31 Days of December

December 20th

Ethan: What are you doing right now?

Hailey: Eating lunch with my family

Ethan: What about later?

Hailey: Making Christmas goodies

Today is a baking day. Every year, before Christmas, I make a ton of goodies. Oreo ball (or truffles depending on what people want to call them), cookies, and peanut clusters. It takes up a lot of my afternoon. Usually, I try to do it earlier, but luck was not on my side this year with finals. Luckily, I had all of today to make all of my goodies. Why today? Because we have an extended family Christmas tomorrow. I'm not talking about just aunts and uncles. I'm talking about second cousins, great aunts, and uncles. Meaning there was going to be lots of talking of what happened at school, which will probably lead up to Ethan.

Ethan: But I want to video chat with you

Hailey: Well it is going to have to wait until Sunday

"Who are you texting? You should be bonding with your family," My dad said. As I told Ethan, I was out to lunch with my dad, my mom, my brother, my aunt and uncle, and their three kids. Both sides of my family are close but especially my dad's. They grew even closer after my grandpa passed to help look after my grandma. All four of her boys stepped up and helped with random tasks. Heck, even my brother and I got dragged into helping her.

"Just a friend," I answered as I shoved my phone back into my hoodie pocket.

My mom looked at me and asked, "What friend?" She knows me all too well. If it was one of my girlfriends or even my one guy friend here at home, I would have said their name. However, I didn't so something is up.

"Ethan."

"Ethan? I don't know Ethan, do I?"

"Actually, you do. I have mentioned him to you, just never his name."

"It isn't the cute guy, is it."

"It is."

"Who's the cute guy?" My aunt asked, popping into the conversation. My aunt is in her mid-thirties and very much liked to know about my nonexistent love life. She very much likes to gossip about boys and since her oldest is still too young to have real boy gossip, she relies on me.

I groaned, "He is just a guy at school who I literally ran into constantly. We started talking and hanging out. Maybe gone on a few dates and a party with him."

"So is this a possible boyfriend?"

"Hailey has a boyfriend?" My brother asked. This caught my dad's and uncle's attention. Like this couldn't get any worse. Couldn't my brother have minded his own business like every other day of my life?

"He is not my boyfriend. He is just a friend," I argued.

"That is what they all say," My aunt said. I rolled my eyes at my family. I know I'm never going to hear the end of this while I'm home for break. "So, how did you guys meet?"

I laughed, "Oh no, you don't get to hear the story. My relaxing winter break is now going to be a never-ending tease fest because of this."

"Come on. This isn't fair."

"Not my problem," I shrugged. I could see my aunt pout just a little bit, but one of her kids started to get her attention. The joys of younger cousins are that they still need their parent's help and it gets me out of awkward situations. However, they are still demons.

Ethan: Sunday? Are you trying to kill me?

Hailey: Yes because now I have to deal with a whole lot of teasing this break.

Ethan: How is it my fault?

Hailey: You texted me. They wanted to know who I was texting.

When we got home from lunch, it was just my brother, dad, and I. My mom had to go back to work because unlike my father, she doesn't take like a whole month off. My sister was coming home tomorrow. Anyways, my brother went into the Nerd Cave aka the basement, while my dad went to the living room. I got to take over destroying the kitchen.

I connected my phone to one of our many speakers around the house and hit shuffles on my Christmas playlist on Spotify. While an ad played because I refused to pay any money to be ad-free, I started on the cookie doughs so I could refrigerate them while I made the Oreo balls.

"It was almost Christmas time, there I stood in another line. Tryin' to buy that last gift or two. Not really in the Christmas mood. And standing right in front of me was a little boy waiting anxiously. Pacing 'round like little boys do. And in his hand, he held a pair of shoes," The song sang. Alright, I guess I'm crying today. Wasn't really planning on crying, but the universe decided I needed to. "His clothes were worn and old. He was dirty from head to toe. I couldn't believe what I heard him say."

"Sir, I want to buy these shoes. For my mama. Please. It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size. Could you hurry, sir? Daddy says there's not much time. You see, she's been sick for quite a while and I know these shoes will make her smile. And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight," I hummed along as I prepared the dough for butterscotch scotchies.

By the time my mom got home from work, I had the Oreo balls in the garage, hoping they would freeze, the peanut cluster finished on the table, the scotchies cooling, and the last round of chocolate chip cookies baking. All I had to do was dip the Oreo balls in chocolate. However, we didn't have enough freezer space so I had to place them in the garage. Since the garage isn't cold enough, getting them frozen enough to dip is going to take a while. Stupid Global Warming. There's a good chance that I won't be able to make them pretty because they'll fall apart.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about Ethan. More importantly, I can't believe you didn't tell me that you've been on a few dates and a party," My mom said when we got to the restaurant for dinner. Friday night has been date nights for my parents since the three of us were old enough to stay home by ourselves for the evening. However, once we got older, the three of us started joining their date nights if we didn't have plans or work.

"I'm sorry," I said. Then I thought about it. "Actually, I'm not. Between you and Sam, somehow your husband would have found out and eventually the rest of the family would hear. Plus it isn't that big of a deal. You and dad used to go to parties all the time when you were in college, didn't you? I made sure not to do anything stupid and got back to my apartment safely. The dates weren't something to brag about and were almost more like hang outs."

"I'd still like to know what's going on in your life, since you aren't here. I just want to stay in the loop and make sure nothing bad happens to you."

"Please. Have you met me? I know better than do something completely different without giving you a heads up," I said.

My mom left out a small laugh, "Well, I'm glad to hear that. It will give me preparation for if you end up in jail or the hospital."