Home Is Where the Heart Is (Brittana)

Chapter 35

Brittany's POV

We got our first snow fall that didn't melt three days after returning back to Columbus from Lima post-Thanksgiving. Santana and I brought Everly outside in her new pink snow suit, and she loved running around in the snow.

While Santana was at work the next day, I set up the Christmas tree so it would be ready to decorate when she got home. I turned up the Christmas music, and Everly and I danced around the living room.

"Mama!" Everly exclaimed. "We need to get a Christmas present for Max!"

I grinned. "What do you think Max wants for Christmas, E?"

"I think he wants more treats and more toys, 'cause- 'cause then he will be happy."

"Okay, we can go buy some presents for Max. Is there anything you want to help me get Mami for Christmas?" I asked.

"Mami... hmmm, that's hard. Would she like more drawerings?"

"Your mami and I would always like more drawings from you, Evie," I replied.

"Okay! I should go draw now!"

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When Santana came home from work, we ate a quick dinner before turning the Christmas music back on for decorating the tree. We let Evie have a Christmas cookie before we started (since she asked so nicely), and then we got out the boxes of unbreakable ornaments, mostly either generic balls, homemade, or the few other special ones we had that weren't glass. Our very few breakable ornaments would be put on the tree by Santana and me after Everly was in bed, since they were glass, and she was still too young to handle them.

Santana wrapped the lights around the tree while Everly and I sang along to "All I Want for Christmas Is You" and "Felix Navidad" from our Christmas playlist.

"Is it time for orn'ments now?" Everly asked once the colorful lights were on the tree.

"It sure is!" Santana replied, opening up the boxes to hand the colorful decorations to our daughter.

Max was also with us, pawing at the ornaments that Everly walked to the tree with and chewing a little on the branches. Thankfully, though, he had never destroyed our Christmas tree (except for when he climbed it the year he was a kitten, but we hadn't put up our breakable ornaments that year), so we didn't need to worry too much about him.

Santana and I joined in with putting some ornaments on the tree, placing them higher than Everly could reach so we'd have a little less adjusting to do later. (We weren't going to adjust too much, though, since Everly had incredible attention to detail for her age, and we didn't want to start a tantrum.)

By the time we had all the unbreakable Christmas ornaments on the tree, it was nearly Everly's bedtime. It was, surprisingly, not too hard to get her into the bathtub once we promised Christmas stories before bed, and it wasn't long before she was sleeping, cuddling Bubbles under her covers.

"Are we ready for hot chocolate and the special ornaments?" Santana asked once we closed Everly's bedroom door.

"I am if you are. I'll start on the hot chocolate," I replied.

We didn't move as fast with putting the most special of our ornaments on the tree. Most of them were ornaments we'd had before getting together, since Everly had already been born for our first Christmas together and we'd tried to avoid too many breakable ones.

Once we were done, we got ready for bed since we had work the next day and Everly had dance class. Besides, our daughter had a lot of energy, and now that she was older and could run around more, we were often very tired.

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"Mama, can I wear my Chris'mas tree sweater?" Everly asked me while we were getting ready to pick Santana up from work to go look at Christmas lights and decorations around the city.

"Of course," I replied, opening the drawer in her dresser filled with her holiday clothing.

She squeezed her eyes shut when I pulled the sweater over her head. Once her red pants and green sweater were on, she went to look at herself in her mirror.

"I need bows," she stated, pointing at her (slightly staticky) hair.

"Okay. Red or green or both?"

"Both!" She jumped up in the air with her exclamation.

I gently brushed Evie's blonde hair and put it into pigtails, each one with a Christmas colored bow. She looked completely on theme for the night. I loved that she loved Christmas so much.

"Are we ready to go meet Mami?" I asked.

"What 'bout your sweater, Mama?" she replied.

"I guess I need to be wearing a Christmas sweater too, right?"

She nodded dramatically.

"I'll be right back. Why don't you get Bubbles for the drive?"

"Okay!"

I changed my grey sweater to a red and white sweater but kept my jeans on (most of the holiday clothes we bought were for Everly, not us) before getting Everly (and Bubbles) from her bedroom and heading to the entrance.

Everly put on her jacket (with my help for the zipper), hat, winter boots, and mittens almost completely on her own. Once my own jacket and hat were on, we got in the car to drive to the hospital. We'd dropped Santana off at work in the morning so we could have the car since we had dance class in the afternoon, so she needed us to come pick her up anyway. It was the perfect night to look at Christmas lights.

She got into the passenger's seat so she could eat something during the drive. (Everly and I had eaten before getting ready.)

"Mami, I'm wearing only red and green!" Everly exclaimed as soon as Santana was in the car.

"Really? That's very festive," Santana replied, grinning.

"I look like Chris'mas!"

"That's awesome! I can't wait to see it when we get home."

"I wish my jacket was Chris'mas too," Everly said, looking down at her pink jacket.

I giggled before driving off to find the best decorated houses. We knew Everly wouldn't last very long, but it was still a fun tradition that I'd been doing with my family since I was a kid.

When we got home, we had hot chocolate and watched a Mickey Mouse Christmas special before getting Everly ready for bed. She, of course, requested to wear her candy cane pyjamas to bed. We had to read her more books than usual, since she was overstimulated from all the Christmas excitement, but fell asleep only a little later than her normal bedtime.

"I can't wait for her to actually be able to participate in all our Christmas traditions this year," I said once Santana and I were in our bedroom.

"Me too," Santana replied. "And I'm really glad that she loves Christmas so much."

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A/N:

Sorry for not posting a chapter last week; I've been very busy.

Anyway, this is the first Christmas-themed chapter. It may seem a little rushed, but I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading!