Christmas day dawned bright and early Planning on having a lazy morning, Aria turned off her alarm the night before. She discovered, that she needn't have bothered though because Abigail leapt on top of her at seven.
"Mommy, mommy, wake up! It's Christmas!" Abigail said excitedly, roughly shaking her mother awake.
"Abby, go back to sleep for a while." Aria groaned, trying to roll away from her excited daughter. This year was the first year that Abigail was fully aware of what was going on. In the past she hadn't really paid much attention.
"But mommy, Santa's come." Abigail whined and Aria sighed.
"Fine. Go and wake up Uncle Mike. But be quiet. I'll go and get nana." Abigail nodded and jumped off the bed, running out into the living room. Aria threw off the covers and pulled on a jumper, slipping her feet into her pink fuzzy ugg boots. Going out into the living room she saw that Mike had already been woken and was sitting sleepily as Abigail checked under the Christmas tree for presents.
"Hold on sweetie, let me just go and get nana. Then we'll get some hot chocolate and we'll open presents, okay?" Abigail nodded and went to sit at Mike's feet, letting him play with her hair. Aria crossed the room and knocked on Abigail's door, pushing it open slightly.
"Mom? Wake up, mom. Abby wants to open presents." Ella sighed and sat up with a smile on her face.
"Now you know how we felt when you and your brother did this to us every year, twofold." she said with a laugh.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm going to get some warm drinks and we'll meet back in the living room, okay?"
"Sure. I'll be out in a minute." Aria closed the door and went out into the kitchen. She could hear Mike and Abigail talking quietly, joined by Ella after a few moments. Carrying the drinks out on a tray, she gently set it on the coffee table Mike immediately grabbed his coffee and passed the hot chocolate to Abigail. Shaking her head, Aria handed a coffee to her mother and took her own, slowly sipping the warm liquid.
After practically sculling the whole drink, Abigail ran back to the tree, grabbing three presents from underneath, giving one to each of the three adults.
"These I made at school. There's one for all of you." She said proudly. Aria smiled at her daughter and slowly tore into the paper to reveal a cardboard photo frame, covered in macaroni and glitter. In the middle was a picture taken when they'd visited Rosewood. Looking over, she saw that Mike and Ella had similar ones, both with the same photo.
"they're beautiful, Abby. Thank you. How about I put this one over here?" Aria said, placing the photo on the fake mantle on the wall. Abigail smiled and hugged her. Knowing what she wanted, Aria went over to the tree and pulled out a present for Abigail. "Here you go. Merry Christmas, sweetie."
Excitedly, Abigail ripped open the paper, tossing it to the floor behind her. Her face broke out into a grin when she saw the baby doll she'd been asking for. The rest of the morning went by in much the same way, alternating who got presents until each of the four occupants in the room had a pile of presents. It was just past midday when the last present was unwrapped and Aria insisted that Abigail get dressed. She didn't want to but when Ella suggested she try on her new fairy dress, she eagerly ran into Aria's bedroom.
The afternoon was spent mostly with Ella and Aria in the kitchen working on a roast lamb for dinner while Mike and Abigail were in the living room, testing out Abigail's new toys. There was a lot of laughter from the living room, mixed in with the sounds of Christmas songs playing on the radio and the smells of dinner cooking, giving the whole apartment a homey feel.
By the time darkness began to creep in through the windows, Aria was feeling exhausted and she wasn't even finished the day yet. They sat down at the dining table together and shared the meal with a happy chatter among them.
Straight after dinner, Aria somehow convinced Abigail to go to be, promising that they would play with the new toys again in the morning. Once the little girl was tucked up and fast asleep, Aria joined Mike and Ella in the kitchen to clean up all the dishes from the day's activities.
"Hey Mike, can you go pack up some of the trash in the living room?" Aria asked when they were nearing being done.
"Sure. I'll put Abby's stuff in her room."
"Great. Thanks." Mike disappeared and Ella and Aria finished off drying dishes and putting them away until the kitchen was clean. Then they joined Mike in putting the last of the torn wrapping paper in the bin.
"I have no idea how you guys did this every year. And with eight people in the house." Aria sighed when they were done, collapsing on the couch.
"We took solace in the fact that it was only once a year." Ella said with a laugh. "I'm just about ready to turn in."
"Yeah, I'm stuffed. I just hope Abby is as tired tomorrow morning and doesn't wake us at the crack of dawn again." Mike said with an exaggerated yawn. Aria smiled.
"No, she'll sleep for ages in the morning. Well, I'm heading off. I've had an amazing day today. I hope you guys did too."
"It was wonderful. I was with my two children and my granddaughter." Ella said hugging Aria.
"Yeah me too. It was great to spend Christmas with you again." Mike hugged her as well before she disappeared into her bedroom, barely staying awake long enough to change into her pyjamas.