Flying On Crippled Wings • (Sixx:AM)

Jingle Balls

**AUTHOR'S NOTES**

As promised, here is part TWO of Christmas! I apologize for the late update, I was planning on posting this last night but there was a *slight* change of plans due to some holiday stupidity... (long story... My holidays were eventful to say the least.)

I hope you all had an amazing Christmas (or whatever you celebrate)!! I sure did... As an Italian, it's tradition to do the Seven Fishes on Christmas Eve, which is my absolute favorite... Fried calamari?! Ugh, I can eat a whole platter of those like a vacuum cleaner! LOL.

Can't believe in a week it'll be the New Year... Insanity! Anyway... if anyone forgot, the timeline for these installments is BETWEEN CHAPTERS 6 & 7 OF "YOU HAVE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE"

Enjoy! Last part will be posted in a few days! :)

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JAMES'S P.O.V:

Well, it turns out that the short group I was coaxed into attending wasn't all that terrible .

I guess I gotta admit that sometimes I jump to conclusions way too quickly before giving things a chance...All of this is still so new to me so I never know what to expect, especially when it comes to holidays...Even though it's been a few weeks since I've gotten admitted, I've never spent a holiday here...I know for a fact that my mood isn't helping the case, either.

The group was only thirty minutes as opposed to an hour and it was spent doing arts and crafts for the holiday...We each had a choice of how we wanted to spend the time, so I decided to make a few cards for my close family; Nikki and DJ included. I shouldn't really call them cards... They're more like sad attempts at artistic creativity. My father is a visual artist, but I didn't inherit that gene...Performing and musical arts? Sure, but visual... not so much .

Nevertheless, I tried...If anything, the least I could say is that my family will get heartwarming letters from me...If what I wrote even made sense.

Not only did I write a few Christmas cards, but as a group all of us sat around our tree and opened up surprise gifts from the staff...Either I was way too out of it earlier to notice the wrapped boxes under the tree or the techs and nurses hadn't had anything out until the group. Either way, I don't think any of us were expecting anything.

The moment that I was handed a small box with my name on it, I felt like I was almost on the verge of tearing up. It's hard for me to accept what feels like unnecessary presents from anyone, but I know I couldn't say no even though that was my initial instinct. When I unwrapped the box, I found a handwritten Christmas card signed by all of the staff on our unit, a collection of inspirational quotes, a small black journal with the word strength encrusted in gold lettering, some pens, and a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble. There was also a separate little note from Rachel that she must have snuck in while she was here yesterday.

Hey stud!

Merry Christmas!!! If you're sad, turn that frown upside down! You're doing some really hard work here and I love being able to help you through it! Cut yourself some slack...Give yourself some credit where credit is due because you deserve it. Try to enjoy yourself today. I know it is not the most fun place to be but Christmas is Christmas no matter where you are! Enjoy your presents! -RP

Next to her initials, she drew a small doodle of a pancake stack with eyes and a mouth. I couldn't help but smile. That woman is a nut but I've begun to learn that it's just in her blood to be that way...It suits her.

With a heavy heart, I ended up thanking the staff profusely, while insisting that they didn't need to do any of this, but naturally each one of them shrugged my comments off saying that it was the least they could do to make the holidays here a little easier for all of us. As much as I struggle absorbing that, I also appreciate it...As wrong as it feels to allow myself to receive any sort of positivity during such a dark time.