"How's the shopping going, Marty?"

"I got presents for almost everyone," Marty told Doc. "Mom, Dad, Dave, Linda, Jennifer, Clara, the boys - but not you Doc."

Marty had been shopping at Lone Pine Mall when he had bumped into Doc and Clara. They had come to get some new tree lights after an "incident" involving the old set, Jules and a Bunsen burner. Doc had also wanted to show Clara how busy the mall was on December 22nd, with only 3 days to go. The Browns of course had gotten all of their shopping done by the middle of December, much to both Marty's amusement and annoyance at the same time.

"Not mine yet?" Doc teased.

"No, not yet," confessed Marty. "It's not that I forgot, Doc, it's just I haven't found anything good enough yet. I know you've dropped a lot of hints, but either they're out of stock and no more is coming in until January, or it's just too darn expensive.

"Emmett, could you step aside a minute?" Clara asked. "I have an idea for Marty." Doc, understanding that he shouldn't be listening to the upcoming conversation, smiled.

"Certainly," he added, before going to look at some books in a window. Clara spoke quietly to Marty.

"As you know, Emmett has a computer from 2002 in his lab." Doc had gone to 2002 a few months ago and bought a Windows XP computer to help him with some of his scientific work. It also had internet access, the only problem being that there wouldn't have been any websites around in 1985 for Doc to visit! "Well, there is this program he wants, called ScienceProMaster or something like that. He's been so busy with Christmas that he hasn't bought it, so I think maybe you could get it for him."

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea," replied Marty, "but that means..."

"I'll convince Emmett to let you use the time machines," she told him. "I'm sure he won't mind if we tell him you're getting his presents."

"Thanks Clara," said Marty as Doc came back. "Say, this must be weird for both of you, spending Christmas here after all those years in the Old West."

"Indeed it is," agreed Doc, "but it is nice to be back and catch up on a 1980's Christmas. I really missed it."

Clara sighed. She of course was missing the Christmas she had been used to, back in the 1890s. And it seemed to her that she was the only member of her family that did so.

Doc had only just unlocked the front door when Jules and Verne excitedly ran to greet their parents. Jane, one of Clara's friends who had been watching them, looked up and then returned to the TV.

"Have you been buying us presents?" asked Verne.

"How many?" added Jules.

"Are they big ones, like all the stuff we saw on TV?" continued Verne.

Clara sighed as she took the new tree lights out of the shopping bag and went into the kitchen. Since mid-November, Jules and Verne had been pestering their parents about what they wanted this Christmas. It was "really cool" or "everyone else wants it" or "I really, really want it" all the time. Clara thought it was quite amazing that they had only been living in the 20th century for nearly 2 months, yet already Jules and Verne were acting like they had lived here all their lives.

She thought back to the Christmases the Browns had in the 1890s. It was a lot simpler back then. Emmett would decorate a tree, they would go to Church on Christmas Eve where the boys would wait eagerly for their presents, and when the presents were opened the boys would be thrilled with whatever they got. Most importantly, they were together as a family.

But now things were different. As far as Jules and Verne were concerned, Christmas was now just about how many presents they could get. They didn't want to go to church, they wanted to stay up and watch TV. They didn't want to eat dinner as a family, they had made it quite clear that they were to spend all day playing with their new stuff.

Emmett had been caught in the middle. Like Clara, he wanted an old fashioned family Christmas, but he also wanted his sons to be happy. Emmett was trying to think of a way to get the best of both worlds.

Emmett came into the kitchen. Clara looked up from the news to see him.

"Clara, the boys are now finishing their school homework. I told them if they don't get it all done by Tuesday, then Santa won't come." He grinned, for his parents had used the same excuse with him back in the 1920s.

"Emmett, sit down, we need to talk."

Doc sat down. "Oh dear, it's serious. Normally we don't sit down."

"Emmett, I know you know that I want a family Christmas just like in the past. So I was thinking," she checked to make sure that Jane wasn't listening, "what if we went back to the 1890s to stay with my parents for Christmas?"

"We could do that, I suppose. Forgive me for sounding selfish though Clara, but I was quite looking forward to spending Christmas in 1985, with my family and friends."

Clara understood. "You want to be around Marty for Christmas."

