I woke up once again, but this time to the sound of a click and laughter. I felt Darry shoot up and heard Soda fall off the bed and hit the ground. I sat up as well to see what was happening. It was a little after 8am and Mom and Dad were standing in the doorway. They were laughing their heads off and Dad was holding the camera we had set up last night. He snapped another picture with Darry and me looking confused and Soda on the bedroom floor. "Now these are keepers. This just became the best Christmas gift I've ever gotten." Dad said through his laughs. Mom looked like she was crying from laughing so hard. "I'm getting those framed for sure" Soda stood up from the ground and was also laughing. Darry just pushed me to the side and crawled out of bed. I was grinning. It was Christmas!
Soda seemed to make this connection because he grabbed my arm to pull me from bed "Come on Pon! It's Christmas! Lets go see what we got from Santa!" He gave Dad a wink. We rushed into the room followed by Mom and Dad. They both sat down next to each other on the couch and Darry walked in and sat down by them. Soda and I were on the ground right by our small tree looking at the gifts under it. Soda looked around the room taking a mental note that everyone was present and then turned to our parents to ask "can we get started now?" For a kid who already knew what his gifts were he really was excited for this. He seemed to be buzzing and the excitement was infectious.
"Go ahead and pass them all out." Mom instructed. Soda and I started grabbing the gifts and handing them to the appropriate people. I had three in front of me and judging from their size I think I knew what they were. I wanted to rip them all open cuz I was so excited, but that's not how we did it in our family. We had to take turns and each gift was appreciated. We did this mostly because there wasn't a whole lot of gifts, but that didn't matter to me. I know my parents tried hard and I knew I was going to like what they got me!
Being the youngest I got to go first. I opened the first one and it was a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. It was a used book but in very good condition. I had actually read this one once from the library, but I had really liked it and I was really excited to own my own copy and read it again. I started flipping through it when Soda grabbed it out of my hands "you can't start reading yet Pon! We have to open all the gifts first!" everyone started laughing.
I picked up the next gift and opened it to find another book. This one was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I hadn't heard of this one before. I flipped it over to read the back and Mom spoke up so I turned to look at her "That's a brand new book. It just came out this year. The lady at the bookstore says it's really popular. It might be too easy of a read for you, but I thought you would still like it." I smiled at her. I couldn't believe she found a book I didn't know about. I was very excited about that. Soda reached out and grabbed this one from me too "a book about chocolate? This is a book even I would read!"
"Not before I do!" I snatched it back and everyone started laughing. "Maybe I should have gotten it for you Soda if it got you to actually read a book for once" Mom teased. "Nah I think I'll keep my record of only one book read. Green Eggs and Ham really changed my life and I wouldn't want to spoil that with another book" Mom just rolled her eyes at that but the rest of us all cracked up.
I finally picked up my last gift. This one was slightly bigger than the two books were. I opened it up and inside was a sketch book and some new colored pencils. I looked at both my parents and grinned. "Thanks so much Mom and Dad! I love all my gifts!" I stood up and went over to give them both a hug. Mom really outdid her self. These gifts were perfect. "You're welcome baby. Glad you like them." Mom whispered in my ear.
I went over and sat back down. Both Soda and Darry opened their gifts. Their gifts seem less fun to me but I guess that's what happens when you grow up. Soda got a new pair of jeans cuz he was growing so fast and a deck of cards and Darry got a fancy looking alarm clock he could take to college next year. They got some other things too, but then it was time for me to give our gift to our parents. This year we all went in on a gift together. Mostly because Soda and I didn't have any money and we didn't really know what to get them. I went into my room and pulled it out of the closet because I wasn't able to wrap it up. Darry and Soda met me in the hallway and we all walked back out with the gift turned around to our parents. It was pretty obvious what it probably was from this angle as I was holding a decent sized framed canvas.
"So this is from all of us." Darry started to explain. "It was Sodapops idea. I bought the supplies and put it together and Ponyboy made it." With that I turned it around to show Mom and Dad. Mom gasped and put her hand to her mouth. Dad also looked shocked. "Boys I love it!" Mom now had tears in her eyes. I handed it to her and they both stared at it and looked it over. Soda jumped in "You always say you want a family picture but there's never a time to take one and it would cost too much to get professional ones so we had Pony here paint one!" I had spent almost a month on this painting. Darry had given me the canvas and some paints and I painted our family standing in a field in the countryside where we used to go. I had to do it all from memory and all in my room so Mom or Dad didn't find out.
Mom handed the painting to Dad and then stood up to pull us all into a hug. "Boys I have never loved anything more!" She had tears streaming down her face now. Dad stood up as well "This was a great idea Soda and Pony, wow I knew you were good, but I've never seen anything like this! Thanks Darry for making this happen." He then walked over to the fireplace mantel and moved some stuff around and set it right in the center. Mom pulled back from hugging us all and looked at it there. "I love it boys. Just like I love each of you!"
Since we were all done with opening gifts, we went into the kitchen to eat a late breakfast. It was nice to just all be together as a family. That's what made Christmas the best. The gifts were fun, but I just like the excitement and time all together. After eating I went and sat in the living room to start reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was still pretty early so I didn't think anyone would be over for a bit and I was ok with that. Steve was the first to show up a little before noon.
"Merry Christmas Curtis fam. How's it going?" he called out as he entered the room. Soda got up to show Steve what he got for Christmas and Mom made Steve come and eat something. I know Mom wished she could get all the boys gifts, but we just weren't well off enough to do that. She tried to always at least make sure everyone was fed and had a safe warm place to stay if they needed and for them that was probably more than enough.
Steve and Soda started playing poker with the new cards and Darry and Dad decided to join in. Mom was getting started on Christmas dinner which was mostly leftovers from the previous night and I was still reading when the rest of the gang showed up. Johnny came and sat by me and I showed him my new books and art supplies and Johnny showed me the new switch blade Dally got him. He was the only one Dally would give gifts too. None of us knew why but Johnny was always happy to get something on Christmas and his birthday since his parents never got him anything. If they even remembered what day it was.
When everyone was over we decided to go out and play in the snow. It wasn't much but it was enough to scoop together some snowballs and we had a big snowball fight for a little bit. Dad even came out to join. We broke into our football teams and started our snowball war. Soda and Two Bit were able to sneak up on Dally and got him good. We were all laughing and having a great Christmas time.
Once all our faces were red from the cold and we were wet from all the melted snow, we went back inside and Mom made us all hot chocolate. We played some more poker and then ate the leftovers from yesterdays big meal. Mom wasn't joking when she said she had made a ton of food yesterday. We ate all our decorated cookies and just messed around until it got late.
The guys all headed off and Mom told us it was time for bed, well mostly me, but Darry and Soda got up as well. It was a perfect day and I wish it could always be like this. I got in my bed and both Mom and Dad came to say goodnight. Mom sat on the edge of my bed and pushed my hair out of my face. "Ponyboy thank you for the Christmas gift. You are truly a special and talented boy. Don't ever forget that baby ok?" I just nodded. Her rubbing my hair was quickly putting me to sleep. "Thanks Mom. Thanks Dad. I had a great day and loved my presents. I love you both" I said very sleepily. "We love you too kiddo" Dad replied and then patted my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Mom bent down and kissed my forehead "Night Honey. Love you." and then I was asleep.