🎄
Chapter 02: 🎶Gloria (Angels We Have Heard On High)🎶
🎄
*Annabelle's POV*
I was upstairs unpacking my clothes and things from my bags and suitcase and started putting them away, when there was a knock on my bedroom door.
"Knock knock Jingle Bell, your best friend in the whole wide world, sister before the mister...even though there isn't a mister, etc. etc. is here to brighten up your evening!"
I opened the door and came face to face with the person the voice belonged to.
"Holly!" I yelled happily as I engulfed her in a hug.
She hugged me back, laughing loudly. "Hey, calm down, woman! We only saw each other just the other day. You make it seem like we haven't seen each other in forever."
I let go and playfully glared at her. "That's because it feels like forever. Now, be a dear and help your best friend finish unpacking. Dad should almost be done with cooking the turkey...hopefully..."
She bowed mockingly. "Your wish is my command, birthday girl." We looked at each other and randomly started bursting out laughing before I went back to unpacking my things with the help of Holly.
We started making bets about dads cooking. "$10 says your dad will burn the entire turkey again this year and it catches fire, then we'd have to go to a local diner."
I raised an eyebrow. "Make it $10 plus cleaning the dishes at the orphanage and put the children to bed on your own, for an entire week."
We shook each other hands. "Deal." Holly said smirking.
It was silent for a couple of minutes as we went back to unpacking my things, till I decided to break the silence by humming a tune, then the lyrics just started flowing out.
🎶Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o're the plains.🎶
I heard Holly join in while I just finished putting my things away on one side of my room.
🎶And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.🎶
Then we sang together once she finished putting things away on the other side of the room.
🎶Gloria ~ In Excelsis deo.
Gloria ~ In Excelsis deo.🎶
We couldn't carry on singing because we were interrupted by Charlie knocking on the door. "Annabelle, Holly, dad told me to tell you he wants us to sit around the table because dinner will be ready soon."
"Okay, we'll be right there!" I called out to him, then heard his footsteps run down the stairs.
Holly chuckled and shook her head. "I had a feeling you would randomly start singing that particular Christmas song, it was always our favourite, wasn't it?"
I had a wide grin on my face. "Always! How could I forget? We would sing that song every year to Ms. Clementine and the children at the orphanage. We'd make our own little concert out of it. Anyway, let's get going, I wanna see if I won our bet or not."
"Last one in the kitchen has to clean up everything after dinner." Holly said before opening the door and practically ran down the stairs.
"Hey, that's cheating!" I yelled as I ran after her.
"You sure it's not because your too slow?" Holly said without looking back and carried on running.
I saw Charlie's sled leaning against the railing and had a brilliant idea suddenly appear in my head.
I placed the sled at the top of the stairs and sat on it."I suggest you move before we have an accident on our hands." I warned Holly as she was almost at the bottom of the stairs.
Holly turned round and her eyes went wide, looking at what I was about to do. "You wouldn't."
I smirked. "Oh, I would." I held on tightly to the handles and leaned forward, sliding down the stairs. "Wheeeeeee!"
Holly shook her head frantically. "No, no, Bell, don't do it, don't-Woah!" She couldn't finish her sentence because I quickly grabbed her just before we reached the bottom of the stairs. We both ended up rolling on the floor with me landing on my back, and Holly on her front.
"Ya know, I think we should probably call it a draw." I said as I stood up, picking up Charlie's sled then leaned it against a wall.
I heard Holly huff behind me as if she ran a marathon. "I'll get my revenge on you, don't you worry. After all, we still have the bet, remember?"
I turned around to face her with an innocent look on my face. "Whatever did I do wrong?" I held my hand out for her to grab and pulled her off the floor before making our way over to the dinner table. Holly sat next to Charlie, and I sat across from him, waiting for dad to bring the turkey.
Turns out, he completely abandoned the cook book and tried copying exactly the way they showed how to cook the perfect Christmas dinner on the TV.
So, guess what? I've only gone and lost the bet, didn't I?
Why is that? Oh....I don't know...maybe because dad's currently using a fire extinguisher to get rid of the flames from over cooking the turkey.
Holly snickered. "You owe me $10, you'll be cleaning the dishes on your own, and you'll put the children in the orphanage to bed starting Boxing Day. Don't forget, you'll be doing it for an entire week."
I did a salute before rummaging through my pockets and handed $10 over to her across the table. "Yes Ma'am."
Dad stood at the entrance of the kitchen and sighed. "That, is exactly why you want a high-quality fire extinguisher, right in the kitchen." I face palmed and shook my head in disbelief.
