The morning of December twenty-sixth, I am woken up at half past seven. Normally, this would make me rather irritated and quite grumpy, but there is a special exception because of who it is that is waking me up. Ophelia.
I wake up at the sound of her repetitive, angelic, high-pitched barks and at first I forget that she really exists. I thought the whole thing was a dream!
After a quick stretch, I throw a coat and shoes on because there's rain even this early in the morning. Given, it's not nearly as hard as it was yesterday but still evident nonetheless.
Outside, it's cold, like really cold. But little Ophelia doesn't seem to mind at all. I take her on a decent walk around the fields where she tries to nibble on some of the grapes. Gross. No.
I swear she could spend hours out here despite the steady sprinkle of rain. Nothing seems to bother her as she trots from place to place sniffing anything and everything she comes across. When she's finally had enough (an entire thirty minutes later), the two of us head back inside.
A grand amount of time is spent drying her off, during which she swats at my hands and nibbles on them. It doesn't hurt, in fact I find the entire thing quite adorable and hilarious. After giving Ophelia some food in her bowl in the kitchen I quickly jog up my stairs to put my coat away.
As I'm hanging it up, I hear my phone go off with the Face Time ringtone. It's Dylan. Nope. My face at 8:49am? Nope. Ignored. Love you, babe.
Wondering how he has enough energy to Face Time right now, I go to text him but I'm interrupted by him calling again. Rejected. Before I am able to finished typing out my message, he sends me one first.
From: Dylan O'Bae♥, 8:52am
Anita Anita Anita, I know you're awake because you REJECTED the call!!!!
Dylan Dylan Dylan, it is before 10am therefore I am so not cute rn. U don't wanna see this face
What are you talking about; 1, school starts at 7:30am and you're always looking beautiful at school so your argument is invalid there; 2, you are always cute regardless of the time so your argument is even more invalid; 3, we've woken up side by side in the morning several times, so basically your argument sucks
Sometimes I wish u were dumb, did u know that???
No, but I'm sure you don't mean it.
I mean every word I've ever said, ever
So even that time I kept tickling you and you told me you hated me?
Ok maybe not e v e r y word but basically
Just freaking answer the call, I wanna see your faaaace!
No ):<
:o
(:
Fine, maybe I just won't give you your present later today...
What present!?! DYLAN
What?!
TELL ME YOU DIDN'T GET ME A PRESENT
Why wouldn't I?!
YOU TOOK ME TO FREAKING DISNEYLAND, WTF
:) See you at two, babe ♥
...You ever just wanna smack somebody? This boy... No... Why would he get me another Christmas gift? I mean, yeah, that's super sweet, but he already spent like a million dollars taking me to Disneyland.
The most the gift can cost is like five bucks. If it's any more than that, I will lose my cool. Not sure if he should be scared or not but I tell him to be anyway. His reply? "You're not that scary Anita, sorry".
~
My grandparents eat breakfast with me and my parents while we reminisce on last night and past Christmases as well. I talk and laugh, and even listen more than I eat, because pancakes are not something I want, no matter how good they smell.
Ophelia sits at my feet the entire meal. I'm not sure if it's because she wants my food or she just loves me. Either way, I'm not fighting it; her body heat and fur are warming up my feet pretty nicely.
After breakfast is finished, I put the dishes away on my own accord. I watch Jeopardy in the living room with my grandparents where my grandfather somehow gets basically every answer correct.
My grandfather and my parents watch an old Christmas movie. I have previously informed my parents that my friends are coming over later, but when I tell Nonna, she decides we should make some cookies for them.
So in our most lovely kitchen, Nonna and I bake cookies. Something that deserves to be announced: I am aloud to help in the kitchen when baking! Regular cooking, Anita is a no-no. But baking, Anita can do whatever she wants. In fact, I like to think I'm a pretty fair baker.
