Hey so yeah it's been a year...in my defense I sort of lost track of time and soon I no longer had an idea about this story. I hope to continue and be more active on FanFic but, I can make promise after promise with no guarantees. I hope you like chapter two. Thank you, Silver Inklett for the Attina and Sitka suggestion. Miguel and Arista were already planned but glad others like it, not just me.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. They belong to Disney, Dreamworks and any other production company. Yes, this makes me sad that I do not own them.
Ariel took a deep breath as she left the kitchen. Jim was showing his dad around the house. They had recently purchased the larger house that autumn. Good thing too since her family was more than likely staying the night. Her sisters took turns hosting Christmas every year.
As the redhead turned the handle she was greeted with a large hug.
"Hello, Tia Ariel" Isabel loudly exclaimed as she hugged her aunt tightly. Tipo followed his sister's lead giving her a huge hug. Their aunt quickly recovered returning the given embrace.
"Hello, you two! Did you drive all the way from Canada by yourselves?" She teased as her sister Attina and her husband Sitka came up behind the excitable children.
"Well, we had a little help." Isabel beamed as Ariel hugged her sister.
"Merry Christmas Ariel, I brought my cookie salad." Attina smiled as Sitka took her coat before heading to find Jim. She followed her sister to the dining room to set the bowl down on the serving table.
Attina had become a psychiatrist and had met Sitka while on vacation. He was a park ranger up in Canada. They had married but found they could not have biological children. That didn't stop them and they had two adoption processes started right off the back. Their first's, Isabel, parents had died in a car accident when she was five. She was adopted from Mexico. Tipo, their youngest, had been adopted from Peru. Not much was known about his biological family, as he was adopted by the couple when he was only a year old.
Attina fixed a bit of her hair turning to her sister. "Do you need any help in the kitchen?" Ariel thought for a moment.
"I can let Melody go with the other kids instead." Attina nodded moving into the kitchen. Sarah and her wished each other a Merry Christmas before going back to work.
Melody moved into the living room. Frosty the Snowman had already finished, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in its place. Jenny and Isabel were missing, probably in Jenny's room as she showed her cousin her new cat, Oliver who was sleeping in her room. Tipo and Rosy, however, were coloring in Christmas coloring books while enjoying the special. Soon the doorbell rang again.
"I got it, mom!" Melody said as she left the room hoping it was her cousin Violet. Her boyfriend, Alex, was in the for the holidays and his parents had a no phone policy on vacation, so she was quite bored. Her friends Shanti and Wendy still had their phones but they were busy with the holidays as well. Melody opened the door relieved when she say her Aunt Alana standing there.
"Melody darling" Alana smiled hugging the teenager. Alana had become a cosmologist and later opened her own spa. She met her husband Dimitri, a lawyer, soon after and got married. They had two children, Violet and Sofia. Sofia smiled at her cousin before going off in search of Jenny. Jim and the rest of the guys had returned moving to talk in the living room. Dimitri joined them as Alana went to the kitchen. Melody and Violet hugged tightly before bounding up to her room.
"I can't wait to hear about Alex" Vivian teased winking as they enter her room. Melody almost threw a pillow at her.
"If I'm going to talk about Alex you're telling me all about Wilbur" Violet blushed as they started giggling.
Ariel heard the doorbell then the door open.
"Hello, Hawkins family!" She heard her sister Arista cheer out as she entered carrying her Christmas presents. Arista owned a fashion magazine. She married a musician named Miguel. They were always going on random adventures. While until they had kids. They still go on adventures just plan them out. Their oldest Arthur was an awkward teenager while their youngest, Cecilia, was a fashion debutante like her mother. Both were highly adventures, constantly joining their parents on vacations.
Jim walked over, seeing his sister-in-law had let herself in.
"Arista, here let me help you with those. Ariel is in the kitchen." She dropped the gifts in his hands and bounced over to her sister. Arthur moved to the living room, book in hand as he plopped on the chair. Cecilia joined as she watched the movie with Tipo and Rosy while reading her jr. fashion magazine.
Miguel smiled as he took half the gifts from Jim.
"Arista always goes a little overboard on these things. My sweet amor." Jim accepted his help as they moved to place the gifts under the tree.
"You saw the outside of the house right? Ariel gets so excitable around the holidays." He was, of course, talking about the million lights on their house and the light up inflatable snowman and snow globe in their yard.
