The first year the boys thought they were old enough to stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve and begged their parents to let them, Piper and Leo relented to their demands. "They'll probably fall asleep before midnight anyway," Leo pointed out.
"That is true."
Melinda looked back and forth between her parents before stomping her feet and bursting into tears. "I want to stay up too!" the four year old sobbed.
"Lindy, please - Chris is seven and Wyatt's going to be nine in a few months. Sweetheart, you're still too young," Piper tried, knowing Melinda wouldn't fall for that logic.
Sure enough, she didn't. Her lips wobbled and her eyes glistened with tears. "Please?" she tried.
Leo sighed. There was no way Melinda would even make it to nine, let alone midnight, so they might as well give in to her too. "Fine, you can stay up, Lindy."
She cheered excitedly and went to go tell her brothers that she was also allowed to stay up until midnight. "You want to bet on how long they're able to stay awake?" Piper asked her husband.
"Nah. We'll see how long they last." Leo laughed when she rolled her eyes.
Wyatt, Chris, and Melinda came tearing into the observatory. "Can we have snacks on New Year's Eve?" Wyatt asked hopefully.
"Cookies!" Chris agreed, his eyes lighting up.
"You and your cookie obsession, Christopher." Piper smiled fondly at her middle child, ruffling his hair.
After a heated debate about the right snacks for the holiday, the kids each got something special so another fight wouldn't be sparked between them. "Remember our first New Year's together?" Leo questioned.
Piper nodded. "We were so young and naive then."
"Absolutely," he agreed, beaming at her.
She laughed just as Chris interrupted them. "Can we stay up later than midnight?" he asked hopefully.
"Nice try, buddy, but no." Leo leaned down to kiss his son's forehead, ignoring Chris' protests, and then stood back up.
Chris wandered off to go find his siblings, leaving his parents alone to continue reminiscing. "Now here we are, a lot of years and three kids later. Surreal," Piper murmured.
"Everything worked out in the end." Leo squeezed her hand as they waited for one of their children to come running back in. It was a given with three of them.
Wyatt orbed in about two minutes later. "Chris and Lindy won't leave me alone!" he complained.
"Wyatt, be nice to your brother and sister. They just want to play with you because they worship the ground you walk on. It's sweet." Piper gave him a quick hug and then sent him off on his way.
New Year's Eve came around two days later, and the kids tried their best to stay awake until midnight. "Who's going down first?" Leo wondered.
"Leo Wyatt!" Piper chided with a laugh.
"I'm going to beat Wyatt and Chris!" Melinda firmly declared.
"You sure about that, Lindy?" Piper wouldn't be surprised if she did end up outlasting the boys in the end despite her age, although she wouldn't bet on it.
"I'm sure, Mommy." Melinda flashed them a smile and then plopped down on the floor to play with one of her toys.
Chris sat down on the couch and turned on the TV, watching the festivities with interest. Wyatt joined him a second later. "Do we have to watch all of this?" Wyatt whined.
"Yes!" Chris glared at his older brother and settled in to watch the ball drop in New York.
Melinda yawned, and Leo and Piper exchanged a knowing look. "She's going down first," Leo whispered.
"Of course she is - we knew that from the beginning."
Melinda managed to stay awake long enough for the new year to ring in on the East Coast but fell asleep right there on the floor about half an hour later.
"How much longer do we have to go?" Chris questioned Leo.
"A few more hours, bud." Leo wouldn't be surprised if Chris went down next but his son was stubborn enough that he could force himself to stay awake.
Wyatt, surprisingly, fell asleep next, around ten. Chris' eyes kept opening and closing, and Piper and Leo wondered if they'd ring in the new year alone again. "I thought at least one of them would make it," she whispered, trying not to rouse Wyatt and Melinda.
"They might," Leo whispered back.
About ten minutes before midnight, Chris jerked awake, startling his parents, and he woke up his siblings. "Of course he did." A laughing, grinning Piper shook her head in amusement.
The kids clapped excitedly when the clock finally flipped over to midnight. Piper and Leo exchanged their first kiss of the new year, and then wrangled the kids upstairs to their individual beds.
All five of them were zombies the next day but they didn't go out all to celebrate the holiday anyway. Piper and Leo were especially glad January had rolled around again and the holidays were finally over.