"Those flames were really big, dad." said Charlie.
Dad shrugged. "Well, turkey's funny that way."
"Uh, Mr Calvin?" Holly asked as she pointed behind him at the turkey. The turkey literally caught on fire again.
"Dad!" Charlie and I yelled at the same time. Dad looked at the three of us confused, then looked back at the turkey and went wide eyed. He quickly grabbed the fire extinguisher again and thankfully managed to put the flames out before the house was literally on fire.
"It's done!" Dad yelled from the kitchen.
To the diner it is then...
Dad drove us to a place called Denny's, which is a local diner, and surprisingly the only place open around here.
We got out of the car and walked into the diner. A waitress walked up to us. "Are you with Hatsutashi?"
Dad shook his head. "No."
"Dad burned the turkey." said Charlie.
Holly nodded. "Yep, completely incinerated it."
I tried not to laugh. "Completely destroyed it...but it did give us a good light show, fire and everything."
The waitress, whose name badge said 'Judy' on it, shook her head and motioned for us to follow her. "Oh, yeah. This way. Come on."
Judy took us into a more quieter area where mostly fathers are sitting with their kids. Probably here for the same reason we are.
"Right over there." Judy said as she pointed to a table fit for four people.
"Thank you." Dad nodded to her as he removed his coat, the rest of doing the same.
As we sat around the table, Judy gave us a menu each to look at. "Here go you."
Dad looked over at a man sat around a table opposite us with his son. "Burn the turkey?" he asked. The man chuckled and nodded, waving his bandaged hand.
Judy held a pen in one hand, and a notebook in the other ready to write down our orders. "Coffee?" She asked, looking at dad.
"No, thank you.....Judy." Dad replied as he took a quick look at her name badge and chuckled. He looked around at all of us. "What do you say we start with cold glasses of delicious seasonal favourite eggnog?"
"I don't like eggnog." said Charlie.
"We're out." said Judy.
Dad smiled up at Judy. "Coffee. Decaf."
"Mmhmm." Was all Judy said as she wrote it down in her notebook.
"I'll just have a glass of milk, please." Holly gave Judy a smile.
I also smiled and held up two fingers. "Make that two glasses of milk, please."
Charlie looked up at Judy. "I'll have chocolate milk, please."
"We're out." Judy simply said.
Charlie looked a little disappointed. "Plain milk's fine."
"Make that three milk's and one decaf coffee, please." I said.
"Okay." Judy said before walking away to get our drinks ready.
Dad leaned forward a little and spoke in a low voice. "At least we know they got hot apple pie."
"We did." Judy said before leaving the room.
"Mmhmm." Dad said, trying to imitate her.
We sat in awkward silence for a couple of seconds, until dad broke the silence. "This is nice."
~Time Skip~
After we finished the drinks Judy gave us and dad paid, we left the diner and he drove us back home and told us to get ready for bed.
Once Holly and I were ready, we watched The Nutcracker while dad was putting Charlie to bed. We sat on my bed wrapped in a warm blanket we shared and started munching on a bag of potato chips Holly brought over. We then started watching The Snowman once The Nutcracker was finished.
I started a conversation up while we watched the movie. "Even though this movie is pretty short, it'll always be one of my favourites.
It just goes to show you don't always have to express your feelings using words. It's like the saying: actions-"
"Speak louder than words." Holly interrupted me. "The meaning to that can go a lot of ways - like a kind gesture to a family member or friend, or a boy giving gifts to the girl he's fallen head over heels for."
I laughed and nudged her shoulder playfully. "I think somebody's been watching way too many romance movies lately."
Holly slapped my hand away from her playfully and shook her head. "No, I'm merely stating a fact and opinion. Besides, it wouldn't hurt for girls our age to have that kind of imagination, especially since we're high schoolers now, and in a couple of years, we'll be seniors."
I snorted. "Yeah, and still no boyfriends. Though, it's not as if we're desperate or anything..."
Holly nodded. "It's because most boys at our high school just aren't all that into girls like us with an imagination. Didn't David from science ask you out on a date once?"
I closed my eyes and released a sigh. "Yeah, until he heard that I still believe in Santa, The Easter Bunny, and pretty much all things magical that kids believe in. Honestly, it doesn't bother me at all really, but a part of me can't help but want to be accepted by everyone around us."
"And they will, they just haven't gotten to know the real Annabelle Laura Calvin yet. If people don't accept us for who we really are, then I think it's a good thing you're not dating David. No one wants to be stuck in a relationship where you have to pretend to be someone you're not." Holly said before getting up to switch the TV off once the movie finished.
