Winning Skylinn

11

After dessert, the boys watched football and the moms talked and cleaned up. I, however, wanted to get some rest before the big day ahead of me. So I went up to my room and took a nap.

I slept like a baby, and when I woke up, it was already midnight. Jonny and I were leaving in two hours.

I took a long shower, since I had some time. Then I ate a bowl of Lucky Charms-my mom still buys me kid cereal-and went over the list of presents I needed to get.

Finally, I put on my annual Black Friday Christmas sweater. Jonny and I always wore them the day after Thanksgiving. Mine was this old green one that had been my mom's in the 90's. It had glittery gold Christmas trees on it and said 'Happy Holidays.' It was so ugly, but wasn't that the point of a Christmas sweater?

I didn't bother with makeup, since it was so early. I was sure no one would notice if my eyes weren't made to perfection.

At exactly 2:00, Jonny knocked on the door. It was a quiet knock, but I could hear it because I was waiting in the kitchen. I grabbed my purse and met him outside.

"Hey," he said, hugging me. He was wearing his red sweater with the white Christmas trees, reindeer, and gifts all lined up across the front. Also, he had this ridiculous Santa hat on his head. His eyes looked both tired and excited. "Ready to go?"

I gave him a cheery thumbs-up.

We went in his car, because it had more gas mileage and a bigger trunk. Jonny reached across me and dug through the glove compartment. He pulled out a Mariah Carey Christmas CD.

"Yasss!" I said approvingly. I took the CD case from him and put the disc in while he started the car.

As he drove, we sang along to all our favorite Christmas songs, trying and failing to match Mariah's ridiculously high notes. I didn't understand how some people could sing that high!

Jonny wasn't the best singer in the world, but I was even worse. That's what made it fun, though. We could be silly and awful, but there was no judgment. Only terrible singing.

Our first stop was Walmart. "We gotta get here before all the crazies show up!" Jonny insisted.

We hurried inside to find the whole store filled with people. Jonny looked panicked, but I was excited. "Come on, let's get a cart!" I waved him over to the cart section, and pulled one out. He agreed to be the cart-driver while I picked out the gifts.

"What do you need from here?" I asked him.

"I'm getting my dad this book by James MacDonald, called Vertical Church. And for my mom, Dove chocolates."

"That's all you're getting her?"

"No. But that's all from this store."

"Ah." I rushed through the aisles until I got to the electronics section, where all the video games, phones, CDs, movies, and books were. It had always been my favorite part of the store.

Well, not always. When I was little, it was the "pink aisle," as I called it. That's where I got all my Barbies. But I'd donated them all to Sunrise when I started working there.

Anywho, we went to the book aisle and I found the book for Jonny's dad. Then we hurried to the candy aisle, and I got his mom's chocolates.

"Are you getting anything from this store?" he asked.

"Um..." I tried to remember. "Oh! Jewelry for Jake." She'd been telling me she wanted new earrings.

"Don't you want to look at the mall?"