𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐔𝐬 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝

00 | The Ghost of Christmas Past

Christmas was always a big deal in the DeLaCruz house. All because of Jamie, the girl being one of the holidays biggest fans.

She loved the snow, the music, the carolers, the stories, the feel of the holiday as a whole. She loved spending the day with the family, cooking and eating, baking cookies, building gingerbread houses or snowman, making snow angels out in the yard with the forts they would hide in while having snowball fights. They loved drinking hot chocolate by the fire and staying up late to watch movies. They loved tobogganing and learning how to skate at the ice rink, where Jamie would laugh at her brothers who would fall around and claim that she was doing something to cheat because she was a natural and they weren't. She loved the way you had to think of people and what they would like so you could buy them gifts, and seeing their reaction when they opened their presents. She loved the feeling of excitement you would get as a child when Christmas came around, how you were too excited to sleep on Christmas eve and would have to force yourself to fall asleep, only to wake up and be more excited than the night before.

But Jamie's favorite thing of all was when it was time to decorate. It would take days to get everything finished, their house was big and there was a lot to do, too much to do in a single day, especially because she was usually the only one who cared enough to make sure it looked like something out of a movie every year. The way the house looked didn't matter much to the rest of the family, they didn't need every room done up to look pretty and like Santa himself came to decorate it. But them not caring only made it more fun for Jamie who would force them to help decorate with her. She loved annoying them, and getting to do one of her favorite things in the process? It was a win-win situation, for her. She didn't mind putting in the time and effort it took to do every room of the house, and the outside, because how could she not put blow ups of santa's sled and his reindeer on their giant front lawn? She had a whole blank canvas out there to fill with whatever she pleased, and every year she did just that, putting up inflatable candy canes, some snowmen and gingerbread's, decorating the old bricks of their outside walls with big snowflakes and Christmas sayings, stringing up lights along the roof and gates. It was time and effort well spent, in her opinion. Not so much everyone elses.

12 years ago. (2010)

"This is the stupidest shit ever." 

"Xander!" Victoria scolds, glaring at her son as she covers a four year old Willow's ears as if she didn't already hear it and wasn't laughing along with Wes. "You know you're not allowed to say things like that, especially not in front of them."

"But I'm not wrong." Is his defense, the thirteen year old dropping the box of stockings onto the ground, ignoring the sound of disbelief Jamie makes at his careless action. "This is so fu-...reaking dumb."

"Fu-reaking?" Noel mocks with a chuckle, knowing he almost just swore again, right in front of Victoria. It was like he wanted to get in trouble. 

"Good save." Ian teases, laughing with Noel, Jamie giving an amused snort.

"Stop it." The mother warns, sending the two eldest boys a sharp look before looking back to the third oldest brother. "You need to be more careful with filtering your language, i don't need you turning into a potty mouth like those two over there." She says, Ian and Jamie quieting down at the shot she takes at them. "So, please, watch your mouth."

"Yeah, watch your mouth." Wes reinforces for his mom, sitting by her feet on the floor. 

Xander narrows his eyes at the youngest brother, silently telling him to shut up, but Wes doesn't listen, sticking his tongue out at the older boy, knowing he wouldn't be able to do anything about it, not while Victoria was still here at least, and until she left, Wes was planning on hiding behind her.