M U T E

|| 19 ||

Finally, it's Christmas morning. I look over at the present from Myra. I can't wait to hang that up.

"Okay, okay. You go first. No, no! I want you to open mine first. No! I'll open first!" All too excited Myra again trying to make a decision and failing.

"You can open first," I said, handing my present to her.

She opened it, and her eyes went wide. 

"Woah, Reyna!" She barely had words.

"You're always complaining about how you need a new laptop, plus the recording is great with this one app I got downloaded on there, so you can make your makeup videos," I said.

She runs a makeup blog channel on YouTube. She just shows how to do different styles with makeup. It's pretty cool what she can do.

"My present for you is not nearly as good, but here," she handed her gift over to me. 

I opened it to see that she got me two posters. They were book-related, of course. There was also a framed photo that I could hang on the wall. The photo is the two of us when we were younger. I didn't know that the picture was being taken. We were at the field, each of us holding a kite that's in the air. We both had big smiles on our faces. My parents knew I'd never smile for the camera, so that's why they caught this one when they could. Still, I loved this photo. 

"The best things in life come from experiences not material. And every time I look at this photo, I'll feel that experience all over again. So thank you, this is an amazing present," I said, hugging her. 

I go downstairs, smelling the pancakes my mom is making. It's Christmas tradition to make pancakes shaped like Christmas things. My favorite is the reindeer pancake. The boys love the Christmas trees and stars. 

When mom was too ill to make the pancakes, I learned how to make them myself. I had to learn how to make a lot of things, but that's okay. I love to help out around the house. 

I sit down, and mom places the plate in front of me. Two beautiful reindeer pancakes lay on the plate waiting to be consumed. The boys sit down, already stuffing their faces with pancake.

Jocelyn and her sister have star-shaped pancakes. They sit and wait for my parents to join us. My dad sits down, waiting for mom to sit down before taking a bite of his. I pour the syrup over mine making it look all perfect like it's going to be in a commercial. 

I have my preferences on how my food should look before I eat it. After we eat, we go over to the tree. All of the presents are in certain colors, separated that way. 

"Okay, we color coded them to make it easier instead of putting names," my mom says, "red is Jocelyn, yellow is Lilliana, blue is Vincent, green is Kole, and purple is Reyna."

We all go to the color she said we are. She told us we could start opening them. I got the usual presents: a lot of books, clothes, and a mixtape of some different artists I like. I'm surprised my mom knew of the bands. I'm also surprised she found this. I don't have a very popular taste in music, so it's hard to find things I like. 

Jocelyn receives a lot of things a normal teenage girl is into. This means a lot of makeup, pretty clothes, some sparkly phone cases, and Ariana Grande albums. Her parents are still in bad condition in the hospital, so my mom really spoiled the two girls because she felt bad about their situation. I need to get this job soon because our money is going to run low quickly.
The boys got a bunch of toy cars, they love those things, and a lot of candy. I don't like sweets very much. Well, besides Oreos. Oreos are an exception to my sweets rule. 

Lilliana got colored pencils, a super neat sketch book, a few books, and a few other artsy stuff. I didn't realize she was so into art and drawing until I saw her reaction. She was so excited to see her new art tools that she gave my mom a huge hug. 

Mom and Dad exchange their presents for each other, and then it's the kids' turn to give out their presents. I give my presents out first. For Jocelyn, I got her a necklace. I see her wear jewelry all the time, I know she loves jewelry. She did love the necklace, and she gave me a hug and a thanks. I got the boys more candy. Yeah, just what they need. I got Lilliana some cute flower clips for her hair. I could tell she liked to style her hair with different clips. Lilliana was grateful for the clips. I got mom and dad chocolate. Dark chocolate for mom as she loves it, and white chocolate for dad as he loves that. 

They're quite the opposites. I think that's what makes them so happy together. They love their differences because there's always something to talk about. They can never get bored. I'm like mom, I can't stand the sweetness of white chocolate, and dark chocolate is all I'd eat in terms of chocolate. The boys like white chocolate and basically anything that's sweet.  

Next, Jocelyn gives out her gifts. Her gift for me is a gift card to a bookstore. 

"I wasn't sure of what books you didn't have, so I'm letting you just get the books you want," she says.

"Thanks, Jocelyn. I do love going to the bookstore to pick out my books, so this gift is perfect," I say. 

Lilliana gets some artist tool. I'm not sure exactly what it is, because I'm no artist, but Lilliana loves it. The boys get more little race cars. She gives my parents each a basket full of stuff. 

"It's from Lilliana and me. We want to thank you so much for letting us stay here. You guys have been amazing! So, we collected a bunch of things to put in here, and we decorated the baskets by hand," Jocelyn says.

"Thank you. This is very very sweet of you," my mom says. 

"Thank you," my dad says. 

The boys, for their presents, each gave us a piece of candy. They gave me a packet of Oreos, though. They're so sweet. I give them each a hug and ruffle their hair up. Then, like tradition, we gather our presents up in their own separate piles. We all sit down on the couches in the living room and watch Christmas movies until my extended family comes over. Then, there are more presents. We eat cookies, and we all catch up with things happening in the family. I like our traditions, and how it never changes. We have two extra guests, but we still do everything Christmas consists of for us. This Christmas has been simply beautiful.