Sad Faces

Chapter 20: Christmas Swim Part 1

Chapter 20: Christmas Swim Part 1

Christmas was approaching quickly and Thomas couldn't help but feeling a little out of place. He was not very used to having summer weather during a time of the year that was supposed to be wintery. Not that Christmas conjugated with beach was unfamiliar to him, as he used to live in California, but celebrating the holiday with a warm temperature instead of a cold one was a little strange. At that year, they would celebrate Christmas at uncle Stripe's, by his pool. At Christmas Eve, Thomas and his family were going there, in Bandit's car, with him driving and Chilli by his side, while Thomas was at back, between his sisters, texting on his phone.

"Thomas, are you excited for spending Christmas at uncle Stripe's, mate?" Bandit asked, while driving. "Yeah, I guess..." Thomas replied, while texting. "You guess? This is going to be our first Christmas ever since the divorce, I thought you would be more than excited," Bandit commented. "Dad, I am excited, but... it's still a little odd for me to celebrate Christmas during summer, I miss the snow, you know?" Thomas said, while finishing texting. "Wait, you had snow for Christmas?" Bluey asked. "Oh, I never seen snow before, you're so lucky Thomas" Bingo said. "But why did you have snow for Christmas and we don't?" Bluey asked. "Well, sweetie, Thomas lived in America where it's winter during Christmas," Chilli replied. "But how can be winter there, when it's summer here?" Bluey asked. "You'll learn that when you get to school, little sis," Thomas replied.

"But, Thomas, it's funny that you say you miss snow, I thought it didn't snow at the part of California where you used to live," Chilli said to her stepson. "And it doesn't, but my mom would take us to Oregon to spend the holidays, my grandparents have a cabin there and we used to have a lot of snow," Thomas told. "Really? That does sounds like a lot of fun," Chilli commented. "And it was, I would do snowdogs, snow angels, snowball fights... There was even a lake nearby that would freeze and I would ice skate there," Thomas told. "Oh, I would love to celebrate Christmas like that!" Bluey exclaimed. "Maybe one day you will, one never knows," Thomas said, addressing to both his sisters. "I would love that you two would have as much fun as we used to, right, dad?" Thomas asked.

"Sure thing, son..." Bandit replied, with a tone on his voice that Chilli recognized quite well. "Sounds like you were not a big fan of those Christmas with Emily's parents'" Chilli commented to her husband with a smile. "Let's just say I wished I could just forget some of those Christmas," Bandit replied. "Come on, dad, I know you loved our Christmas, you and I would engage in snowball fights for hours... and the fact we learned to ice skate together was so much fun," Thomas said. "Yeah... but that's not what I would rather forget," Bandit replied. "So, does this means this is going to be your first Christmas Swim?" Bingo asked to her brother. "Yeah, I think so..." he answered. That caused his two sisters to release one of their exciting squeaks that caused Thomas to block his ears.

"Oh, you'll love it so much!" Bingo exclaimed. "Yeah, we get to play with the sprinklers, relax on the relaxer chair, bon bons..." Bluey told. "Bon bons?" Thomas asked, confused. "They're crackers, mate" Bandit clarified. "Oh..." Thomas said. "When we celebrate Christmas at home, we spend Christmas day on the beach, but at uncle Stripe's we make a barbie by the pool," Bingo added. "Barbie is BBQ, right?" Thomas asked, causing her sisters to share a laugh, something they normally did when Thomas expressed his ignorance to some of Australian slangs, despite now he did that just for fun, sometimes. "I just hope your uncle Stripe does the crackling right this year," Bandit commented. "Bandit, come on, you and Rad always mess with your brother because of that," Chilli commented. "Hey, that's what big brothers do to younger brothers, they give a little of tough love," said Bandit replied.

When Thomas found himself surrounded by laughs and happiness at that moment, he could feel, despite everything, that Christmas was set to be best he ever had ever since the last one he passed with his parents when they were married.