Mom's new love (marina)

Ornaments

December 3rd
Maya pov

At 7am I heard my bedroom door swing open and little running footsteps before I felt something land on my legs. Evie. She'd just run in and dived onto the bed and was now wriggling up to get between Carina and I in the smallest possible space. "Good morning," I grumbled as she accidentally kicked me. At least I hope it was accidental.

"Mornin'. Are we going to get our Christmas tree?" She asked excitedly. This is exactly what Harley used to do on the day we were going to get our Christmas tree. And I would always reply:

"Yeah but not at 7am." My eyes were still closed but I heard Evie sigh before she used her fingers to pry my eye open.

"Wakey wakey Mommy."

"Nooo," I groaned, pulling her into my arms and squeezing. "Wake Mama up instead." With that she kicked Carina in the stomach causing her eyes to snap open and me to gasp. "Evie, not like that," I sniggered, all of us now awake.

"Ouch. That is not how I want to be woken up," she grumbled and rubbed her stomach. "At least when Harley does this I don't get kicked."

"We're getting our Christmas tree!" Evie squealed, "I've never had one before!" She was so excited but it broke my heart; a little kid should always have a proper Christmas and she never has. "I'm gonna tell Harley," she said, rolling over me and out of the bed before running back out of the room across the hall. Carina then rolled into me and buried her face in my neck, pressing light kisses to my skin.

"You know, last year when we got our tree was when I asked you to move in with us," I said, stroking my hand through my wife's hair.

"I do remember. Look at us now: married, two amazing girls and probably a Christmas puppy," she laughed.

"Oh my god the puppy, she hasn't shut up about it and I don't have the heart to say no," I said, hearing the faint sound of laughter from Harley's bedroom.

...
In the afternoon, we had come home with the Christmas tree and it was sat in the living room waiting to be decorated. But I had a surprise first. "Evie, would you like a hot chocolate?" Harley asked as she was making her own.

"What does it taste like?" She asked, going over to Harley who lifted her to sit on the counter.

"Chocolate but hot and you drink it," she teased. "I'll make you one and then if you don't like it Mama will have it."

"Okay," Evie said before being handed a tiny mug with an 'E' on it.

"Don't drink it yet because it's hot so leave it for five minutes," Harley told her while I just watched them. Harley was the best big sister and it made me so happy because I didn't know how she would react to Carina let alone an adoption, but she couldn't have been happier.

Once both of the girls were sat on the couch, I came into the living room with a little bag of small gifts in Santa wrapping paper. "I've got a present for you," I smiled as I moved to stand in front of my daughters and Carina was next to me looking confused. "So, Harley and I have decided that because since last Christmas we have two new permanent additions to our family, we need some new ornaments. We decided that Harley's hand made ornaments will no longer go on the tree and they needed to be replaced to fit our new family," I explained, making Carina smile but Evie just looked confused. "So I have a few new ornaments." I sat on the floor in front of the girls and handed each of them a gift which Evie quickly ripped into.

"I don't understand," she said, turning the glass ball in her hands.

"You hang It on the branches on the tree," I explained, "Your's has an 'E' on it and Harley's has a 'H', Mama's has a 'C' and mine has an 'M'," I said, showing her everyone else's ornaments that they were holding.

"Aaahh I get it," she said, making everyone laugh.

"Now, this is a special one for Evie," I said as I handed her a second wrapped package. It was a glass ornament that had a picture of her inside. In the picture, she has purple paint all over her hands which she is gladly displaying and she's making a silly face with her tongue out. Underneath the picture it just says 'Evie' in glitter because Harley has a very similar one from when she was Evie's age.

"Woah, how did I get in there?" Evie questioned, pointing to the picture in the glass.

"It's just a photo," Carina laughed, still clutching the ornament with her initial on.

"This one is from Harley," I said as I passed one to Carina. Her's was the same style as Evie's but the photo inside was one of Carina, Harley and Evie, and the glitter said 'Mama' underneath.

"Oh my goodness, I love it, thank you," she said, a small tear coming to her eye that she didn't want anyone else to notice. I just love watching Evie because she has no idea what is going on but pretends she knew about Carina's gift, displaying a cute smile on her face and her blue eyes sparkling as usual.

"This is the last one and it's sort of for everyone but I'm sure Mama and Harley won't mind if Evie opens it," I laughed, looking at her cute grabby hands because she loves tearing the paper off. I handed the little package to Evie and she quickly ripped into it to reveal another tree ornament, this time it was a picture of all of us in a heart shaped frame that said 'family' across one edge.

"This one is my favourite," Evie told us, clutching the little frame close to her face so she could see the photo up close.

"I'm glad you like it," I smiled.

"I love It."

.
The finishing touch on the tree was the star on the top. So I carefully lifted Evie up high so should place the star on the top of the tree before placing her back onto the ground.

"No mommy, pick me up," she whined, raising her arms once again. I happily obliged and held her against my body.

"You okay little love?"

"Yeah I just like cuddles," she replied, tucking her face into the crook of my neck.

"Ah okay," I laughed, kissing the top of her head and just swaying to enjoy this moment while nobody else was in the room. "Have you enjoyed putting up your first Christmas tree?"

"Definitely. Can I keep the photo of us when the tree isn't here anymore?"

"You sure can."