A/N : This idea was inspired by Princess Oats 435's story, Pine Needles. She's located in my Favorite Authors section on my profile page if you'd like to read any of her amazing stories.
Also, this is as close as I can get to Ryan calling Sandy and Kirsten mom and dad. So many different people have done it in such beautiful and realistic ways that I can't even try without completely copying them. If anyone wants some links to these stories, just message me and I'll link you to them. But thanks for the prompt!
Prompt 13 – Light
Prompt 18 - Tinsel
Wiping the sleep from her eyes, Sophie staggered out of her room. She pitter-pattered down the hall toward her parents' bedroom. The bright light of the Christmas tree stopped her from continuing. The tree was supposed to be off when everyone was in bed. Seth had warned her about leaving the lights on. He told her about the year Ryan had left the lights plugged in and the living room had caught fire. Later, Dad reminded her that her big brother loved to make up stories.
But Sophie knew the lights being on could be dangerous. She left her trail to the master bedroom to go investigate. She didn't expect to see two pairs of legs sticking out from the bottom of the tree. She recognized the jammies that belonged to her mother and her brother.
"Mommy? Ryan? What are you doing?"
"Hey, Soph." It was odd hearing Ryan's voice coming from a tree.
Kirsten slid out from underneath the branches and looked up at her daughter. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"
"Mmm." She stepped over her brother's legs and made herself at home in her mother's lap. "Couldn't sleep. What you doin?"
"Well, Ryan and I are looking up at the lights."
"Why don't you join us?"
"Sure," Sophie murmured. Kirsten was sure her daughter would have agreed with anything at this point. She was nearly back to sleep. Kirsten settled them under the tree and Sophie snuggled further into her mother.
Kirsten looked over at Ryan who was smiling at the tiny blonde bundle. They silently looked back up at the sturdy branches, blinking lights, and shimmering tinsel. Both were sure their newest guest was asleep until she suddenly spoke.
"Why aren't Daddy and Seth under here?"
"Well, Daddy gets too distracted and…"
"By the lights blinking?" Sophie interrupted, sounding and looking very confused.
"You know how silly Daddy is." Ryan assisted, giving Sophie a tiny poke in the ribs. She squirmed into Kirsten with a chuckle. Kirsten looked over at Ryan with a thankful look in her eyes.
Sandy never got distracted by the blinking lights but Sophie was too young to hear exactly what was distracting Daddy.
"Yeah…"
"And Seth is too distracting." Ryan added.
Sophie giggled. "Yes, I can 'magine that."
They were silent for a while longer and soon, Sophie's tiny snore let them know it was time to call it a night.
"Merry Christmas, Ryan."
"Merry Christmas, Kirsten."
They smiled at one another. This was the one time they allowed themselves to be perfectly Presbyterian and not add 'ukkah' to the end of the word. They knew if they tried any other time, they'd never hear the end of it from Seth.
