"Chan!" Elise yells at me. "Check the turkey, will you?"
I make a face as I reluctantly stand and walk over to the oven.
"The turkey's fine, Elise!" I yell. I walk back to my seat on the couch where Liam and Blake are fully engrossed in the football game.
I hear footsteps from the hall and a few seconds later, Elise puts her hands on my shoulders and massages gently.
"Ohhh, that feels amazing." I feel myself relaxing.
"You deserve it after all that work you did yesterday," Elise replies. I can hear the grin in her voice as she ruffles my hair. "That turkey looks amazing. What time did you say it would be done?"
I check my phone. "It's got about an hour left."
"Okay." Elise joins me on the couch. "Who's winning?"
"Cowboys," Liam says quickly.
For a while, we all concentrate on the game-even Elise, who, for a girl, is pretty good about keeping up with sports. None of us even glance toward the oven until we begin to smell the smoke.
"What is that?" Blake asks, wrinkling his nose.
My eyes widen and Elise and I look at each other.
"The turkey!" she screams, scurrying into the kitchen.
My Grandma, who was setting the table, comes into the kitchen. Elise grabs the hot pads and opens the oven, only to choke the rest of us with black smoke.
"Oh, crap," Elise yells disgustedly. She grabs the turkey pan and shoves it in the sink while Liam and I try to wave away some of the smoke. Surprisingly, the fire alarm hasn't bothered to go off yet. Usually by this time, it's screeching something about carbon monoxide poisoning.
The turkey is charcoal black. One look at our charred creation and we all know there isn't going to be any Thanksgiving dinner.
Elise sighs loudly, slaps the oven mitts onto the counter and retreats to her room. Grandma stays silent. Liam and Blake poke at the turkey, but I already know it's too burnt to taste good.
"So, what do we do now?" Blake asks.
"Well, I am going to go console Elise and you two can start making phone calls to see if there's a restaurant open on Thanksgiving," I say, a little too brightly. Liam and Blake roll their eyes at me.
I knock on Elise's door and then go in without a response. Elise is pacing back and forth with fervor.
"You're gonna wear out the carpet," I tell her. She looks up long enough to shake her head and then resumes pacing.
"Elise, it's gonna be okay. We'll go to a restaurant and we'll still have Thanksgiving."
She shakes her head. "It's not just the dinner. It's...Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is about family and Dad should be here for Thanksgiving! But no, he's overseas doing some kind of important mission. Too busy to come home for Thanksgiving. He's got more important things to do."
"You know it doesn't work like that," I say quietly. "I'm sure Dad would love to come home for Thanksgiving if he could. I wish he could come home too, but he's probably over in some Middle-Eastern country saving lives. They need him more than we do."
Elise buries her head in her hands. "I know."
I pull her into my arms and she stays there, her head against my chest, her arms around my waist, holding on like she'll never let go.
My mind flashes back to when Elise was a little girl. One night when she was five, something had scared her really badly in the living room. She screamed and ran to me, wrapping her arms around my thigh and holding on for dear life. Grandma had tried to comfort her, but only I was able to calm her down.
That memory creates a warm spot in my chest and I squeeze Elise once more as she releases me.
"Come on," I say. "Let's go see what Liam and Blake have planned for lunch."
"For the umpteenth time, we're not telling you where we're going," Blake says, leaning against the car door with one hand on the steering wheel as he guides the car through the streets of New York City.
Liam nods his agreement from the passenger seat. "Nope. Not saying a word."
"Just give us a hint?" I beg.
"No," Blake and Liam say in unison.
Defeated, Elise and I roll our eyes at each other and keep quiet.
The car speeds downward, past tons of buildings, until we're at a section of gorgeous houses that are probably the most expensive in all of New York City. They stop in front of one of the biggest houses in the whole neighborhood.
Elise shakes her head. "I don't think I know anyone who lives here."
Blake pulls the car into a parking space and grabs the keys from the ignition. "Au contraire, Kaitlyn Elise."
Elise's brow furrows as she tries to think of anyone she knows who lives in this part of town. "I give up."
"You'll find out in a few minutes," Liam says, grinning. "Come on."
