Nan came around the corner of the house with a broad smile on her young face. Her short dirty blonde hair flew to and fro as the cold winter breeze rushed against Plumfield. She wore her dark green dress and her old dingy grey sweater.

It had been a long, hard winter at Plumfield this year, and all of the children were growing quite restless. Franz and Jo were both getting quite tired of keeping the children focused in the schoolroom, and Nick was about ready to assign extra chores for each one of the kids. A feeling of restless anticipation covered all of the bustling school just outside of Concord, Massachusetts.

Nan walked up the front steps and found Mrs. Jo sitting in one of the old mahogany chairs wrapped up in a beautiful old quilt. Jo was reading a book rather intently, only pausing from the text to take a sip of her hot chocolate intermittently.

"Mrs. Jo?" Nan asked with a bit of hesitation.

"Yes, Nan?" Jo looked up from her book and smiled warmly at Nan. Looking at the young woman standing before her, Jo couldn't help but remember herself at that age. So many years ago it seemed now between her present age of twenty-seven and Nan at only fifteen.

"Can we have a holiday?"

"A holiday?" Jo questioned, bringing her cup of hot chocolate to her lips. Steam rose from the cup slowly and wistfully like the smoke rising from the chimney.

"Yeah! It would be a whole day without school, and we'd have games, awards, and a big dinner to celebrate! Wouldn't it be fun?!"

"Yes. That's a wonderful idea, Nan!" Jo placed the leaf she used as a bookmark inside the book and let it rest in her lap.

"Thank you, Mrs. Jo! So, when can we have it?"

"How about this Friday?" Jo suggested with a smile.

"Sounds good to me!"

"But what will we call it?" Jo hoped to spark Nan's wild imagination, but the look on Nan's face showed that she had not thought that the holiday would need a name.

"I dunno. Um, maybe we could have a contest for it, and you and Nick and Franz, and Asia can decide on it."

"That's a great idea!" Jo smiled, because Nan had been so quick on her feet to come up with a way to name the holiday.

"I'll go tell the others!" Nan took off into the house almost forgetting to shut the front door behind herself.

"What's Nan all excited about?" Nick walked toward the house with an armload of freshly chopped firewood. His hat and coat both had a light blanket of snow on them.

"We are going to have a holiday," Jo answered warmly.

"A holiday? What for?"

"I don't know! Nan asked if we could have a holiday, and I thought it sounded like a wonderful idea. It will be this Friday, and we will have a day of games and a big dinner. Oh, and the children are going to have a contest to name the holiday, and you, Franz, Asia, and I will be the judges."

"Sounds like a good time, Jo. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help." Nick headed into the house leaving Jo on the front porch reminiscing about her childhood and all of her plans and dreams. Something inside of her ached when she thought about the day she and Fritz met in New York. His death still seemed like it had occurred only yesterday rather than over three years ago. She sighed and went back to reading her book to keep from thinking about Fritz again.

"A holiday?" Asia asked as she chopped a carrot.

"Yeah," Nan exclaimed, bouncing around the kitchen like a jackrabbit. "It's gonna be on Friday, and we're gonna have a big dinner and games and everything."

"And this was your idea?" Asia asked affirmatively.

"Yep!" Nan smiled. She grabbed one of the carrots and began munching on it. Her hazel eyes danced and sparkled as her mind raced with ideas for Friday.

"And it's a good idea, too. So, what's on the menu?"

"You better ask Mrs. Jo about that one!" Nan grabbed another carrot and stuck in her sweater pocket.

"That's probably a good idea. Now, scoot, before you eat all of my carrots!" Asia laughed. "Besides, don't you have homework that needs to be done?"

"All right," Nan said sulkily. She continued crunching on the carrot as she headed out of the kitchen to start her homework.

Tuesday came, and all of the children squirmed in their seats during school, not paying very much attention to Franz.

"Dan!" Franz scolded. "You, too, Nat! Please, pay attention!"

"Sorry, Franz," both boys said, turning in their seats to face the front of the room again.

"Class, I understand that you are all very excited about the holiday this Friday, but if you don't behave in class, I'll see to it that Aunt Jo puts an end to the whole thing."

All of the children immediately grew quiet and began paying attention to every word Franz had to say for the remainder of class. There was very little of class left, so it did not require too much effort on the children's part.

After class was over the children rushed out of the barn toward the house. Nan reached down and grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at Bess who was walking just a few feet in front of her. It hit Bess square in the back, and she immediately squealed. Bess turned around and saw Nan laughing harder than any of the others.

