As soon as Thanksgiving was over, it felt like Christmas preparations kicked into high gear. Santana spent any free time she had when she wasn't working or spending time with her family making sure that the cabin was completely winter proof and that when the big snows hit they would be perfectly fine. In Rachel's eyes she was wearing herself out, but she was so close to being finished. Santana had cut up a good starter supply of wood for the fireplace. The snowmobile was in perfect condition, the new family sized ATV was outfitted to hold both of the twins car seats and the root cellar was almost completely stocked. They just needed to add a few odds and ends and they would be set to go.
Rachel had spent as much time as possible at the studio getting some much needed work in. Even with the projected release date of the summer for her album, she wanted it to be mostly done before the end of the year. Sam had called her a slave driver one day and kicked Rachel out of the studio just so she would take a break and not blow her voice. Santana and the twins really appreciated hearing Rachel whine for two days. But in the end, everything had worked out and now that Rachel was officially on her holiday break she was enjoying being home with the twins. Since the adoption came right before the holiday break, Rachel had opted out of taking a leave of absence even after Puck had talked to his lawyers and worked out a pretty nice deal. Even with Rachel working so hard during the day, she still had her evenings with her family and that was more than enough to hold her over until the official break started.
With the holidays in full swing, Santana and Rachel were both surprised to find the twins newly revised birth certificates in the mail so soon after the adoption. Judge Rhodes really got her people to work fast. Instead of framing the birth certificates like Santana had originally wanted to do, they decided to frame the official adoption certificate along with the letters they had written instead. Both women figured the girls would appreciate it when they were older and the time came for the big explanation. They never wanted to hide the adoption from their girls, but they wanted them to know the whole story when the time was right. Only the twins could make that decision, maybe they would never want to know. That would be their choice and no one else's.
At the moment, the twins were playing around the living room while Rachel and Santana decorated the Christmas tree. It was a truly funny site to see with Rachel struggling to get the ornaments sorted and Santana nearly tying herself up with Christmas lights. The girls were running back and forth with Dax and Dahlia on their heels. The cabin was literal chaos and they were all enjoying every minute of it.
"Rachel..help please?" Santana pouted while holding out her arms that were wrapped in Christmas lights. Rachel chuckled as she stood and walked the short distance to were the tree sat in front of the large floor to ceiling windows.
"Santana, honey, how in the world did you manage to get these like this?! I swear they are worse than when you pulled them out of the box." Rachel exclaimed as she desperately tried to untie her wife.
"I don't know. What time is your Dad getting here to take the girls shopping? I'm worried one of them is going to trip on these damn things." Santana shook her shoulders trying to free herself as Rachel pulled and tugged on the brightly colored strands.
"He should be here in about twenty minutes, so we should probably start getting their shoes on?" Rachel watched the girls clamber back through the living room, this time with Dax and Dahlia chasing them.
"Yeah, as soon as I am free." Santana shuffled her feet around, successfully kicking the strands of lights out of the way and under the tree for the moment. "Leroy swore to uphold the no presents rule right?"
Rachel laughed as she came out of the nursery with two little pairs of socks and boots for the twins. "He claims he is going to uphold it, but we will see when they get back." Santana and Rachel had implemented an essentials only rule for whenever the girls were visiting with any of their grand parents. The girls book shelves, dressers and playroom all was on the verge of overflowing already and they had only been home for around three weeks. At least Santana had already ordered three more shelves, so the books was okay and they planned to donate all the clothes that the girls were already growing out of. The only issue was what to do with all the toys, some of which were still in their boxes because the girls just hadn't opened them to play with yet. Santana and Rachel both knew that will all six grandparents about to be living in the same area part of the time, this was always going to be an issue.
Santana's parents were in fact selling their house. They had announced this at the Thanksgiving dinner, however, they planned to stay in the city part of the time and in McKinley the rest. Leroy had gotten them in touch with his realtor who had already acquired a beautiful piece of land and shown them several cabin packages. They hadn't picked one yet, but Santana had seen all of their selections and any that they picked would be a beautiful choice.
When they weren't living in the cabin, they would be staying in their new condominium that they had purchased in the city. Santana had gotten to see it last week when she made a special delivery of paintings to some of her clients in the city. Even though she didn't care for the city life, she had to admit that the condo was pretty amazing. The only downfall was that she nearly choked on her saliva when her father had disclosed how much they paid for the place. Two point five million dollars for a layout of just over seventeen hundred square feet. That was one of the many reasons Santana would never live in the city again, she could buy four more cabins for that amount of money! All of the renovations and cabin upgrades that would be coming next summer was estimated at only a third of that amount. Nevertheless, the condo was already paid for seeing as the house sold relatively quickly and with the promotion of becoming head of his hospital, Santana's father could more than afford it.
On one hand Santana was really happy that her parents were truly making an effort to be closer to her, Rachel and the girls, on the other she still worried. She worried that they would become too overbearing, it was inevitable that she and Rachel were going to have to set boundaries for all of the grandparents. Yes they wanted them to be involved with the girls, but at the end of the night Santana and Rachel were their mothers, the ones who had to discipline them and help keep them on the right track. They couldn't do that if their parents went behind their backs, undermining them. She didn't think they would intentionally, but it was a talk that was going to have to happen at some point. Santana dreaded the day when that time came.
Today wasn't about that though. Leroy was on his way to the cabin to take the girls shopping for Christmas presents for their mothers. Apparently at some point they would be meeting up with Shelby and Cassie once they got out of their music and dance classes this evening. Santana already knew that the girls were going to have a blast, I mean they got to spend the day with their Pap, Lolo, Nana and Minny. Who wouldn't have a blast doing that? Santana would be happy if the girls were able to have a fraction of the relationship that she had with her Abuelo, with their own grandparents.
Lost in her thoughts, Santana didn't even see or hear Leroy come into the cabin until Sierra was shouting Pap and hanging onto Leroy's leg for dear life. Apparently she was ready to go and Mama was taking too long putting Samara's socks and boots on. Rachel would have already been done if Santana hadn't of gotten lost in her head while trying to finish untangling herself from the Christmas lights.
Leroy chuckled heartily as he lifted the tiny girl into his arms. "Hi my princess. How are you today? Giving Mama and Mami a rough way to go?" Leroy asked before kissing the little girl on her cheek. Sierra just grinned and rubbed her face where Leroy's facial hair stubble had tickled her cheek.
"Go Pap!" Samara screeched as she was finally set free by her Mama and ran over to the man, reaching her arms out wanting to be picked up too.
"They don't want anything to do with us now that Pap is here." Santana fake pouted at the girls who just smiled and snuggled up in Leroy's arms.
"I am a pretty fun dude." Leroy bounced around a little making both girls giggle.
"Oh Dad...please don't call yourself a dude. It's...weird." Rachel cringed and crossed her arms, watching her father with the girls. This was one of those moments where she wondered if she had ever seen this man so happy. He was just overflowing with love for the twins. Every time he looked at them his eyes sparkled with something that only other grandparents could ever truly understand.
"Ah, hush. The girls agree, don't you?! Pap is tons of fun!" Leroy smirked when the twins began to cheer. Rachel could only shake her head and roll her eyes. "You two better give Mama and Mami kisses so we can go. I would hang around a bit longer, but we are meeting Bayani in town for a bite to eat."
"Before you go, here is their diaper bag. It's already packed with everything they could possibly need today. You have our numbers if anything happens. Um, Sierra's cups are purple, Samara's are blue and don't forget they need to nap at around one or they will be monsters until they go to bed tonight." Santana was scrambling for any more information that Leroy would need to know. It was as if all of a sudden a switch flipped inside of her and she was panicking, realizing that the girls would be gone for most of the day.
"Santana, honey...Dad knows all of this stuff. This isn't the first time he and Bayani have been alone with them." It was true, Leroy and Bayani had kept the girls one morning while Rachel was at the studio and Santana was finishing up some last pieces of art work. But to be fair, Leroy and Bayani had entertained the girls at home not out in public while shopping. Oh god, what if one of the girls ran away in the store and got lost? What if Leroy turned his back for one second and someone took one of the girls out of the cart while he wasn't looking? She couldn't do this, visiting at home was okay, but in public she needed to be there, both of them needed to be there.
"They can't go Rachel, they need to stay here with us or we need to go with them. They could get lost or hurt and we would be here, putting up Christmas decorations." Santana was looking at Rachel with watery eyes. Rachel was confused about what was happening.
"They're going to be fine with Dad and Bayani. They're not going to let them get lost or hurt, I promise. You said so yourself you were worried they were going to trip over the lights or decorations we have laying out around here." Rachel was trying to reassure Santana that the girls would be okay. She didn't want them gone for very long either but, Leroy had asked if he could take the girls out for the day and spend some time with them since he knew how hard it could be to get stuff done with just one little one around, Santana and Rachel had two. They were great mothers, but they had been going full force in every aspect since the girls came home and they needed a much deserved break. However, Leroy knew there was only one way that everyone would be happy with taking a break.
"How about you two finish this up and then meet us? We can all go shopping together. Will that be okay?" Leroy focused on Santana waiting for an answer. "I get it, I do. You're new parents and you feel like by letting me take the girls out that you're putting them off on me, which I assure you, you're not. You two have been doing this by yourselves for three weeks now, it's okay to finally ask for a bit of help. There's no shame in it. You know when Hiram and I brought Rachel home from the hospital, he only lasted three days before calling our mother's to come help." Leroy chuckled at the memory. Calling their mothers had led to Hiram's grandmother and Leroy's sister coming to help also. "I know it's different because they aren't newborns, but they're still babies and I understand you wanting to be around them all the time. So, get ready, finish this and we will meet you at the diner." Leroy stated with a firmness that left no room for arguing. Santana and Rachel both looked as if they might cry from gratefulness. They just wasn't ready to be separated from their girls for long periods of time with neither of them around. Rachel had thought she would be okay with letting the girls go, but once Santana's resolve began to break so did hers. She was thankful that her Dad was the understanding man that he was.
"Okay, yeah. I think we can do that." Santana nodded her head urgently.
"Good, we will meet you there." Leroy turned his body back and forth so that each twin could give their mothers proper goodbye for now kisses. Santana watched from the front porch of the cabin as Rachel walked with her dad out to his SUV with the girls diaper bag. She had to hurry and get the rest of these decorations put up, because the sooner she done that, the sooner she would be at the diner with her girls. Since she was now going shopping with her girls, hopefully today would be the day that she and Rachel finally picked out their wedding rings. Their parents had been nagging them for weeks now and now that they had the time to actually look at rings, maybe they would find something to shut them up. The next thing they would start nagging about would be their outfits for the wedding, even though Kurt already had an appointment set up for them tomorrow. That's what parents were good for though, in the moment it sucked, but it the long run, it would sometimes turn out for the best. At least that's what Santana kept telling herself, maybe she would actually start to believe it at some point.