Brothers

Christmas Bonus

So this isn't an actual chapter, but I thought it would be fun to write about the Ryder family when all of the children were young. Plus, it's Christmas, and who doesn't love adorable little children on Christmas? Plus, I added in a little bit about Mark and Marley and how they used to interact as little kids, not much has changed huh? Anyways, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, whatever you celebrate, enjoy this little bit of fun:)

Christmas Bonus

Adam Ryder took a deep breath as he glanced at the clock above the TV.

5:59 am.

One more minute of silence until his 7 children would come pounding down the stairs in an attempt to get to their presents first.

After a few near fatal disasters, Adam resorted to separating the gifts into piles based on who they were for. Two of his youngest, Marley and Mark, would get quite violent with each other as they dove under the tree for their gifts.

Adam looked around the room, double checking that everything was set up. The washable fake soot next to the fireplace as if Santa had just appeared, the cookie crumbs strategically left on the plate the kids had left out last night, the gifts sorted with reasonable distance between each pile... Everything was ready.

Right as the clock turned to 6:00 am, Adam could hear the sound of his children running down the stairs. All seven of them were within 5 years of each other, and Christmas was by far the best day of the year for the Ryder family.

11 year old Alex reached his presents first, proud to be the oldest and fastest of his brothers and sister.

"Mark move!" The familiar yell of his 6 year old daughter came above the noise of her brothers as she shoved the scrawny 7 year old out of the way.

Mark retaliated instantly, yanking back Marley's curly hair as she let out a yelp.

With a sigh, Adam lifted the small girl in his arms as she started crying, holding the place where Mark had attempted to scalp her.

A look was all Mark needed to quietly walk over to his presents. Pretending to be sorry, Mark knew that he'd get Marley back later. Everyone knew that there were many more fights to come as the day went on.

Adam sat down on the couch in between Michael and Justin, the 8 year old twins, with Marley happily on his lap as she sucked her thumb.

"Alex." Adam nodded to his oldest son as the noise level decreased.

A system had long been developed for the Ryder family. They'd go around in a circle from oldest to youngest, opening up one gift at a time.

It pained Adam to see the two gifts he'd bought for each of his children. Sure they thought he only bought them each one, as Santa obviously had given them one too. But the amount of money Adam spent every year for his children was outrageous.

Each kid got what they wanted, especially the younger ones. Anything could please Marley, Mark, and Wesley. Adam hated to think of what would happen when they were all in the span of 11-16... The gifts would get more expensive and even harder to find.

The twins were thrilled at their matching nerf guns. At the look of evil on the faces of his children, he instantly regretted buying each of them a nerf gun of various sizes.

He could only imagine what his mother would say when she came over for dinner to find a zoo of flying bullets and crazy children.

Marley was the toughest to shop for. Adam had been buying gifts for boys for 11 years already. He never thought he'd have the task of shopping for a girl. And once Adam and Jane found out they were having a girl, Adam always suspected that Jane would be the one to spoil their daughter. Adam grimaced, remembering how awful Jane was towards the end of their relationship, especially when she ran off with that millionaire ass bag.