The Magic of Christmas

Chapter Nineteen - Averi

"Averi, Averi, Averi." 

With each use of my name, Theo pushes me in the shoulder, trying, and failing to wake me up. 

My 'mom' instincts haven't kicked in yet, but when they do, I sit bolt upright, eyes wide. 

"What?" I ask, "What's wrong?" 

"Nothing's wrong," his face portrays childish glee, "It's Christmas!" 

"No, Theo, it can't be Christmas," I roll over in bed before the prior evening hits me. 

Matching Christmas pajamas and hot chocolate and Christmas movies. 

The littlest Griffin child reading The Night Before Christmas aloud. 

It really is Christmas morning. 

"Well, what are you waking me up for?" I laugh, standing, throwing my covers off of myself, and throwing my slippers over my bare feet, "Let's go get mom and dad." 

He giggles, racing me towards the bedroom door, but he doesn't make it far before I intercept him, throwing him onto my hip and racing down the hallway. 

After awakening both of our parents and Candi, who hadn't even stirred as Theo attempted to wake me up, the seven of us race down the hallway and towards the Christmas tree. 

In my family, the Christmas gifts had never been the biggest part of Christmas (the birth of Jesus is), so we'd never had much. 

Plus, having had to buy for five kids without a big income, we'd learned to share gifts pretty well. 

Usually, we'd each get a couple of individual presents and one, 'big,' shared one between us. 

One time it was a trampoline. One time it was a blow-up pool for the backyard, the likes of which made it one, single summer before a neighborhood dog accidentally popped a hole in it and flooded the backyard. 

This year, our joint Christmas gift is a gaming console, something that had to have been way out of the normal budget. 

I don't ask. 

For my individual gifts, I'd gotten some clothes, some school supplies, and the Bible tabs I'd been begging for since the week after my birthday. 

Theo, of course, got some cars and a few items of clothing. 

Candi got some books and a new pair of shoes. 

Ivy and Holly received matching doll toys and a new hat and scarf mix. 

When all of the gifts had been unwrapped, the littles give mom and dad the gifts they'd made for them at school. 

Candi and I give them the kitchen utensils we'd managed to purchase from the store last week. 

It wasn't, exactly, the most fun gift, but we needed them. 

Dad is gathering all of the wrapping paper into a large, black trash bag when mom tells us that there's two extra surprises this year. 

Two extra surprises and a gaming console? 

Best. Christmas. Ever. 

"Wait," Ivy glances around the tiny living room, tugging at the bottom of her Grinch-themed pajama shirt, "We can't see the surprise without Theo." 

It's true that Theo is missing, but mom doesn't look concerned. 

In fact, she looks like she might just know where he's at. 

Seconds later, Theo bounds down the hallway, beaming, though, after reading his shirt, I realize there's no way he knows why he's excited. 

He just knows he's the current star of the show.