I woke up to Mom sat on my bed, rubbing my back.

"Merry Christmas, Olive." She whispered in my ear, hugging me.

I rubbed my eyes, groaning. Callie had ended up staying the night, like Mom had wanted. Clearly Mom was very excited. She was smiling like crazy when I opened my eyes.

"Good morning honey." She said.

"Hi." I stretched, making her loosen her grip on me. I pushed the hair out of my face. "Merry Christmas." I said after I collected myself.

"Merry Christmas!" She said again, her eyes lighting up. "Are you hungry? Callie and I made breakfast. Then we can open gifts!" She said excitedly.

I nodded slowly, my eyes closing again for a moment.

"Still sleepy?" Mom asked.

"Mm" I mumbled, sitting up, opening my eyes again.

Mom's eyebrows scrunched when the blanket fell off me. "You changed out of your Christmas pajamas?"

"I got cold. I'll put it back on," I laughed a little. Mom was overall excited about this Christmas. She had bought matching PJs for all three of us. It was kinda cringey, but I didn't care that much. It's not like she was asking me to walk around my school with them. Plus, it made her happy. It wasn't a big deal. It was just a little silly to match with my mom and her girlfriend.

"Yay! You do that, and then come get breakfast before it's cold!!" Mom got up.

"Ok, ok." I climbed out of my bed, and Mom closed my bedroom door, leaving me to change back into the cheesy flannel pajamas.

"Sit down!!" Mom was way too excited about exchanging gifts. It was sweet, though. We had finished breakfast- french toast. It was amazing. Now, it was on to gifts.

"Wait Mom, can I go first?" I asked.

"Sure I have one of yours right-"

"No, can I give you guys my gifts to you first?" I laughed.

"Oh! Awww, sure honey!" Mom said, sitting down on the couch next to Callie.

"Hold on. They're in my room." I rushed off into my room, grabbing both gifts from where I had hidden them in my closet. Where I had hoped Mom wouldn't find them. Luckily, she hadn't. I came back out. "This one is for you, Mom. And this one's for Callie." I handed them each the wrapped canvases.

I knew it wasn't much. But, I was 14. I couldn't really go buy them gifts. If I could, I would. But, I couldn't. So I settled on giving them drawings.

"Callie first?" I sat on the couch.

I watched Callie's smile grow when she opened the gift. I had drawn her a picture of her and Mom- when they were putting up our Christmas tree. I had snapped it quickly, but it had come in handy for reference for the drawing.

"Aww, Liv! Wow, this is amazing!!" Callie ran her hand over the canvas. "You're incredible." She put the wrapping paper to the side, then got up and came over to me, hugging me. "Thank you so much. You didn't have to do that. I love it." Callie said as she hugged me.

I laughed a little, "You're welcome." I smiled, seeing her sit back down. "Mom, you go!"

Mom carefully unwrapped the gift, gasping dramatically.

I giggled. Mom and her big reactions.

"Olive!" She smiled. For Mom, I had gone with a picture of the two of us. One of my favorites- from when I was little. "You're gonna make me cry, oh god."

"Mom," I laughed.

"You are so thoughtful." Mom had tears in her eyes as she came to hug me.

"Don't cry!!" I hugged her back.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just perfect. You're so amazing. I love this so much! Thank you, baby."

"You're welcome." I sat back as Mom pulled away. "I'm sorry I couldn't really get you gifts. I know it's not much." I whispered.

"Are you kidding? This is the most amazing gift ever." Mom said, smiling at the drawing. "This means so much to me. Don't you apologize."

I smiled a little. "I'm glad you guys like them."

"I can't get over how talented you are." Callie said, now looking at my drawing for Mom. "It looks so real. It's crazy."

I laughed, "Thanks."

Callie smiled, nodding. "Ok, I wanna go next!!" She got up, going over to the Christmas tree. She grabbed two bags. A bigger one- which she gave me to me, and a smaller one- for Mom.

She got Mom a necklace, that had her initials and her birthstone on it. It was beautiful. Mom loved it, I could tell.

Then, I opened up my present.

"No way." I immediately smiled, big. Callie had gotten me a new pack of my absolute favorite colored pencils. "I needed new ones so bad. This is so exciting!" I jumped up to hug Callie, who laughed. "Thank you so much!! Ooh I'm so excited to use these."

"You're welcome, Liv. I can't wait to see more of your drawings!" Callie hugged back, smiling when I pulled away.

I went back over, just admiring the fact that they were brand new. I literally couldn't wait to open them up and draw something.

Mom had me open a few gifts with things like clothes or other things that I needed. I felt bad that Callie had to sit there and watch, but she was smiling the whole time.

Then, Mom grabbed the last two boxes. One for me, one for Callie.

"Callie should go first!" I said, and Mom nodded.

Mom and Callie were totally on the same wavelength with their jewelry idea. Mom had gotten Callie a band bracelet, with a saying carved into it. Callie loved it. And then I had two pairs of eyes looking expectantly at me. It was my turn.

I unwrapped the box, and opened it up, gasping. I felt as dramatic as Mom. But, this was something to be dramatic about.

"You're joking." I said, looking at Mom.

Mom laughed. "What do you think? I got black, because the options were black or pink."

It was a polaroid camera. I've wanted one of them since I was like 12.

"I love it, Mom." I got up and hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much."

"Of course, honey. I'm glad you're happy."

"I'm so happy. This is so cool." I pulled away, opening up the actual box that the camera was in, and pulling it out. "It's nice. I love the black."

"I knew you'd like that more," Mom said with a smile.

Mom and Callie sat together as I figured out how to use the camera. Then, I stood in front of them.

"Smile for the first picture?" I asked, holding the camera up.

"Ooh yeah!!" Callie pulled Mom closer to her. "Hold on, gotta show off my bracelet!" Callie angled her wrist so you could see the bracelet.

Mom laughed, "And my necklace!" She had one arm wrapped around Callie, the other was holding up her necklace.

They both smiled big, and I took the picture.

"Cute!" I watched as the picture came out of the camera, and saw their patching PJ's start to show up. Then their big, goofy smiles. I held it up to show them.

"Aww!" Mom said.

"I love it!" Callie smiled more.

"I'm gonna hang it on the refrigerator!" I announced, heading over the fridge. I used a magnet to hang it up. I smiled more. Holidays were starting to become a lot less horrible these last few months. Maybe Christmas wasn't so bad, after all.