The 12 Seasons of Christmas

[Miss Texas 1967]

Sweet chapter, I wish JR could be a good husband because he wants to be and it's the right thing to do, but even if he's doing it for someone else (Bobby this time) at least he did it.

 

[Karin Schill]

Nice update. It's sort of weird reading about how Bobby's dead though since we all know that never happened. Yet I enjoyed the JR/SE update. It is nice to see them being on speaking terms.

Now as for the next update I hope you will find a way to include Pam since it's her last season on the show...

 

[Justine]

Santa Clause Is Comin' To Town
Season 10 (Between "The Fire Next Time" and "So Shall Ye Reap")​

“Clayton,” Miss Ellie stretched her arm and the emptiness of her husband’s side of the bed startled her from her half-sleep state. Panic started to arise in her chest and she leapt from the bed, in order to search for him. The Wes Parmalee debacle had infuriated Clayton, so much so that Miss Ellie truly believed he would kill the fraud, despite her many attempts to talk him down. “Bobby.” She hysterically knocked on his bedroom door and cried his name. He was likely the only one physically able to prevent Clayton from the execution of his threat.

Pamela appeared from behind her and climbed the stairway with an equally stricken expression. “Miss Ellie, have you seen Bobby?” She had also woken to discover her husband absent from their bed. It was almost 1am on Christmas Eve and his disappearance was worrisome. “I can’t find him anywhere in the house.”

“No,” her mother-in-law scratched the top of her head, evidently confused. “I can’t seem to find Clayton either.” Neither her husband, nor her son, had mentioned any plans to leave the house but it was possible there was an issue on the ranch.

The door to J.R. and Sue Ellen’s bedroom opened and Sue Ellen sleepily appeared. “What’s all the fuss?”

“Bobby and Clayton have disappeared,” Pamela militantly reported. Sue Ellen could hear the frantic in her voice. It was fair to say Pamela had been protective, if not possessive, of her husband and son, since Bobby had fathered Jenna’s unborn child. “I checked the boys’ rooms. They’re both safe and sound asleep,” she added, as if she had already foreseen where Sue Ellen’s mind would have travelled.

Sue Ellen wrapped her robe around her waist and quickly became concerned. J.R.’s absence from their bedroom was not a rare occurrence, no matter the state of their relationship, but it was more than coincidence that all the men of the house had disappeared. “Well, where could they be at this hour?” The three women shared a moment of contemplation and between them, wracked their exhausted brains for the likely option, until a familiar chuckle distracted Sue Ellen and she followed the noise onto the balcony outside of her bedroom. “J.R.?”

Miss Ellie and Pamela scurried quickly behind. “My God…”

“Clayton Farlow, what on earth is this?” Their three husbands were all dressed in just an open-collar shirt and trousers, as they padded around in the snow that had created a winter wonderland effect at Southfork.

“J.R. and Bobby told me how Jock used to come out here on Christmas Eve and create tracks in the snow as if Santa had been.” Clayton explained. His voice boomed so loudly Sue Ellen feared the boys would wake. “We decided it was only fair the boys have the same experience.” There were snowmen precariously built, footsteps in the snow and even hoof-prints for Rudolph and his troop.

“What about the mince pies we put out for Santa, and the carrots for Rudolph?” Pamela comically questioned them, incredibly amused by the entire scene she had stumbled upon. “The boys will never believe Santa’s been, if you didn’t eat those, too.”

“Trust me when I say, J.R. personally took care of that,” Bobby playfully patted his brother’s stomach and he scowled, offended by the innuendo.

 

[Justine]

Miss You Most (At Christmas Time)
Season 11 (Between "Daddy's Little Darlin'" and "It's Me Again")​

Sue Ellen pulled into the car park of the downtown dive bar and surveyed the scene. It was a fairly inconspicuous environment, certainly not the kind of place anyone would expect to find a woman of her stature in. She conjured up the nerve to climb out her car and slowly wandered inside.

“Hello, Bobby.”

His sister-in-law’s voice was like a beacon in the distance - there but not really there. It was the in-between days after Christmas and before the New Year celebration. The empty days that didn’t really mean much, kind of the way he felt. In the weeks that led up to the holiday season, he had been filled with a sense of dread - it was Christopher’s first Christmas without his mother - but the heralded day had passed and there was little more than emptiness left. “Hello, Sue Ellen.”

She could have relapsed from the fumes of alcohol in his breath but she flashed a beauty-queen smile. “This is quite the role reversal, isn’t it?” An anonymous phone call to Southfork had informed her of Bobby’s idle and intoxicated presence in the joint. Bobby didn’t share her amusement at the sentiment and her voice shifted into a more serious tone. “Why don’t you let me drive you home?”

Bobby snatched his arm away from her tender touch, “Thank you very much, Sue Ellen,” he coarsely declined her proposal. “But, I think I’ll stay for one more drink.” Cliff had collected Christopher for the weekend, so Bobby had no responsibility to tend to until his return.

Sue Ellen brazenly overrode his attempt to order when the barman responded to Bobby’s raised hand. “Two black coffees, please.” Bobby exhaled, his irritation non-verbal but audible. “I realise this is a very difficult time for you,” she delicately appealed to his softer nature. “You can sit here and drown your sorrows to Jack, Jim and Johnnie but that won’t solve your problem. Believe me, I’ve tried.” The barman arrived with two coffees and Sue Ellen replaced the bottle of beer in front of Bobby with the hot drink. “If this custody battle for Christopher does reach the family court, you will need to keep a clear head.”

“Sue Ellen, I know all that but…” Bobby reluctantly sipped at the cup of coffee she had forced upon him.

“But you miss Pamela,” she completed his sentence, with ease. “I miss her, too, but I promise you Christopher misses her more.” Sue Ellen had spoilt John Ross and Christopher equally with their presents from Santa and festive holiday experiences, but Christopher’s sadness did not dissipate, and nor did she expect such a result. “It’s okay to be sad. Just,” Sue Ellen paused, “Be sad at home. Be with your family and your son. Show him how you feel and that it’s okay for him to feel the same.”

He listened the plain sense she offered and conceded. Self-pity was not a pretty colour on anyone. Bobby balanced himself with her steady hand, “I’ll bet you wished you adopted Christopher yourself, when you look at how well his life with me and Pam turned out to be.”

His sister-in-law tactfully avoided that particular can of worms, “That sounds like a conversation for another day.” It sounded a conversation for a sober day, at the very least. “Careful of the step,” she mindfully escorted him to her car outside.

They rode the majority of the drive home in a contemplative silence. When the car entered the perimeter of Southfork, Bobby shifted uncomfortably and Sue Ellen empathised with the source of his concern. “Don’t worry, your mama and Clayton are out for dinner with Punk and his wife.” There was little worse than the welcome band in Bobby’s condition. “John Ross should be in bed, too. J.R. isn’t even home.”

“You sound like you’re at peace with that?” Bobby phrased his observation as a question.

Sue Ellen slyly smirked, “You know how J.R. is.” Their relationship was a conversation that required more consciousness than Bobby possessed after all the alcohol he had imbibed. “Besides, I’ve always said it’s you I should have married. Maybe I have a chance with Pamela out of the way?” His eyes momentarily widened, until he spotted the twinkle in her eye. “Come on,” she patted his arm. “Let’s put you to bed.”

 

[Miss Texas 1967]

I enjoy their friendship, it's nice to see them looking after each other at different hard times.

 

[Justine]

Auld Lang Syne
Season 12 (Between "Showdown at the Ewing Corral" and "Deception")​

The Grandfather clock inched closer and closer to 1989. It was under five hours away when the doorbell sounded. Since she had resolved to celebrate the New Year on her own, rather than attend the annual celebration at Southfork, Sue Ellen hesitantly answered. “Cliff.”

Cliff raised his hand, in an awkward fashion. “Hi, Sue Ellen.” Sue Ellen’s lips eventually curled into a polite and toothless smile. She was visibly knocked off-kilter by his unexpected arrival. The once-upon-a-time-lovers rarely had a reason to interact, especially since Pamela’s disappearance and Sue Ellen’s divorce from J.R..; their hatred for the man remained but they had both individually matured beyond the point of their use-and-abuse motive. “I hope you don’t mind. We wanted to see the New Year in with you.”

“We?” Sue Ellen clenched the book in her hand. She had already battled an undesired invitation from Jeremy Wendell, despite his insistence.

John Ross rendered his mother startled, when he leapt out from behind a plant pot. “Hi, mama.”

“Hi, aunt Sue Ellen.” Christopher also appeared from one of the columns on the porch of her home.

“Well… hello,” Sue Ellen bit her bottom lip and hid her surprise. “How wonderful to see you all. I would love to celebrate New Year’s Eve with all of you.” She ushered the three of them into her home and the boys automatically placed themselves in front of the television.

Cliff popped open a bottle of ‘alcohol-free-bubbly’ and explained that Bobby had miraculously convinced J.R. to allow John Ross to join him and Christopher for their own New Year’s Eve celebrations at Cliff’s home, which was more than acceptable to John Ross, who had very little interest in the boredom of an adult party at Southfork. “…of course, once J.R. hears that spent it with you, too, I’m sure J.R. will be furious.”

“Let him be. I’m the one who has custody of our son, after all.”

The four of them curled up on the sofa to devour the family-size collection of pizzas Cliff had pre-ordered, while they watched Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. They played Trouble afterward, which John Ross monopolised with ease. Finally, the countdown to 1989 arrived and the boys were so excited they leapt onto the sofa. “5…4…3…2…1… HAPPY NEW YEAR!” John Ross and Christopher’s eyes widened, when Cliff leaned inward and pecked Sue Ellen on the cheek. It was momentary blip, and their private party continued onward until almost 2am. Cliff helped the boys build a den out of Sue Ellen’s finest satin bedsheet. John Ross insisted that everyone recall and share their personal ‘peak’ and ‘pit’ of 1988 but soon fell victim to his exhaustion, and his cousin quickly followed.

“Thank God,” Cliff declared, worn out by their exuberance. Sue Ellen burst into a fit of amusement and he drank in her happy appearance. In another lifetime or another world, he would have been the reason for that smile every day of her life. “You know… I think this may be the best New Year’s Eve I have ever had.”

“Me, too.” She softly replied, suddenly surprised at how much fun she had had with Cliff, their nephew and her son.

“1989,” Cliff wistfully murmured the date. “I wonder what’s in store.” The little boy in his arms would certainly became even more of a priority than ever before. Yet, it saddened Cliff that it required his sister’s near-death and disappearance to provoke such a response from him. “Digger never really believed in resolutions but my aunt Maggie swore by ‘em,” he reminisced. Cliff, personally, could never think of one suitable. “What about you? Do you think you’ll make any?” Cliff turned his head and noticed Sue Ellen, too, had drifted into a state of unconsciousness.

 

[Miss Texas 1967]

It's true, it took so long for Cliff to come around to not hating the Ewings and even when it happened Pam wasn't around to see it Nice story though, cute with the boys playing together and the adults sharing something of their own.

 

[Karin Schill]

Nice with a New Year's update!
I can see why John Ross and Christopher wanted to escape the grown ups party. Also 1989 that makes me feel so young!
I am about John Ross and Chris age so I can easily relate to them in the original Dallas.

Great updates also about Sue Ellen talking some sense into Bobby after Pam left and the santas in the snow update!

Thanks for sharing this holiday story with us and spreading some Christmas cheers!

 

[Sarah]

These are fabulous Justine, such great writing. Thanks for putting in so much effort. Although I'd rather put my head inside a turkey and be cooked alive than spend Christmas with Winger.