Doc nodded. "After all, I hadn't seen him for 10 years."

"I understand," Clara replied. "I saw how happy you were to see him in the mall. Well, maybe we could do both? Have Christmas in 1895 with Mom and Dad, then come back here 5 minutes after we leave and have Christmas here?"

"That's a great idea!" said Doc. "That way, we could have the best of both worlds. First of all though, we will have to go September-ish of 1895 to 'book' Christmas with your parents, and then we'll have to get the kids and go to December 1895..." he walked around, muttering about the preparations. Clara joined him excitedly. Now she would get the Christmas she wanted.

"Do we have to? We spent Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa last year!" Verne moaned.

"I told you, you'll have 2 Christmases," Clara told her son.

"But Christmas in 1895 will be so boring after a Christmas here!" argued Verne.

"You haven't had a Christmas here..." began Doc, but Clara interrupted.

"Verne Brown! I can't believe how selfish you are being!" she told him, trying very hard not to raise her voice. "Christmas is not boring, ever!"

"What if Santa doesn't know where to find us?" Jules asked.

"Children, there is more to Christmas than presents! It is about celebrating the birth of Jesus, and being with loved ones like your family. Back in the 19th century you had hardly any presents and you were thrilled with what you had, now it's 'I hope all my presents are huge!' and 'I want at least 40 presents!' I can't believe how much you have changed since last year, even though we have only been here since October!" Clara walked out of the room. The boys just stared after her.

"I hope you see how upset your mother is," Doc told them. "Go upstairs and think about what you have done, and what you're going to do."

Jules and Verne walked upstairs to their rooms.

"You know what I think Mom's problem is?" Verne asked.

"No, enlighten me," said Jules sarcastically. Verne replied with, "She doesn't have a big present like the ones we want. She doesn't know the meaning of Christmas."

Jules could only sigh.

"Thanks for coming over, you two," Doc told Marty and Jennifer as they entered the Brown house. Marty and Jennifer had come to watch the boys, as Doc was taking Clara out to dinner to help her calm down after the argument with her sons, and to reassure her that she would still get the family Christmas she wanted so much. He had spoken to the boys about why their mother was acting the way she was, and they had promised to behave. In return for them getting a big present, they would have to spend some family time and go to 1895 as well. Jules had agreed, and so had Verne, but he'd only done so to get the big present.

"That's alright Doc," said Marty. "Plus we're here to get your present." Doc smiled. He'd been told that Marty would be going to the future to get the present but didn't know what year they were heading for or what they would get.

"Remember, just get the present and come back. We don't want any paradoxes before Christmas." Doc grinned at his friends.

"We will," Marty told him. Doc and Clara said their goodbyes and set off for the restaurant.

"OK kids, Jennifer and I are going time travelling," Marty told Jules and Verne. "Stay here with Einstein and we will be back in a minute."

Marty and Jennifer started heading for the basement when they were stopped by Jules. "Can I come too?" he asked. "I feel quite bad about making Mom angry and sad and I want to buy her something to say sorry."

"That's sweet of you," said Jennifer, "of course you can come."

"That means Verne will have to come too," Marty told her, "I don't want to leave him alone. He is only 7 you know."

"Go where?" Verne asked, still focused on the toy commercial.

"2002," Marty told him. "We're going to buy a Christmas present for your dad."

"Your brother is going to buy one for your mom too," Jennifer added. "I think you should do the same."

"Do I have to?" Verne moaned. "This show's just getting interesting."

"Yes you do," said Marty firmly. "Come on. That's a rerun anyway."

The time train entered the future (the DeLorean being too small to fit everyone inside) and Marty landed it in the woods near the Brown household. There were no lights on in the house, so Marty guessed that the future Brown family were out shopping or being with friends or something.

Just as well, he thought, since they won't see the time machine.

After making sure the train was safely hidden and that no-one could see it, the group set off into town. It was a short walk into Hill Valley, but Marty noticed there were a lot of people standing outside the Thompson & Glover Video Store, which stood on the future site of the Blast From The Past store in 2015.

"I wonder what they all want," Jennifer wondered. They looked closely to see posters on the windows, advertising a new movie - or so they thought.

