A Taylor Christmas

Chapter 6 - Surprise

7 days to Christmas

**Sam's POV**

That's it for my much needed me-time.

I have been looking forward to having the house all to myself until the kids come back from school sometime in the afternoon.

And then Alex called and everything changed.

My plan was to sleep in, have a healthy breakfast, go for a quick workout in the nearby gym – I really try hard not to overdo it during this school break, but I also won't allow myself to become a lazy bastard like some of my brothers – and then just chill out in the living room by myself.

It is a rare occurrence that the main areas in this house are completely free of other living souls and I was adamant to make the most of it. Watch some football on the big TV without having to defend my choice of entertainment against demanding siblings. Or worse, fighting over the remote. Which normally ends with me giving it up, just to keep the peace.

Obviously, I could easily win any such fight against the little pests, since they are no match for me physically. It would be slightly more challenging if I were to take on Jordan or Alex, but Jordan isn't around to fight with – and Alex would never be caught acting so childish. He'd simply demand that the remote be handed to him and anybody would cave, me included. I am by no means scared of him, but if he chooses to put on his infamous no-nonsense expression, it leaves no room for arguments.

Luckily, Alex doesn't have to put on his scary face too often. It doesn't suit him and his personality at all when he has to be this stern, parental figure. He is a very calm and collected individual and he doesn't believe in yelling at the kids or threatening them. Sometimes his approach to try and reason with our kid siblings instead of putting down the law, however, doesn't have the desired effect. He had to learn that the hard way over the years, as he has admitted a few times since he became the guardian of our youngest five siblings.

I am still impressed by how well Alex handles this huge responsibility. He will be turning 30 this coming February and he has already raised five boys into adulthood and there are still five more kids to come. Considering everything that happened to our family, I'd say he has been pretty successful so far. With the help of the oldest set of twins, of course.

But at the end of the day, my big brother is the head of this family and that means in a way he is responsible for all of us. He is a great role model for me and by stepping in and helping out whenever I can, I try to show him just that.

I'm in my last year of college up in San Jose, meaning that I am not around during the week when Alex and Josh have to organize this crazy bunch. And I am often away on the weekends, too, since I play football in college. This is also the reason why I moved into the dorms after commuting back and forth for the first two months. It was simply impossible to keep up with the demanding training schedule, the college courses themselves and looking after my younger siblings.

But whenever I can arrange it, I come home to take the kids off my older brothers' hands and spend some time with them. This allows Alex and Josh to get some time off, too. We all decided together that we will raise these five additional kids when they showed up pretty much out of nowhere more than seven years ago. And although I was only 14 at the time, I vowed to contribute my share to make this work. I take this commitment very seriously and it would never occur to me to let them down.

What I always appreciated in our family and the way Alex "runs" it, is, that we all get to have a say in things and make decisions together. For example, when Sean asked if he could do his master's degree in Chicago, all of us had a say and we agreed unanimously that he should take the opportunity since he was offered a full scholarship. Nobody felt like he let us down because he moved two time zones away from home. Sean more than pulled his weight in his last year of high school and while he was getting his undergraduate degree at a college nearby.