"Nan!" Bess cried. "You better watch out!" Bess dropped her books, scooped some snow and hurled it at Nan. This abnormal reaction from Bess shocked Nan, so she almost failed to dodge the snowball. Nan ducked, causing the snowball to hit Nat square in the face. Nat immediately dropped his stack of books and scooped up some snow, throwing it at Bess. By the time another snowball was thrown all of the children were busy scooping snow up into their hands.

Jo came out of the house on her way to get more firewood when Dan mistakenly nailed her with a snowball. Her eyes grew wide, and she quickly stifled the smile that was begging to shape her face.

"Sorry, Mrs. Jo!" Dan called out.

"What is going on here?" Jo asked firmly, pursing her lips.

"We a-are just, um, having a snowball f-fight," Nat stuttered as all of the children dropped their snowballs.

Jo quickly leaned down, grabbed a handful of snow, and hurled it at Dan. "That's how you throw a snowball!" she exclaimed as the snowball hit Dan on the side of his head.

Dan grinned and the snowball fight continued. A few minutes later Nick came around the side of the barn and saw Jo throwing snowballs with the kids. With a smile he sauntered toward Jo after scooping a nice size amount of snow into his hands.

"Hey, Jo," he said nonchalantly.

"Oh, hi, Nick!" Jo threw a snowball at Tommy that hit him in the back.

"Enjoyin' yourself?" Nick asked rather lightly.

"Yeah!"

"That's good."

Jo looked at Nick and smiled, and before she knew what happened Nick's handful of snow was being rubbed in her face.

"Nick Riley!" Jo exclaimed wiping the snow off her face. "I can't believe you!"

All of the kids stood laughing at Jo and Nick. Nick took off running, and Jo soon followed making a snowball on the way. She chunked it at Nick, prompting him to bend down and scoop up some snow. That gave Jo ample time to catch up to Nick, so she pushed him causing him to fall on the ground. Nick immediately grabbed Jo's hand and pulled her down to the ground next to him. She landed hard, and they laid on the ground next to each other laughing. Nick leaned up on his elbow and looked down at Jo's beautiful face. They smiled at each other, and Nick gently moved a strand of Jo's hair out from in front of her eyes.

"We better get up," Jo said quietly. Her eyes looked away from Nick, and a pang of nervousness came over the pit of her stomach.

"Yeah," Nick reluctantly agreed. Despite his growing feelings for Jo, Nick was beginning to tire of having to always put their emotions on hold when the children were around. He respected her hesitations, however, and stood to his feet.

"We're gonna go on ahead inside, Mrs. Jo!" Nat called out. "Franz gave us extra homework."

"All right," Jo said, brushing snow off her skirts.

The children gathered up their things and headed into the house.

"So, Jo," Nick said as he removed his gloves. "When would ya like to spend some time together again?"

"It has been a while, hasn't it?" Jo commented, realizing that she and Nick had not spent any time together in several weeks. It was almost as thought they had never agreed to start courting at all.

"Yeah, we've both been pretty busy lately, haven't we?"

"Mmhm. How about tomorrow night?" Jo suggested.

"How about right now?" Nick asked with a pleading look.

"I guess my trip into town can wait," Jo said with a smile. "What are we going to do?"

"A little bird told me that ya like to ice skate." "That sounds wonderful! Let's go inside and get the skates."

"They're right here." Nick walked to the barn door and picked up the skates, and then they headed to Walden Pond.

"You're pretty good at this," Nick said as he watched Jo circle the pond.

"Come on!" Jo beckoned.

Nick skated towards Jo, and they met about halfway. Jo grasped Nick's hand and they began skating around the pond.

"Did I ever tell you about the time when Amy fell through the ice?" Jo asked.

Nick thought for a moment and then said, "No."

"Well, when Amy was a little girl, um, about eleven, I think, she burned one of my stories in the fireplace to get back at me for going to the theater with Laurie. I was so angry with her that I ignored her for days. One afternoon Laurie and I decided to go ice skating, and Amy followed us all the way to Walden Pond. Laurie and I were racing, and Amy tried to join us, but she fell through a weak spot in the ice. It scared me half to death! Laurie and I pulled her out with a rail, and then we all hurried home to Orchard House with me only in my bloomers. Of course, I forgave Amy after that episode, and then I begged her forgiveness because of the way I had behaved."

