It's been about a week since we landed and it's Christmas Eve. We've been cleaning and making the house spotless all day. It's already clean but mom wants to make sure the family thinks we're always spotless.
"Okay, is everything clean?" Mom asks everyone.
"Yes, mom. Everything is clean and ready for tomorrow." I assure her.
"Good, your grandparents will be coming in the morning then, your dad's side couldn't make it this year so it'll just be us, the grandparents and Jamey."
"Jamey?" Emma questions.
"My aunt." I answer.
"We'll have to start cooking around noon to make sure everything's ready then, as usual, you'll be forced to play a song and everyone will go home." Mom runs over what's going to happen.
"Always happy to." I smile.
We spend the rest of the day decorating the tree until dinner. We all watch a movie after dinner and go to bed shortly after the movie's over.
When I wake up I can smell the eggs cooking and get up. I don't bother changing before I rush to the kitchen.
Grandpa Lee sits at the table with a plate of waffles and eggs while Grandma Carly makes more food.
"Morning kiddo." Grandpa smiles.
"Morning." I hug him and Grandma sets a plate on the table for me before hugging me.
"How's the music coming? Are you famous yet?" She asks.
"No." I chuckle a little. "I'm working on recording some songs back in Rimwater."
"Well, I can't wait to hear what you got this year." Grandpa says.
"Thanks." I smile as Mom and Dad sit across from me.
"So, Shawn and Emma are joining us this year?" Grandma asks as she puts eggs on a plate and waffles on the other.
"Yeah, I talked them into it." I smile.
"That's nice of you." Grandpa smiles.
"Well, they're always welcome to holidays with us." Grandma smiles as she sets the two plates on the table.
I hear someone yawn behind me and turn to see Emma rubbing her eyes as she comes into the kitchen.
"Tired?" I ask as she sits next to me.
"Shut up. I smelled food." She says with a smile.
"You're just like your dad." Grandma smiles. "He would come over for breakfast all the time when we lived in Rimwater."
"We love food." Emma shrugs and gets a plate full of the food. Just then Shawn and Dad come out and get some food before sitting down to eat.
"Jamey should be here any minute." Mom says.
"Is Jake and his family coming over this year?" I ask.
"No, they said they were going to visit Arthur's family this year. I think they said they're finally accepting of them." Mom smiles.
"Well, that's good. They should be able to spend time with family." Grandpa smiles and we all nod in agreement.
"When everyone's done eating and Jamey gets here we'll open presents and start making the food." Dad smiles.
We all eat and talk while we wait for Jamey to show up. When a knock comes from the door Dad quickly goes over to get it.
"Hey, Jamey." I can tell he's smiling as he says it.
"Hey, Danny. I was told Shawn and his daughter are here." Jamey says as Dad takes the wrapped boxes from her and puts them with the other presents under the tree.
"Emma." Emma smiles as we all stand up.
"It's nice to meet you Emma." Jamey smiles as she pushes her hot pink hair behind her ear. Her hair is similar to Emmas in length.
Emma nods.
"Hey." I smile as Jamey hugs me.
"How's the music?" She asks.
"Pretty good." I nod and Emma buts in.
"Seriously. What's with you and making it seem like you aren't as cool as you actually are? Your music isn't pretty good. It's awesome."
"Agreed." Jamey nods,
We all talk for a little before sitting near the tree.
"Okay, the first present is for Emma." Mom hands Emma the small box wrapped in snowman wrapping paper. "From Jamey."
Emma rips the wrapping paper off and throws it in the trash bag we have for the garbage. She opens the box and pulls out what's in it.
"Hair dye." She sets a rainbow of hair dye next to her with one blonde dye. "A t-shirt." She holds up a ripped up, white t-shirt with;
HELL IS EMPTY
AND ALL THE DEVILS
ARE HERE
Seemingly spray painted on in black. There are some safety pins on it and it looks cool.
"A pocket knife and a skull necklace." She pulls the necklace out.
"That's cool." I comment.
"Knowing Shawn I thought you'd like that stuff." Jamey smiles.
"Yeah." Emma smiles. "I love it. Thank you." Jamey nods.
"And the next present is for Shawn, from Emma." Mom hands Shaw a small box wrapped in red and green paper.
He opens it and pulls out a folded piece of paper and a watch. After reading the paper he hugs Emma and smiles. I think I hear him say that he loves her but he's too quiet to know for sure. He puts the watch on and mom grabs a Christmas themed gift bag.
"This one's for Will from Jamey." Mom hands me the bag and I go through the tissue paper and pull out the different things in the bag.
