Christmas morning turned out to be perfect with a light snow falling that we watched from the wide windows in the living room. We passed out presents and I had quite a stack from Chase and his family. Calebs I think out trumped every ones. That little man was getting to be spoiled. The girls had made me a few things and Belle had done a drawing for me where I was added into the family as a little stick figure. “You’re one of my sissy’s now,” she says while handing me the drawing. “Aw thanks sweetie. I would love to be your sissy.” I lean down and gave her a kiss on the tip of her nose.
I had gotten Mary and all of the girls matching bracelets with a few charms on each that they all gushed over. Chris was a little more difficult since he was a guy but he was a builder so I got him a small wooden plane kit to build for his office. Caleb gushed over all of his presents and I wasn’t too sure where we would be putting everything. Chase and I exchanged our presents saving those for last. I pull open a skinny long boxy thing that suspiciously looks like jewelry as I eye him up while opening it.
“Oh wow this is beautiful Chase,” I say as I look down at the necklace laid out in the box. There were tiny diamonds nestled in a silver chain with a small key dangling from the center. “This is way too much.” I finger the small diamonds that look so delicate on the chain. “Nothing is ever too much for you Leah. Here let me put it on.” I turn my back to him and he does up the clasp before planting a kiss on my shoulder. “There it looks perfect, just as beautiful as you.”
“Oh honey that looks beautiful, my boy has such an eye for things,” Mary pipes in as the whole family gathers around me to admire the necklace. “Now you have the key to my heart,” he whispers in my ear before backing away. I don’t think this boy could do anything else to make me fall even more in love with him but he just keeps surprising me.
“Here I have a few for you too,” I hand him a stack of presents that I had wrapped quickly the night before. After opening them all he had a new blank book with crisp pages for writing his poetry and lyrics and a leather briefcase with his name engraved on a small emblem. When the spring semester started up he would be student teaching along with his last classes that he needed to graduate.
“Awesome babe, thank you. I love them especially this,” he holds up the briefcase. “I can’t believe I’ve come this far and am almost done with school.”
“We’re all so proud of you Chase. That was a perfect present Leah,” Mary says as she looks over the briefcase.
“Okay,” Mary says as she pulls an envelope out from behind her back. “This is a present for the whole family from me and Chris. Leah and Caleb are included in this too. Chase how about you open it and tell everyone what it is?”
Chase peels back the flap and pulls out a piece of paper that he quickly scans with his eyes. “Oh wow, this is awesome. It’s a trip for everyone to an all inclusive resort in Jamaica.”
Squeals break out all over the room and some of the girls start jumping up and down while Mary tries to quiet them down. “Okay girls, calm down. We thought it would be nice for everyone to take a vacation together. We don’t have exact dates yet but we figured we could work those out later. There’s a year until this expires.”
After that everyone was so excited and instantly started researching the resort and talking about dates that would work for everyone. Chase and I would be the most difficult to work around with our school schedules but I was excited about the trip, Caleb and I had barely ever made it out of the state before.
We spent the rest of the day filling up on food and I’m sure after everything I ate, I had gained all of the weight that I had lost in the hospital back on. Mary packed up two bags filled with leftovers for us and we headed back to Chases apartment the next morning. Caleb of course didn’t want to leave but after Mary promised him he could come back for a sleepover, we got him out the door.
“So how were the holidays with my family? Not too overwhelming right?” Chase asks as he helps me get settled on the couch. I was so ready for this cast to come off but still had to wait about another two weeks which meant I would have to start the spring semester off with it on.
Gino was thankfully understanding after the accident too and was keeping my position open for me at the restaurant. Luckily he had a niece come to stay with him during the holidays who had worked there before and she covered most of my shifts.
“It was seriously perfect Chase. I love your family, your Mom is so great.” I lay back and look up at his twinkling green eyes. He leans down and kisses my forehead, tucking a loose curl behind my ear.
“They love you too Leah. It would be hard not to. I look forward to spending a lot more holidays with you and Caleb included.”