"You walked all the way home from Walden Pond in nothing but your bloomers?"

"Yep."

"That had to've been a sight to see!" Nick laughed. "So, what are the plans for Friday?"

"We'll start out with a light breakfast and then we'll head out here. We'll have a couple of races, and then we'll have a race on the ice in our shoes."

"No skates?"

"It's so much fun! Laurie and I used to do it all the time when we were young. Anyway, after we spend an hour or two out here, we'll head back to Plumfield for a snowball war, snowman contests, snow angel contests, and whatever else we can come up with. I talked with Amy and Meg, and they're going to bring their families. Amy has decided that we should have decorations, so she and Meg will be here tomorrow afternoon to do that."

"You're gonna make decorations?" Nick asked in disbelief, remembering Jo's decorating endeavors for the fall dace two years prior.

"No, I'm going to watch them make decorations!"

"Good!" Nick laughed. Jo playfully elbowed him and then skated around to face him.

"Keep going," she said. "I can skate backwards."

Nick smiled and took a hold of Jo's other hand. They stopped skating, and Nick pulled Jo's arms up around his neck.

"Take off your hat," Jo said with a smile.

"Why?" Nick asked, removing his hat and letting it fall to the ice.

"Because I like it when I can see your eyes."

Nick smiled and gently kissed Jo.

"Did you hear that?" Jo asked suddenly.

"Yeah," Nick said as he looked into the woods. "It's probably nothin'. Now, where were we?"

Nick kissed Jo again, and the rustling in the bushes grew louder. Nick let his arms drop to his side and then he turned to look into the woods.

"Nan!" Nick hollered as he left Jo.

Nan emerged from the bushes with a disappointed and ashamed look on her face.

"Is Nat with ya?" Nick asked.

Nat came out of the bushes looking down at the ground with a hangdog look on his face.

Jo stood disappointed on the middle of the frozen pond.

"Is there anyone else?" Nick asked as he took off his skates. He stepped onto the ground and stood in front of the kids like a father preparing to lecture his children.

Bess, Dan, Emil, and Tommy came out of the trees as well, all with guilty looks on their faces. As they came out from the trees, Jo skated over to the bank and began removing her skates.

"Kids!" Nick scolded. He didn't really know what to say or do. He was just so aggravated, but he knew he couldn't yell. He was tired of them imposing on his time with Jo. He figured that at this rate, the kids would all be present for the proposal.

"Children!" Jo said firmly. "You all must understand that sometimes Nick and I would like to spend some time together alone. You are constantly interfering with our time together, so please stop."

"We're sorry, Mrs. Jo," Nat said.

All of the children nodded in agreement and voiced their apologies.

"If I catch any of ya spyin' on us again," Nick said firmly, "you're gonna get extra chores. All we're askin' is that you kids show us some respect." He looked intently at each of the kids' faces as he spoke and pointed with his right index finger to emphasize his point.

"We promise we will from now on," Bess said sincerely. "Don't we?"

Once again, all of the children nodded their heads in agreement.

"All right," Jo said. "Thank you. Now, please go back to Plumfield and work on that extra homework Franz assigned."

"Yes, ma'am," Emil said.

The kids turned and headed back into the woods toward Plumfield rather quietly. Nick walked over to a fallen long and sat down. Jo followed, sitting down next to Nick on the log. A frigid wind kicked up and caused Jo's red nose to tingle even more.

"I'm sorry, Nick," she said quietly.

"No, Jo, it wasn't your fault. I just get so aggravated sometimes."

"I know you do, and so do I, but we just have to be patient. We've only been courting for a few months, and even within these past three months, we haven't had very many opportunities to even really do anything together."

"How did you and Fritz handle never bein' alone?" Nick ventured.

"I guess we just got used to it, but we weren't courting, either. We were already married and past all of this. He and I courted while I lived in New York."

"Well, I'm tired of it, Jo," Nick sighed. He let his hands fall into his lap, and then he put them together, interlocking his fingers. "We can't keep doing things this way."

"The children promised not to disturb us anymore," Jo assured him. "Why don't we give this a chance? Who knows? Maybe everything will be different now that we're actually going to be able to spend time alone."

"Well, I hope you're right."

Thursday came, and all of the children were busy preparing for their holiday. After school was over, the entire house was busting in preparation. Meg and Amy were placing decorations all over the house. They had made snowflakes, snowmen, and snow angels, along with dried flower arrangements and a beautiful centerpiece for the dining room table.