"All of them get that way. I only see Attina go overboard when it's around Christmas" Sitka commented as all the husbands started to laugh.
"I don't really hear what I'm hearing am I?" Alana teased as the women entered the room. They all had fake pouts on their faces.
"And after we made all of that hot cocoa." Ariel laughed as the kids perked up, the movie just finishing.
"More for the kids. Girls come down and get some cocoa" Sarah yelled to the group upstairs as the rest ran into the kitchen.
"Well, that backfired" Miguel laughed the others joining in as they joined their wives and kids for hot cocoa.
As the family enjoyed their hot cocoa the doorbell rang again. Jenny slide out of her chair and ran to the door throwing it open.
"Auntie Aquata! Uncle Tulio! You made it" Aquata smiled at the young girl before pulling her into a young. Aquata was now a registered nurse at a local hospital. Her sister and she saw each other quite often nowadays, with Jenny and Vivian, her middle daughter, went to school together. At a family gathering one year, Arista and Miguel had brought Tulio, who had recently been dumped. He and Aquata soon became friends which led to more. Tulio was Miguel's agent. The two had gotten married and had three children Hiro, Vivian and year old baby Belinda, whose nickname was Boo.
"Hello sis," Ariel said as she gestured for Jenny to show her cousins were the cocoa was. She hugged the brunette while Tulio came in with the gifts and the veggie trays they brought. She tickled the infant in her sister's arms. Boo giggled happily.
"Ariel, this house is lovely, truly a great place." Aquata smiled as Boo reached for her aunt and she handed the infant over. Seeing Boo being so friendly made her parents happy since both of their other kids had been shyer as infants/ Hiro had grown into a child that wasn't as shy while, Vivian was still as shy as back then. As they entered the living room Boo's eyes widened seeing the grand Christmas tree covered in ornaments, and filled with presents below. As Tulio entered with another couple presents he smiled
"Look who I found by the car!" He smiled as his sister-in-law Andrina walked in. Her twins Penny and Zephyr ran into the house once they smelled the cocoa coming from the kitchen. Louis, her oldest was carrying presents with his father John. John and Andrina met on a cruise and had been together ever since. John worked for the army while Andrina was a teacher on the base. Louis wanted to take after his father and, while getting in trouble often from his curious nature, was very obedient. Penny was shy but, adventurous while Zephyr always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Hi, Ariel" John smiled as he gave his sister-in-law on the cheek. "Merry Christmas." Ariel returned the greeting as she helped him organize the presents.
"Look at all of these! Santa won't have any room!" Louis cheered as he headed to the kitchen, causing his parents and aunt to smile.
Adella was the last to arrive and looked positively stressed. Ariel looked concerned as her sister entered her house. Her dress and hair were fine but she just looked tired. Adella had married one of their next-door neighbor, Stevie. They had had two sons, Andy and Nemo. She now was an owner of a bakery, which Ariel assumed had been busy until the last minute of closing. Stevie did the accounting and advertisement for the bakery. He also looked tired. Jim and Sitka went out to their car, Andy leading them to it, while Ariel and her sister gestured to the couple to the living room. They collapsed on the couch and looked positively exhausted. Melody and Violet came in with cocoa for their Aunt and Uncle. Everyone was used to this. Every Christmas the bakery would be open until the day before Christmas Eve at 9 pm. Orders were crazy with people wanting Christmas sweets. Adella rarely hosted Christmas. Her sisters would "forget to include her in the rotation and had only gotten caught twice so far.
"It gets busier every year," Adella said as she took the cocoa in her hand. She thanked her niece as she sipped it. "We brought some sweets though." Ariel frowned.
"Adella sweetie you shouldn't have had to worry about that." Adella waved her off, meaning the subject would be dropped.
Ariel shook her head and soon went to find her husband who was in the dining room.
"Well almost everyone is here...so far it hasn't been that bad." He turned to her and sighed as he opened his arms out to her. They hugged and he kissed the top of her forehead.
"Well yes. But, your parents aren't here yet and our dads might start a fight. And yours will compare me to Eric." Ariel smiled at her husband's worries.
"Well now of that matters right now. Let's join everyone else while it's still peaceful."
He gave her kiss, thankful that she could stay so optimistic. She was right. It was so calm right now and everyone was getting along. How could things go wrong?
And then the doorbell rang again.
Hope you all liked it!
