Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy

When she saw the word, happiness bubbled inside her. She couldn’t say giggle, funny, joke, mirth, or chuckle, but she knew exactly what clue she could give.

She looked directly at Cole. “The best medicine.”

“Laughter.”

“Time,” Isabelle called just as Cole answered.

“Yes! We did great, guys!” Sophie counted cards and jumped up to do a happy dance. “Eight!” she exclaimed. “We got eight words. That ties us up.”

Each team had one turn left. On the other team, Isabelle went and had a good showing with four words, an impressive feat especially as her final word had been delinquent.

Sophie loved playing this game, but even she couldn’t think up words for that one when you couldn’t use any of the main synonyms.

Cole was the last player to go for their team.

He didn’t look excited about it. “Can I pass and let Sophie go in my place?”

“Absolutely not,” Isabelle and Sarah chimed in unison, then laughed at their synchronized timing.

“They just don’t want me to go again because they know how good I am and they don’t want to lose,” Sophie teased, stretching out the word lose.

Both her sister and her friend rolled their eyes.

“Rules are rules. Each team member takes a turn reading cards,” Isabelle reminded.

Her sister was such a sucker for rules. Not that Sophie would have taken Cole’s turn anyway. She wanted him to, to see what he came up with on the word cards.

“You got this,” Sophie assured him. “Andrew, Ben, Susan, Lilly, Carrie, and I have your back.”

She fist-bumped with her teammates as Cole took the card box.

“It’s not my back I’m worried about. It’s anyone figuring out the words on my cards that’s the problem.”

“You’ll do fine. Just don’t say the word or any of the listed descriptive clue words on the card,” Sophie reminded. “Even if we don’t get the words, it’ll be okay. It’s all in fun.”

“But what she really means is that she wants to win,” Isabelle teased from where she sat next to Sarah on the sofa. “Sophie doesn’t like to lose.”

Sophie made a face at her sister.

“Quit trying to put undue pressure on Cole.” She cut her gaze to him and squinted, then gave her meanest look as she shook her fist. “Beat them.”

Everyone laughed except Cole.

“Ready?” Isabelle asked, preparing to flip the timer.

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Do you need to stretch? Crack your knuckles, maybe?” Sophie asked, earning a frown. “Fine, you don’t. I was just checking.”

Cole pulled the first card, thought a second, then said, “Bodie will put this on Sarah’s left digit.”

“Ring!” Sophie guessed.

Cole nodded and pulled the next card. “Sophie and I are involved in a toy…”

“Drive,” Andrew answered.

Nodding, Cole pulled the next card. “Harry.”