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pa-rum-pum-pum-pum,” Charlotte mixed and mingled one of her favorite Christmas songs as she put the finishes touches on dinner. She wasn’t much of a singer, but she could hum the hell out of a song, which made the “Little Drummer Boy” the perfect song for her. For the words, she’d just hum, and for rat-tat-tatting, well, she’d just rat-tat-tatted. It really was the perfect song for tone-deaf singers. “Hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, hum, pa-rum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum.”
    “On my drum ,” Tamara sang, coming in right on key as she entered the kitchen with a smile on her rested face. “Man, I love that song.”
    Charlotte shot her an answering smile. “So do I. Sleep well?”
    “Too well.” Tamara raised her hands over her head and stretched. “I almost didn’t make it out of bed.”
    “You should have stayed in bed and rested.”
    “And miss all this?” Tamara gestured around her. “Not on your life. I’m here for holiday fun, not for holiday sleep. So point me in the right direction and give me orders, boss lady. What can I do to help you finish anything up?”
    “Umm …” Charlotte looked over the dish-covered island carefully, making sure she had exactly what she needed. “I think I got it all done.”
    Tamara’s breath caught and her eyes widened as she took it all in. “All of it?”
    “Yes, you were sleeping for like three hours. Heck, I was kind of hoping you would just sleep until morning. You need it.”
    “No, what I need is to spend time with my family. I missed it all, didn’t I?” Tamara began to tear up. “I missed everything.”
    “T.” Charlotte walked over to her friend and wrapped an arm around her much larger waist. “You to need rest, babe. That’s more important than the stupid list.”
    Tamara crossed her arms over her breasts. “I love that stupid list. I look forward to that list every year.”
    “It’s a good list.” One they came up with together when they first moved in together so many years ago. Growing up, neither one of them really had much of a home life. Tamara’s dad was a no-show, and although her mom was great, her three staples in life had been work, church and bingo. That didn’t leave much attention left over for Tamara. Charlotte’s parents, on the other hand, had divorced when she was younger and she’d been trafficked back and forth between them right up to her high school graduation when she decided to step off their crazy train and started to make a life for herself. She didn’t talk to them much now, but to be fair she didn’t talk to them much when she lived with them so she didn’t feel a need to change things at this point.
    Instead she and Tamara decided one day to come up with their self-made family traditions, which included The Christmas Eve List to End All Lists. Despite its epic name, the list wasn’t that big. It just consisted of things they would do once they had families of their own, and now since that occurrence had come to pass, they’d begun to incorporate the list every Christmas since Candace was old enough to use cookie cutters.
    Still pouting, Tamara pulled out a chair at the small table they had in the kitchen and sat down. “So what have we crossed off so far?”
    “The popcorn and the cranberries are ready to be strung but we haven’t done that yet. The boys and Candace did the gingerbread houses but note I’m using the term,” Charlotte made air quotes, “ house very loosely.”
    “Please tell me they used the hot glue this time?”
    Charlotte shook her head and smiled. “Nope.”
    “ Oy.” Tamara rolled her eyes. “Why won’t they listen?”
    Now that was a question to end all question s. Why didn’t men listen? “Because they’re a couple of guys.”
    “If they would just glue the house together first it wouldn’t end up looking like a haunted melting mansion.”
    “I know.” Charlotte shrugged. “You and I’ve been saying this for three years now and they still refuse to