Skates (One-shot)

Skates

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Swirls of snowflakes were descending from the heavens above, so gracefully and delicately. I pushed open the window and extended an arm out of it. Without a glove on, I felt a prick of coldness wrapping itself around my hand but I ignored it. I'm used to the cold, in fact, I loved the cold. I love how pure the white snowflakes were. I love how refine they make Christmas look every year. I love how they looked so simple and yet they were all made up of symmetrical complicated designs. I love how unique each one of them are, just like every single person in this world.

"Harper—oh, you're up already!" I heard my father said and I turned around to face him with a smile.

"Merry Christmas, dad!"

"What are you doing with your hand outside the window? Get it back inside and close the windows. You don't want to get frostbites, do you?" He raised his voice as he made his way over, but concern filled his eyes.

"Relax, dad. It's not that bad," I chuckled but stopped short when he didn't smile back, "Okay."

I let out a sigh and did as told. Dad had always been paranoid of me getting a frostbite ever since I almost got one when I was seven.

I used to play around the snow with my friends back at our old place where we would spend the entire afternoon doing all sorts of activities involving snow. Building a whole family of snowmen, making snow angels, having snowball fights, you name it, but my favourite one is ice skating.

"Mom's making pancakes for breakfast, come down when you're done," He said and ruffled my hair before leaving the room. I rolled my eyes and combed my hair with my hands. My dad had a habit of ruffling my hair ever since I was a baby and he never stopped doing it until now. I took another look at the snow falling outside the window and hopped on one foot to my crutches. 

"Good morning and Merry Christmas, sweetheart!" My mother cheered in a sing-song voice as she scooped the last pancake into a plate.

"Merry Christmas, mom!" I said and swung myself awkwardly before stopping in front of her and gave her a hug.

"Do you want honey or caramel syrup or chocolate with your pancakes?" Dad asked as he dug around the fridge.

"Everything."

"Everything?" He repeated and turned to look at me for confirmation. I smiled and nodded as I made my way to the dining table. He shrugged and pulled all three of them out and placed them in the middle of the table.

"So what are we doing later?" Mom asked.

"I don't know. What do you want to do, Harper?" Dad said and he turned to look at me as mom did the same.

I shrugged and squeezed honey onto one side of my pancake before doing the same with chocolate on the other side. 

"We could have a Christmas edition karaoke session."

"Great! I haven't sung any Christmas carols since a year ago," Mom said and started humming to the tune of Frosty the Snowman.

"And I haven't played any Christmas songs on the piano since last year," Dad chimed in.

"The last Christmas was only a year ago," I said and stuffed a fluffy pancake into my mouth, the sweet honey melting into my taste buds.

"Still, it's been a year," Dad said and mom nodded her head exaggeratedly.

After a sweet breakfast and a few teenage-like bickerings between my parents about which song to sing, we finally decided on a few classics. As in classic, I mean my favourite ones when I was younger.