Dedicating Every Day to You

Chapter Nineteen

"It's Christmas morning wake up Kathryn there are presents under the tree and some of them are from us and we're going to spoil you rotten why aren't you awake yet?!"

I open my eyes blearily and blink a few times. My room is illuminated in ethereal blue from the window, and my little clock tells me that it's five-thirty. Alex is bouncing on my bed, still in pajamas.
"Dad, isn't this a little reversed? Technically, I'm the one who's supposed to be waking you up early on Christmas morning."
Alex grins. "I wanted to wake you up at four, but you were still asleep."

I groan and slowly climb out of bed. The full impact of his words hits me a moment later, and I start to jump up and down. "It's Christmas! Let's go wake up Daddy!"
We run into John and Alex's room. Alex climbs onto the bed and kisses John, who immediately starts writhing around.
"Alex, you have the worst morning breath!"
"You know you love me."
"Not your morning breath, I don't."
Alex goes to kiss him again.
"ARGH GROSS GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Five minutes later, we're all downstairs and sitting by the tree. We decorated it last night, and it looks beautiful. It's decked in silver and gold, complete with fake snow. There are mountains of gifts, too. I'm really excited.

See, it's not like foster kids don't get Christmas. We do, just on a smaller scale. One or two presents apiece is the usual standard. It's always a fun and exciting day, but really, it can't compare to this. Almost all of these have my name on them, and I'm brimming over with happiness.

John tosses me a package. "For you, little girl."
I pounce like a cat on the box and unwrap it carefully. It's a box of paints, in brilliant colors.
"I figured since we wasted most of them having that paint fight, you might want some new paints." I hug him and laugh.
Alex smiles. "Also, one of your presents is kind of a big deal, so we couldn't get you too many. A lot of these are from our friends for you."

He reaches over and pulls out a box that looks as though it's gone through the wash cycle. It's full of holes, and the box itself looks a little damp. He passes it to John. "I'm sorry it's in bad condition. I wasn't sure what to do with it."
John opens the package to reveal a tiny turtle, about the size of an Oreo. It has red bits on its sides and a big happy smile.

"Oh my gosh this turtle is so cute! Alex, I can't believe you bought me a turtle!" John picks it up and hugs it. "I'm naming it Koopa."
I look at him in confusion. "Koopa?"
"You know, from..." He trails off at my expression. "Alex, the child has never played Super Mario Brothers!"
Alex stands up. "Add that to the list of things to do today! The child will learn to love Luigi and Mario."

The Schuyler sisters have sent a set of books for me, classics like Little Women and Jane Eyre, ones that Livv has made me read and I've grown to enjoy. Hercules sent a dress, which is beautiful. It's shimmery and light green, and it reminds me of Tinker Bell, if Tinker Bell planned to wear Converse with her dress.
Harriet and Theo have a gift under the tree as well. It's fairly heavy, and I open it to find a picture frame.

In the frame is a sketch of the three of us, copied from a selfie we took back in November. Every curl of Harriet's hair, Theo's dimple on the left side of her smile, the funny spot in my eyebrow from a collision with a tree, it's all there. Theo has managed to capture every detail of it, down to the green specks in Harriet's eyes and the little necklace I was wearing that day. I think I might cry, it's beautiful.

John hands Alex a little box, like an engagement ring box from a movie. "Here you go."
Alex laughs. "Oh babe, are you proposing to me?"
John hits him with a pillow. "Just open it."
He does, to reveal what looks like a plain ring. "You gave me my wedding ring? I thought we did that four years ago."
"Well, remember how we wanted to get our rings engraved but never had time?"
"I was going to get the word 'turtle' on yours."
"I finally got them engraved!"

John's ring reads, 'After all this time?' Alex's says 'Always'. Both have 'JL + AH' and their wedding date.
Alex grins and kisses John. John holds him close, then suddenly shoves him away. "Your breath is still gross. Would it kill you to use a toothbrush?" He kisses him anyway, though, until I hit them with a pillow off of the couch.

"I've got a present for both of you." I reach under the tree and pull out a small purple notebook. It has the word 'Memories' stamped on the front in silver.
Alex opens it to the first page. "Kathryn, this is so beautiful."
I bought this notebook at a store called Kate's Papierie when we were in NYC. I've been filling it for the past few days with play by plays of all the best memories that we've made together as a family.

John leans in to read. "I loved that day!" He points to the three pages I've filled with our Halloween day.
"I only filled half of the notebook. I figured we can fill out the rest as we make more memories."
Alex hugs me and so does John, putting me in the middle of a sort of sandwich.

"We've got one more gift for you!" John grabs a giant box wrapped in silver paper. Eagerly, I rip off the paper and open the box.
"It's empty."
Alex cracks up. "Sorry, honey. We really do have another gift for you."
John produces a tiny envelope. Inside are three yellow pieces of paper, each marked with 'April 27th' and 'Miranda: An American Musical'.

I start screaming. "YOU GOT ME MIRANDA TICKETS!" This is seriously the best day ever. Miranda tickets are unattainable. I've been trolling the website every day in my fruitless search for a sale. They're always sold out beyond belief.
"Yes, we did. They're for spring break."
I wrap both of my dads in a huge hug.

We bundle up and go outside to play in the snow. It's fun, to be running around and full of energy while the rest of the world is just hitting the lights to start their day. The sky is pale and light, and everything is cold and beautiful.
Alex is rolling snow for a snowman, and I start to roll my own ball for a snowgirl. John starts pelting us with snowballs.

Soon, we have two snowmen and a snowgirl. John's has an apron, Alex's has a little tie, and mine has a ruffled tablecloth that Alex claims looks like a tutu. They're actually pretty well done, but maybe that's just my happiness talking.
"These look adorable, John."
"Not as adorable as you." He kisses Alex.
"Stop it, you're making me blush." Alex is, indeed, blushing a shade of cranberry red.
"Maybe you need to cool down, then!" With that, John hits Alex with a snowball and runs away.
It's absolute anarchy now, snow flying everywhere and Alex laughing and John screaming.

*********

"Four hundred dollars, pay up." Alex holds out his hand for money.
"No way! You're cheating." John folds his arms and pushes his money away from Alex.
"I'm playing fair! Now give me the money." Alex leans towards him.
"You two are ridiculous. It's just a board game." I roll my eyes and move my shoe three spaces. Alex took the top hat and John stole the Scottie dog, and Koopa is sitting on the middle of Free Parking, eating a cherry tomato.
It's our second round of Monopoly, and I don't think Alex remembers what's going on.

After our snowball fight, we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and John set up a terrarium for Koopa. We drove out to take a hike in the forest, and it was so beautiful. The snow was all pristine except for the tracks of animals, and when I fell out of a tree I simply landed in a snowdrift.
We came home, and Alex and John taught me to play Super Mario Bros. I turned out to be pretty good at it, and we defeated Bowser together. Now, we're expressing our creative frustration through a second game of Monopoly.

"No, Koopa, we don't eat the fake money." John picks up the tiny turtle and kisses her nose.
"I'm hungry." I yawn and look up to see that the room has grown extremely dark.
"That's because it's almost seven and we forgot to feed you dinner." John stretches and stands up. "I don't feel like cooking. Alex?"
"I can't microwave a pizza properly." Alex curls up on the floor. "I want some Chinese food."
"If we get Chinese, I want spring rolls!" I clap my hands and grin. Chinese food nights were always my favorite at Miss Falcon's house.

I fall asleep over lo mein and the requested spring rolls. I tried not to, but I was up at five thirty, no thanks to Alex.
"She's so cute when she's sleeping." I hear John push his chair out from the table.
"Should we bring her upstairs?" Alex starts collecting dishes from the table.
"I will if you will."

They begin to carry me upstairs, and I open my eyes. "Merry Christmas, dads." My voice is slurred by exhaustion.
"Merry Christmas, sweetheart." Alex smiles down at me.
"I love you guys."
"We love you too, baby. Never forget that."