Hey Guys. This is a festive story I whipped together the other day! For those who have read my other stories, it is in canon with "The Scott Family Camping Trip"-which I promise I haven't forgotten about! I think that there are going to be many more stories in canon with this theme, as there are so many in my head, its just getting the time to write it all down. Think of this story as an apology for all those waiting for me to update the camping trip! If there are any followers left lol. Anyway guys, enjoy!
"Keith, honey, will you please calm down" Peyton begged as the three year old whizzed excitedly around the room.
However, the little boy was oblivious to his mother's words as he continued to zip. She sighed but could help the grin that was tugging at her lips. To say her son was excited was a huge understatement.
She heard a chuckle behind her and turned to glare at her husband. This was hard to maintain when he was sitting there in his Santa hat with a cheeky smile on his face and holding William on his lap.
"You're not helping" she muttered at him, causing him to chuckle more.
Little William seemed to think the situation was funny too and soon his baby laughed joined in with his fathers.
Peyton shook her head at her crazy family before once again turning around to attempt to control Keith.
"Keith, come on now, clam down"
Once again, he appeared not to have heard her.
Lucas chuckled a little more before handing William over to his mother and made his own attempt to calm his son.
"Keith buddy, how about you come sit here and we can start to open your presents."
At the word 'presents' the little boy had stopped mid run, before turning round and leaping into his fathers lap with a loud squeal.
"Whoa, little man!" Lucas cringed "Take it easy!" he laughed.
It was Christmas morning in Tree Hill and the Scott family had been woken early by Keith who was desperate to see what Santa had brought. This was the first Christmas that he was really able to enjoy as he now understood the concept of Santa Clause and presents. His previous two Christmases had been much more relaxed on his part as he hadn't known what was going on and had slept through most of it.
Lucas smiled as he placed a kiss to the top of his son's blonde head as Peyton picked out the first gift for him to open.
William, being only 7 months old, had no clue what was going on and was currently entranced by the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree.
"Ok, here you go sweetie" Peyton said as she handed the first gift to her eldest son.
Keith grabbed it excitedly and held it as though it was the most precious thing on earth.
"Tank you Mommy" he managed excitedly as he began to pull the Rudolf wrapping paper off.
He squealed in delight as he pulled a tickle me Elmo from the wrapping, causing Lucas to cringe once again.
"I wonder if Santa has left me a hearing aid for Christmas" he mumbled.
Peyton laughed before replying "he may well have, you are getting old now after all."
Lucas threw a piece of wrapping paper at her in response.
"Daddeeee! Tickle me Elmo!" Keith shouted, laughing along with the toy.
"I know little man, pretty cool right?" Lucas replied.
While Keith played with his new toy, Peyton pulled a brightly wrapped present over to William.
"Ok baby, let's open your first ever Christmas present!" She said excitedly. "Luke, get the camera."
Lucas laughed as he placed Keith and Elmo on the sofa before grabbing the camera. Peyton was obsessed with capturing the kids on camera and firsts of any kind all had to be catalogued. Their children had to be the most photographed kids in the world.
William looked blankly at the square shaped present in front of him before looking up at his mother.
Peyton laughed as she leaned over to help him. "Here sweetie, mommy will help you."
She grabbed his little hand in hers and began to pull the paper away. William's eyes lit up with delight as the paper came off in his hand. When all the paper had been pulled off, it was revealed that Williams first gift was a musical baby keyboard. But he only had eyes for the wrapping paper. He didn't give the toy a second glance as he gathered it in his hands and pulled on it.
Lucas laughed as Peyton turned on the keyboard and attempted to show him how it worked.
"Look sweetie, it plays music" she said as she pressed the keys.
William paid her no attention as he continued to play with the paper.
"Great, we spend loads of money on toys and all he cares about is the paper" Peyton huffed with a smile.
"Well at least he will be easy to buy for next time" Lucas grinned back as he snapped away on the camera.
"Daddy, can I open another one?" Keith asked from the sofa.
"Sure thing little man" Lucas grinned as he passed another present to him, which turned out to be a mini basketball, complete with hoop.
After spending another hour opening gifts, Peyton sat in Lucas' lap on the sofa as they watched their sons play on the carpet.
"So, you having a good Christmas so far Mrs. Scott" Lucas whispered in her ear.
Peyton smiled before she answered. "Yes I am Mr Scott. And thank you for my presents. I love them."
Lucas had gone all out to impress her this year with jewellery, clothes, perfume and a few hard to get records for her collection.