Paradox was a time travel movie that was currently being filmed in December 1985. It starred Michael J Fox from Family Ties and was directed by Robert Zemeckis. Marty thought that was quite amusing, since he was a real time traveller and he looked quite similar to Mr Fox.

"Do you think Mom would like that?" Verne asked Jules grumpily. "Cause let's get it and go home."

"No, she wouldn't," answered Jules, "because (a) we don't have a DVD player - whatever that is - and (b) you're an idiot!"

"We can spend as long as want here and still go back to the exact moment we left so you can watch your show," said Jennifer, trying to calm them down.

"Not exactly," Jules corrected. "We only have 24 hours, otherwise the ripple effect will catch up and our future selves in 2002 will be erased." This was how, according to Doc, Marty and Jennifer had been able to see their future selves in 2015. "Anyway, let's get the presents."

It took them a few hours to get the shopping done, since there were a lot of people. Also, the future versions of George and Lorraine were in town, so they had to be very careful not to bump into them - this had meant that Marty, Jennifer and the boys had had to hide in a woman's clothes shop for half an hour!

Despite this, Marty found the program Doc wanted, and he and Jennifer put their money together and paid for it - the program cost $75, so the present was going to be from both of them. Jules also bought a nice sweater for his mother and a "sorry" card. Verne however waited impatiently to get home. Normally, he liked time travelling, but in this case he was not only missing his show, but if they stayed a long time here that would mean even more waiting until Christmas and his presents.

"OK guys, we're all set," Marty announced. "Back to the train." They left the town centre and caught a bus back to Eastwood Ravine, which was near the Brown's house and the time train. It was then just a short walk back.

When everyone was inside the time train, Marty set the destination time for one minute after they left (after checking the "Last Time Departed" readout - he always did this after the incident with Biff in 2015!), and the train went into hover conversion mode. It took off and accelerated towards 88mph, when:

BUMP!

The train bumped into a tree. No-one was hurt, so the train carried on heading towards 88mph. When it reached that speed, the train disappeared.

It was just a shame that Marty hadn't double checked the time readouts.

"We're home everyone," Marty announced, flying the train towards the Brown house. Jennifer though had noticed something odd.

"Marty, why are we still in 2002?"

Marty looked at the date. Indeed, they had travelled a week into the future.

"Maybe that bump had something to do with it," Marty muttered. There was a slight bleep as the time circuits turned off (they did so a minute after being used to save power), but no-one noticed as they were trying to figure out what had happened.

"Marty, look!" Jules called. A helicopter was flying towards them. Not wanting to be seen, Marty flew the time train away from the Brown house.

"Why don't we land there?" Jennifer asked, pointing to a small piece of woodland near Hilldale.

"Near Hilldale?" Marty asked. "I think it's a bad neighbourhood by now."

"No, not now," said Jules. "It's around 2006 that things go wrong for Hilldale."

Eventually it was agreed to land near Hilldale and see what was wrong with the time machine. Marty and Jennifer studied it but could only assume that the bump had somehow caused the year to alter.

"Oh well, we'd better led Doc know when we get home," said Marty as they tried to set off for 1985. But something was wrong. The time circuits would not switch on.

"What's wrong?" asked Verne.

"It's broken," Jennifer told him. "The time machine won't work." By now it was past 11pm and very cold. Even Marty was trying very hard not to fall asleep.

"We'll try and fix it in the morning," he said. "I think we should get some sleep."

The 4 booked into a nearby motel since there was no sleeping area in the train (and it was cold, anyway). Next morning, Christmas Eve, the weather was slightly warmer and after paying the motel manager, the group set out to find the time machine. Marty and Jennifer had flown it into a cave for the night, and thankfully it was untouched. In the morning.

Marty, Jennifer and Jules spend the next few hours trying to fix the train, however none of them were that experienced with it. Verne just sat down thinking about what he could get for Christmas in 2002!

Eventually the 3 gave up.

"We don't want to risk breaking it any more than we have," reasoned Marty. "There's only one man who can help me...er, us."

"Who?" asked Jules.

"The inventor of this thing," smiled Marty.

