Page 11 of Sisters Making Mischief
Hunger eventually drove my granddaughters downstairs before their parents, and they bounded into the kitchen where I was wiping down the worktops for the umpteenth time and crossing things off my timetable.
‘Merry Christmas, Grandma,’ they said in unison, all coming over for a group hug, which was wonderful. I felt the brightness of Christmas Day excitement swell up inside me all over again.
‘Merry Christmas, girls,’ I said, looking down at their bright, pretty faces and dropping a kiss on each head. For a moment I almost felt like the sainted Marmee inLittle Women. ‘Has Father Christmas been? Did you all sleep well?’
‘I did,’ Jasmine said, ‘even though Mia was snoring.’
‘I’ve had a cold,’ Mia said, ‘everyone snores when they have a blocked nose, don’t they, Grandma?’
‘Of course they do,’ I said, sending a meaningful look at Poppy who was making quiet but unmistakeable pig noises.
Bunny, the youngest tugged at my arm. ‘And I only had two teddies, because Mum said that was all I could bring, and I usually have six.’
‘Never mind, you had Poppy, Mia and Jasmine in the room to make up for it,’ I said, dropping another kiss on the top of her head.
‘S’pose,’ Bunny said, pouting and looking very much like her Aunt Sara the previous evening.
‘Can we open our presents now?’ Poppy asked, standing in the sitting room doorway looking hopefully at the piles of lavishly wrapped gifts under the tree.
‘We should wait for your parents to come down,’ I said. ‘Let’s have breakfast first.’
‘Do we have to?’ Mia moaned, ‘they won’t be up for ages, and I’m not hungry. I ate all the chocolate coins in my stocking.’
‘Ah yes! Did you get lots of exciting things from Father Christmas?’
Jasmine gave me a look. ‘It’s fine, Grandma, we all know it’s mum and dad. Apart from anything else, Father Christmas uses the same wrapping paper that they do, and we all got exactly the same things. Except Bunny who got a gluten free gingerbread man and didn’t get lip gloss because she’s allergic. So how would Father Christmas know that?’
‘How about some hot chocolate and croissants?’ I said brightly.
‘Are they gluten free?’ Bunny asked.
‘Some of them are,’ I said, ‘I got them just for you.’
‘I bet they’re not as good as the real ones,’ Mia said, ‘I bet they taste like cardboard.’
‘Absolutely not,’ I said, as Bunny’s lip started to tremble, ‘and they are much more expensive. Because they are special.’
‘Dad said only people with actual coeliac disease need to avoid gluten. And you haven’t got that,’ Poppy said.
‘I might have,’ Bunny said.
Poppy laughed rather too hard for it to be genuine.
‘No, you haven’t. My dad says your mum is a helicopter.’
‘That’s stupid, how can she be a helicopter? Anyway, where isyourdad?’ Jasmine added, springing to her sister’s defence.
‘We’re not allowed to say, stupid,’ Poppy mumbled.
‘Right then, I’m going to put some croissants into the oven, they only take a few minutes. Hands up who wants some Nutella?’ I said, overly cheery.
Four hands were raised, and the sniping stopped long enough for them to settle at the table, which meant when John and Vanessa came down a few minutes later, all was calm, all was bright.
Sara appeared shortly afterwards, still in her Christmas pyjamas and dressing gown. Ignoring everyone she made a beeline for the kitchen, the coffee, and the paracetamol.
They spent the rest of the morning in the sitting room, opening presents and exclaiming with delight. Although there was a bit of a problem when Jasmine and Bunny opened matching iPads.
‘I wish we had those,’ Mia said enviously, the new palette of seven trillion eyeshadows forgotten in her lap.