Lucas pressed a kiss into her hair. "Your welcome. You have another surprise, but you will have to wait until later for that." He grinned.
Peyton turned in his arms to face him.
"What surprise?" she asked with a smile.
Lucas rolled his eyes "well if I told you that then it wouldn't be a surprise" he muttered.
"You're insufferable" she answered.
"But you love me" he grinned back.
"You'll do"
Lucas scoffed before grabbing some more wrapping paper and throwing it at her causing her to laugh.
Their attention was drawn back to the kids as William let out a happy squeal as Keith showed him how to work the musical keyboard, having become bored with the wrapping paper.
"They are two spoiled kids" Lucas spoke as he surveyed the many new toys that littered the carpet.
"We did get a little carried away didn't we?" Peyton grinned. "And they still have more presents to come when the others get here" she added.
This year, it was there turn to host the family dinner. The guest list included Nathan, Haley, Jamie, Aidan, Karen, Andy, Lily, Brooke, Sam, Skills, Mouth, Millie, Deb and Whitey. It was a good job their house was big enough to fit all their extended family in. Lucas was especially happy that his mother, sister and Andy could join them this year, having moved back to Tree Hill after their world tour.
Lucas laughed. "I think we need to build an extension to fit them all in" he joked.
Peyton giggled as she got up from the sofa, picked up William and took Keith's hand.
"We best get ready then. How about I sort out the boys while you tidy up in here?" she suggested.
Lucas looked at the chocolate smeared Keith from his demolished chocolate Santa and then to William, who was still very excited, bouncing in his mother's arms.
"Deal" he laughed, knowing that he wouldn't be able to sort them out.
After dressing the boys in their Christmas outfits, William in a Rudolf dungaree set and Keith in a Santa one, Peyton sat them back down in the now tidy living room and let them carry on playing with their toys.
"Mommy, can I watch the Santa pwease?" Keith asked as he picked up his new DVD.
"Sure sweetie" she replied as she placed it into the DVD player.
Seeing that both boys were happy and occupied, she made her way into the kitchen to locate her husband.
She found Lucas leaning over the very large turkey staring at the cooking book that was propped open on the counter. Lucas had been very adamant about doing the Christmas dinner, which Peyton had no problem with, not being much of a cook. As Nathan had cooked the turkey last year, Lucas desperately wanted to outdo him and prove his cooking skills were the best.
Peyton shook her head. The two Scott brothers were always trying to outdo the other, but luckily, unlike other Scott siblings, they always did it playfully.
Lucas was muttering to himself as he sorted the ingredients out, being meticulous in his preparation, and hadn't noticed his wife enter the kitchen. Peyton grinned evilly as she noticed his ignorance to her and crept up behind him. Unfortunately, she hadn't noticed that Lucas was holding the turkey baste, therefore not foreseeing that it would go flying in the air when she made him jump. She also didn't foresee his rather feminine scream.
"Peyton!" Lucas yelled as it spilled all over the floor.
She tried not to laugh. She really did. But the look on his faced topped with the scream had her doubled over in laughter.
"You're cleaning that up" he stated as he pointed to the floor.
She couldn't reply as she continued to laugh.
"It wasn't that funny!" he protested.
She disagreed. "The…look……scream……priceless…." She gasped through big gulps of air.
Lucas couldn't help the smile spread across his face as he joined in his wife's giggles.
"I'll give you something to laugh about" he grinned as he grabbed her and attacked her sides mercilessly.
"LUCAS! Stop!" she giggled as he tickled her.
"No" he laughed as she thrashed around, but he didn't relent.
"I will take all your presents back if you don't stop!" she threatened.
Lucas stopped as he considered this for a moment. Was it worth losing his gifts? He had got some good stuff this year. Peyton had gotten a quilt made from some of his old basketball jerseys and had photographs from his days in the Ravens on it, as well as a part for the old car he was building and of course, the essential new playstation games. She had also sketched him a picture of them with Keith and William so he could put it in his office at work.
Peyton raised an eyebrow at him as he considered her threat.
He sighed as he loosened his grip around her waist "you win"
Peyton smiled and kissed his cheek "I always do."
"And that ladies and Gentleman was a demonstration of how a whip is cracked" came a deep voice from the doorway.
Lucas and Peyton turned to see Nathan holding baby Aidan along with Haley, Jamie, Deb, Karen, Lily and Andy behind him.
"Merry Christmas to you too Nathan" Lucas replied as the others sniggered.
As they all greeted each other, Nathan walked over and looked at the turkey.
"Hmm, looks a little dry Bro. Not as good as mine" he mocked.