After hiding the train away again, Marty, Jennifer, Jules and Verne set off towards Doc's house. It was quite a walk, and since Marty had spent most of his money on the motel, they had no money to spend on a bus or taxi. Jennifer had also suggested they save it to buy food. Eventually, 2 hours later, they arrived at the Brown house.

The first thing they all noticed was the extension built on the side. They guessed this had been built in the last few years, since it looked quite new. Marty rang the doorbell.

There was no answer.

He rang it again and yelled, "Doc, it's me! Open up!" Once again there was nothing.

"They're not in," he told the others. He tried to use his key on the door, but since 1985 Doc had had the locks changed.

"Damn," he muttered. "Maybe they're in the 1890s again."

They left the Brown house and spent the next few hours in town, looking at the shoppers who had left everything to the last minute. They then walked down Lyon Estates (although avoiding Marty's road for obvious reasons) looking at the decorated houses. Next stop was Burger King for something to eat.

"I feel like Santa, making all these stops on Christmas Eve," chuckled Marty.

The group then set off for Doc's again, as Jennifer thought that if they'd just gone out for the day, they'd probably be back by now.

There were lights on. Things looked promising. Jules went to ring the doorbell.

"Hey, look," Jennifer called, "the extension has disappeared."

She was right, it had gone. It was if it had never been built.

The door answered. The group looked at the old man who stood in the doorway.

"Doc?" Marty asked. Doc - for Marty was right - stared at the group of time travellers.

"Great Scott!" he muttered and fainted.

Doc awoke in his bed. A woman was standing nearby.

"Clara, is that you?" Doc muttered.

"That's right Emmett, it's me," Clara told him. "You've been asleep for nearly half an hour."

"I had the worst nightmare," Doc muttered. "I dreamt I opened the door and our sons were standing there, but younger..."

"That wasn't a dream, Emmett," whispered Clara.

"Wasn't a dream!?!" Doc sat upright in his bed. "You mean...?"

"They're in the dining room," Clara sat down next to her husband. "Our family is complete again."

Clara led Doc down to the dining room. Marty and Jennifer stood up to greet him and got their first real look at him. This Doc looked a lot older, as if he had never had the rejuvenation done in 2015. Clara too looked a lot older. Obviously they would have aged from 1985 to 2002, but they both looked older than they should have been.

"Marty, Jennifer, is that really you?"

"That's right Doc," Marty smiled as Doc sat down. "Say, what happened to your extension?"

"Extension?" answered Doc. "I haven't built any extension... so this is where you went," Doc added as Jules and Verne joined the group.

"Hey Dad, what are our future selves up to?" Jules asked his father. "I know we're not really supposed to know, but surely you could give us a hint..."

"Boys, you have no future selves," Doc told them sadly. "For you see, you disappeared - in 1985."

"What?"

"On December 23rd 1985 4 youngsters from Hill Valley disappeared - you boys, Marty, and Jennifer. The police looked everywhere but you were nowhere to be seen. Clara and I suspected that something had gone wrong in the time machine - after all, earlier that evening you had left to get our Christmas presents. Since you never returned to 1985, we guessed you were stranded somewhere."

Clara continued. "I knew you'd gone to 2002 to get that program I'd suggested you buy for Emmett, but we didn't know when in the year. We would have used the DeLorean to head forward and find you, but on Christmas Day our house was set alight by arsonists and both the time machine and all the plans for it were destroyed. We started to build a new time machine, but since we had to start from scratch it took us years and even now, we haven't completed it."

"Why are you stuck here anyway?" Doc asked, so Marty explained what had happened.

"Great Scott!" muttered Doc. "You spent more than 24 hours in the future, that means the ripple effect has now caught up and that is why I remember a future where you disappeared in 1985."

"And is that where your extension went?"

"Probably, if what you say is true and you saw it before 8.49pm this evening, then you would not have been in the future for 24 hours yet and therefore the ripple effect would not have caught up. After 8.49pm, the 2002 you saw earlier changed to this 2002 where I never built an extension - since I no longer had young children to build it for." He cleared his throat. "Can I have a look at the time machine?"

Marty led Doc out to where the time train was. When they eventually got there, Marty showed Doc what the problem was.

"Ah yes," Doc muttered. "I can fix that. It seems that all that has happened is that the bump somehow broke the fusion generator, which means you can't generate the 1.21 gigawatts to get back to 1985..." He stopped, as they heard footprints.

