74CrazyChick back again… with another chapter… and another festive film… an older, classic one this time…
Chapter 8: White Christmas
Saturday 21st December 2019
Joey walked out of the bedroom towards Lauren and Eve as he tucked his wallet into his pocket. 'Okay I will be as quick as I can' Joey said bending his head to kiss Eve and then Lauren 'are you sure this is all we need?' he asked her as he looked at the grocery list in his hand.
'That's all I can think of' Lauren replied with a smile.
'Miter Pink needs some weets' Eve said casually. Lauren looked at Joey and grinned and nodded her head.
'Okay I'll be back soon' Joey said again.
'All right Evie, let's have a look at your advent calendar whilst daddy's at the shops, shall we?' Lauren asked her.
'YES PEASE MAMA!' Eve squealed loudly.
'Inside voice please, baby' Lauren said softly.
'Sowwy mama, I's just cited' Eve said as she scrambled up and ran over to the calendar 'rot nummer today mama?'
'What number did we open yesterday?' Lauren asked her.
Eve stared at the calendar and she chewed on her bottom lip 'I finks it ras nummer wenty' she said
Lauren beamed 'that's right Eve it was, so today we open number…?'
Eve blinked and shook her head 'I no know' Eve said,
'Number twenty-one' Lauren said. 'So let's find the drawer that says 21. It will have a 2 and a 1 on it' she said. Eve looked at all the drawers and she pointed to one.
'Dat run?' she asked, tilting her head to look at her mummy.
'Yep, that's the right one. Open it gently, remember?' she reminded her.
Eve's tongue was sticking out as she pulled the drawer open and she reached inside with her little hand, she frowned. 'Dere's nuffink dere, mama' Eve said, she pulled her hand out of the drawer and she turned to look at Lauren 'dawer emty' she said, her eyes wide.
Lauren frowned 'are you sure?' she asked her.
'Uh-huh' Eve nodded her head.
'Let mama see' Lauren said and she moved forward and looked in the drawer. 'That's odd' she frowned. 'It is empty' Lauren was certain she'd filled up every single drawer with stickers and a chocolate before the 1st December, it didn't make sense that one was empty. She pushed the drawer shut and looked at Eve 'I'm sorry sweetie'
'No Wudy sticker?' Eve asked her. Her eyes filled with tears.
'No, no Wudy sticker' Lauren shook her head.
'Evie a bad girl?' she asked before covering her face with her hands and bursting into tears.
'Oh…no, Evie, don't cry. You're a good girl' Lauren said getting on to her knees and pulling Eve into her arms, 'baby, don't cry' she rubbed Eve's back as she sobbed in her arms.
'Wee wee, mama' Eve hiccupped.
Lauren got up and carried her into the bathroom and a few minutes later, Eve was sitting on the potty. Lauren pulled some sheets off the toilet roll and she wiped Eve's tears away and wiped her nose. 'LOOK MAMA!' Eve pointed at the mirror, Lauren turned and saw Elvis leaning against the mirror and a Rudolph sticker pressed onto the surface. 'Evis took my Wudy! Bad Evis. Make Evie Ky'
'He is a bad elf' Lauren said.
'I's done mama'
'Good girl' Lauren smiled, she picked her up off the potty and wiped her dry, pulled up her knickers and leggings and tipped the contents of the potty down the toilet and flushed it. 'Let's wash your hands and then we'll get the sticker' Lauren picked Eve up, carrying her over to the sink. 'Evis eated my weetie' Eve said pointing into the sink at the discarded wrapping paper. 'BAD EVIS! BACK TAR FOR EVIS' she frowned.
Lauren picked the wrapper up and put it in her pocket and turned on the tap. Once Eve's hands were washed and dried, Lauren peeled off the sticker and carried Eve into her bedroom, setting her down on the bed. 'Okay here's your sticker, why don't you go and put it on the picture?' she asked her. Eve smiled, taking the sticker and jumping off the bed, she stumbled slightly but stayed on her feet, turning to grin at Lauren, she pressed the sticker on the wall and smiled as she admired her stickers.
