Christmasssssss
Pink Christmas
The build up to Christmas had been nothing less than stressful. Clara loved Christmas, she really did, but buying all of the presents and the decorations had not been easy. The kids always wanted to go shopping with her when she went and she was running out of excuses to give now.
She walked down the stairs and grabbed her shoes. Ellie appeared at the door and smiled.
"Can I come with you?" Clara smiled back.
"You don't even know where I'm going yet!" Ellie shrugged. "What if I was going somewhere really boring?" Now Ellie giggled.
"I'd still come with you." Clara sighed.
"Okay, I'm going to the dentists. Still want to come along?" She nodded.
"Yes because you're not actually going to the dentist, you went last week. Monday to be precise." Clara shook her head and kissed Ellie's cheek.
"You, miss, are you smart for your own good." Ellie smiled. "But you can't come with me today, it's a secret shopping trip." Now an even wider smile appeared on her face.
"Christmas presents!?" Clara nodded.
"Yep! So you need to let me buy some on my own so that there are some surprises for you!" As she spoke Noah ran in to the room.
"Christmas presents!?" He shouted. Clara sighed. Lily then ran in as well making Clara laugh.
"Did I hear presents!?" They all stood watching her intently. She looked to Danny. He smiled and walked towards them.
"You monkeys need to stay here. Mummy is going to get secret stuff that her and Father Christmas have talked about." Noah's eyes widened.
"Really!?" Clara and Danny both nodded.
"Yeah, but children aren't allowed to go because it's a big surprise for them on Christmas Day!" All three kids smiled and nodded. "You can help daddy wrap some other presents." He winked at Clara who kissed him quickly and mouthed a thank you to him.
"See you all later, love you."
A couple of hours later she emerged from her car looking rather flustered. Danny went outside of the house to meet her.
"Alright there?" He held her hand as she got out of the car.
"I hate shopping at Christmas." He laughed and kissed her head.
"I think most people do. Successful trip?" She nodded and opened the car boot to show him a few things she had bought. As she did Noah ran out of the front door. He jumped up and tried to look in the boot, giggling as he did. Danny laughed and picked him up. Whilst tickling him, he put him back inside. Clara followed closely behind.
"Oi monkey!" They all laughed. "You're going to have no surprises left if you keep sneaking about!" He giggled.
Danny strolled downstairs and grabbed his breakfast the next morning. Clara kissed his head and grabbed hers too. Ellie walked in and sat with them.
"When can we decorate the tree?" Clara shrugged.
"Do we even have a tree now?" Danny laughed.
"No, it broke last year, remember?" All three of them giggled at the memory of it collapsing on top of the tv and burying Lily with it.
"Can we get a real one this year then?" Danny and Clara looked at each other.
"That's a good idea actually." Ellie smiled.
"Let's go today! And then we can put it up next weekend?" Everyone agreed.
Later, they set out to find a tree.
"We've got to get a HUGE one." Lily exclaimed as they walked through them on the edge of the nearby woods.
"It's got to fit in the living room honey." She shook her head.
"Daddy can cut a hole in the roof so it can fit." Danny scoffed.
"And watch the house collapse as I do it." Clara laughed. They walked for a while trying to find the perfect one. Noah ran ahead a little, his hat bobbing off of his head as he did. Suddenly, he stopped and pointed at one.
"This one!" He walked closer and waited for the others to catch up. He touched one of its branches and then jumped backwards and screamed. "SPIDER!" They all laughed.
"You scream like a girl." Lily said. Noah pushed her and shook his head.
"No I don't!" She laughed. Danny cupped the spider in his hands and walked to put it down on the ground. As he did he backtracked quickly towards Noah and showed him it. He screamed again and jumped into Clara's arms. He cried into her shoulder. They all laughed as Danny finally put it down.
"It's okay, it's gone now." He shook his head. "It is! I promise!" Clara kissed his head and wiped his tears. He looked at Danny for a second and then smiled and carried on walking. Clara and Danny laughed.
Eventually, they chose out a tree. They got the man to cut it down and tie it up for them. They paid and Danny carried it to the car.
"Is it going to fit?" He looked at her for a second.
"It better do... I didn't think of that." She smiled and opened the boot.
"If it doesn't, we'll have to leave the kids here." She winked at him. After numerous attempts they managed to get it in the car. Noah had to sit on Clara's lap and Ellie and Lily were practically sat inside the tree. It was only a short drive home so they all laughed about it.
The next weekend was decoration time. They all headed out to buy what was needed. Whilst trying to stop all three kids from running in different directions, Clara and Danny tired to decide on what colour to go for.
"Mum what about pink!?" Lily called. Danny shook his head.
"Um no way." She laughed. Noah went over to the shelf where all of the toys were and turned on every single singing one there. Clara sighed at him dancing to all of the songs playing simultaneously. She walked over to him and crouched down.
"Stop annoying the shop assistants, you!" He helped her to turn them all back off.
"Mummy can I get one?" She thought for a second and then nodded.
"Yes, you've been a good boy so you can have one as a treat. Only one though." He smiled and ran back to choose one. Danny had chosen out some baubles to which Clara nodded.
"I like those." He smiled.
"What about lights?" She thought for a second.
"Blue and white?" He nodded and went to grab some. Ellie picked out the star to go on the top of the tree and Lily chose her own decoration.
They got home and Danny grabbed the tree from the garden. He came into the room to see all four of them dancing to Christmas music. He laughed and shook his head.
"What a sight." They all laughed back.
"Join in daddy!" He did a little jiggle and then put the tree down.
"That's all you're getting from me." Clara smiled and pushed him a little.
"Spoil sport." She winked.
They all helped to put the lights and the decorations on the tree. Ellie had assigned Lily to baubles, Clara and Danny to lights and Noah to tinsel. She directed them all until they had finished. They all stood back and looked at the tree.
"It's the best Christmas tree I've ever seen!" Noah said.
"I like it." Danny said. They all smiled. Clara rubbed her hands together.
"Right, I think a Christmas movie calls." They all nodded.
"Nativity?!" Everyone nodded in agreement and, after Lily singing and dancing the whole of the movie to them, they happily went to bed after a good day.
Schools broke up for the holiday the following week. Clara's last class filtered out and she sat at her desk with a smile on her face. Danny strolled in to see her and matched her smile.
"We've survived another term." She smiled and nodded.
"We have. I think I'm going to go mad if I hear another Christmas song today but we have indeed." He laughed and kissed her softly.
"I can't wait for Christmas this year." She smiled.
"Me neither. I've got a good feeling about it." They kissed again and then headed home.
The next few days flew by and, before they knew it, it was Christmas Eve. Noah was buzzing with excitement. Clara loved to see him happy but sometimes it got a little too much. He had not calmed down for at least a month now.
"Noah stop!" Ellie said as he pulled on the back of the chair she was sitting on. "Noah!" Clara walked in the room to see what all of the noise was about. "NOAH!" Ellie shouted. Clara went to pull him off of the chair but he laughed and pushed her to the side. She sighed and watched him run away. Danny gave her a look and then ran after him. He picked him up and sat him down at the kitchen table.
"Right you." Noah giggled and tried to get away but Danny held his arm to stop him. "No, sit down." He did so immediately. "I know you are very excited but you need to calm down. You've annoyed your sister and pushed your mum. That's naughty." He nodded but tried to get back up again. "Noah stop. I mean it. Settle down a little bit please. You're going to hurt yourself." He eventually did so and Clara managed to get him to sit on her lap to watch a movie, which was an absolute miracle.
When the evening arrived they began to get ready for the next morning.
"Noah are you going to get a carrot for the reindeers?" He nodded and went to the fridge. Ellie grabbed a glass of milk and Lily the mince pie. They all put it down by the tree excitedly.
"Is Father Christmas going to eat the mince pie?!" Noah asked. Danny nodded.
"Yep, when we get downstairs in the morning it'll all be gone!" He giggled happily.
The kids eventually got to bed and fell asleep surprisingly quickly. Clara and Danny began to get the presents out of the garage and put them under the tree.
"I dread to think how much we've spent on them this year." Danny laughed.
"Oh god, I don't want to know." She smiled and placed the last few presents down. As she got to the bottom of the bag she was holding she pulled out a present that she didn't recognise. She frowned and looked to Danny. He smiled a little and took it out of her hand.
"I was hoping you'd spot this one. I wanted to give it to you now. I know it's not technically Christmas yet but I think now is the perfect time." She smiled and then opened the present slowly. Inside was a music box with beautiful rose gold detailing around the edges. As she wound it up it played her mums favourite piece of music, one that brought back so many great memories. She smiled widely.
"Danny... I love it." He grinned and kissed her head.
"Open it." She did so and gasped.
"Are you serious?!" He nodded.
"Tickets to that fancy restaurant you've always wanted to go to and a VIP pass for the London Eye at night." She squealed with excitement and flung herself into his arms. He hugged her happily. She pulled away and kissed him deeply. He moved her backwards so that she was laying on the sofa.
"I love you so much." He smiled and kissed her again.
"I love you too. This really is going to be the best Christmas ever." She smiled. "Upstairs?" She nodded and kissed him again.
The next morning Danny and Clara were woken by three very excited children. They jumped on the bed and giggled with each other as they got ready to open their stockings. Clara smiled and rolled over to look at the time. 5:00. She sighed happily and switched on the light. She then cuddled into Danny and watched their faces light up as they began to look inside.
Soon enough they wanted to go downstairs. Clara grabbed her dressing gown and went down first to switch on the Christmas tree lights. Danny then took the kids down and grabbed his camera. Clara opened the door slowly and let them walk inside. All three of their faces lit up. For a second none of them moved. They just stood in absolute awe. It was the sort of moment that makes Christmas worthwhile. It didn't take long though for Noah to dive in.
"Be careful honey." Clara held him back a little bit. She then sat him on her lap by the tree. "Do you want to give out the presents to everyone?" He nodded and began to hand them out. The two girls sat grinning excitedly. Once they'd done it Danny and Clara smiled at each other.
"Anddd GO!" They both said. All three kids began to rip open the paper.
As they did Clara and Danny watched their reactions intently. Clara knew she had made some good choices of presents but there was always that doubt in the back of her mind that they might not like something. Noah started to giggle and scream with excitement as he opened boxes of lego. He was going through a phase where that was all he wanted. It was one that Danny quite enjoyed too, not that he'd admit that. Lily was more than happy to receive a new scooter that she had wanted for months and Ellie got reading her new books as soon as she could. All three were happy.
"Go on then." Ellie said to Clara and Danny as she put their presents in front of them. Danny opened one and sighed. Everyone else started to laugh as he unwrapped the rest of it.
"Oh very funny." He held up a 'bah humbug' t-shirt against his chest.
"It suits you." Clara winked and laughed as he hit her with it playfully.
Once the rest of the presents were opened Clara and Danny stood up together.
"Okay, we have one last surprise for you." They all started to get up too.
"No no, stay in here. Daddy will go and get it." It went silent for a second. They waited intently. Suddenly a tiny white dog ran into the room and onto Ellie's lap. All three kids screamed with excitement.
"A DOG!" Noah shouted.
"YOU GOT US A DOG! I'M SO HAPPY!" Lily screamed. Ellie looked at the dog in absolute awe. Lily then picked him up and kissed him softly. She then started to cry a little bit. Clara smiled.
"Are those happy tears?" She nodded and laughed.
"Yes. You're the best parents ever." She sobbed. Danny pulled Clara into a hug as they watched the kids play with it. She kissed his cheek and smiled.
"How did you keep this a secret?!" Ellie said.
"Grandad gave us a little helping hand."
"I LOVE HIM!" Noah shouted again. "Can we call him Steve?" Both girls looked at him in disgust.
"No way!" Clara and Danny laughed.
"Let's call him Cody." Ellie said. It went quiet for a second and then they all nodded in agreement.
"Cody. I like that." Danny said as the dog ran into his lap. They played with the dog all day. Noah had already introduced him to all of his other toys and Lily had begun to make him a bed out of pillows.
It settled down in the evening. Noah fell asleep on Clara's lap and Cody did the same on Noah's lap. Ellie, Lily and Danny cuddled up together as they all watched the Christmas tv. They finally managed to get Noah into bed without waking him and settled Cody down in his bed. Ellie moved to cuddle up to Clara on the sofa once she had come back downstairs.
"Alright honey?" She smiled and nodded.
"Thank you so much for today. It's been the best Christmas ever." Clara smiled and kissed her head.
"You're welcome sweetie. I'm glad you liked them. What was your favourite?" Ellie laughed.
"As if you have to ask. Cody of course." Clara grinned.
"Yeah, stupid question. He's very cute indeed." Ellie nodded.
"He's the best thing ever. I love him so much." Clara kissed her head again and continued to watch the movie. As she sat there she felt a feeling of accomplishment. There was nothing she loved more than seeing the kids happy and they certainly achieved that.
The next day Dave came round for Christmas dinner. As he played with the kids and Cody, Clara ran around the kitchen trying to get everything cooked and on time. Danny walked in and sighed at her.
"Need a hand?" She nodded.
"Please. Can you put the veg on and do the gravy?" He nodded. As he got started he watched her continue to stress. He stopped what he was doing and then held her gently to prevent her from doing anything else than looking at him.
