A/N: Tony can swim just fine. Fight me, whoever wrote The Unsinkable Micelli.

Chapter Thirty-Two: Christmas

Tuesday, December 25, 1990

"Good morning."

Tony heard a familiar voice and blinked his eyes open. For a moment, he felt disoriented, blinded by the brightness of the sun.

"Merry Christmas, Tony."

Christmas. He opened his eyes. Angela's face was in shadow, an asymmetrical puff of blonde hair backlit from the window like a halo.

"I've been waiting for you to wake up and kiss me."

He lifted his head and leaned toward the heavenly vision.

"What's your stance on morning breath?" she asked.

"You don't get morning breath," he answered, rolling on top of her and giving her a closed-mouth kiss. "I, however, do."

She held onto him to prevent him from getting up. "I don't mind if it's yours." They kissed sloppily, giggling and pawing at each other, for the next five minutes.

"Last night was amazing. I can't remember a time when I slept so well," he said. "I can't believe I called my boss a good girl."

"You called your girlfriend a good girl. That's totally different."

"My girlfriend?" he laughed. "This is my girlfriend, Angela," he said, testing the line. "I love it, and I love you."

"I love you, too, boyfriend." They resumed their morning makeout session.

"Knock, knock. It's 8:30 in the morning, and the kids have been patiently waiting to open presents. Would you please clothe and present yourselves?"

Angela popped out of bed and opened the door. "Merry Christmas, Mother!"

"Merry Christmas, Mona!" Tony said, getting out of bed and hugging Angela from behind.

"I don't know if I can take this," Mona said, shaking her head and turning to go downstairs.

"This is your fault for putting up that mistletoe!" Tony called after her. They put on their robes and slippers and went downstairs. Sam and Jonathan were still working on the puzzle, having assembled a good portion of Santa and his sleigh.

"Aren't they cute?" Sam asked, nudging Jonathan.

"They are kind of cute," he agreed.

The family of five went through their pile of gifts, finding sweaters and scarves, bath and beauty products, and sporting goods. Mona gave Sam and Jonathan each a new Discman with good headphones "so you can block out your roommates, or whatever is bothering you."

Angela gave Tony swim fins and a snorkel for their upcoming trip. "I already had a set," she explained. When they got to the bottom of the pile, she pulled three small envelopes out of the tree and handed them to Jonathan, Sam, and Tony. "This is something I've been wanting to give you all for a long, long time," she told them. In each envelope was a nearly-identical card. On one side was the logo for Fairfield Country Club, and on the other side, "BOWER-MICELLI FAMILY (GOLF) 1991" and a membership number. Each person's first name was printed at the bottom.

"Do you remember Harvey?" Angela asked Tony.

"Yeah?"

"He's a manager now. He remembered us and gave me the Family Day deal. He also showed me a picture of his wife and one-year-old twins. He said that we're the reason he decided to ask his sort-of-best-friend to be his girlfriend, and now they're married with kids. There's even a picture of our family in the sales office."

"Which one?" Sam piped up.

"The one I gave your dad," Angela said.

"I want to see it. Please, Dad!" Sam begged.

"Let me go get it," Tony said, jogging up the stairs.

"Thank you, Angela. This is an incredible gift," Sam said, reaching out to squeeze her hand.

"Thanks, Mom," Jonathan said, getting up to hug her.

Tony handed his photo album to Sam. "I have one more gift for Angela. It's kind of big."

"That's what they all say," Mona mused.

"It's out in the garage," he said, extending his hand. Angela took it and allowed him to lead her across the driveway. Luckily, it was a dry morning. The other members of the family followed, curious to see what it could be.

Tony ran over and pulled a drop cloth from the object. Underneath was a set of four theater seats. "They were remodeling," he said.

"Are those the exact seats?" Angela asked in awe.

"This one's been fixed, but yes, they are." He sat in one of the middle two seats and put his arm over the back of the other. Angela walked over and sat in the other middle seat. She rested her elbow on the armrest between them and turned her palm up. Tony grasped her hand and pulled her knuckles to his lips.

"What are they doing?" Jonathan asked.

"I don't know, but it looks choreographed."

"Those are the seats they sat in to see 101 Dalmatians," Mona explained. Angela and Tony were now kissing each other and ignoring the presence of their family. "Tony told me all about it, and when I saw that they were remodeling the theater just before Thanksgiving, I schmoozed the construction crew to sell him those seats."

"What are we going to do with them?" Angela asked.

"We could put them by the front door," Tony suggested.

"Or in your old room? If you move in with me?"

"Or you could leave them out here so nobody has to watch you make out in the house," Mona yelled. "Let's go back inside, kids."

Sam curled up on the couch with the photo album while Mona and Jonathan picked up wrapping paper. She forgot about looking for the picture taken at the country club and looked at pictures of her mom instead. She had been too young to remember any of them. Flipping another page, she started to see photos of herself and her dad that she did remember. After that, her dad disappeared for a while. Looking at her younger self, she knew why. He was the photographer. Her mother had died.

When she got to pictures of her twelfth birthday, she suddenly looked happy again. Her dad was smiling alongside her, and then there were pictures of her with Jonathan, Mona, and Angela, as well. After that, the three of them started appearing in some photos without her or her dad. Finally, she found what she had been looking for, an outtake from the posed photo session at the country club. Without knowing why she did it, she pulled the print out of the album and turned it around.

Mona looked on as Sam reminisced. She could see the old pictures of a beautiful young woman who looked remarkably like Sam, and she watched Sam's face crumple in grief with the end of that era. As she turned the pages, she began to smile again, but when she pulled one photo out to look at the back, she gasped and covered her mouth in shock. "What is it?" she asked. Sam handed over the print. "On this day, we were a real family. Love, A," Mona read aloud.

Sam glanced over to see Jonathan bopping his head to the new CD playing in his new Discman. "Angela gave this to my dad three years ago. She told him she loved him and wanted to be a real family. He knew she loved him and he still slept with Frankie!"

"Putting something in writing is not the same as saying it to someone's face," Mona explained. "I would suggest you put that picture back and leave the subject alone. However long it took, they had to get here on their own."

Sam rushed to follow Mona's advice, just as the happy couple finally came in from the garage.

"Let's get that puzzle done. Mother and I have to be at work tomorrow," Angela said, kneeling on the floor. Tony sat cross-legged on the opposite side, and before long they were having a competition that did not include either of the kids.

"I was bored of it anyway," Jonathan told Sam.