*JL*JL*JL*JL*
Lauren left Eve colouring on the floor of the lounge and went into the bedroom to check if Joey has left anything that needed to be washed on the bedroom floor as he was prone to do on occasion. She was shocked to see Mr Jingles and Miss Tinsel sitting on her bedside table with some white powder, and a couple of bottles of open beer. It was quite clear what the two of them had been doing. She shook her head and picked up Joey's discarded underwear and carried them through to the kitchen and added them to the watching machine and set it going.
When Lauren came back into the room, Eve stood at the window, her nose pressed up against the glass. "Come away from the window, Evie…" Lauren called over to her.
"I's looking for dada…"
"He's just nipped to the shop… he's gone to get some cocktail sausages for mummy and Squiggle…"
"It's snowing, mama… God sook us and made it snow…" Eve said.
"It is?" Lauren said, slowly getting up and walking over to where Eve was standing. "Wow, that's a lot of snow…" she said.
"Do you fink dada rill be 'kay?" Eve asked.
"I'm sure he will be, baby…" Lauren reassured her. "Maybe… if it stops snowing… we could go out with daddy later… see if we can make snow angels like we did last year…"
"Snow anges…?" Eve said, smiling as she remembered doing it last year with her mummy and daddy.
Both of them watched out of the window as the snow continued to fall. It was getting quite heavy now… and settling… which Eve thought was fantastic but Lauren was thinking about what would happen if they had to get to the hospital for any reason… not that she was expecting to go into labour early… if this pregnancy was anything like when she was carrying Eve, Squiggle would arrive on the due date so she had almost two weeks left to go… but you never knew with these things… So anyway, the snow concerned her slightly but she was sure Joey would cope. She smiled as she saw a familiar person trudging through the snow, back towards the flat.
"Who's that, Evie?" she asked.
"DADA!" Evie shrieked, bouncing up and down on the chair she was standing on, almost bouncing out of her mummy's arms.
"Careful, Evie…" Lauren said, grabbing a tighter hold of the bouncing girl.
"He's here… he's here…!" she cried out. They both waited, hearing the front door open and close again. It was a few seconds until the door to the flat opened. Eve threw herself off the chair to the floor, pulling herself from Lauren's hands and making her mummy's heart leap into her throat as she flew across the room, running full pelt into her daddy's legs, almost knocking him off his feet. Lauren smiled as she saw Eve try to wrap her little arms around her daddy's legs, not with much success.
"Careful, Evie… Daddy's cold and wet… go and stand with mummy for me while I take my coat and shoes off…" he said.
"But dada…" Eve said.
"Now, Evie…" he said firmly. She lifted her head at the tone of his voice, her bottom lip quivering as
she saw the frown on his face. She immediately stepped away from him, looking almost scared of him. She turned and walked quickly back over to Lauren, holding her arms in the air, wanting to be lifted up onto her lap, which Lauren did. Eve leant against Lauren's chest, her thumb slipping into her mouth as she began to sniffle. Lauren comforted her as best she could, watching Joey take off his coat and shoes. She could see he was wet and cold. He hung up his coat and put his shoes near the door. He grabbed the bag he'd put down when he got home and opened it, pulling an item free. He left the bag on the side in the kitchen and then walked over to where they were sat. He held the plastic container of cocktail sausages out towards her and Lauren took them from him while he reached for Eve. She shook her head, her curls bouncing around her head as she sucked on her thumb.
"Come on, Evie… Daddy wants a big hug from his little girl…"
"Go to daddy, sweetheart…" Lauren encouraged her.
"Dada mean…" she mumbled around her thumb.
Joey crouched down, "Daddy was just cold and wet and didn't want you to get cold and wet too… we don't want you getting poorly like you were the other year, do we?" he said.
"No, dada…" she said.
"So can I have a hug?" he said softly.
Eve shifted on her mummy's lap and held her arms out towards her daddy, leaning over to him. She almost toppled off Lauren's lap before Joey grabbed her but he swung her into his arms and he hugged her against her chest. "Dada's cold…" Evie said.
"It's cold outside, sweetheart…" Joey told her, "That was why I didn't want you near me earlier…" he added. "Because I was even colder then… and wet from the snow as well…"
"Good finking, dada…" Eve said, nodding her head.