The children busied themselves with their ideas for a name for the holiday, which they surprisingly did not share with each other. Franz had decided that if would be a good idea for each child to write a paragraph explaining why they thought that name would be fitting for the holiday.

"Jo?" Amy entered the kitchen with a strand of snow angels in her hands.

"Yes, Amy?" Jo was busy chopping an onion, so she did not take the time to look up at Amy.

"Bess told me about what happened on Tuesday. Are you and Nick all right?"

"Oh, we're just fine. We were both just frustrated about never being able to truly spend time with each other."

"I was afraid that you two would find it hard to spend time alone with each other," Meg interjected.

"What have you decided to do about it?" Amy inquired.

"The children have promised to leave us alone, so we are going to continue courting like we are now."

"But do you like how your courtship is now?" Meg asked.

Jo thought for a moment and then answered, "It's fine, I suppose."

"What don't you like about it?" Amy begged for details.

"Well," Jo said slowly. "Nick hardly ever touches me. I mean he doesn't really hug me or hold my hand or anything. He only seems to touch me when the children are around, and that is just too awkward. And then when we are alone, it's like he only does it if I prod him to."

"Maybe he doesn't know that he's bothering you," Meg suggested. "You should talk to him about it."

"Yes, you should talk to him about it," Amy reiterated.

"Maybe so," Jo said. "Well, I need to go into town. Asia needs more sugar and flour with all of the desserts she's making for tomorrow."

Jo walked over to Nick's room in the barn and knocked lightly on the door. The falling snow landed on her eyelashes and tickled her nose. Nick opened the door only to find Jo standing with her tongue stuck out catching snowflakes.

"You better get that tongue of yours back in your mouth before it freezes off," Nick said with a smile.

"Oh, Nick!" Jo started. She wasn't expecting for him to answer the door quite so quickly. "Can we talk for a minute?"

"Sure. Come on in."

Nick held a book in his hands, and Jo readily looked down at it to see what it was. She smiled, finding that it was Oliver Twist. Nick sat the book down on his desk and then ran his fingers through his hair.

"What can I do for ya?" he asked pleasantly.

"I'm needing to go into town, and I was wondering if you would like to go with me."

"Sure. Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of."

Nick picked up his coat from the chair he had left it on and quickly put it on.

"Nick, I was wondering, um…gosh this is awkward…um…"

"Just spit it out, Jo," Nick said with a warm smile.

"Okay, um…w-why is it that you n-never…touch me?" Jo looked down at the floor as she spoke, fidgeting with her hands and stuttering through her entire question. "I mean, you don't hug me or put your hand on my shoulder or anything unless the chil-children are around or if I start it first…and I was just, well, wondering why."

"I never really thought about it," Nick answered simply. "Does it bother ya?"

Jo nodded her head and pursed her lips.

"Well, then I'll do my best to make sure I hold you when the right time comes."

Nick gently pulled Jo into his arms and held her close, causing Jo to smile as she looked out the window at the snow lightly falling on the eaves of the house.

Nan's eyes flew open, and she sat straight up in her bed. She looked over at he clock and saw that it was almost six o'clock. She grinned ear to ear and jumped out of bed into the cold air of her and Bess's bedroom.

"Bess!" she whispered loudly. "Wake up, Bess!"

Bess shifted in her sleep and mumbled, "Hmm?"

"Wake up! It's our holiday!"

Bess slowly opened her eyes and saw Nan staring at her with her eyes wide open and a huge Cheshire cat grin on her face.

"Nan," she whined. "It's too early to get up."

"It's almost six o'clock!"

"Please, just let me sleep…" Bess rolled over and pulled the covers up to her nose.

"Fine," Nan said with a huff. She went back to her bed and climbed underneath the covers. She laid warm in her bed thinking about a name for the holiday, because she had yet to come up with one. The more she thought about it, the more frustrated she became, so she finally just rolled over and drifted back to sleep.

"Mama!" Rob called out from across the yard.

"Yes, Rob?"

"When are we going to leave?"

"As soon as Aunt Meg, Uncle Laurie, and Aunt Amy get here!"

"All right," Rob said with a frown. He was ready to get the day started out at Walden Pond.

"Jo," Asia said, standing in the doorway. "I'll have lunch ready at noon."

"We'll make sure we're back in time. Don't worry!"