Blake and Liam lead the way up to the front door and knock, letting Elise stand in front of the two of them.
The door opens and Elise's homecoming date stands there, smiling.
Elise's eyes widen. "Josh!"
"Hi, Elise. Come on in. You guys are just in time," he says. "We're about to start carving the turkey."
He gives Elise a hug and Elise returns it with a smile that says she simply can't believe it.
Blake, Liam and I go inside, standing in the foyer.
"Well, I have to hand it to you two idiots," I tell them. "I think this is making Elise's day."
Blake and Liam grin at me proudly.
"It was the most random idea I think either of us have ever had," Blake says. "We were calling restaurants and nothing was open and then we saw Josh's number on the fridge and we were like, 'Let's call him!'."
"So we called and he answered the phone," Liam continues. "We told him what was going on and he was like, 'Okay. Let me talk to my mom'. So then we chatted with his mom and she was like, 'We've got more food than we'll ever eat, so come on over'."
I smile broadly. "Genius idea." We watch Elise and Josh get their plates and head to the line, laughing and talking as they go. I see Josh's sister and brother nearby too, and soon, the four of them are talking like they're old friends. I don't know about Elise, but so far in the line of Thanksgivings, I think this has been the most memorable one yet.
And by the way Elise smiles as Josh is talking to her, I know it has to be hers as well.
"Rockin' around the Christmas treeeeeeee," Elise sings out as she untangles some lights on our Christmas tree. Christmas music plays in the background, but Elise's voice drowns it out.
I cover my ears and Elise laughs. "Get in the spirit of Christmas, would you?"
Elise is happy for more reasons than just getting a tree decorated and having the house filled with all things red and green. A phone call from Dad last night told us that he was coming home a few days before Christmas.
Blake hands Elise the end of a strand of lights to plug in and she shoves it into an outlet. Immediately, the tree lights up with red and green and yellow and orange and blue and pink lights.
"It's beautiful," Elise gasps. She grins and claps her hands. "Now it's time to decorate it."
"Hot chocolate will be ready soon!" Grandma calls from the kitchen.
Liam comes in wearing an elf hat. He shoves one onto Elise's head. She squeals because he scared her, but adjusts the hat on her head and grabs her phone to take a selfie with Liam, who immediately obliges in a cheesy grin.
"Hand over your man card," I tell Liam, holding out my hand. "You're taking selfies with a teenage girl."
Liam just grins. "You know you would do exactly the same thing, Chan."
"Well....maybe," I admit and the three of them start laughing.
"I cannot believe it's already December," Elise says, sticking an ornament onto a branch and twisting the branch so the ornament will stay on. "Hmm. I need to think of a few things to put on my Christmas list."
"Yeah, and then on Christmas Eve, Santa's gonna come and attack you," I say, reaching out my arms and tickling Elise, who squeals and slaps my hands away.
"You are such a liar!" she tells me while laughing. "That's a terrible big brother joke to play."
When Elise had been about five, I told her that if she wasn't asleep by the time Santa came, then Santa would come in and tickle her.
So that Christmas Eve, Dad and I stuck a bunch of gifts under the Christmas tree. Before I went back to bed, I'd crept into Elise's room to see if she was awake or not. Unfortunately for me, she was sleeping.
In the morning, I told her that Santa had checked on her and found her sleeping. I remember saying that Santa hated it when little kids were awake when he came. If he found one that wasn't sleeping, he would tickle that kid so he or she wouldn't remember that Santa had been there the night before.
Elise listened to me talk with wide eyes. Needless to say, she was asleep every Christmas eve. It really was a terrible thing to say, but it was still funny nonetheless.
I stopped mentioning the tale after a while, but then one Christmas eve, I decided to check on Elise during the night. I found her awake, but she didn't see me because her back was to the wall. I crept up to her bed and silently counted to three. Then I pounced, grabbing her by the waist and tickling her until she couldn't breathe.
When I finally let up, Elise was yelling and laughing at me at the same time. Dad and Grandma came out and ran to Elise's room, looking alarmed.
"What the heck is going on here?" my dad boomed.
Elise folded her arms and glared at me. "Chan, it's all your fault, you little-"
"All right, all right." My father held up a hand. "We'll discuss this in the morning. Both of you go back to bed."
