MacGyver Imagines

"My Only Wish"🎁

A/N: Merry Christmas and happy holidays! It's my favorite time of year once again! So, you know what that means... it's time to cue the Hallmark channel vibes! You guys know I couldn't resist writing you a holiday story, so here it is! I'm wishing you guys a safe and healthy holiday with so much hope and joy for the new year! 🎄🎅💚
Song: "My Only Wish" by Britney Spears
Rating: Everyone

***

"Last night I took a walk in the snow. Couples holdin' hands, places to go. Seems like everyone but me is in love. Santa, can you hear me?"

That familiar feeling of home begins to settle in my chest as the vision of snowy white and barren trees slowly fades into palms and greenery. Classic Christmas carols hum from the speakers of my '09 Mazda as the tires roll down the highway back home. This will be my first Christmas back in LA in five whole years, and I couldn't be happier. Usually there's work or other obligations keeping me from seeing my family this time of year. But, this year the stars somehow aligned. Maybe it was luck, maybe it was fate. Either way, I think the universe knew I needed to come home.

I've spent a large chunk of the year wondering one question - where is my life going? I feel like everyone eventually reaches a turning point in life where we either stay stuck on our current path... or we decide to move forward. I'm finally where I've been working toward for so long. I have a home to call my own and my dream job. This is the life I've spent so much time and attention on for years. But, I still feel like I'm missing something. This Christmas, I'm begging for a sign - anything to show me where I'm supposed to go next.

It's been two days of driving across the country as the sun is beginning to fade, its orangey glow replaced by the twinkling of Christmas lights throughout the suburban neighborhoods my car window passes on the way to my brother's house.

When I finally pull in the driveway, Rudolph and Frosty blow-ups greet me - along with about a thousand twinkling lights. It quickly takes me back to Christmases when we were kids. My brother definitely got the Christmas spirit from our parents because this is exactly what our house used to look like.

I take a deep, cleansing breath as I step out of the car before stretching my limbs, which have been cooped up in the driver's seat for hours on end. A surge of excitement runs through my veins as I think about finally hugging my family again.

Only seconds pass after I knock on the front door before the doe eyes of my six-year-old niece meet me and widen with pure elation.

"Merry Christmas!" I greet her with a huge grin.

"Aunt Y/N! YOU'RE HERE!"

"I'M HERE!" I reiterate as I pull her into a tremendous bear-hug. "How's my favorite niece?"

"I'm your only niece!"

"That doesn't mean you can't also be my favorite."

"Do my eyes deceive me?" I hear a familiar male voice ask as my brother, Tony, enters the room.

I wrap him in a hug all the same. "Hey, big bro."

"Mommy and I made cookies! You have to try some!" my niece, Tori, explains.

"Really? I can't wait."

"I made the ones shaped like reindeer!"

She takes my hand, leading me into the kitchen where my sister-in-law, Tanya, smiles as she takes another batch of cookies out of the oven.

"Hey, Y/N. You made it."

"Good to see you. I hear I have to try the super special reindeer cookies."