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Chapter Seven
The Christmas Season
"TOMORROW'S CHRISTMAS EVE! TOMORROW'S CHRISTMAS EVE!" Lizzy yelled in a sing song voice.
"Lizzy can you please stop yelling," Lucy said as calmly as she could. She loved Christmas as much as the next person but after listening to that song all morning she just couldn't take it anymore.
"Why? Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!" Lizzy exclaimed.
"Lizzy just do what your mother says. You can sing just please don't yell," Kevin said to his daughter.
"Okay," Lizzy said and she walked away humming her little song, quietly. Once Lizzy left the room Lucy went back to preparing dinner.
"What are we having tomorrow for dinner?" Kevin asked.
"I think my mom is making chicken," Lucy explained.
"Sounds good," Kevin said as he put his hands on his wife's hips and pulled her close to him. He planted a kiss on her lips as Lucy turned her head away.
"Remember, that's how I got like this," Lucy said as she put her hands on her growing stomach.
"Right," Kevin said as he watched his wife walk away.
"Mommy!" Grace yelled as she walked into her parents' bedroom.
"Yes honey," Sarah said as she stuffed some clothes into a suitcase. She and Matt were taking Grace, Zack, and Nolan to Glen Oak, as they did every year. They were flying there with the Riveras at three o'clock that afternoon.
"Did you know that tomorrow is Christmas Eve?" Grace said excitedly.
"Yes I do," Sarah said. "You've told me about thirty times already today. Why don't you go downstairs and play with your brother."
"When are we leaving?" Grace asked.
"In about two hours," Sarah said. Upon hearing this Grace groaned and then left the room and a couple of seconds later Sarah could hear her daughter walking down the stairs.
"Hello honey," Matt said as he walked into his room a couple of minutes after his daughter had left.
"Hi," Sarah said and she gave her husband a quick kiss.
"How were the kids today?" Matt asked.
"A little crazy. They are really excited about Christmas, except Nolan I don't really think he knows what Christmas is," Sarah explained.
"Well, it's seems like everyone is a little crazy from the Christmas holidays, but who doesn't love Christmas?" Matt exclaimed.
"Do you believe that four years ago we started dated again?" Peter said as he and Ruthie walked hand-in-hand in the park. They both had on winter jackets, hats and scarves and it was pretty cold considering they were in California.
"We had been friends since you moved back to Glen Oak, actually we were more like best friends," Ruthie said.
Ruthie and Peter were sitting on a bench in the promenade. They were both holding cups that were full of hot chocolate. Both their breaths could be seen because of the chilly air.
"Are you okay?" Peter asked Ruthie. Ruthie's boyfriend had just broken up with her after they had been going out for three months. Ruthie had been down about the whole thing for the past week.
"Yeah, I'll be okay. I'm feeling a whole lot better, now that I'm here with you. Something about you always makes me really happy whenever I am with you," Ruthie said.
"Well I feel the same way when I am with you," Peter said.
"Now that you have said that, I need to ask you something. I really like you Peter…as more than a friend. I really want to go out with you," Ruthie blurted out.
Peter gave her a weird face and then said, "listen Ruthie, I like you too but I don't want to be some guy you dated because you were on the rebound," Peter said.
"It's not like that. I promise. I really like you. I always have. I just didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to ruin this great friendship we have," Ruthie said and then she took Peter's face into her hands and kissed him passionately. "Now is that a kiss of someone who's on the rebound?"
Peter gave Ruthie a surprised look and then said, "No…no way. I don't think I've ever had a kiss that felt like that." Then Peter kissed Ruthie and Ruthie stood up.
"Come on I have to go home," Ruthie said and she helped Peter to stand up. Then the both of them walked to Ruthie's house hand-in-hand.
"That day made history," Peter joked.
"Of course it did," Ruthie said and she kissed Peter. "I love you very much. You have no idea how much."
"I love you too and you don't know how much I love you," Peter said.
"Well actually no one can ever really know how much someone loves someone else. It's impossible," Ruthie joked.
"Very funny," Peter said sarcastically. "What time are we going to Lucy and Kevin's house tomorrow?"
"I think around four o'clock," Ruthie explained.
"Good," Peter said.
