~December 24th, 2032~
"Mommy, what are we doing today?"
"Don't you know what today is, Mel?" I asked her.
Melanie stood below me at the kitchen island, her face laced with hope and curiosity.
"Christmas Eve!" she exclaimed.
"That's right," I smiled.
I reached for the handle of the fridge, opening it and taking out a cardboard bottle of whipping cream. I put it on the counter before looking back down at her.
"We're going to make homemade whipped cream for the pie tomorrow."
"Is it good?" she asked.
I laughed, "Well, that's up to you."
Melanie quickly pulled her stool up to the counter, only a little shorter than it was.
"Open it, Mommy! Open it!"
"Okay, okay."
I opened the bottle of cream. "Would you grab me a bowl?"
She nodded and went for the tall cupboard where the Tupperware and cooking bowls were stored.
As she came back with the blue bowl, I took the seal off of the bottle and poured a decent amount into the bowl.
"Can I drink it?"
"Um...if you really want to. It probably won't taste like anything," I told her with a small smile.
She dipped her finger into the white whipping cream and shoved it into her mouth, tasting it.
"That tastes like shit!"
I was taken aback.
"M-Mel..."
I tried to hold my laugh in, but I could already hear Cleo snickering from the sofa.
"Okay," I cleared my throat, "just try your best not to say that word?"
I was sure she'd picked it up from her mother, and to be specific, not myself.
We hadn't ever really talked to the children about the concept of swear words.
"Uh-huh."
"We're going to add sugar and vanilla to it, it won't taste like that in the end."
"Ugh! Good! I was starting to worry about your judgment, Mommy."
My eyebrows creased in confusion.
"Um...moving on from that," I mumbled, "let's get out the electric mixer, okay?"
She grabbed the handheld electric mixer and let it run in the liquid for a few minutes, it was quite obnoxious and loud.
"Are we done yet?"
"Once it starts to get thick!" I told her.
I grabbed a small bottle of vanilla extract and poured it out into the lid, before pouring it into the bowl.
"Do you think that's enough?"
"More!"
I let out a light laugh, although it was barely audible over the mixer. "Okay."
I put just a drop more in because I didn't think she truly knew how far a little bit went.
Once it thickened up a bit more after a few more minutes. I took the mixer from her.
"How about you add the sugar in?" I asked, turning down the level by one.
I nodded to the blue measuring cup. "Just use the cup right there."
"Okay!"
She grabbed the cup and scooped the sugar from the bag. The cup was overflowing with the white crystalline, but she dumped it into the mixing bowl. Grains of it flew around before slowly incorporating into the rest of the cream.
"Good job, lovely. That'll be nice once it's done."
"Yeah, I know. Probably because I made it."
I snorted, "Okay, then."
"When will it be done?"
"It'll be done once the mixer can make swirls in it and not disappear."
"Okay, Mommy. It better be soon."
"Do you have somewhere to be?" I asked lightheartedly.
"Not yet."
Before I could question anything, Theo waddled into the kitchen, Bun-Bun in hand.
"Hi, sweetheart. Do you need something?" I asked.
He shook his head, only trying to peer over the counter to get a good look. Melanie stepped off the stool and pointed at it, and he took her place.
Once he seemed satisfied looking at it, he stared up at me.
"Hi, Mommy."
I smiled, "Hi, Theo."
"How is it thick?" he asked.
"How does it get thick?" I reiterated. I'd have to go into a mini science lesson.
"The mixer here...whips it, which makes more air in the liquid..."
Then I realized again, that he was five years old.
I sighed, "You'll learn when you're a little older."
"Okay."
Once it thickened, I turned the mixer off, freeing all of our ears from the noise.
"Can you get me a spoon, Theo?"
He stumbled off the stool and over to the drawer, reaching an almost fully extended arm up to open it, and Melanie grabbed the spoon for him.
"Here, Mommy."
She gave it to me and I scooped a little bit of the freshly made whipped cream onto the spoon, then handed it to her.
