"Lita! Stop running around! Come back here!" exclaimed Ellie.
The little girl continued running and giggling around the living room as Ellie ran after her, trying to get hold of her.
"Gotcha!" said Ellie, wrapping her arms around the girl.
Lita laughed but quieted down in her mom's embrace.
"C'mon," said Ellie, turning the girl to face her. "Look at the camera and say 'Thank you Grandma Sandy' for this awesome paint set."
"Thanks Grandma Sandy!" exclaimed the little girl.
"Great, now hold still while I snap a pic. Say 'Cheese'!"
"Macaroni!" shouted the little girl.
Ellie sighed but couldn't help the smile that formed on her face as she took the picture anyway.
"Mom, can I open my next present now?" asked Juan.
He stood by the Christmas tree and was holding a decent size box in his hands.
"Sure honey, let me come closer so I can get your reaction."
She walked over to him as he started unwrapping the present.
"A Nintendo Switch?! I GOT A NINTENDO SWITCH?!" he yelled in excitement. "YES!"
He put down the box and immediately ran over to Pete, tackling him into a hug.
"Thanks Dad!"
"You're welcome buddy," said Pete, ruffling his hair.
The boy untangled himself from his dad's waist and came over to Ellie.
"Thanks Mom!" he said, giving her a one-sided hug.
"Aw, you're so welcome, sweetheart," she said, rubbing his back with the hand that was not holding the phone she was using to record.
"Now me! Now me!" Lita exclaimed as she jumped up and down with a box in her hands.
"Wait sweetie, why don't we let Lizzy open up a present?" said Pete.
Lizzy, who was on the couch and had been watching the whole thing until now, turned to her dad.
"Oh, it's okay, Lita can go next."
"Aw no honey, you haven't even opened one present yet!" said Ellie. "Here, open this one, it's from both of us."
Lizzy took the small box from Ellie and unwrapped it, revealing the latest iPhone inside.
"What? Oh my god, for real!?" Lizzy practically screamed.
"For real," said Pete.
"Is this a prank!?" Lizzy was in disbelief.
Her parents laughed at her reaction.
"No," Pete assured her. "It's not a prank. It's for real."
"There are going to be ground rules about phone use," started Ellie, ever the responsible parent.
"Yeah like, you need to keep your grades up and chores done," continued Pete.
"But we trust you to be responsible enough with it, so it's all yours," finished Ellie.
Lizzy leapt out of her seat and gave a hug to Ellie and then Pete.
"Thank you, thank you!"
"I wanna see! I wanna see!" came Lita's voice.
The little girl came over as Lizzy showed her the box, and even Juan's curiosity got the better of him and he came over to see what all the fuss was about.
After a few 'aahs' and 'oohs' -all of which were captured by Ellie on video – Lita was once again restless and wanted to open her next present.
"Okay, my turn! My turn!"
"Fine, here, this one." Ellie handed her a box.
Lita unwrapped the present, revealing what looked like a large Barbie box with five dolls inside. But instead of being Barbies, the dolls were replicas of the Wagner family: Ellie, Pete, Juan, Lita and Lizzy.
When the little girl realized who the dolls were, she screamed so loudly that everyone else flinched for a second.
"It's us!" yelled Lita in complete excitement.
"Yes, it is honey, what do you think?" asked Ellie, slightly anxious to hear her thoughts.
Lita's present had not been done for vanity reasons in the slightest. Truth be told, Ellie felt a bit unnerved by having a Barbie-like doll version of herself in the house. But this is what the child therapist had recommended the parents get for their youngest girl. It was supposed to help her process and express her feelings through child-play, so she could cope with difficult situations -both from the past and future- a lot better. It was, apparently, part of what she was doing in her therapy sessions, too. And since it seemed like Lita's obsession with specific foods was fading, Ellie would bear with any unnerving dolls for as long as needed to help her little girl heal.
"I love it!" she screamed, and immediately set about opening the box up to take out the dolls.
"Alright pal, this one's for you," said Pete.
Juan took the present from him and set about unwrapping it. Once he was done, he held the box away from him so he could see exactly what it was.
It was a night light shaped like a basketball.
Juan gasped. "A basketball light?!"
"You bet, so it matches the rest of your Clippers décor," winked Pete.
"Awesome!" exclaimed Juan.
Both Pete and Ellie were glad to see that Juan wasn't fazed by the apparent mundanity of the present, and was instead excited by it. In reality, this was something else that had been recommended to the Wagners by a therapist -Juan's. Since the boy had started the counseling programme, he'd had a few more nightmares than usual. This was normal, they had been told, because the boy was recalling traumatic events during his therapy sessions, but these would hopefully start to diminish the further he progressed with his programme. However, despite suffering from nightmares at night, these didn't seem to be as bad as the previous ones, and the boy even seemed much happier and lively during the day. The Wagners could only hope this would continue.
His past abuser, Mario, had been found. He was in a different state, in prison for drug charges, as Ellie had predicted, as well as other offences. But his sentence expired in less than two years, and neither the Wagners and extended family, nor Karen and Sharon, wanted him to have that freedom. After consulting with the specialists, and many back and forths with Lizzy, it had been decided that they would press charges once Juan was done with therapy. His counseling sessions, in which he recounted in great detail all the awful things done to him, would serve as evidence, and he wouldn't need to be involved in the court proceedings as much as the Wagners had feared. They also knew he would be older once this all went through, so he would be able to cope with it a bit better. But until all that was done, the parents hoped the night light would help with his nightmares.
"I'm going to place it next to my Blake Griffin poster," said Juan, which made the parents smile.
As Lita played with her dolls and Juan set about unboxing his night light, Pete came over to Lizzy and handed her a package.
"Okay Lizzy, this one's from me," he said, sitting down next to her.
The teenager put the new phone she had fumbling with aside and opened the package.
"The Ann Taylor sweater?!" she gasped.
Ellie smiled behind the camera.
"I told your dad how much you'd been looking at the sweater last time we went shopping together," winked Ellie.
"So I went back and got it for you," said Pete.
"Aw, thanks Dad!" said Lizzy, giving him a hug. "And Mom, for telling him about it."
Both parents smiled.
"Ooh, what's that present there, sweetheart?" said Ellie, pointing at a small box next to Lizzy.
"Oh, that's from Charlie, I promised him I wouldn't open it until Christmas Day."
Pete raised his eyebrows while the little kids teased Lizzy about it.
"Oooh, Lizzy has a boyfriend," said Lita.
"Yeah, I do, so what?"
The little girl giggled. "Gross."
The teenager laughed at her sister's reaction.
"I really hope that's age-appropriate," warned Pete, pointing at the box.
"Dad! Really?"
"Well go ahead and open it! I'm curious!" said Ellie.
"Mom, I'm not about to open it in front of the camera."
Ellie put down her phone and joined Pete in staring at Lizzy.
"I'm not doing it with you all starting at me!" protested Lizzy.
"Fine, fine!" said the parents. "Hey, why don't you all come and open that one instead?" added Ellie, pointing at a present beneath the Christmas tree.
"All of us?" asked Lizzy.
"Yup, all of you. Lita, Juan, come help Lizzy open this present," said Pete.
All three siblings came over to the tree and sat in front of it, Lizzy in the middle and the two younger ones at her side. The big sister picked up the present and, with the help of her siblings, opened it.
She gasped.
It was a framed picture of her, Juan, Lita and Carla, taken during one of their last visitations together.
"What do you think?" Ellie was the first on to break the silence.
"I look funny," said Lita, giggling.
"How did you get this?" asked Lizzy, looking up at her parents.
"She gave it to us, to give you to you. She sends her love," smiled Ellie.
A smile came over Lizzy.
"Do you guys remember this day?" she asked her siblings.
Her siblings nodded.
"We were feeding the ducks and Juan nearly fell in the water," said Lita, which made Juan laugh.
"That's right," said Lizzy. "We had fun, didn't we?"
"Yeah," said Juan, while Lita nodded.
"Where are we going to put the picture?" asked the little girl.
"How about we hang it up on the hallway?" suggested Pete. "So everyone can see the three you and your other mom together."
There was a silence while the three siblings took in what Pete had said. Even though the relationship between Carla and all the kids had changed, the Wagners had decided that they still wanted her to be a part of their lives in whatever way was appropriate, in spite of everything that had happened. Because at the end of the day, Carla had nothing but love for their kids, and the two parents had realized that the more people that loved their children, the better their lives would be.
"Sounds great," said Lizzy. Her younger siblings agreed, and all three of them embraced each other in a big hug. They sensed how lucky they were that they had three wonderful parents that loved them unconditionally, and that even though they had a new family, this didn't mean giving up their old family completely.
Ellie came over to Pete and wrapped one arm around his waist, overjoyed at the scene in front of her. She took her phone and snapped a picture of the scene in front of her; she would send that to Carla later.
After a while, the younger kids went back to their other presents. Pete went to help Juan unbox his Nintendo Switch while Ellie joined Lita in playing with her dolls.
When she was sure no one was watching, Lizzy went back to the couch and opened up Charlie's gift.
Inside, there was a silver bracelet with two charms: a piano and ukulele. Her heart melted at the sight and a warm feeling came over her. Today was exactly her 3-week anniversary with Charlie, and while it wasn't even a month yet, she couldn't believe how happy he made her. Sweet, innocent, but wise Charlie, who always knew exactly what to say to cheer her up. He was definitely not her usual type, but now that she had him, she couldn't imagine being with anyone else. She definitely couldn't imagine settling for bad guys again. Their first almost month had been spent with laughter, with a lot of hang outs at each other's' places and with many dates to the cinema, ice skating, rollerblading, or just out for food. He was so easy to talk to, and so far, was the only one who knew about her therapy. Even Savanna and Kylie didn't know yet, although she would tell them soon, because she definitely wanted to keep going after the 12 weeks were up. But now Charlie had been accepted as a member of their little group, alongside Josh, a guy Kylie had started dating recently, and they all had inadvertently formed an eclectic but fun group, which Lizzy adored.
"It's a lovely gift."
Ellie's voice beside Lizzy made the teenager jump and nearly drop her present on the floor.
Lizzy quickly hid the bracelet away, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.
"Don't be embarrassed," said Ellie. "It's really lovely. And Charlie's really lovely, too," she winked.
Lizzy rolled her eyes but couldn't help the smile forming on her face. "Thanks," she whispered.
"Here, this one's from me."
Her mother handed her another small box.
"Another one?" asked Lizzy.
"Open it," Ellie nodded.
Lizzy did as she was told and carefully unwrapped the present, revealing another piece of jewellery inside. This time, it was a heart-shaped gold necklace. The inscription read:
If daughters were flowers, I'd still pick you
Tears pricked at her eyes as an overwhelming feeling washed over her.
Because Ellie had picked her, out of hundreds of kids at the adoption fair, out of thousands more in the system, Ellie had picked her. Even though she'd made it hard for her, even though she had pushed her away, screamed at her and provoked her, Ellie had still picked her.
Lizzy put a hand over her mouth as the tears fell from her eyes. Ellie wrapped her arms around her and the teenager buried her head in her shoulder.
When she finally pulled away, she looked up at Ellie and smiled.
"I'd pick you too, Mom."
Her words made Ellie choke up.
"Okay everybody, picture time! Everyone grab one present and huddle together in front of the Christmas tree!" came Pete's voice. "Gonna send this to all the grandparents!"
Mother and daughter broke their embrace and wiped tears from their eyes, both of them laughing at how emotional they were being. They joined Pete and the younger kids in front of the Christmas tree.
Everyone grabbed one present which they held up for pictures. Pete took out his phone and put the camera in selfie mode.
"Everybody say, "Merry Christmas!"
When the pictures were taken, Pete and Ellie wrapped their arms around the kids, squishing them closely together, and said, "We love you so much, kids."
And as the kids giggled, smiled, squirmed and hugged their parents closer, they all said in unison,
"Love you, too."