"Come on kids! Get into the car! We have to pick up Sarah, Matt and your cousins on our way to the airport!" Carlos yelled through the house. A couple of seconds later the four of his children that could walk ran out the door and into the car. Then Mary followed them all carrying the carrier that held Jake. After everyone was out of the house Carlos locked the door and then got into the car. The trunk held all the luggage and other things that the Rivera family would need for their trip. Some of the seats held his children and once Matt and Sarah got into the car the kids would have to double buckle.
After driving for a couple of minutes Carlos pulled into Matt and Sarah's drive way. Within about ten minutes everybody was in the car and ready to go. Soon they got to the airport. They checked in and then waited at their gate.
"Kids can you stop running around?" Mary said trying to calm down the six children who were running around the airport terminal and disturbing the other people who were waiting for their planes to take off.
"Yeah come on kids. Come sit down," Matt said and finally the six children sat down near the window to watch the planes to take off. A couple of seconds later Jake started to scream and cry and the silence that had only lasted a couple of minutes was over.
"I'm just going to take Jake and walk around with him for a little while, to calm him down," Mary said. She took Jake out of his carrier, got a bottle out of the diaper bag and then started to walk around the airport terminal. After Jake's crying didn't come to an end Mary took the bottle and started to feed it to him. This calmed him down and she started to walk back to the place where her family was sitting. She found that Rebecca had fallen asleep on Carlos's lap. Mary was not surprised at this though, Rebecca had refused to take a nap that day and she was really tired.
Mary took a pacifier out of the diaper bag and replaced the bottle with it. "Luckily I got Jake to stop crying. He's not sleeping but I'm sure he will be really soon," Mary said and she took a seat next to her husband. About a half an hour later the Camden and Rivera families boarded the plane and it took off.
"Mommy how does Santa deliver presents to everybody in the world in only one night?" Alex asked Kate.
"Well, Santa Claus is magical. He can go around the world in only one night because he has a lot of magic. The magic is also why he can fit all the toys on his sleigh and how he can fit down the chimneys," Kate explained.
"Oh," Alex said as he thought about everything his mom had just told him. "Thank you." He said this and then hugged his mother. Then he put his hands on her very large stomach and said, "Hello little babies. How are you? This is your big brother speaking, again. I hope you are all okay in there. I can't wait to see you." Then Alex kissed Kate's stomach and Kate couldn't help but smile. Alex did that almost everyday and it was so cute to see how much he loved the babies even though they weren't even born yet.
"Hey hon. How are you doing?" Simon asked as he entered the house with his hands full of groceries.
"I'm fine," Kate said. "How's the outside? Ya' know the real world."
"It's actually really cold out. You don't want to go out there. Besides going outside is definitely over rated," Simon joked trying to get his wife's mind off not being able to go outside.
"Yeah right. That's not going to work but nice try anyway," Kate said.
"Come on Alex, help me put the groceries away," Simon said and Alex got up from where he was sitting on the floor and followed his father into the kitchen.
"Hi guys!" Annie yelled when she saw her oldest son and daughter and their families walking towards her.
"Hi mom," Matt said and he hugged his mother and everyone followed suit.
"Hi grandma!" Zack exclaimed when he saw his grandmother.
"Where's dad?" Matt asked.
"He's running some errands for me," Annie explained. She helped everyone to get their bags and then they went out to the car. They squeezed in as best as they could and then Annie drove home.
"Ah, it's so good to be home," Mary said.
"Okay well if you guys want to put your stuff upstairs I'll tell you where you're sleeping. Mary and Carlos you are sleeping in the garage apartment (this way you don't have to worry about Jake crying), Matt and Sarah you're sleeping in Mary and Lucy's old room. The kids are sleeping in Sam and David's old room, and Ruthie when she gets her will be sleeping in Simon's room and Peter with the boys in the attic," Annie explained.
"Wow you really planned all this out. Nice job!" Sarah said. Just then Sam came running down the stairs.
"I knew I heard you guys!" Sam exclaimed and he hugged each of his family members.
"Where's David?" Carlos asked.
"He went with dad to run all those errands," Sam explained. "They should be back soon, I think, I forgot what dad said before he left."
"More like you weren't really listening," Annie corrected her son.
"Yeah, same thing," Sam said and then he said. "So this is my newest cousin. He's adorable." As Sam said this he looked into the car seat carrier that Carlos was holding.
"Yup," Carlos said. "You can hold him later when he's not sleeping."
"Uncle Sam can we go outside and play?" Connor asked.
