To the One I Loved

Chapter Thirty: Christmas

Nina's POV:
I hear all of the alarms clocks blaring throughout the house at once. It was a Christmas tradition of ours to set every alarm clock and phone alarm in the house for midnight, so that we could catch Santa in action.

Paul and I both walked into the living room at the same time to see that underneath a decked out tree, was a tons of gifts. I had already put mine under the tree, and so had Paul and there were only ten. But after mom and dad's editions, there were about thirty presents.

Mom and Dad were sitting on the couch, each with a clear glass of milk, a plate of cookies, and a Santa Claus and sexy Mrs. Claus costume on. "Wow," I said, "This is all amazing, but the costumes, really, was that neccesary?"

"Yes," Joan said, "because Angie and the Walkers have never seen a whole Myer-family Christmas before." Then she heads towards the door.

"Mom, first of all, I am not going over there in my pajamas. Second they're probably sound asleep. And lastly, you and dad are not going over there dressed like," I pause, "Well, like that." I point at them, waving my finger up and down.

Then Paul begins to laugh. "Oh, come on, Nina, this would be funny. I'll even record it on video," Paul says. Then he walks into the kitchen. About a minute later, after rumbling through things, he comes back with a video camera. What was that even doing in the kitchen?

"Okay, fine," I say, "Alex keeps a spare key under one of the bushes on the side of the house."

"Yes!" My mom says, excitedly, as if she was a child again and we were doing some big April Fools Day prank or something. Then we walk out of the door, keeping it unlocked behind us.

I run through Alex's yard and to the side of his where I once saw him pick up his spare key before he got his car with a keychain. I picked it up from underneath the bushes and head back to my whole family who were all waiting at the door like idiots.

"Oh my goodness," I said putting the key in the lock. "Our family is messed up and this whole idea was stupid." Then I push the door open. Sitting on the kitchen counter was half-of a plate of chocolate chip cookies and an almost empty glass of milk.

There was a note that read: thank you for the yummy snack, but I saved some cookies for sweet, little Angela. Xoxo -Santa Claus.

Then we walked into the living room, to find it empty of people, as I had presumed. So we went upstairs. Well, just me and Paul. I was to wake up Alex who was to get his parents, and Paul was to carry Angela downstairs.

So we set off on a mission. I crept into Alex's room. It was spotless. A Christmas miracle. Something I'd never seen before. And I thought of the sweetest way to wake him up. And that's what I did. I jumped on top of him, bouncing the bed and said, "Alex wake up, its Christmas."

He turned over in his sleep, "What?" He asked, obviously still half asleep and confused.

"Its Christmas," I said again, "And I need your help." He shot straight up.

"What? What's wrong? Are you okay? Is it the baby?" The bombardment of questions threw me off. Wow, he actually was worried about me. Even in his sleep.

"I'm fine," I said, "I just needed a little help with something my parents want you to do." He sits all the way up in his bed.

"Oh okay," he replies, "What is it?"

"I need you to wake your parents and bring them to the living room." He nods. Then I leave out of the room. I'm still shocked that the first things that have to pop in his mind is that I'm in trouble. It just makes me sad that he even has to worry about those things.