“Thank you for inviting me to your cabin for Christmas. It’ll be a nice change,” Momma said. We had the biggest of big surprises waiting for her there.
“It’s not Christmas without you, Momma,” Daddy said which was true.
“Will all the boys be there?”
“Me, Daddy, Oscar, Trey and Samian,” I ran through the list. Did she think my friends were coming? That’s an idea for next year for sure.
“Sounds wonderful. All my boys together to celebrate.” Momma loved all of us like we were her own. Guess we kinda were now.
Oscar, Trey and Samian came up a couple days ago to put the finishing touches on Momma’s big surprise. Samian was out of school for the holidays and was excited to get away. We planned to go to the tree lot tomorrow to get our tree, then come home to the cabin and sing carols while decorating it.
We stopped at the store in town and picked up the groceries we’d need. Well, Daddy and Momma did while I stayed in the truckwith my babies. I hoped it would snow, then we could make snowmen and snow angels again.
This was so exciting!
“Daddy, did you get carrots for the snowmen?” I asked as soon as he got inside the truck.
“We did and there should be plenty of rocks around to use for the eyes.”
“Yes!”
I stayed in the backseat for the rest of the drive to play with my babies and so Momma could have a better view of her prezzie.
“Oh my, I thought you were only building one cabin, Chuck. What are you gonna do with three?”
“Well,” Daddy turned and parked in front of our cabin. “This one is mine and Tae’s, the far one that isn’t finished yet is for Oscar, Trey, and Samian.”
“And the one in the middle with the pretty red bow?”
“Merry Christmas, Momma.”
“What?” Before she could say anything else, Oscar, Trey, and Samian came out of her cabin smiling and waving.
“Come on, Momma, let’s go see.” I hopped out and opened her door for her.
“I just-I just.” Was she happy or upset? I couldn’t tell.
Daddy took the kitties inside then joined us. “Let’s go see your new getaway place, Momma.”
We followed her up the steps and she stopped just before the door and ran her fingers over the red bow.
“Merry Christmas, Momma,” Daddy said. “Open the door.”
My brothers had even started a fire in the fireplace for her. It smelled so woodsy and was nice and toasty warm.
“Yours is just a one bedroom. You have a kitchen and bathroom. We’re completely off grid here and all the cabins have wi-fi too.” Daddy bought her a little couch, recliner, and end table with a lamp and had a TV mounted above the fireplace. All she had to do was put her own touch on the space.
“Oh, Chuck, I can’t believe you did all this for me.”
“Momma, you’re important to us and we like having you around. What better way to do that than to have a cabin next to ours?”
She turned, tears ran down her face, and I hoped they were happy ones. “All you boys are wonderful,” Momma said to the five of us. “I can’t believe you did all this for me. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” We each hugged her then helped her bring her suitcase in. “I think I’ll do a bit of shopping in town tomorrow when we get the tree.”
“Ha-ha,” Daddy laughed. “Sounds like fun. Lunch is on Tae and me for everyone.”
“Whoop whoop!” Wait, why was I cheering when we were paying?
Inside our cabin was toasty warm too. My brothers were staying with us since their place wasn’t done yet. I was super excited. It had been forever since I woke up on Christmas morning with them. Granted, Christmas wasn’t much when we were younger, but once I moved in with Daddy, they’d come over later in theafternoon on Christmas day to open presents with us, well after Daddy and I had already been awake and done our own. This was like the first real family Christmas where we got to do it all together.