He and my Grandma left the room, shaking their heads.
Elise was giving me the stink eye. "Hope you have nightmares till you're fifty."
"Good night to you too." I walked out of her room and turned off the light. Then, after waiting a few seconds, I lunged back in and went, "BOO!"
Elise gave a little scream and clapped her hands over her mouth. "Shut up, Chan!" she hissed at me. "Go to bed!"
Grinning, I went back to my room and fell asleep.
On Christmas Day, Elise wouldn't even look in my direction. But then we both let it slide and now we can laugh about it together. Well, sort of, anyway.
Elise is released from school two weeks before Christmas and she comes home ready for break. Her backpack is thrown somewhere into her closet and out comes the computer and Ipod and sweats.
Blake continues to live with us. Unlike our dad, his had to stay overseas for the holidays. So aside from visiting the house he and his dad shared to make sure everything is okay, he's always at our house. Liam is more than happy to share his room with Blake after my Dad arrives.
It starts snowing a few days into Elise's Christmas break and somehow, she manages to drag all three of us outside for a killer snowball fight in the park behind our condominiums. And that night, we all fell into bed, laughing and exhausted from chucking snowballs at each other.
I think of all this as I am lying in bed a few days after our snowball fight. I don't know why I get like this; it's like I get insomnia and then I can't sleep for sometimes the whole night. After a few hours of tossing and turning, I'm tired of staying in bed and I get up, walking silently into the kitchen first, then the living room. I hear the loud roar of a truck as it passes and I go to the window. There, on the curb, sits someone with blond hair.
I twist the door handle to find that it is indeed unlocked and I head down the stairs after pulling on a coat and boots. It's quite chilly at this time of night.
"Elise! What are you doing out here in the middle of winter?" I ask, sitting down beside her. The cold concrete chills my butt.
She shrugs. The cold air turns her breath into condensation. "Couldn't sleep and I needed some air."
I nod. We sit in silence for a while, both of us staring out into the quiet street.
It really is pretty where we live. At night the street lamps come on, dimly lighting up parts of townhouses. You can see snow dust in the air through the light. The tops of cars and the trees on our street are still covered in snow. An occasional vehicle passes, but mostly, people are asleep in bed.
"So what's going on?" I ask her, pulling my coat tighter around me, knowing we can't be out here for much longer.
Another shrug. "I'm just contemplating my life."
"While sitting outside in the snow?!"
"Okay, well, I guess I'm mostly contemplating the fact that I'm never going to have a real boyfriend."
"Why would you be thinking about that?" I question.
Elise sighs. "Josh broke up with me."
I look at her. "What??"
"It's not like what you think," Elise says quickly. She licks her dry lips. "We had an agreement. For the sake of Homecoming, we would be a couple. And then, just before Christmas break, he told me that he liked another girl and we officially broke up."
"Didn't that hurt?"
Elise considers this. "Yes and no. I mean, in every way, Josh is a gentlemen and he's got a great family and he's rich, but we're not meant to be. It just seems like I'm never gonna meet the right guy sometimes," she says.
"You've got plenty of time for that," I tell her. "I mean, you've still got college ahead of you and everything."
"I know," Elise says. "But it just feels like everyone in high school is dating someone except for me. I mean, am I not pretty enough? Do I need to change something about myself?"
"Elise, never, ever change who you are for a guy," I tell her. "Always be yourself. One day someone will come along and they'll love you for who you are."
Elise looks at me, her blue eyes reflecting the light.
"Honestly, I see you walk into a room and I can't believe that I'm related to someone who exhibits such grace and beauty, both on the inside and the outside. If a guy is ever going to love you, be sure he loves you not just for your beauty, but also, for who you are as a person."
Elise gives me a faint smile.
"When you do start dating seriously in college, don't compromise your values. Don't give into guys who pressure you to do the wrong thing. It'll save you from so much heartache in the end because after they get what they want, they'll be like, 'Oh, just saw someone else I want. See you, well, never'."
Elise's eyes are still glued to my face, taking in my words.
"I love you with all of my heart and I will always be here for you," I tell her. "I know that sometimes I can get all macho and weird and be super paranoid and overprotective, but I mean well. I hope you know that."
Elise throws her arms around me, hugging me so tightly that it takes me a few seconds to catch my breath. "Of course I know that," she whispers to me. "I love you so much."
"I love you more," I tell her.
A sudden wind whips down the street, chilling my freezing body.
"Ready to go back inside?" I ask her and she nods with a little smile.
Once back in bed, I smile as I roll onto my stomach and close my eyes. I wouldn't trade anything in the world for the chance to give Elise advice for her future self.
One of our traditions every year is to go see the huge Christmas tree in Times Square and then go ice skating after that. So one day, after a relaxing day of watching movies and being lazy, I tell Blake, Liam, and Elise that we're going to go downtown. They scurry off to get ready.
A half-hour later, we're in the car driving toward Times Square. Traffic is especially bad because of the Christmas season. Well, let me rephrase that: the traffic is always horrible, but this makes it especially terrible. Somehow we make it to Times Square without getting in an accident.
The Christmas tree is magnificent, towering over everybody walking around. Its red and white lights make the sky look black in comparison, although it's barely turned indigo.
Elise, who looks amazing in almost anything she wears, is dressed in a cream-colored headband with a long maroon coat. Her dark skinny jeans are tucked into knee-high boots. I'm surprised to see that her cheeks are only the slightest color of pink as we stand in the cold.
"Don't get lost," I warn our group as we stand in the middle of a huge crowd. I see Blake reach for Elise's hand and Elise slips her glove into his with a smile. I hold onto Elise's other hand and Liam heads up the back.
I love this time of year. I love watching a city come to life during Christmas and in New York, especially so. Everybody is dressed warmly, with gloves and cute hats in every different shape and style. People walk down the streets, carrying coffee to warm their hands. Others shift bags and briefcases from arm to arm. Some stop to look at tree, but others rush on by as if it never existed.
I shake my head because I would miss this tree more than anything if they decided not to put it up every year. I would miss the tradition of always going to Times Square for ice skating and seeing the sights.
Elise's hand slips out of mine as Blake pulls her away from us, dodging people to show Elise something a little farther away. Blake is saying something to her and my little sister is laughing. I almost yell after them to come back, but Liam puts a hand on my shoulder. "They'll be fine."
Suddenly, I realize that Liam knows exactly what I'm thinking.
"You know, if Blake and Elise did end up dating, at least you know Blake would take care of her."
I sigh. "I know. I do trust him, but it's not easy to...."
"Let go?" Liam finishes.
"Yeah," I say quietly.
"She's not getting any younger, Chan," he says. "Look at her. She's practically a woman already."
"I know," I say, because even though I know he's right, I don't want to hear it. I don't want to think about Elise growing up and leaving me. I push those thoughts out of my mind, determined not to be sad tonight.
Blake comes back with Elise, who's out of breath and red-nosed from the cold air. "You guys ready to go ice-skating?"
"Sure," I say, forcing a smile. "Let's go."
"Uhhh...I'm gonna fall."
I roll my eyes as Elise clutches at my hand with a death grip.
"No, Elise, you're not gonna fall," I say, smiling. "Stop telling yourself that! Then you will fall."
"Elise!" Blake yells at her from across the rink.
Elise stops us. "Yeah?"
"Come on! Stop being a wall-hugger!" Blake speed-skates over to us and makes a quick stop in front of her. "Here. I'll take you." He holds out both of his hands and Elise slides hers into his.
"See you later, Chan!" she says, her voice fading, as Blake drags her around.
I can't help but smile as I start making my way around the rink. If there's one thing Blake is good at doing, it's making people laugh and smile. You just can't help but like him. I'm so glad that we're best friends.
I spot Liam coming up beside Elise as well and the three of them skate around the rink hand-in-hand. Blake's saying something to Elise and she laughs in return. Liam twirls Elise around on the ice and then lowers her, as if they're doing some fancy ballroom dancing. Their words are caught up in the air, so they don't reach my ears.