"Quick, hide! We can't risk being seen!" The two hid behind the time train, which was hidden in the cave. A group of men walked past.

"I bet a Tannen is involved in this!" Marty whispered. The men started talking.

"You sure it's a good idea to smoke in these woods? You don't want to set something on fire again."

"Relax, jeez, it was only Doc Brown's house last time," a second man said, Marty recognised the voice. It was Doug Needles! Needles continued. "He shouldn't have startled us and made me drop that cigarette. It was his fault really."

"Well, we shouldn't have been smoking right next to his house," the second guy protested.

"Hey, did you want Strickland to find us?" Needles asked. "We needed somewhere to hide and Brown's garden was there..."

They walked off, continuing their conversation. Marty and Doc looked at each other.

"Why didn't you press charges?" Marty asked.

"We tried, but Needles was found not guilty and besides, Clara and I were too sad about the loss of you and the boys," Doc answered. "Anywho, as I was saying, all we need to do is fix the fusion generator."

"That's the one thing that none of us thought about," Marty admitted.

"The bad news for you lot is that tomorrow is Christmas Day. The shops will be closed then and I won't be able to buy the parts needed to fix it."

"The fusion generator is around now?"

"No, but some of the parts that were used in building it are around in other gadgets. Leave it to me, come the 26th, I can start buying stuff to send you home!"

"Where's a bolt of lightning when you really need one?" Marty muttered as they boarded the train to fly it back to the Brown house.

"Actually, there was some thunder and lightning a couple of days ago," Doc answered as they flew off. "Nothing like 1955, but all the same, it was pretty spectacular though...."

When they got home, Doc told the others what would happen.

"Looks like you'll be spending Christmas with us," Clara said happily. "Our first Christmas as a family for years!"

She showed everyone to their rooms. Marty and Jennifer would share, and Jules and Verne would share another one.

"Good night," Doc and Clara said as they went to their room. The clocks struck 12. It was now Christmas Day! "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Marty answered with a yawn as he went to sleep. Soon, everyone apart from Jules and Verne were asleep.

"It's Christmas," Verne told his brother. "I wonder what we'll get!"

"Verne, you amaze me at how dumb you can be," Jules told him. "Future Mom and Dad wouldn't have known we were coming. Therefore they won't have gotten us anything."

"No presents?" Verne whispered. Could things get any worse for him?

"Jules! Verne! Time to wake up!" Doc called into his sons' room. Never in a million years did he think he'd have to wake his sons up on Christmas Day!

When everyone was downstairs, they went into the lounge. A few extra presents were under the tree than last night.

"These are the best we could come up with," Doc explained, "but we didn't want you to go without. Merry Christmas."

Everyone opened their presents. The Browns had given Marty some new strings for his guitar, Jennifer a make up kit, Jules a book about chemistry and Verne some chocolate bars.

"Thanks Doc," Marty said, grinning at his friend. Similar reactions came from Jennifer and Jules, but Verne merely muttered "Thanks," under his breath. Chocolate? That was all he had for Christmas? And yet...his future parents didn't have to give it to him. They could have just said they had no presents and apologised, but they had made the effort to get something for them. That was just like Mom and Dad. They always tried to make everyone's lives better, and made sure no-one ever went without. For the first time since he'd left 1985, Verne smiled.

"What I meant to say, was...thank you. Very much," he said, hugging his parents.

After dinner (which had smaller portions due to the 4 surprise guests!) everyone played charades. Marty and Doc were a team, as were Jennifer and Clara, and Jules and Verne. Marty and Doc won, since Doc was very good at the game, and the girls came a close second, but everyone was surprised that Verne wasn't bothered about coming last. Indeed, he even joked about it.

"Just wait until 17 years ago, then you'll see who's good at this," he grinned.

There was a phonecall, and Clara answered it. "Ritchie, hi, Merry Christmas! How's Guam?" She left the room. Doc turned to Marty.

"She'll be on the phone for ages," he grinned. Marty got the feeling this was the first time Doc had smiled like that for ages. "Help yourself to the food while I talk to Ritchie."

"Will do, Doc," Marty laughed as Doc walked happily into the kitchen to use the phone.

