"Daddy! Daddy! Get up, it's Christmas! Santa was here!"
My eyes open slowly. I peer at the clock. Six o'clock am. That's an hour later than last year, at least.
"I'm up, I'm up," I mutter. I close my eyes for a moment, but tiny hands pull at my arm and I'm forced to get up before she hurts herself. "Okay, Charlie, I'm up!" I laugh.
I hop out of bed, pulling my little four year old into my arms and tickling her. She giggles with delight, her spirit and eyes matching that of her father's.
"Where's your brother?" I ask her, carrying her out into the living room. She shrugs simply, her excitement overtaking anything else.
Her hair is blonde like Axel's, but it's long for her age. She won't let us cut it, so it's passed her bum. Axel braids it so it's not always in her way. Right now, it's laying messily by her sides.
She tells me to let her down when she sees the Christmas tree and the presents underneath, and I do as I'm told. She rushes to the tree, but I stop her before she touched the gifts.
"Charlotte, no opening gifts until we're all here. You know the rules."
"Sorry, Daddy."
I smile. "That's alright, precious."
I trudge into the kitchen, patting down my messy hair, and find Axel standing at the cupboard and taking out the children's cereal. I walk over and hug him from behind.
"Good morning," he says groggily.
" 'Morning." I look at the cereal box and add, "You know, they're not going to eat that. They're just going to eat chocolate and sweets all morning."
He sighs, but there's a smile on his face. "I was hoping they'd have a real breakfast before all the junk."
"Oh yeah, and Fruit Loops are so nutritious."
"Shut up, it's better than chocolate and candy canes. And besides, you lived on Fruit Loops in University."
"So what, I was poor and stupid."
Axel shakes his head, turning around to face me. "Bullshit," he whispers so the kids won't hear him swear.
"Oh," I tease. "You said a bad word!"
He shuts me up with a kiss, then slips past me and into the living room.
"Get Caleb!" I call after him.
"Yeah, yeah!" He replies. I grin.
I trot back into the living room and the second I sit down, Charlotte curls up on my lap. It seems she never leaves my lap and arms. She loves to cuddle.
"Can we open our presents yet, Daddy?" She asks, burying her tired face in my neck.
"Not yet, precious. Not until Caleb and Papa get here."
Before we got Caleb and Charlotte, me and Axel argued back and forth on what they would call us. We decided it would be Dad, and Papa, but we didn't know how to decide who would be what. So, extremely last minute, Axel decided the roll of Papa should be bestowed upon him, and I agreed. I could never pull off "Papa".
Holly was our surrogate. The doctor told us that, with the procedure he was using, it would be unlikely to even have one baby, and we were lucky enough to get two.
Caleb and Axel walk in, Caleb half asleep in his arms. Caleb isn't an early riser like Charlotte, but little Charlie never did like to sleep.
We have our own house now, which is no surprise being that we're a married couple with two four year olds.
"Is it present time now, Daddy?" Charlotte asks the second she saw her brother and Axel enter the room.
"Yes, precious, now you can open your gifts."
She squealed with delight and hopped off my lap onto the floor. Axel sat down on the floor beside her, keeping Caleb in his arms.
"Caleb, want Papa to help you open your presents?" He offers, but Caleb shakes his head. He reaches out and grabs a gift, reading over the label to make sure it's for him. He's quite good at reading so far. He's not even in kindergarten, but he's reading at an above kindergarten level. Charlotte knows the basics, but she isn't as interested in reading as Caleb.
Caleb looks more like me. He has brown hair, but it's curly and floppy. He doesn't like haircuts either, but he gets them from time to time, because he doesn't like the feeling of hair in his eyes more.
They open their gifts with delight. Charlotte got some Barbie's, and a dollhouse, and a few Barbie movies. She's loved Barbie's more than anything since she got one from Mia's old collection.
Caleb got items that have less than nothing to do with each other. He got a few Disney movies, an adorable monster making kit (you know, the one you had as a child with the goop that you put into molds and stuff? They looked gross, but they were like your children), and one of those doll heads that come with makeup, and nail polish, and hair stuff. I thought it looked terrifying, but Axel said that's what he wanted, and I wasn't going to question it.
I understand that he wants it to do makeup and stuff, but why is it just a head? That's just scary. I'll never be able to look in my children's room again without nightmares. I wonder how many times Charlotte will have to sleep in me and Axel's room to escape that doll head.
They both cheer with happiness with every gift they open, but I know they'd still be appreciative if they got an apple each for Christmas. These kids are absolute angels, and they'd be happy to get anything at all.
After the gifts were opened, Charlotte and Caleb run to me.
"Daddy! Will you thank Santa for us?" Calebs big eyes staring at me melts my heart.
"Of course. Did you like your presents?"
"Yes! Yes! Will you help us open the boxes?"
Stupid kids toy boxes. They wrap them up so much, I have scars on my hand from trying to open a remote teddy bear. How is a child supposed to open it without losing a hand entirely?
"Sure."
I get a pair of scissors from the kitchen and return to try and open the toy boxes for them.
Trying to pry open a Doctor Barbie, I cut my thumb.
"Oh, shoot!" I say, automatically censoring myself. Axel stifles a laugh. "You laugh at my pain?"
"You big baby. I'll get you a bandaid." He stands, and despite my thumb, I continue to pry the Barbie from its casing. I hand the doll to Charlotte and she thanks me, looking over her toy in pure joy.
Axel returns a moment later with a Scooby Doo bandaid in his hand. I tilt my head at him and smirk.
"We don't have any other bandaids other than Scooby Doo?"
"We do. Did you want Dora The Explorer?"
I sigh, holding up my hand.
"Give me Scooby."
Axel chuckles, sticking the bandaid on my thumb and kissing it. "There. All better."
"No, Papa, you didn't do it right!" Charlotte protests, causing me and Axel to exchange an amused look.
"Okay, Charlie. Show Papa how you make it better," Axel replies, adoration in his eyes.
Charlotte takes my hand and kisses the bandaid covering my thumb.
"All better," I say. "Thank you, precious."
"Papa!" Caleb whines, rubbing his eyes. "Can I go back to sleepy?"
Axel smiles and swipes Caleb off his feet. "Sure, sweets. Charlie, want to go back to bed until we have to go to Poppy and Nanny's?"
"Okay, Papa."
Charlotte follows Axel and Caleb off to bed, while I clean up the mess from the wrapping paper. Only one toy box was opened before the two got too tired. Last year we woke up an hour earlier and got three gifts open. Then again, they were still rambunctious toddlers. Now, they're almost hellraising kindergarteners.
Axel walks back into the room and collapses on the couch.
"Six AM," he mumbles tiredly. I chuckle, cleaning up the last of the garbage. "Too early to function."
"Better than last year," I comment. Axel nods in agreement.
"Come on, I want to go back to sleep." He gets up, pulling me along back into our room. He immediately flops in bed. I laugh at him, but find myself yawning, and lie down too. "What time are we supposed to go to mom and dad's?"
"Not until two o'clock."
"Thank God."
He curls up until under the covers and I do too. He buries his head in my shoulder and closes his eyes.
"Goodnight, my love. Merry Christmas."
I kiss his forehead softly. "Merry Christmas. I love you."
"I love you, too."