Learning to Love Christmas

Chapter 18

XVIII: Winter Wonderland

December 21, 2013

“I always knew you were a little star.” I said when my little brother ran up to greet me.  He changed out of his costume but his smiling face was still smudged with a bit of stage makeup. I picked him up and spun him around making him giggle uncontrollably.

“Put me down, Elle!” He yelled at me between fits of laughter. I put him down a moment later but he was soon scooped up by my mom. 

“You were absolutely wonderful.” Mom grinned at Danny.

“Good show, kiddo.”  Dad ruffled my little brother’s dark brown hair.

“Bravo, little bro!” Ethan handed him a bouquet, his eyes shining with pride.

“Flowers?” Danny scrunched his little face in disgust. “What’ll I do with flowers?”

“They’re chocolate roses, Dan.” Ethan rolled his eyes but he was smiling.

“Then yay!” Danny cheered and gave each of us a big hug. We all laughed. When he got to Ethan, he said, “You know, you could’ve just straight up told me they were edible.”

Danny’s school decided to do “A Fairytale Christmas Carol” as their Christmas play this year. Our beloved fairytale characters portray the characters in the play. The Big Bad Wolf plays Ebenezer Scrooge, the Tooth Fairy plays the ghost of Christmas past, and so on. He was Ebenezer. The show was rather corny but it was wonderfully done. My brother was fantastic, if I do say so myself.

Amongst the bustling lobby full of young actors, their families, audience members, and teachers, everyone kept shouting praise at the little guy. People were clapping him on the back and his teachers were swinging by to say congratulations. My brother was grinning from ear to ear as he basked in the spotlight. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. He loves attention.

“You definitely had me convinced. If you hadn’t told me it was all just a costume, I would’ve thought that you were the Big Bad Ebenezer Scrooge.” Oliver praised, smiling at my brother as though he was a proud sibling. Danny invited him to see the play that night Oliver was over for dinner.

“The night he almost kissed you.” A small voice echoed in my mind.

I shook the ridiculous thoughts out of my head. He wasn’t going to kiss me. I just had too much hot chocolate and ended up hallucinating. I was delusional. It was all just a trick of the eyes. I’m sure he doesn’t like me like that.

Anyway, it was after I got Danny into his pajamas. He ran back down the stairs and asked Oliver himself. Mom was in the kitchen at that moment and overheard him. She practically pushed Oliver into going. However, I think Oliver was genuinely delighted to be invited and said he’d come. I bet he’s gotten to love Danny as much as Danny adores him. Also, coming from a family who was too busy to actually go to school plays, he told me he’d never been to one before so of course he was glad to tag along.

“Wow, really?” Danny’s eyes were so wide.

“Really.” Oliver replied with a nod. “In fact, I brought you this for such an awesome performance.” Oliver presented Danny with a circular something wrapped in a glittery gift wrapper with silver snowflakes plastered all over it. Before Danny could react, he was called by a teacher who said they were going to get a group photo of the cast. He gave mom his gift to hold and gave Oliver a hug before running off to join his cast mates.

“It’s a pink Angry Bird.” Oliver told me when I asked what it was. “He told me it was the only one missing from his Angry Bird collection.”