We enter the mall around 11 a.m. The place is packed with people who are overloaded with bags and boxes. Why do people have to push all Christmas shopping to the very last minute?
Children are crying, overwhelmed by everything that is going on. Women are chasing after their husbands who can't take it anymore and want to wait in the car.

A couple of years ago, when Rory and I went Christmas shopping mid December, the mall we went to had a husband and boyfriend kindergarten. When she got sick of me complaining about how much time we had already spent at that mall, she sent me off to the kindergarten and I had an amazing time with the other guys, drinking scotch and playing poker.
I was all excited to join her again last year, just to go back to kindergarten. Unfortunately they didn't have it last year and I had to sit, or rather stand, through 5 hours of never ending Christmas shopping. The thing that hurt most last year, was seeing how her credit card actually broke halfway through the shopping escapade, due to excessive usage.

Lailie holds on to my hand tightly. She doesn't like big crowds and is always afraid of getting lost. When an extremely large crowd marches in our direction, she looks really scared and I pick her up.

"Honey, everything is fine! You won't get lost, ok?"

She nods and hugs my neck.

"Besides, you're six now, you're a big girl." I smile. "You can't expect me to carry you around like you are still four."

This works. Four-year-old are still babies, if you ask her.

She giggles and I set her down since the crowd has passed. Taking my hand again, she pulls me towards our destination, Santa Claus.

Of course this isn't her first visit to Santa this year. Every year when we are spending the weekend after Thanksgiving with Honor and Josh in New York, we take her to see Macy's Santa Clause. She loves it and I am very happy that she still believes.

But three years ago, when Rory wanted to get rid of Lailie and me, claiming we were just in her way and kept her from her last minute Christmas preps, I took her to see Santa on Christmas Eve morning and we have been doing this ever since, without Rory knowing. I told Lailie that this was the perfect opportunity to tell Santa again that she has been a perfect little girl and she's looking forward to Christmas morning.

We have to wait for almost an hour to see him. I wait outside the little green fences while she chats with the white bearded man. She looks very sincere and he laughs about what she's telling him.

I notice the rather nice looking female elves that chat with the daddies here and there. I wonder when Finn is getting himself a kid, maybe just 'borrowing' Lailie, just to be able to talk to them.

"They are pretty hot, aren't they?"

I feel an arm hanging around my shoulder and – thinking about the devil – I'm surprised to see Mr Finley himself standing next to me.

Shaking my head I greet him.

"Finn, this is Santa Claus, there are about forty kids just 2 yards away, waiting to see him. And you talk about how-"

"Calm down mate! Fatherhood apparently really affected your manhood."

I send him a death glare and am about to slap him on the back of his head when I hear Lailie's voice calling me.

"Daddy! Come over and take a picture with Santa and me!"

Still growling at Finn I jump over the fence to comply to my daughter's wishes.
I watch Finn checking out the elf taking the picture but smile nonetheless. We don't want a bad picture just because Uncle Finn can't behave.

Lailie is already in Finn's arms when I come back from receiving the pick up slip.

"Mate, did you get her phone number?" Same old Finn… And I thought he might change for good when Miranda got him to settle down a couple of years ago.
She's not mad with him whenever he does stupid stuff, because she knows at the end of the day he'll be at home with her, without lipstick stains on face or collar and still smelling like the after shave he used in the morning.

Lailie giggles.
"Uncle Finny, they don't have phones where Santa lives!"

He looks at her and grins.
"Huh, not? Well then, what a loss for mankind."

She has learned to ignore Uncle Finn's comments, whenever she doesn't understand what he's talking about.
Winding in his arms to get him to put her down, she peeks at the bags and boxes at his feet.

"Uncle Finny, did you buy anything for me?"

"Of course, love! All this stuff-"

"…will be in an orphanage by the 26th" I hiss in his ear.

He gulps.

"Well, lovely Lailie, all this stuff – is not for you." She looks sad and I know Finn's heart is about to break and he's about to give in. He kneels down to her and I can barely understand what he's whispering.

"Of course I got something for you. But don't tell your Mommy, she'd be mad with me and we don't want Mommy to be mad with Uncle Finn, right?"

She giggles as his breath tickles her ear but smiles and nods eagerly.

How men behave whenever they are around girls, especially little girls, I will never understand. And I'm worse than Finn.
Colin found a pretty good rhythm with saying no and giving in. His two boys, 4 and 2 years old, still give him a pretty hard time sometimes, especially whenever the older one plays some tricks on him and Steph. It is really hard for him to go and tell Henry that whatever he did was bad since he actually loves him doing funny stuff since it reminds him so much about what we used to do when we were about that age.

But boys are easier, I believe. Girls tend to jinx you, wrap you around their pinkie. From a very tender age on, they know exactly how to work their way into your heart and even better how to get you to buy toys, let them stay up late, and get you to let them watch movies instead of insisting on her practicing the violin or doing finger exercises on the piano.
Although, I remember when Henry was about two, Colin went out to buy all kinds of toys that are supposed to be manly. Tiny tool sets, baseball mittens, one of those toy cars big enough for kids to actually sit in and drive around using their feet to move them… Of course Henry was still too young for the stuff and we kept playing with it only to be laughed at by our respective ladies.
Ok, girls jinx you and boys make you behave like 4-year-olds again, buying them toys you would have loved to have when you were their age. Life is hard.

