Have Yourselves A Merry Little Christmas
Hey guys! I know it has been forever since I updated last and I'm really sorry! You know how the end of year is, with everything on at once. I have been working really hard on stories. The next chapter of Never Knew What I Was Missing should be up very soon, as well as the new chapter for Daddy's Little Girl. But while I was writing those, the idea for this came into my head yesterday, so I really wanted to publish before Christmas Day, so I worked on it today. It's just a simple, happy oneshot, which seem to be my specialties lol. Also, if I'm able to, I will post a Christmassy Gilmore Girls fic tomorrow.
Anyway, it is Christmas Eve here in Australia. Have a very Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy it with those you love and make the most of it. I hope Santa is good to all of you :)
Gabriella Bolton awoke early in the morning. She rolled over to find her husband still sleeping, his baby blue eyes shut. Outside their apartment, snow was falling, covering the ground like a thick blanket.
Gabriella smiled at the peaceful moment. She snuggled into her husband and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to overtake her once again.
Two people slipped into the room, trying their hardest to remain quiet. The boy motioned to his little sister, placing a finger to his lips to remind her to be quiet. She nodded her head vigorously, showing her brother that she remembered their plan.
The two children stood at the foot of the bed and counted to three, before launching themselves onto the bed.
"Ahhhh!" the two kids squealed.
Troy and Gabriella awoke with a start. Troy laughed at the devilish look on his son's face and his daughter's angelic expression.
"We tried as hard as we could to wait, but Lilly just couldn't do it any longer." Jake shrugged his shoulders. As the older brother he had convinced his little sister that their parents would rather sleep in, but his reasoning had only worked for about fifteen minutes.
"It's Christmas Daddy!" Lilly cried.
Troy grinned at his daughter. She was a spitting image of him with the same hair colour and blue eyes, but she had inherited her mother's curls. She was the cutest thing he had ever seen.
"I know baby. Did Santa Claus come?" Troy asked her.
"Yes!" Lilly said excitedly. "Can we open our presents now Mummy?" she turned to ask Gabriella.
Gabi smiled at her little girl, brushing the curls off her face. "Yes. You and Jake go get your Christmas sacks."
The two young Boltons ran from the room to collect their Santa presents. Troy laughed at their retreating backs. Their enthusiasm was contagious.
"Merry Christmas, my love." Troy murmured, softly kissing his wife's lips.
"Mmm, Merry Christmas to you too sweetie." She whispered back.
"And how is baby this morning?" Troy asked, leaning over to peek at her stomach.
Gabriella laughed. "They're good. The little he or she in there."
"That's good." Troy smiled. He couldn't wait for the newest addition of their family to arrive.
The kids ran back in, dragging their large sacks that were filled to the brim with presents. Troy and Gabi leaned over to the side of the bed and retrieved their smaller sacks.
"Okay. Now remember how we do it; we go in turns for everyone to open a present one at a time." Troy reminded his children. "Lilly starts because she's the youngest. Open a present sweetie." He encouraged her.
Lilly dug into the sack, pulling one out right from the middle. She tore the paper off it to see what was inside. "A Hannah Montana doll! How did Santa know?"
Troy and Gabriella smiled at each other.
"Santa's very clever." Gabriella reminded Lilly.
The four year old grinned down at the doll in her hands and hugged it to her chest. "How can I tell Santa thank you? He's very far away." She asked worriedly.
"If you say it out loud, I'm sure Santa can hear you. He's very special." Troy assured his daughter.
"Thank you Santa." Lilly said, looking up to the ceiling.
"Okay Jake, your turn." Troy said.
Jake pulled out the first present in his sack and carefully unwrapped it. "Cool!" he cried when he found a book on gross science experiments. At eight years old, he had already inherited his mother's love for science and math. He did very well in school and sports to both his parents delight.
"Your turn now." Troy smiled at his wife.
Gabi smiled as she pulled a present from her sack. She opened it to find a book that she'd been wanting for ages. "Ooh thank you Santa." She said to the room but gave a special smile to her husband.
When it was Troy's turn, he unwrapped a brand new basketball. "Oh good! I've been needing a new one." He exclaimed. He too thanked Santa.
Twenty minutes later, everyone had opened all their presents and the floor was covered in wrapping paper.
"Okay, everyone pick up some paper to put in the bin. Then get dressed and you can play with your toys until your grandparents get here." Gabi instructed the kids.
After shoving the wrapping paper into a bin, they hurried off to their own rooms.
Three hours later, Gabi was in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the food. She knew their family would be arriving soon. Lilly was playing with her news dolls and Troy was helping Jake to set up the new PlayStation 3 console.
Gabriella smiled at her family. Life was so good at the moment.
Troy and Gabriella had remained together all the way through college and they had gotten married the year after they graduated. Gabriella finished at Stanford and Law school and went on to become a lawyer. Troy had continued with his basketball and drama all the way through college, but it was his old passion of basketball that won out in the end. After they had gotten married, Troy had been drafted into the Knicks, so the young couple moved out to New York City. It was almost ten years later and the pair was still happily married. Troy's very successful basketball was still going, and he did a lot of charity work to support the underprivileged youth of New York. Gabriella had taken a break from law to support their children and run the household. She had never considered something like that growing up, but she loved her life. She was still as in love with Trot as she had been as a teenager, and they had two beautiful kids with a third on the way. They had a lovely apartment overlooking Central Park that was close to the kids' school. Life was good.
