I woke up early that winters morning to the sight of presents under the tree. Dad and Papa told me to sleep on the couch in case I get woken up by Santa. Santa did not wake me up by accident because he isn't stupid, and I know Santa doesn't exist. However, that's far beyond the point.
I rub my eyes as I pull the blanket off of my self and place my feet on the carpeted floor. The video of a fireplace on the living room television crackled, creating the only noise, other than my own breathing, in the room. I quietly walk upstairs and knock on my parent's bedroom door. "Come in." I hear yelled, yet muffled by the thick wooden door. I quietly open the door to reveal my parents laying in bed, completely exhausted.
"It's christmas!" I yell as I run and jump into their bed between them.
Rian yawns, "Yup." He says very unenthusiastically.
"Papa, it's my first Christmas in years," I explain, "I stopped getting gifts when I became too old for Toys For Tots."
"No, now you're gonna make me sad." Alex chimes in.
"It's christmas we shouldn't be sad." Rian says as he sits up and stretches.
"Yeah, now let's go downstairs so I can open my presents." I demand as I hop off the bed.
Alex laughs at my antics. I race downstairs with my fathers trailing slowly behind me. I sit on the carpeted floor in front of the tree and stare eagerly at each of the neatly wrapped gifts just waiting for me to tare open.
"Which one should I open first?" ask.
"Any of the light rectangular ones." Alex informs me as he takes a seat on the couch.
I pick up a light weighted rectangular box and rip it open without mercy. The box it's self was Christmas themed, a simple design with Santa on the front of it. I peeled the scotch tape off the side of the box and opened it to see a long sleeved t-shirt. It was an All Time Low shirt. I've never seen this design before on any of their shirts.
"It's our new concert merch." Alex explains as if he was able to read my thoughts.
The sleeves had writing on them and the back had a skeleton hand holding up the middle finder with a blue flame coming out of it. underneath the hand was song lyrics.
"Oh my god, I love it!" I say excitedly.
I move on to more presents, all the boxes Dad said to open first were clothes. I couldn't find any more clothes boxes so I moved onto a larder rectangle box that seemed heavier. I opened it to see a stack of canvases. The next box is full of really nice Liquitex acrylic paints and paint brushes. They must have cost a fortune. I pick up a smaller rectangular box and unwrap the gift. It was the new iPhone. My eyes nearly popped out of my skull, my gifts must have cost a fortune. I move on to another box that seemed significantly heavier than the rest of the boxes. I opened it to see a cardboard box. I clawed at the packing tape that was refusing to allow me entrance into the box that contained my Christmas gift. Rian handed me his keys and I took them gratefully, using the strong metal as leverage to rip the tape off. When I am granted access to my gift I open the box. It takes my brain a moment to register the contents of the box. It was a brand new mac book.
"This is way too expensive!" I yell in disbelief.
"The mac book?" Rian asks.
"All of it!" I say filled with guilt.
"You're worth every penny." Rian says with a warm smile.
"No, you guys bought way too much for me!" I reply.
"We wanted your first Christmas with us very special." Alex chimes in.
"It already is special, I'm here with you two, my family." I say as I tear up. I get up and hug my two parents.
After a moment or two I pull away as Rian begins speaking again, "That's not all."
I bite my lip and glance back at the tree not seeing any more boxes. "there is nothing left." I inform them as I furrow my brow.
"Lets show her, 'Lex." He says as he looks to Alex.
They get up and lead me upstairs, stopping at my bedroom door. I look at them curiously, Alex turns the brass knob and pushes it open revealing my very own drum set. My eyes widen in pure shock. "No!" I yell as I think of how expensive that item alone must have been.
"Yup." Rian says with a bright smile.
"How do you even have money left?" I say in pure shock.
The question was rhetorical so I turn and give them both a tight hug. "I love you both so much." I say as my eyes water.
"We love you too baby girl." Alex replies.
When I release them from my death grip I turn back to the drum set in utter disbelief. The drums were black with contrasting white drum heads. The stool was black, fake, leather that matched the black shell of the drums.
"I have a gift for you two." I say as I remember what I had previously been working on. I walk over to my desk and pull out my piece of drawing paper. The drawing was of Alex, Rian, and I, the drawing was not completely in a cartoon style but it was not completely in the style of realism. It was depicting us as a happy family, we are a happy family.
I proudly show my two fathers my artwork with a smile. "It's amazing." Alex says happily.
"You're so good at drawing." Rian praises me.
"Thanks." I say softly.
"We should frame it." Alex says fondly.
"Let's hang it in the entryway so that way all of our guests will see it immediately." Rian suggests happily.
"Then we hang our family photos around it that we collect." Alex adds.
"Oh, I love that idea." Rian informs.
"It'll be our happy family wall." Alex smiles at the idea.
"Okay, let's go get your stocking before we get too sidetracked, we have plans for today." Rian informs as he ushers us down the stairs.
