The Growth of a Family
It's Christmas Eve and the Stokes are making Christmas cookies. They listen to a group of a few Girl Scout Troops sing Christmas Carols.
Disclaimer: I don't own Nick, Sara or any character in CSI. If I did own CSI, Jorja would have stayed on the show permanently, Nick and Sara would be hooked hitched and have a few kids, Grissom would be with Lady Heather and, of course, Ecklie would be fired. I only own my original characters.
Nicholas' First Christmas – Part III
Nick was the first to wake up Christmas Eve morning. Sara and the kids were still asleep, so he let them sleep a while longer. He silently crept out of the room and went downstairs to the kitchen. He sat at the table for a few minutes to mentally wake up before he made some coffee. Cynthia joined him a few minutes later.
"Good morning, Nick," she said. "Is that coffee just for you or for all the adults here?"
"Good morning to you, too, Mom," he replied. "Actually, the coffee is for everyone?"
"Your father is still asleep. Where are Sara and the kids?"
"Still asleep, but I am sure Sara will wake up to the smell of coffee brewing. I had caught her napping in the break room on a few occasions. The smell of Greg's famous Blue Hawaiian coffee would wake her up."
A moment later, Nick and Cynthia heard the screaming of a baby. Nick got up, but Cynthia stopped him when they heard Sara loudly groan. Upstairs, there were two sets footsteps. One set was barely audible while the other sounded like a calf running amuck.
"Oh Nicholas, did you wake up mommy, daddy and your sister?" Sara asked. "You must have awakened Grandma and Grandpa, too."
"Mommy, I think daddy woke up before us," Abigail shouted. "Where is he?"
"Nick, where are you?" Sara shouted from downstairs.
Why doesn't she go outside and announce it to the world, Nick thought before he went upstairs.
"Oh, Nick, you're here," Sara said as she saw Nick coming.
"And good morning to you too, Sara," Nick said. "Why did you call me? I could have come back and woken you, Abigail and Nicholas."
"Nicholas woke us up and Abigail saw that you weren't in bed, so I got worried. Where did you go?'
"I went downstairs and made some fresh coffee."
"Coffee sounds good right now. I could smell that enticing aroma. However, I want to finish with Nicholas before joining you. Abigail can go with you. Make sure that your parents leave at least one cup of coffee for me."
"I shall do that now."
About fifteen minutes later, Sara, Nicholas and Thomas were in the kitchen with Nick, Cynthia and Abigail. When he realized his family was all together, Nick started to make chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Sara offered to be her husband's sous chef. Abigail wanted to help, but Cynthia gently told her granddaughter that she was still too young to cook, but she could help by putting the chocolate chips in the batter.
"Daddy, did you put the chocolate chips in the pancakes?" Abigail asked.
"Since you asked sweetly," Nick smiled at his daughter. "You get to help mommy and me with the pancakes."
When the batter had been mixed, Nick lifted Abigail up. Sara gave her the open bag of mini chocolate chips. Abigail happily dumped contents of the bag into the bowl. The little girl watched in amazement as her mother stirred the chocolate chips into the batter. Nick put his daughter back down and she joined her brother and grandparents.
In about an hour, they were at the dining room eating the pancakes. The adults had coffee or tea while Abigail had hot chocolate and Nicholas had pumped breast milk.
"Sweetie, you made these pancakes even sweeter than ever before," Nick told Abigail. "Mom, I hope I didn't offend you with my comment."
"Thank you, Daddy," Abigail grinned.
"I know what you meant," Cynthia whispered to her son. "I am not offended by your comment to Abigail."
"I knew you weren't," he replied with a whisper.
"So, what are the plans for today?" Thomas asked.
"We have to go grocery shopping to get more powder sugar, candy and chocolate for the cookies we are baking today," Cynthia said. "Plus, we need to get more vegetarian food for Sara."
"Thank you, Cynthia," Sara smiled.
They finished their breakfast with conversations, laughter and Nicholas' occasional cooing. Nick and Sara volunteered to clean up and do the dishes. Afterwards, they all got ready to go shopping.
Two hours later, they returned with the groceries they purchased and put them away. Cynthia took out several bags of homemade sugar cookie dough from the freezer so they could thaw out.
"So what are we going to do today?" Abigail asked her grandmother.
"You and your parents are going to help grandma and grandpa make cookies for tomorrow," Cynthia said. "We are bringing them to your Aunt Kathleen's house for the Christmas dinner."
"Why can't Nicholas help us out?"
"He is still a baby and can't help us."
"When can he help us?"
"When he reaches your age, he can help us."
As the dough thawed, Nick and Sara went horseback riding. Abigail and Nicholas each took a nap. Thomas and Cynthia sent emails to their siblings' families about the goings-on with their family. Cynthia caught up with reading one of her books. They all came together to have pizza for lunch that Nick ordered from the Stokes family's favorite pizzeria.
"It looks like the cookie dough is already thawed," Cynthia smiled. "All we need are some baking sheets, parchment paper, rolling pins, cookie cutters, homemade icing and cookie decorations."
As they listened to Christmas music, Cynthia, Thomas, Sara, Nick and Abigail turned cookie dough into edible Holiday art. The oven emitted an aroma that conjured up memories of holidays past. The grownups placed the baked cookies on several racks to allow the goodies to cool off. After cooling, Nick and Cynthia placed them in a clean square cookie tin. Once the final batch cooled off, the cleaning up of the kitchen commenced.
Outside of Stokes Manor, there was a group of Girl Scouts singing Christmas Carols. Thomas told Nick and Sara that a few of the Girl Scouts were their nieces (granddaughters to Cynthia and Thomas and cousins to Abigail and Nicholas). All the girls ranged in age from five to about seventeen. The Carols included 'Silent Night', 'Jingle Bells', 'Frosty the Snowman' and 'Santa Clause Is Coming to Town' as well as a few others.
"Mommy, I want to be a Girl Scout," Abigail told her mother.
"I think it would be a wonderful idea," Sara smiled. "However, I think you have to wait until you are in Kindergarten or first grade."
"I still want to be one," Abigail grinned.
A few hours later, they would have a late, but light, supper of a vegetarian frittata and grapes. Another two hours later, everyone was asleep. Tomorrow promised to be a day of fun and family.
TBC
