Elegance with Expense

40. Evil Eye

Rico woke me up before the sun started to rise. No surprise. A juvenile child, thrilled about- as Andy Williams famously says- the most wonderful time of the year.

I made him pancakes in the kitchen as everyone else tiredly filed in, in their own time of course. Undoubtedly, they were woken up by Rico's adolescent screaming when he saw the mountain of gifts under and around the tree, much more than what I saw last night. Much much more.

Spiced cookies that some of the chefs made were sitting in a tinted glass jar, right next to me. Ginger and Nutmeg. A perfect Christmas treat for the early hours of this frosty morning. 

Next to the jar was Rico's chocolate filled advent calendar- now empty. He was terribly upset the day before and was not yet ready to part ways with it, this was all made clear when Luca made an attempt to throw the useless box away- a temper tantrum almost occurred. The famous cartoon on the front was apparently one of his favourites.

Not many had an appetising breakfast, a simple fruit bowl or buttered toast. We all wished one another a merry Christmas as we watched the sun finally come up to brighten the morning. In a moment, I am cast in crimson, rays reaching my face as the warmth tingled my cheeks. The sun is like an alarm clock, but when I am already awake, it is a gift, just wonderful how it came in this day of giving.

'Can we open presents now?' Rico chirped as he swallowed the remains of his syrup-drenched pancakes. He looked up with a sticky smile to me, I looked to my right seeing Lorenzo who shrugged, not knowing what else to do.

'Clean yourself up first.' Armani said, pointing out his messy attire and adherent fingers. The youngest rushed to the sink, washing his hands for a few seconds before wiping them dry on his pyjama shirt. He ran over to Michele who was talking to Vince in a low voice, not noticing his youngest brother who was sprinting at full speed towards his legs.

Stumbling back the tiniest bit as Rico wrapped himself around his legs, cutting into their conversation. I couldn't help but smile as I saw the brotherly affection that was given by an abnormal form of Michele. Vince also looked down and gave Rico the tiniest of smiles when it was his turn to get attacked by one of Rico's aggressive hugs.

The eldest two came in last, so they didn't have the pleasure of experiencing Rico's bipolar mood swings that the rest of us had to deal with for a few minutes. When he is tired, he is like a girl on her period- unexpected capriciousness.

After he had embraced the tall men's legs, he rushed back to the place where he was sitting and took Gio's arm in his iron grasp, forcing him to get up, then dragging him towards the living room, in the direction of the gifts. 

A careless whisper escaped my mouth as I picked out another succulent spiced cookie, following the twins as I took a stingy bite from the edge.  

Most of us sat on the floor, whilst the other- more sophisticated- Rossi's took seats on singular armchairs which they pulled so that they would be in closer proximity to the brightly lit tree.

'Alessa is new to this, tell her how it works.' Xavier waved his hand around, ordering for anyone, except himself, to enlighten me about whatever it was that he was talking about.

'Everyone hands out the gifts that they bought, one person at a time.' Lorenzo explained, tossing an ornament that fell off the tree up and down. The Christmas ornament was a simple wooden angel, such tedious things only hung every so often. There were not many cheap looking items amongst the other expensive accessories, the one that the eldest twin was holding was most likely handcrafted by somebody important; a sentimental piece. Never would you expect to see the most boring angle shaped decoration here, but it bought comfort into the room, a nostalgic, bland ornament.