Chapter 11
December (Christmas)
It was a week before Christmas, Piper was sitting in the living room drinking a cup of coffee, while the kids were playing on floor. She then noticed Phoebe and Coop heading towards the front door.
"Hey were you guys headed?" Piper asked them
"I have a doctor's appointment, and Coop's my ride, be back soon" Phoebe said as they left.
That's when Piper noticed she was the only adult home with the seven children. After praying for the best of luck she got her first problem. They boys were fighting over the TV remote.
"I want to watch Bob the builder" Wyatt stated
"And I want to watch Thomas and friends" Chris stated.
"Boys those shows are on the same channel, Chris honey you have to wait until your show plays, right now Wyatt's show is on" Piper told them.
This settled the argument so Piper went back to her coffee. At lunch time things got crazy. While making macaroni, Piper had to deal with Chris who was throwing books at Wyatt, the twins were both in need of a change and so was baby Henry. Melinda and P.J. were both fussy and hungry, and Wyatt was screaming and crying because he couldn't orb out fast enough to avoid being hit by books.
"CHRIS HALLIWELL, STOP THROWING BOOKS AT YOUR BROTHER" Piper snapped at him.
"Ok Henry let's take care of you" Piper said placing Henry on the floor.
In the middle of changing his diaper, Piper felt a book hit the back of her head. She turned around and blew up Chris to by her some time. When she turned back to Henry, she noticed he had peed on the floor a little. Piper changed his diaper, and took care of the pee as Chris threw another book at her and then bit his brother. Piper checked Wyatt's arm and then picked up Chris and put him on his time out chair.
As Chris orbed out of time out, Piper froze the twins and grabbed Chris's arm as he was about to throw a book. After freezing the book in mid-air, Piper told Wyatt to orb to Phoebe. The book unfroze and fell on the floor, and Piper froze the twins again as she put Chris back on the time out chair. The room unfroze again, the girls were still crying, Chris orbed out of his chair and Coop beamed in with Phoebe and Wyatt. Then the fire alarm went off.
"Ok Piper you go deal with the alarm, we'll deal with kids, Wyatt you go with mommy" Phoebe said.
Phoebe put Chris on time out for the third time and she and Coop tended to the twins. When Chris orbed out again, Coop beamed him to Paige with a note. They changed the twins and Piper came into the living room and announced lunch was ready. The remaining children and adults sat down in their chairs or were placed in their high chairs, and ate the slightly burned macaroni. Phoebe could feel how frustrated Piper was and felt bad for leaving her alone with them.
"So how it did go at the doctors?" Piper asked
"It was fine, just a normal checkup" Phoebe lied.
"A checkup, since when do schedule checkups?" Piper asked
"Well I've been coughing a lot and I've had the sniffles for a few days, so I went to check if everything was ok" Phoebe lied again.
"I haven't noticed anything, but I'll take your words for it" Piper said.
That night Piper and Leo were talking in their bedroom.
"So what are we going to do about Chris, he is out of control, so revengeful and angry" Piper said worried.
"I know, and he can orb out of any punishment to" Leo recalled.
"Maybe we can ground him from something, and if he orbs it back, we'll just keep taking it away" Piper suggested
"I don't think that will work, and we can't hide it, he can sense where it is" Leo said.
"Is it possible to create a room that is magic proof?" Piper asked
"Yeah it is, that's what we'll do, put him on time out in a magic proof room" Leo agreed.
On Christmas Eve, the family had just finished a wonderful meal. Paige was now in the attic summoning grams, Patty and Prue. With the camera on and recording, everyone gathered in the living room, where the children all got to open one present. Each of them got a pair of Christmas Pajamas for that night, Piper had decided to make this a tradition.
"Santa pajamas" Wyatt said excitedly holding up red pajamas with little Santa heads on them.
"Elf Pajamas" Chris happily said holding up a pair of green pajamas with elves on them.
"And we have angel pajamas for Melinda" Piper said excitedly showing Melinda her pajamas.
"And you have present Pajamas" Paige told Tamora showing her.
"Kat you have Christmas tree pajamas" Paige said showing her.
"Henry you have Reindeer ones" Henry said showing baby Henry his pajamas.
"And P.J., you have milk and cookies on your new pajamas" Phoebe said showing her.
The little ones were so excited they were changed into their pajamas earlier than planned.
Piper then went into the kitchen and brought out plates of cookies and glasses/ bottles of milk. Everyone who was alive ate the cookies and drank their milk. Then it was time for Christmas carols. After making sure the camera was still recording, Patty turned on the music and they all sang along. Melinda even got to her feet and shook her behind which made everyone laugh and clap.
During the last song silent night, the sisters were leaning on their husbands on the couch, Chris was glued to his aunt Prue, Wyatt was with Grams and Patty and was trying to stay awake. The babies were passed out on the floor.
"Boys it's time to put out the milk and cookies for Santa" Piper whispered to the half-asleep boys.
The boys got up and followed Piper into the kitchen. Piper gave Wyatt the glass of milk and gave Chris the plate of cookies. The boys careful carried them into the living room and placed them on the coffee table.
"Alright bedtime say good night boys" Piper said.
"Good night daddy love you" the boys said
"Love you too" Leo responded.
"Good night Auntie Phoebe love you"
"Good night sweet heart" Phoebe replied.
"Good night uncle coop, love you"
"Good night boys" Coop said.
"Good night auntie Paige"
"Sweet dreams" Paige said and hugged them.
"Good night Uncle Henry"
"Sleep tight" Henry stated.
"Good night auntie Prue"
"Good night" Prue said.
"Good night grandma"
"Good night boys, see you in the morning" Patty replied
"Good night grams"
"Good night, be happy you can sleep" Grams said.
"Good night babies, good night mommy."
After they hugged Piper, the boys orbed up to bed. Piper picked up Melinda, carried her to her room and placed her in her crib. Leo helped Paige by orbing Tamora to her crib, while Paige orbed Kat to her crib and Henry carried baby Henry up to his room and placed him in his crib. Coop beamed P.J. to her crib, then the adults went to bed, while Grams, Patty and dead Prue stayed up talking till morning.
When the babies woke up at five, the adults knew the boys were awake too, so they took care of the babies and then brought them down to the living room. Sure enough, the boys were already there waiting to open their presents. Leo turned the camera back on and the presents were opened. Shortly after Piper, grams and Patty made pancakes, French toast bacon and eggs for breakfast.
"Is it just me or did Phoebe seem a little quiet last night? Piper asked
"I didn't notice anything Party replied.
"She's been quiet lately, makes me think she's hiding something" Piper stated.
"It's probably nothing, just let it go" Grams suggested.
Once breakfast was ready it was seven in the morning. Everyone gathered in the kitchen and stuffed the mouths with food. Phoebe couldn't ignore the feelings she was getting from Piper.
"So what's got you so suspicious Piper?" Phoebe asked
"Nothing?" Piper lied.
"You're lying" Phoebe caught her
"Hey, no using your powers on me, I can't use mine on you" Piper said.
Phoebe let it go and just enjoyed the meal and time with the family. After breakfast everyone gathered around the Christmas tree and had a family picture taken. Afterwards Piper put on the Christmas carols. Wyatt grabbed Chris's arms and they danced together as they sang along to frosty the snow man. The babies were playfully knocking each other over in play. Afterwards, the family put on their winter clothing and went outside to play in the snow.
A simple snowball fight turned into a magical snowball fight. Paige threw a snowball at Piper who froze it and moved out of the way. The boys were using their telekinesis power with Prue to move a snowball away from them. When Coop threw one at Phoebe, she levitated and it raced passed under her. Paige orbed out of the way when Henry threw snowballs at her.
After a while, they got bored and stopped the snowball fight. The boys built a snowman with Prue using their powers. Piper taught Melinda how to make a snow angel, and the others found their own ways to have fun in the snow.
Two hours later at noon, the family were getting cold and hungry, so they all headed inside. Piper and her sisters made sandwiches for lunch as everyone warmed up with hot chocolate, except the babies who instead warmed up with blankets. Due to the huge breakfast, the boys only ate half their sandwiches then went to play, and the babies only ate a little too. Back in the living room, Piper put on how the Grinch stole Christmas for the boys while the babies took a nap.
After the movie was finished, the babies were still napping, so the adults played go fish. After three games of gold fish, the adults went to get the babies. It was then around three, so Piper started cooking supper while everyone just hung out in the living room listening to Christmas carols and the kids played with their presents. Adult Prue read the children the night before Christmas and they seemed to enjoy it. Then the boys showed them the song they had learned.
"We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy new year" The boys finished.
Everyone clapped and the boys bowed down. They had huge smiles on their faces, and Phoebe could feel they were proud of themselves. Paige then sang them her favourite Christmas song. Afterwards, the family played tick tack toe. They then played go fish again since it was the boy's favourite game.
"Do you have any 7's?" Wyatt asked.
"I do" Prue said giving him the seven.
"Do you have any 2's?" Chris asked
Everyone shook their head and said "go fish." So Chris took a card from the piles and nodded at Piper to tell her it was her turn.
"Do you have any fours?" Piper asked
"Here" Paige said giving her the card.
"Do you have any kings?" Phoebe asked
Paige sighed and handed Phoebe her king.
"Do you have ones" Henry asked.
Everyone shook their head and said "go fish." Henry picked a card from the pile, looked over his cards and placed a pair down in front of him.
As Coop did his turn, Piper went into the kitchen to check on Supper.
"Supper's ready" Piper called.
Everyone abandoned the game and the boys sat down at the table, while the parents placed the babies in their high chairs, and Grams along with Patty and Victor helped Piper serve the meal. Once everyone was seated Phoebe began to feel anxious and kept exchanging looks with Coop. Piper then lifted her glass and carried out a little tradition.
"Here we all are, the Halliwell family, about to enjoy another Christmas meal. Christmas is about family, and today, Penny, Patty, Prue, Phoebe, Paige, Wyatt, Chris, Melinda, Tamora, Kat, P.J., Henry Jr, Leo, Coop, Henry, Victor and myself Piper Halliwell, are gathered at this table as a family. May we always remember the importance of family" Piper stated.
Phoebe looked at Coop who nodded.
"Coop and I have an announcement" Phoebe stated standing up.
"This wonderful family is going to get a little bigger" Phoebe continued.
Everyone looked at each other trying to figure out what she meant. Paige suddenly jumped out of her chair and excitedly said
"You're pregnant aren't you?"
"Yes, I'm pregnant" Phoebe announced.
The girls jumped around and hugged as they screamed out of joy and excitement. The babies who had no clue what was going on were just staring at their mothers. The boys did understand a little but were more interested in the meal. The guys just patted Coop on his shoulder and waited for the women to calm to down. Excitement was filled in the air, and Phoebe could feel how much everyone was happy for her.