Full Bloom

Merry Christmas, I'm Pregnant!

I turned on my computer because I couldn't sleep. It took a while to power on, but I eventually got myself logged into AIM and nudged Karen.

Trendyjen85: U up? I can't sleep. :(

KewlKaren: Yup. Merry Xmas. U ready?

Trendyjen85: No.

KewlKaren: gl gf. Sending hugs. XD

Trendyjen85: ok g2g. Grma is up.

KewlKaren: kk ttyl.

I put on a sweater and some sweatpants, then went downstairs. Grandma Poppy was fiddling around in the kitchen. Now that her dementia was getting worse, we kept a closer eye on her. She couldn't use the stove anymore.

"Grandma, what are you doing?" I asked, seeing her lay things out on the counter.

"Oh, I'm making waffles," she said.

I saw that she had the griddle on the countertop, not the waffle iron.

"Did you mean pancakes?" I asked.

"No, waffles."

"Okay. Let's get the waffle iron, then," I said.

I stood by and helped her get the batter together, then put it in the iron. I always loved her cooking, but since I had to start helping her a year ago, her food just wasn't the same.

We ate breakfast and then sat in the living room watching some Christmas shows on ABC Family. My grandpa got up shortly after, and then around nine, Annie and her mom, Mary, came over to open presents. Mary wanted to make this Christmas extra special for little Annie with her dad not being around, so she was going to open one round of presents this morning and another later on with their own family.

I watched cartoons with Annie while everyone got all the presents ready. Nickelodeon was playing that really emotional episode of Hey Arnold where one of the characters gets reunited with his daughter after they were separated in the Vietnam War, which my grandpa fought in.

After trying to hide my tears from that cartoon, we went into the living room to open presents. There were a lot, and I mean a lot of things under the tree this year. I was able to get a lot of stuff on sale for my grandparents each year, so I was used to a lot of boxes, but not this much. Probably because there were so many for Annie.

A lot of the focus was on her opening up her toys, because us adults were getting "boring stuff." I got my grandpa those fun slippers he wanted, I got the jacket my grandma wanted, and I gave Mary a box of her favorite chocolates. I got a bunch of new clothes and some makeup I really wanted.

Honestly, I was just ready to knock it out of the park with my present for her: an interactive Harry Potter game, one that she specifically circled in her Toys R Us catalog.

"Oh my gosh! No way!" Annie said, tearing the santa-patterned paper off of a white, rectangular box. "Could it be?"

She opened the box to reveal an American Girl doll. But not just any American Girl doll. This was Samantha freaking Parkington. The doll she wanted so, so badly because she had brown hair and bangs like her.

"Smile, Annie!" Mary said, whipping out her camera and taking a picture of her glowing daughter with her brand new doll.

My Harry Potter game looks like trash compared to that, I thought.

"Okay, this is the last one," I said, sliding my present box over to Annie.

She tore off the paper and smiled. Not as big as when she got the doll, but still genuine. By now, I learned when she was faking it.

"So cool! Thanks Jen! Can we play it?" Annie asked.

"You want to play now? Okay!" I said.

While everyone else got stuck cleaning up the wrapping paper mess, I was on babysitting duty. Sucks to be them. Annie and I opened up the box, put the game together, and got right down to playing. This thing was pretty tough for a kids game. It involved moving a "levitating" styrofoam ball through a bunch of obstacles, and the game would constantly shout "Focus!" at you.

Mary and Annie stuck around for lunch, which was more like a brunch because it was bagels and pancakes. I worked out the rest of my holiday babysitting schedule with Mary, who was still going to throw a big party for New Years' Eve.

"I can't believe it's gonna be 2002 already," Annie said, crossing her arms. "I remember when I was in preschool, it was still the nineties."

"Same for me, only it was the eighties when I was still in preschool. Have you forgotten that I'm exactly ten years older than you?" I asked.

Talk about getting old...I couldn't believe I was already going into my late teens in February, let alone being pregnant on my birthday. Oh yeah...about that. I really needed to tell my grandparents.

I had no idea how they didn't notice the big box in the pocket of my sweatpants. I wanted to do the reveal in front of Mary and Annie, so they knew, but this gathering was really about Annie. Plus, seeing as how the stress of losing her husband most likely led to her misscariage, it would've been in super bad taste to do it in front of Mary.

Mary and Annie left a little after noon. I helped my grandpa clean up the kitchen while we placed my grandma in front of the TV. It kept her occupied and out of trouble. This time last Christmas Day, her and I were baking cookies together. I tried not to dwell on it. It wouldn't make her better. It wouldn't bring back who she was.

"Grandpa Oscar?" I said, my heart going a million miles a minute as I placed the last plate in the dishwasher.

"Yeah?" he asked, taking some eggnog out of the fridge.

"I...want to give you one more thing." I took the box out of my pocket and placed it on the counter. "There's something I need to tell you. I wanted to wait until the right moment."

I watched as he walked over and his face lit up. He put his hands on the lid of the box.

"Jenny, I'm so proud of you. Did you finally get your license? See, I told you not to give up..." He took the lid off the box as I swallowed the lump in my throat. All of my ultrasound photos were sitting atop a positive pregnancy test. His face was riddled with confusion. "I...I don't understand."

"Uh..." I said, giving him an awkward smile. "Merry Christmas. You're gonna be a Great Grandpa. I'm pregnant!"