"Let's all of us go and sit in the lounge, eh? Somewhere a bit warmer…" He held his hand out towards Lauren, taking her hand so the three of them could walk through to the lounge. They sat down, Evie sitting on her daddy's lap. She leant against his body, curled up in a little ball as she sucked on her thumb. "No thumb, Evie…" Joey said, trying to pull her thumb from her mouth. Evie shook her head.
"She's fine, Joe…"
"She needs to get out of the habit." He told his wife firmly.
"It's just once…"
"No, she needs to learn, babe."
"She's only two and a half… and it's not like she does it all the time…" Lauren reasoned. She pulled away from him and got to her feet, walking across the room to Eve's bedroom. She returned a minute later, a dummy in one hand and Mister Pink in the other. She held the dummy out towards Eve, who pulled her thumb from her mouth and took the dummy from her, slipping it into her mouth. She then reached out for Mister Pink and took him from her mummy too, hugging him tightly under her arm. Lauren sat back down again, "Happy now?" she said, slightly tetchily.
"Yes, babe." Joey said, kissing the top of her head softly as he put his arm around her shoulders.
The room was silent for quite a while until Eve spoke, "Dada, can we go and make snow anges later?" she asked softly, taking the dummy out of her mouth temporarily.
"I don't know, poppet… It's snowing prettily heavily out there… and the pavements are really slippy…" he said.
"But dada… da snow anges…" she said sadly.
"I know, Evie… but I don't want you or mummy to hurt yourself outside…"
"Daddy's right, darling, we can't go outside if he thinks it's dangerous for us…"
"I's be good, dada… I won't be dangous…" Evie said, looking up at her daddy with little puppy dog eyes that just reminded him of his wife.
"Why don't we see what it's like later…?" Joey said, "and we'll see… okay?"
"Okay…" Eve said, putting her dummy back in her mouth and snuggling against her daddy.
"I think I might have some of these…" Lauren said, opening the packet of cocktail sausages that Joey had got her from the shop. She moaned as she ate the first one, absorbing the taste of it and she was more than aware of her husband turning his head towards her, a heated look on his face.
"Why don't you go and play with some of your toys, Evie…" Joey said, strain in his voice.
"'Kay dada…" Eve said, shifting on her daddy's lap and causing him to groan softly. She toddled across the room, ending up crouching in front of her snow globes, staring at them both in wonder.
"Sake dem, dada…" she asked, turning her head to look at him.
"Okay, sweetheart…" he said, getting to his feet and walking over to her. He picked them up one at a time and shook them, placing them back on the side for Eve to look at.
"Now it's snowing there too, dada…" she said, smiling at him before turning her attention back to the globes.
'Yes it is' he smiled 'oh I have something for you' he said and he reached into his pocket and he pulled out a small bag of chocolate buttons and he opened them for her and gave them to her. 'I think I heard Mister Pink say that he wanted these for you' he told her with a smile.
'Fankoo dada' Eve beamed at him.
Joey walked back over to Lauren and sat back next to her. "Thank you, Joe…" she said softly.
"What are you thanking me for?" he asked.
"Just for being you…" she said, tilting her head back and kissing him tenderly. "And for getting me these sausages…"
"Anything for you and Squiggle…" Joey whispered. They turned their attention to Eve, watching her as her and Mister Pink played happily together. Life felt pretty good right about now.
*JL*JL*JL*JL*
Many hours later it had finally stopped snowing and the family were getting ready to go out. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Joey asked Lauren.
"Evie won't be happy unless we both do this…" Lauren replied, "but yes, I do want to do this…"
"Well, take it steady out there, okay?" Joey said.
There was the sound of running footsteps and Eve appeared in the room, running much faster than she should be. "Found dem…" she said, waving her wellies in the air as she grinned at them when she appeared in the doorway. She wasn't looking where she was going though and managed to trip over Elvis the Elf, falling quickly to the floor. The tears began instantly, her plaintive cry filling the room. Joey bent down, picking her up from the floor and cradling her in his arms, standing back up again.
"It's okay, Evie… mummy and daddy are here and will make everything better again…" Lauren took the Olaf wellies from her, placing them on the kitchen worktop, turning back to her crying daughter. She took her hands in her own, inspecting them to make sure there weren't any boo boos. She then bent down and kissed them both over and over.
