Thanksgiving is a joyous occasion. Made to share the love of family and the compassion for friends in every hour of that very special day. Many families find this time perfect and charming. Children express their love for each other and parents provide a wonderful meal to enjoy with the whole family.
Unfortunately not all families follow this strict idea of thanksgiving. All families do try to make this occasion a special and close one, but not all families are adapt enough to control the insanity that can commence.
*Lucy POV*
"Turn around, let me see!" I did a ballet twirl in front of the mirror, watching my silver dress fan out around me until I stopped to face my audience.
Mom, Auntie Aubrey, and Aunt Marty sat on my bed, smiling thick as thieves.
"What?" I asked, eyeing them.
"You look so much like grandma, it's scary." Aunt Marty stated, making mom elbow her in the gut.
"Ignore her. You look great." Auntie Aubrey stated. The door to my bathroom opened revealing grandma holding a pair of pearls in her hands.
"How about you three put a can in it! You look just like me Lucy and you look lovely! Now here, put these on." She demanded, handing me the pearls. I glanced at my mother and my Aunts to see that they were smirking deviously at one another.
My grandmother turned back to the bathroom.
"Amelia, tell your mother to put a can in it, won't you?" My 19 year old cousin took a step out of the bathroom, her mascara still in her left hand.
"Come on mom. You have not even had wine yet." Aunt Marty raised her glass of wine as proof that her daughter was wrong and then went ahead and took another sip.
"Too Late!" Amelia gave me a look which made me shrug in exasperation before she turned back to the mirror in the bathroom.
Grandma looked around the room and sighed.
"Where's your little daughter Aubrey? She must be here instead of playing outside with Joe."
"Colleen is downstairs with dad, mom. Let her be." Auntie Aubrey stated casually making grandma wave her hands and turn back to the bathroom.
I turned to the mirror and paused to look at myself as the pearls went over my head. Thanks to grandma coming over, I looked more like I came out of a J.Crew catalog rather then my normal Hot Topic look.
Thank goodness the Landriths won't see me like this.
Jade POV
"Shit, I look good." Aria commented as she stared at herself in the mirror. She wore a long black dress with thigh high cuts on the sides only half stitched up, revealing a far amount of skin. It looked like a normal Aria outfit to me.
"Hey, is that mine?"
"No, yours is the skull candy one. Mine is the red roses. Remember?" Clary cut in, as her sister Scar, looked at her daringly. They both were wearing similar dresses but at present were fighting over the statement necklace hooked over Clary's neck.
"Well I like that one better." Scar replied smugly.
"Well too bad. It's mine."
"Where the fuck is Jade?" I turned to see Ivy in the hallway, wearing only one black stiletto, the other in her hand. Her fish net tights were running down her leg and her plaid dress was wrinkled from her rushing. I slowly slinked off the bed and walked over to the hallway where Ivy could see me.
"What?" I asked, crossing my arms. Ivy gave me a devious smile before taking my hand and dragging me over to her room.
"Don't worry Beth, I got her." Ivy called out as she entered her bed room with me being dragged in against my will.
Ivy's room was a mess of black and green just like before she left for school. Except now clothes were spilled across the room for all to see. Obviously my sister was going through a clothes emergency.
Beth sat politely against the wall, on Ivy's bed, wearing what we Landriths called "A Sara Outfit". She wore a blue wrapped dress that only lawyers wore but for some reason was wrapped around Beth. But Beth still had Emerson blood in her which was shown through her black chocker necklace with little ribbons slashed along the sides. Very appropriate for tonight.
When I was dragged in by my sister, Beth raised her eyebrows at my entrance but apart from that kept herself calm.
"What am I doing here?" I asked, afraid of the answer. Beth gave me a small smile and patted next to her on the bed, an invitation for me to join. I quickly hopped up next to her and placed my head on her shoulder, curling my feet up on the bed. Both of us watching Ivy like cats.
Ivy limped over to her closet and pulled out her neon pink heals making me stomach turn.
"What do you think Jade? These or these?" She asked, pointing to the black shoes and the horrid pink ones.
"I think you know my answer, sister." I replied in a monotone. Ivy rolled her heavily lidded eyes and turned to Beth who was smirking.
"I told you. My siblings would hate me if I wore them."
"Especially mom." I added, gaining a sarcastic smirk from Ivy in my direction.
"Thanks Jade for the reminder."
