A fresh blanket of snow adorned the ground outside of the family cottage, white and unblemished, just begging to be played in. No one had ventured outside yet since the whiteout that occurred the prior day, but as the children felt more and more antsy from spending the day in front of the TV, they were donning their coats, gloves, and scarves and heading outside to make snow angels, snow people, maybe even have a snowball fight. It wasn't long before the front yard was lit up by the sounds of giggling, cousins playing together for the first time on their holiday vacation.
Clare stood at the top of the porch, wrapped tightly in her puffy yellow coat, watching as two-year-old Jack grabbed a fistful of snow and brought it to his mouth, hardly minding that the snow mostly stuck to his gloves. "Mama, it's good!" He yelled without looking back at his mom, who replied with a seasoned "good, Jack!" that she probably had said thousands of times already. Eloise was inside, relaxing in front of the fireplace with a book on pregnancy. The sixth she'd read so far, Eloise knew the more information she had the better. They had gone the donor route this time around, and were delighted to be giving Jack a baby sister in May.
Luke gave Clare a smile as he walked past her, arms filled with chopped wood to keep the fire raging for the rest of the night. She returned the smile before turning her attention back to the kids. In the background, she saw a familiar Station Wagon roll slowly down the road, and felt her face break out into a smile, "Pam!" She called out over her shoulder, "They're here!"
Pam looked up over the rims of her glasses in the direction of the front door as she heard her name being called, and she smiled excitedly. Although part of her wanted to throw on shoes and her coat and run out to greet them in the driveway, the bigger, more convincing side told her to wait in the cozy warm kitchen. She closed the cookbook she had been pouring over, trying to find a new dessert for the Christmas night soirée. Not long after, her youngest son was bursting through the door, a huge smile on his face and arms laden with already wrapped presents. He set them down on the floor beside the kitchen counter, and rushed forward to wrap his arms around her, "Hi mom!" He said softly into her hair, and she rocked him back and forth enthusiastically.
"Hello, sweetheart," She greeted in turn, and as they parted Blaine shrugged his coat off, draping it onto the back of one of the kitchen chairs, "How was the drive?"
"Not bad at all," Blaine said, "The flight from Lima to New York was probably harder, if I'm being honest," He admitted, picking up a paper grocery bag from the stack of presents he had brought in, "I got the oat milk like you asked," He said, beginning to load them into the refrigerator, "Since when is Coop off dairy? He insisted we take him to Serendipity 3 last month and he finished his own frozen hot chocolate and a little bit of mine."
"Don't ask him or he'll spend twenty five minutes talking about phlegm and kissing and constricting your vocal cords, I made that mistake last night on the phone with him."
"The phone? He isn't here yet?"
"You know your brother," Pam said as she pushed her glasses back onto her nose, "He missed both of his flights yesterday. He's on the plane now, though."
Blaine laughed, "We told him to fly to New York and come drive up with us. But he made sure I knew that Soap Opera stars exclusively fly, and exclusively get little black cars to pick them up at the airport. We didn't quite fit the bill."
"Not to mention we told him he had to limit himself to just two bags," another voice chimed in as they walked into the kitchen. Kurt strode in, setting the frozen turkey they had picked up on the kitchen table, and moved to wrap Pam in a tight embrace.
"Oh it's so good to see you," Pam said as she squeezed the taller man tightly, "Did you find your room?"
As they parted, Kurt made his way over to Blaine, handing him his phone that he had accidentally left in the car, "Yes, thank you," He smiled, looking back at Blaine as the younger man snaked his arm around Kurt's waist and pulled him close.
"Kurt, please tell me you know the recipe of that Black Forest Chocolate Torte that Carole made for Thanksgiving?" Pam asked, looking up at Kurt with a plea in her eyes, "It would be just perfect for the party this year, and also I'll take any excuse to eat it again."
Kurt was quick to remove his phone from his pocket, "Let me call her. They shouldn't have left yet, their flight to Bora Bora isn't for a couple of hours still."
He stepped out of the room to place the call, and Blaine excused himself from his mother to go and visit with Eloise, who set her book down for the first time that afternoon to give him a hug and ask about their drive. Eloise and Clare had come to visit Blaine in New York in October, where they announced their pregnancy, and though they texted fairly frequently and kept up with each other on Instagram, they couldn't wait to catch up.
Blaine wanted to know everything about how the pregnancy was going, if they'd picked out any names, how Jack was feeling. Eloise wanted to know all about Kurt and Blaine's relationship, their new apartment, and the off-Broadway plays he was planning on auditioning for next year. As Kurt joined them in the living room, Eloise forgot entirely about Blaine and immediately engaged him in conversation, "We watched the Radio City Christmas Spectacular last night, the whole family!" She exclaimed, "Kurt, the costumes?" She pretended to fan herself, "The Santa dresses literally stole the entire show. Did you really design that all by yourself?"
Kurt's cheeks were a little pink, but he was beaming with so much confidence. He sat down and immediately began to explain his thought process behind updating the old costumes while still holding onto the traditional integrity that made the Rockettes so beloved. Blaine watched as his boyfriend spoke, thinking about how many times he had heard this story but knowing he would listen to it over and over again, as long as it was Kurt telling it.
The family had waited for them to arrive before decorating the tree. Uncle Steve strung the lights onto the tree while the littles strung popcorn with the help of the aunts. Blaine, Kurt, Luke, and Clare were sorting through the ornaments, deciding which to decorate the tree with this year as they had so many. Blaine had wanted to do the red and green, while Luke and Clare had wanted to go more muted with gold. Kurt was deemed the tie breaker, and his suggestion of the red and gold together was all too easy to agree on.
They were down to the last few bulbs to hang when the front door swung open, and Cooper swept in, tall and handsome, a huge smile on his face and a Santa hat hanging lopsided on his head, "Ho ho ho, family!" He greeted, being enveloped into hugs by his family. He didn't hesitate to wrap one arm around Blaine and the other around Kurt, pulling them in and squeezing them tightly, "What's up Squirt and Kurt?" He greeted.
Blaine and Kurt laughed, giving him warm hugs back before moving out of the embrace, "It's about time you showed your face around here, Coop," Blaine chided, which Cooper just waved off.
"I can't help that I get hounded by the paps when I go to the airport, okay? I don't fly first class, I'm just like everyone else. Sometimes you can't make it to your gate on time!"
Blaine only smiled, knowing in the back of his mind that if Cooper had said that this time last year, he would have wanted to wipe the smirk off of his older brother's face with a hit at Cooper's actual level of fame. But as he caught Kurt's eye, he was reminded of what was really important.
"Cooper, we saved the most beautiful ornament for you," Kurt said, presenting the intricate golden angel, offering it to the older Anderson brother.
"Don't mind if I do," Cooper said, stepping forward to hang the ornament from the perfect branch.
Blaine moved over to Kurt, giving him a quick kiss before pulling him in close, arm tight around his waist.
Uncle Steve plugged the tree into the socket as Cooper hung the ornament. Cooper took a step back, slung his arm around Blaine's neck and the family sat back to admire their work. Blaine looked from his mom, to his brother, and finally to his boyfriend, his mind wandering to the carefully wrapped velvet ring box tucked away in a pair of his socks in their luggage upstairs so that Kurt wouldn't accidentally come across it. He squeezed him a little closer, whispered an 'I love you' to which Kurt kissed his temple and responded that he loved him too.
It was bound to be the best Christmas yet.