Santa's Daughter

1. Merry Christmas

The fire crackled, filling the silence in the air. Ugh, I hate the heat, but I'll die without it so oh well. This time of year always sucked and by this time I mean Christmas. I hate Christmas with a burning passion. I love giving gifts, but it's just the time for adoptive parents fighting, little brothers hating your father, and missing your old family that you can't even remember.

My mother died when I was 10 and I was separated from my siblings when I was 11. I barely remember either of them and now I'm 14, turning 15 next month. I spent a few terrible years in the foster system and a year and a half ago I was adopted by the Calvin's. 6 months later they got divorced and Laura got married to another guy, named Neal. My real name is Natalia, Natalia Di Angelo. When I was adopted my name got changed to Natalia Calvin, but I still like to go by my original name.

My dad was supposed to be here about an hour ago for when my little brother Charlie gets here. I roll my eyes and head to the phone in the kitchen. I dial my dad's number, "Where are you?" I ask him once he picks up.

"Wow, not even a hello for your dear old dad? It's Christmas!"

I roll my eyes again, "It's Christmas eve and Charlie will be here soon and I'm not having to deal with Mr. Doctor-not-a-doctor by myself."

"Okay, okay. There was traffic, but I'll be there soon, I'll call your mother right now," He promises.

"Good, I'll see you later." I hang up the phone and hear a beep from outside. I look out the window and see my mother and step-father. He's not a terrible person, but he just pushes therapy on everyone and tries to dissect me every time he sees me. This is one of the reasons I didn't stay with her in the divorce.

I grab my coat and head outside to say hello. You can see the obvious differences. We both have black hair, but mine's more curly and a darker shade. She has light green eyes and I have dark brown almost black. My mom immediately hugs me tightly. "Awe, I've missed you, Natalia," she gushes.

We both pull away, "I've missed you too, mom." Charlie comes up behind her and hugs her leg. "Hey, Char," I greeted with a small wave. It's a little weird because he's 8 and I'm 14. We didn't meet each other until he was 6 so he felt like I was just a stranger coming into his family, but we've worked out most of our issues.

"Hi!" He waves back excitedly.

"Your father just got off the phone with me. He said he'll be here in a minute, but I'll just wait for him before I leave," mom tells me. We don't have to wait long before Dad's car pulls up in the driveway. He gets out of the car and walks to us.

"Sorry I'm late," Dad apologizes to Mom and I and kisses Charlie and I on the top of our heads.

"You wanna say Hi to Neal?" Mom asks him.

"Dad doesn't like Neal," Charlie explains to her.

"He's a little annoying," I add.

"Do you two always have to be so mean to him?" She asks me.

"Yes," I nod my head.

"Not necessarily. We could be rude, sarcastic, whatever it takes," Dad waves to Neil who waves to us from the car. Charlie and I walked into the house together with Mom and Dad behind us. I go into the kitchen to finish cooking dinner. I already finished most things. All I need to do is take the turkey out in a couple hours and heat up the rest right before we eat.

"There's not many presents under the tree," Charlie observes.

"That's because Santa hasn't gotten here yet," Dad tells him. I smile a little. He's still young so he believes. It's not a bad thing, I just never believed, even when I was younger. At least I don't think I did, I don't remember much from my childhood.