the twenty-first century ellinghams

chapter six: christmas tree pancakes

at some point during the early morning, stevie's hand reaches out to where david would be and finds he isn't there. she slowly opens her eyes to see that the sun is just beginning to rise and david was gone. she had developed an interesting habit over the years of consistently sleeping in the same bed with him. if she fell asleep with him and woke up with him, she usually slept pretty well. if she fell asleep with him gone and woke up with him gone, she also usually slept pretty well. but if he left in the middle of the night for a flight or to go to work early, she was never able to fall back asleep. she never told him, didn't want him to worry about something so minuscule, but it was a pain on mornings like these. she gets up and gets dressed into a pair of light-wash jeans, a forrest green crew neck, and fuzzy socks, carefully closing drawers and doors quietly to not wake dana and henry. she tiptoes downstairs and into the kitchen, placing a k-cup into their keurig and pulling two mugs out of the cabinet. the microwave informs her it was about half past seven, david would be home soon. she pokes around the kitchen, searching for inspiration. she wants to make something cute and festive for the day. she pulls out a box of pancake mix from the pantry and a small bottle of green food dye out from it's box. christmas tree pancakes, simple enough. she pulls the milk and eggs out of the fridge, and as she does, she hears the sound of the garage door opening. she places both cartons down on the left end of the island and pulls a mixing bowl out from one of the cabinets. the door connecting the house to the garage opens, and david walks in, dressed in jeans and an old, navy blue three-quarter zip with a black puffer coat over it. he smiles when he sees her, slightly surprised to see her up so early on the break.
     "hey," he says quietly, closing the door carefully behind him. he pulls off the puffer coat and places it on one of the hooks by the door.
     "hey," she replies, pulling a whisk out of a drawer and placing it by the bowl. "i'm making christmas tree pancakes."
     "really?"
     "really. got the dye out and everything. i'm a regular martha stewart." she walks from the left side of the island to the right, next to him. she attempts to shake a little bit of snow out from his curls, but it just melts under the warmth of her fingertips. her eyebrows furrow slightly in annoyance, but he just smiles at her.
     "where are the kids?" he asks.
     "oh, still asleep upstai-" but she's interrupted by his lips on hers. it's much more passionate than their usual morning ones. he lifts her up onto the countertop.
     "well, good morning to you too," stevie says with a small laugh. "what's gotten into you?"
     "just feeling all festive," he replies. "today's gonna be good, i can feel it. tomorrow, too. i don't know... i just woke up and wasn't as worried as i was last night. must have been that good night's sleep."
     "must have," she replies, wrapping her arms around his neck, pulling him in again, continuing where they left off. she gets deja vu from the day they first moved in. he had pulled a move very similar, if not exact. she ignores the now done coffee and the only half done pancake batter, just enjoys the moment. that is until they both hear the sound of dana's door opening and little footsteps in the upstairs hallway. dana's awake which means in two minutes, henry will be too. with a small, almost unintentional sigh, david steps back, allowing her to jump down. she gets back to the pancake batter, and he pours milk into their coffees. when the kids tiredly shuffle into the kitchen, there's pancakes on the stove, and two parents excited for the day ahead.

     the day passes in a blur, much too fast for stevie's liking. the pancakes took a few tries to get just right, but once she had the idea to use a plastic bag to pipe them out in the right shape, it was smooth sailing. after that, it was hours of rakin/bass specials, michael buble, and christmas cookie decoration. becky had suggested that instead of pie or cake or something large, that something smaller like cookies would be better for the christmas eve dessert. so, they sat around the island and decorated sugar cookies of various shapes with different colors of frosting and sprinkles.
     "you all good here? can i go..." stevie says, leaving the ending out. every few hours, she or david would sneak upstairs to wrap as many presents as they could before the kids realized something was up. they were small, but they had their mother's gift of observance.
     "i think we're good," he replies, helping henry pipe out some red frosting onto a star shaped cookie. help was a strong word, he was likely doing all the work. but he would never tell henry that, not when he beamed with pride at every cookie he made. she begins to walk upstairs.
     "mommy, what are you doing?" dana asks. stevie freezes.
     "boring... mommy stuff. you wouldn't like it," she replies. out of the corner of her, she sees david grinning slightly. she hurries upstairs before dana can ask any more questions. like mother like daughter.

     when she returns downstairs, the moment in front of her is something she hopes stays with her forever. one of those moments when you want to take a mental picture, to remember everything about it and never let go. david is standing between henry and dana, who are both sitting in the stools in front of the island. he's helping henry pour sprinkles on an ornament shaped cookie, but he's also laughing with dana, who has just taken a finger and painted some red frosting onto his nose. she laughs with delight.
     "rudolph!" she exclaims, giggling.
     "oh yeah?" he replies. he pipes some red frosting onto his finger and puts it on her nose. she squeals but immediately starts laughing.
     "me too! me too!" henry says, not wanting to be left out. david doesn't even bother using a finger, just pipes some directly onto henry's nose. he immediately starts giggling, joining david and dana.
      "how's everything going?" stevie asks, laughing as she approaches them at the island. david looks up, his eyes are bright and his eyebrows are peaked in delight. looking at the three of them, she can see so much of him in dana and henry. she can see him in dana's brown-gold eyes and curly brown hair. she can see him in henry's cheeks and his smile. what she did not see was edward king. both of them had gotten her chin and jawline. whether it be genetics, fate, or possibly even divine intervention, she did not care. she was just so grateful for it, as she knew david was too, though he never said it aloud. "having fun?" she asks.
     "i would say so, right guys?" david asks. they both nod in agreement, still giggling and making rudolph jokes. he steps away from the counter and closer to her, piping bag in hand.
     "don't even," she replies with a nervous laugh, holding out an arm and taking a step back.
      "i wasn't gonna," he says, still not putting down the piping bag, still moving closer. "i was just going to..." he takes a quick step, catching her off guard, and grabbing her hand.
     "no, no, no, no, no..." with one swift motion, he pulls her in and pipes a dot of red frosting on her nose. she crosses her arms and shakes her dramatically at him. dana and henry begin laughing uncontrollably, much louder than before. david laughs as well, to the point he has to wipe a tear from his eye. it gets to the point where she can't even pretend to be annoyed, and she starts laughing too. david's too busy laughing that he doesn't notice her picking up a piping bag from the island and taking inconspicuous steps closer to him. that is, not until it's too late.
     "no, no, no..." he starts, but she's already piped a line of frosting across his face in the shape of a smile. "oh, it. is. on!" the kids laugh as they watch stevie and david run around the island trying to get each other, but not get hit as well. this goes on for some time until, finally, a truce is called, and they get back to decorating. but stevie doesn't properly exhale until the piping bags are cleaned and discarded. neither does david.