The two of us make chocolate chip cookies this time. And we make a lot of them. Sixty, to be exact. According to my Nonna, the more the merrier! And if there are extras then they'll be extra Christmas presents.
Italians just like making a lot of food, but her logic works, too.
When all the cookies are finished baking, we watch the rest of the movie with the others. I was hoping to enjoy it, but sadly I don't get very into it. Maybe because I only got to see the last fifteen minutes. Oh well. Once it ends at half past noon, my grandparents leave off. We all bid them goodbye (even Ophelia!) as they drive off in the Winter drizzle.
Mom disappears off to a Christmas party with her co-workers where she takes two expertly-wrapped presents and a tray of store-bought cookies with green and red sprinkles on them.
Just Daddio and I. And Ophelia. Dad takes to cleaning up the kitchen where my little puppy follows him, much to his joy. Meanwhile, I head up the stairs to get ready for my friends to come over.
Before I head into the shower, I decide to call the man of the hour. I don't what makes him the man of the hour, I just like to refer to him as such. After several rings, my boyfriend picks up his phone.
"Well look who decided to come crawling back to me," he says humorously.
"Maybe I just won't call you anymore, ever."
"Hey, I was joking."
"So was I. Anyway, when are you getting here?"
"I thought we agreed on two? Remember? You said you wanted me to come a little before the others."
"Yes, I remember good and well."
There's a moment of silence before he says, "Actually, is it okay if I come a little earlier?"
I furrow my brow, "Why would you do that?"
"I'm gonna pretend you don't sound so opposed to seeing me sooner..."
"Dylan, I just wanna know--"
"I know, take a joke, little one! But really, I just feel like seeing you sooner."
"But I haven't even showered yet. I still have to get ready!"
"Better hurry up!", he says cheerfully. "Got thirty minutes!"
The line goes silent.
I map out my time. After some quick calculations in my mind, I figure I have about nine minutes to take my shower if I'm going to be entirely ready before he gets here. Since when does Anita Burns take nine-minute showers? Since NEVER, that's when.
I'll still try to be as quick as possible. I grab my clothes and makeup and take them into my bathroom with me. Time-saver, see? Barely makes a difference, but I'll take every second I can get.
Christmas songs are still sang in the shower. Even the day after, I'm feeling the Holiday spirit. Basically it's still Christmas until December thirty-first, in my book. I wash myself and my hair as fast as I can manage, and I'm out of the shower in record time.
Even though I was significantly quicker than I normally am, the timer I set says I've only got eleven minutes... Oops. I wrap my warm towel around myself and blow dry my hair straight as quickly as humanly possible. It gets thrown into the usual style in haste but still looks pretty good.
Next makeup, makeup, makeup. Sometimes the process of getting ready is so tedious that I don't feel like doing it, but I always engage in it anyway. Eye shadow, eye liner, done! When I'm in the process of applying mascara, I hear it.
The front door being thrown open by my boyfriend. So maybe I gave him a key... In a hurried manner, I finish with the freaking Mascara as I hear him climb the stairs. Now I can hear him in my room.
"Anita?", he calls out. "Anitaaa?"
I walk out from the bathroom, "Stop whining, I'm right he-"
"OH MY GOD!", he says suddenly, looking entirely stunned at my presence.
"What?! What's wrong?!", I look around wildly.
"Put some clothes on!"
That's what this is about?! I smile, "Why do you sound so against the idea of me without clothes on?"
"Because you're just... Why aren't you dressed?!", he asks in a hushed, distressed, and somewhat harsh tone. He seems to be obviously focusing on staring me directly in the eye.
"I told you I still had to take a shower!"
"Yeah, like thirty minutes ago!"
"Again, why does this bother you so much?", I can't stop grinning for some reason. There's got to be a logical explanation behind this.
He starts to walk to the far side of my room, "You did this on purpose, didn't you? Please just put some clothes on."
A wicked smile stretches across my face, "Not until you give me a hug!"
"Anita, no!"
"Why not?!"
"Maybe because you're only wearing a towel?", he gives me a "duh" look.
"If you give me a hug, I'll go put my clothes on."
"No, stop. Go get dressed."
I stretch my arms out in front of me, "Hug."
He simply shakes his head as I walk towards him.
"Come on!", I say, standing a few feet from him. "Dylaaan, the towel is falling." It's not.
His eyebrows seems to rise a million miles up, and he quickly dares a glance down at my body before returning his eyes to my own, "Stop it!"
"Then hug me!"
"Fine!"
In a quick manner he brings me into him and hugs me very briefly before lightly pushing me away from him again.
He shoos me away with his hands, "Now go!"
I smirk at him as I back away into the bathroom, "I'm going, I'm going. You sure you don't want a better look before I get my clothes on?"
"Stop it, you're such an evil girl."
"Still slightly confused as to why this is such a problem for you," I call from my bathroom.
"There's just some things you can't prepare yourself for, Anita," he calls back from my bedroom.
I poke my head out from the bathroom door, "Does this, like, make you nervous the same way it does when I'm 'a certain kind of pretty'?"
He merely points at me to validate my speculation.
A laugh escapes me, "Love you!"
~
Now fully dressed and ready for the day, I plop down onto my bed alongside my boyfriend. He's reading some article about a new species of frogs that was discovered in South America, on his phone. At my reappearance, he tucks his phone away and turns to stare me sternly. I smile up at him innocently before pursing my lips, waiting for my kiss.
"No kisses until you promise me something," he tells me with a serious expression.
I cross my arms over my chest, "What am I promising?"
"Never do that to me again!"
"It's not like I did it on purpose!"
"It sure seemed like it!"
"Well I promise that I didn't."
He grabs my hands, "Okay, okay, just promise me you will not do it again. At least not while your freaking dad is home."
I giggle before a gigantic smirk reaches my face, "Is that why this was such a problem for you? Because my dad is home?"
"No, you don't know anything."
"You just told me!"
"Ssh," he hushes before pulling me in close to him. "Just promise me."
"I promise, now kisses."
I purse my lips again before he kisses me once, then again, then again. And then one more time on top of my head. Suddenly a brilliant idea crosses my mind.
"Baby, I think it's time for you to meet someone!", I tell him with a bright smile full of excitement.
He suddenly looks incredibly confused and for some reason worried as his hold on me tightens, "Who am I meeting?"
"Ophelia!", I cheer.
"Oh!", he says, relaxing. "For some reason my imagination went crazy and I thought you were introducing me to some other guy."
"Yeah, no. Your imagination is certainly crazy."
"Okay, so where's little Ophelia?"
"I have to go get her, duh."
"Hurry back," Dylan notes as I walk out into the hallway. "I'll miss you."
Less than five minutes later and I'm heading back into my room with my precious little angel in my arms. She licks wildly at my hands until she spots Dylan on my bed and begins barking wildly.
Meanwhile, his face lights up and the largest of grins emits from him as he takes in all that is Ophelia. I set her down on my bed whereupon her nonthreatening barking ceases.
I watch as she trots up to Dylan and tilts her head at him in an adorable manner. Her tiny black nose sniffs him for what seems like an eternity before she apparently decides he's good news. Her blonde head nudges one of his large hands. He takes the hint and laughs a little as he pets her head.
"She's so soft!", he says, looking at her in adoration. Wonder if he ever looks at me that way.
"I know!", I muse back. "Isn't she the cutest thing?"
"Besides you, yes," he says quietly before picking her up. She licks his face a million miles an hour which causes him to laugh.
You know what's more precious than your adorable boyfriend holding your adorable puppy? That's right, nothing. I could watch the two of them all day. In fact, maybe I'll record a video of them together and loop it all day.
"Ophelia," I say to her as I scratch her little ears. She looks very content in Dylan's arms. That makes two of us. "This is yo daddy."
He smiles widely at me now, "I'm the daddy!?"
"Who else would it be?! Honestly, it's only logic."
"Hear that, little one?", he says, looking her right in the eye. "You and I are family now. Ohana."
"Where did Ohana come from?", I ask, slightly laughing.
"Ohana means family! Everyone knows that!"
"I know, but it.. just... None of us are Hawaiian!"
He gives me a funny look, "We are now. Ohana."
I look at Dylan and Ophelia sitting across from me on my bed and smile. "Ohana," I echo.
~
"THE PARTY HAS ARRIVED!", Adrian yells upon entering my home.
"I think the party needs to tone it down a notch," Dylan says with a laugh.
"Turn down for what?", he laughs in return.
Right on cue comes little Ophelia, trying to bark at them in order to warn them that this is her territory. Rather than be terrified, Naomi and Adrian "aw" in unison before bending down to say hello to her.
"Aw, it's the wittle baby!", Naomi coos. "I got you a present too, woof woof!"
Out of a tall bag with Santa Claus's all over it, Naomi pulls a rather large bone and outstretches it for my puppy to take. Ophelia takes one look at it and grasps it in her mouth before happily walking away with the merry wag of her tail.
My three friends and I congregate in the living room where I previously set Christmas music to play. The atmosphere is just as jolly and comfortable as it was yesterday, if not more. It's pretty amazing how I feel more at home and surrounded by family with my three best friends than my actual family.
Naomi and Dylan team up for the brief present distribution while Adrian and I get cookies, milk, brownies, pudding, and caramel corn from the kitchen. Now we're all ready to go! Collectively, we decide to each open our presents one at a time. We all like to relish in people's reactions to our gifts.
We make Naomi go first but she doesn't seem to mind that fact at all. From her boyfriend is a gigantic basket filled with pretty roses, her favorite candies in King Sizes, a dozen bottles of perfume and lotion, three of her favorite movies, new pajama's, a large stuffed polar bear, and apparently a $100 gift card to Victoria's Secret with a note that says "A present for both of us *wink wink*".
From good old Dylan, Naomi receives a travel-size thesaurus that she apparently asked for, the soundtrack from a French film she really likes, a bag of carrots which is apparently some running joke between the two of them, and all six seasons of Gossip Girl on DVD, which makes her squeal in excitement. He did pretty well.
I gave her a new dance big filled with dance clothes I thought she might enjoy, a Mickey Mouse plushy from Disneyland, an array of phone cases, a giant jar of Nutella, some jewelry, and a lovely handmade card with my favorite selfie of ours on the front of it.
Next Adrian opens his presents which is really a hilarious thing to witness. He's such an animated person; every reaction makes me laugh. His girlfriend apparently gave him most of his presents last night, but today she also gives him a nice-smelling cologne and a fancy new coat that seems to fit him perfectly.
I was able to get him a copy of some old Pokemon game he once told me he really wanted, a ridiculously large bag of chocolate-covered gummy bears, an expensive pair of Nike shoes, and of course the handmade card with my favorite selfie of him and I.
The funniest is when he opens Dylan's presents. He got him three video games, two of which are first person shooter games, and the third is the newest dancing game. But something about the first two games makes Adrian laugh a lot, and nobody knows why.
But then it's Dylan's turn, and we all find out why. He opens Adrian's gifts first and what do you know, he got Dylan the newest Zelda game and the exact same two first person shooter games. Naomi and I accuse them of planning the whole thing, but they deny it entirely. Still fishy.
Naomi got him a new pair of glasses exactly like the ones he used to wear, and I want to cry in appreciation. Yes, glasses. They are everything. In addition, she gifts him a gigantic dictionary that he asked for, a bag of carrots (that running joke), and a really nice knife set that shines quite brilliantly.
Then he gets to my presents which, for whatever reason, makes me a bit nervous. But my nerves subside as the gigantic smile I love so much overtakes his features. He seems happy about what I got him, which is a few rather large French cookbooks, all of his favorite candies, physical copies of The Neighbourhood's album and an album by this British alternative band I introduced him to a while ago, a dozen movies that I thought he would enjoy, a pair of Vans that he exhibited a particular interest in, and a giant (really soft) blanket with the Hogwarts crest from Harry Potter on it.
He gives me about ten kisses.
Finally, I open my presents last. My lovely Naomi got me a new large purse which she filled with new clothes, jewelry, lotions, an adorable penguin plushy, a $75 Starbucks gift card and all of the Harry Potter and Pirates of the Caribbean movies on DVD. I love her.
Adrian gifts me some really nice Beats headphones by Dr. Dre in PINK! Also a really soft and large PINK fleece blanket, which he mentions is specifically for my car. Guess I do complain about being cold often. He also gifted me a $75 gift card to Victoria's Secret with a note that says "A gift for you and your man. We spoke about this once and he said I'd be the perfect wingman if I actually got you this, but I didn't tell you that".
Then Dylan hands me a decently-sized box that seems to have been wrapped carefully. I give him a look and he simply smiles innocently. Inside is a wonderful-smelling and no doubt expensive bottle of Chanel perfume. Gotta love this guy. But then what drives me CRAZY is that there's a note inside that says "you get your final Christmas gift later, beautiful xo". This is definitely way too much.
Present time is over which makes me a little sad, but how can I really be? I received such amazing presents from my favorite people in the world! Even more than that, I've been able to spend time with them, and now we get to just hang out and have a good time, no worries.
We all huddle together close on my couch and snack on the foods while watching our favorite holiday movies (and the fourth Harry Potter movie). It is a ton of fun to just sit back and enjoy and laugh freely. Have I ever mentioned that I love these people?
After our three movies conclude, we get ready for our next adventure of the day: ice skating! We had unanimously decided earlier that it would be a fun and probably hilarious bonding experience, given the fact that none of us have been ice skating in years.
Before we leave, the four of us take eager little Ophelia on a walk. When we go to leave to the rink, she cries a little which serves to break my heart a bit, but my friends pry me away from her.
To ice skating, we go!
The rink is indoors, not surprisingly, given the fact that we are in sunny Southern California! What is surprising, to me at least, is the fact that there are not that many people here. Huh. Oh well, more space for us!
The rink is freaking cold! Guess I should have expected that, but I wasn't really thinking... My friends laugh at me when I complain of the cold, the meanies! But then lovely Dylan lets me borrow his jacket. How sweet of him.
Some girl with long blonde hair, dressed in what looks like a costume worthy of the Olympics, is going round and round the rink with scary speed. She does all those really cool and impressive tricks you see on television. It's quite mesmerizing, and the four of us end up watching her for some time before we take the ice ourselves.
Just as we predicted, the experience turns out to be quite hilarious. Neither Naomi or I can skate very well, which is pretty funny, at least neither of us can stop laughing. We're able to keep our balance though! Somehow, our male counterparts can actually skate really well.
At one point, the two of them even do a few laps backward. Adrian tries to do one of the cool spins that the girl was doing earlier which ends terribly, but quite hilariously.
We skate and skate (or in mine and Naomi's cases, kinda skate) for an hour or so until we call it quits. I don't think we'll be making our way back to the rink any time soon. Nevertheless, it was still a fun time. We return our skates and head out the doors in the direction of food. Of course everyone is hungry now, as it is seven thirty in the evening.
I drive us to get to our destination that nobody has to speak about. We all know where we're eating, there's no doubt about it. Our usual: Chick-a-dee's. If we ate anywhere else, it would be criminal. That's a capital punishment.
My three best friends and I sing along ridiculously loudly to the pop Christmas songs blasting through my car speakers as we laugh endlessly, heading to one of our favorite places.