Hot Chocolate and Caroling...and other Christmas things!
Nicole thought this was going to be the best Christmas yet! This is her daughter's very first Christmas after all, and the year they get to build all of their traditions.
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"Hurry James, they are going to be here any minute!" I pull at the bottom of my dress, adjusting the hem of it, as to not accidentally expose myself. Mentally cursing myself for not putting on a longer one.
"Don't worry, we are almost all ready down here, and we should have another good five or so minutes before they show up. You know your sister is always late!" James responds from downstairs, his voice bringing some sense of comfort to me. He was right, my sister did always run fashionably late.
What a weird term, and what the correct definition of it was, I would never know.
"Are you coming down here, or are you going to stay up there picking at your face until I drag you down here?" James questions. My whole body freezes, leaning against the counter with my face inches away from the mirror. How did he know?
"I'm not picking at my face..." I shout back, rubbing the spot on my chin that was now slightly red. "Anymore," I mutter to myself quietly.
"Yeah, okay, and I'm not the world's best husband or father." James teases. Even though he was downstairs and I was still locked in our bathroom, I could hear the smile on his voice.
The doorbell rings, pulling me out of my thoughts and causing me to nearly jump out of my skin. Glancing at the clock on my phone, I realize that for the first time in my entire life, James was wrong and my sister was right on time. I rush out of the bathroom and down the stairs to greet her by the front door. Sending James daggers as I pass him.
"Natalie, you made it!" I smile, giving her a big hug. It'd been less than a week since we had seen her last, and normally we'd be spending our new years at my mother's house as well, but this year Natalie and I had chipped in and purchased our parents a romantic trip to Italy for Christmas. They weren't aware they were leaving in three days when they opened the present, but they couldn't have been more surprised.
"Yes, we almost got lost looking at all the Christmas lights in your neighborhood. You guys really need to put some up next year so you don't stand out so much as the only house that didn't decorate." Natalie enters our house, and trucking along behind her are Luca, Tommy, and Dax.
"Hazel is in the living room. You can play for another hour or so before she needs to go to bed." I smile at the boys. "Also, thanks for the reminder of the Christmas lights. I meant to get them up, but you know I was busy."
"Busy with what? Figuring out how to spend more than two hours at the house a day again?" Natalie teases, wrapping her arms around me once more, pulling me in for a big bear hug.
"Yeah, yeah, get all your jokes out now," I mutter, feeling my bones nearly crush under her clutch.
"Oh, you've got me all night. Why would I get them all out right away?" She smiles, placing her coat on the shoe rack.
We head towards the kitchen, passing the kids in the living room. They all were sitting around a castle that Hazel had for some of her dolls, looking inside as they searched for some hidden toy Hazel must have gotten stuck within its walls.
