Beth relates

Christmas Eve

Tomorrow will be Christmas Eve. I was so excited yet frightened. My mum and dad packed some pumpkin pie and presents in the car and we were off to my grandma and grandpas house. When we got there all the cousins were there. Here is a description of my cousins:

Liam: 19, quiet and boring
Elizabeth: 18, super sweet and responsible (my favorite)
Savanna: 15, bossy
My brother: 13, immature
Cali: 11, athletic
Me: 10, energetic
Sadie: 5, adorable
Martin: 3, savage
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Families:
Uncle Charles, Aunt Lindsey, Cali, Martin
Uncle Fred, Aunt Lorelei, Liam, Elizabeth
Uncle John, Aunt Katie, Savanna, Sadie
Uncle Ron, Aunt Cheryl, Dominic, Me
-HERE ARE THE BATES!!!-

As we walked inside everyone greeted us with hugs and kisses. A lot of attention was on my mum and her pregnancy. I made my way to the living room. It was decked out with presents for the whole family!

"Hi guys!" said me and Dominic.

Liam was with parents and Savannah seemed to be lecturing Martin.

"BETH!" said Elizabeth.

"BETH!" I said.

Because of our names we were both nicknamed Beth. We hugged and Cali came over so we could greet each other to. Sadie sat playing with some dolls.

"Hey let's play hide and go seek!" I said.

"Sure!" said Cali.

Me, Cali, and Dominic walked outside. Sadie and Martin did to. Martin began chasing Sadie with a stick while Savannah tried to stop the beast.

"Ok, put your feet in the middle!" said Cali.

Cali always had an advantage with hide and seek. She was strong, flexible, skinny and fast, yet she ate like a pig! I don't know how she does it.

"Blue shoe, blue shoe, who's it not you!" said Cali. Her finger landed on her own shoe so me and Dominic played Rock Paper Scissors.

"ROCK PAPER SCISSORS SHOOT!" we said in unison. I got rock and him scissors.

"YES, COUNT TO 30 NICK!" I yelled in glory. He rolled his eyes and counted by the outdoor table. As he counted I walked around my grandmas backyard. I found an empty garbage bucket about my size. I flipped it over my head and squeezed into it. "I am one with the bin" is what I kept thinking to myself. From the distance I herd Dominic.

"28-29-30, ready or not here I come!" he said.

I tried to listen for footsteps but herd nothing. To my left I swore I herd movement but it was just for a second. Maybe it was just Cali. As a few minutes passed I heard steps coming towards me.

"Guys were are you?" said my brother.

Everything stayed silent. Then just a few moments later I herd a satisfying sound.

"I FOUND YOU CALI!" said Dominic.

I got out of my hiding spot and saw Cali on top of a tree making her way gracefully down. She reminded me of a monkey!

"I'm counting!" she said.

We played around for about 2 hrs. We played games like watch tower, truth or dare and tag. It was lots of fun! Then it was time to eat!! Ham and turkey was at the table. Mashed potatoes and 2 boats of gravy lie there as well and so much more. We all tucked in it was delicious! But then it was dessert. Pumpkin pie, sweet potato casserole, and my grandmas famous apple pie. When I was done I felt like I ate an elephant.

"When can we open presents?" asked Sadie.

"When everyone has finished eating, it's polite to leave the table when everyone's done" said Elizabeth.

Stubborn Martin decided to ignore Elizabeth and run around like a maniac. As I waited for what felt like forever it was finally time to tear open those presents!

"PRESENT TIME!!" yelled Uncle Charles.

Martin ran to a random present and threw it at the Xmas tree. Uncle Charles was used to this madness and just flicked little Martin in the head. Martin gave his dad a terrifying look.

"WERE ARE MY PRESENTS!!!" screamed Martin.

Aunt Lindsey held Martins hand but he refused.

"Present, I want present!" he said sternly.

"Well I suppose we should look for you and your sisters presents" said Aunt Lindsey.

I walked around reading the names. I had collected 4 presents. One from each of the Bates families and my grandparents. I waited for everyone to find there presents. Martin had finely settled over to the fact that 5 presents is enough even though he wanted more. Finally it was time to rip our presents open! My first present was from Uncle Charles and Aunt Lindsey. It was a gift card to a music store. The next one was from Uncle Fred and Aunt Lorelei. It was 50£. Then Uncle John and Aunt Katie who got me a book. Yup a book. They were that educational type of family as they both worked at the same school. Uncle John the math teacher and Aunt Katie an English teacher. The book was called how to teach music to dummies. It actually seemed quite interesting. Elizabeth walked up to me and handed me a little box. Inside it was a guitar pick. It was initialed B.B.

"I know you know I'm going to Oxford in a month so I decided to give you this pick, the initial is Beth Bates, I hope this will remind you that no matter what we will be together in our hearts and I'll be thinking about you, because every time someone calls me Beth I think about you and I hope that when you play your guitar you think about me" said Elizabeth.

"Thank you so much, I will always be thinking about you" I said as I hugged her.

"OK BIG DOGS LETS WATCH THE MAN U GAME!!" said Uncle Charles.

Me, Cali, Dominic and Elizabeth went outside and Sadie and Martin followed as the men of the family watched the game. The kids would always call them hooligans to mess with them in fact we still do to this day! We all kicked around the soccer ball. Savana and Liam were inside.

"So what did you get Martin?" I asked.

"Nerf gun" he said.

"Wow" I said sarcastically back.

He ran inside and brought it out fully loaded. We all gave him a shocked look. The gun was humongous. It was almost his whole hight! After a while we decided to play watch tower. It's a game were there is a certain base which the seeker must guard. The seeker will look for the hiders. The hiders goal is to sneak to base. Once you've made it your safe. It was a really fun game! Sadly, after a while we had to go back home.

"Common you guys it's time to go home, we need to get there before Santa!" said my mum.

So then we packed up the car and went home. As I got home I went to bed as quick as possible. I was filled with anticipation for what tomorrow morning would have in store!