True Colors

Christmas Special (Part 2)

December 25, 2022

“Are you sure? I hate to start this without you?” Cece spoke into the phone, then turned at the sound of wrapping paper being torn. “Amber, sweetie, can you distract your brother for a few minutes? We’re not ready to open gifts yet. James, we can wait for you. I don’t want you to feel left out.” 

“Mom, I’m a grown man. I can handle it.” James laughed. “You have two impatient children on your hands, and depending on the roads, the drive could take an hour or three.” 

Cece bit her lip in concentration. “I know! We’ll save all the gifts from you until you get here. Then you can still see everyone’s reactions!” 

Another amused chuckle came from James’s end of the call. “Alright, Mom. Sounds good. Hey, I have to go, okay? I’ll be there as soon as I can, I promise.” 

“Okay. Everyone get over here and say goodbye to James quickly!” 

A chorus of “Bye”s and “See you soon”s, accompanied by a small “Love you” from Layne, rose from the mass of people seated around the living room. 

“Bye, everyone. Love you too, Layne,” said James. “See you soon!” Then he hung up. 

“Alright, who wants to help hand out presents?” Cece pretended to think hard for a moment. Amber was practically jumping up and down, waving her hand in the air. “Amber, would you like to help?” 

“Yeah!” the six year old exclaimed. 

“Leila, you might have to help us read the name tags, if that’s alright with you,” Cece asked despite already knowing the answer. 

Leila grinned. “I’d be happy to.” 

It took twenty minutes to hand out gifts, which isn’t surprising when you think about it. Amber could only carry one or two presents at a time, and since she was eager to show off her new reading skills, she insisted on reading the tags herself. Layne tried to help, but he could only take the smaller ones, and he would often get to the middle of the room and forget who he was taking the gift to. Leila, who was within reach of Renee, Eugene, Apollo, and Jaycee, simply slid their gifts across the carpeted floor. Really, Cece and Leila were doing most of the work, but the kids were ecstatic, and the two women didn’t mind it. 

When everyone was finally sitting down with a pile of presents before them, Cece gave the ‘okay’ to start. It was a Smith tradition to work from youngest to oldest, each person opening one gift each round. Amber helped her brother open his first gift, revealing magnetic building tiles. After that, it was Amber’s turn. The first present she opened was a sweater with a sequin unicorn on it. When the sequins flipped up and down, the color of the unicorn changed. 

After Amber, it was Mallory’s turn, then Nadia’s. It would have been James’s turn next, but since he wasn’t there, they skipped him and went to Leila. Jaycee was next, Randy followed her, and Apollo was after Randy. Then it went to Renee, Eugene, and finally, Cece. Then the whole thing started over again. When the kids became impatient, they were allowed to open all their gifts (other than the ones from James) and start playing with the toys they’d received. Several snack breaks were also taken, prolonging the whole process, but no one minded. 

It was an hour and a half later, as Mallory was tearing open her final gift, that they all heard the back door creak open. James poked his head around the corner, grinning from ear to ear. “Merry Christmas!” he exclaimed. 

“Oh, get in here, you,” cried Cece. “Thank goodness you made it! And just in time, too. We were just finishing up everyone else’s gifts.” She pulled her youngest son into a bone-crushing embrace.