Fighter (Anthony Rizzo)

Merry Little Christmas

Camilla

Both mine and Anthony's family come in town to celebrate Christmas. As my parents and his parents talk in the kitchen, Anthony, myself, my brother Andrew, and his brother John all sit in the living room to converse amongst ourselves. I was close with my brother and he was close with his so it made for a fun time. Plenty of embarrassing stories to get us through the holidays. My brother asks Anthony a bunch of questions about baseball while I talked to John.

"It's nice to see he's found someone to help keep him grounded" John admits.

"It's hard being a professional athlete, I couldn't imagine the pressure and expectations he's had to amount to. It's hard to stay true to yourself when a million different people expect a million different things from you. But Anthony is great at staying humble and remembering that the only reason he's here today is because of how hard he worked yesterday. That's all him" I admit.

"Still. It's weird to see him so serious about something that isn't our family or baseball" he laughs.

"We work well together. I need him just as much as he needs me" I comment.

"So how have you been feeling lately? Everything still good" my brother asks me.

"Yup. No headaches, no dizziness, no problems" I state happily.

"Good because I don't know what I would do without you" he says messing with my hair.

"Alright Andrew, lets calm down now. We don't need to bring back wrestling to solve our issues now do we" I ask messing with his hair.

"Please no, I cant break up another fight between you two. I'm too old" my mom says causing my brother and I to laugh. We had fun times. Eventually it was time to eat and we all squeeze into the living room table.

"Wow Laurie, this ham is amazing" I gush.

"Thank you, it's a family recipe. Hopefully I can give it to you one day" she says turning to Anthony as he lets out a groan.

"Mommmm" he wines and I let out a giggle. Laurie loved teasing Anthony because Anthony always had something to say, it was cute. Dinner was great and filled with laughs and fun stories. I help clean up while the guys go watch basketball.

"So how has my son been treating you" Laurie asks me.

"Great. We had a amazing time on vacation. I learned so much" I say happily.

"You learned something" she asks. I guess vacation was supposed to be a time of relaxation, but your brain never turns off so why should my chances to learn?

"Well yeah, I'm always learning things. About me, about Anthony, about life" I shrug.

"You never change" my mom smiles.

"Never" I assure her and she kisses my head. We join the boys and watch some basketball before opening presents.

"I want to give Anthony his first, but you have to close your eyes" I instruct.

"Ummm okay" he says before closing his eyes.

"I don't trust you. John, can you cover his eyes please" I ask and his brother grows a smirk before covering his eyes. Andrew helps me roll his present out of the spare room and I set it in the corner of the living room.

"Okay you can look now" I announce and I watch his face light up.

"Oh my god you did not" he yells.

"I did, I know you said you wanted to keep up with the piano so here's a grand piano" I announce and he happily sits down to play it. It was large white grand that I found and just knew it was perfect for him.

"It sounds wonderful, I love it" he says pulling me into a hug.

"I was hoping you would" I laugh. He plays a few things and I finally pull him away to pass out the rest of the gifts. I got a new drawing pad and pencils from my mom and my dad got Cubbie a Rizzo shirt, classic. I got my dad and brother a bunch of authentic World Series things since they were both huge
Cubs fans and my mom a new MK purse. I got Anthony's brother a new wallet per Anthony's request and his parents some cool stuff from Thailand. Lastly Anthony brings in a box and a bright smile. He sets it in front of me and encourages me to open it quickly. I pop the top off and don't see anything at first, that is until a little head pops up and a chocolate lab puppy appears. It had a pink bow on it and I almost lost it.

"Oh. My. God." I whisper picking it up and cradling it in my arms. It lets out a little yap and it was so adorable.

"You said you wanted ten more dogs and after looking into it the apartment building only allows two per apartment. So here she is" he says.

"What's her name" I wonder.

"Addison" he smiles. I set the puppy in my lap and let her play with my fingers as she nips at them. Anthony gets up and follows my parents into the kitchen as I continue to play with the puppy.

"She's adorable" my brother says petting her head. He looks in the box and picks up a envelope with my name on it.

"You forgot something" he says handing it to me. I open it and find two tickets for New Years to BVI. What is this exactly?

"Anthony, what are these tickets for" I yell.

"British Virgin Islands for New Years. You and me babe" he yells back. Well that answered that. Nothing I love more than traveling than traveling with him. Eventually he comes out with a smile on his face and my parents also smiling. Weird. They leave shortly after then everyone trickles out leaving me with Anthony and our growing number of animals. Cubbie laid at his corner of the bed and Addison laid between us.

"Merry Christmas baby" he says softly.

"Merry Christmas Anthony" I whisper before falling into a slumber.