I sat up and grabbed the empty packet of potato chips and put it in the bin. "Thanks Hols, it's no wonder you're my best friend."
She chuckled. "And sister. Now, I have a little surprise for you which I know you'll love, since I made it myself. You've always loved things that were handmade, so here's my gift to you."
She grabbed something out of her bag held it in her hands. She held a small white box and opened the lid. "Sorry I didn't bring a candle with me, but I'm actually glad I didn't after seeing what your dad did to the turkey today."
Inside the box was a muffin with chocolate icing and the letters 'Merry Birthday Bell' in white chocolate icing over the top.
I grabbed the muffin and looked up at her with a huge grin. "It looks delicious! I love that you mixed both my birthday and Christmas together, very original indeed."
Holly laughed and put the box down on my bed. "It somehow felt right to say 'Merry' rather than 'Happy', seeing as you were lucky enough to be born on the night before the big day itself."
I shook my head and broke the muffin in half so that we both had a piece each. "And you were born 5th April, Easter Sunday to be exact, according to what Ms. Clementine said that the note mentioned the day you were left on the doorstep of the orphanage. That, and your name. Now, help me consume this piece of heavenly goodness called a muffin."
Holly giggled and bit into her piece, while I bit into mine. "You know what? Someday, you're gonna make a great housewife for your future husband, because this is really good."
Holly snorted. "Yeah, if I ever get married in this lifetime."
I raised an eyebrow at her as I ate the last piece of the muffin. "I think you need to start taking your own advice my friend, because I have no doubt someone's going to literally sweep you off your feet soon. If not soon, then eventually."
Holly thought for a moment before speaking again. "If you had only one wish that you want to come true, what would it be? I mean, it is your birthday after all, so you at least get to make one wish, right?"
I removed the empty box from my bed and put it in the bin before sitting on my bed again. "That's easy, I would want nothing more than to see you and the rest of the children at the orphanage get adopted into a kind and loving family."
Holly smiled warmly and shook her head. "Bell, that's sweet and all, really, but I meant you personally. What is it you really want? Honestly, we'll be absolutely fine. I have a feeling we'll all have a family that would want us to be apart of their family too, one day. Now, stop being a worry wart, and think about yourself for a change, girl."
I simply shrugged and rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "I don't know...I guess...maybe...just maybe, I'll have my own Clara moment from The Nutcracker, and meet my own Prince?" I shook my head dismissively. "You know what? It doesn't matter who they are, where they're from, or even species for all I care. I just want someone to like me for me, the girl who has always believed in Santa Claus, elves, reindeers, and pretty much everything to do with all these different holiday seasons."
Holly left to go to the bathroom to brush her teeth and get ready for bed, leaving me with my thoughts. I felt my cheeks start to get warm after I said all that. "Oh gosh, now I'm the one who sounds cheesy."
Just then, I heard a knock on my bedroom door. The door opened to reveal my dad. "Girls-oh, Holly must be in the bathroom. Anyway, it's time to get some shut-eye. Santa won't be delivering your Christmas presents if neither of you are asleep."
Holly came out of the bathroom and went to the spare mattress, tucking herself in and getting comfy. We always kept it here for when Holly sleeps over during the times I went to stay at dads before moving in officially.
I chuckled and went to give dad a hug. "We will dad, goodnight. Oh! And thank you for tonight. I know you went into a lot of effort to cook the perfect meal, despite the outcome of the turkey....again."
Dad laughed and returned the hug. "Anything for my little girl. Happy Birthday, sweetheart."
Dad released the hug and waved goodnight to Holly. "Good night Holly, it's always good to have you over to keep Bell company."
Holly shook her head and smiled. "It's no problem at all, really. I'll always be there for Bell, Charlie too, of course. Good night Mr. Calvin."
Dad waved his hand at her. "Please, call me Scott. You've always been a part of the family since the two of you were in diapers."
I started pushing dad out of the room. "You're absolutely right dad, it's time we all went to sleep now."
Dad held his hands up in defence. "Alright, alright, slow down, I'm going." And with that, he left the room and shut the door behind him. I went the bathroom and brushed my teeth before going to bed.
Some time later, I heard a loud thump from the roof.
"Settle down there." I heard a voice say loud and clear. I sat up straight with my eyes wide. It couldn't be....could it?
I got out of bed and gently kicked Holly awake. "Holly." I whispered. "Holly. Holly dang it, wake up!"
She woke up and yawned, before standing up and stretched her arms. "Is it morning already?"
I shrugged. "No. I don't know...sorta? Anyway, I heard a loud thump on the roof just now."
She gasped in shock and turned to me with her eyes wide. "You don't think it's-"
"I sure hope so." I said before we both sneaked into the hallway and met Charlie.
"You heard it too, didn't you?" he asked.
"I did, I heard a clatter on the roof. Holly didn't know anything about it until I woke her up to tell her." I said. Just then, we heard another loud thump and the neighbours dogs barking.
Charlie went to wake dad up, while Holly and I made our way downstairs. When dad joined us, we put our boots and coats on before opening the front door, making our way down the steps and stood in front of the house. We took a couple of steps back and looked up at the roof.
"Hey, you!" Dad yelled.
A man who was dressed up as Santa Claus lost his balance and went sliding down the roof. He fell off and landed on a pile of snow with a loud thud before any of us could save him.
I gasped. "Holy Christmas cracker."
Dad crept over to the man with Holly and I following, taking a closer look.
"Whoa..." said Holly.
Dad waved his hand over the gentleman. "Woo-hoo!"
No response.
Dad tried kicking the guys black boot. "Hey, buddy."
Still no response.
"Alright. You should just stay still. Perfect." Dad said as he backed away a little.
.
.
.
.
.
"You killed Santa."
"What? No I didn't Bell, he's not Santa." Dad said as he pointed to Santa.
"If he isn't Santa, he sure does have a striking resemblance to him." Holly said as she shoved her hands in her pockets.
Charlie opened the front door and started making his way over to us. "You got him!"
"Oh, he got him alright." I said as I moved aside to let Charlie take a look.
"Charlie, you stay where you are." Dad said, but he didn't listen. "Charlie, would you listen to me? Stay up there!"
Charlie smiled as he saw the guy dressed as Santa who wasn't moving at all. "It is Santa!" He looked at dad with a sad look on his face. "You killed him."
Dad looked at Charlie and said the same thing he told me. "Did not! It is not Santa."
"Well, he was." said Charlie.
"He's got some ID on him, I bet. Fella, if you can hear me, I'm just looking for your identification." Dad said as he bent down to check the inside of the pockets of the outfit.
Holly leaned over and whispered in my ear. "Did he not see the reindeers and sleigh on the roof? That should be proof enough, don't you think?"
I let out a sigh. "I'm not so sure, this is my dad we're talking about."
"Once I figure out who you are, I'll give you a lift back to the mall." Dad found a card that read the words 'Santa Claus, North Pole' on it that was visible for all of us to see. He turned the card over and read the words that were printed on the back of it. "'If something should happen to me, put on my suit. The reindeer will know what to do.' Yeah, right."
Holly and I looked at each other in the eye before taking a look at the card in dads hand again.
"I think you should do it. Maybe something magical might happen....maybe?" I asked a little unsure, gesturing to the suit.
Holly nodded. "Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to try, right?"
Suddenly, we heard bells from above the roof.
Holly and I looked at each other again and grinned. We jogged to the front of the house again with dad and Charlie and looked up to see Santa's reindeers and sleigh.
"Whoa." Charlie said. Dad squinted, shook his head, then squinted again as if not believing what his eyes are seeing.
Charlie shook dads arm and pointed to Santa. "Dad!"
"Hey!" Dad said as he made his way over to Santa, only to find just the suit lying in the snow, and Santa gone. He completely vanished into thin air.
"He disappeared!" Charlie yelled in surprise. "Whoa."
"That right there, was definitely magic." Holly said as she pointed at the suit.
Dad turned his head from left to right. "He's naked somewhere."
I smiled and turned to dad. "Hey dad, why don't you try putting on the suit?"
"Yeah, you gonna put on the suit like the card said? Are you?" Charlie asked eagerly.
Dad held his hand up and shook his head. "No. No."
"I don't see the harm in you doing exactly what the card says." said Holly.
"Come on, dad. I wanna go, too." Charlie begged.
"Count us in as well, of course." I said as I grabbed Holly's arm and held my hand up as if we were answering a question in class.
Dad didn't look happy though. "Stop it, Charlie. Bell, Holly, not helping. We're not going anywhere."
"You never do what I wanna do!" Charlie yelled, almost on the verge of crying.
"Would you please be quiet for a minute so I can figure this out?" Dad went to take a walk in front of the house, talking to himself. "Reindeer on the roof."
We can see that.
"Santa suit laying on the ground."
We can see that, too.
"Guy fell. Not my fault."
It kinda was, actually.
"Reindeer on the roof. That is hard to explain."
And he's lost it.
"It's the ladder." Charlie whispered.
Dad turned around and bumped his head, grunting in pain and looked to see a ladder had appeared right in front of us.