We've made our way to a restaurant within the mall. Lailie speeds off to the playground area as Finn and I sit down.

"Man, she's getting so tall…" He says, looking after her.

"Don't tell me! Guess who has to pay for new shoes and clothes all the time."

He grins at me. I know that grin.
"Mate, you've turned into a softie!"

How right he is.

"If you had told me 10 years ago that you'd be happily married and father of a precious 6-year-old at the age of not quite 30, I wouldn't be here since I would've laughed myself to death."

He glances up and down the menu, choosing something, and then placing the menu back on the table.

"So, what healthy stuff will you have this time? It's amazing how you turn into a heath nut whenever your lovely wife does not grace us with her presence."

I start smirking when I remember my encounter with all the fruit earlier today.

"You know what, Finn? I think this is about to change. Ace might be interested in changing her diet pretty soon."

He looks at me, knitting his brows, "The last time I saw lovely Rory eat something healthy voluntarily, she was about to pop a child out the very next day."

I make a face at his recollection of my daughter's birth but smirk a second later.
"Well, that might very well be the case…"

"Oh no, don't tell me she's pregnant again!" He moves his hand in a praying manner, of course not without the necessary theatrical drama in his voice.

It's a pity Finn got kicked out of drama class in high school when he started hitting on the substitute teacher, he might have been a great actor.

"Yes, my friend, I believe it is so."

He winks at me and slaps my shoulder.
"Well done mate!"

The waitress comes to take our orders. Finn requests two cigars to celebrate the happy occasion. Unfortunately for him, it's a non smoking restaurant.

Leaning back into his arms folded behind his head he starts talking again.
"I didn't know you were planning on adding a new Huntz to the family."

"Oh, well, we weren't really, it's more or less-"

"An ac-?"

I throw him scolding glance.

"Don't you dare say the 'a' word."

"Easy there, mate. I was about to say 'actually happy surprise'."

"Yeah, right…"

He smirks but gets thoughtful.

"I always thought Rory was on the pill. Surprises like that don't happen very often if you're-"

"Finn, please! I don't feel comfortable discussing my wife's birth control with you, especially not in public!"
I hiss across the table.

He smirks again.

"Ok, well, still… Maybe she wanted it. You know, with Lailie growing up so fast, maybe she just wants another little one to cuddle."

Glancing over at Lailie I think about he just said.

"Nah, she would have told me, if she wanted to have another baby. Why should she keep it a secret? She knows I've been thinking about this since Lailie was three."

Finn shrugs his shoulders and the topic is being discarded when the food arrives and I go to get Lailie.

All through lunch she tells Finn how school has been, how she likes her violin teacher but hates the piano teacher, about what she wants for Christmas and how she's really excited about her baby brother as he keeps nodding, making funny faces and comments that make her laugh.

My thoughts keep wandering back to what Finn said, about Rory planning on getting pregnant. But why should she not tell me about it? She knows that I wanted another baby, thus she shouldn't have been 'afraid' to tell me about her plans. When I told her about it 3 years ago, she told me she wanted to wait since she had just started her new job. I agreed and never touched the subject again, thinking she'd tell me whenever she felt ready to have another baby, expecting her to know that I'd be 'In Omnia Paratus'. So this surprise is not just a surprise to me, right? It took her off guard, too, right?

Finn leaves us after lunch, telling me he has some more shopping to do. I hope this is not due to Lailie reciting her entire Christmas wishes list to him. I'm especially worried about the 'I want a kitten' part. Rory will be so happy about this!

On the way to pick up the Santa pictures, we pass a boutique for children.

"Hey, Pixie, how about we buy your little baby brother or sister a Christmas present?"
She gets all excited about this idea.

"Yes, Daddy, please! But you know what?" I shake my head and kneel down to her.

"I'm going to have a baby brother! I know it! I asked Santa for a baby brother when we went to visit Aunt Honor."

Huh, how about that.

"You asked Santa for a baby brother? What did he tell you?"

"Oh, he said he'd try but couldn't promise anything since you'd have to agree about it. And when I saw him this morning, I thanked him about it, even though he delivered it a little early."

Chuckling I stand up and take her hand to enter the shop. Sometimes I believe, I got the most unique kind of girl in the entire world. But I wouldn't want it any different.

We find a cute little one-piece, white with a blue collar and blue cuffs. It has stitching that says "My Little Baby Brother" written in cursive across the chest.
I just hope our intuition doesn't fool us and the baby brother turns out to be a baby sister.

Lailie finds a little bunny shaped rattle that she wants to get him as well.

While browsing around the store a little longer, of course, it happens again. Abruptly stopping, Lailie sees a dress, the perfect dress, as she will say later.
When she looks up to me with her big blue eyes – why on earth does she have her mother's eyes? I sigh and send her off to the dressing room to go try it on. And, of course, it fits perfectly.

Considering the almost given sour face of one Emily Gilmore when she realizes her great-granddaughter is not wearing red and green for Christmas but rather a white dress with a big pink bow in the back I go and buy it. If Emily Gilmore can make us spend Christmas Eve at her fort, I can make her miserable.
Lailie, oblivious to my plotting against Grammy, is just happy about her new dress.