"All better, Evie…" She whispered softly. She then turned her attention to Eve's knees, checking them over and finding nothing wrong. "Shall we put your boots on now?" she asked, watching Joey as he wiped away the tears on her face, her crying finally fading. She nodded her head, her breath shaky as she inhaled. Joey turned and sat her on the worktop while Lauren retrieved the wellies and then slid them onto her feet. "Maybe daddy can grab your coat so we can put it on?" Lauren said.
Joey smiled, "Of course I can." He picked up her coat, also grabbing her hat, scarf and gloves and Lauren began to put them on Eve until she was all bundled up. Once she was done, Lauren and Joey got themselves ready. Joey lifted Eve off the worktop, putting her on the floor next to Lauren. "Now you hold onto mummy's or daddy's hands outside, okay?" he said, "No running off… you stay with us…"
"Evie be good, dada…" the little girl whispered.
"Okay." Joey said. He opened the door to the flat and Lauren and Eve followed behind him. He stopped after swinging it open. "Wow… that is a lot of snow…" he murmured. He glanced back over his shoulder and made a quick decision. "Okay, Evie, daddy's going to carry you…" he said, bending down and picking her up in his arms.
"Evie ralk…" she said.
"Evie, the snow is too deep for little girls to walk in… I'll put you down in a while, okay?" Eve stared at his face and after a few seconds she nodded her head. Joey turned his attention to Lauren, "Take care, babe… Step in my footsteps, okay?"
"Okay." Lauren said. They ventured slowly outside and Lauren breathed in as she looked around the square. Whereas a few days earlier it hadn't looked very festive, it was now screaming Christmas at full volume. The snow was several inches deep so she did as Joey said and followed in his footsteps as they walked down the street. They made their way slowly and steadily towards the park they'd gone to the year before. The park was empty, clearly they were the only people mad enough to have made their way out.
Joey turned to Lauren once they had found somewhere and he moved away from them both. Eve started to follow him but he stopped her, "Stay with mummy, Evie…" he said. She took a couple of steps backwards and Lauren cradled the back of her head to stop her moving further backwards. They both watched as Joey sat on the snow and then laid down. He smiled at the two of them and then began to create a snow angel, cheered on by Lauren and Eve. He sat back up once he was done and then climbed back up and went over to where they were standing. "Your turn, babe…" he said to his wife. Lauren walked over carefully, still following Joey's footsteps in the snow and then she lay down on the snow, not quite sure how she would get up again but not worrying about that now. A smile graced her face as her arms and legs started to move in the snow, making her angel appear a short distance from Joey's. She pushed herself to sit up and then looked up at Joey. Fortunately, Joey came to her rescue and he walked over, putting his feet in front of hers and then taking her hands and tugging her gently to her feet. He helped her back across the snow, over to Eve.
"Your turn now, Evie… do you remember what to do?" Lauren asked. Eve nodded and she walked
softly across the grass and sat down, sitting between the two angels her parents had formed. Joey and Lauren watched as she flapped her arms and legs around, such a smile of glee on her face as she made her angel. A minute later she sat up and then she was back before them, grinning up at their faces.
"Well done, Evie… that's perfect…" Joey said, "We should get home again now…"
"No, dada…" Eve said, frowning up at him and looking as if he was a complete idiot.
"Why not, Evie?" Lauren asked.
"We need to do baby's snow anges …" Eve declared, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"But Squiggle isn't here yet, Evie…" Joey said.
"Baby is part of our family dough… we need to do a snow anges for da baby…" Eve said.
Lauren glanced at Joey, tears welling in her eyes as her emotions climbed. "She's right, Joe…" she whispered.
"So how do we do it… do you have any ideas, Evie?"
"We's can do it togever, dada…" Evie said. She reached for his hand and was soon tugging him back towards their creations. Their backs were towards Lauren and she couldn't see what they were doing, other than the fact they were in the gap that Eve had left between her angel and the one Lauren had created. Clearly Eve had been thinking about the snow angel for squiggle when she went to do her own. They were beside her again after a couple of minutes and Lauren looked at the snow, smiling when she saw a small angel there.
