Our first Christmas with Riley was very busy. We woke up early to finish cleaning the house and get started on what seemed like it would be a marathon of cooking. My family were coming at eleven to spend the day with us this year, mostly because of Riley. And Troye's family were going to Skype call us before then to say 'Merry Christmas'.
I was in the living room, wrapping the last present to put under the tree while Troye was in the kitchen when the baby monitor crackled to like and I heard Riley whimper meaning she was awake. Shoving the wrapped present under the tree, I went upstairs to get her up. She was looking over at the door when I opened it, a smile spreading across her face when she saw me.
"Hey, baby girl." I cooed, crossing over to her crib and leaning over to pick her up she giggled and squealed in my arms, making me laugh. "Let's get you all dressed and then we can go see daddy."
In under half an hour, I'd gotten her dressed in a cute reindeer onesie and made my way down to the kitchen. Troye had his back to us when we came in but turned when Riley cried out.
"Oh hi there, princess." He smiled, taking her from me. "You look very cute today."
"She chose it." I told him, searching through the cupboard for a bowl.
"Right." Troye was shaking his head as I stood up.
"She did. I held up that one and the elf one. When I showed her the elf one, she looked away but with that one she didn't. Therefore, she chose it."
"Could you be more of a dork?"
"Hey! It's Christmas. You're not supposed to be mean today." I pouted at him.
"I'm sorry. Come here." He reached out one hand towards me, grabbing my shoulder when I was closer and pulling me in for a hug. "Merry Christmas, Connor."
"Merry Christmas, Troye. Can you believe that this time last year, we were still in our apartment and this little one wasn't even born yet?" I tickled Riley's toes as I spoke, making her giggle delightedly.
"So much has changed for us this year." Troye agreed, turning away to set Riley in her high chair. "And all for the better."
"Definitely. I can't imagine our life being the way it was anymore." I had found what I was looking for and busied myself making breakfast for all of us while Troye returned to what he'd been doing before. Riley was quiet, just watching us, until Troye spoke up.
"It's too quiet. We need some Christmas music on." I rolled my eyes but nodded.
"I thought you'd be sick of Christmas carols by now. They've been on repeat since November."
"You have to have them on today. It's tradition."
"Ah!" Riley cried out, sounding as if she was agreeing with him. I laughed.
"You're ganging up on me. What is it? Pick on papa day?" I asked her, sitting on the chair beside her to feed her.
"Apparently." Troye replied and I stuck my tongue out at him.
"Watch out, Troye, you might find yourself with no presents from me this year." I warned but he just laughed.
~~
At nine, we were sat in the living room on the sofa, with Riley between us, waiting for Troye's parents to call. Riley had turned her head towards me and was playing with one of the pom-poms on my sweater. It was apparently very intriguing as she'd been fiddling with it for a while now. Troye was watching her in amusement nut my attention was on my phone.
"My mom wants to know if she needs to bring anything." I said after a while.
"Nope. We're hosting this year; they don't need to bring anything." Troye replied firmly and I had to laugh at how possessive he was being.
