When You Know

28 - I've never, in all my life, had a Christmas like this before.

Mum was indeed stressing.

When we walked inside the house to the multilayered scents of Christmas wafting throughout each room, and saw the cooling racks and plates piled with food scattered all over every surface of the kitchen and dining room, all three of us had to bend down and collect our jaws from the floor and wipe up all the saliva we had drooled from our mouths.

"Holy shit,' said Jet, pouncing from one plate to the next inspecting the many different sizes and shapes and types of foods Mum had created. "You made all this?" he asked, peering at her with adoring eyes that looked like they had stumbled across gold at the end of a rainbow.

"The boys helped a little before they left, but yeah," she giggled, standing back and taking all of it in.

"You are literally superwoman, I swear it. Isn't she?" he asked, looking back at Ruben and I. "Look at all this food. I don't even know what half of it is, but I want to eat one of everything." Jet was still inspecting all the plates of food around the table when Ruben creeped behind Mum, wrapping his arms around the apron covering her waist which was plastered all over in flour and chocolate and batter. He whispered in her ear and kissed her neck, and she giggled some more and spun around to wrap her arms around him and kiss him on the lips. Ruben didn't even care that her apron was getting his clothes really dirty.

I walked around to Jet, and started pointing at different things and explaining what they were. They were Mum's staples for family events so I knew them all by now, but that didn't stop me from being ridiculously impressed with how much she had made today. She'd never made this much before. Then I dragged Jet outside to show him the tables and decorations that Ruben and I had put up.

Jet was blown away. "I've never, in all my life, had a Christmas like this before," he said, trying really hard to hold back tears. I held his hand and told him I hadn't either, which was true. Mum definitely went overboard this year, just as Jet had predicted, and if I didn't know any better, a lot of it was done specifically for him.

"What do you think, my beautiful babes? Looking and smelling good enough for Christmas?" Mum said, walking out onto the decking with Ruben in tow who took a seat on one of the chairs while Mum spoke to Jet. "Do you like it, Jetty?"

He didn't say anything to her. He just walked over and hugged her tightly, not letting her go for about thirty seconds. Alternatively, I sat down on Ruben's lap, and we both just watched them smiling. When Jet finally released Mum, she kissed his cheek and looked down at his now-dirty clothes, with batter and things now having transferred from her apron to his shirt, just like with Ruben's. She laughed and apologised, trying to wipe it off unsuccessfully, but she only made it worse.

"Are you done with all the cooking, Wifey?" Ruben asked through all his chuckling.

She wrapped her arm around Jet's shoulders, which looked a little strange considering how much taller he was compared to her, and said, "Yeah. The rest I have to do in the morning."

After Jet's expressed disbelief that we would need more food, Ruben continued talking. "Alright then. I'm going to run you a bath, and I want you to stay up there until the boys and I have cleaned the kitchen properly." She tried to decline his offer, saying she would do it considering she made all the mess—and boy, did she ever. It seemed every single spoon, bowl, plate, saucepan, oven tray and whisk had been used, and I wasn't at all looking forward to cleaning it. But he was right—she had been slaving all day and needed to relax, and we're a family and need to help even out the load of cleaning between us. Mum had cooked, we can clean. It was only fair.

True to his word, Ruben ran her a bath, with her favourite coconut bathbomb and citrus candles, and made her a huge iced coffee to sip on while she was up there. Jet and I, on the other hand, started washing and drying the dishes, which we calculated was probably going to take about 3-4 hours. I wasn't sure Mum could handle being in the bath for that long, but the pace of our cleaning quickened substantially when Ruben came back down and took over the washing, with Jet and I now both on drying duty, reducing the estimated time of completion to an hour and a half instead. We went through two tea towels each before everything was dry and put away.

By the time Mum finally came down from upstairs, the three of us were seated on the couch, each munching one sweet that Ruben let us take after whining the whole time that we wanted one. I assume he thought we could all each eat one quick enough that she wouldn't notice, but we were caught red-handed. It was a good thing Mum was relaxed enough from her bath not to be mad. She just smiled and asked if we liked them, which of course we all did, Jet more than anyone.

"I've decided I'm only having desserts for lunch tomorrow," he said, his mouth still half-full with crostolli.

"So, clearly you haven't looked in the fridge then?" she laughed, sliding into Ruben's waiting arms on the couch. Jet jumped off the couch and ran to the fridge, opening it to see all the salads and burgers and lasagne that she had already made, wrapped and waiting to be consumed for lunch.

"What the hell, Sade? How did you make all of this?" he asked incredulously.

"I had some handy little helpers for a while," she smirked at me, winking in thanks for my help today. Mum was exhausted, I could tell. But she was also incredibly happy, especially considering Jet's reaction to everything she had been able to pull together.

We decided that we would all have an early night in order to get up and have a surf together in the morning before everyone came over. Only I couldn't do that with my stupid broken arm, but said I was happy to go ahead and watch them on the shore. I was, after all, getting used to it by now, even though it infuriated me to no end. Ruben and Jet went to collect some take away for our dinner, leaving Mum and I at home alone for a while.

"You okay, buddy?" she asked.

I was. I was more than okay. I think I may even be the most happy I've ever felt in my life. With my full and complete family, surrounded by food I loved created by the woman I loved most, and looking forward to a day of eating too much and hanging out with the rest of my growing family. I told her all this, and she beamed down at me.

"We've had lots of Christmases together over the years, you and I. But I know you can tell this one's a little different. Ruben and I had a couple together when we were young, but Jet's never been with us for Christmas and I wanted to make it special for him. You understand that, don't you?" I did. "It's just, he spoke to me about his Christmases in the past with his family, and it seemed a lot like how Christmases were back in the day with your grandfather, and I remember well enough how shitty they were when he had an extra reason to get drunk. I don't think Jet has many good memories of Christmas, so I wanted to help change that. But I love you, and I'm really grateful for all your help today, and I hope you like it all, too."

I think she thought that I minded that she went to all this effort for Jet, and not necessarily for me. I didn't. I didn't mind at all. I saw Christmas at Jet's old house, and it definitely wouldn't be a memory I would want of a special day like this.

I also think Mum was afraid that I would think she was playing favourites now that she had two kids to look out for. But I knew it wasn't like that. She was just sharing her love around, and I would be selfish to want it all to myself.

"You don't need to explain yourself to me, Mum. I'm a big kid and I know you well enough by now to know what's going on. And I love that you are making this special for him. He deserves it."

"You're a good boy, Madden Jace Carter, and I'm very proud of you."

"You're a great mum, Sadie Maree Blake, and I love you."