Charming's Queen

24. Christmas Eve

"Babe, we don't have any traditions to do with the kids." Jax spoke up from the table, while Lynne had her back turned, preparing breakfast. "We don't do anything on our side besides a gift exchange at my parents' and dinner at the club and a gift swap there on Christmas."

"Well then, why don't we start with new traditions today?" Lynne smiled as she turned around, "We can watch some Christmas movies all day, order out for dinner, make cookies.." Lynne turned back around, "They can open up their Christmas jammies I bought them and then we can go look at lights and get some hot chocolate."

"I never thought about any of that." Jax cleared his throat and adjusted Thomas onto his other knee. "We didn't do much when Tara was here. We just stayed home all day." He wrapped one arm around Thomas, holding him steady and went through the paperwork with his other hand.

Lynne flipped the bacon for the last time, then shut off the burner. "I'm not surprised," she mused, "She's boring and that's not happening anymore while I'm around." Lynne pulled the last crepe off of the pan and turned off the burner. "Abel!" She called, "Breakfast is ready." Hearing the footfalls of Abel, she set up the plates on the table and then brought over the crepes and toppings, as well as the plate of bacon. Lynne grabbed the carton of Orange Juice on the table and poured Abel, Jax and herself a glass, before pulling out Abel's seat. "Good morning, buddy." She said softly.

"Morning, mama!" Abel smiled and grabbed one of the crepes off of the stack. "What are these?" He asked as he set it on his plate.

"They're like thin pancakes." Jax answered and moved the paperwork aside, grabbing a few for himself. He watched as Abel immediately reached for the syrup, followed by a spoonful of powdered sugar, sprinkles and assorted fruits and some whipped cream. With a chuckle, he started preparing his own and once he finished, he grabbed a few slices of bacon, broke them in half and tossed them on Abel's plate.

Lynne smiled and grabbed herself a crepe or two and prepared hers as well, watching as Abel began to chow down.

"Mmm, they're good!" He grinned, making both Jax and Lynne laugh at the whipped cream that was all over his face.

With a smile, Lynne passed Abel a napkin. "My special ingredient was love." She said softly and started to eat her breakfast.

...

"I'll do the dishes babe, you can go get the boys and yourself ready for the day." Jax spoke up as he grabbed the utensils and plates from the table.

Lynne nodded and smiled, "Thanks, babe." She spoke up and lifted Thomas from his swing after pushing in the chairs. "Alright, Abel," She said softly, "It's bath time."

With an excited scream from Abel, she shook her head laughing and watched as he took off down the hallway and into the bathroom. She followed and smiled, leaning down by the tub. She turned on the water and felt it before letting it fill up, then watched as Abel climbed in after stripping. Lynne grabbed the baby shampoo and squirted some in, watching as bubbles formed.

She smiled when Abel laughed and splashed around, then set Thomas on the mat she laid down. She opened the closet and grabbed Thomas' seat so she could set him in the tub as well. "Abel, Tommy is coming in too, okay? You have to be gentle." She spoke up, looking at Abel who nodded. Leaning down next to Thomas, she set his seat in the far back of the tub and undressed him, setting him in the seat. She grabbed a wash cloth and dabbed it into
The soapy water, running it along Thomas' body to clean him up. She did the same with his head and face, then turned off the water and let Abel clean himself up.

Lynne watched the two interact and grabbed Thomas' elephant hooded towel and then Abel's shark hooded towel, then set them on the counter. "A few more minutes, okay?" She said softly and watched as Abel gently splashed Thomas back, who was kicking his legs at his brother.

Lynne smiled and ran a hand through her hair, then turned back to the sink and watched them through the mirror as she washed her face, brushed her teeth and hair and applied her makeup. Once she was done, she laid Thomas' towel on the floor after tying up her hair and slowly took him out of his seat. She reached for his lotion and started to dry him off, then quickly applied lotion afterwards. Wrapping him back up in the towel, she started to drain the tub and grabbed Abel's towel after setting Thomas down on the mat.

Lynne helped Abel out of the tub and wrapped his towel around him, watching him dry off and then applied lotion onto his skin, like she did with Thomas. "Alright, I'm going to get Tommy dressed." She said softly, "Go ahead and brush your teeth and get dressed as well, okay?" She spoke to Abel, who nodded and rushed over to the sink.

Lynne lifted up Thomas and headed into his nursery,   Setting him on his changing table as she looked for an outfit. She opened up the drawer and pulled out a light blue long sleeve with a bear on it, with a pair of gray pants and a pair of socks. Lynne first put on Thomas' diaper, then put on his outfit and headed into her's and Jax's bedroom to get dressed herself.

She set Thomas on the bed and headed over to the closet, grabbing an oversized pink champion sweater and a pair of blue ripped jeans, as well as underwear, a bra and socks. She changed quickly and then took her hair down, before picking up Thomas and heading out to the living room, where she set him on his play mat and sat down next to him.

She watched as Jax and Abel passed each other in the hallway, Jax going to his room to get read and Abel coming to the living room to show off his outfit.

Abel stood in front of Lynne, a smile on his face. "I did it." He said and pointed to his outfit, which consisted of blue jeans and a gray hooded sweatshirt.

"Good job, bud." Lynne smiled and opened her arms to Abel. "Do you know what today is?" She asked softly.

"The day before the presents day," He responded as he sat down on her lap, resting his head on her shoulder.

"Christmas Eve, you're exactly right." Lynne smiled and kissed his forehead, "Do you know what that means?" She asked, "That means we're going to start new traditions.. today, do you want to know what we're going to do?"

"What are we going to do, mama?" Abel asked, looking up into Lynne's eyes with a wide smile.

"Well today, we're going to watch some Christmas movies.." She spoke softly, "Maybe we'll order pizza tonight and then we'll make cookies for Santa. Then if you're good, you can open one present and then we can go look at Christmas lights!"

"Wait, we get to open presents today?!" Abel exclaimed, his eyes widening. "And when we look at the lights, can we get hot chocolate!?"

"Only one, if you're good!" Lynne winked and kissed Abel's head, "A man after my own heart... of course we can have hot chocolate!" She smiled down at him, watching as he clapped and smiled excitedly.

Lynne looked up as she heard Jax walk down the hallway and she smiled, "Hi babe," She said softly, "Guess who got himself all dressed?"

"I did!" Abel cheered.

"Wow!" Jax smiled and took in Abel'a simple outfit, "Good job!"

"Let the festivities begin!" Lynne smiled as she turned on the TV.