"How does it taste?"
She shoved the spoon into her mouth and waited, analyzing.
"Good!"
"So not like before, then?" I asked with a smile.
She happily shook her head.
Cleo came up to sit at the barstools across from us. "How is it going?"
"Try!" Melanie scooped the spoon into the whipped cream, and then to her, and I could immediately see the hesitance waft through Cleo's eyes.
She sighed, "Alright."
She dipped her pinky finger into the fluff, which was as white as her complexion. Another wave of reluctance hit her hazel eyes, but she quickly put her finger up to her lips, as if ignoring it.
I wasn't sure what it would taste like to her, but regardless, she still ate it with a soft smile on her face.
"It's lovely, baby."
I knew she was now going to watch Theo like a hawk because now it would be harder to convince him not to follow after her. And we had always had a hard time getting him not to eat human food.
Cleo was just hoping that since he was still young and impressionable, he would break out of the phase. However, that same impressionability was what she despised because of how much he watched Melanie and me.
Melanie giggled. "I hope it's still good by Christmas!"
~December 25th, 2032~
"MOMMY, MAMA!" Melanie screamed, before jumping into our bed.
"God, Mel-" I wanted to sink into the covers.
Even while facing away from them, I could still feel the bed shake as she rolled around and Cleo sat up.
Cleo put a gentle hand on my shoulder, "I don't think she's going to go back to sleep, babydoll," she whispered.
I let out a groan and shoved my head deeper into my pillow.
Hesitantly, I poked up to look at the alarm clock. It was 7 a.m.
"Can't you wait another hour?" I muttered.
"No!" she cried.
I sighed.
"Go wake up your brother, baby," Cleo told her.
In the blink of an eye, she was gone.
"Can I at least have good morning kisses?" I asked, muffled.
Cleo snorted, gently pulling me by my shoulder to roll me over.
As I lay flat on my back, she leaned down to press her lips to mine, her cool skin hitting my body again. Suddenly, I was brought to peace again, as if it wasn't 7 o'clock in the morning.
"Better?" she asked in a whisper.
I nodded soundlessly and grasped her shirt, pulling myself up into her chest.
She held me as l lay sideways across her stomach, rubbing my back.
"I love you," she said calmly.
"I bet I love you more."
"Ah, but I love you most. Now until forever."
I planted a kiss on her collarbone, my lips curving up.
"Do you think Theo will freak out when he sees his Barbie camper van?"
A smile made its way through her voice, "Of course. Maybe silently."
Melanie had wanted a bicycle, which we had delivered on, as well. She tended to want a lot of very large and quite obnoxious gifts. Expenses were no problem for us, but sometimes we really just couldn't get her what she wanted. Like a kitten. Pets, for some reason, just didn't feel like they'd fit with our family.
Besides the small fact that Cleo was worried Theo would eat it.
"Mama!" Melanie cried, running back into our room.
"Are you ready?" Cleo asked her.
She threw up a frantic nod.
Cleo gently rubbed her thumb across my hand, giving me a glance and a soft smile.
Theo was still sleepy and slow, which was a little relatable, but regardless, we all waddled downstairs together and Melanie ran for the tree where all the presents were piled.
"Wait!" I yelled.
Cleo just sighed and rubbed her forehead. She already knew.
"I need pictures!"
After our photo-taking endeavor was over, we all crammed ourselves in a circle by the tree.
"You go ahead and go first, Mel," Cleo said.
"Okay!"
Melanie quickly scampered up from her spot on the ground and shuffled around, searching for a present with her name on it.
Before long, she plucked a large gift bag up from under the branches.
She began to tear through the wrapping paper, throwing it out like confetti.
"Mommy!"
"What is it?" I asked with a smile.
"Squishmallows and chocolate!"
She took the giant pink cow plushie out, along with the chocolate bars, a smile lighting up her face.
"You've really outdone yourself this time, Marine," Cleo scoffed.
