a0 Newer decorations lurked behind valued items.\u00a0 Some of these had been gifts for the two dollar amount before it gave way to the new five dollar base expense.\u00a0 Wrapped around the entire fir tree was a string of gold garland that had been patched and lengthened over the years.\u00a0 Splices were strategically hidden by balls and baubles and, in one particular spot, by the figure of a robin who Father quipped refused to fly south for the winter.<\/h4>\n

Above everything perched the star.\u00a0 For Mother, it was the one thing that cast a shadow on all their Christmas traditions.\u00a0 Gone was the original five pointed version, purchased many years before she and Father had expanded their family.\u00a0 It had been supplanted by a newer starburst design.\u00a0 It was beautiful but not the same.\u00a0 The cherished heirloom had burned out and Father could not repair it.\u00a0 The wiring had become faulty with age and even the plastic peg that held it to the tip had become brittle and broken.\u00a0 For the last two years of its life it had been held aloft by a green hair clip.<\/h4>\n

When the children were younger, after viewing the mantel arrangement and the tree in turn, they\u2019d ask Father to tell them the tale of the nutcracker wars and the myth of the original gift exchange with his brother.<\/h4>\n

The story of the nutcracker wars had grown over time and Father would delight in grabbing up some of the figures in turn and moving their mechanisms while he voiced their opinions.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how it started,\u201d one black bearded character would begin, \u201cbut I know it was the fault of the white beards.\u201d<\/h4>\n

\u201cIt all had to do with the dark beards,\u201d a white beard would counter.<\/h4>\n

Different crackers were swapped out and different parts of the story were carried on with Father bringing in accents and modulated voices to embellish the mythology.\u00a0 Representatives of the injured class would speak of how they lost limbs or accessories.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI miss my arm,\u201d one would recall.\u00a0 \u201cI lost it in a sword fight to a beardless trooper with a gold crown.\u00a0 I thought he was taking on airs and so I challenged him to a duel.\u201d\u00a0 There was a beardless crown adorned soldier in the collection that would be called upon to comment but would always feign off by stating \u201cI have no recollection of the event.\u201d\u00a0 There was never an explanation on how he lost his beard.<\/h4>\n

The fable of the original gift exchange and the loss of the sports card was a more difficult saga for Father to recount.\u00a0 He had not spoken to his brother in some time and the memory of their youth was too painful now to try and spin into a Christmas convention.\u00a0 Father preferred to expand on the nutcracker wars and would beg off expounding on his family drama until the children stopped asking about it.\u00a0 Eventually both parables ceased to be requested by the children as they aged.<\/h4>\n

Father and the Uncle had become estranged since the death of the children\u2019s Grandfather.\u00a0 Old hatreds loomed and bitterness festered between the brothers after their own Father\u2019s passing.\u00a0 Responsibility for their Mother didn\u2019t seem to be equally shared.\u00a0 The Uncle, being the oldest, didn\u2019t feel the obligation.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t a family man.\u00a0 He\u2019d never married and he didn\u2019t have children.\u00a0 He deferred to his younger sibling saying he was obviously better qualified.\u00a0 Gradually the need to exchange pleasantries dwindled to no contact whatsoever.\u00a0 There were no calls or cards or letters.\u00a0 The elder took a job and moved further away.\u00a0 His distance became another excuse for commitment to his surviving parent.\u00a0 Father heard news of him occasionally from his Mother.\u00a0 He struggled to give proper interest to his brother\u2019s doings.\u00a0 His Mother didn\u2019t interfere but Father knew it hurt her nonetheless to see the remoteness between her sons.<\/h4>\n

It was his own son who asked this Christmas for the retelling of the original gift exchange.\u00a0 The request was unexpected.\u00a0 Father was taken aback.\u00a0 His first reaction was to respond in the fashion of the crowned beardless nutcracker and reply that \u201cI have no recollection of the event.\u201d\u00a0 Instead, Father looked thoughtful and then began to speak.<\/h4>\n

\u201cLet me tell you the story of the first gift exchange.\u00a0 It took place a long time ago, long before even the nutcracker wars.\u00a0 Three kings, crowned but bearded, followed a star to Bethlehem.\u00a0 They took with them precious gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.\u00a0 There was no value implied.\u00a0 In fact, it wasn\u2019t much of a trade because the kings expected nothing in return.\u00a0 They sought only to worship the child born in a manger but were rewarded with a profound feeling of peace, love and understanding.\u00a0 The exchange had been fulfilled.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Father looked around.\u00a0 Mother had tears in her eyes.\u00a0 The children were speechless.\u00a0 If any of them thought he had deliberately avoided telling of the alleged tradition with his brother then none felt it necessary to speak up.<\/h4>\n

Uncomfortable with the sudden quiet, Father decided to bring everything back to the present.<\/h4>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s ready for the two and ten?\u201d\u00a0 Father asked.<\/h4>\n

\u201cThe five and fifteen, you mean,\u201d the eldest daughter said.<\/h4>\n

\u201cOr whatever,\u201d the son chimed in.\u00a0 Father didn\u2019t offer his own correction to the son\u2019s thoughts.\u00a0 He was still pondering on the son\u2019s odd request for the retelling of the family gift exchange.<\/h4>\n

Christmas Eve was always reserved for the gifting of the denomination presents.\u00a0 If someone was satisfied with their bounty it sent them to bed with pleasant dreams.\u00a0 If displeasure was felt, it left hope for better offerings to be received in the morning.<\/h4>\n

This night there was no disappointment.\u00a0 All of the gifts had registered appreciation and delight in every member of his family.\u00a0 Maybe it was truly felt or maybe the impact of Father\u2019s retelling of the gifts of the magi had made everyone think twice about even displaying dissatisfaction.<\/h4>\n

Father, himself, had cheated this year when it came to the gift exchange.\u00a0 He had drawn his youngest daughter\u2019s name but had swapped with his eldest daughter when the list revealed she had drawn her Mother.\u00a0 It still gave time for the older sister to find something suitable for her younger counterpart.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI drew Mother,\u201d Father exclaimed in turn after all the others had received their five dollar gift.\u00a0 The opening always worked from youngest to oldest when it came to the lower amount and then reversed order for the slightly more expensive.\u00a0 Father cast a knowing eye in the direction of his first born.\u00a0 He had had to let her in on the secret in order to make the trade.<\/h4>\n

Motherly gingerly unwrapped her gift.\u00a0 When finished, she stared intently at the contents and began to weep.\u00a0 Here was the five pointed star in its original box.<\/h4>\n

\u201cHow?\u201d was all she could say through her tears.<\/h4>\n

Father told of his second-hand store find.\u00a0 He had walked alone among the Christmas shelves, looking to add to his nutcracker ensemble, when he spotted the star tucked behind a row of holiday themed mugs.\u00a0 The fact that it was still in its original box made it all the more special.<\/h4>\n

Mother silently detached the star from its case and handed it to Father.\u00a0 He removed the starburst version and placed the original, but newly acquired one on top of the tree and plugged it in.\u00a0 He had made sure it lit properly before he had made his purchase. \u00a0It didn\u2019t shine any brighter than the starburst variety but it seemed to fill the room with an indefinable brilliance.<\/h4>\n

\u201cCan I have the starburst one?\u201d the oldest asked.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve gotten used to it.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to have it for my own tree when I move out someday.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Father retrieved a towel and gently wrapped the topper and placed it in cardboard box.\u00a0 He taped it closed and wrote \u201cstarburst\u201d across the lid and the name of his daughter underneath.\u00a0 He did not look forward to his daughter leaving the nest one day but he\u2019d safeguard the star for her against the inevitability.<\/h4>\n

Father\u2019s five dollar gift was a ceramic monkey gifted to him by his youngest daughter.\u00a0 It wore a red Santa Claus coat and held out ceramic cymbals.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI made it during our pottery segment in art class.\u00a0 My costs were the paints and a new brush.\u00a0 It\u2019s your Christmas Monkey!\u201d\u00a0 She beamed with pride.<\/h4>\n

Father chuckled and then hugged his daughter.\u00a0 He went to the mantel and pushed apart the caroling bears and the showering Santa.\u00a0 The Christmas Monkey would forever be front and center.<\/h4>\n

\u201cIt looks like we\u2019re going to need a bunk mantel,\u201d the son observed.\u00a0 Everyone laughed.<\/h4>\n

It was Father\u2019s turn again to receive a present as the order was reversing again for the ten dollar gifts.\u00a0 The son plucked one from under the tree and handed it to his parent.<\/h4>\n

Father made a big deal of feeling the wrapping all over.\u00a0 It was flat and thin and hard when tapped on what he perceived to be the front.<\/h4>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll bet it\u2019s a basketball,\u201d he mused.\u00a0 The son just stood pensive and waited for his Father to open the present.<\/h4>\n

The wrapping came away easily and revealed an old photo.\u00a0 It had been digitally enhanced and enlarged and the colours were more vibrant.\u00a0 It was a picture of Father and his brother from younger days.<\/h4>\n

Before Father could find the words to ask about it, the son spoke up.<\/h4>\n

\u201cGrandma let me go through all of her old photo albums and other things in her attic.\u00a0 This one was actually found at the bottom of a box of Christmas decorations she had pulled out.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t explain how it had gotten there.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Father knew.\u00a0 In fact, it was from an old Polaroid taken on a long ago Christmas morning when Father was nine and his brother, eleven.\u00a0 That year they had both received matching plastic torpedo run sleds.\u00a0 Brother\u2019s had been blue and the other was black.\u00a0 They had gone out that holiday afternoon and tobogganed until it was dark outside.\u00a0 They both had completely missed Christmas dinner.\u00a0 Their Dad had given them a stern look on their return but their Mother had understood and kept their plates warm in the oven.\u00a0 Boys would be boys.<\/h4>\n

Their Mother had taken the photo in the morning and had placed it among the Christmas tree branches.\u00a0 It had been taken down with the decorations after New Year\u2019s and languished all these years.\u00a0 Father hadn\u2019t seen it since.\u00a0 The picture may have been long forgotten but the memory of the yule sledding still resonated.<\/h4>\n

Father looked up to see his own son\u2019s face.\u00a0 There was worry or confusion in the boy\u2019s look.<\/h4>\n

\u201cWrong?\u201d was all the son could think to ask.<\/h4>\n

\u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d was Father\u2019s short reply.\u00a0 He felt like Mother after she had opened the five pointed star.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t weep but his eyes were moist and he lowered his head to look at the photo again.<\/h4>\n

His male offspring had put a great deal of time and effort to make the two brothers from the snapshot look like they\u2019d just had their photo take that morning.\u00a0 The son had not chosen an inexpensive frame either.\u00a0 If Father could have squeezed it up on the mantel next to the ceramic Christmas monkey he surely would have tried.\u00a0 Instead he held it tightly with white knuckles and vowed to put it above the fireplace after Christmas with the other pictures and items that had been removed to make place for the holiday display.<\/h4>\n

The rest of the family opened their gifts.\u00a0 Father stared intently at his younger self and his now estranged brother.\u00a0 How could two close members of a family have drifted so far apart?\u00a0 He thought on that for the rest of the evening.\u00a0 He lay awake long in the night ruminating on the question.\u00a0 In the morning he still continued to ponder the issue.<\/h4>\n

After the Christmas day gifts had been opened and the festive brunch had finished, Father slipped away quietly and made two telephone calls.<\/h4>\n

The first was to his Mother to confirm that Christmas dinner was at two and he would drive over and pick her up at one.\u00a0 That way she\u2019d have time to visit with the children.\u00a0 He told her about the photograph.\u00a0 She knew what was on his mind and was forthcoming with her other son\u2019s number.<\/h4>\n

Father\u2019s second phone call in private was to his brother.\u00a0 It was all kinds of awkward but the memory of the Christmas sleds urged him on.\u00a0 It became easier and the reminiscence of that all day toboggan ride was only one of the memories they shared.<\/h4>\n

Brother was in a relationship now.\u00a0 He was dating a woman with two sons of her own.\u00a0 He\u2019d like to bring her and come for a visit in the New Year.\u00a0 Father said he\u2019d like that.\u00a0 Old prejudices stayed buried.\u00a0 Brother provided his new address.\u00a0 Maybe Father and his brood could make it that way sometime?\u00a0 Father said he\u2019d see.<\/h4>\n

Later when he picked up his Mother, Father helped her into his car and told her about the phone call to her other son.\u00a0 Mother patted him on the head and smiled.\u00a0 He was nine again and all was forgiven. \u00a0This time he was keeping her dinner warm in the oven.<\/h4>\n

That evening, Father slipped away again.\u00a0 He closed his bedroom door and rooted out an old tin box from under the bed.\u00a0 Inside were many objects he once held special and dear.<\/h4>\n

There was the yo-yo he always longed to dominate.\u00a0 Beside that was a Hohner Comet harmonica one of the children had gifted him once on a Father\u2019s Day.\u00a0 That, too, he still hoped to master.\u00a0 There were other things tossed loosely in the box, along with a handful of change of different denominations.\u00a0 Every coin was something he once thought important for some reason or other.\u00a0 Now, he couldn\u2019t recall why.<\/h4>\n

At the very bottom of the box lay a single article wrapped in aluminum foil.\u00a0 It was the hockey card he had liberated from his brother\u2019s pack.\u00a0 That part of the legend was true but he\u2019d never attached it to his bicycle.\u00a0 He\u2019d used a playing card instead.\u00a0 The card had been held and treasured by Father.\u00a0 The image of the player was not familiar.\u00a0 He only recognized the name of the team.\u00a0 It probably held no value\u2026except to him.<\/h4>\n

Father gently removed the card and took it to the kitchen table.\u00a0 There were some unused festive cards in a box on top of the refrigerator.\u00a0 He wrote one out to his brother and wished him a Merry Christmas and then signed his name.\u00a0 He enclosed the card and then scribbled his sibling\u2019s new address on the envelope.\u00a0 Two days later he took it to the post-office and dispatched it on.<\/h4>\n

Early in January, Father received a reply.\u00a0 The holiday card inside was from his brother.\u00a0 He had scratched out Merry Christmas and penned in Happy New Year.\u00a0 He\u2019d signed it with love.\u00a0 Enclosed was a quarter.\u00a0 Father eventually placed the coin in his metal box.\u00a0 He\u2019d always remember where this one came from and why he kept it.<\/h4>\n

The exchange had been completed.<\/h4>\n

One and done.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

THE END<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0Well, it’s December 20th, 2025 and I might not write another blahg before Christmas.\u00a0 I guess I better make this one count. I’m going to debut a new Christmas short story.\u00a0 It has the distinct title of “THE TWO AND TEN\u2026A CHRISTMAS GIFT EXCHANGE.”\u00a0 I think I did a good job with it but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[46,332,4,3],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7203"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7203"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7221,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7203\/revisions\/7221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}