Lovers

Welcome, Christmas

I'm spoiling you all with super cute chapters, I think. But that's okay, we all need a little happiness right now, I think. Enjoy/comment/vote and have a great week!
-ab

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December 25, 2027

Harper

Waking up on Christmas morning, everything feels suddenly perfect. It's the first time in a long time that it has felt like this. I slept soundly. Patrick is next to me, still sleeping peacefully, our daughter is lightly kicking in my tummy, asking for her breakfast, and I don't hurt, for once.

Without disturbing Patrick, I wiggle out of bed and walk into our living room, where I turn on the lights of the Christmas tree, thus illuminating the room in a pink glow. Then, I go to the kitchen and pour myself a bowl of cereal and glass of orange juice. Baby girl seems to like that, as she settles down after I'm finished eating.

Patrick and I placed our presents for each other underneath the tree last night, next to presents from our families and friends. It all looks so picturesque and pretty.

It isn't too much longer, until Patrick walks out into the living room, dressed in his Christmas pyjamas that I insisted on buying him, on the basis that I wasn't going to fit into any of the Christmas pyjamas this year, due to my ever-growing bump. I'm just in a pair of red pyjama pants and a long sleeved tee shirt- Patrick's, to be exact. It's soft and smells like him, which I like.

"Hey, sweetie," he says, coming up to me. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," I smile up at him. He plants a kiss on my lips.

"I'm going to get breakfast, and then we can do presents," he tells me.

"Okay," I laugh. "Little girl was hungry, so I already ate."

"What a good mommy," Patrick teases me, knowing very well that if I don't feed her when she wants it, then she will make it very well known that she isn't happy. I don't want that, especially on Christmas morning.

"I can't wait for about... three years from now when I can tell her to shut up and that she isn't getting a snack until I say that she does."

Patrick laughs. "That'll be nice, but until then, you've gotta get used to it."

"Yeah," I say. "I'll come with you and creepily watch you eat, even though I don't want food."

"Fair enough," my husband replies with a giggle. We both walk into the kitchen, and he fixes himself a very similar breakfast to what I've just eaten, about half an hour ago.

"What do you say we go and do presents now?" Patrick says when we are done. "I'm dying to know what's in that giant box from Taylor and Joe."

I laugh. "Something over-the-top, probably." Of course, she can afford it, so she always gives the craziest gifts.

"True," Patrick agrees with me, laughing. The package is addressed to both of us, so we can only figure that it's some sort of baby supplies. Both of us each have smaller, individually addressed packages from Taylor and Joe, as well.

We rip the paper off of the box, and inside, find a pink baby swing.

"Oh my god," I squeal. "That's so cute."

"With Taylor around, we are going to have the most spoiled little girl ever," my husband laughs.

"I think Audrie takes that title."

"True," he shrugs. "But ours will be close behind."

"We need to come up with a name for her so that we can call her that, instead of just 'her.'"

"True," Patrick laughs. "We'll talk about it later."

"Good plan."

In an hour, all of our presents are opened. Patrick got me a new phone, knowing that I needed one, which was super sweet. I got him new Bluetooth headphones, which he cheekily remarks that he'll be able to use to block out the noise of our crying daughter in a few months.

"Shut up," I tease him.

"Don't worry, you can borrow them sometimes, too," he winks.

We also each got each other a few smaller presents, and other people's presents have been opened, as well. I end up with a pile of presents, including a few new shirts, which probably aren't even going to fit me until the summer, a nice bracelet, Theatre Tokens so that I can see a few shows, some makeup, and a new water bottle.

Patrick's pile includes a new wallet, a little phone stand for his desk at work, a few books, a sweater, and new Nike trainers, purchased by me, after many weeks of complaining that his shoes were practically falling apart.

We spend the afternoon in the kitchen together, trying to cook something half decent for our Christmas dinner, which is just going to be the two of us at home. While we received invitations from both Patrick's parents and my mother for dinner, we decided to keep our day to just the two of us.

We manage to cook a pretty good chicken, too, if I do say so myself. On the side, we have pasta with red sauce and salads.

After dinner, Harper and I cuddle up on the sofa to watch Home Alone, a favourite childhood movie of both of ours.

"Can we make hot cocoa?" I ask, halfway through. "I think that Baby Girl wants some."

"I think that Harper wants some," he laughs.

"Yeah, that's true," I state.

"Let's make some, then," Patrick tells me. "Come on." We pause the telly, and walk into the kitchen. After warming milk on the stove, we mix in the cocoa powder and  put some whipped cream on top. That's my favourite part of hot cocoa.

With our mugs in hand, we head back to the sofa and finish up the movie.

"I'm pretty tired, P," I say to my husband, after the movie is done. "I think that I'm going to go in to bed early."

"I was just about to suggest that we do that," he replies. "Come on."

Since we haven't changed out of our pyjamas all day, we just brush our teeth and climb straight into bed. I snuggle into Patrick and I feel him wrap his arms around me.

"Merry Christmas, sweetie," he says to me. "I love you."

"Merry Christmas," I murmur. "I love you so much."

My eyes are growing heavy, and before I know it, I've fallen asleep. I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas.