Page 25 of First Christmas

“Baby, you’ve had the talk with Nat. I’m pretty sure she knows what we get up to in here, let alone when she’s out of the house.”

Becks walked out scowling at me, tightening the robe clinging to her body, hair falling over her shoulder.

“Still! Put some pants on. Monica is with her.” She reached down grabbing a pair of my pajama pants from the floor and threw them at me, hitting me directly in the face.

“Whoops,” she giggled.

“You’ll pay for that later.” I muttered, watching her leave the room.

“Nat, good morning, sweetheart! We overslept.” I heard her voice greeting our daughter and stood, slipping my pants on.

“Busy night?” I heard Monica’s teasing voice and laughed to myself before padding out and down the hall to the kitchen. Meeting Monica’s eyes behind Becks’ back, I raised my eyebrows questioningly.

She nodded, grinning wide as Becks hugged the girls and reached for her. They were going to get on the road to head to her parents and then Paul’s today.

“I love you all. Drive safe and text me when you get there,” she said. “Do you need anything to drink or eat on the way?”

“Becks, we’re covered. I’ll text when we’re there. They only live an hour away.”

Monica’s parents and Paul’s family had moved to a smaller, more rural retirement type of community that was just an hour's drive away from us.

Monica winked at me and left with her girls.

I grabbed my hoodie from the hook by the back door and glanced out the window. It hadn’t snowed overnight and while the ground was still white, the path I’d made to the shed was still clear. Turning I saw Nat grinning at me excitedly, still bundled in her coat, my wife fixing a mug of coffee with her back to us, completely unaware.

“Can we?” Nat whispered.

I nodded. We had a big day planned tomorrow with all our friends going to Nan’s to spend Christmas. We could have our family Christmas on Christmas Eve and start our own traditions.

“Can you what?” Becks turned around, looking at us suspisciously.

“Slip on some shoes and a coat, babe. Nat and I wanna give you your Christmas present.”

Becks blinked at me.

“And I need shoes and a coat?” she repeated, blinking at me behind her glasses.

“Yep.” Nat started giggling.

“What did you all do?” muttered Becks, walking into the front hall and getting her coat and snow boots.

“We’re gonna have our Christmas on Christmas Eve.” Nat was bouncing with excitement, following Becks like a little girl, instead of the teenager she was. She practically vibrated with anticipation and energy.

Becks looked over at her, raising her eyebrows.

“Dad said we could. It would be our new family tradition!” Nat finished.

Becks’ eyes filled with tears and she nodded, hugging Nat tightly and looking at me over her shoulder.

This first Christmas was going to be an emotional one for sure.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing her call you dad.” Becks said, releasing Nat to run ahead of us and sneak into the shed to record everything.

“You’re telling me. In some ways it seems so natural like she’s been here and done it my whole life. In other ways I can’t believe I have a daughter.” I said, slightly choked-up myself.

I slung my arm over Becks’ shoulder and guided her through the kitchen and out the back door.

Her brown eyes scanned the backyard, not finding Nat.

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