"Well you are over eighteen now so your parents can't go after you for it really. Plus my grandma is wearing pink tonight." Beth pointed out. I laughed to myself gaining a look from Ivy.
"That woman is here? Did she bring him with her?" Ivy asked.
"I think she is referring to your grandpapa." I added, clarifying. Beth chuckled and patted my head making me close my eyes and smile.
"Yes both of my grandparents are here. Which means we will have a full house."
"Shit!" Ivy cursed.
"Who the fuck is cursing upstairs?" A familiar voice called out making us both turn toward the door. The door was of course opened to reveal Auntie Zoë in all her glory.
"Oh wonderful. My three favorite nieces."
"We heard that!" The girl twins called out from the other room. Zoë rolled her eyes and stepped into the room, shutting the door behind her.
"So what are you cursing for, my dear poison ivy?" She asked, turning to the mess in tights.
"Shoes. Will I be a dead woman walking if I wore these?" Ivy asked, pointing to the pink shoes. Zoë took one look at them and hissed.
"Dear god woman, are you crazy?"
Ivy turned to Beth who nodded.
"Okay fine, I see your point. Take them off and wear them at college." Beth replied glumly. Auntie Zoë laughed and shook her head
"No stupid, you wear those shoes and scare your mother. That's what makes thanksgiving so enjoyable. Did I ever tell you about that one time when I brought home a boyfriend who was part of the gang out in-"
"Hey Auntie Zoë? I can't decide whether to wear fake eye lashes or not." Aria asked, as she barged into the room, pulling Zoë short. Auntie Zoë took one look at Aria and nodded toward the eye lashes.
"Remember the rule. If your eye liner covers half of your lid then you need eye lashes. Do you need glue? I have some in my bag." Aria nodded and went off to get the glue. Zoë turned back to the group.
"Anyway, as I was saying. Mom was out buying the turkey while Cody and your mother were in the house breaking..."
"Oh shit I broke my fish nets." Ivy cursed.
"Fish nets are meant to be broken darling. Keep them on."
I groaned into Beth's shoulder. Why was my family so bizarre?
*Rosie POV*
"James, I need help flipping the bird in the oven. Give me a hand!" The kitchen was a mess but thankfully my mother was here to help. She stood washing the dishes and putting them on the rack while I stood by the oven with my hair back in a bun.
"You sure you don't want me to do it dear? I can manage."
"Don't you dare Jessica. Who is going to drive us home afterwards if you break your back?" My father called out from the kitchen table. He sat with little Joe and Colleen who sat in the middle of making iced cookies. Joe was halfway through emptying out an entire sprinkle container on one cookie while Colleen sat carefully icing a rose on one of her cookies. Very skilled for an eight year old.
"Oh for goodness sakes John, I am fine! Why do you have to go off about my back at this moment in time.."
"It's fine Jessica. I've got it." James said, as he entered the kitchen followed by his parents. Ms. Marina and her husband still made me just a bit nervous and rightfully so. It was not like they visited the house often.
"Here on three I'll flip it. You hold the side of the pan for me, okay?" I informed James. He nodded and rolled up his sleeves.
After flipping the bird and starting the gravy I told my mother to sit down and James started the champaign.
"Where are your sisters? Amelia will you be a doll and go get your mother and Aunt for me. Lucy why don't you help me set the table." My mother asked. Lucy quickly got up from where she was sitting next to Amelia and her grandparents and went to my mom. Amelia left the room and soon after brought back my sisters who were busy discussing baby names for Aubrey's new baby coming soon.
"Where is George? Aubrey tell your husband that if he wants to eat he has to help! You too Marty! I need the men to get fire wood and start the fire. This house is cold enough for me but your poor father-"
"Jessica I am fine!" My dad called out, linking gazes with me. He gave me a joking exasperated look making me laugh.
"Hey mom, why don't you take a seat for a moment with Marina and David. The girls and I have this covered. James is bringing out your favorite champaign." This seemed to settle my mother a bit and with the help of James, she was guided over to the living room where she sat with my in-laws.
"Auntie Rosie." I looked down to see Colleen with four little cookies on her plate.
"Hey there. What do you have for me?" I asked, bending down to her level.
"Four cookies. Not for you though. I just want to show them to you. Now I'm leaving you. Bye!" She twirled in her dress and walked back to Dad who sat in the chair next to Joe, trying his best to scoop up the extra sprinkles while Joe opened up a new box of blue sprinkles for his next cookie.
