Built On Trust

Santa's coming!

This is the first year for Christmas that all the girls are into it and since it's Christmas eve we already have all the decorations and the tree up. Brad and I decided to make a bunch of cookies with them, hoping when we're done we still think it was a good idea. They keep asking Brad and I when Santa's coming and every time we tell them tomorrow morning they get extremely excited.

I help the girls pull their sleeves up and bring them over to the sink "You need to wash your hands, then we can start baking." They do so, and we put a bowl of sugar cookie mix on the table along with three oven trays telling them they each get to make their own. "Do you want to make candy canes?" I ask showing them how to make one. They all say they do and try to repeat what I did, but end up needing some help. Brad takes Aly's hands because she wants to do it and helps her fold over piece by piece of the dough until it gets a candy cane shape. He then moves on to Shay and Jess helping them both do the same whilst I give them each some cookie cutters and show them how to use them, "You have to put it on the dough and push hard then pick it up." I explain to them, and they each do some of their own.

When the sugar cookies and candy canes are done I put them in the oven and we move on to mixing the icing. Brad already has all the food coloring sitting on the table so I give each of them 2 small bowls filled with icing so they can each make 2 different colors to put on their cookies.

"What colors do you guys want?" I ask them and immediately regret it when they all yell different colors. "Okay, let's try this again. Shay, what colors do you want?" I ask, and she says green and purple. Brad puts those colors with her and we tell her to wait until we're ready, then we go to the twins "What colors do you guys want to use?" He asks them and Aly says pink and blue, and Jess says red and pink. We help them all mix theirs, making one of the pinks a little darker than the other do they're different then move those to the side and let the girls play until their cookies are cooled off enough to icing.

"Do you think we should let them help with this?" I ask Brad, hoping he's actually paying attention. He surprised me by getting a the girls to come back in the kitchen, letting me know he actually is listening.

He puts them all at their spots and gives them their trays "Try not to make too much of a mess, and if you're good you can eat one." He tells them as we give then the icing, bracing ourselves for what coming next. I sit with them showing each of them how to icing them, but they have no interest and want to do it their own way. They all put a drop of icing on each cookie 'spread it out' and then say they're done. I look at the time and see that it's 8:30, and bed time.

"Wash you hands then you have to go to bed so Santa can come!" They run over to the sink where Brad helps them then we take them upstairs and change them into their pajamas and they go to sleep quickly, excited about tomorrow. I check on them to make sure they are all really sleeping then go back downstairs to Brad to finish wrapping their presents.

Brad already has all the presents that need wrapped sitting out and the wrapping paper next to them. He already started to wrap some of them and there's a huge mess "Maybe I'm not very good at this." He says looking up at me as I go to sit next to him.

I fix the few presents that he tried to wrap putting another layer of wrapping paper over them because that's easiest then start on the others "Where's the tape?" I ask then look over at Brad who decided to use the tape on his face along with some wrapping paper "You are such an idiot." I laugh at him.

"An idiot you love." He leans in to kiss me and ends up getting some of the tape stuck in my hair as well "Here, I'll get that." He says when I'm having trouble seeing where it really is.

I find some more tape and finish the presents then put them under the tree along with a note for the girls then we go up to bed knowing we'll be woken up in a few hours.

Just as we thought, the minute they saw a sign of daylight all three girls come running into our room. They all jump on bed and get in the gap between Brad and I yelling out of excitement waking us up. I lay there for a minute after they know I'm awake and wait for Brad to get up.

"Let's go see what's downstairs!" Brad tells them as me picks up the twins and leans over to where I am and kisses me "Merry Christmas, babe." He says before pulling me up and dragging me out of bed.

We go downstairs and the girls run into the living room and stop and stare at the tree which has nothing under it.

"Santa didn't come?" They all ask upset.

I laugh at their expressions then hand them each a paper with pictures on it to show them the map of where their presents are. Showing them where the first ones are laying under a blanket on the couch.

"Let's look in the kitchen!" Brad tells them. We follow him and they each find one on their chairs. They try to follow the maps and find the others but give up and Brad and I help them until we find each present and take them to the living room.

"Okay, you can open them now!" I tell them handing Brad his and sitting next to him as the girls open theirs. It's like a race and whoever wins gets to keep everything, I don't think I've ever seen anyone open anything so fast. All the wrapping paper is thrown around the room and they yell out each present they get.

"Dolls, blanket, animals, books, toys!" All kinds of little things they're excited about getting. They completely forget about Brad and I for a few minutes leaving us to open our presents to each other. He got me a blanket made out of some of their baby clothes and I immediately put it over me. It makes me feel like they're always with me. I give him what he's been thinking about getting for a while, a pillow with our family picture on one side and each of the girls hand prints on the other. He's been saying he wants something like that for a long time for when he's filming away, and he loves it.

I feel something at my feet and look down to find another present. This one says my name and Brads and says from the girls. I look at him confused, then open it to find a note from my parents telling us that they wanted to surprise us. We look what else is there and find some professional pictures of the girls. They must have done this when we asked them to babysit.

"Did you know about this?" I ask Brad thinking that he was part of it.

He takes the pictures from me to look at them better "No, but we do have some pretty cute kids." He comments on them.