Holly and I couldn't help but giggle like little kids. This was actually happening!
"Where the hell'd this come from?" Dad asked confused, but no one answered.
Charlie ran over to the ladder and started climbing up. He climbed a few steps but stopped, skimming his finger over one of the step just above his head. "Look here dad. 'The Rose Suchak Ladder Company'."
Dad looked at him confused. "Huh?"
"'Out by the roof theres a Rose Suchak Ladder.' Just like the poem." Charlie said before going back to climbing up the ladder again. I didn't hesitate to follow Charlie soon after, not wasting any time. So did Holly.
"Charlie, come on down from there. Bell, Holly, you as well. All of you, get down from there!" We heard dad yell, but we ignored him and carried on climbing up the ladder.
"Dad! You gotta see this!" Charlie yelled once he reached the roof. I stood on Charlie's left, and Holly stood on his right, all three of us looking at the reindeer in awe.
"Don't touch anything." Dad said.
"It's great!" Charlie yelled. The three of us walked towards the reindeers. "Dad, isn't this neat?"
"Charlie, Holly, Bell! Stay away from those things!" Dad yelled.
I gasped. "They're not things, they're the most beautiful animals I always imagined they would be." I got a groan from one of them in return.
"You're very welcome." I said, as if I could understand him. I smiled warmly at the reindeer and walked over to stroke his fur. I looked at the name badge and it read 'Comet'.
"They're reindeer. You don't know where they've been." said dad.
"Yeah, at the North Pole." I heard Holly giggle across from me. She was scratching behind an ear of one of the reindeers. "This one's called Cupid."
I smirked. "Perfect for a hopeless romantic like you."
She looked at me in mock horror. "Me? 'A hopeless romantic'? Never." We both laughed just as dad joined us.
"They all look like they've got key lime disease." He said. I rolled my eyes.
Comet then farted pretty loudly. I've never laughed so much in my entire life!
Dad looked at him in disgust. "Easy, Rudolf."
"He's not Rudolf, his name is Comet. It says so on his name badge right here." I said as I pointed a finger to it. "Also, Rudolf has a red nose, just like the song: 🎶Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer, Had a very shiny nose🎶"
Holly and Charlie sang a little of the song as well together. 🎶And if you ever saw it, You would even say it glows🎶
Comet grunted, making dad leaned forward to look at his name badge. "Excuse me. Comet." Comet grunted again.
I gave Comet a light pat. "You'll get used to him." I said before making my way over to the sleigh.
"Dad! Check out Santa's sleigh!" Charlie yelled excitedly.
Dad jogged over to him. "There's no such thing as Santa's sleigh."
"Oh yeah? Then what do you call this, a flying car?" I asked sarcastically while I climbed in and sat at the very back. Holly climbed in and sat on my left.
Charlie looked at dad. "Sure there is. You said you believe in Santa. Right?"
Holly looked at dad surprised. "Wait, seriously? You said that?"
Dad looked confused for a moment. "I did? I do!"
"What about the reindeer?" Charlie asked. "These are Santa's reindeer, aren't they?"
Holly nodded. "Of course they are!"
"I hope not." Dad said as he walked up to the reindeers. "These are....a gift. Probably from the cable company. We're getting the Disney Channel now. Merry Christmas." I face palmed. "Now, hop out of there, all of you, please."
Charlie leaned away from dad as he was going to help Charlie climb out of the sleigh. "I don't wanna go."
"Yeah, we don't either. We don't wanna miss out on a golden opportunity to explore what children all over the world believe in." I said as a folded my arms, refusing to leave.
"Listen you guys, I'm not kidding." Dad said as he climbed onto the sleigh.
"Let's. Go!" He shouted. The reindeers groaned and pushed forward, making dad fall back onto the middle row upside down.
"Yeah, let's go!" Charlie yelled enthusiastically as he held the reins. Dad turned himself around and held on tightly to Charlie's seat, screaming. "Charlie! Hold on, Charlie!
The reindeers ran forward and flew off the roof, flying round the corner of the house, then onto the road next to a white van. "Giddyap, Comet! Whoa, let's go!"
"Dad, climb up here!" Charlie yelled.
Dad grunted as he climbed over to sit next to Charlie at the front. "There we go."
I climbed over to the middle row and sat down, while dad was talking to the man driving the van next to us. I helped Holly climb over and sit next to me. "I can't believe this is really happening!"
Holly laughed. "Me neither! This better not be a dream!"
Dad held onto the reins and pulled, making the reindeers speed up a little.
Well this is certainly a birthday to remember!
**End of Chapter 02**