But I watch them. I watch their faces, the laughing, the talking, the skating. I see my breath in the cold air. I take in the way the rest of the skaters are just as jovial as my threesome. I listen to the sound of skates hitting the ice. I hear Christmas carols being played.
And I realize that I wouldn't give anything in the world for this moment, now, when everything seems to be so perfect and so magical.
If only it would last forever.
"What do you want for Christmas?" Elise asks me, sliding into a chair across from me. "Blake and I are going shopping in a few minutes and I need to have a list ready."
"Umm.....heck, whenever you ask me that, I can never think of anything to say," I mutter.
Elise smirks at me. "But I already have what Dad wants and what Liam wants...and I'm pretty sure I know what Blake and Grandma want. So it's just you left."
"All right," I say reluctantly. "I want a car, you know, maybe a Corvette or a Lamborghini."
Elise rolls her eyes. "Maybe something that costs a little less?"
I laugh. "Okay. How about a gift card so I can just buy whatever I want? 'Cause I really can't think of anything."
"Home Depot?" Elise asks and I nod excitedly. My little sister will never understand my obsession with tools and fixing things. Everybody knows napping my is my main hobby, but being a handyman comes in a close second.
"All right, Mr. Fix-It." Elise pulls her purse up with her. "I'll see you later. Blake and I are going to get something out for lunch."
"Okay," I reply. Blake and Elise leave a few minutes later.
A few hours later, Liam comes out of his room grinning like an idiot.
"What's so funny?" I demand.
"Nothing," he says mysteriously. "Just got a phone call from Elise, that's all."
"What did she say?"
"Nothing of much importance."
"What? What is it?"
Liam's face shows no sympathy for my curiosity. "You'll find out on Christmas day, nosy."
I know I'm not going to get any information out of him, so I decide to shut up. But inside, I'm secretly driving myself crazy about what the secret is.
Elise and Blake come home late that afternoon with tons of bags from many different stores. I don't think I've ever seen Elise so preppy and fresh. The air outside definitely has a bite to it; both sets of their cheeks are a rosy red along with their noses.
As always around Blake, Elise is laughing at him. Blake smiles right back at Elise. In this moment, tt's very obvious that Blake likes Elise as more than just a friend. What I'm wondering about is if Elise knows about this and if she knows, I wonder how she feels about it.
I meet them in the foyer and Elise grins at me. "We pretty much bought out all of New York City."
"Looks like!" I tell them. Elise heads to her room and Blake follows carrying his bags. I watch them disappear, marveling at the turn of events that have taken place.
I seriously wonder if Elise even notices it.
I do my own Christmas shopping with Liam soon afterward and we buy gifts for our family. He buys a few things for his little sisters and even something for his Mom. Well, I guess she's my mom too, but it's really weird to try to think of her as someone other than Liam's mom. I buy something for everyone in my family, including Elise, who is sometimes hard to buy for. But this year I got clear instructions: a series of books she really wanted and a couple movies she's been dying to own. If she tells me exactly, then it's not hard to buy what she wants.
Elise starts a Countdown to Christmas on our fridge. Liam and Blake help her make a poster with huge numbers and they cross out the days with huge X's.
Our nights are filled with Christmas movies and our days filled with everything Christmas including music, baking, and present-wrapping.
A church a few blocks away from our house is having a Christmas party that we go to every year. Elise is nice enough to bring a heaping plate of sugar cookies that we'd probably be giving away to neighbors. We still have tons more at home; this plate barely makes a dent. I cannot stress how much I love the holidays and most especially, the food. I guess my family has always been big on celebrating Christmas.
As December twenty-fifth gets closer and closer, Elise gets more and more excited.
That is, until we get the news.
"What do you mean you're not going to make it home?" Elise wails into the phone. "Dad, seriously! It was bad enough on Thanksgiving, but not Christmas!"
I hear my dad say something in response and Elise's face contorts. "Well, I hope you have a merry Christmas over there in Afghanistan or wherever it is you are." She all but throws the phone into my hands and stomps to her room.
I sigh and put the phone to my ear. "Hi, Dad."
"Hi, son. Listen, I told Elise, it looked like I was going to be able to come back this year, but I can't now. There's planes flying overhead every few hours dropping bombs and there's no way I'm going to be able to get into an airplane to fly back without it being shot down."
