A thick fog of condensation slowly grows in size as the warmth of my breath makes contact with my cold living room window blocking my view of the city skyline. It was winter and my favorite thing to do in the afternoons while waiting on my mother to return from work was watching the snowfall accumulate along the city's' landscape. What I was seeing was real and oddly comforting. In many ways it was similar to the paintings of Log cabins in the woods covered in snow, but somehow this felt different. When I would look into those painting it never felt homely more like something distant to perfect to be real. Unlike the painting I could get lost in thought for hours while staring into the cities horizon.
I begin to move my left arm toward the window, but just before my hand is about to reach the surface of the fog covered window I hear the familiar rattle of the door knob.
The locks for our front door was always bit wonky always taking several tries to actually unlock and open the door. Even more so for my mother because she would unwittingly uses the wrong key. She was very clumsy when she was tired.
I swiftly spin around and jump off the couch catching a glimpse at the time. It's 11:43 P.M. she's 30 minutes late which is very unusual of her.
Wonder what happened I thought as I begin to walk toward the door. Normally she gets off from work at 11:00 P.M. and walks home home. It's a short walk only taking 10 to 15 minutes to make it back home. Before I even made it to the door the harsh rattling of the door handle stops and starts to twist. The door creeps open revealing my Mother.
Instinctively I began sprinting toward my mother with my arms wide open. When i'm close enough my arms wrap around both her legs in a tight squeeze halting her movements.
She looks down at me letting out a small sigh.
"You could at least let me get through the door first sweetie" she says in a joking tone.
I then look up at her with tears covering most of my vision.
"But I missed you mommy"
Without any hesitation her hand pats my head ruffing up my hair.
"I missed you too".
I let out a small giggle without realizing it as my arms unwrap around her.
My eyes begin to observe my mother something was very different about her. Her eyes were surrounded by dark circles the were also puffy and red like she just stopped crying. Her demeanor seemed a bit different too. Maybe she was a bit more stressed and tired than usual. The outfit she chose today seemed a bit more professional with a black button up blouse and a black skirt with white stripes. Over top of her blouse she had a white lab coat on with her name on a pass and a strange arrangement of letters S.R.C. . A blue suitcase and manila folder with the same lettering on it was stuffed under her left armpit.
She never brings stuff home from work.
"Shouldn't you be in bed Missy it's almost 12 and you know Santa can't deliver your gifts if you are awake this late".
Suddenly a surge of excitement strikes my body at the realization of her statement. That's right I had been so distracted with watching the snowfall I had almost forgot it was Christmas Eve.
She gives me a funny look and flicks my forehead letting out an audible cry of pain
"You forgot didn't you?".
I rub my forehead. "Sorta."
My mother lets out another sigh "Alright I'll go change into my night clothes, and we will snuggle on the couch while watching some Christmas movies."
I nod my head in agreement and run to the couch my Mother already disappearing into the hallway.
But before I sit down I hear a yell from down the hall.
"Santa won't be happy if you don't leave him any cookies!"
"Whoops I forgot!" I yell back at my Mother.
She lets out a funny laugh as I begin making my way to the Kitchen.
I hop on the counter and open the cabinet reaching in grabbing a large plate and glass laying them on the counter. I slide off the counter and turn to open the fridge. The fridge was pretty much empty. Only some eggs and takeout from earlier today. I grab the milk and shake it around.
"Just enough for one glass oh I hope Santa likes 2 percent" I say worryingly tone as I close the refrigerator door.
My hand wraps around the glass to keep it steady as I pour the remaining milk into it. The empty plastic jug gets thrown into the green bin as I walk toward the bread box to grab some cookies.
I unzip the bag that contains some fresh chocolate chip cookies placing several of them on the large plate and zipping the bag up returning it to is original spot.
Hastily I make my way back to the couch leaving the cookies and milk on the counter. It only took few minutes for her to walk into the living room. She is wearing red plaid striped pajama pants and a white tank top. My mother is a petite woman not to tall but not too short ether. She has short brown hair that extended past her ears, big brown eyes with glasses, and not a single blemish on her face.
She walks towards the entertainment system and grabs the remote. "So what movie do you wanna watch?"
"Home Alone" my response quick and firm.
She turns around and makes her way back to the couch and plops down next to me wrapping herself in a blanket at the same time "Good Choice".
She then extends her right arm forward and presses play on the TV remote. It wasn't long after the movie started exhaustion seems to take hold of me and I start to nod of to sleep. My mother quickly takes notice and signals me to slide in closer to her. I accept her offer placing my head on her falling asleep as soon as my head leans against her body.
