George - Chapter Nine: Christmas Surprises - A Christmas Full of Surprises

I woke up on Christmas morning and as I stood up from the bed, I looked around my old room. Even though I had been over to the house many times since moving out, I hadn’t seen my room very many times, let alone sleep in it. Mom had been true to her word, she hadn’t touched anything. There was still the cork board with pictures from high school, pictures of people I didn’t see anymore. My old rocking horse was still sitting in the corner. I wondered if she kept everything the same to help her remember the times when we were all here together. 

I got my clothes out and walked towards the bathroom that was in between Charlotte’s and my room. I stopped right before entering and couldn’t help but chuckle. There had been a handful of times growing up that I had barged into the bathroom while Charlotte was in there. Thankfully, I hadn’t seen anything but I learned after a couple of times to knock first before entering. I knocked lightly on the door and listened for any signs that Charlotte was in there. I didn’t hear anything and was relieved when I opened the door and no one was there.

As I stepped into the hot water, I thought back to the previous morning when I had run into Steph making tea in my kitchen. I wondered if she would be downstairs when I ventured down there. I was hoping she was, and that she was alone so I could talk to her.  After I had talked about Christine and me, she had acted differently, which I was sure had to do with her opinion of me changing. I didn’t think that my talking with her would change her mind, but I hoped that she would at least give me the opportunity to tell her the whole story. Not that it excused my stupidity, but to help shed light on my mind set at that point.

I finished getting ready and headed downstairs. I was disappointed to hear more than one voice as I rounded the corner to enter the kitchen. 

“Ah! There’s my early riser! The only one of my children who gets up at a decent time.” Mom joked. I should have figured that she’d at least be up since she had always woken up even before the sun came up.

“That was always fun when we were in school.” I looked at Steph. “I was the one that was sent upstairs to wake everyone else up. I had several pillows, alarm clocks, anything that any of them could reach, thrown at me for being the ‘wake up brigade’”

Steph chuckled and I was relieved that she seemed to be more relaxed this morning.

“Merry Christmas.” Mom said and gave me a hug.

“Merry Christmas, Mom.” I hugged her back.

As we pulled away she was already starting about her presents. Something that Dad had always given her a hard time about; her inability to handle having something be a secret, even if it was good. “So. . .what did you get me?”

I laughed. “Wow, Mom. You know, Dad would give you one of his lectures right now. . .”

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, he would.”

“Wasn’t Will and Emily coming here enough?” I joked with her.

“Of course it is, it’s more than enough.” She admitted as I walked over to make myself some tea.

Her thoughts about presents were interrupted. “Did you know that Steph likes tea, too?”

I had to stop myself from chuckling as I remembered walking into the kitchen the morning before, startling Steph and watching her almost spill the creamer.

“Yes, it’s something I learned yesterday morning.” I said as I looked over at Steph. I noticed that she blushed slightly when we made eye contact and then she quickly looked away.

Mom smiled and I instantly recognized it as her meddlesome smile and at that moment I was very glad that Steph didn’t know Mom very well. It was so obvious what she was up to.

“I just think it’s interesting. I mean, not very many people drink tea in the morning. . .”

“That’s true.” I said as I turned my back to Steph so only Mom could see me. I gave her a warning look and she nodded.

“Well, I guess I’ll go get ready. I hope the others wake up soon. We have a busy day ahead.” She walked back up the stairs and I waited till I heard her door open and close before I started talking to Steph.

“How long had the two of you been down here?” I wondered as I sat down next to her.

“I heard her messing around in the kitchen around 5:30. I finally gave in around 6:30.”

“Yeah, it probably wasn’t the smartest design to put the guest room next to the kitchen. Sorry about that. She has always woken up early; she and Dad both.” I took a sip of tea and then continued. 


“So what have you two been up to for the last hour?”

She got a mischievous grin on her face. “She pulled out picture albums and told me several interesting stories. . .”

I about spit the tea out that I had just drank. “Oh. . .Do I want to know?” I winced.

She laughed. “Well, let’s just say that I’m actually very thankful right now that I don’t have any old pictures for family members to show others. Especially ones where I’m taking a bath. . .”

I hung my head down and shook my head. Why did parents feel the need to take pictures of their children taking baths and then years later show them to nonfamily members.  I chuckled. “I’m going to take a guess and say that I was in one of those. . .?”

“That college education is really paying off for you.”

I was once again relieved that she seemed to be more relaxed today and even joking around. It had been obvious that something wasn’t quite right yesterday afternoon and as much as I was enjoying our banter, I knew I needed to talk to her about yesterday.