Later everyone settled down to watch TV. Marty looked at his watch.

"My folks would usually be asleep by now," he said sadly. "I wonder what they are doing this Christmas when they think their son disappeared 17 years ago."

Jennifer sighed too. She was thinking similar things about her parents. Verne looked at them.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"We miss our parents," they replied.

"You'll see them when we go back to 1985," Jules began but Verne interrupted.

"I know how you feel," he said. "I feel really guilty that we put Mom and Dad through 17 years of sadness. But what if we can't fix the train? What if we're stuck here?"

"We'll still love you," Clara told her son, cuddling him. "We're all together again..."

"And that is one of the true meanings of Christmas," Verne said. "Family, friends, being together."

"Is everything set?" Marty asked Doc for the umpteenth time.

"You bet," Doc told him again. On the 26th, as promised, he had gone into town and bought the necessary parts needed to fix the fusion generator on the time train. It had taken them the next 2 days to make a temporary generator that would enable them to get back to 1985. Now, Marty, Jennifer, Jules and Verne were ready to go home.

Each held the Christmas presents they had received from the future Doc and Clara. Verne had eaten all his chocolate - well, most of it, for the spirit of Christmas had made him share some with the others. He still had the wrapper with him though, as a "souvenir."

Verne thought about the past few days. He and his family had played games, talked about old times, watched some DVDs (Verne couldn't wait until they were invented!), read together, laughed and most of all, enjoyed every bit of it. How sad then that all that would soon be erased for ever.

"Don't forget to get back as soon as you can," Doc told Marty, "about 5 minutes after you left should do it. That way history will be back on track, and this reality will cease to be."

"Will do Doc," called Marty as the train took off. "Happy new year!" they all called as the train headed towards 88mph.

75...76...77...

Would it work this time?

83...84..85...

It looked very good so far.

86...87..88...

The familiar 3 sonic booms sounded and the time train left 2002. Doc turned to Clara.

"Let's go inside," he said. "Our adult children will be inside to greet us."

And as the ripple effect caught up, adult Jules and Verne were there to greet their parents. The whole family went inside, smiling.

"Merry Christmas everyone!" Marty called as he entered the Brown house. "I've got your presents!"

Verne looked up from next to his mother, where they were reading a book full of very sad jokes he had gotten for Christmas. "Marty! Come in. We got something for you too."

When everyone was there, Marty gave out the presents. "Doc, here's that pro science thing you wanted, from me and Jen. Merry Christmas."

"Thank you, Marty!" Doc was pleased with his gift.

Marty had bought Clara a necklace and the boys some Clint Eastwood movies on video. "Though of course he's not half as good as the real Clint Eastwood," he grinned, thinking back to his adventures in 1885.

Marty then received his presents from the family - some new records, videos and tickets for him and Jennifer to see Huey Lewis in concert.

"Thanks, Doc, Clara, boys," he grinned. Einstein started barking.

"What is it, Einie?" Doc asked. Einstein headed to the back door, and Marty and the Browns followed. Outside were 4 boys, about Marty's age, smoking right next to the part of the house where Doc's lab was directly below. Marty recognised one at once.

"Needles!" Remembering what he had heard in 2002, Marty ran outside. "Put those out now!" he yelled, pushing them away from the building. He took the cigarettes from each of them and put them out.

"Hey McFly, what're you doing?" Needles asked angrily.

"Go smoke somewhere else," Marty said to them. They looked over the fence, to make sure Mr Strickland wasn't around (he had caught them throwing stuff at his house) and then left, muttering.

"What was that about?" Clara asked.

"They were going to set your house alight and destroy the time machines," Marty explained and told the whole story.

Later on, Marty had to go home to his Christmas dinner (the McFlys were having it in the evening). Once he had left, Clara turned to her family.

"OK boys, could we put everything away? Then we can start preparing for our other Christmas in 1895 with Grandma and Grandpa."

As they did so, Clara turned to Verne. "It may be boring after all this Verne, but you know how much your grandparents love you, and..."

"I can't wait to be there," Verne smiled. Clara smiled back. Maybe she would get the family Christmas she wanted after all. It would, she decided, be the best present she could ever have.

Last Revised: June 4th 2004

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