Our Life Together

14

"Mommy! Wake up! It's Christmas!"

"What time is it?" Quinn groaned as she opened her eyes.

"You don't wanna know." Noah responded.

"Eight?" Quinn guessed.

"Seven." Noah said. "She was up at five, but I told her we had to give Santa some extra time."

"Beth." Quinn muttered.

"Get up, Mommy! We have to see if Santa came!" Beth exclaimed as she went to jump on Quinn.

Noah caught her in the air and put her back down. "Careful with that lip, Beth."

Beth frowned as she stood next to the bed and gently shook Quinn. "Mommy, pleeeeease."

"Alright." Quinn sighed as she got out of bed. "I'm up."

"Yay!" Beth cheered as she headed to the stairs.

"Not so fast." Quinn said as she chased after Beth and scooped her up. She kissed her cheek. "Merry Christmas, little bee."

"Merry Christmas, Mommy." Beth smiled as she wrapped her arms around Quinn's neck. She squirmed out of Quinn's arms and ran back to Noah, hugging his leg.

"Merry Christmas, Beth." Noah smiled. "Let's go see if Santa came."

"Okay." Beth nodded as she got up and took Noah's hand. "Come on!"

Beth held onto Quinn and Noah's hands as the trio went upstairs. They started in the kitchen to check if Santa ate the cookies and drank the milk.

"Mommy! Look!" Beth squealed. "He ate all the cookies and drank all the milk!"

"He did!" Quinn smiled as she watched Beth.

"Can we go in the living room and see if he brought presents?" Beth requested.

"Carefully." Quinn nodded. "Watch that lip."

Beth hurried into the living room, screaming excitedly when she saw the stacks of presents underneath the tree. "Mommy, look!"

Quinn and Noah entered the living room, surprised to see Finn, Carole, and Burt on the couch.

"Merry Christmas." Quinn said. "I hope she didn't wake you guys up."

"We wanted to watch her open her presents." Carole responded with a smile. "I miss having a little one around. All that excitement."

"Finn, look!" Beth said as she tried to climb onto Finn's lap with a wrapped gift in her arms. "Santa came!"

"I see that." Finn chuckled as he lifted Beth up and put her on his knee. "Let's see what he brought you."

It took Beth over an hour to open all of her gifts. Quinn definitely went overboard, but Christmas was her favorite holiday (and Beth's) and she wanted it to be special.

Beth got more dolls, toys, and games than she knew what to do with. Quinn had also bought Beth clothes and shoes, which she didn't seem to care as much about, but she was still excited and appreciative.

When Beth was finally done opening her gifts, she noticed that the other adults had come down at some point.

Quinn watched Beth greet everyone while telling them that Santa came and brought her so many presents.

Noah cleaned up the wrapping paper while Quinn unboxed some of the things that Beth wanted to play with.

"Breakfast is ready." Blaine announced. "Everyone can come to the dining room. Kurt and I already set the table."

"No." Beth shook her head as she continued entertaining herself with her gifts.

"Beth, let's take a break so we can have some breakfast and call Grandma." Quinn said. "You can play with your toys when we get back, okay?"

Beth frowned as she put the toys down. "Fine."