Family

T'was the night before Christmas

Ali's pov

"What movie are we going to watch tonight?" I ask Lily and Grace

"Frozen" Lily smiles

"No, I'm sorry girls but I am not watching that terrible movie again. What about the Polar Express?"

"No that's boring" Grace complains

"Why don't we watch the Alison?" Emily says returning home

"The what?" I ask

Lily and Grace both burst into tears of laughter and Emily joins in laughing, wrapping her delicate tanned arms around me

"The Grinch" Emily chuckles against my shoulder

"For the last time this holiday, how am I the Grinch?"

"Because you used to hate Christmas until you got the girls of your dream and now you love Christmas like all the other whos" Emily grins, nibbling my ear

"We'll watch the Grinch, if you promise to never call it the Alison ever again"

"We promise" the three girls who are my whole world say in unison smiling at me and sniggering between themselves

"Now who wants to help make Christmas cookies?"

"For Santa Claus?" Grace asks

"And the reindeer"

"Don't be silly Mom reindeers don't eat cookies they eat carrots"

"Didn't you hear Santa wanted to change things this year? The reindeer want cookies and Santa wants chocolate and a large glass of white wine" I laugh

"No Mom" Grace giggles

"Fine. Go get the ingredients out and we'll make the cookies" I smile, rubbing Lily and Grace's heads; messing up their curly hair

Emily's pov

"Can I lick the spoon?"

"No I want to lick the spoon" Lily shouts pulling the wooden spoon, which is covered in cookie dough, out of Grace's hands

"Why don't neither of you lick the spoon and instead go watch a movie while the cookies bake?" Alison says, grabbing the spoon and holding it above Lily and Grace's heads

Both Lily and Grace huff before going to the sofa and putting on 'Winnie the Pooh's Christmas'. After only 10 minutes of the movie Lily and Grace fall asleep, wrapped in each others arms. Alison's grin grows as she watches over our two gorgeous daughters

"They are perfect, aren't they?" Ali whispers

"I still can't believe that I, the shy brunette has two beautiful daughters with the popular blonde who I dreamt about every night"

"You can't believe it? I'm the one who can't believe that I'm married to the girl I tried so hard to stop fantasising about, I pushed you away because I was scared to admit my feelings but I'm glad I stopped pushing because look at our precious angels" she smiles, holding onto my waist

Ali's pov

"Are they still sleeping?" I ask, unpacking wrapped toys from a bag

"Yeah" Emily smiles, carrying a box of presents into the living room

"I'll start putting the presents under the tree" I smile, placing a small box with 'To Lily, Merry Christmas, from Santa' on it

"Under the tree? Alison you should know by now their presents aren't going to fit under that tiny tree"

"Tiny tree? Em the tree touches the ceiling and anyway I thought we were calming it down this Christmas"

"It's Christmas the most wonderful time of the year. We aren't going to buy less presents... every year needs to be better than the last. The girls are seven and you know the rule they get a hundred presents per year on earth"

"Don't tell me you actually bought seven hundred presents, that's three hundred and fifty each Em" I complain in astonishment

"Of course I didn't" Emily says in a high pitched voice "I bought seven hundred each" she giggles, pulling another bag into the room

"Em, you always go way over board" I moan, unable to contain my laughter

"Well Ali, I am Santa and Santa's job is to give presents to children"

"Yes but Santa's job doesn't mean that he and Mrs. Claus need to go bankrupt and spoil the children rotten"

"If you can't find Christmas in your heart, babe, you're not gonna find it under a tree" Emily frowns

I roll my eyes at Emily and gradually make my way towards her, I grasp her face in my hands and slowly move closer to her until I can feel her warm lips against mine. Emily slightly opens her mouth -the sides of her lips still touching- and I gently run my tongue along the back of her teeth. I can hear the loud thud of Emily's heart racing as the smell of cookies flows through my nose and we both twist our heads trying to taste as much of each other that we can

"Everything is so soft. Your lips...they're moisturised" I giggle

"Come on Ali. We have a lot of presents to put out for the girls. I mean Santa has a lot of presents for the girls" Emily smiles, stepping away from me and throwing a bag full of toys over her shoulder like Santa Claus

I hope you all have a great day tomorrow and that you get as many presents as Lily and Grace 😂 Merry Christmas Eve (2017) xx -E