"Green and blonde hair dye, a t-shirt." I hold up a shirt similar to Emmas but this one has a guitar on it with;
PLAY GUITAR
NOT PEOPLE
Spray painted on and instead of safety pins there's just holes and tears in spots.
"And a necklace." I take out a necklace with a pendant of a pick with my name on it. "Sweet." I put the necklace on. "Thank you." Jamey nods and we continue opening the last presents.
I get more stuff for my music while Emma gets more stuff that seems to be themed around punk rock sort of stereotypes.
The last presents are from Emma and I.
"Okay, Danny and Shawn. Here are yours from Will." Mom hands them both the small boxes I wrapped.
Dad opens his first and takes out the necklace with a dog tag I had engraved with.
"You are and always will be an amazing dad."
"Did you have this engraved?" He asks as he puts it on.
"Yeah." I nod.
"Thank you so much." He smiles and brings me into a hug.
Shawn opens his present and pulls out the bracelet I found for him. It's just a simple paracord bracelet.
"I don't know what you like so I saw that and got it." I tell him.
"I love it. Thanks Will." He smiles and I nod.
"And these ones are Jamey and I's from Will." Mom hands Jamey one of the small boxes.
Jamey opens hers first and pulls out the necklace I found that has a sapphire rose as a pendant.
"It's beautiful." She smiles as she puts it on before wrapping her arms around me in a hug. "Thank you."
"I thought you'd like it." I smile as she pulls away. She nods and Mom opens her present and reveals the necklace similar to dads but I had it engraved with something else.
"A mother of two you will be but forever you are loved." Mom reads out loud as tears in her eyes.
"Mom, don't cry. If you cry I'll cry." I smile as she hugs me.
"I love you."
"I love you too." Grandpa speaks as mom pulls away and wipes her eyes.
"Wait, mother of two?" He questions.
Oh...
"I guess I won't be telling you at dinner." Mom chuckles a little.
"You're pregnant?" Jamey says with a shocked face and mom nods. "Holy shit. Congrats."
Jamey, Grandma and Grandpa all hug Mom and Dad as they congratulate them.
"Dude you're gonna be a brother." Jamey punches my shoulder lightly.
"I know." I chuckle. "They told me and I told Emma."
"Guys, we still have presents to open." Mom chuckles as she grabs four of the small wrapped boxes. Grandma and Grandpa open the presents from Emma and I. I got them each a best grandparent mug while Emma got them bracelets.
She didn't have to give anyone anything but she insisted.
Mom and Dad open the small stuffed animals Emma got them on the way here.
And Jamey gets a stuffed animal too.
After throwing all the garbage away Emma, Jamey and I decide to go outside while Dad and Shawn talk with Grandpa in the living room and Grandma and Mom insist on getting dinner started.
I pick up some snow and crunch it into a ball before throwing it at Jamie's back. She stops dead in her tracks before turning around.
"You're going down." She says before the three of us start picking up snow and throwing it at each other.
Emma and I team up on Jamey and start throwing snowballs at her while trying to make a small wall of snow but failing so we all just run around yelling and laughing.
"Wait!" I tell them and they both freeze. "Nothing." I shrug and throw a handful of snow at Jamey.
"You little shit!" She laughs as she hits me with snow.
We all laugh at ourselves and each other until Dad opens the front door and shouts.
"Dinner's done!"
The three of us go inside and take off our coats, hats and boots before going to the table where all of the food sits with steam coming off of it. Turkey, ham, corn, potatoes, stuffing. The works.
We all eat dinner and laugh while we enjoy the day. After dinner Jamey and my grandparents leave and Emma and I do dishes while our parents put the small amount of leftovers in containers and in the fridge.
"This is the best Christmas I've had in years." Emma comments as I hand her a plate to dry and grab a dirty cup.
"I was hoping you'd have a good time." I smile as she puts the plate away
"When did you buy those presents?" She questions with a smile.
"I found it all online and had it shipped here wrapped." I answer. Emma nods and we continue washing and drying dishes until they're all washed and put away.
When the dishes are done Emma and I sit on the couch while our parents decide to go to bed.
"Look in the tree." I say nonchalantly.
"What?" Emma looks at me confused.
"There's something hidden in that Christmas tree." I smile.
She hesitantly gets up and goes to the tree and starts looking in between branches. When she holds up a small black box with a questioning look I nod.
She opens the box and smiles as she finds the necklace with a bullet on it.
"Thank you." She says as I stand up.
"No problem." I shrug and she hugs me quickly before putting the necklace on.
"What should we do? I'm still wide awake." She asks.
"We could watch The Christmas Project." I suggest.
"Sure." Emma shrugs and we sit on the couch to watch the movie.
Before we get halfway through the movie we're both sleeping.