Chapter One; San Francisco Here We Come!
Hello my name is Sarah Judith Bennett. People have always told me ever since I was a baby that I'm a splitting image of my mother even though I have dark hair and a little bit darker skin than her, but I still have her eyes. I have two older brothers and one younger sister. First of all there's Daniel. He's the oldest and named after our grandfather but we all just call him Dan. He even looks more like our mother than I do. He has long wavy blonde hair, bright blue eyes and fair skin.
He's about our cousin's Jackson's age since he just turned thirteen. Then there's Michael (we all call him Mike or Mikey) who is nearly twelve. He looks the most like Dad with dark hair and dark skin but the same blue eyes like Dan and I. Of course there's me who just turned eleven years old, and finally there's Becky named after our great aunt. She's the youngest and just turned seven which she is closest to our cousin Max's age. She has blonde hair and blue eyes (and fair skin) just like Dan and I. She almost nearly always has her hair tied back into a ponytail.
All of us just started our Christmas vacation and we are going home to California to see our family once again. It's been quite a few years since we've been to San Francisco. It's not that we don't love and miss our family, but Mom's been really busy with her fashion career in New York, and Dad has his job on the police force. Not only that but quite a few years ago we discovered a secret that we've been trying to keep hidden all this time.
Mom and Dad both agreed that it's finally time to let our family know about it. So here we are packing our suitcases while Dad takes Whiskers and Pluto to the kennel. Pluto is our yellow Labradoodle that we've had ever since he was a puppy, and Whiskers is our plump gray cat that we've recently adopted from the animal shelter. I can't believe that we're leaving tomorrow. Everyone is so excited! Especially meeting our newly adopted baby Cousin Pamela.
Well, that is everyone except for Becky. She's afraid that since she won't be home for Christmas Santa won't be able to find her and bring her presents. I know that she's just a little kid so I take pity on her and tell her that I'm pretty sure he's still going to be able to find her, but if he doesn't at least she can eat his Christmas cookies. Even though I'm only trying to cheer her up when I say this, she gets angry at me anyway and storms away into the bedroom and slams the door behind her.
It's at this moment that Dad returns home and Mom takes a break from folding laundry and rushes to the door to give him a kiss. "So how was it?" she asked him as he took a deep breath.
"Well there was a lot of crying, whining, and whimpering." He began.
"Yeah but how did the animals take it?" I asked him as he chuckles at me. "What are you still doing up?" he questions me.
"I just finished packing. Becky's upset. She thinks that Santa Claus won't be able to find her this Christmas even after I told her that at least we would get his Christmas cookies if he didn't show up. Boy," I began with a shake of my head in disbelief. "It's been so long since I've been a little kid that I seem to have a real hard time understanding them anymore. They're like a foreign language to me." I said.
"Don't worry Sarah, I'll go talk to her. You need to start getting ready for bed. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow." She said.
"Alright then I will. Goodnight Mom." I told her before I headed back down the hallway and turned to go into my bedroom. I quietly shut the door behind me as my mother starts knocking on my little sister's door.
.…..
"Becky it's your mother, can I come in please sweetheart?" Michelle questioned and waited for a few moments before the door opened and her daughter was standing there in f with a very cross look on her face.
"What do you want!?" she yelled angrily.
"I just want to talk to you that's all. Sarah said that you're worried that Santa won't be able to visit you for Christmas this year. Is that true?" Michelle wondered as Becky just simply nodded her head while continuing to glare at her mother.
"I wish that we could just stay here. That way I know that Santa will make it!" she cried as her mother bent down and picked her up.
"Don't you want to go home and see Gramps, Gran, Grandma and Grandpa?" she questioned her daughter. "Not to mention Aunt DJ, and Aunt Stephanie?" Becky nodded.
"Yes, but what about Santa?" she asked her.
"Do you remember the story about when Jesus was born a star shone down in the sky to lead all the kings, shepherds, and wise men to Him?" Michelle asked as Becky just simply nodded again.
"Well then you see? Santa will be able to find you the same way, by following the stars." She explained.
"Oh." Becky began. "I wonder why Sarah didn't just tell me that in the first place." She said as her mother smiled at her and planted a kiss upon her cheek.
"Come on munchkin, let's get you ready for bed." She told her daughter as she carried her into her bedroom and shut the door behind her.
The next morning everyone was up and ready to go pretty early so that we had plenty of time to drive to the airport. Mom, Dad, Dan, and I already knew how much of a pain going through security was. However eventually we made it through (as always) and then we made it down to the food court for breakfast.
I couldn't wait to get on the plane since I absolutely loved to fly, and so did my brothers and my sisters. Even Becky was excited about it now. It was official, in a little while (about half an hour actually) we would be on our way. San Francisco California here we come!