The Longer Engagement

84: Brooklyn's First Christmas

Tuesday, December 24th, 2024

18 weeks

"So, do you think your mom will like this?" Sam asked, as he and Kelsey wrapped presents in her room, the door shut so that Brenda couldn't just walk by and try to see her presents.

"Oh, definitely. She's been saying that she wanted to start one." She said.

"Do you want to make one? I have all of your baby pictures and all on a flash drive that we can get printed out and make one. Same with the twins."

"Really? You'd do that?" She asked. Sam grinned and nodded.

"Of course. Remember what I told you, Kelsey. You are my daughter now, and no one can change that." He said. She smiled and nodded. Everyone else had got together and opened presents yesterday, when they got home, and Brooklyn and the twins, the ones on the way as well, already had a lot of presents from their grandparents and aunts and uncles. They finished wrapping up the box, and then wrapped the last few things before going in the kitchen, where Brenda was cooking dinner. She was sitting at the table, eating a cookie and looking at her phone, the twins and Brooklyn sucking on their bottles. The twins drank formula, and Brenda had started to just feed Brooklyn breast milk in the bottle because she would decide to bit down while she was eating. Brenda looked up and pointed at the counter, where the food was.

"Food's done." She said, a mouth full of cookie. She'd made baked chicken, macaroni and cheese, fries at the request of Kelsey and herself, and a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies shaped like Santa. Sam laughed at her and had Kelsey sit down at the table. Brenda stood up, but Sam made her sit down.

"I'll take care of everything." He said, beginning to fix their plates.

"Thanks, Sammy." She said. He smiled at her. He gave the two their plates and drinks, and sat down with them with his.

"This is good." He said, biting a chunk out of the chicken. Brenda laughed.

"Thank you."

"It's good mama." Kelsey said. Brenda smiled at her before stuffing her face like Sam does when he's hungry.

"Hungry, eh?" He asked.

"I'm eating for three here." She said, pointing her fork at him. He raised his hands in surrender and she giggled. They ate cookies and watched Christmas movies, and they let Kelsey open one present before going to bed. After they got Brooklyn and the twins to bed, they went to sleep, and around 2 AM, they both got up to put out the presents as if Santa had brought them and filled up their stockings. Baby toys for the babies and candy for Kelsey. They went back to bed after Brenda peed.

TIME SKIP

Wednesday, December 25th, 2024

18.1 weeks

They were woken up by Brooklyn crying on the baby monitor. Sam groaned and sat up, looking at the clock. It was 8:23 AM. He sighed and looked at Brenda, who smiled at him. He got up and went to Brooklyn's room and picked her up, her crying stopping instantly. She smiled at him cutely and put her paci back in her mouth. He made his way back to his and Brenda's room. He laid back down with her, Brooklyn sitting up between them.

"Merry Christmas baby." Sam said, kissing Brenda. She kissed him back and Brooklyn squealed quietly because the attention was taken off her. They broke apart laughing."Merry Christmas to you too, baby girl." He said, kissing her forehead. They got up a few minutes later, due to Kelsey and the twins. Kelsey went down stairs holding Brooklyn with Brenda, and started squealing when she saw her new bike they got her. Sam laughed, hearing her squeal and looked at the twins, who had pulled themselves up in their cribs and were grinning at him."What are you too doing? You ready to go open your presents from Santa?" He asked, picking them up in each arm.

"Anta!" They squealed. He laughed and kissed their heads.

"Close enough." He went downstairs to where Brenda was sitting on the floor next to Kelsey, waiting on them. He put the twins on the floor and sat beside the tree. He handed Brenda and Kelsey their presents, and Brenda the babies so they could help them open them. They'd gotten Kelsey some new clothes, a new pair of shoes she wanted, Sam got her a necklace that matched the new one he got Brenda, which they both loved. They also bought her a tablet of her own, which was baby blue, her favorite color. She got a few more little gifts from them, and she hugged them both. The twins and Brooklyn got baby toys, and new clothes. Sam also bought Brooklyn little earrings that Brenda saw and loved, so that she could wear them when they get her ears pierced after she turns one. While the babies were taking a nap later that day, and Kelsey was up in her room playing with her stuff, Sam and Brenda gave each other their presents. Brenda bought Sam a new watch that he loved, along with a baby name book that he thought was hilarious, as well as a new video game that he could play with Kelsey and not have her hear dirty words like his other games. She loved playing games with him on the Xbox, and no one knew why.

"That's our thing." Sam would always tell anyone who asked." That's just something me and her like to do together when there's nothing else to do."

"Here is your present. It's not much, but I think you'll like it." He said. She smiled and started unwrapping it. It was a card board box. She rolled her eyes, causing him to laugh, and opened the box. It had three binders in it. Two kind of big ones, and a smaller one.

"The smaller one is so that you can write about stuff that happens during the pregnancy. I knew you wanted to do it with Brooklyn, but you never had a chance to." He said. She smiled and looked at the other books. One had Brooklyn's name on it in purple letters, an ultrasound of her in the middle under her name. Brenda looked at him.

"Open it." He said. She opened it and flipped through it, seeing ultrasounds, starting from the first one they got, to the last one. After those, the first picture was of her and Sam sitting on the hospital bed after she was born, holding her and smiling at the camera, the one under it a closer picture of them when they weren't looking. They were looking down at her, the both of them still crying. She looked at the other pictures, some from when they were still in the hospital with her, when they got home, up until now. The last picture so far was a picture of all of them. She covered her mouth and looked at him. She started fanning her face and stood on her knees and hugged him and kissed him.

"I love it, Sam. It's amazing." She said, pulling away. He smiled.

"I'm happy you like it. The other one is going to be similar, just with the twins. There are a few ultrasounds in there now, and when ever we choose their names, we can put them on the front too."

"Thank you, Sam. I really love it." She said, wiping her eyes.

"Me and Kelsey are going to make one for the twins, even though they won't know what the heck it is." He said. She laughed." And you can help us if you want too. And I'm going to make one for Kelsey for her birthday since she wants one. And you can help with it too of you want." He said. She nodded.

"Of course." She said. Later that night, as they were laying in bed, Brenda said,

"Can you believe that this was our first Christmas together as a family?" She asked him. He shook his head, rubbing circles on her belly.

"I can't, but I can at the same time." She giggled."Brooklyn is growing up so fast. So are Justin, Janessa, and Kelsey. I mean, I remember when Kelsey was only four." He said. She turned her head to look at him.

"I know baby. We should go to sleep. I'm tired." She said. He smiled down at her and kissed her on the lips. They broke apart and she put her head back on his arm, holding his hand with one of hers and putting her hand over his on her belly.

"I love you." He whispered in her ear.

"I love you too."