“About what happened yesterday. . .”

“You don’t have to explain. It’s really something that should have been discussed with family and I feel horrible that I was there.” She interrupted me.

“I wanted. . .wait. . .so you felt uncomfortable, like you were intruding?” She nodded and I started thinking back to how she had been acting yesterday. Had I misread her quietness, or was it a combination of feeling out of place and that her opinion of me had changed. Once again I was finding that what I thought about her was not really the case. 

I was about to ask her about it when I heard Trev’s boisterous  voice. “Merry Christmas, you two! Whose ready for some presents?” I shook my head at Trev’s crappy timing but also couldn’t help but be amused at his enthusiasm. 

“What are you doing up?” I asked him.

“There’s presents that need to be opened. . .why wouldn’t I be up?!”

I looked at Steph. “Mark it on the calendar. This is the only day of the year that you’ll see Trev up early.” I joked.

“That’s not true, I get up plenty of times during football season.” 

“Oh, my bad.” I said sarcastically and Steph laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Charlotte asked as she came into the kitchen. It looked like that if I wanted to have a conversation only with Steph it was going to have to wait.

“George was giving Trev a hard time for waking up early.” Steph filled Charlotte in.

“We all know it’s for the presents. . .” Will added as he and Emily also made their way down the stairs.

The kitchen became a mad house and we were all scrambling around trying to get breakfast when we all stopped at the sound of hearing laughter. We looked over at Emily and Steph and they seemed to be laughing at us.

“What’s so funny?” Will asked.

“It’s just that it’s like a crazy zoo in there with the four of you scrambling around. It’s kind of funny to watch.” Emily said and Steph nodded in agreement.

“I personally think it’s a wonderful sight.” Mom said as she came back into the room. “It’s been a long time since the four of you have been in the kitchen together; scrounging for food.”

“When are we opening presents?” Trev asked with a mouthful of cereal.

“Trev, really? No one wants to see your food.” Charlotte complained. Trev got closer to her and started making smacking noises as he ate. “STOP!” Charlotte complained.

I had moved out of the kitchen and near Steph and Emily. Steph turned around. “Was this what it was like growing up with the four of you?”

“Pretty much.” I confessed. “Lots of complaining, poking fun, annoying each other, getting on each other’s nerves. . .”

“Surely you didn’t give people a hard time.” She half joked and everyone in the kitchen stopped.

Trev started laughing. “You’ve got to be kidding! George is the most sarcastic out of all of us and can definitely be a pain in the ass.” He looked over at Mom after he said ‘ass’ and she threw up her hands.

“I figure they know how we are by this point so there’s no reason to keep up a good appearance.” She laughed.

“Wait. . .” Steph turned back around and looked at me. “You’re the most sarcastic?! Is that some kind of BS?” She turned back around towards Trev.

“No, and don’t forget the pain in the ass part too.” Trev smiled at her.

“Oh, I believe that part.” She joked.

“What the hell is this? Pick on George day?” I jokingly complained.

“Really, why don’t we stop picking on George, even if it is true, so we can get to opening presents.” Will suggested.

“Umm. . .thanks bro.” I said.

Everyone started laughing and finished their breakfast. Once everything was cleaned up, we gathered in the family room and Mom asked us guys to pass out the presents from under the tree. We started putting the presents in piles and noticed one under the tree for Steph. As I walked over to where she was sitting she looked at me surprised.

“What’s this?”

“Surely you didn’t think you’d come here and not get something. That’s not the way our family works. I wouldn’t be surprised if you have another gift at the ranch.” I confessed as I placed the bag down in front of her.  I turned back around to see that all of the presents had been given out and looked around to try to find my pile of gifts. I noticed Trev point and smirk as I realized that my pile had been placed so I would be sitting next to Steph.  I sat down next to her and waited for Mom. We had all agreed the night before to have her open up her gifts from all of us first.

“What are you all waiting for?” She asked.

“We want you to open up your presents first.” Will admitted.

“Wha. . .Why?”

“Just do it.” Charlotte said while grinning like a cheshire cat.

We all watched as Mom unwrapped the smaller of the two boxes and watched as she pulled out a bracelet that we had all pitched in to get her. She turned it around in her hand as she examined it.


“This is beautiful! Thank you so much!” She said and looked at each of us.  She put the bracelet on and then picked up the big gift. I wasn’t sure how she was going to respond. It was something that I had found one time when I was snooping in the house and I had asked the others if they thought it was a good idea. They had agreed but I was still a little worried.