Behind The Scenes

[Chapter Sixteen]

Chapter 16

"Momma."

It was early, that much was evident, as the sound of someone calling for my attention broke through my sleepy haze. The muffled sound may have been perfectly easy to ignore however, as I heard the sound again, I knew only one person who had this much persistence and energy this early in the morning.

"Momma, wake up!"

More effort was put into forcing my eyes open than need be, my vision slipping back into focus after a near-sleepless night. I'd stayed up well past two in the morning, feeling a little too festive as I wrapped the remainder of Abbie's presents and organized the living room for when she woke up.

I just didn't anticipate it being this early.

Abbie's eyes widened as she realized I was no longer asleep, a wide smile not far behind as she began bouncing in excitement on the side of my bed. "Momma, it's Christmas," she squealed, rousing me further from sleep, "We need to go see if Santa was here!"

Christmas morning seemed to knock any tiredness lingering in children's brains gone; the excitement of jolly old Saint Nick and the promise of new toys too much for them to even think about crawling back into bed.

I laughed tiredly as she struggled to pull the covers from me in the Christmas pajamas I'd slipped her into the night. "Momma's up sweetie." Pulling myself into a sitting position, my arms came around her small body, bringing her in for a hug. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas."

Wiggling out of my hold, she jumped out of the bed and waited, impatiently tapping her foot as I swung my legs out from underneath the covers. "Come on then," I yawned, stretching my arms above my head, "Let's go see what Santa's left you."

Abbie's Christmas joy couldn't be contained. Squealing in response before leaving the room in a rush, she headed downstairs to see what was waiting for her under the Christmas tree. Trailing behind her, I shook my head in silent laughter as my eyes caught the time.

6:02

Entering the living room, I smiled, watching Abbie crawl around the base of the Christmas tree, eyeing all the newly wrapped presents to see which ones had her name scrawled on the tag.

"Santa left me two gifts momma, and a s'ocking!" Her eyes sparkling as she turned to see the table, where a messed up plate of cookies laid. "And he ate his food!"

"It looks like he did," I grinned, walking over to clean up the small mess I'd made a few hours earlier. "I'll just put this in the kitchen," I said, picking up the plate and half empty glass of milk, "And then you can start opening your presents."

She nodded excitedly, climbing up onto the couch as I turned, heading towards the kitchen. What did surprise my though, was seeing Emily already awake, leaning against the counter as she waited for the coffee maker to finish dripping.

"Hey, did Abbie wake you up?" I winced, dropping the dirty dishes into the sink, setting a mental reminder for myself to wash them later.

Emily shook her head. "Dustin's coming to get me just after nine, so I figured we'd do Christmas early," she responded, filling up two mugs with coffee, sliding one towards me after filling it with milk and a generous helping of sugar.

I gave her a grateful smile, tilting the warm cup of liquid energy to my lips to take a sip. "Just promise me you didn't buy my daughter more stuff than I did," I commented cheekily as we made our way back to where Abbie was patiently waiting to open her gifts.