Christmas chapter! Plus, a little surprise at the end for everybody!
December 24, 2015
Eleanor loved it when Ali snuggled into her lap like it was his favourite place in the world. Unlike Henri, who at eight years old didn't want to be hugged and smothered in kisses publicly, especially in front of his friends, Ali was still on the affectionate stage and wanted hugs, kisses, and anything else Eleanor would give him.
Eleanor and Rami were spending Christmas Eve at his eldest brother Hamed's house, with plans for Christmas Day with Eleanor's family. Though Rami's family didn't celebrate Christmas, Hamed and his wife Samantha still held a small celebration on Christmas Eve since Samantha had celebrated it all her life. Her family members had still gotten Maryam and Ali gifts, as did Rami's brothers.
After the late lunch/early dinner, the kids were giddy to open the presents, so Hamed and Samantha agreed and took out their cameras to snap some photos. So far, everything had been going to plan – Rami had stuck an envelope with a homemade card into the tree, and Maryam nor Ali had noticed it yet. As they opened present after present – books, toys, and new clothes – they got more and more excited as they tore the wrapping paper off. Maryam was very happy with her new teacup set, and Ali was over the moon with his colouring book gift from Anwar.
"That's it!" Maryam exclaimed as she looked at the bottom of the tree. "That's all the gifts."
"Are you sure?" Rami asked, his voice playful. "What's…what's that there in the tree?" he cocked his head from side to side, pointing to the envelope.
Ali gasped out loud and shot up from his seat on Eleanor's lap to grab it. He looked confused by it at first – why wasn't it a box like everything else? – but he knew how the mystery could be solved: just give it to Eleanor.
She smiled as she took the envelope from Ali. "Do you want me to read what it says?" she asked, Ali nodding his head.
"Is this from you and Oncle Rami?" Maryam asked. Rami had been moving himself so that he was right beside Eleanor, grabbing Maryam and settling her into his lap again.
"Yes, this is from me and Oncle Rami," Eleanor nodded her head, opening the card. "Ready to listen?" Both children nodded their head. Eleanor cleared her throat. "This magical park has six different lands, and all of them are oh so grand!" Eleanor began emphatically. Rami joined in, "We want to share its love with you, and have lots of fun and eat some too! We hope you continue to be a good boy and good girl, because on March Break, you're going to…DISNEY WORLD!" Eleanor and Rami exclaimed at the same time.
Maryam let out a blood-curdling scream. Ali looked at his parents in shock. Maryam had gotten up from Rami's lap and was running around the room. Rami had tumbled over on his side, covering his ears from Maryam's screams. "Disney World, baba?" Ali asked his dad, a giant smile on his face.
Hamed nodded his head at his son. "Yes baba, Rami and Eleanor are bringing you to Disney World on Maryam's March Break!"
"We're going to Disney World we're going to Disney World we're going to Disney World!" Maryam screamed in a high-pitched voice as she stopped in front of Rami. "We're gonna see Elsa and Belle and Ariel who has red hair like you and me! And Jasmine! JASMINE!"
"We're gonna see all the princesses!" Eleanor exclaimed. Maryam began screaming again as she jumped on Eleanor, completely disregarding her little brother. Eleanor fell back onto the pile of ripped up wrapping paper. Ali started screaming too.
"If you don't stop screaming you won't have a voice to talk to Elsa!" Samantha yelled, which immediately made them go quiet. "That's better."
"What do you say to Eleanor and Rami?" their dad asked.
"Thank you Tatie Eleanor and Oncle Rami! Thank you thank you thank you!" Maryam yelled enthusiastically, jumping on Eleanor again to hug her.
"You are very welcome," she smiled widely, hugging Maryam back.
"Hey, what about me? Don't I get some love?" Rami asked, extending his arms out.
Both Maryam and Ali jumped from Eleanor to Rami, toppling him over once again by the force of their hugs. Eleanor couldn't help but laugh at the scene unfolding, all being captured on video by Samantha. All she wanted to do in that moment was hug to Maryam and Ali forever, make them this happy and excited all the time, and never let them go.
XXXXXXXXXX
December 25, 2015
"Elodie be careful of Rami's shoulder!" Eleanor exclaimed as she saw Elodie sneak up on Rami, who was sitting on the edge of the bed. The last thing she needed was to explain to Paul that Rami had re-injured his shoulder because a six-year-old girl had jumped on him on Christmas morning.
Rosaline continued jumping on the bed as she watched her sister make her way towards Rami. Despite Eleanor's demand, Elodie jumped anyway, but at least Rami was prepared – on instinct, his arms moved to his back so he could grab Elodie as if he was going to give her a piggy-back ride. Elodie looked back at Eleanor. "Tatie! It was supposed to be a surprise!" she exclaimed.
"Elodie," Eleanor used the same tone as Elodie did to her, "You need to be careful around Rami! Remember how he hurt his shoulder?"
"Tatie's crazy," Rami snickered. "Tell Tatie that Rami's fiiiiine," he winked at Eleanor.
Elodie giggled as she exclaimed, "Oncle Rami is fiiiiiiine!"
The girls had burst into Rami and Eleanor's room earlier, the heavy patter of their feet loud against the floor before their giggles overtook the airwaves. They expressed their excitement about Christmas morning before beginning to jump on the bed, screaming at the top of their lungs, "Wake up! Wake up! Everybody wake up!" in their sing-songy voices.
As if on cue, Henri appeared in the doorway, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, his hair still a mess. "You guys are so loud!" he yelled at his sisters. "You can never just be calm!"
"Henri, be nice," Eleanor scolded him. "It's Christmas."
Henri sighed as he finished rubbing his eyes. A smile took over his face. "Joyeux Noel, Tatie Eleanor. Joyeux Noel, Oncle Rami," he said, walking towards Eleanor with his arms stretched out for a hug. "I'm glad you're home with me."
Eleanor kissed the top of his head and ruffled his hair. "I'm glad I'm home with you too," she said, looking over at Rami and Elodie. She was horrified to see that Rosaline had climbed onto Rami's front, essentially creating a Desjardins sandwich with Rami in the middle. Before they could cause any more damage, she proposed an idea to get them all out of bed. "Hey, who wants to surprise mommy, daddy, grandma and grandpa with some hot chocolate downstairs?"
Hot chocolate was the twins' favourite drink. "Let's go downstairs!" Rosaline exclaimed. "Rami, take us there!"
Rami was all too happy to oblige. He rose to his feet easily, with the girls still hanging on to him, and began to walk towards the door and down the hallway. Henri had already run downstairs and was waiting in the kitchen, the packets probably already on the counter, the pot to boil the milk beside it. He knew his way around his grandparents' kitchen, that was for sure.
While the oldest son or daughter hosted Christmas Eve, Christmas Day was always spent at the Desjardins house – it was a tradition that had been around for generations. No matter how many siblings there were, no matter how many kids were running around causing havoc, every member of the family convened back to the Desjardins house when Christmas rolled around, and this year was no exception. As Rami heated the milk on the stove, the girls sat on the counter watching him while she and Henri prepared all of the mugs. He was being so animated with them, pulling an apron out of a drawer for himself and pretending to be a Starbucks barista, causing the kids to burst into fits of giggles as he called out their "orders" and pronounced their names completely wrong. Eleanor had snapped a quick picture of Rami, Henri, Elodie, and Rosaline as he started to pour the hot milk into the cups. She didn't think twice before uploading it to Twitter with the caption "My barista 3 #maplesyrupmafia #nextcareer" It didn't take long for some of their friends to respond.
wwebalor: eleanordesjardins I hope there's adult supervision. Merry Christmas from the Devitts xx
WWECesaro: eleanordesjardins This is just a disaster waiting to happen. Good luck. Make sure he doesn't poison the family.
WWERollins: eleanordesjardins the cutest 3 and I ain't talkin' bout the kids.
The tweet from Colby made her smile, despite all that they had been through. Soon enough, Jean-Philippe, Margot, Charles, and Catherine all made their way downstairs. Smiles and hugs were shared all around as everybody took a mug of hot chocolate and made their way into the family room so everybody could open presents.
Truth be told, Rami was surprised at the…normalness of the festivities. He had to admit he wondered what billionaires got each other for Christmas. He sometimes pictured it weirdly, like an episode of Oprah's Favourite Things ("You get a car! You get a car! Everybody gets a car!") or something even more ridiculous and over-the-top like My Super Sweet Sixteen. But it was none of that. It seemed exactly like what his sister-in-law Samantha described to him when she told him stories about how her family would celebrate Christmas. Family was the centre of everything for the Desjardins, he found out – Christmas wasn't Christmas without the family.
Jean-Philippe and Margot took turns filming as everybody opened their presents. Henri got some new books, clothes, and of course, Montreal Canadiens paraphernalia. The twins absolutely loved their new skates and the make-your-own bracelet set they would share. Rami gifted Eleanor a beautiful
Just like yesterday, everything went according to plan in terms of the kids finding the envelope last. Henri had grabbed it and opened it himself, eager to show off his reading skills to the family. "This magical park has six different lands, and all of them are oh so grand. We want to share its love with you, and have lots of fun and eat some too! Tatie Eleanor and Uncle Rami hope you continue to be a good boy and good girls, because on March Break…" he paused, smiling to himself. He looked over at his sisters and gave them a giant smile before yelling, "Oncle Rami and Tatie Eleanor are bringing us to Disney World!"
Rosaline and Elodie's jaws dropped in unison. They looked over to Rami. "Is this true?" Rosaline asked.
Rami nodded his head. "It's true! You're going to go with my niece Maryam and my nephew Ali and their mommy and daddy too. There's going to be a big group of us!"
Henri screamed as he lunged towards Rami, engulfing him in a hug. "Oncle Rami you're the best!" he screamed. Elodie and Rosaline soon followed, jumping on their brother. They repeated their brother's sentiment as Rami wrapped his arms around them, kissing their heads.
"What do you say to Oncle Rami and Tatie Eleanor?" Margot chimed in.
"Thank you!" they all said in unison, moving on to Eleanor with their hugs.
"This is gonna be the best trip ever!" Elodie exclaimed.
"Elodie, why don't you bring grandma's iPad over and we can start researching what you can see at Disney World!" Catherine exclaimed, a giant smile on her face from seeing her grandchildren so happy.
Elodie's eyes lit up again. She ran back into the kitchen where she knew the iPad dock was. Eleanor noticed Henri still holding the card and holding it against his chest, as if he let go, the trip to Disney World would vanish. Rosaline climbed into her grandma's lap as Elodie came running back in with the iPad. "Tatie, come sit beside me!" she patted the spot next to her. Eleanor happily obliged.
Across from them, Rami had began to help Margot with stuffing all the wrapping paper into a garbage bag. Before he could really begin to help, Jean-Philippe tapped his shoulder. "I need to show you something," he whispered. "Come with me."
Rami looked to Margot, scared that if he left, it would offend her because she'd be cleaning up herself. She smirked back at him. "You're gonna want to see what he has."
Jean-Philippe left the room in a hurry, Rami taking his time to leave the room so it didn't look suspicious, although Eleanor was preoccupied with her nieces and the iPad. Jean-Philippe guided him upstairs and into the bedroom he and Margot were sleeping in. He made sure to tell Rami to close the door behind him.
"What's going on?" Rami asked as Jean-Philippe began rummaging through his small suitcase.
"Well, I still can't believe that we managed to do this solely over email without Eleanor finding out, but man, let me tell you, you picked a stunning diamond based on shit quality pictures to match that band from your grandparents," Jean-Philippe said, finally retrieving what he was looking for. He handed Rami a small box, and immediately, Rami knew what it was.
His eyes bulged out of his head. He opened the box, gulping at the sight before him. There it was. One of his grandmother's thin rose gold bands, hosting a two-and-a-half carat cushion cut diamond. It was perfect in every way. He couldn't stop staring at it. He couldn't believe how much it sparkled just in the lighting of the bedroom, especially since he had picked it out from an emailed picture that Jean-Philippe had sent him. Clearly the wrestling gods were on his side when he was trying to create the best engagement ring for Eleanor.
"Holy fuck," he finally said, garnering a chuckle from Jean-Philippe. "I can't believe I'm holding this in my hands right now. I can't…I can't…holy fuck."
"Yeah, that's the reaction I had when I bought Margot's ring," Jean-Philippe laughed. "How are you feeling right now?"
Rami shook his head, unable to form words. "Indescribable," he finally managed to say, looking down at the ring again.
"She's gonna love it," Jean-Philippe said assuredly. "Have you given any thought as to when this is gonna go down?..."
Jean-Philippe kept speaking, but Rami couldn't hear him. He was lost in his own thoughts of the proposal, how he was going to do it, where he was going to do it, what Eleanor would do or say. Would she love the ring? He knew she would. Would she cry? Probably. Then all he could think about was the sight of this ring, this very ring he was holding in his hands, on the hand of Eleanor, and a tingling sensation shot up his spine.
XXXXXXXXXX
SO…I have a picture for you guys to visualize the ring. It's not EXACTLY what I pictured but it's the most accurate one I could find. Here is the link uploads/products/2015/05/14/64/11921781/large/bella_6mm_petite_size_14kt_rose_gold_morganite_diamond_cushion_halo_plain_band_wedding_set_other_metals_and_stone_options_available_e12c29f0_
The plain rose gold band in the picture is what I envisioned (the diamond wedding band will come after). In this picture, the stone is round with a halo around it that makes it look like a cushion cut…Eleanor's has no halo – it's just a big ol' cushion cut rock! Eleanor's is also bigger in size at 2.5 carats, so it looks bigger on her finger. I hope this helps!