"Mother! You're holding the camera upside down!"
"Oh! There we are!"
Grandma Tracy cautiously turns the camera around, so that her son and grandchildren are no longer upside down and standing on the ceiling. She checks it this time, making sure it's good and in focus. There they are six kids and as she sees it, one big one. Today is unusual, it's early in the morning yet all of the boys are up and wide awake, albeit in pajamas.
"Aren't I supposed to say something?" Grandma asks them.
"Well, how about just what day it is?" Jeff suggests, it what he usually does.
"Right then, so it's Christmas, in case you hadn't already guessed with that brilliant outfit my son- I mean Santa has on."
There are some laughs as Gordon tugs on Jeff's false beard once more. The father laughs tickling his second youngest son who laughs hysterically, the boy has always been hyper sensitive to these sorts of things. It was quite the surprise this morning when they awoke to find a man clad entirely in red with a bushy white beard. Jeff was quickly forced to remove his disguise however as it scarred the living daylights out of Alan, who screamed the house down.
He was a little happier now that he knew it was still the same dad underneath the beard and Santa disguise. The good news was that the surprise had worked a little better with his other sons and Kayo.
A few weeks ago, they had decorated the entirety of the house in Christmas decorations and had even brought in a tree, not that it was faring too well in the hot climate of the Island. Christmas wasn't something that she was used to, her parents were Hindus and although they had told her about the Christian celebration, she'd never witnessed it first hand before. She likes it though, it's - Jeff taught her a new word to describe it – merry.
Of course, they're young so the presents under the tree are also awfully interesting.
"Do you think, we should keep them waiting any longer Jeff?" Grandma asks, teasing the children.
"I don't know, what do you think?" He asks Virgil.
Virgil pushes his father gently, earning a laugh. He allows the kids to go ahead and open the presents. Grandma captures every moment and delighted face on camera. There are presents for them too. Virgil had managed to rope together his brothers and Kayo to make them a little something, it's not much, two cards and a joint effort painting but it's the thought that counts as they say and both Grandma and Jeff are very touched.
An hour later, they're thinking that maybe they could have given them less dangerous toys.
Scott's model airplane was NOT meant to be used indoors. Gordon is so impatient to use his snorkel that he's occupied one of the bathrooms upstairs and won't leave the bath. Virgil's probably the least bothersome with his soft piano playing of new songs. John's rocket has already shot up and broken one of the lights and as for Kayo, well, she's never used roller skates before and just can't manage to stay standing up.
"Told you we should have got her knee pads." Grandma mutters noticing the girl's grazed knees from the concrete around the pool.
"It's okay..." Kayo replies picking herself back up, before trying again and almost face planting once more.
"Stubborn doesn't quite describe this one..." Mrs. Tracy tells her son. "There won't be any skin left on her hands and knees at this rate!"
"But if I don't try..." Kayo argues back struggling to pick herself up. "I won't ever learn!"
"That's the spirit." Jeff just smiles giving her a helping hand up.
It takes a few moments, some of her blood, Grandma to go fetch some antiseptic and a few band-aids but eventually, she's skating round without too much trouble. Keeping her balance and rather enjoying the feeling. The smile and laugh make it worth it though, as she cautiously skates around the pool where Gordon has decided would make a better test area than the bath for his snorkel and flippers.
Grandma's heads back to get the rest of the day on video. She films the thermometer, then rather unsurprisingly the rest of the family in the pool.
"Christmas day and it's almost too hot to be out in the sun..." He muses filming the family splashing in the cool waters.
Gordon's not the only one who enjoys the pool, although he's by far the one who loves it the most. All of the boys are in it, so's Kayo, they're keeping an eye on Alan who's only just learned how to paddle and is still wearing arm bands. Splashing there, jumping in, having breath holding contests... There's a thousand ways to have fun in it's cool waters and even on Christmas day, it's the best place to be on the island.
They spend a good hour and a half playing before Jeff has to go and prepare the meal, because there's no way he's letting his mother deal with this one! So the kids are left under the attentive gaze of their grandmother to play. They splash around for a while longer before eventually coming out, except for Gordon, he's pretty much impossible to get out of the pool. If left to himself, he'd probably live in the thing, or the sea, either one...
Grandma leaves for a moment to see if Jeff needs any help. Leaving the kids contemplating the sea.
"I like Christmas." Kayo tells them, as they dry off in the warm sun.
"It's better when there's snow." Virgil declares looking up at the cloudless sky.
"I've never seen snow." She confesses looking at her feet. "We didn't have any back in Malaysia, at least not where I was."
"Well, it's cold and powdery." Scott explains, wondering how best to describe the substance. "Walking in it's kinda like walking in flour I guess. Am I making any sense?"
She blinks a couple of times, trying to imagine what it was like. She's never really walked in flour before. She hesitates for a few moments before shaking her head uncertainly. Scott lets out a sigh. He always tries his best that one, no matter what's needed, he'll give himself 110%. Gordon's joined them now, a strange smile on his face.
"I've got an idea..." He declares.
Alarm bells. A smile like that on Gordon's face is never a good sign but none of them have enough time to stop him before he's disappeared. He's not gone for long and when he returns, he's got a sack with him. Kayo and the others stare at it for a few moments, unsure what he's playing at.
The next thing she knows, she's covered in white powder. A little surprised, she coughs for a moment, before looking at him with wide eyes.
"Since there's no snow..." Gordon explains his reasoning. "I thought we could use flour!"
"What for?" Kayo questions, brushing herself down.
"Instead of snowballs, dummy!" Gordon replies tossing some at Virgil.
It takes a few seconds for them to react but before long, they've stolen the bag from the second youngest brother and white powder is being tossed around all over the place. When, Grandma emerges from the house, she's faced with six kids covered from head to foot in flour, as well as half of the patio.
"Oh for the love of-" She stops herself, shaking her head. "We can't leave you kids alone for five minutes, can we?- I can't even tell you boys apart!"
"Snow!" Alan shouts out, as only a 3 year old can.
Grandma rolls her eyes sending the little group off to clean themselves up. They pass Jeff as they go, he barely even raises an eyebrow. Such sights aren't rare and so long as there's no blood, it's probably not something that he should worry himself with.
They put on clean clothes for dinner. Turkey, roast potatoes and Christmas pudding, yes, Kayo quite likes this particular holiday. Over dinner, they laugh and chat. She suffers from the same problem as Alan and Gordon, in that the paper hat from her cracker is far too big and keeps on falling down and covering her eyes, some tape quickly solves the problem.
It's 10.24 p.m when Grandma picks up the camera, the right way up this time. The tv is still on and the end credits to an old movie are just finishing. Fast asleep are the entirety of her family, from Jeff to Alan and Kayo, they're curled up on the couch and snoring.
"My recipe for an instant knock out : Christmas Day; full of fun and games, a belly full of turkey and movies. For the record..." She informs those who'll be watching the video in the future. "I've already taken a photo."
The photos will be printed the day after. Kayo will keep hers preciously. It's just a shame that Christmas is only once a year; she thinks.