"Sure, let's go," Sam said and then he ushered all the kids (except Nolan and Jake) outside. Matt and Carlos brought the luggage upstairs while Mary put Jake in the swing that was in the living room (and had been there ever since Charlie was born). Then she joined Sarah and her mother in the kitchen.
"I can't believe how much the kids have grown," Annie said. "I can't believe that Charlie is going to be eight years old this year. I remember holding him when he was first born, he was my first grandchild."
"I know I can't believe it either," Mary said. "Time goes by so fast."
"Yeah, this year Nolan is going to be one. I feel like I was just pregnant with him and he's going to be one," Sarah said. "And Grace is going to be six and Zack three. I don't know where this year went."
"Hello!" Ruthie's voice could be heard through out the house. Matt, Carlos, Mary, and Sarah all ran to the door to say hello to their younger sister.
"I can't believe my little sis' is getting married. Congratulations!" Matt said and he pulled Ruthie into a hug and then he shook Peter's hand.
"Congratulations!" Mary, Carlos, and Sarah all said to Ruthie and Peter.
"I'm so happy for you guys. I was hoping you guys would get married," Mary said. "You guys always had really good chemistry.
"Come on guys. We have to leave here in only a half an hour!" Lucy yelled. She was in Tommy and Caleb's room, Caleb was on the changing table while Lucy dressed him and Tommy ran around the room pretending to be an airplane. "Tommy please calm down!" Lucy said as she put a pair of black pants on her son. Then Lucy put him in a white turtle neck, and a plaid vest. Finally Lucy took Caleb's socks and black shoes and put them also on him. When she was done she looked him over and said, "You're ready to go." Then she put Caleb on the floor and went on to help Tommy to get dressed. Tommy was wearing the same thing as Caleb and so were Luke and Noah. Lizzy, instead of wearing the same thing as her brothers, was wearing a plaid dress that matched her brothers' vests.
When Lucy was done dressing Tommy she said, "Go play, and don't get dirty!" Then Tommy ran away and Lucy walked through the bathroom that connected Tommy and Caleb's room and Luke, Noah, and Lizzy's room and she found Kevin dressing her oldest children. Luke was already dressed and so was Lizzy, and Kevin was helping Noah to get dressed.
"Mommy, can you do my hair?" Lizzy asked.
"Sure," Lucy said and she led Lizzy into the bathroom that had an underwater theme. Then Lucy put her daughter's hair in braided pigtails. As soon as Lizzy's hair was done she ran off and Lucy went into her room to take a shower and get ready.
Twenty minutes later the entire Kinkirk family was ready and about ten minutes later they left the house. Luckily none of the kids got dirty in between getting dressed and getting into the car. It only took a couple of minutes to get to Annie and Eric's house and when they did Lizzy, Noah, Luke, Tommy, and Caleb immediately ran into the house with Lucy and Kevin following them. They were greeted by Matt, Sarah, Mary, Carlos, Annie, Eric, and Simon and when they all headed into the living room Lucy saw that Kate was sitting on the couch.
"Hello," Lucy said. "How are you doing?"
"Oh I guess I'm fine. I becoming very large and now I can't even see my feet to put my shoes on," Kate said.
"But Dear, you have no need to put on shoes, you can't stand up," Simon said.
"I know," Kate said, and she gave him dirty look and then a big smile. A little while later dinner was served and everybody crowded into the dining room. Since everyone could not sit at the dining room table at the same time, all the kids got their food and then went into the kitchen to eat.
"Jake is really adorable," Simon said to Mary and Carlos. "He looks just like you, Mary. I can't believe how much this family has grown over the past couple of years."
"I know. Now, your father and I have fourteen grandchildren and five on the way," Annie said. Everyone ate the delicious meal that was made by Annie and then everyone went into the living room. With the couches filled with adults with kids on their laps and the floors filled with people lying down or sitting in Indian style, Eric read the story of Christmas as everyone, adult and child alike, listened intently. As Annie watched her family she couldn't help but be happy. She loved having a big family and didn't know how some people lived with out even the smallest family. For most people, having twenty-one people at your house at the same time would be overwhelming but not for Annie. She loved having her entire family at the house, and wouldn't have it any other way.
When Eric was done half the kids were asleep and Lucy, Kevin, Simon and Kate went home and everyone who was staying at Annie and Eric's house went up to bed, thinking about the events of that would be happening the next day.
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