Looking for a Hero

Bonus: Christmas Time Part 2-Before the Movie

After eating Chinese takeout for supper, Reena got her project out of the oven where she had stored it. She had spend the morning, while her family shopped, baking gingerbread pieces. These ones were mostly successful because
some of the previous years' gingerbread pieces had been dismal at best. Store bought had been the way to go when Missy was a toddler which also helped because she could nibble on the rock like pieces and they'd still be hard enough to stand up.

"Marc, will you mix the icing to get it softened up?" Reena asked.

"Sure," he grabbed it out of the fridge and got the stuff out.

"Missy, there's some ingredients in the cabinet. Want to get those?" she asked, "Pick whatever you want."

Missy came back with a load of candies, sprinkles, and cereal boxes.

Reena hit the button on her speaker and had soft light Christmas music playing.

She turned around to see Missy spreading everything out on the kitchen counters.

She was glad she took a nap because no one was sleeping tonight with those sugar highs, even her husband would gorge himself on marshmallows. It was like raising two children some days instead of one. She made sure to buy three packs this time around too. They would need it for hot chocolate.

"No,  Dad! We don't eat the gumdrops now. We won't have enough for the yard," Missy explained.

Reena turned around to see that their daughter had shooed her husband away from the gumdrop package.

"Listen to her, honey. She is the expert gingerbread house maker," she teased him.

"What if I don't want to have gumdrops in the yard?" he argued.

"Then you should have bought an extra pack," Reena whipped some icing on him.

"You shouldn't have done that," he threw some sprinkles at her which caused Missy to grab both of those containers.

"Not yet. We just got started," she scolded them now.

Reena chuckled at how seriously their daughter  took gingerbread house making. It was a childhood dedication.

"I have a plan," Missy told them and grabbed the icing container and began to decorate her house.

"Now where have I heard that phrase before?" Marcus teased his wife.

"Hush," she scolded him.

Marcus reached over and grabbed a smaller house that Missy had iced together and began to slather some icing on it.

Reena put together a few of the broken pieces that were left to decorate for them to eat. She could put the houses up for display for the season.

Missy had the entire roof covered in "Great White Bite" cereal while the door was made out of Oreos. The lawn was indeed covered in gumdrops, but there was a sidewalk made of Red Hots. There were peppermints as windows, and sprinkles making up some of the decorations down the sides. It was a very festive creation.

Marcus was putting pretzels all around his, and his gingerbread drive way was made up M&Ms. There were marshmallows dotting the whole top of it.

Reena reached over and gave it a large portion of cinnamon on the roof when caused him to sneeze.

"Not on my house!" Missy jumped up to cover it from her father's sneeze.

"You're mean," Marcus pouted at his wife.

The cinnamon was still burning his nose.

"And to think I was gonna make hot chocolate for you," she retorted playfully.

"Keep her happy, Dad. We need the hot chocolate for the movie," Missy said knowingly.

"Yes! Perfect snacks are a sacred movie standard. You don't have to have it, but the experience is damped," Reena agreed and kissed Missy on the cheek.

"Now I'm definitely seeing double," Marcus groaned happily.

He wrapped his arms around his girls and kissed them on the cheek.

"I'm still working, Dad," Missy swatted him away.

Marcus opened his mouth to say something, and Reena shoved a gingerbread cookie in it.

"Mmmm. Mhhhmmm. Mmmh," he mumbled.

Reena just shoved him out of the kitchen and grabbed some gingerbread pieces and decorated a few more that Missy wasn't gonna use.

Her daughter had moved onto a gingerbread car covered in marshmallows and trees covered in M&Ms.

***
Marcus grabbed some extra blankets and pillows to bring down to the living room so that his family wouldn't be cold.

He also double checked the stocking hooks to make sure they weren't gonna fall down. He accidentally pulled one off the mantle of their fake fireplace the other day. He had fallen asleep on the couch and woke up to his phone buzzing. He had sleepily tried to grab his swords before realizing where he was.

Marcus heard the patter of footsteps before he was engulfed in a hug.

"Got you!" Missy giggled.

"My hero," he teased and kissed her.

"Missy Moreno, future superhero!" Reena announced and brought in the tray of the gingerbread house/neighborhood for him to see.

It was incased in a glass cake container which she put on a nearby bookshelf up high so that it could not be easily knocked down. Without the gaggle of superchildren that used to practically live in their house, they managed to keep most of their possessions and not need to replace everything. There were just a few quirks that neither one could shake, like putting breakables on a high intensity bolted bookshelf out of the reach of tiny toddlers.

There was also a button to activate a force field around it, but she didn't feel the need to do that now.

"Alright, honey, what movie do we want to watch?" Reena asked.

"Hmm," Missy's face got scrunched up as she thought, "Rudolph!"

"My favorite," Marcus agreed.

"I'll get the hot chocolate," Reena said and went to the kitchen.

"Are you sure we can't eat the gingerbread house? It looks so delicious I just want a bite," Marcus teased his daughter.

"No! We gotta save it," Missy bopped him on the nose.

Marcus nuzzled her playfully, sending her giggling.

"Okay! I got three hot chocolates and plate of gingerbread cookies!" Reena brought them in.

They were covered in icing and an assortment of leftover gingerbread house materials.

She also gave Missy a reindeer cup and Marcus a snowman cup with hot chocolate. She had a penguin one.

Missy had a blanket and cuddled up between her parents whom had their arms around her.

They watched Christmas movies until all three of them had fallen asleep which was about four films later.