Accidental Christmas Miracle

7.

Miracle

Last night was fun and I spent more time connecting with the family I was staying with, playing card games with them and just having a general conversation.

After I got out of the shower and chose my outfit for the day, a simple light gray knitted sweater over my dark washed jeans.

Throwing my annoyingly long and curly brown hair into probably the world's messiest messy bun, I gave myself a quick glance in the mirror, my blue-ish gray eyes being the last thing I saw before I left the bathroom. I walked through my room and headed downstairs to see what was for breakfast.

My previous suspicions of something that smelled like pancakes and bacon cooking in the kitchen proved to be correct as I found out, walking into the kitchen.

Sandy wasn't the one cooking though.

Dot was.

He didn't seem to notice that I had come down yet as his back was turned away from me.

I leaned against the counter. "Whatcha making?" I asked him although I already knew the answer.

He jumped a bit and spun around, welding the spatula like a weapon. "Jesus, Miracle! You can't just sneak up on people like that!" He told me.

I gave him a look. "I didn't sneak up on you. I'm about five feet away from you and I wasn't trying to be quiet." I replied.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He finally said, turning back to the pancakes and flipping them.

"You never answered me." I said.

"Hm?"

"What are you making?" I asked him again.

"I think it's pretty obvious."

I shrugged although he couldn't see me. "Eh, I just want an answer."

"Prune juice flapjacks, sauteed black olives and a nice side of cooked broccoli and asparagus." He said dryly.

I rolled my eyes. "Sounds delicious." I answered back just as sarcastically as him with a slight smile on my face.

"Whatcha guys talking about?" Noel came into the kitchen.

"Just what your brother's making." I answered.

"Buttermilk pancakes with bacon and breakfast sausage." Gabriel answered from behind her.

My eyebrows furrowed together. "How'd you know?"

He looked like he literally just got out of bed, rubbing his eyes free from sleep.

He shrugged. "Context clues, I guess. It smells like pancakes and most times we have the buttermilk pancake batter and something that goes great with pancakes is the traditional bacon and usually if we have breakfast sausage with it. Also, " He pointed. "There's the empty bacon and sausages packages."
Observant kid.

Dot put the last of pancakes he made on top of the already big stack and slid the bacon and sausage on a different plate.

My stomach grumbled softly at the smell of a delicious breakfast.

"Time to eat!" Sandy's voice came beside me.

I jumped some, not realizing that she was beside me.

Christi smiled as she walked into the kitchen.

We all then followed Dot into the dining area and got into our seats. After grace was said, the pancakes, bacon, and sausage were passed around and eaten quickly.

"Hey, you know how we were talking about the Winter Festival yesterday?" Christi asked me.

I nodded, chewing the last bite of my pancakes.

"I was wondering if you wanted to come to town with me and check it out. I could give you a tour of the town while we're at it too." She offered.

I thought for a moment and then nodded. "Sure. I don't really have anything going on. Plus, it sounds pretty cool. Maybe I can get my family Christmas gifts while I'm there."

Noel looked at me. "Do you have any siblings?" She asked.

I shook my head, feeling my bun move with my head.

"Kinda lucky. Sometimes siblings can be a real pain in the-" Christi started to say.

Sandy gave her stern look.

"Neck! Geez, Mom. I was going to say that sometimes siblings can be a real pain in the neck." Christi defended herself and then smiled. She stood up. "Be ready to go in five minutes." She directed towards me.

She gave her older brother a raised eyebrow, about to ask a question, "Wanna come along?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I'll tag along. For the ride."

"Not for the company?" Christi teased him.

He laughed. "If I wanted good company, I wouldn't choose you two."

She left after he gave his response, carrying her plate into the kitchen, chuckling some.

I feigned to be hurt by his words. "How rude! I'll have you know that my friends love my company, mister."

"You have friends?" He pretended to look shocked.

I grinned. "Probably more than you have."

"Okay, both of you stop trying to roast each other and getting moving!" Christi came back into the room where Dot and I were and clapped her hands, getting our attention.

I nodded and scrambled upstairs after putting my plate in the sink as instructed, grabbing money, my phone and putting on shoes. I then headed back down.

When I got out to her truck and got in the shotgun, the heat was on high and blasting through the air vents, trying to heat up the truck and music was playing over the roar of the heat.

Christi was tapping her fingers to the beat of the song playing.

I buckled my seat belt and waited for Dot to come out so that we could get going.

After three songs, Christi sighed and glanced at me. "That's when I do this." She pressed down on the car horn for a couple seconds and Dot came running out, trying to put one of his shoes on.

He managed to put the shoe on and then quickly got into the back seat of the truck. "Jesus, lady. I wasn't taking that long." He grumbled as he laced up his boot.

Christi backed out of the driveway with a smirk on her lips. "Sure. You take longer to get ready than the stereotypical girl."

I laughed at Dot's non-understandable muttering in the back seat and then looked out the window.

It sure was pretty here with almost every house dressed up for Christmas.