I was woken up after roughly falling off of my bed. I slowly pried my eyes open but quickly closed them after being blinded by the sun. I was too tired last night to close them. I rubbed my eyes and let out a yawn. I slowly opened my eyes this time letting them adjust to the light. After my eyes adjusted I slowly rose onto my feet. I stood there for a second feeling my plush rug under my feet. I made my way towards the bathroom, I grabbed the cool, brass door knob and twisted it, opening the bathroom door. I walked in shutting the door behind me. I looked at my reflections and saw my makeup from last night still on my face and smudged everywhere. I grabbed some face wash and cleaned off the old makeup. Once I was done with that I walked back into my room and changed out of my tank top and shorts and into a matching christmas themed sweatshirt and sweatpants set. I grabbed my dog, Goose, a black lab puppy, who was still half-asleep, off my bed and made my way downstairs.

As soon as my feet hit the final step I could hear a loud commotion coming from the kitchen. As I came into the kitchen I could see what it was about. My younger brother Will and his twin Kevin, were attempting to put out a fire on a pancake, by filling up cups with water. “What on Earth are you guys doing?” I asked them with my voice slightly raised. As I approached, the fire went out. “Trying to make breakfast, obviously,” Will sassed back at me. “Trying and failing,” Sam mumbled under his breath and Will glared at him. “I’m surprised you guys didn’t set off the fire alarm, also you guys could’ve woken Marcie up,” I stated. I set Goose down and opened up the back door to let him out. Thankfully, Goose was a smart dog and learned to only go to the bathroom outside relatively quickly.

“You guys clean up whatever mess you made from attempting to make breakfast I’m gonna get Marcie, wake up Zach, and DoorDash something for breakfast,” I told them, leaving the back door cracked just wide enough for Goose to get in once he was done, but not wide enough for the snow that was coming own to be able to get in the house. I ordered some food for everyone from a popular breakfast spot near us, as I made my way upstairs to Marcie’s, my youngest sibling’s room. She’s only two and a half years old compared to Will and Sam being fourteen, me being seventeen, and my older brother Zach, being 19. I slowly crept into her room being careful not to make any loud noises. Once I made it over to her weird half bed half crib thing that she sleeps on, I started to gently rub her back to wake her up. Her eyes slowly opened after she finished rubbing them. “Merry Christmas, Marcie” I said to her softly while smiling at her. She stared at me blankly, seeing as she just woke up. I carefully picked her up out of her bed and made my way to Zach’s room. 

By the time I had made it to Zach’s room, which was once the attic that he had turned into his room, Marcie had fully woken up. She was the only one of me and my siblings that was a morning person and it being Christmas also helped. I opened the door at the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the attic and went up them as stealthily as I could with a wiggling toddler in my arms and made sure to avoid any stairs that made a noise. When I reached the top step I set Marcie down and watched as she sprinted towards Zach who was sleeping peacefully. She jumped up onto his bed then on him and started jumping on him. “It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas! It’s Christmas!” Marcie squealed.

Zach grabbed her and started tickling her. Marcie laughed while trying to push him away. After a minute Zach stopped after we heard the doorbell ring. “I ordered breakfast online because Will and Sam almost burnt the house down trying to make pancakes,” I explained. Zach opened his mouth like he was about to ask me something, but I shook my head, and he closed his mouth. The three of us slowly made our way downstairs because Marcie wanted to lead the way and she was only going one stair at a time. We made our way into the kitchen and I slowly looked in to see it perfectly clean and the boys unpacking breakfast. “Huh, you guys actually cleaned,” I said because normally they try to put it off until Zach and I clean it or we force them to clean it and watch them. “I cleaned, he just shook his presents trying to figure out what was in it,” Sam said while pointing at Will with his thumb, Will retaliated by flipping him off. Which led to Zach and I covering Marcie’s eyes.

 “Can one of you watch Marcie for a second while Claire and I set up TV trays and light the fire?” Zach asked them while handing Marcie a Barbie that was left on the floor next to him. “I guess,” Will said half-heartedly. Zach and I made our way to the living room. I grabbed four TV trays for the boys and I. Marcie had her own little kiddie table that she liked to eat at. As I was setting them up Zach worked on putting wood into the fireplace and lighting it. I finished before him so I turned on the same Christmas channel we do every year that has a dog sitting in its bed by a Christmas tree in front of a fireplace while Christmas music plays. Once both of us finished, we made our way into the kitchen. “How come mom and dad aren’t here?” Will asked while looking a little sad. “Because their flight got delayed because there was a lot of snow, I’d say we could call them but the spot they’re in at the airport doesn’t get any service,” I explained while rubbing his shoulder. “Alright everyone let’s eat,” Zach said while reaching for his plate. 

Once everyone’s plate was made we made our way into the living room, I set Marcie’s plate in front of her at her little table. I sat down at my spot on the couch and started eating. Once everyone was finished eating we cleaned up by watching the dishes off and putting them into the dishwasher, putting away the dishes, and cleaning the syrup off of Marcie’s face. We made our way back to the living room and sorted everyone’s presents into who got them. Right as we were all about to open our stockings, Will decided to “let one rip,” it was the loudest and stinkiest fart ever, “I think I’m gonna poop myself!” Will said as he ran to the bathroom. Every step he took another fart would come out. “We had a competition for who could drink two gallons of milk the fastest last night,” Sam said.

Around ten minutes later Will returned. “You’re not gonna want to go in there for a while,” He said while gesturing towards the bathroom. “Okay, well let’s just open our presents then,” Zach said while looking mildly concerned for Will. Everyone opened their presents but not the ones from our parents because we wanted to wait for them to be here. Once everyone was finished opening their presents we threw out the wrapping paper and put our gifts into our rooms. We all decided to watch The Polar Express before we had to get ready to head to our grandparents house for dinner. Right after we had finished the hot chocolate part of the movie we heard the front door open. I had gotten up to see who was here. “Mom and Dad are here!” I said excitedly while rushing to hug them before all of my siblings.