Two Years of Danny

Prolouge.

A family sat in a living room, talking and decorating a christmas tree. Eating and singing. Laughing and joking. Outside palm trees swayed and the cool Florida winter wind blew.

The father of the family said something to the three children, who were eating popcorn on the floor, and the children immediately sprung up and started dancing around excitedly. The father laughed and the mother, who was hanging bulbs onto the christmas tree in the corner, smiled. She said something and the children danced around even more excitedly than before. The mother and father both laughed and looked at the children lovingly.
The mother finished with the tree and said something to her husband before walking out of the room. The father got up and before exiting the room, looked over to the children and said something to them with a smile. The oldest child, who resembled the father the most out of the children with his wavy blonde hair and strong jaw but had blue eyes like his mother, ran to the couch the father was sitting on earlier and grabbed a remote. He sat in the middle of the couch and turned on the television which was positioned over a fireplace mantle.

The second oldest, who resembled the mother more with her brown hair but had her father's caramel eyes, sat right beside her older brother on his right side. The youngest, who resembled both of his parents equally with his mother's brown hair and his father's strong jaw but had green eyes instead of the caramel or blue like his brother or sister, waited patiently for his mother and father to return.

The oldest boy, after turning on the television, scrolled through the channels until he found a channel with christmas movies being played all day and night long. Just as he found the channel, his parents came walking into the living room with a tray each. The mother came in first with her tray filled with two large bowls of popcorn and one smaller bowl. The rest of her tray consisted of individually wrapped mini chocolate bars and packets of chocolate buttons. She put the try down onto a small wooden coffee table placed in front of the couch and sat down next to her daughter, ruffling her hair and smiling, before beginning to serve the treats. The father came in close behind the mother carrying five cups of warm and rich hot chocolate, each with mounds of whipped cream and cinnamon and a tiny peppermint candy cane hooked onto the edge of each cup. He sat next to his son and began to serve everyone a cup of the warm, rich liquid.

Once both of his parents were settled on the couch and started to serve, the youngest child got up off of the floor where he was waiting and crawled up and sat on his mother's lap. She greeted him kindly with a smile and a little squeeze of affection before handing him the smaller bowl of popcorn and a few packages of each kind of chocolate candies. She positioned him on her lap so he was on one her left leg.

Together the happy family sat up on a Christmas eve night and watched everyone's favorite holiday movies. The youngest child would remember this day very fondly for the rest of his life. Because this was one of the last times we would be truly happy for years to come.