"Get away from the turkey" Lucas snapped as he tried to push him away. Nathan merely laughed.
"Easy Luke, I won't kill it. Merry Christmas Bro" he replied, giving his brother a one armed hug.
Lucas responded in kind and then whipped his nephew out of Nathans arms.
"Hey Aidan, Happy first Christmas!" he smiled as he bounced the baby in the air. Aidan giggled with delight at his Uncles antics.
"Shall we go and put you with your cousin?" Lucas asked as he made his way into the front room.
Jamie and Lily had joined Keith by the TV and they were all sitting side by side, absorbed in the film. Lucas sat Aidan next to William and the babies smiled in delight upon seeing each other again. They soon started what Lucas had dubbed "Baby convo" as they appeared to be talking to each other, both responding when the other made a noise.
"I'm so glad we had kids the same age" laughed Haley from her position on the sofa.
Lucas agreed. "Yeah. At least they can keep each other occupied" he said as he walked over to Jamie and knelt down.
"Happy Christmas J-Luke!" he spoke as he gave his other nephew a hug.
The little boy gave him a fierce hug back, gave a quick "merry Christmas Uncle Luke" before his attention was returned to the TV. He got the same response from Lily who barley took her eyes from the TV. Lucas merely laughed as he ruffled Keith's hair and stood up, returning to the kitchen to finish the turkey.
"Right then, who wants eggnog? I made it myself." Peyton called as she walked into the living room carrying a tray filled with mugs.
"Oh, yes please!" answered Haley.
"Is it safe?" Nathan asked from his seat next to his wife.
Peyton glared at him at the same moment Haley slapped his arm.
"Just for that Nathan, you get no dinner" Peyton muttered.
Back in the kitchen, Lucas was finishing the dinner while his mother and Andy looked on.
Karen smiled at the frown on her sons face as he tried to fit the giant turkey in the oven. She had offered to help him with the dinner but he had refused, wanting to do it all himself so he could, in his words, "make his triumph over Nathan much sweeter"
Andy caught her eye and smiled before shaking his head at his step-sons antics. His offer of help had also been refused.
"Lucas, are you sure your ok with that" Andy tried, again.
With a loud slam, Lucas finally shoved the turkey into the oven and smiled proudly.
He turned around, still grinning. "I'm good thanks, it's all done! Just you wait; this will be the best turkey ever, apart from yours of course mom."
Karen laughed. "Of course it will be great honey. It looks delioucious"
Lucas smiled smugly at his mother's encouragement as the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it" Lucas called to the house at large as he made his way into the hall.
He pulled the door open to find Brooke standing on the doorstep with Sam, Skills, Mouth and Millie behind her.
"Brooke Davis using the doorbell? I'm shocked" Lucas gasped as he clutched his heart.
"Oh ha" Brooke replied as she gave him a hug. "Happy Christmas Luke."
"Happy Christmas to you too" Lucas replied as he returned the hug and then greeted the others as they filed through the door, arms laden with gifts.
Lucas took a moment to glance out into the street as the greetings from the living room drifted towards him. He frowned as he looked down at his watch before looking out into the street again.
Suddenly a pair of arms wrapped around his waist, surprising him. "What are you looking at?" his wife questioned.
"Oh, erm…. Just wondering where Whitey is." He replied as he turned around to face her, closing the door with his foot.
"You're going to pick him up, remember?" Peyton reminded him with a raised eyebrow.
Lucas knew he had been caught in the lie, but still smiled back at his wife. "Oh yeah, silly me."
Peyton frowned now. "What are you hiding?" she asked.
Lucas laughed before once again smiling at her "wait and see dear. I'm going to go get whitey, I wont be long" he said as he grabbed his coat.
Peyton shook her head at him before pressing a quick kiss to his lips. "Take it easy, the roads are icy. We will open presents when you get back"
Lucas laughed "are you sure the kids can wait?"
"It's Nathan who will be the problem. He has been bouncing in his seat for the last 20 minutes"
"Well if you need to knock him out I won't hesitate to stop you" he replied
"You know, I can hear you in here!" Nathan shouted from the living room.
They both sniggered as Lucas made his way out the door and Peyton made her way back into the room.
"Lucas has just gone to get Whitey, he wont be long." She informed them all.
"Mommy. Pwesents?" Keith asked hopefully, giving her his puppy dog eyes.
Peyton nearly caved but managed to be strong. "Wait until Daddy gets back honey."
Keith pouted as he sent a loving glance at the new presents that had been placed under the tree before looking back at his mother, the puppy dog look back in place.
