Christmas morning dawned far earlier than Erin would have liked, since it seemed like Elise hadn't been able to sleep well after being woken up for the Midnight Mass at their church. After trying to put her back in her bed at least four times, they had given up and kept her in their room, and Erin had tried to grab a few more hours of precious sleep, even as she was kicked by her daughter's restless legs. Finally, all ideas of getting more sleep were dashed when Tabitha came barging into their room at eight, carrying a tray of food, followed closely behind by Bruce who had a tray of drinks.
"Merry Christmas, Mama, Papa Dave! We decided to make you breakfast in bed," she sang out as they all trooped in and took seats at the foot of the bed. Somehow, Elise and David had managed to sleep through the commotion, and she rolled her eyes a little as she reached over and shook his shoulder lightly, trying to get him to wake up. He groaned a little before stirring and opening his eyes.
"What time is it?" he asked through a yawn, and she chuckled a little as he sat up, his hair sticking up in all directions.
"Time for us to be awake and eating breakfast. It seems that Santa's elves have made us food already, and brought it to us. Along with what I hope is the strongest coffee that they could think to make?" she asked as she looked at Karen, knowing that she knew how to make good coffee. Her oldest gave her a few quick nods, and she allowed her shoulders to sag in relief as Bruce passed her a mug, and she drank from it deeply, relishing the warmth as it travelled down her throat to spread out in her system.
"This looks delicious," her fiancé said as he took hold of a plate and began to dig in, and Erin nodded as she took her own plate and dug in. Thankfully, Elise remained asleep while they were eating, as that would have been a hassle to try and keep her food on her plate while she bounced around like she normally did while eating. Once she was done, she handed the plate back to Tabitha, who put it on the tray with the others before gently waking Elise.
"Present time, Mama?" she asked before she even had her eyes open, and Erin laughed as she nodded, snuggling her toddler close to her chest before taking the muffin from Karen and handing it to her daughter as she slipped out of bed and then picked her up, holding her close.
"All right, let's head downstairs, we can change into clothes after we've opened presents." Her children all beamed at her as they raced from the room, and David chuckled as he got out of bed a little more slowly, picking up the trays and dishes and following her from the room. It didn't take long to get everyone in the living room, and then David was joining her and Elise on the sofa while the older kids gathered around the tree, sorting their presents into piles.
"Here, I'll bring Elise's gifts over to the sofa, Mama," Tabitha said, picking up the stack of gifts. Erin recognized all of them but for one, which she assumed to be from Aaron, but she knew that he had brought more than one gift, so she frowned for just a moment before seeing that there were also gifts wrapped in the same paper on the stacks of the rest of her children. Tearing up a little, Erin glanced at David, giving him a happy smile as she accepted the smaller pile of gifts that Bruce handed to her, while Karen gave David his presents.
"I wasn't expecting anything," she murmured lowly as she tried not to cry at the fact that Aaron had also gifted her and David.
"I wasn't, either, stellina," he said back, pushing his presents to the back of the sofa. Erin copied his movements before handing Elise her first gift, watching her tear into the present. That seemed to be the cue for everyone else to start opening theirs as well, and Erin contented herself with watching the children rip and shred the wrapping paper off the things that they had chosen for them. It seemed like they were all saving their unknown gift until last, and Erin held her breath a little to see what Aaron had thought to give her children.
"How did he know?" Karen asked softly when she opened her gift, revealing a set of Copic markers. Erin knew that Karen had wanted those for so long, but she had balked at the three hundred dollar price tag, instead investing in a couple nice sketch pads for her to use. "I didn't want to ask you guys for these, because they're so expensive. I was going to pick out a few pretty colours and ask for them for my birthday, but this? Mom…"
"I know, sweetheart, but it's a gift. Maybe you could draw him something as a way to say thank you?" Karen nodded absently as she ran her fingers along the box. Turning, she saw that Bruce was holding a large book on astronomy close to his chest, and from the smile on his lips, she knew that it was also something that he was pleased to have. "What did you get, Tabby?"
"I got a doll." From the way that Tabitha said that, Erin knew that it was much more than a doll, and she waited expectantly for her daughter to show off her gift. Tabitha gave her a little smile as she pulled it out of the wrapping and showed it off. From the first glimpse, Erin knew that it was an antique, and she turned her eyes to David, pursing her lips together in an effort to hold in her tears. "I think I'm going to name her Grace."
Tabitha hugged the doll close to her chest as she began to look through her other gifts once more, and Erin handed Elise her gift from her father. "One more?"
"Last one, sweetie," Erin said as she ruffled her hair, knowing that the tangles would be a pain to comb out later this morning, or afternoon, depending on how things went, but the joy on her face superseded all her irritation at the elflocks. Elise tore the paper off this last gift, and she watched her daughter frown a little at what was inside the box. Erin, though, felt her breath taken away by the thoroughly adorable riding habit that was there. "Here, let me read the note to you, Leelee." She picked up the sheet of paper and began to read, squinting a little since she didn't have her glasses at hand. "Every princess deserves a riding habit to match her status. Merry Christmas, Elise, from your Uncle Aaron."
Picking up the riding habit, Erin smiled a little to see that there was another gift beneath the clothes, and she smiled as she held out the box to Elise once more. "Fred!" she exclaimed as she pulled the stuffed horse out of the box, hugging it tightly to her chest as she slipped off the sofa and went over to Bruce, crawling into his lap and looking at the pictures in his book as he looked through it. With all of them occupied, Erin began to open her gifts, smiling to see the care that had gone into choosing each one for her, blushing a little at the lingerie set that David had purchased for her.
"Yeah, I probably should have left that one upstairs, but Tabitha asked about it when we were wrapping, and I couldn't give a good reason for it not to be included with everything."
She nodded as she closed the box and then picked up Aaron's gift to her. It was an oddly shaped box, and Erin frowned a little as she unwrapped it carefully, revealing a mysterious white box. Opening the lid, she let out a small gasp to see that Aaron had bought her a plant. "This is gorgeous," she said as she pulled it out of the box, revealing what she guessed was a succulent of some sort, since it didn't look like a typical plant, and the smile grew when she read the label, finding her suspicions to be correct. "I think that this has a home in my office," she said as she stroked the leaves softly. "You both know me and my children so well. I never expected this, David."
"Neither did I. He didn't say a word about doing this for us. Though I think that this might be his attempt at amends." She nodded as she scooted closer to him, welcoming his arm around her shoulders as they watched the children. The peace of Christmas filled her heart and she prayed that this coming year would bring them nothing but happiness and love.