Jeff had photos of each and every one of his children's first Christmases and they were amongst the images he cherished the most. He vividly recalled each event too. As his family grew, there was more laughter, fun and, well, mischief.
Being his firstborn, there were so many photos of Scott's first Christmas. He was only eight months old at the time but had reached an age and awareness of what was going on around him, so it had been a wonderfully fun time for the new parents. He'd been fascinated by the bright lights and coloured ornaments everywhere and had spent a lot of his time crawling away from whichever parent had put him on the floor to sit in front of the tree, trying to reach things. Christmas morning, they sat with him, helping him open present after present but when asked by his visiting grandparents what he got, what was young Scott most excited about? Paper! was his answer, accompanied by a large screwed up and torn at the edges sheet of brightly coloured metallic gift wrap.
John's first Christmas was completely different by contrast. Being born at the beginning of October, John wasn't even three months old. The twinkling Christmas lights only really held his attention when they were the static white lights on the large tree in their front garden. He had no interest in the flashing multi-coloured ones on the tree and laced around the banister poles up the stairs. By now Scott was a few months away from turning three years old and took great delight in trying to share all his freshly opened new toys with his tiny brother, though changed his mind when his brand new wooden aeroplane, so similar to the one Daddy flew, went straight into John's mouth.
When Virgil arrived, Scott liked being a big brother. So when it came to Christmas, he'd frequently ask his parents if he could get both of his little siblings presents like they did. John was a quiet child but incredibly intelligent. He was the one who worked out how to get the advent calendar chocolates out without opening the doors and shared them with his brothers. Much to his parents' amusement. Virgil, however, was the one who liked the music at Christmas the best, especially when his mother played carols at their piano. Scott quickly recognised his newest brother's love for music and would sing him all the songs they'd been teaching him at pre-school.
Being born so early in the year, Gordon was the oldest for his first Christmas at ten months old. He took his first steps about a month before Christmas. Jeff and Lucy were so proud of him but then when those first few tentative steps became slightly more assured toddles for several steps… in the direction of the Christmas tree… Well, after he knocked it over the first time, luckily not hurting himself in the process, they decided that they'd need to open out the playpen and fence in the tree. Even while Jeff was securing the makeshift fence around the bay window, Gordon took great interest in his father's toolbox. It was only when five-year-old Scott distracted him with the offer of sitting in his pull-along cart that he was tempted away from trying to lift Jeff's heavy hammer. It was while he was trying to pull down one of the sparkling garlands dangling from the fireplace that John discovered the best way to keep Gordon occupied. He loved the snow globe. John had been sitting nearby playing with it when Gordon had seen him and made his way towards him with his usual combination of crawling and toddling. When he saw him approaching, John put the snow globe down and lifted him up onto his lap so he could show him. The pair sat quietly, watching the snow float around the watery winter landscape for such a duration that their parents had to look for them, worried that Gordon had been quiet for so long.
Alan was very similar to his next oldest brother in that everything, once again, had to be put away out of his reach. Although he wasn't yet taking his first steps unaided when it came to his first Christmas, he was already cruising upright with the aid of anything that would support his weight, meaning once again the tree had to be fenced off, just in case. Jeff and Lucy would rather take the precaution before he pulled it down, as opposed to doing it because he already had. The biggest issue they had with Alan was that anything brightly coloured or sparkly, especially both, went straight into his mouth. Unfortunately, this had included the lights that had once again been wrapped around the banister poles. The stair gate prevented him from ascending the steps, but that didn't mean he couldn't sit at the bottom, an LED lighting up the inside of his mouth as he sucked on it. All the wooden decorations now had tiny tooth marks in them where Alan and his few teeth had got hold of them, and a few times they'd found him with glitter all over his face where he'd been trying to chew on a bauble. Usually, five year old Virgil would be the one who'd discover what the youngest was up to and would take hold of both of his hands, helping him to stand up – often resulting in excited bouncing up and down on the spot as Alan loved to be on his feet – and walking him away from whatever it was he was trying to chew. Alan loved to walk around while Virgil held his hands, probably because out of all of his brothers, Virgil was the one who had the most patience when their teething baby brother chewed on his fingers.