I stood back up with a smirk on my face and was about to get back to cooking when Lucy came up to me holding up two types of glasses.
"For the older cousins. For Joe and Colleen. And do make sure they are next to grandpa. He is the only one who can control them." Lucy nodded and walked off to join Amelia who was in the middle of trying to light the candles only to burn herself each time and curse to herself. She made eye contact with me after cursing again and went red when she noticed I noticed.
"Sorry!" I winked and returned to cooking.
*Elle POV*
"Who wants some more wine?" I called out. There were cheers from the entire clan making me cheer as well as I walked over to the table where a new bottle of red was just opened.
"Oooh and its fancy wine. I wonder who brought it."
"Take a wild guess Elle. Like we can afford this stuff." Rob commented as he walked up next to me with three glasses in his hand. I looked down at the glasses and then back at Rob who saw me looking and chuckled.
"My parents wanted refills too. It looks like our family and more importantly, your family, is taking a toll on them."
"I thought they didn't drink." I replied. He nodded.
"Exactly."
I turned back to the living room where Zoë now sat next to Mr. and Mrs. Landrith, talking about her latest film where she was stabbed multiple times by her ex-lover. Zoë's boyfriend, Eddie, sat next to Zoë grinning like a freak who obviously had too much wine already. I checked my clock.
It was only 6:30pm. What a light weight.
I sat down in my throne of a chair and put my legs up. In the kitchen I could smell my mother's cooking making me happily wait for dinner. The twins were sitting on the other coach with Cody discussing something with a lot of energy while Sara sat at the edge of the coach trying to talk in a normal tone with her parents who were already used to us so they looked alright.
But the Landriths were a different story. Once Rob came back with their glasses, both of them held their glasses tightly and sat closer together. Rob saw me watching and waved me over. I stood up and saw Sara come up to me, her parents in tow.
"My parents want to introduce themselves to your in-laws. Do you mind helping?" I giggled and nodded, making Mrs. Clark raise an eyebrow in judgement at me but I ignored her. If worst comes to worst I can put something in her drink during dinner.
We walked over to the other side of the living room and I made the normal introductions that Rob had taught me how to make and watched as the two "normal" couples shook hands and warmed up to one another. This made Rob stand up and turn to Sara and me.
"That should make them happy. Your parents are used to the Emerson clan now so they can help." Sara nodded in his direction but was looking a little nervously over at her husband who now had Ben in a chock hold while Sam sat laughing his head off on the opposite side of the coach.
"I should probably stop him but I don't feel like it." I looked at her glass.
"How about we got more wine. Rob just opened up a new bottle and it's fancy!" I piped up, making Sara look at me lazily but she nodded. Alcohol before boys. Always.
We walked over to the stand and were busy working on our alcohol intake when a noise that closely resembled a girl screaming was heard making us all turn to the coach were Ben stood on now with his mouth opened, pointing toward the stairs. I turned around to face Ivy who had just walked down accompanied by Jade, Beth and Aria. For a moment I had no idea why my son had chosen this day of all days to show off his high range but then my eyes traveled to Ivy's foot wear.
And then all hell broke out.
*Lucy POV*
"Okay everyone! Dinner is served." Mom called out from the kitchen. Amelia and I rushed out of the living room where we sat watching Colleen and Joe watching Lilo and Stitch not so quietly. The younger siblings came chasing after us, wanting to go where all the excitement was.
The dining room was set just as we had planned and Grandpa was already sitting at one of the heads of the table. Grandma Jess was sitting in the middle next to Aunt Marty who was busy pouring herself a new glass of champagne. Auntie Aubrey was placed a bowl of mashed potatoes on the table and then turned to see her two kids standing next to us watching the scene in front of us.
"Are you four going to sit and do nothing or are you going to join us for dinner?" She asked. Just then I felt two arms cross behind me and lift me in the air making me shriek and hit the arms around my waist.
"Daniel-let-go-of-me!" I heard him laugh and then drop me. I turned to see that he was there, his tie not even tied up and his hair a mess. Amelia chuckled and proceeded to hug him in hello while I just rolled my eyes and walked off to the table, sitting next to both grandmothers.
"Oh lovely. I get to sit next to my favorite granddaughter." Grandma Marina stated happily as she turned to look at me. I smiled meekly and then turned to my mother who had just found her seat at the head of the table on the other side. Dad was walking in holding another bottle of champagne to my Aunt Marty's delight. Her husband, David, sat next to her chatting to my grandfather while Auntie Aubrey and Uncle George each had a hand on one of the younger cousins, trying to coax them into sitting in their seats.
