Seasons Of Love

Christmas Eve

A/N - I swore I was only going to write one Christmas chapter...but I got carried away again. So there will be one more after this...

"Mama!" Rose ran into the dining room where Winter and Autumn were setting out the food for the evening. She grabbed Autumn's hand and started pulling her toward the door. "Carly here Mama! Hurry!"

Rose had been sitting by the window all day waiting for her cousin to arrive. Not only was she excited to see her best friend and her favorite Aunt and Uncle, she also knew that them arriving meant one thing. It was officially Christmas.

Every year the Knights and the Fortune-Knights celebrated both Christmas Eve and Christmas day together. They always held Christmas Eve at Autumn and Winters and Christmas Day at Reece and Marjorie's, that way Reece couldn't get out of making Christmas dinner. Christmas Eve was always a much less formal night.

Autumn reached the front door just as Marjorie knocked. When she opened it she was surprised to see her sister-in-law holding a gift. Usually they kept the presents they bought at their own houses.

"Merry Christmas Autumn!" Marjorie called out as she and Reece came into the house. They stopped by the door to remove their coats and as they did Autumn couldn't help but scoff at their matching red jumpers which read "All I Want for Christmas is You."

"Marjorie." She nodded as the woman made her way into the lounge. "Big brother. I see Marjorie picked your outfits this year."

"I picked them, actually. Marjorie's choice was a bit more...flashy...so we compromised."

"Well isn't that..." she rolled her eyes as she turned away to head back to the kitchen. "Sickening."

"I heard that." Reece called after her as he joined his family in the lounge.

"I don't care." Autumn called back.

When Autumn reached the kitchen she found Winter and Marjorie excitedly whispering to each other as Marjorie showed him the present. Autumn folded her arms and cleared her throat to announce her presence. She couldn't hold back her smirk as she watched Marjorie jump at the sound.

"Ah my love," Winter stepped around the clearly shaken Marjorie and wrapped his arms around his wife's waist. "Marjorie is just so excited about one of Carly's gifts there was no way she could wait until tomorrow. Poor thing was so excited she had to tell me about it now."

Autumn narrowed her eyes at her husband before looking over at her sister-in-law who was nodding just a bit too enthusiastically at every word Winter said. Even though she didn't believe a word of their story, she knew whatever they had planned was important to them. So she wasn't going to ruin it. She relaxed into her husband's hold just as Reece came into the room. He took one look at the couple in their matching plaid pajama pants, the exact same pants as he'd seen on his niece, and stared at them with a shocked expression.

"Oh so you can match but Marjorie and I matching is 'sickening?'"

Autumn gave him a teasing smile before answering. "Exactly."

Before Reece had a chance to argue back Rose ran into the room, Carly following close behind her. The little girl walked right up to her uncle, knowing that he was going to be the easiest mark. She held her hands behind her back as she swayed from side to side, her cousin stood just slightly behind her with the sweetest smile she could muster on her face.

"Unnel Rees?"

"Uncle Reece, huh?" He looked over to Autumn shooting her an irritated glare. "So she does know my name." He leaned back down to his niece, his smile returning the second he looked at the girls. "What's up, moonbeam?"