Christmas Day

Bella's first Christmas in Sunshine started wonderfully. She awoke in her bed to the smell of gingerbread. She smiled and sat up, rubbing her eyes. She grabbed her crutches and walked over to her closet, quickly putting on the Christmas shirt she had, which was red with a green Christmas tree on the front, and a pair of comfy pants. She smiled as she walked down the hallway to the kitchen. The entire house had been decorated entirely in Christmas decoration; plastic snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, mini-Christmas trees everywhere, little singing Santa Clauses, etc. The kitchen was no different.

Bella's eyes lit up when she saw the plates of gingerbread cookies sitting on the counter by Esme and Alice. The room smelled heavenly and it wasn't just from the the cookies. Sitting on the counter at the spot where Bella usually ate everyday was a stack of French toast topped with cinnamon and a coffee cup full of hot chocolate and whip cream. Her nose felt like it was in heaven. She moved towards the food as everyone else entered the kitchen. She sat down at the counter before greeting everyone pleasantly. She noticed that Emmett was dressed in a Christmas sweater and she couldn't help but laugh. Emmett narrowed his eyes at her before defending himself weakly,

"Your mother made me wear it." Rosalie said assuringly,

"Yes I did and you look very handsome." Emmett frowned, unconvinced. Bella giggled and Edward joked,

"Oh yes Emmett, you just look gorgeous." Bella laughed before agreeing sarcastically,

"Definitely. You're very pretty Dad." Emmett snapped,

"Just eat." Bella giggled once more before digging in to her food. Esme asked hopefully,

"Is the food alright?" Bella replied cheerfully,

"It's delicious, Esme."

When she finished eating Esme poured her a glass of milk that she carried with her as everyone went into the living room, Esme with the cookies in hand. The Christmas tree was at least twelve feet tall and smelled amazing. It was decorated in various ornaments, some that were bought and others the Cullen's, especially Bella, had made. Under and around the Christmas tree were large stacks of presents. Bella smiled as she saw the presents she had bought and wrapped. The Cullen's supplied Bella with a debit card and she rarely ever used it but she did this year to order gifts and wrapping paper online. They had come in the mail weeks ago and the Cullen's curiosity was unstoppable. Bella had went so far as to make Alice promise not to look into the future to find out what the gifts were. They gathered around and Alice cheered,

"Gift time!" Edward rolled his eyes but looked happy. They all picked up a gift with there name on it and began unwrapping the gifts. Bella gave Jasper a little hug when she opened his gift, a charm bracelet with a silver charm that looked a lot like Bella with her casts on. When Alice unwrapped her gift she froze. It was the gift that Bella had gotten for her. She breathed,

"Is this..." Her voice trailed off as she stood up, pulling the full length yellow gown out of its wrappings. Bella replied,

"An original Charles Frederick Worth. Took forever to find." Alice looked astonished.

"H-how? Shouldn't this be in a historical museum or something? I've spent a lifetime looking for a Charles Frederick Worth gown." Bella smiled.

"It was nearly impossible. I got lucky and fount someone in England with this dress and its been passed through generations of her family. She didn't really know of its value and it was just wasting away in her closet." Alice handed the dress carefully to Rose before wrapping Bella in a huge hug.

"This has to be the best gift I'll ever get Bella! Thank you so much! You are the best person on the planet!" Bella chuckled.

"You're welcome." Then Alice disappeared with the gown, no doubt to hide it somewhere she could secretly admire it everyday, for several moments before returning.

Shortly after, Emmett opened his gift from Bella, a football signed by Terry Bradshaw. Bella received a bear hug for that. Emmett's response was,

"God Bells, this is amazing! This has to be worth a small fortune."

"I got for a huge deal," Bella replied even though it wasn't necessary because money was something the Cullen's always had a ton of.

The rest of the gifts Bella gave were just as special as the first two. Carlisle received a Pacita Abad painting, Esme was gifted with a cookbook signed by her favorite chef, and so on and so forth.

Bella received several books, CDs, clothes, and etc. the special part though was that with every gift also was a charm for her bracelet. Each charm depicted some sort of event in her life; a little foot for the first time she walked, a jar with 'FORKS' written on it, a baby wrapped in a blanket like her the night she was put on the Cullen's doorstep, a charm of the first book she ever read herself, a little charm with her preschools name on it, and a church that looked just like the first church Carlisle ever took her too.

Edward put all the charms on the bracelet for her and put it on her right arm. Bella loved the bracelet and just knew that somehow it would always be special to her.

The rest of the day was amazing. After all the presents were opened, Emmett put Bella in a coat and took her outside and they played in the snow. There was a good foot of snow on the ground and they made snow angels and snow castles for half the day before Rosalie called them in, complaining that Bella would catch a cold.

After that, Bella drank more hot chocolate and had more cookies in the living room while the whole family talked and just enjoyed each others company. Around 4 o'clock Esme told Bella no more cookies because she need her appetite for dinner and she didn't want Bella getting a stomach ache.

Around 6 o'clock Bella was called into the dining room for dinner which she thought was odd because she almost always ate in the kitchen. Waiting for her was her entire family sitting around the large antique table and what was basically a feast for one. Bella was seated and served a ton of food; turkey, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, biscuits, corn biscuits, broccoli cheese soup, potato soup, brussels sprouts with bacon, and cheese biscuits. Bella smiled. She knew she could never eat all of this delicious food but she was used to the Cullen's serving ginormous servings of food, just in case.

She sat down and began to eat a little bit of everything, including the three different drinks she'd been served which were soda, sweet tea, and Sprite. All the Cullen's engaged in various conversations during this as if it were a completely normal occurrence. Eventually, Bella had sampled everything and then Esme and Edward brought out the desserts. Apple pie, holiday fruitcake, eggnog cheesecake, brownies, brownies with peanuts, chocolate/peanut butter fudge, and blueberry pie were all brought out. Once again, she simply sampled a little of everything.

By the time all the plates were cleared it was time for her to get ready for bed. She took a shower, changed into her Christmas pajamas, and laid down in bed. Both Emmett and Rosalie soon came and kissed her goodnight. She laid inbred for several minutes, simply smiling because it had been the best Christmas's of her life so far.