High School Story and Canter Cove: Short Stories

Christmas Time Again

Christmas Time Again

Ally couldn't believe it had been pretty much a whole year since everyone moved away from Sandy Beach. Cody and Jade moved to RayBourne, as did Josh and Kayla. Scott and his daughter, Lilly, moved to Langheights and Ally still missed them all, even though it was just a year.

Ally had lived with her dad and his wife, Pam, for about a year, and in that time, Joe had managed to buy himself a house. That house happened to be on the exact same street as Ally's house, so he still wasn't too far away at all.

Ally liked that.

Joe had mentioned to Ally that she could move in with him in his new house whenever she wanted, but she had decided herself that she wasn't ready for that. She spent the week at her house with her dad and Pam, spending practically all of her free time with Joe or at the ranch. Then, on the weekends, she would sleepover at Joe's house, and she liked the current situation.

It was Christmas day, and Ally was excited, which she was happy about. She remembered the last year that Christmas was different, and she remembered the didn't exactly like it. It wasn't that long after Cody and Jade moved away. They returned to Sandy Beach for Christmas dinner with Ian and Amy and their family, but then they had to leave again, and Ally didn't get to spend as much time with them as she wanted to. Ally hoped to spend more time with them this year.

Ally got out of bed that day and she was greeted by a very excited Pam and Darryl. Darryl hadn't outright said anything, but he had also made it perfectly clear that he loved having his daughter live with him full time and having two Christmases with her at his house was probably his favourite thing in the world. It made Ally smile knowing how much he loved her.

When Ally got into the lounge room, she saw a multitude of presents under the tree. She was spoiled again, just like she was the year before, and it was just another way Darryl showed his excited.

"Okay," said Pam, "now we just have to wait for Joe to get here."

Ally nodded. Even though Joe worked as a tradie and had to do early morning starts five days a week, he wasn't a morning person. So, whenever he was on holidays or had time off, his sleeping schedule completely changed, and it made it clear that he loved a good sleep in. Sleep ins were good now and then, Ally agreed with that, but no on Christmas morning. She figured she'd have to go to his place and wake him up. She had her own key, after all.

"I'll go get him," said Ally.

Pam and Darryl nodded, and then Ally made her way to her room to grab her dressing gown. She didn't feel like changing into her day clothes, so she would just run across the road in her pyjamas. Everyone would have been busy inside opening their Christmas presents, anyway, so Ally knew that not many people would have seen her.

So, when Ally was all wrapped up in her dressing gown, she put her thongs on and then she went out the front door and made her way over to Joe's house. She walked under the carport and to the front door, unlocking it as soon as she arrived. Joe's dogs barked at her when she walked inside, but as soon as they realised it was her, they calmed down and showed her how excited that they were. It was very cute.

When Ally finished greeting the dogs, she made her way to the master bedroom, which was next to the lounge room. Joe had done a lot to the house since he had purchased it, and he said he was happy with how it had turned out. Ally agreed. She remembered when she saw the house when Joe first brought it. All the rooms were different colours, and the lounge room walls were painted in a hideous pink colour. Joe had since painted the entire house white, which made it look much more sophisticated. It also used to have a different coloured door for each room. Joe had also replaced all those with white doors, so the house looked pretty good. Ally was glad Joe had been able to do it.