I wish I was sitting on that side of the room.
I’m always caught in the middle. So much older than all these kids, yet too young to be considered an adult.
Although, Uncle Carson did sayyoung womanbefore. I’m gonna take that shit and use it to my advantage any way I can.
“All right. Who goes first this Christmas?” Uncle Wily booms while Jane stands beside him, holding the jar of golden marbles. Aunt Libby made it about six Christmases ago, and each time another child is added to the family, she adds a new ball.
“Santa” then pulls out a ball each year and hands out the gifts accordingly.
“Is there a Charlotte in the room?” Uncle Wily is doing great with his deep Santa voice. I love it.
Charlotte jumps up, waving her hand in the air. “Me! I’m Charlotte!” Her cute voice is so adorable! Hearts are melting all over the place as she steps forward and opens her gift.
It takes forever doing it this way, but traditions are traditions, right? And the way it works is that one person gets to open their gift at a time, which means we all get to see what they got.
Charlotte lets out an ear-piercing squeal as she pulls the wrapping paper off her new Squishmallow and hugs it to her chest.
Aunt Libby looks up from breastfeeding Paris and winks at Aunt Blake. “Good job.”
“It was the easiest gift of the lot.” She grins, and I look back at the glass jar, where Santa is pulling out a new marble.
And so it goes, each kid getting a present until finally it’s my turn.
I’ve now worked out that Uncle Carson is my gift buyer this year, and I am stoked with the neon sign he must have had custom made. It says Zoey Bird in fancy writing and has a stylized love heart on the end.
“That is so cool.” I grin at him.
He smiles back at me, obviously pleased that I’m into it. “Thought it’d look cool in your room.”
“It’s going to look amazing! Thank you.” I lean down to kiss his cheek, and I see who Harley gets her closed-mouth smile from.
Cute!
Seb’s the last to get picked, and I’m pretty sure he’s dying by the time his marble is finally drawn, but all is well the second he tears off his wrapping paper and reveals a set of plastic light sabers.
“Oh, wow.” Aunt Libby bulges her eyes, then looks at my dad with a very dry, very sarcastic “Thanks for that.”
He laughs. “Sorry, not sorry?”
“Olly, let’s go!” Seb hands him a light saber, and we’re soon ducking and dodging as the boys start an immediate battle.
“Take it the rec room!” Aunt Libby quickly orders and points to the doorway.
“Let’s go.” Cole jumps up, followed by Logan and Dom, and the three boys are soon directing traffic down the hallway.
Portia chases after them. “I want a turn too!” she yells, and before we know it, the only children who remain in the living room are the quiet little angels—Jane, Nichelle, and Harley.
“I better go and make sure Charlotte and Kendall don’t lose an eyeball.” Aunt Blake gets up, nursing her coffee mug as she trails after the kids.
“Zoey, do you mind going to help?” Mom gives me a pleading look, and I roll my eyes.
Why am I always put on kid detail?
Getting up with a huff, I’m about to follow Aunt Blake, but then the doorbell rings. Since I’m still on my feet, I give my mom a triumphant grin and head for the front door instead.
I open it to find a courier standing out in the cold.
“Hey.” A cloud wafts out of his mouth as he greets me. “You’ll need to sign for this.”
