Nadine's Point of View:

I immediately woke up and sat on my bed.

Christmas.

I leap out and shake my sister awake.

"Audra! Audra! Wake up! It's Christmas!"

Audra's eyes fluttered, and then she fell back asleep again.

"Audra!"

I took my pillow, and throw it at her.

"Okay, what was that for?" She cried out, and glared at me.

"You are not a morning person." I noticed.

"What time is it?"

"6:30am."

"Good night." She mumbled, and closed her eyes again.

"No, good morning! Come on! Don't you want to see what Daddy and Mommy bought us?"

Audra and I were way to clever to fall for the Santa trick anymore, but we act like we do just for our parent's content.

"On the other hand..." She smirked and got up. "You make a good point."

We got dressed, brushed our teeth, and got ready for the day. By the time we were done, it was 7:00am.

We practically floated to Mom's bedroom. Surprisingly, she was on her desk, reading.

"How are my little sunshines today?"

She gave us a welcoming smile, considering we had just barged into her room.

"Can we see what Santa brought us?" Audra asked.

"You know the rules; we have to wait until everyone is up. Your father is still sleeping."

"We'll wake him up!"

Mom raised an eyebrow. "Alright then. Let's see how you can do that."

"Pillows!" exclaimed Audra.

I frowned. "Really? You're totally stealing our morning ritual."

But Audra grabbed the two biggest pillows on Mom's bed, gave one to me, and ran into Daddy's room.

I turn to see Mom's approval, and she chuckled, and then winked.

"Go ahead."

I followed Audra. She put her finger on her lips, to signify we had to be quiet.

"On three. One, two, three!"

We jumped on Dad's bed and whacked him with pillows until he woke up.

"Aahh! Audra! Nadine! What the..."

We heard Mom start to laugh.

"Was the pillows really necessary?" Daddy sat up and ruffled our hair, playfully.

"Were there another way to wake you up?" Mommy asked, teasingly.

"Audra, Nadine, help your brother get dressed okay?" Mom added to us.

"Okay!" We said in sync, and trampled off Daddy's bed and into Joshua's room. When we got there, our baby brother was just sitting there, admiring his surroundings.

"Do you know what day it is today?" I asked him.

"How could he know that? He doesn't have a calendar or..."

"Chrixmis!" He cried.

I gave Audra a knowing look.

"How…?" Audra said in bewilderment.

"You kept talking about it yesterday. Please, Audra. He could catch on."

I carried him out of his bed and helped him put on the clothes Mom had arranged him yesterday. It was a red sweater with green pants, in addition to an elf hat. Overall, he looked like one of those baby elves you find in little kid's storybooks.

Audra started to giggle when we were finished.

Joshua looked in confusion to his sister, which started to make me laugh as well.

Soon, Joshua joined in. Though he didn't know we were laughing at him, it just made the situation even funnier.


Bailey's Point of View:

When Audra and Nadine were gone, I turned to Cody.

"Really, Bailey, you could have woken me up any other way, yet you get Audra and Nadine to hit me." He rubbed his scalp.

I grinned. "They wanted to do it. And we all know how you spoil your children. Giving them whatever they want?"

Cody sighed. "Alright then. We're leaving in the afternoon right?" Cody put his hands behind his head, in a relaxing position.

He meant we were going to see my parents for Christmas. They haven't seen Audra, Nadine or Joshua ever, except for the pictures we send them, since both of us run on a tight schedule. So this year, we decided to go to Kettlecorn to visit them.

"The earlier, the better."

I brushed his hair out of his face, and we share a moment, just me and him gazing in each other's eyes.

"You look beautiful today, Bailey."

"Oh? Is that my Christmas gift? Or is it just a compliment you conquered up for today?"

"No, you look amazing every day; it's just that I don't have time to tell you."

Suddenly, I hear the twins laughing, so the moment is broken.

"I'll check on Audra and Nadine, you get dressed. Don't want to have them waiting." I stroll out of Cody's room and shut the door.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

Joshua looked at me, with delight in his eyes.

"Santa." He concluded.

I scooped him up and turn to my daughters.

"Are you laughing at him?" I kissed Joshua on the forehead.

They nodded.

"Mommy, why exactly did you turn him into an elf?" asked Nadine.

I take a good look at him, and I realized Nadine was right.

"Hmm...well, he looks good with the hat." I smiled.

"Is Daddy up yet? I'm dying to see the gifts."

"You're so ignorant, Audra." Nadine sighed. "Christmas is about spending time with family and friends, not-"

"Blah, blah, blah, spending time with friends, blah, blah, blah, time for Nadine to get another set of calculators-"

"Hey!" Nadine cried out.

"Nadine's right. Christmas isn't just about receiving."

"I know, Mommy. That's why we're going to visit Grandma and Grandpa. It's just Nadine who's putting words in my
mouth."

"Am not!"

"Am too!"

Cody appeared next to me, and took Joshua.

"Looks like your father is ready."

"So can we go?"

"Sure."

And they both zoomed past me, and ran downstairs.

"You really shouldn't have bought them that many presents. You know about the disadvantages of spoiling children."

"What? You didn't even see the presents, how could you..."

"One, two, and three..."

The house was filled with screams of delight.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Alright, maybe I got a little bit..." He bit his lip. "Okay, a lot overboard, but hey, can I help myself?"

"You can help yourself by not giving your children everything."

"I'm a good father." He stated, defensively.

"Never said you weren't," I kissed him on the cheek. "You're a great father."

I went downstairs to check the Christmas tree, which of course, was surrounded by gifts.

"No way, this cannot be what I think it is." Exclaimed Nadine as she unwrapped her fourth gift.

Audra looked over her shoulder. "Looks like giant scissors." She wrinkled her nose and looked away.

"This is a full 0.1° Resolution Protractor & Depth Gauge!"

"A what...?"

I look back and see Cody smiling.

"What exactly will a six -year old do with a giant protractor?" I questioned him.

"She seems to like it." Cody pointed out.

"I love it!"

Nadine jumped over and gave me and Cody a hug.

Audra gave Nadine a sour look. "Yup, it's on every single girl and boy's Christmas list. Nadine, you are one lucky girl." She said sarcastically.

"No way." Audra's jaw dropped. "This can't be what I think it is." She was staring in her present box.

Nadine looked over her shoulder. "A harmonica? So?"

"So?" Audra repeated. "This is awesome!"

Audra brought the instrument to her lips and played a soft tune.

"Hey, you're pretty good." Nadine commented.

Audra turned to us. "Thank you!" she exclaimed.

Cody's arm wrapped around my waist while the twins rummaged through everything. It was special moments like these that are stored as life long memories.


About half an hour later, the twins were ready to leave. I sat down and fixed Audra's snowy white hat. She clutched her harmonica as she waited. None of us could convince her to leave it home, but we stopped trying anyhow. Luckily, Nadine won't be carrying a giant math instrument to the airport.

"Cody, hurry up, what's taking you so long?" I yell at the stairs.

"Coming, honey!" he shouted back, and a minute later, he rushed down.

"Why do you have gel in your hair?"

"I haven't seen your parents in a long time. I want them to have a good impression on me."

"Trust me; you have a good impression on them." I inched a bit towards him.

"Can we leave now?" Audra asked, anxiously.

"Yeah, sure." Cody answered, fixed his hair and tie one last time, and helped twins out the door while I pick up Joshua, who fell fast asleep in my arms.