The Gift of Dancing (Book 5 of the Ava and Mia Series)

Chapter 4

ITS CHRISTMAS TODAY!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHH!!!!!! ITS 5:13 AND ME MIA AND SADIE ARE ALL SITTING ON THE STAIRS STARING AT THE CLOCK BECAUSE WE CANT WAKE ANYBODY UP UNTIL 5:30!!!!! IM SO EXCITED! I HOPE... Woah okay calm down Ava... Calm down... Take it from a 10 to a 2... 10 to a 2... Okay.

I hope everyone likes the presents I got for them. Last year our main present was Scotland but we can't go this year because mom can't leave the babies or bring them and it's too expensive right now. We had to choose: new dress before nationals or Scotland without mom. And obviously with all 3 of us alone in a foreign country across the ocean, that wouldn't end well.

I had to send back my cup last month and all the other perpetuals so my room seems a bit empty with out them. At least I still have my sashes. I have 2 from a major and 16 from feises but 4 were from that Christmas feis we did last year... We're doing another one on January 7th! Mia's hoping for her last 1st (she got them while we were doing a bunch of out of region feises before Nan's)! It's gonna be my first time doing my set and I'm really nervous for that!

We don't go back to school until January 10th and we've been off since December 19th! We don't have any other long vacations until 2 weeks in April. I miss Zoë, Clara and Izzy but they're all on vacation. Clara is in New York with her grandparents, Izzy is in Florida visiting her cousins and Zoë's in France visiting family! I look back up at the clock 5:21... 9 MORE MINUTES! Ahhhh!

I check my phone and everyone is already posting pictures on Instagram... Ughhh... I go back into the room and put on some fuzzy socks because my toes are cold and then it's finally 5:30! We quietly sneak to mom and dads room open the door and all jump on their bed! Except they're not there...

Then we hear a shout and I'm being lifted in the air! So is Mia and Sadie! We were trying to sneak up on them but they snuck up us! Dad puts me down and Aunt Tina and Uncle David put down Sadie and Mia. We're all laughing then we hear crying from the twins room. They share for now but when they get older they'll have their own room.

Mom and dad go get them and they're in little candy cane striped pajamas. They're so cute! Erin's hair is already starting to have little curls! We finally head downstairs and it looks like a scene straight out of a Christmas movie! Mom puts Erin and Logan in their pack 'n play. They have two little beds in it so they can rest.

We rush over to our stockings first. Mine is red with a reindeer, Mias is red with a unicorn, Sadie's is red with a kitten and Erin and Logan both have plain red ones until they're old enough to pick their own. We take them off the hook and dig into them. We basically all got the same stuff in them but with variations. A M&m candy cane, Sparkly bubble socks, Bobby pins. A Lush bath bomb (Sadies is called Dashing Santa, Mias is called Father Christmas and mine is called Cinders) and Lip gloss and hand sanitizers with a holder from bath and body works! We all got different lip glosses and hand sanitizers.

Mom and dad hand all 3 of us identically sized boxes. We all open them and it's a blanket! But it has t-shirts from feises and majors we've gone to! It has all of our Mid-Atlantic Oireachtas logos on there, this years Oireachtas logo down here in the Southern region, the Nationals one, the all Scotland's one and some logos from feises we've gone too.

"I've saved all your old Oireachtas shirts that got too small and I've been buying and extra one for the past year so I could have these done." Mom says. "I've wanted to do these for a while and now seemed like the perfect time!" We all go over and hug mom. They're fuzzy on the inside too! They're all pink on the inside.

We all give our presents that we got for mom and dad to them and they love them! Then we give the ones for Uncle David and Aunt Tina and they love them too. We give the babies ones to mom and she says they'll love them.

Me, Mia and Sadie all exchange gifts. Mia made me and Sadie these headbands out of hair elastics and Sadie made us both a picture!

Mom gives me and Mia two small boxes and we open them up. It's two Alex and Ani bracelets! They're both silver and say "my other half" on them! Awwwww twin power! Sadie got one that says "sister." I wonder if she gets lonely because she's the only one who doesn't have a twin now... We all get another bracelet from Aunt Tina with our first initial on it.

Dad pulls out 3 giant pillows from behind the couch with bows on them! Omg that's awesome! We each grab one and jump straight on it! I can see many days in the future on these with our new blankets! We all hug and then I notice one lone envelope under the tree.

"Hey mom what's that envelope for?" I ask
"Oh that's for you sweetie." She replies.

I go and grab it and open it and pull out the piece of paper inside and begin to read it.

"Dear Ava...."