"I don't want too!" Joe yelled making a small smile appear on my face which I quickly hid by taking a sip of my champagne.
Once everyone had found a seat, my dad stood up and raised a glass. Here came the toast.
"I think we can all agree that it is very nice to have the whole family here for this thanksgiving. It will be different next year with new cousins and our children being a year older, some even going to college, so I want to take this time to say thank you all and Happy Thanksgiving!"
We all rose a glass and replied in a monotone: "Happy Thanksgiving before taking a sip of our drinks, or in Joe and Colleen's case, a race to see who can drink all their apple juice the fastest before the adults lower their glasses. They called this "taking shots".
*Jade POV*
The living room was in an utter up roar. Once we walked down the stairs it took no time for my entire family to notice Ivy's choice in foot wear. My stupid brother made it his mission to make everyone notice by screaming, making both Uncle Cody and Sam stare at him concerned. But who cares about that when my mother decided to come marching up to the stairs, demanding Ivy to go upstairs and change.
"I said no pink Ivy."
"It's only a little bit mom."
"I said no."
"Too bad. I'm wearing them." Ivy walked down the rest of the stairs and then marched over to wine area where she poured herself a glass.
"I like your shoes, Ivy." Sara commented making Ivy smile and turn back to her mom.
"See, even Aunt Sara likes them, mom." She said in her aggressive nature, making my mother glare daggers at Rob to do something. Unfortunately for my dad, he was still clueless about the problem.
The twins on the other hand were busy again now trying to find new ways to "compliment" Ivy's shoes.
"Your footwear is the work of demons!"
"I would sell your footwear for a fraction of the cost."
"I would destroy your footwear and paint it black!"
"Your eyes do not match your footwear."
"Shut the fuck up." Ivy replied making Mr. and Mrs. Landrith gasp in shock and turn to their son.
"You let your daughter curse like that Robert?"
"Who the fuck is Robert?" Zoë commented from the other side of the room making Mrs. Landrith gasp again. Dad was turning very red while Mom looked like she was about to commit Filicide.
"Dinner is Ready!" Grandma called out, entering the living room massacre. She paused and frowned at the ongoing commotion.
"I'm sorry. Am I missing something?"
"Yes." Both girl twins stated before linking arms with their concerned grandmother and bringing her back into the kitchen.
The room was unnaturally quiet.
"Well you heard the woman. The food is served! Everyone get some while you still can!" Uncle Cody called out, causing both him and the twin boys to go racing toward the kitchen, causing both Sara and Beth to face palm.
It took awhile but after some hustle and bustle and a lot of shoving and pulling hair and even an occasional slamming of the heal against foot, everyone was able to find a seat at the table. And by that I mean all the adults were able to sit at one table and all of the children sat at the horrid children's table. Thankfully we all liked each other enough to sit together.
Now you may be thinking that as the Emerson blood courses through our veins, the children table must be down right hell. Unfortunately, you are wrong. The adult table would have been a normal table had alcohol not been introduced to the setting.
But of course, it was and so now my mother was ranting about the demonic color pink to Sara who was trying very hard to butter a roll in piece while Zoë sat next to her talking to loudly to her mother about how she plans on auditioning for the new horror film "Bloody Gorilla" if her old plans to go shooting for her friends bridesmaid shower falls through which she thinks it will due to how stupid the pair is. Eddie sat next to Zoë, nervously twiddling his thumbs like a kindergartner while he sat next to Mr. and Mrs. Landrith who were just hearing from the Clarks sitting across from them that the only way to survive this was to get drunk.
My dad sat at the end trying to make a toast but obviously failing. Grandma was considering what Zoë was saying with a grain of salt and was actually in the middle of drinking her glass of wine.
Cody sat across from Sara and was in the middle of egging Elle on about the color pink and how he would love to dye his hair that same shade of pink, thus causing Elle to go red and Sara to go redder.
At the kid table however, we all were discussing how to kidnap Lucy and Danial.
"I say we leave now while everyone is busy fighting." Aria stated. A majority of us agreed but both twins refused saying they wanted to finish their food first.
"Why don't some of us go and the rest of us act like normal so that it does not draw suspicion to the adults. Then they can come back here and enjoy the food with us!" Clary exclaimed.
"If that's the case then I have to be one of the people to get them. I want to see Danial." Ivy commented.
"If we are getting Lucy, then I'm going of course." I stated. The others nodded.
"Well in order to get into the house, you will need my beautiful masterminded self." Ben stated cocky. This was met with silence from the table.
"Oh come on." Ben stated in reply to the silence.
"I'm sorry to tell you this Ben, but you are not-" Beth was cut off by the sound of breaking glass and silence from the adult table. We all looked over to see Eddie standing up nervously.
"What the fuck is he doing?" Scar whispered loud enough for Mr. Landrith to turn in his seat and glare at us.
"That guy hates us." Sam muttered.
"Isn't he your grandfather?" Beth commented. The Landrith kids (me included) shrugged.
"I-uh I have an announcement to make. And I thought it would be best if I make it in front of all of you." He started very nervously.
"Ten bucks he asks Zoë to marry him." Ivy said quietly making the twins turn to Ivy with wide eyes.
"No way in hell is he that stupid." Sam muttered. Ben nodded in agreement. Ivy gave them a knowing smile making both twins bet ten dollars in return.
"Zoë, ever since I've met you I have been such an idiot to not ask you from the beginning."
"Oh fuck she's right." Sam muttered but Ben was not convinced. I was staring wide eyed at Zoë who was smiling up at him encouragingly.
"Zoë Sophia Emerson will you marry me?"
And just like that the entire room went into hell mode once again as Zoë, who was in tears of joy, said yes, and Grandma started crying and Elle stood up with a whole bottle of red wine in her hands in cheers.
Cody was clapping like mad and Sara was smiling warmly while the Landriths and the Clarks awkwardly clapped, not sure what to do.
Rob was just happy that he didn't have to do another toast.
And Eddie looked like he was about to pass out.
On the kids table, Sam and Ben were cursing to high heaven while Ivy was waiting for them to pay up. Aria and the twin girls were dancing in their seats, clapping. I just sat there. Feeling happy for Zoë and concerned for my mother.
Beth turned to me from where she sat and pointed toward the door.
"Now is your chance to get Lucy." The twins and Ivy heard this and quickly, with me in tow, we ran to the door and raced out of the house.
*Lucy POV*
I liked Thanksgiving like any other person. But the one thing I never really enjoyed was being in the middle of two conflicting conversations and not sure which discussion to join. One grandmother was talking about her old career as a ballerina while my other grandmother was talking about her back.
Great. How fascinating.
Danial who sat in front of me was eating away, not sure what else to do. Amelia was sitting next to him, talking to Auntie Aubrey about her college and the new teacher she has that is supposedly an asshole.
Lovely.
I ripped apart another roll and was in the middle of buttering it when I heard Danial make an obnoxious cough. I looked up and saw him looking at me wide eyed and then at the window behind Grandad's chair. I turned to look and saw four creepy faces smiling at me.
The Landrith kids: aka the twins and Ivy and Jade.
My mother, who sat at the opposite end of the table saw them too and nearly dropped her fork in shock. Both Danial and I turned to our mom and made puppy dog eyes. She sighed and looked at Dad, not sure whether to interrupt him from his deep discussion with his father about why teaching ballet is better then middle schoolers. Finally mom decided to keep it to herself and she nodded at the pair of us.
Danial elbowed Amelia and together the three of us excused ourselves from the table and quickly snuck out of the kitchen door.
They were waiting for us in the back.
"Who are you?" Ben asked, eyeing Amelia who came only because she has heard about our loving Landrith family, and wanted to meet them.
"Amelia. I'm their cousin." Ben gave off one of his charming smiles making both Jade and me cross our arms and roll our eyes at him. Sam saw this and laughed.
"Look at you, you fat tard!" Ivy commented, hugging Daniel who laughed and after seeing the bright neon pink shoes, started going off about her sudden change in clothing.
"You look like a wannabe lawyer." Jade stated, as she slowly looked at me. I smiled.
"And you look just like a normal hot topic model." She smirked.
"Glad we got that out of the way, now who want's to hear all about the emerson drama from thanksgiving?"
"Are they all drunk like skunks?" Danial asked. The Landrith kids nodded.
"Yeah and Zoë was proposed too and she said yes." Ivy continued.
"To Eddie?" I asked. Jade nodded.
"I thought he was vegan. How is he going to survive your household?"
The Landrith kids laughed evilly.
"He won't."