"Mummy, they're here!" Lilly called out as the doorbell rang.
"Troy, will you get it please?" Gabriella asked her husband.
"I'm on it!" Troy picked up Lilly and opened the door to their family members.
"Hi, Merry Christmas!" The people chorused.
Troy's parents, Jack and Lucille entered the hallway.
"Hi guys!" Lucille smiled, giving her son and granddaughter and kiss. "Lilly, you're so big now!"
"I know, I'm four years old!" Lilly said proudly, holding up four fingers for her grandma to see.
"My goodness that is big!" Lucille exclaimed. "I'd better go find Gabriella."
"She's in the kitchen." Troy told his mother.
Jack Bolton walked over. "Merry Christmas son." He grinned.
"You too Dad."
"And Merry Christmas little girl." Jack smiled at his little granddaughter that had him wrapped around her finger.
Lilly sighed. "I just went through this. I'm a big girl!"
Troy and Jack laughed at her words.
"Oh, I'm sorry. How about the big girl comes with me?" Jack asked.
Lilly nodded so Troy handed her over to his father and turned to greet more people.
Maria, Gabriella's mum and Dave, her stepfather, walked in.
"Hello Troy, Merry Christmas!" Maria exclaimed.
"You too Maria. And you Dave." Troy said, shaking the older man's hand. "Where's Zoe?" he asked, referring to Gabriella's younger half-sister.
"Oh, she and John were running a bit late, but they'll be here soon." Maria explained. "Where's my daughter?" she asked.
"In the kitchen." Troy said, pointing the way.
The three of the headed into the living room and Maria went to find her daughter.
Gabriella was making a pot of coffee when her mother entered. "Mama!" she cried in excitement.
"Oh, my Gabi!" Maria exclaimed as she hugged her daughter close.
Gabriella's father had died when she was very young, and Maria had remarried two years later. Soon after, her little half-sister, Zoe came along. After Gabi had gone to Stanford for college, Maria, Dave and Zoe had moved to Florida. Maria and Dave still lived there years later, so the two women didn't see each other very often.
"Look at you my darling, you are glowing!" Maria exclaimed.
Gabriella blushed. "Mama, no I'm not, I'm barely showing." She pointed out to her mother.
"Well, I happen to think you always glow." Troy said, wrapping his arms around his wife from behind.
Maria and Gabi laughed.
"I think you're a bit biased." Gabi told her husband.
"Hmm, maybe. Anyway, Zoe just called. They'll be here in fifteen minutes." He told her.
"Good. Well, we can just relax while the kids play." Gabriella said. She handed a tray of coffees to Troy and she and her mother followed him out into the living room.
Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" Gabriella said, jumping up from the couch. She hurried into the hallway and pulled the door open.
"Zoe!"
Her half sister stood before her, grinning at her older sibling. "Hey Gab." She said excitedly, giving her a hug.
"And how's my favourite little niece." Gabriella cooed to the baby held in Zoe's husband's arms.
"Oh fine then. Say hi to Zoe and Candace and not me." John said with a laugh.
"I'm sorry John. Hello, Merry Christmas." Gabriella gave her brother-in-law a kiss on the cheek. "Come in, everyone's here."
Two hours later, dinner had been eaten and the Bolton/Montez family were seated in the living room around the tree.
"Okay, time to open presents!" Troy announced.
"Yay!" the kids cried.
Troy picked up each present and handed it to that person to open it. Cries of joy, especially from the younger kids, filled the room.
Gabriella smiled as looked around the room at all of her family. A tap on her shoulder caught her attention. She turned around to find her husband standing there, grinning at her.
"Merry Christmas beautiful girl." He said, handing her a small box. She smiled at him and kissed him softly.
"Thank you she said, unwrapping it slowly. When she had removed all the paper she realised it was a jewellery box. She smiled at Troy. He knew how much she loved it when he picked out jewellery for her.
She opened the box and her mouth dropped open in surprise. A gold locket shaped like a heart lay on the delicate tissue. She took it out carefully. She turned it over to see the inscription carved on it.
I love you, forever and always.
Her hand flew to her mouth and she looked up at Troy, tears gathering in her eyes. He smiled softly at her.
"Open it up." He told her.
With slightly shaking hands she opened the locket. On the left side was a picture of her and Troy when they were seventeen years old, their arms wrapped around each other and smiles on their faces. Next to it was a picture of their family, only taken weeks ago. Troy and Gabriella had their arms wrapped around each other again, but their children stood in front of them, smiling at the camera.
"It's to show where we started, and where we are now." Troy said softly.
Gabriella jumped up and launched herself into his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around her.
"I love it. Thank you so much." She told him. She leaned up and kissed him passionately.
"You're welcome." He smiled.
"I love you so much." She said.
"I love you too." He said back.
Their families smiled at the happy sight before them. The two of them hadn't changed. They were still as in love to this day as they had been all through high school.
It was now early in the evening. All of their guests had left awhile ago, so the Bolton family was relaxing. Lilly and Jake had fallen asleep in front of the TV and were quiet, much to their parents' relief.
Troy placed the last of the dirty dishes in the sink, to be washed later. He smiled at his kids asleep on the floor. Picking them up one at a time, he carefully placed them on the couch and covered them over with a blanket.
He looked around the room, wondering where Gabriella was. He headed to their bedroom to find her curled up, asleep on their bed. His heart swelled with love as he stared down at her. He climbed onto the bed and snuggled up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. He kissed her cheek softly before closing his eyes and falling asleep with her.