Steph sat in her car, it was freezing cold outside and Mark was grabbing some stuff inside of the gas station. Illinois sucked in the winter. All of a sudden someone knocked on the window on the passenger side and she rolled it down, it was Selena.
"Hey, Selena, what's up?" Steph asked.
"My parent's Christmas party is tomorrow night, do you and Mark want to come? I asked if it was alright a long time ago." Selena said.
"I'll ask Mark, OK? I'll tell you at the hotel!" Steph replied.
"See you then!" Selena replied.
After Selena left Mark came back cursing from the cold.
"This is why we live in Texas." Mark said, handing Steph a soda.
She laughed. "I just got an invitation from a friend for a Christmas party tomorrow night, do you want to go?"
"Which friend?" Mark asked.
"Selena."
Mark sighed, Steph knew he didn't want to be in the winter weather for too long but then again, they'd never met the rest of Selena's family. The car drove town the streets to the hotel and Steph was beginning to think he was going to say "no" when he spoke up.
"Wisconsin can't be worse than Illinois, right?" he asked.
"I don't know." Steph replied.
* * *
Selena drove her car down a seemingly abandoned road, the countryside was beautiful under a foot of snow and ice.
"...They've lived in the UP for a while, Minnesota and Illinois, now they settled down in Wisconsin because that's where all the family is." Selena stated.
Steph sat and processed the information, Selena certainly had an interesting life. That was for sure.
"And we're here."
Steph looked to see a beautiful farmhouse and several cars in the driveway, Selena next to a shed and they got out.
"How many people do you normally get?" Mark asked.
"Three sets of Grandparents, two aunts, four cousins, my older brother, my younger brother and me. Plus my parents, and now you two." Selena said.
"That's nineteen people!" Steph breathed.
"Oh yeah, and it's fun listening to stories. Only bad thing is I'll have to show everyone the burn scar and tell them the story." Selena groaned.
"Hey, you have two witnesses to help with that." Mark replied.
Selena smirked and opened the door.
"Hel-o everybody!" Selena called.
"Hey, sis, what's ne..."
Selena's younger brother was on kitchen duty and he stopped dead.
"Jamie, meet Stephanie and Mark. Steph, Mark, Jamie." Selena said.
Steph handed their coats to Selena and she disappeared for a minute. Steph wanted to laugh because Jamie was having a hard time shaking hands. Selena returned and laughed at her brother.
"Jamie! You wouldn't want to be friends with them, they're like siblings." Selena said.
"Great, just what I need. More siblings." Jamie said, shaking hands with Steph and Mark.
Selena's Dad walked in and Selena hugged him.
"Dad, meet Stephanie and Mark, guys, Matthew." Selena said.
"Nice to meet you."
Handshakes went around again and Selena sighed. "Jamie, they have the basement on lock down already?"
"Yeah, no way are we getting the dart board, pool table, Foosball, ping-pong or hockey tables tonight."
"You guys have a lot of bar equipment." Mark commented.
"It took years to get all the game supplies. They had the darts and pool before Mike was born, but the Foosball is the newest." Selena replied.
Mrs. Minilina came in and greeted everyone and they all migrated to the living room with everyone else.
* * *
A few hours later it was time to open presents and the younger ones (Jamie, Second Gen cousin Carl, Second Gen cousin Mary, and Selena) were excited and everyone else was excited as well, just not as much. Selena was dishing out presents and calling out names.
"Mike, Jamie, me, Steph, Mark, Aunt Lynn, Aunt Sarita, Mom, Dad, me, Steph, Jamie, Mike, Carl, Mary, Grandma, Grandma #2, Grandpa, Grandpa #2, Grandma and Grandpa #3, Mom, Dad, The aunts again, Jamie, me, Mike, Mary, Mark, Carl. And there's probably more but I'm outta breath."
Selena sat and opened her presents while the boys tore into theirs.
"Oh, sweet! I got a baseball jersey!" Jamie smiled.
"I got an RC car!" Mike squealed.
Selena opened her's a little more carefully and she got a necklace with an fake pearl, it was in an oval shape and was blue.
"Thank you!" she said.
Steph and Mark did their presents together and Steph got a homemade tee shirt from Selena which read: "Wife, General, Owner, Boss, Mom". Steph smiled and Mark got a matching shirt except it wasn't "wife" or "mom" it was "hubby" and "Dad".
"Thanks, Selena!" Steph smiled.
"You're welcome. I was saving those for either your anniversary or the baby's birthday." Selena replied.
"Wait, what?" Mrs. Minilina asked.
"Oh, here we go." Selena groaned.
* * *
Some time later Selena and Mark had decided to play pool, the house had cleared out and only the boys and cousins were left. Selena's Dad was watching them play and heckling.
"Dad, if I were playing you, I'd kick your butt. And we haven't even started yet!" Selena snapped.
"You win when you play him?" Mark asked, chalking his que.
"I played my cousin once and lost and then my Dad played me and I won. He said I used trick shots when it was just lucky shots." Selena replied.
"Heh."
Selena broke and got the 8 in.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" she snapped.
"That's one, Mark!" Steph said, coming down the stairs.
Selena growled as she re-prepped the balls.
Fun fact: She lost 9-8. Oy vey.
____________________________________________________
Fun fact: I forgot I was planning a Christmas chapter! It was kind of lame but the heart was there! I also play all the games mentioned in this. My favorites are Foosball and pool.
See you guys after New Years!