"It'll be my best friend," she said.
Theo looked at me, and I nodded.
I scoffed as Cleo pushed the wrapped box with the Barbie camper van closer to him. He looked up at her wide-eyed and hopeful.
"Trust me." She told him.
His little fingers took a while to get the cheerful snowman wrapping paper fully off of the box.
As soon as he saw the colorful picture on the box, he began to glow. No words left him, only excitement through his eyes.
"Check the back, kiddo," Cleo added.
There was a Barbie taped to the back of the van box, aside from the dolls included with the set. It had on a flowy pink dress and curly blonde hair. It was as close to the one he had asked for as we could find.
Theo slowly flipped the box over. A new gleam shone in his eyes and a wide smile hit his lips.
Wordlessly, he ripped open the Barbie box in seconds, using every ounce of his strength to rip her out of the zip ties. He gently patted down her hair, before hugging her close to his chest.
"I think he likes it," Cleo whispered to me. I just gave her a smile.
"Remember she comes with a wand," she told him. "Make sure you don't lose it, buddy."
"Thank you, Mama," he whispered.
He crawled over to Cleo and sat in her lap, Barbie in hand.
"You're very welcome, sweet boy," she answered softly, running her fingers through his dark hair.
"You go next, Cleo."
She smiled at me and gave me an eye roll. "I thought we were going in age order."
"What?" I laughed, "Do you want to be last?"
"Eh," she scoffed, leaning over with a soft groan and grabbing a wrapped box.
"It's okay, Mama," Melanie said.
"Yeah?"
"I know you're too old to stand up anymore."
As Cleo pulled the box closer to her, her mouth fell open.
"I am not that old! You all need to be quiet," she hissed, although I was sure it was all lighthearted.
With a shake of her head, she began to open the box.
Cleo pushed the cardboard flaps to the side and there lay a small envelope, sealed with melted wax on top of a mountain on tissue paper.
Her face seemed to soften when she saw it, her eyes becoming slim with confusion of some sort.
"Did you write me an emotional note?" she looked up at me with a small scoff, but heartfelt smile.
"D-don't open it right now, is all."
"Right." She gently placed the letter to the side and lifted up the tissue paper.
"This is cute," she hummed. There were two bottles of black nail polish inside, along with one of my jackets, to make up for stealing hers, of course.
She let out a short but sweet laugh. "Thank you, babydoll. I look forward to reading your sloppy penmanship."
"I-" I huffed, "Anyways."
She smiled and turned back to me while Theo dug through her box.
"I'm nervous," I said, leaning forward and grabbing a small box from under the tree.
"The internet said I should do this one."
"Well, that actually makes me feel worse."
It was pretty obvious which ones Cleo had wrapped versus which ones I had. Hers tended to be much more sophisticated, with little fancy ribbons and bows, wood patterned paper; while mine just had thrown on snowman or candy cane wrapping with a little card. The real test was measuring which ones the children shot for first.
Regardless, I began to untie the bow, bracing myself.
Taking the little piece of tape off the box, I lifted open the flaps. Inside, there was a book, and immediately I could tell it wasn't just any old fantasy story.
"CLEO!" I gasped.
"Satan's mother, take a minute to breathe, why don't you?"
"You read and annotated a whole book for me?"
"I did do that."
"For me?!" I squealed. "God, I love you."
I had never read the book before, and Cleo wasn't a reader, so it was new.
I flipped to the dedication page, where she'd put a little key for each color of highlighter. It was so organized, so like her.
"I'm obsessed with you."
Cleo laughed, "Hold the tears, babydoll. I know they're coming."
She was right.
It might not have seemed like a lot to her, but reading it was probably going to become one of my core memories.
"You're mine," I said sternly.
She just smiled. "Always and forever."
(A/N, it's christmas eve when i'm uploading this! :) merry christmas to anyone who celebrates, and happy holidays to all! if you don't celebrate anything, have a lovely week, as always. mwah mwah <3