We Are Free

Christmas Celebration

A week goes by and it is the 17th I'm done with all my Christmas shopping and we got are tree set up. Christmas morning we are going to open presents and Halo is staying with us. After presents and breakfast we are going to Anna's for the day.
Monday the 18th I pick up the kids from Anna's house. I go home and go through Emily's back pack. She has been quite and shy which is weird. I go through her folder and as I go to stick it back in her back pack it won't go in right. I pull it out and look inside. I see a white piece of paper.
I pull it out and it was crumbled into a ball. I unfold it and look at it. I see why she crumbled it up and threw it in here. It was an invention to a father daughter dance. It was January 4th the day they went back to school. It was 5:30-7:00. I call her into the kitchen.
"Why did you crumble this up?" I ask her and with that tears start pouring from her eyes.
"I don't have a daddy to go with and it makes me sad to hear all the other girls talk about their daddies and I don't have one." She says to me. She wipes her tears away with her shirt sleeve.
"That's okay I will take you." I say.
"Really."
"Yeah sure I'm not a dad but if you wanna go I will find a way to do so."
"I wanna go."
"Okay then I will take you." She hugs my legs.
"Thank you Jace." I wipe her tears and put the paper on the fridge. I call Anna and she says she will watch Andrew the night of the dance. It is a while yet though.
Thursday I get home and get the mail. I see a letter from the dance academy. It says she that her form was accepted and she would start the 28th. I tell her and the rest of the day she is so excited. Tomorrow was her last day of school for Christmas break. I put the paper on the fridge.
The next day I get the kids from Anna's and Halo follows me. We are off work until the 3rd of January. Halo is staying with us. We get home and do are normal routine. When the kids are finally down for bed Halo and I sit on the couch. She sits on my lap.
"Why do I feel a bump?" She asks me.
"I'm not wearing boxers." I say.
"Oh okay."
"I can't believe it is Christmas time already."
"I know the tree looks like it threw up."
"Yeah it does but oh well."
"I wonder what Zac is going to do."
"Me to I'm sure he got Zane some presents but Zane isn't going to open them."
"Yeah well he comes over and we go to my mom's and he has things."
     "That's true."
     "So what's been going on with Emily?"
     "Well she starts dance the 28th."
    "That's good." We talk for about a half hour. Then we decide to go to bed. The next day it is the 24th we spend all day baking cookies. We hang up their stockings. After dinner I give them baths. They set out cookies and go to bed. Halo and I go to bed. We wake up at 6:00 to the kids jumping on the bed.
     "Wake up wake up!" Emily yells.
     "Come on." Andrew shakes my shoulder.
     "Okay I'm up." I say.
     "Me to." We get up and go to the living room. I turn on the light and their eyes get really wide.
    "Go get your stockings." I say. I yawn and Halo and I sit on the couch. The kids go through their stockings. Each year I put a laundry basket by them that's where they put their presents. When we are done they take it to their room.
     They put the stuff in their stockings into the laundry basket. I take pictures so does Halo. Then we give the kids their presents. They open them. I give Halo hers. We open all are presents. When we are done we clean up and start breakfast.
    "Jace look Santa came!" Emily says bringing me the plate of remaining cookies Santa left.
     "Yeah looks like he was hungry."
     "He only left a couple."
     "Yup." I put the plate on the counter and put the rest of the cookies in a plastic bag. I put it in the cabinet and help Halo. We finish breakfast and sit down to eat. When we are done with breakfast we get dressed.
We don't have to be at Anna's until 11:00 and it was only 8:00. Halo and I help the kids open their toys and other things they got. They play with it all. I get a laundry basket and put the other presents under the tree in the laundry basket. I put it by the door.
10:30 we pack up what we need and leave. We get to Anna's at 11:00. We walk in and the house was warm. It smelled like mashed potatoes and pie.
     "Oh hi guys." She says greeting us.
     "Hi smells good." I say.
     "Oh thank you." She says. We take are coats and boots off. I brought the kids snow pants in case they wanted to go outside. We hang are stuff up. Anna gives us a hug. The kids play on the coffee table. Halo and I go to her room. She unpacks and repacks clothes.
    She gets in the shower and I go downstairs. Zac walks through the door. He has a car seat in one hand. He takes his coat off and his boots. He puts his hat and gloves in his pocket. He takes the blanket off the car seat. He takes Zane out and takes his snow suit off.
     "Where can I put his car seat?" He asks Anna.
     "Just leave it by the door hon." She says.
     "Okay."
     "Hey." I say.
     "Hey I have to run back to the car can you hold him?" He asks me.
     "Yeah." He hands Zane to me and I sit him on my arm. He waves to me.
     "Hi little buddy." I say. He smiles.
"He has gotten so big." Anna says.
"Yeah he has." Zac comes back in and puts a laundry basket and diaper bag down.
"You did that to." I say.
"Yes I did." Zac takes Zane back and Halo comes downstairs. She gives Zac a hug.
"Okay I have time to sit down." Anna says to us. We sit at the table and talk. Around 12:30 we go outside to play in the snow. In the back is some hills. We get the sleds from the garage and Zac sits on a sled he puts Zane on his lap.
He grabs the rope and I give them a small push. When they get to the bottom Zane is laughing. Emily and Andrew go down next and laugh the whole way down. Zac, Halo, and I don't have snow pants we are just wearing jeans, boots, coats, hats, and gloves.
We play outside for an hour. We sled and throw snowballs. We build some forts. We finally go in when we get cold. We get undressed and sit at the table. Anna brings us hot chocolate with whipped cream, marshmallows, chocolate sauce, and cherries.
Zac just gives Zane a warm bottle. We drink are hot chocolate and talk. When we are done with are hot chocolate the kids are hungry.
"Um I have fruit snacks in the cabinet above the stove." Anna says.
"Okay." I give them a pack of fruit snacks and they continue to play. 3:00 the food is done we all set the table. Anna gets Halo's old high chair for Zane. I brought the kids booster seats. They sit down and I get them a plate of food.
We pray and start eating. We sit at the table for an hour. When we are done it is 4:00 we clean the table. When the table is all clean and the kitchen is all clean we sit down for presents. We get a garbage bag for the wrapping paper.
We spend 30 minutes opening presents. When we are done we clean up are mess. We all just sit and talk. The kids play with their new toys. When we finally leave it is 6:30. Halo, Emily, Andrew, and I head home.
We go home and I give the kids a small snack. They put their stuff in their rooms. I give them baths and put them to bed. Halo and I sit down.
" I had fun." Halo says.
"Me to, man your mom really goes all out." I say.
"Yeah she does but there is nothing she enjoys more than cooking for her family." It is true she loves the holidays and love cooking even more. When we all get together her house doesn't stay together for long but she wouldn't have it any other way.
"Yeah true."
"She actually keeps asking when we are going to move in together."
"I can see why though you spend more time here then at home."
"That is very true."
"Should we do it?"
"I don't know is there room."
"Plenty you can put your dresser next to mine. Your night stand on the side you sleep on. I will give you half the closet and the bathroom with just be all over." I say.
"We can do that that would work."
"Yup."
"I think I'm ready I have basically moved in already."
"Yeah so you wanna do this?"
"Yes, I do you?"
"Absolutely."
"When?"
     "Um how about after my birthday give us some down time."
     "Yeah there is a lot going on. That sounds good after your birthday."
     "Okay." We kiss and go to bed. Halo's head hits the pillow and she was out cold. I look at the ceiling and think I'm lucky. I have the most wonderful family ever. I have everything anyone could ever want and need. I'm really blessed.