She stared back at him for a moment, trying to resist. She knew it was a futile attempt.
"How about one of Aunt Haley's Christmas cookies instead?" she compromised.
Karen laughed from the armchair and shook her head "that is exactly the same look Lucas used to give me when he was little. It always worked."
The others laughed.
"How come it doesn't work for me mommy?" Lily asked.
"Your brother used it so much I eventually became immune to it" Karen laughed.
Lily scowled, causing the others to laugh once again.
The cookies were passed out, much to the kids delight and they sat happily talking about their morning so far.
"I will just go and check the turkey seeing as Lucas isn't here." Karen said as she made her way to the kitchen.
Nathan was out of his seat in a shot, his cookie lying abandoned on the floor.
"No! That's unfair help!" he protested.
"Nathan, dawg, calm down" Skills laughed.
"I am only going to look into the oven to make sure it isn't burning. I won't even open the door. You can supervise if you like" Karen chuckled.
Nathan considered this for a second. "Ok, but only a quick look. No touching anything."
"Honey, don't you think you are taking this a bit too seriously?" Haley smiled.
"Him taking it seriously? You should have seen Lucas when we were buying the damn thing. It took him half and hour to choose it! Even had the supermarket managers come and give him recommendations for the best one. He was like Gordon Ramsay on crack" Peyton supplied.
Karen made a show of peering into the oven, keeping her arms behind her back. She looked into it for a moment before moving away. Nathan was watching her the way a cop surveyed a criminal.
"Did I break the rules?" she joked
Nathan stuck his chin out and scoffed before he replied. "No, that was acceptable"
"Good."
The sound of the front door opening echoed through the house and a minute later, Whitey appeared in the kitchen.
"Hey Whitey!" Nathan grinned as he moved to give the old man a hug.
"Good to see you Nathan, Merry Christmas." The aged coach smiled.
Whitey's arrival caused a wave of excitement, especially with Keith. He adored the old man and had taken to calling him 'Pops' which Whitey was more than happy to allow him to do.
Whitey chuckled deeply as Keith practically flew towards him and jumped into his arms, grunting as he pulled the little boy up to give him a hug.
"Hello there Keith. How are you?" he asked.
"I'm goods! Santa came!" he yelled back excitedly.
Everyone laughed at his eagerness.
"Keith, try not to deafen people" Peyton soothed. "Where's Lucas?" she asked after a moment, realising that her husband was not in the room.
"He's outside. He got a call on that cell phone thing of his" Whitey answered.
While the others once again settled in the lounge, Peyton made her way outside and caught the hurried whispers of her husband, who was leaning against their jeep, his phone glued to his ear.
"…..where are you?"
Peyton frowned. Who was he talking to?
"Ok. Well let me know ok? I was getting worried there for a minute" Lucas answered to the phone.
"Ok, bye" he ended the call and turned round, freezing when he spotted his wife.
He replaced his shock with a smile. "Hey honey"
Peyton scowled at him. "Who was that?"
"Oh…..it was just the publishers; they were calling to wish us a Merry Christmas."
Peyton didn't buy it and scowled deeper, causing Lucas to laugh.
"Don't worry babe, all will be revealed soon" he supplied "now, shall we go and open those presents before Nathan dies of old age?"
Peyton chuckled and shook her head "I will find out you know."
Lucas laughed "I know you will."
The lounge looked like a bomb of wrapping paper had gone off. There was so much, even the carpet could no longer be seen. They had really out done each other this year with gifts, sparing no expense.
The kids had cackled with delight as they opened their presents off their aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents.
"I think we can open up our own version of 'Toys R Us'" Nathan laughed as he surveyed all the presents.
Jamie looked up and scowled at him before discreetly pulling his presents closer him, causing his father to chuckle.
Keith was beside himself. He was looking at all his presents, trying to decide which on to play with first. Every so often, his hand would shoot out to grab one, only to be pulled away as he spotted another. A little squint was rested upon his features.
"Yo Luke, he looks so much like you its actually kind of scary" Skills muttered as he watched the little boy.
Lucas laughed as he bounced both William and Aidan on his lap.
Much like earlier, William had initially been more excited with the wrapping paper and was currently having a game of tug of war with Aidan over a piece that was littered with tiny penguins.
"Next year I think we are just going to give him a roll of this stuff" Lucas grinned as he watched the two babies play. "Save a lot of money, that's for sure."
Karen smiled wistfully before she began a tale of Lucas as a baby, much to the delight of the others and the annoyance of her son.
"It was his second Christmas and me and Keith had bought him a little trike. We spent hours picking the perfect one out for him, not to mention spending a fair bit of money on it too. But was he interested? Nope. All he cared about was the giant cardboard box it came in. you played with that for weeks afterwards and barley touched the trike. Keith was all for taking it back and getting a refund." She smiled.
Peyton turned to her husband "So, its your fault then William doesn't care about the toys! You passed your indifference on to him!" she mock blamed.
Lucas didn't answer, handing William off to her and Aidan off to Haley.
"I need to check on dinner" he grinned as he left the room.
"Try and salvage it while you still can bro!" Nathan called to him.
His reply was a rude hand gesture from around the door.
"Lucas!" his mother scolded "Behave"
Nathan laughed at the fact that Lucas was getting told off until Deb smacked the back of his head.
He turned to look at her in surprise.
"That's goes for you too young man" his mother admonished too.
Nathan shrunk into his seat from the wrath of his mothers glare as he heard laughter from the kitchen.
Lucas came back a moment later stating that the turkey "was worth an award"
"How much longer till dinner Luke? I'm starved" asked Brooke.
Lucas shrugged. "About half an hour."
Peyton frowned. "I thought it would have been done by now?"
"You can't rush perfection babe" Lucas replied, ignoring Nathans snort.
She narrowed her eyes at him "your acting all sneaky, I don't like it"
Lucas laughed a little at his wife's suspicion. "Relax, stop worrying."
She was about to take the discussion further but was cut off when a game of Christmas charades was suggested.
After Nathans feeble attempt at titanic, which involved a very dramatic version of Jacks death scene, including sounds, Peyton got up to take her turn.
While she was up, she didn't notice Lucas slide out of the room.
She huffed frustrated as she tried to get the actions right. The others all had questioning looks in their faces as they watched her.
"Couldn't you have gone for something less original than "The Wizard of OZ?" a voice boomed from the doorway.
Everyone turned to look at the new voice as Peyton's draw dropped in shock.
There, in the doorway was Larry and Derek. Lucas was standing behind them with a small grin on his face.
Peyton looked between the three faces as she stuttered out her words.
"Who…..what……how?" she asked before she launched herself across the room, grabbing her father and brother in a tight hug.
"Its your husbands fault" began Larry "he was rather adamant that we made it here for Christmas dinner" he laughed.
"How are you sis?" Derek asked as she hugged him again.
"I'm great! I thought you weren't coming home for another month" she questioned.
Derek chuckled. "I lied. Wanted to surprise you"
"Uncold Derek!" cried Keith as he ran over to the man, who swung him up in his arms.
"Hey soldier. How are you?"
"I'm goods! Hey Grandpa!" he shouted to Larry and hopped over into his arms for a hug.
Peyton looked over at Lucas who was grinning sheepishly. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Surprise" he whispered in her ear.
"You did all this, for me?" she asked.
"Of course I did. Merry Christmas." He replied as he kissed her cheek.
"I love you Luke" she grinned as she kissed him back.
"I love you too"
The tender moment was broken by Nathan, with his impeccable timing.
"Can we eat now?"
An hour later, after stuffing themselves silly, everyone was lounged around the table, the remains of dinner spread out before them.
"I don't think I will be able to move for a week" mumbled Haley as she leant back in her chair.
"I second that. That was some good grub dawg" Skills complimented.
Lucas grinned in thanks as he turned to his brother.
"Nathan? What do you think?"
Nathan didn't meet his eyes as he looked down at the table cloth, mumbling something.
"What was that?" Lucas pressed.
"I said it was ok" he replied, nonchalant.
Lucas scoffed and raised his eyebrows at him.
Nathan caved, "Fine you win! It was great! But it wasn't a fair competition. You have the genetics of a great cook. Its purely inherited."
Everyone laughed at Nathans whining.
Lucas clapped him on the shoulder "Learn when to accept defeat man. And as the loser, you get to clean the dishes!" he cried as he got up from the table.
Nathan did not give in lightly. But after much protesting, he finally made his way into the kitchen to begin cleaning up. Haley took pity on him and followed.
Peyton walked up to her husband and once again, wrapped her arms around him.
"Well done, you won the turkey contest." She smiled.
Lucas grinned. "So, have you had a good Christmas?" he asked his wife.
"Its been amazing"
They both looked at their family, both main and extended. They watched as Keith tickled William, causing the baby to cackle with laughter.
"Merry Christmas Peyton." Lucas whispered.
"Merry Christmas Luke."
Ta da! I hope you enjoyed that little bit of festive cheer! Please leave a review! And to all my readers,
Have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!