"I understand," I respond quietly. What else is there to say? "I'm sorry that you can't come. We were all looking forward to it."
"I know. So was I." My father breathes deeply into the phone. "Well, if the air raid calms down, I might be able to make it by late December or early January."
"Okay," I say. "I love you. I'll talk to you later."
"All right. Bye."
I stare at the phone long after we've hung up, trying to comprehend what it's like to be an underground shelter with bomb after bomb falling from the sky. I shake my head. I cannot believe my father can stand his job. He says he loves it, but at this moment, I really can't see how.
I want to go comfort Elise, but somehow, I know I need to leave her alone this time. See, the thing is, I don't feel like comforting someone because I'm trying to comfort myself.
Being sad during the holidays is pretty depressing.
After that, Elise stays in her room a lot, going on the computer or painting her nails or watching the snow fall. Occasionally, Liam, Blake, or I will check on her to make sure she's okay. Elise seems to be, but she definitely isn't as happy as she was. I can't say I blame her.
As I'm sitting at the kitchen table one cold morning drinking a cup of coffee, I see Blake out of the corner of my eye. He knocks on Elise's door and then opens it, closing the door so just a crack remains.
Curious, I quietly stalk to the door and put my ear up against it.
"How's the wrapping going?" I hear Blake ask her.
Elise takes a deep breath. "Good, I think. I almost have everything done. Seriously, I can't believe that the day after tomorrow is Christmas Eve."
"I don't think you you've crossed out today on your countdown yet," Blake says.
"You can do it," Elise says. She sighs and says quietly, "I even got Dad's present all wrapped."
There's silence for a few seconds and I peek through the crack in the door to see Blake's arms around Elise. Elise seems to enjoy the comfort because I see her leaning against him.
"I'm sorry," he says quietly, his face very near her hair.
Elise sighs. "It is what it is."
For a very long time, I watch them as they stay close together.
If Elise doesn't see what I'm seeing right now, she must be a true blonde.
On Christmas Eve, I find myself too excited to sleep. At midnight, I finish up wrapping presents and decide to go stick them under the tree. I open my door slightly before grabbing my handful of packages and slowly easing out of my bedroom silently.
The hallway is dark and I can't see anything except for the nightlight in the kitchen. In the dark, I bump against something in the hallway. Except for it's not something.
It's someone.
My presents go flying as I scream. The other person I bumped into lets out a yelp. There's a series of thuds. I fall backward onto the floor of my room, but scramble back up to flip on the hallway light.
I see Blake on the floor, presents littering the whole hallway. He blinks at me as his eyes adjust to the bright light.
The light in Elise's room comes on and her door opens. I see her trying to quickly tie a robe around her. "What the heck is going on?? Blake, what are you doing on the floor?"
"He screamed first," Blake says, pointing a finger at me with a faint smile. Elise's eyes widen as she turns to look at me. "Channing, seriously! This whole Christmas Even prank thing has got to stop!"
"This-this wasn't any prank," I say emphatically. "I slipped out the door of my room to put my presents under the tree and I bumped into him-"
"-and screamed like a girl," Blake finishes for me, suddenly finding the situation very funny.
"I did not scream like a girl!" I protest.
"Yes, you did," Liam says from behind my bedroom door. I whip it closed and glare at him.
"Well, you did!" he says with a smile.
Suddenly, I start laughing. Blake chuckles from the ground, Elise tries not to give in to the giggles, but she finally does. Liam's shoulders shake from silent laughter.
"I think you need to hand over your man card," Liam says, shaking his head. "That was, by far, the girliest scream I've ever heard."
I shove him on the shoulder as I collect my presents from the ground, but we're all still laughing too hard to take offense at anything.
It feels good to smile after we've all been kind of sad.
I wake up to Elise bouncing on my bed like she always did when she was a little girl. The memory makes me smile even in my half-asleep state.
"Chan, get up." She says, shaking me fervently. "It's Christmas!"
I sit up in bed and rub the sleep from my eyes.
"Come on!" she says impatiently, tugging on my arm. "We're waiting for you."