A new pair of drum sticks are sticking out of the stocking, "Nice." I say as I pull them out to examine them. Next I dump the contents of my stocking out on the coffee table. I sift through the candy to see what I have.
"What are we doing today?" I ask curiously.
"We're gonna go see my parents." Alex informs with a smile.
"I get to meet my grandparents?" I ask excitedly.
"Of course." Alex says as if this should be common knowledge.
"What about your parents Papa?" I ask as I look up at Rian.
"Well-" He trails off nervously.
"They don't want to meet me?" I ask as my face drops.
"No, no, no, it's not you, they would love you, they just don't approve of me and Alex." Rian informs me, "You'll meet them, I'm sure, just not today is all."
"Okay." I say semi-sadly.
"Go get your jacket then we'll leave." Alex says as he puts his arm around Rian's shoulder comfortingly.
I run upstairs and pick up my Pierce The Veil sweatshirt, pulling it over my head and looking in the mirror. I look like a whole homeless man, that's okay because I'm comfortable. I run back downstairs to see Alex twirling his keys around his index finger and Rian standing by the door waiting for me. "Ready?" He asks.
"Yup." I say excitedly.
We leave the house and get into Alex's car. It's a short drive until we get to my grandparents' house. I open the car door as all of the hot air escapes the vehicle, I step into the light snow covering the sidewalk and smile at the thought of playing in the snow. Alex leads us up to the front door before knocking three times. After a moment of waiting the door swings open to reveal a tall elderly woman in the doorway. Her soft smile brightens into one of pure joy as she greets us and ushers us into the warm house.
"Alex, sweet heart it so good to see you." She hugs him tightly before giving Rian a hug, "You must be Stella." She says as she looks down at me. She pulls me into a big hug. "Peter, get in here!" She shouts through the house.
A minute later a shorter man walks into the room, "Oh, hello kids." He smiles at us all.
"Oh, come, follow me we have presents for you." Grandma says as she walks into the living room.
In the corner of the living room stood a fake tree with fake snow on it, decorated in golden ornaments and garlands. The color scheme of the tree created an elegant atmosphere in the room. Alex and Rian took a seat on opposite sides of the small couch, I took a seat in the space between them and waited.
"Here," Grandma said as she handed each of us a similarly shaped box with mostly white Christmas wrapping paper and a golden ribbon wrapped around it to match the decorations. "You three can open those first." She smiles.
"Ma, I thought you were only getting Stella gifts." Alex says.
"I couldn't resist, it was too perfect." She informs.
Alex raises a curious eyebrow before all three of us tare into our gifts. Underneath the paper was a plain white box, when I opened the box I pulled out a Christmas sweater. The sleeves were green and red striped and the rest of the shirt was plain white, on the front of the sweater was a Christmas tree with real jingle bell ornaments that made a sound when you shook it.
It was the ugliest sweater I have ever seen but I absolutely loved it, Alex and Rian had matching sweaters, I feel a family photo opportunity coming, "I love it!" I say happily as I take off my sweatshirt and slip the new sweater over my tank top. "It's perfect!"I say proudly.
"I'm glad you liked it, sweety." Grandma smiles.
I end up opening more gifts, mainly clothes they thought I might like but also nail polish, a lot of nail polish. They were typical Grandparent gifts, exactly what you'd expect, but I was beyond grateful none the less.
We spent hours talking and getting to my grandparents before Alex declared that it was time to leave. Alex was right, it seemed like it may be getting dark soon. We said our goodbyes before leaving the house and driving home.
When we arrive home I let out an exhausted sigh as I collapse on the cousch, "I'm tired." I complain.
"It's not even late." Alex laughs.
"It late." I reply. Our mini conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Who could that be?" I say dramatically as Rian makes his way to the door.
"Hey, Jack." Rian says happily as he opens the door.
Jack and Rian walk into the living room where I was wallowing on the couch. "Hey kid, I brought you gifts." He says as he holds up a small rectangular gift and a long cylinder tube held together with a rubber band. Jack hands me the items and I pull the rubber band off of the gift because it was easiest. I unrolled the paper to see that it was a large All Time Low poster.
I laugh at the gift, "Of course it is." I say before setting it aside to open the small box. The gift was a brand new deck of fresh, crisp, cards. "Nice!" I say happily. "Thank, Jack." I say before giving him a hug. Another knock on the door caught our attention, this time Alex was the one to answer the door.
"Hey, Zack." Alex says as he lets him in.
Zack and Alex walk into the living room. Zack was holding posters in his hands. "I bring gifts!" He announces.
Zack hands me the two posters and I unroll them. The first poster is a Pierce The Veil poster and the second one is a Sleeping With Sirens poster. Both posters were signed by the bands themselves.
"Oh my god, how!" I yell as I examine the scribbly signatures.
"Friends of mine." He shrugs. "Merry Christmas." He smiles at me.