"Clara, calm down. It'll all go to plan." She sighed and leant into him. "Stop stressing. We're going to have a lovely day and you are going to relax and enjoy it." She smiled as he kissed her head. They started to get back on with cooking.
The meal was demolished relatively quickly without any problems, except for having to tell Noah not to feed the dog the carrots that he didn't want to eat himself. They all sat and chatted at the table for a while.
"So, what's the plan for the rest of today?" Clara shrugged.
"I don't know, I hadn't got that far. What does everyone want to do?" Everyone stopped to think.
"Can we go ice skating? At the rink at the Christmas market across the road?" Ellie asked. Everyone nodded.
"Okay, yeah, that sounds like a plan."
They got wrapped up and walked across to the market. The kids ran straight to the rink, buzzing with excitement again.
"Come on you three, let's get your skates on." They all nodded and followed Danny. Dave followed.
"Coming on?" Clara shook her head and laughed.
"I'll pass." She winked at him. She got her phone out ready to take pictures. Ellie and Lily had been skating with their friends quite often so were rather good at it. Dave, on the other hand, really wasn't. The girls laughed as he tried to keep up with them.
"Come on grandad!" Lily said.
"You're walking! Not skating!" Ellie called as she skated back to him to hold his hand.
"We can pull you along!" Both girls took a hand each and began to skate forwards. Dave shook his head.
"No no no! Stop!" They all laughed. Clara watched happily from the side. Danny had grabbed Noah one of the penguin skaters for support so that he could go along himself.
"Come on then!" Danny said to him as he skated slowly behind him.
"Too fast daddy! Too fast!" Danny laughed and skated back to him.
"You wimp!" Noah giggled.
A while later, Danny left the kids happily with Dave and came back over to Clara. He came off the ice and pulled her into a hug as they continued to watch the others.
"Okay?" She nodded but didn't say anything back. He sighed, he knew exactly what she was thinking. "What's up?" She shook her head.
"Just thinking." He smiled and turned to face her.
"About your gran?" She now turned to face him too.
"How did you know?" He laughed a little and brushed her hair out of her face.
"I always know." She sighed and leant her head into his chest.
"I miss her Danny. So so much. She should be here. This Christmas has been great but it feels like something is missing." He nodded understandingly.
"It's bound to feel strange. And that's okay. Just know that she would want you to be happy and for the kids to have enjoyed Christmas. That would make her happy too." She nodded back.
"I know. I just wish she could have seen it."
"She's here in your heart." He placed a hand on her chest and then moved it to her arm. "I know it's not the same but it's enough. She loves you so much, she always will. This Christmas, the kids happiness, you and I. She'd be so proud of how far we've all come. And I know that she would definitely be telling us to stop being soppy right now if she was here." Clara laughed a little and kissed Danny softly.
"I love you Danny." He smiled and kissed her again.
"I love you too." As she kissed him they heard giggling from beside them. The kids and Dave had skated back over.
"Kissy kissy." Noah said as he giggled away. Clara and Danny sighed and pulled away from each other, still slightly in each other's grasp.
"Are you coming back on?" Ellie said to Danny. He nodded and kissed Clara on the head. She smiled as they all skated off.
Dave went home after that leaving them to relax. Danny opened a bottle of wine for him and Clara and the kids sat and played with Cody. Christmas tv played in the background but Clara wasn't really listening to it. She put her drink down and turned on the sofa to face Danny. She hesitated before speaking. He frowned.
"There's something on your mind and I can't work out what it is." She smiled gently.
"There is. I've just been thinking a lot lately." He put his drink down too and took her hands.
"About your gran, you mean?" She shook her head.
"It's not that." She paused again. "Watching the three of them this past week has made me the happiest person alive." They turned momentarily to see all three laughing together. "I don't ever want them to not be happy. They deserve to have the best life we can give them." Danny nodded in agreement.
"Where is this going?" She sighed. She just needed to get it out there or she'd never say it.
"I'd like to have another one." Now Danny looked up with shock.
"What?!" She smiled.
"They're growing so fast. And I think another baby would make our family complete." He laughed a little nervously.
"Wow. I wasn't expecting that." She smiled. "Where's this come from all of a sudden?"
"I don't know. I just really want another little baby, another person in the house." He smiled.
"Let's do it." She raised her eyebrows with surprise.
"Really?!" He nodded.
"Yeah. Let's extend this crazy family we have a little more." She grinned and kissed him deeply. He returned the kiss and they both giggled.
"Thank you for the perfect Christmas Danny." They grabbed their glasses for a toast.
"Here's to many more."
Yayyy! I hope you all have a great Christmas!xx