I get up and pad into the living room where I find Liam and Blake grinning like idiots as they sit on the floor in front of the tree. I figure it's just because they're excited about Christmas, but as it turns out, I'm dead wrong.
"We want you to be the first person to open your present," Elise says, trying to hold in an enormous grin. She retrieves a square box from under the Christmas tree and hands it to me. Liam and Blake look on, still grinning.
"Okay," I say, puzzled.
Elise sits down between Blake and Liam, and the three of them continue to hold in smiles as I tear the wrapping paper from my gift. It's been wrapped at least three or four times and it takes me a full minute to get through all of the paper.
But when I do, all I can do is stare at it.
It's a Keurig.
Elise starts laughing when she sees the look on my face. Liam and Blake join her and in a few minutes, the three of them are laughing so hard I see tears being shed. All I'm able to do is sit there like a moron and stare at the box with an expression that sends them into so much laughter that it takes them forever to catch their breath again.
Pretty sure that this is the highlight of their Christmas day so far.
The rest of our Christmas morning is a lot of fun. Elise hugs me when she sees what I've gotten her and she gives me the gift card for Home Depot. Blake has already given her his present when Liam hands Elise something.
"I think you'll like this," he says with an odd little smile.
Elise carefully undoes the wrapping paper and looks at the item inside, her eyes suddenly getting a little moist. I look over her shoulder to see something that I'd completely forgotten about, but there it sits in Elise's hands.
It's a photo album with Elise's name on it. On the cover is a baby picture of hers.
"Mom kept it up in the closet," Liam says quietly. "When I went through some old stuff of hers, I found it in a box. It has pictures from when you a newborn to about nine months."
Elise opens the book and inside, she sees herself, as a baby. Playing. Sitting on Mom's lap. Eating. Taking a bath. I watch Elise's face as she sees these pictures. Tears are coming forward, threatening to spill over onto the pages of the album.
"Oh, mom," she whispers, tracing her fingers over a picture of her and our mother together. "If only you would have stayed. If only you were here."
In spite of myself, I'm feeling a little emotional as well, but I shove it to the deepest part of me. I don't want to cry over someone who obviously didn't care enough about us to be a part of our lives.
Elise gently closes the album and gives Liam a hug, which he accepts with open arms.
"I will treasure this forever," I hear Elise tell him. He nods at her with a little smile that doesn't quite reach his eyes.
We finish up opening presents and then it's almost lunchtime. We start one of Elise's new movies anyway, and let it play in the background. My grandma begins to make our dinner and it smells amazing, like the scents of home and Christmas all in one breath.
Elise is the first of the four of us to get dressed and she's already in the kitchen helping Grandma by the time we've finished picking up all of the wrapping paper and cleaning up in the living room.
Our Christmas meal tastes just as amazing as it smells. As I look around at all of the smiling faces, a pang of gratefulness surges through me. We may not have a gigantic family with lots of screaming kids and chattering aunts and uncles, but we have each other.
That's the most important thing.
Just as we're getting ready to head to bed that night, there's a knock on the door. Puzzled, I walk toward it with Liam, Blake, and Elise watching. I unlock the door and open it slowly to make sure no one's going to force their way in.
Instead, I get the surprise of my life.
My father stands at our doorstep, his hands in his leather jacket and his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. "It's freezing out here. Do you mind?"
With eyes wide, I open the door and let him in. I barely register Elise's gasp as she sees him in the foyer. "Dad!" she yells, running to him.
My father laughs as he drops his duffel bag to wrap his arms tightly around Elise who holds on with all of her strength, burying her head in his shoulder. "I thought you were never gonna come home," she says to him. "We missed you."
"I missed you guys too," my father says, kissing Elise on the top of the head and setting her down. "Not to break the mood, but I'm starving."
I hug my father and Blake and Liam join us, smiling. Elise hurries to the fridge to gather all the leftovers. Needless to say, we don't go to bed that night. In the wee hours of the morning, we fall into our beds, exhausted, but very, very happy.
As long as I live, I will never forget that Christmas. I hope always Elise remembers it too, and tells it to her kids when she's older.
It's definitely a story worth remembering.
*Pictured above is a beautiful scene of New York City in the wintertime.