Halcyon

Christmas Dinner

An hour later Clarissa and Max have arrived and are currently sat with Poppy who is showing them all her presents, Conor has Maddison who is stood on his lap squealing happily at him. Meanwhile, Jack and Nikki are finishing up the dinner in the kitchen and are just putting it onto plates for their guests. "...So do you want me to put enough for Maddison in a small bowl and then blend it?" Jack questions as he picks out a small plastic bowl.

"Yeah, can do... I'll grab the highchair from the garage and give it a wipe down" Nikki smiles as she leaves her partner to prepare their six-month-old daughter's food.
Nikki comes back into the kitchen with Poppy's old highchair which has been folded down so it's easy to put away. Nikki crouches down and opens up the highchair before grabbing some detol wipes and wiping it down.

"Maddie's dinner is all sorted, shall we go rescue my Dad, Maddie has a hold on him" Jack chuckles as he pours the gravy onto the last dinner.
"You can, I shall sort the food" Nikki smiles as she carries the highchair into the dining room.

Soon they're all sat down for their Christmas lunch and the conversation is flowing between the adults when suddenly Poppy looks up from her dinner and across at her parents who have sat the opposite side of the dinner table to her. "Mummy, Daddy? why do we have Christmas?" She questions curiously as she eats a carrot.

Jack and Nikki freeze and think for a moment, "Yeah, Mummy why do we celebrate Christmas?" Jack smirks looking at Nikki.
Nikki scrunches her face up and glares at Jack, "Thanks, Jack..." She speaks and then thinks of an answer. "Because we celebrate Jesus's birthday" Nikki smiles.

Poppy nods slowly and then turns to Max, "Do we uncle Max?" She smiles cheerfully causing Nikki's mouth to fall open in shock.
"Yes we do sweet, we celebrate to remember the birth of Jesus Christ, who Christians believe is the Son of God" Max smiles and looks at Nikki who is stunned that her eldest daughter didn't believe what she just told her.

Soon they all finish their lunches and Jack and Nikki clear the table and head into the kitchen ready to put stuff through the dishwasher, "You prepare the pudding and I shall load the dishwasher" Nikki smiles as she takes some plates off Jack and starts to load anything that hasn't got food on into the dishwasher.

"Mmm," Jack speaks as he opens up the Christmas pudding, "The best thing to eat at Christmas!... apart from you!" He winks.

Nikki turns and looks at him in complete horror, she then notices Poppy stood in the doorway looking as stunned as Nikki, "Daddy? why are you going to eat Mummy!" Poppy panics.
Jack freezes and turns to see Poppy, "Oh, No darling. I'm not going too, don't worry!"

Poppy then turns on her heels and runs into the dining room, "Help! Daddy is going to eat Mummy!" She squeals causing the adults to draw their attention away from Maddison and look at Poppy. "Daddy is going to eat Mummy! He said it!" Poppy panics as she races to her Grandpa's side.

"What?" Clarissa laughs.
"Poppy? what do you mean?" Conor speaks as he looks up to see his son stood before them.
"Daddy is mean, he wants to eat mummy! He always calls her naughty too and smacks her bottom" Poppy speaks innocently as she shares what she has heard from her parents with Max, Clarissa, and Conor. "Mummy says it's naughty to smack friends!" Poppy frowns as she points at her father.

Jack shakes his head and then proceeds to ask the guests if they would like brandy cream or custard with their Christmas pudding so he knows how much to prepare. He then walks back into the kitchen and smirks at Nikki, "Poppy is attempting to share our secrets again!" He chuckles.

"Always the way" Nikki laughs and rolls her eyes as she finishes loading the dishwasher and turns her attention to helping Jack with the pudding.

They prepare the Christmas pudding, "On about eating you, I think we should test out your Christmas presents later" Jack smiles as he gently wraps his arms around her body.

Nikki rolls her eyes and sighs before pulling away from him and removing the custard from the microwave and pouring some into Poppy and Maddison's bowls. "Jack, hands... wandering!" Nikki speaks as she tries to focus but Jack keeps feeling her bum.

"Hmm, I can't wait until later, put the kids to bed and have my way with you" He smirks as Nikki bats away his hands.
"What if I'm too tired? I have been cooking all morning, Poppy had me up early... and don't forget I will probably end up bathing Maddison too" Nikki replies with a smile knowing she will most definitely be too tired.

"Mmm, but still we can test that new toy of yours!" Jack flirts and she rolls her eyes again.
"Jack no! you know I don't like stuff like that!" She replies.
"Are you sure? I mean I've been away before now and I've come home to some of the toys in different places of the draw" He smirks.

She huffs and turns around to look at him as he's stood right behind her, he leans in and kisses her nose and smirks, "Just you wait, I'll have you begging and withering for me" He chuckles and kisses her lips and then smacks her bottom before walking away with the Christmas puddings, leaving Nikki slightly flustered questioning if she was just generally warm in the kitchen or turned on by what he had just told her.