Forever and always

Chapter seventy

Olivia's pov:
December 2023

Finally, December and Christmas! One of my favorite times of the year, because December means the season is finished and I will have Charles home for a few months now, plus December is just a great month!

Today is the 23rd and we have just landed in the Netherlands. It's the twins' first time in the Netherlands where we will be spending Christmas, and I can't wait to show them where they also have roots and to celebrate Christmas here.. Yesterday we spent the entire day with Charles's family, where we held a little mini Christmas together and it was so lovely! - "Let's go meet grandpa!" I said to Elena and Matheo as we were walking out of the arrival hall where my dad was waiting for the four of us.

We quickly spotted dad who was smiling brightly and was so excited to see us again, mostly the twins but I can't blame him. - "Hey dad!" "Hey Jos" Charles and I said as we got closer to him. "Hi guys, lovely to see you again! I missed you" he said and went to hug both of us. It was great seeing my father again, once again it had been too long since we last saw each other. "Oh and there's my little grand babies!" He said and went directly towards Matheo and Elena and placed a little kiss on each of their foreheads. Afterwards we got out to dad's car where he had installed 2 car seats, so we got the twins into the car, loaded the trunk with our suitcases and then we hit the road, and drove towards dad's house, where we're always staying whenever we're on a visit.

A few hours later we had arrived and we had eaten some lunch, which was great! "Shall we go find a Christmas tree?" Dad asked as we were sitting in the living room. "Yeah let's do it, I just have to change Matheo's diaper and then we'll be ready" I said and got up from the couch. "No! Let me do that for you, you go get ready" dad said and went to take Matheo from my arms. "Okay thanks dad" I smiled and then Charles and I got ready, and then we packed Elena into her winter clothes, it was adorable.

Dad returned after a few minutes with Matheo, then we also packed him into winter clothes while dad got ready, and then we hit the road again. We drove to a big field with Christmas trees, a place we'd always went to when Max, Vic and I were little, so of course my kids has to visit the exact same place..

"We're here!" Dad said and parked the car. We got out and Charles fixed the stroller so we didn't have to carry the twins around the whole time. "Ah this is a really great place" Charles smiled as we walked further into the field. "It's the place to go if you need the best Christmas tree, Olivia and her siblings loved to come here as children" dad smiled. "Oh, is that right love?" Charles asked and I nodded. "Yeah, I loved it here. The old man having this place always shared his homemade Christmas cookies with us, he was the sweetest! But he isn't here anymore" I answered. "His son owns the place now sweetheart, he's just like his father" dad said as we met the owner.
"Hello, welcome, I suppose this little family needs a Christmas tree?" He said and smiled. "That's right, we need the perfect one for my grand babies first Christmas" dad answered proudly, I couldn't resist letting out a little smile since it was quite cute.. "I see, and who do we have here?" He asked and looked at the twins in the stroller, both of them awake and looking around. "That's Matheo and Elena" I answered. "Beautiful names! Now let's find you guys a tree" he said and then he went inside his little hut where he found a big saw which he handed over to Charles, so now we could just go out and find whatever tree we wanted.

"This is really pretty" Charles said and pointed at a tree that was really tall but very skinny. "No babe, that's so ugly!" I laughed. "What about this one?" Dad asked who was standing right next to Charles's ugly tree. "That one is just as ugly" I answered and I could see on their faces that this was making them tired. "Okay then you find one you think is better" Charles said, so that's what I did. I walked around the field, looking at countless trees until I found the one! "That's our tree, I want that one!" I said and pointed at a gorgeous tree. It wasn't too tall but not too short. And not too skinny but not too big, it was just perfect.. - "as you wish" Charles said and went with the saw to cut it, it took some time and it was obvious to see he hadn't done this before. But he insisted on doing it himself, so after a little while it was chopped and ready to be packed up..