traveling | shawn mendes

forty four

while shawn and i walked out of our bedroom, i stoped him and did a spin, "be honest, do i look pregnant?"

"sadly not, the bagginess of your sweater covers your beautiful pregnant belly," shawn said before kissing me.

"that's a good thing though, my family is already going to be suspicious something is up," i said while fixing the pillows on the couch, "they probably find it strange that we haven't seen them in person since thanksgiving,"

shawn ran a hand through his hair, "you really think-"

he was interrupted by knocking on the front door, "mark my words, mendes,"

shawn laughed before opening the door, "¡hola! {hello!}"

"hello, shawn," everyone said to him while hugging him.

i knew if i gave them a regular hug, they would feel my belly, so i gave them side hugs, "¡los he extrañado mucho! {i've missed you all so much!}"

"ay, mis niños, {oh, my children}" my mom said while handing shawn a huge pot of her pozole, "you two have been strangers, what's up with that?"

i led my family to the dinning room where we would have dinner, "shawn was busy writing and recording songs so he could have time off, and i was studying my butt off again for finals,"

"eso lo explica, {that explains it,}" my grandma and aunts said while helping me set the table.

my dad and grandpa pulled out chairs for us, "¿y como te va en la escuela? {and how is school going?}"

"buen, {good,}" i said with a smile while sitting down because my feet were starting to give out, "acabo de terminar mi primer semestre de mi tercer año en la universidad, así que solo me falta un año y medio, {i just finished my first semester of my third year of college, so only a year and a half to go,}"

"i'm very proud of you two," my mom said to shawn and i once everyone was at the table, "you two are young and know what you want in life, and aren't going to stop until you get it. that's very admirable,"

shawn and i smiled, "thank you, mom,"

"like always, before i start crying," my mom said, "let's eat, cassandra?"

"my favorite part," i said while smiling, "he,"

everyone laughed, "oh my,"

i smiled, "para la cena de hoy, tenemos tamales y pozole, y para beber tenemos ponche, atole, jugó, y vino, {for today's dinner, we have tamales and pozole, and to drink we have ponche, atole, juice, and wine,}"

just like every year, we enjoyed our meal and reflected on our year, which i would never get tired of doing. and like always, when someone was in the middle of talking about something, my sisters or cousin would interrupt the conversation to open the presents.

it didn't matter that they were teenagers, they were still impatient.

we did secret santa and white elephant first because shawn and i's presents to them would be given to them last.

shawn helped me up from the couch and to the christmas tree where our presents to all of them were.

shawn and i grabbed all of the gift boxes and passed them out.

"i'm sorry in advance," shawn said while i recorded on my phone while he wrapped his arms around me, "no trip this year, it'll make sense once you open the gifts,"

everyone laughed, "okay,"

"i hope you all love it," i said while smiling, "because we really love it,"