Holiday Girl
"Aunt Keket! Amunet! How nice to see you," my cousin exclaimed in excitement as she opened the door for us.
I glared at my cousin Nefertiti, my senior by one year. She was your basic goodie-two-shoes. The favorite. The people pleaser. She drove me up a wall. She was always perfectly groomed with her glossy black hair meticiously curled to perfection. Her purple painted eyelids and her mascara elongated lashes. Her glossed cherry red lips and impossibly long legs, made longer by heels. Her skin-tight red turtleneck contrasting with her naturally tanned skin and dark hair.
I had never gotten along with Nefertiti. She didn't' like me. I knew of course. She was always trying to be the favorite in the family, seeing me as competition because of my exceptional grades. Personally, I never actually tried to outdo her, it just happened.
"Oh Neffy!" my mother exclaimed, managing to hug her despite the desert dishes and presents she held, "You look wonderful."
She smiled as they pulled apart. "Thanks. You look great too. Is that a new Chanel bag?"
I rolled my eyes as I followed the two of them through the house to the kitchen. My Aunt Jen's house was a chaotic place this day of the year. Still, the house looked spectacularly festive and cozy as always. Gold and red intertwined garland snaked down the railing of the grand staircase. My little cousins ran about, playing with their new toys. A real evergreen tree with dozens of perfect colored globes hanging from it was situated in the living room. A gorgeous Christmas angel rested atop it. A fire burned in the fire place as my Uncle Chuma nudged it with a poker. Figurines of nutcrackers, snowman, and santas decorated the windowsills. The stockings of Aunt Jen's family hung there. Brilliant red carnations in ornate vases rested on endside tables.
In the kitchen, there was more chaos. The room smelled of turkey, but also of more spicey, less traditionally Christmas foods. My mom's two sisters were gathered there, along with my oldest cousin Umayama and her baby boy Set. My grandmother was also there, correcting my aunts on some recipe.
We greeted everyone, placing our deserts in the packed refrigerator before putting the presents off to the side. My mother began to cluck about with her sisters and her mother. My cousins Umayama and Nefertiti easily flowing into the conversation about recipes and family gossip. I sat at the table and tried to tune everything out for a little while.
"Am," my mother said after a while, "Why don't you go upstairs and say hello to the rest of your cousins."
"Okay," I muttered and left. I greeted my uncles and grandfather as I passed them on my way. I went up the grand staircase and followed the sound of thoughts to the playroom, where a number of my cousins usually gathered this time of year.
Inside it was just as intensely chaotic then downstairs. My little cousins Ise and Jamila were playing with Ise's new dollhouse off the side. My thirteen year old cousin Kissa was showing my fifteen year old cousin Sanura some video on her new laptop. My eight year old cousin Nassor and ten year old cousin Ra were playing some kind of portable game device together. Now, my older cousins, the seventeen year old Dakarai and eighteen year old Sekani were playing some kind of war video came on the wide screen television.
Everyone of them had the varying shades of dark eyes, tanned skin, and dark hair. Sure, we all looked different because we all had different parents. But those three traits stayed pretty consistent. It was plainly obvious that we were all related. And all the foreign names made it obvious that we were all Egyptian.
"Is this really the best game to be playing in front of the children?" I asked as I entered.
Dakarai turned to look at me and Sekani shot his character in the chest. "Aw fuck it Am! I just died."
"Hey. You watch your fucking language," I warned, "There are children here."
"Thanks Amunet," Sekani said, smiling, "Because of you I won."
"Redo," Dakarai demanded. "You cheated."
"Fine, fine," Sekani said, restarting the game, "I'm just going to kick your ass again but hey, whatever floats your boat."
"Amunet," Kissa said, "Come see this video."
I went over to her and hovered older her shoulder. I saw the video replay in her head before she hit play, so I already knew what was going to happen. But, I contained my laughter until the kid on the bike flipped over the railing and down ten feet. Seeing people get hurt always amused me. You know, as long as they didn't die.
"That kid ended up with two broken arms," Kissa told me.
"Good luck eating like that," I muttered.
"I wouldn't mind spoon feeding him," Sanura said with a waggle of her eyebrows as she licked her lips.
"You're so gross," Kissa said. She was a bit of a prude while Sanura was the opposite. Her name meant 'kitten' but she interpreted it as 'sex kitten.'
The next few hours were spent similarly. Watching videos on the Internet with Kissa and Sanura. When dinner was called, we all went down stairs and the whole family situated themselves around the house to eat. There were thirty of us, which meant it was impossible for us all to eat at one table. Most of the adults ate in the dining room, but some ate in front of the TV, my uncles mostly. All the kids ate at the kitchen table and at the island. Dakarai and Sekani sat on the counters.
I usually enjoyed myself at Christmas, despite the party atmosphere induced headache. One reason was because of the amazing food. We had the usual turkey and mashed potatoes, but with exotic spices thrown in. Not to mention some native Egyptian meals that were always thrown in. It made sense, seeing as my mother and all her siblings had been born there. They'd moved to America when my mother was about three.
Dinner was fantastic and then it was on to presents. All of us kids gathered around the tree while the adults scattered around. We all exchanged presents. Ise, Jamilia, and Set all got the largest presents, seeing as they were all little. Us older children made out pretty nicely too of course.
I wasn't really big into the present part of Christmas. Yeah, that was nice, but really, I wasn't as into it as I had been when I was little. Because now I could just go out with my shiny credit card and buy just about anything I wanted. I did however really like giving gifts, that sounds insane, but it was true. I always knew exactly what someone would like, because I knew them so well. And then I could use the aforementioned credit card to buy them something nice. I loved seeing the looks on their faces when they opened a present they really liked.
Still I had gotten a nice haul. Several novels because everybody knew I loved to read. Diamond earrings, a Coach wallet, a gorgeous diamond and sapphire encrusted owl broach from my grandmother, a set of Armani perfumes, a jeweled comb for my hair, some new clothes, ect. Nobody got anybody money or gift cards though in this family, because they knew that everybody had access to get anything they wanted. Money would be pointless. The point was to pick out gifts yourself.
The entire Lamorte family was wealthy, obviously. Not by inheritance, they were all just naturally intelligent and successful people. My mom was the only lawyer in the family. But my Aunt Jendayi was among one of the several doctors. There was also a therapist, a judge, a politician, and a developer. Success was in the Lamorte blood, which was why my cousin Nefertiti was always competing with me to be on top.
After presents was desert. Another amazing meal of course. There was so much desert that it was almost overwhelming. Only about half of it was gone by the end. We stayed around for another hour or two, conversing with everybody as the crowd slowly dwindled, families trickling out. When it was about ten, my mother decided it was time to pack it up. We said our goodbyes and packed our stuff into the car.
On the drive home I let my mind wander. I loved Christmas and the whole season. I was cynical, but defiantly not a Scrooge. The only thing I disliked about Christmas was how quickly it passed. We spent a month decorating and building up to this one day . . . And then twenty four hours and it was over. It left me with a melancholy feeling. I pushed it away as quickly as I could, turning up the radio. There were other things to look forward to. Break, New Years, Easter, my birthday, summer . . . Seeing Will.
"God damn it!" I cursed myself. I had gone an entire day without thinking about Will. Sure, I'd thought about him yesterday, since baking with my mom left me with a lot of time to think. But I'd been so caught up in Christmas and my family that I hadn't thought of him at all. But there he was again. Popping into my mind again. Annoying little bastard. Despite how annoying it was, thinking about seeing Will again got me through the post-Christmas melancholy I'd been experiencing.
It sickened me to think that the simple thought of seeing Will had cheered me so much.