Asia smiled and then turned back into the house. Nick came out of the house and shut the door behind him just as Max bounded out behind him. He slipped his gloves on and put on his hat as he walked down the front steps.

"We ready, yet?" Nick asked Jo as they walked toward each other.

"No. Amy, Laurie, and Meg have yet to arrive."

"Edward isn't coming?"

"No. He ended up having business in New York for two weeks. Meg is rather disappointed."

"Don't blame her. Two weeks is quite a while to be apart."

Jo looked at Nick with a countenance of sympathy for Meg and then firmly clasped Nick's hand in her own.

"They're coming!" Nan shouted as she ran toward the house from down the lane. "They're almost here!"

All of the children's excitement grew even more, and their chatter escalated to an almost unbearable level. A few minutes later the sleigh arrived with Amy, Laurie, and Meg; Amy wearing a beautiful new burgundy coat.

"Oh, Amy," Jo exclaimed as her younger sister climbed out of the sleigh. "Your coat is absolutely stunning."

"Thank you," Amy grinned. "Laurie surprised me with it this morning. It's imported - all the way from France."

"France? Laurie, you do spoil her!" Jo laughed.

Meg smiled, but Jo knew in her heart it was quite forced. She gave Meg a sympathetic look and then the adults joined the children.

"Let's go!" Jo announced.

"Yay!" the kids cheered as they took off toward Walden Pond.

The end of the outdoor competitions came, and many of the children stood in line waiting their turn to present their name for the holiday. Jo, Nick, Asia, Meg, Amy, and Laurie were all sitting on the front porch with slates and chalk waiting to write down who's name they liked the best.

The first child in line happened to be Tommy. He gallantly stepped forward and began reading his short paragraph.

"I think the name for our holiday should be Snow Day. The holiday is filled with fun competitions outside that all happen in the snow. If we always have this holiday, then Snow Day would fit, 'cause it's always snowing this time of year."

With an affirmative nod Tommy stepped back in line as the children and adults applauded his effort.

Dan stepped forward and read his paragraph next.

"I think the perfect name for this holiday is Plumfield Day. Every year we could spend a day celebrating our wonderful school. We could spend an entire day just enjoyin' our family here and appreciatin' what a fine school we have."

As Dan stepped back in line the applause that resulted shocked him. He humbly smiled and looked down at his shoes.

Nan came forward, recommending that they simply keep the name "Holiday," and Emil followed suggesting the name "A Winter Holiday."

Finally, Nat stepped forward - the last competitor in line.

"On such a wonderful day as this, I am reminded of a man who loved each and every one of us very much. He may not have gotten to know some of us," Nat said as he glanced at Nan, "but he would have loved them, too. I think of a benevolent, kind, and humble spirit that took me in off the cold streets. I think of a good teacher and a dear friend. I think that this day should honour the memory of the man who has touched all of our lives in some way - Fredric Bhaer."

Jo sat on the porch with tears streaming down her face as she listened to Nat's beautiful speech. She missed her late husband, Fritz, so very much, and Nat's speech reminded her of the fond memories she had of her and Fritz working side by side running the school. She smiled warmly at the young man and then looked down at her hands to conceal her tears. Nick looked over at Jo, saw her tears, and then gently placed his hand on hers. She firmly clasped his hand as she took a deep breath and wrote down her vote.

The Awards Ceremony came after dinner, and Jo had the honour of presenting the awards. Setting on the table next to her was a stack of handmade certificates awarding the winners from each competition.

"Our first award," Jo said with a smile as she looked at all of the bright eyes focused intently on her, "goes to Dan for winning the ice skating race!"

Dan grinned and accepted his award as the children applauded his victory. Jo continued handing out the awards to their respective recipients, and then finally came to the final award - the name for the holiday.

"Choosing the name for this holiday was rather difficult," Jo began. "All of us liked all of your ideas. All of us, however, agreed that one suggestion stuck out in our minds and touched our hearts in a very special way. It is with great pleasure and much thanks that I award Nat with this award. Our holiday is now officially Fredric Bhaer Day!"

Jo amazingly made it all of the way through her short speech and then walked over to Nat to embrace him.

"Thank you, Nat," she said quietly in his ear.

Nat just smiled and then took his seat at the table and the excitement of the day once again came over everyone. Voices chattered. Children laughed. Adults returned to a sense of carefree bliss.

A light snowfall began outside the window leaving a fresh blanket of pure white snow on the ground. The moonshine showered down on the soft earth as the stars gaily sparkled in the heavens.