"It's beautiful, Evie…" she whispered.
"Dada elped…" she said, her face flushed from both the embarrassment at her mummy's praise and from the cold.
"Squiggle likes it too…" Lauren told her. She reached for Eve's hand and then pressed it against her bump, watching her face as Squiggle kicked against her belly.
"Wow!" Eve gasped. She moved closer and then she kissed the bump, where her hand had just been pressed and again Squiggle kicked. She pulled back, giggling as her hand touched her mouth. "Baby's doing tar dumps gain…" she said.
"It feels like it, doesn't it?" Lauren said. Joey bent down and lifted Eve in his arms, kissing her cheek hard.
"Come on, you two… time to get home…" he said. He leant over and kissed Lauren too, lifting his hand and brushing her hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear as it hung under the hat she was wearing.
*JL*JL*JL*JL*
'Okay, little miss, what is it time to do now?' Joey asked Eve.
'Tar chart' Eve said and she looked up at him.
'Yep that's right. Are you ready?'
'Evie weady' Eve said and she took a deep breath and pushed herself up off the sofa and walked over to the star chart, Joey and Lauren joined her and Lauren knelt down on the floor by the chart.
'Okay, so shall we start with Mr Jingles and Miss Tinsel?' Joey asked 'Mummy?' he looked at her expectantly.
'Two black stars' she said 'and we will discuss the reasons why when little ears have gone to bed' Lauren told him.
Joey smirked 'two black stars it is' Joey said, peeling off the stickers and placing them on the chart. 'what about Elvis'
'Doo back tars, dada….no tee back tars' Eve said to him firmly.
'Three black stars. Really?' Joey looked at up Lauren raising his eyebrows in surprise. 'What did Elvis do to deserve three black stars?'
'I's don't ront to say' Evie told him, pushing both her hands behind her back and swinging from side to side. 'He's just bin bad'
Lauren licked her lips. 'He tripped you up didn't he?' Lauren asked her and Eve nodded 'and he ate your sweet out of your calendar and stuck Rudolph on the mirror. He made you cry twice today, hasn't he?' Eve nodded her head. 'So I think three black stars is the least he deserves today' Lauren said.
Joey looked up at her and she could see the guilt in his eyes for his prank this morning and he nodded his head and peeled off the three stickers and stuck them on the chart. 'And then we have Evie. I think that we already know that Evie has been a god girl today, but how many stars do we give her?' he asked his daughter. 'Mummy?' he looked up at Lauren.
'I think Evie gets three gold stars today' she said to Joey 'because she has been a very good little girl all day'
'Did you hear that Eve? You get three gold stars today'
'I do?' Eve asked 'Tee?'
'Three, count them with daddy' Joey said to her.
'Run…doo…tee.' She counted as Joey put the stickers on the chart.
'Clever girl' Joey smiled and he turned round and hugged her tightly. 'Okay baby, it's time for bed. Do you want me or mummy to take you?' he asked her.
'You pease'
'All right sweetheart, kiss mama night night'
Eve turned to Lauren and hugged her tightly 'nunight mama, nunight baby, luvoo'
'We love you too, sweet dreams, my baby girl' she told her with a smile.
*JL*JL*JL*JL*
'So, Mr Jingle and Miss Tingles were drinking beer and doing lines of cocaine on my bedside table this morning' Lauren said as Joey climbed into bed.
'They were?' he asked her feigning surprise and she nodded her head.
'Mmhmm, I really don't think those two are ever going to be ready to be set loose with children. I mean they're having sex, drinking and doing drugs' she said 'Santa has sent us the worst elves ever'
Joey giggled, 'I think he has' he said to her 'I wonder what else they will get up to'
'I guess we'll have to wait and see' Lauren said with a small smile.
*JL*JL*JL*JL*
"Happy eighth day of Christmas, Squiggle… hopefully next year you'll get to make your own snow angel…" Joey whispered, much later that day as the two of them lay in bed. His hand was brushing over his wife's bump softly.
"Mmm, what did you say?" Lauren murmured.
"Nothing, babe… you go back to sleep…" he said, kissing the side of her head.
A/N: