How I Met Your Mommy: Christmas Card
A/N: Thought of this as I was taking my niece and nephews photo for a Christmas card this weekend. It goes with my story How I Met Your Mommy, but you don't have to read it to enjoy. (:
If you aren't reading that story then here are the kids and their ages:
Remy: 16
Keegan: 13
Charlie: 9
Sugar: 6
"Charlie! I told you no ice cream!" Santana yells, breezing out of the kitchen and through the living room. Charlie is sitting on the couch with a tub of chocolate ice cream in his small hands and a big serving spoon. "Put it up!" She tells him sternly, before racing up the stairs.
She practically runs down the hallway, stopping when she passes Keegan's room. "Keegan are you ready?" She asks hurriedly, poking her head inside. She sees her oldest son standing in front of his mirror, wearing dark green skinny jeans, adjusting his denim button up shirt with a frown. "What's the matter?" She asks, sounding stressed as she walks into the room.
Keegan tilts his head to the side and pulls at the collar. "The collar won't stay flat." He frowns, pushing the edge of the collar down.
Santana sighs and spins him around. She pushes down on the collar, but it continues to curl up. "It's fine." She tells him distractedly, standing back up straight. "Put your shoes on," She instructs him, turning to leave the room.
"It needs to be ironed!" He whines.
Santana turns back to him and sees him with his arms folded over his chest. "Fine, take it off and I'll iron it." She says, shaking her head. "Hurry up," She urges him, flinging her hands around as he takes his time to unbutton it.
Once he gets it off, Santana snatches it out of his hand and marches out of his room and down the hallway. She goes into her and Brittany's room where Brittany is standing behind Sugar at the vanity, fixing her hair.
"You're son is such a pretty boy." Santana comments, pulling the iron board out of the closet.
Brittany smirks and looks at Santana through the mirror. "I believe he gets that one from you." She fires back, raising a brow at her wife. Santana just rolls her eyes and plugs the iron into the wall.
"He refuses to wear his shirt because it's just a tad bit wrinkled and the collar won't lie perfectly flat." She informs the blonde, placing her hands on her hips.
Brittany chuckles and shakes her head. "Well, I'll iron his shirt, you come and do Sugar's hair." Brittany suggests, holding the brush out for her. "It always looks better when you do it." Brittany adds, walking over to her wife. "and relax," She tells her, placing a quick kiss to her lips.
Santana breathes in deeply and takes the brush from Brittany's hand. She walks over to her youngest daughter who is pouting at at her reflection in the mirror. "What's the matter?" Santana asks, her brows furrowing.
"I don't want to wear my hair like this." Sugar grumbles, folding her arms tightly over her chest.
Santana rolls her eyes and runs the brush through Sugar's hair. "Baby, don't you want to wear your big pretty bow?" She asks in a happy voice. Sugar just grumbles and shakes her head. "Well how do you want to wear your hair?" Santana asks, looking at Sugar's face in the mirror.
Sugar just shrugs in response, but makes no attempt to give her an answer. "She's being a little brat." Brittany says from across the room. "She doesn't want you doing anything to her hair." Brittany informs her as she irons Keegan's shirt.
"Sugar, we have to fix your hair." Santana tells her gently. "You have to look all pretty for the picture." She says, grabbing a hair band from the vanity. She starts pulling a little of Sugar's hair back to tie it on the top side of her head, but Sugar starts squirming and yelling 'ow'. "Sugar, I'm not hurting you." Santana huffs. She's barely touching the girl, she just is being, like Brittany said: a brat.
"Yes you are!" Sugar whines, trying to squirm away from her mama's hands.
Santana ignores her and finishes tying the small amount of Sugar's hair back. She then leans over and grabs the big red white and green bow with candy canes on it, off the vanity. "Hold still." She says sternly as she clips the bow into Sugar's hair, where she'd tied some hair back. "There, all done." Santana says with a smile, admiring her work.
Sugar is still pouting and has her arms folded tightly across her chest. She obviously isn't as happy with the outcome as Santana is. "I don't want to wear it like this." She says stubbornly.
Santana rolls her eyes and turns back to Brittany but finds the blonde gone. Keegan's shirt is gone and the iron is unplugged as well so she assumes she took him his shirt. "Come on, go down stairs with Charlie and sit on the couch." Santana instructs the little girl, tapping her shoulder, prompting her to stand up. "And don't mess up your hair!" She shouts as Sugar darts out of the bedroom.
Santana takes a moment to herself, breathing in deeply, before walking back out of her bedroom. She makes her way down the hallway to Remy's room and sees her daughter talking on the phone.
"Remy, get off the phone and get downstairs." Santana says sternly. When her daughter stands up off the bed, Santana looks her up and down, making sure she's dressed in what she is supposed to be dressed in. They'd told her to wear something red, and she did. But Santana isn't fond of the tight short dress she picked out.
"Remy, you look beautiful." Brittany's voice says, from behind Santana.
Santana turns to her wife and glares at her, but Brittany just smiles and puts her arm around Santana's waist. "Thanks mom." Remy says, touching up her hair before making her way downstairs like she was instructed.
"Where the hell did she even get that dress?" Santana asks with a frown, her eyes following Remy down the hallway until she turns to go down the stairs.
Brittany chuckles next to her, "Your closet maybe?" She says with a cheeky grin. Santana huffs and Brittany kisses her temple before heading down the hallway as well, just as the doorbell rings.
Sugar's voice can be heard from downstairs, "I got it, I got it!"
Santana makes her way downstairs just in time for Sugar to open the door, revealing Quinn. "Aunt Quinn!" Sugar exclaims, reaching up to the woman for her to pick her up.
"Hey Quinn." Santana greets, after Brittany lets the woman in the house. "We're just about ready." She says, looking around at all of her kids, to back up her statement.
"Good." Quinn says, nodding her head as she puts Sugar back down on the ground. "I have to get all the equipment out of my car." She says, motioning back to the door. Santana gives her a nod and the blonde makes her way back outside to unload all of her photography equipment.
Santana looks over each of her kids and her eyes widen when she gets to Charlie. "Charlie! I told you to put the ice cream away! Look at what you did!" Santana scolds, marching over to the boy. There is a huge chocolate stain on his dark green button up.
Guiding him into the kitchen with a huff, Santana continues mumbling angrily at him. "I'm sorry Mama." He says with a sigh.
"Why didn't you listen to me?" She asks, wetting a towel. "If you wouldn't have eaten the ice cream like I said, this wouldn't have happened." She says, turning the water off. She makes her way over to him and starts scrubbing at the stain, but it does nothing.
Charlie sways back a little but keeps his balance as Santana roughly rubs at the stain on his chest. "It's not coming off." He states, looking down at the stain.
It makes Santana's stress just about go over the top. "I see that." She says lowly, trying to keep her cool and not rip him to pieces. "Go upstairs and put on your green sweater. Fast." She tells him, nudging him towards the stairs.
Santana makes her way back into the living room, rubbing her temples with her middle and index fingers. Sugar is watching Quinn in awe as she sets up all of her lights in front of the fireplace and Christmas tree. Remy is on the phone again and Keegan is on the couch, annoying her as she talks. At least they're dressed and look presentable.
She walks over to Brittany who opens her arms for her wife, and she just about falls into Brittany. "I want to beat our kids." Santana says with a small smile, making Brittany chuckle and squeeze her tighter.
Brittany places a gentle kiss to the top of Santana's head and sways her gently in her arms. "No you don't." Brittany says knowingly. She knows that Santana is just joking, but she still wants to point out the fact that she knows Santana would never do that.
Santana nuzzles her face in Brittany's neck and takes in a few calming breathes. A few seconds later she opens her eyes, but wishes she hadn't. Sugar is yanking on the bow on her head, messing up her hair in the process. "Sugar stop!" Santana groans. "Fuck the family Christmas card." Santana mumbles so just Brittany hears her.
Brittany chuckles and kisses Santana's forehead. "It'll be worth it." She says, letting Santana go. She walks over to Sugar and takes the bow out of the little girls hair. Santana watches her wife sit a kicking Sugar down on the couch, and make her stay there. The blonde then starts fixing Sugar's hair back the way it was.
Santana shakes her head and makes her way over to Quinn, who has finished setting up and is now sitting on the arm of the couch, waiting. "I'm sorry, it'll just be a few more minutes." She apologizes. They were supposed to take the photo 10 minutes ago, and although that isn't too late, it's late. And Quinn has other clients after them.
"You know Santana, just because we are friends, doesn't mean that I can wait around for you all day." Quinn says with a frown. "We're friends, but this is my job and I would appreciate it if you'd treat me as a professional and not 'Aunt Quinn'." She chastises.
Santana rolls her eyes at her friend and shakes her head. "I understand that Quinn." Santana says, clenching her jaw. She's already stressed enough, she doesn't need Quinn giving her lectures. "But you don't understand how hard it is to get 4 kids dressed and looking presentable." She fires back.
"Santana you catch murders on a daily basis and you can't handle four kids?" Quinn asks with a hint of a smirk.
Santana lets out a bitter laugh and shakes her head, "I'll take the murders any day." She jokes, glancing over at Keegan who is trying to give Remy a wet willy while she talks on the phone. "Seriously, have 3 more kids and then we'll talk." Santana says matter of fact, making Quinn roll her eyes, but smile.
"Okay, now leave it or you're going in time out Sugar." Brittany says, pointing a finger down at the youngest who is once again pouting.
Charlie walks down the stairs a couple of seconds later redressed in dark red jeans and his dark green sweater. "Okay, everyone get over there and do what Aunt Quinn says." Santana instructs, pointing to the fireplace.
Quinn positions everyone the way she feels looks best, on the fireplace which is next to the big christmas tree. "Alright, everyone look right here and smile big!" She shouts, putting the camera up to her face.
It's been about 10 minutes now and they still haven't gotten a good shot. Either one of the kids are blinking, one of them aren't looking or someone has moved from their position. Quinn is getting frustrated, but she's still talking in her sugary sweet voice, trying to get them to do as she says. She's not used to taking kids photos, she hasn't done it since her early years as a photographer and did it just because it made good money. Now she mainly does fashion photography. However, Santana and Brittany being her best friends, she made an exception.
"Okay, the next person that isn't looking or moves in the next photo is grounded for a week." Santana says sternly, reaching the end of her patience. "And try your best to not blink." She adds just as firm.
"Sugar unfold your arms." Brittany chastises, pulling on the little girls, folded arms.
Sugar huffs put drops her hands into her lap and looks up at Quinn who is waiting as patiently as possible. "I don't want to take a picture!" Sugar screeches just as Quinn presses the button. She stands up and stomps her feet on the ground a few times before throwing herself on the couch, behind Quinn.
Santana throws her head back and groans loudly in defeat. She's done trying. All she wanted was a nice family portrait to put on a card and send to all of their friends and family. She forgot how difficult it is to take family portraits with her family though. Last year it was Remy that was the main problem, copping a major attitude. Santana is pretty sure she was PMSing or something. The year before that, Charlie had been sick and was definitely not in a picture taking mood. It's safe to say that every year was something different, but every year, something happened.
"Sugar, get back over here now." Santana demands her. But Sugar stays laid out on the sofa, choosing to ignore her mama. "Sugar, I swear," Santana mumbles, stepping out from behind the kids to make her way over to Sugar. Brittany had already made her way over to the youngest by now and was holding her in her lap, trying to talk to her before Snix could make an appearance.
"Honey you just have to sit there and smile for like a minute and we will be all done." Brittany tells her gently. "And then you can change your clothes, take your hair down and go outside and play." She adds in a tempting tone, hoping to convince her.
Santana sits down on the coffee table across from the two of them and breathes in deeply, trying her best to not go off on Sugar. She lost her patience 20 minutes ago and she's fighting everything inside of not to go all Snix on the kid. "Sugar if you don't take this picture right now, you are grounded for the rest of the week." Santana informs her, firmly but calm. "That means no TV, no toys. You go to school, you come home and help me and mommy with chores, you eat dinner and you go to bed early." Santana explains, hoping the girl will think twice about throwing another tantrum.
Sugar frowns and looks up at Brittany, but the blonde makes no effort to disagree with Santana, which makes her huff. "Fine," she says, folding her arms. She slides off of Brittany and stomps her feet back over to the fireplace and sits down in front of it.
"Uncross your arms." Brittany tells her as her and Santana take their spot back as well.
o0o0o
Santana walks into the house after work and finds Brittany sitting on the couch watching a movie with all of the kids and Spencer. "Look what I have," She announces in a sing-song voice, walking behind the couch, waving a piece of paper in her hand as she holds an envelope in the other. "Our Christmas card," She says, bringing the photo down in front of Brittany's face.
Brittany smiles widely and shows it to Sugar and Charlie who are sitting on either side of her and then passes it over to Keegan who is sitting on the floor in front of them.
"What do you guys think?" Santana asks, walking around the couch. She picks Sugar up and sits down next to her wife, placing Sugar on her lap.
"I love it," Brittany says, smiling brightly as Keegan passes it over to Remy and Spencer on the opposite couch. "We look so happy." She gushes. "Everyone looks great."
Spencer rips the photo out of Remy's hand and smiles widely at it as she holds it close to her face, "Aww you guys are so cute!" She gushes, making Remy glare and scoff at her. "Rem, you guys are all matching, how adorable." She teases, looking over at the brunette.
Remy grabs the photo from her and tosses it at Santana and Brittany, scooting away from Spencer in the process, making the blonde chuckle and scoot over as well, not letting Remy get away from her.
Santana smirks, "If you didn't know any better, we look like a perfect family." She says shaking her head, remembering how difficult it had been to get everyone ready for that photo and then have everyone cooperate. Photo's are definitely deceiving.
"We are the perfect family." Brittany says with a smile, wrapping an arm around Santana.
Santana can't argue, so she nods and leans in kissing her wife sweetly.
A/N: Let me know what you think and I'm working on the actual update for How I Met Your Mommy as well! (: