Adam Blake - 131. Chapter 131

The Holidays were fantastic. We had an early Christmas at the cabin. Then we flew to Liechtenstein for the rest of the holidays. The boys were great. Gunther was there, and he showed the boys around. I was surprised some of my new sons knew German. Marie and I had to attend several parties. I said had to, Marie said you must. Gerry was all smiles. What do you give a king for Christmas? I gave Gerry a plaque that summed up my philosophy on teaching and life.

“This is you. This is what you do. You live and practice this philosophy. I’m going to make it mine.”

I had tears in my eyes as I hugged this son of mine. I knew in my heart and mind that our country was going to prosper under his rule.

The holiday was over, and we had a goodbye party. I saw Anton and his grandmother, they were happy, and Anton said his grandmother is very happy, she has a lot of friends. I asked Anton if he would like to visit us at the school, he said he would, so we agreed that during the Easter break, he would come over.

One last carriage ride through our city, tossing small coins to those who came to see us off, then to the airport, and finally home.

The school was a buzz from everyone who had returned from the holidays. They thanked me again for the gifts. The Knights told us about their holiday, and my sons told them about ours. It seems everyone had a good time. “Lord James, how was your holiday?”

“I would like to introduce you all to Lady Ann.” He went and brought Annie to the table, the boys stood, rah rah rah. James’s smile couldn’t be any larger.

Later in my office, “Doc, we had such a great time. We missed you, but I understand why you couldn’t be there. I have pictures if you want to see them.”

“I want to see your pictures, and I’m truly sorry to miss your wedding.”

He brought the album of wedding pictures to my office, accompanied by Lady Ann. “Annie, your look lovely in these pictures. James, you better treat her right. Where are you living?”

“We’re staying with Annie’s parents.”

“James, you do know you are now staff.” I didn’t have to say anything more. He took Annie by the hand, and they left.

It took about two days before I was back in the groove. Jane had assigned one of her girls to work for James, with James’s concordance.

The ambassador called to see if we all got back okay. I told him I was glad to see him in Liechtenstein.

“Adam, we need to talk at the next Director’s meeting. I’ve told you who your sons are, and now we need to visit their countries, and you need to present yourself. Let’s talk about it when I’m there.”

I was quite excited about doing this. I knew who they were, and except for Richard and Gerry, they were the only ones I knew.

I’m always amazed at how fast life returns to normal. It’s like the holidays were a blip on the continuous cycle of life.=

Billy took a leave of absence and took his liberal art courses at King’s College. He intended to train for the Summer Olympics, which were just around the corner.

Easter break was upon us before we knew it. Most of the boys stayed at the school. Well, they stayed at the cabin. On Sunday morning, we went to the top of the hill behind the cabin and watched the sun come up. Caleb and Gaston came with a pan of hot chocolate, Marie and Mom helped to serve it to the boys.

“Dad, we know the background of Christmas, is there a similar background for Easter.”

“Yes, actually there is. The people who lived in Germany before Christianity celebrated this day as the day of new growth. It was the beginning of a new season. When Christianity started to move into the North country, they adopted the people’s customs only they defined it to support Christianity. New life was interpreted as Jesus’s resurrection and his teachings and thus Easter. Another custom of those early people was the egg. When you think about it, an egg represents life, the life of an animal. Again the Christians copied that, and now we have Easter Eggs. Most of the images that we associate with the holidays have come from early civilizations, except Thanksgiving, which comes from the Pilgrims in America. But we aren’t the only ones who celebrate Thanksgiving. For example, Canada also celebrates Thanksgiving but on a different date.”

“Dinner was a fantastic meal, and the chefs outdid themselves. I had a large chocolate egg for everyone. The boys being funny, wanted to know if there was a chocolate chicken in them.