The Holiday Homework |Christmas Book |

n i n e

The small extended weekend had come to an end and Peter, Sarah and Juliet had to get back to work. The twins had another week of school, that meant that Jasper, James and I would be at home alone till the twins came home.

I was woken up when I felt I was extremely cold, which is completely natural because it's winter. It would sound even more normal if I was feeling cold on the bed with no blanket. The opposite happened, I managed to roll out of the bed and lay on the floor.

Was this the first time I have rolled out of my bed?

No, and Emma found it amusing to wake me up with a bucket of water whenever I did.

I managed to get up and get in for a warm shower. Correction, a hot shower. After that, I dressed in something that would keep me warm. I put my hair into a neat messy bun and applied a little makeup.

I walked out of my room after doing my bed. The house was quiet, all must have left for work, Jasper must have gone to drop the twins off to school. I walked down the corridor and opened the door of James' room.

It was a typical four-year-old boy's room, blue walls with stuff toys everywhere. James was sitting on the carpet with his iPad.

"Good morning, James." I sit next to him. "Morning!" He greets me with a big smile but after that, he went back to play candy crush on his iPad. When I was four, I used to sit with my colouring book in the morning, but gone are those days.

"Did you have breakfast?" I ask him.

"No." He shook his head and looked at me. Sarah told me that James would be dropped at his babysitter when she went for work but since Jasper is home, there wasn't a need for him to be at the babysitter.

"Would you like to have your breakfast?" I ask again. He nodded his head and placed his iPad aside. I got up so did James. We walked out of his room and climbed down the stairs and turned to the kitchen.

It was only when I walked into the kitchen that I realized that I did not know how to cook much. This kid would be having high expectations and all I knew was how to make were some sandwiches.

James climbed on top of a chair and seated himself like a very good boy. I walked over to counter to see what I could create. A loaf of sliced bread was there under a glass cloche. The butter pot was on the counter as well.

A simple bread butter sandwich would work for me.

"I'm hungry." I hear the four-year-old say. I give a nervous nod and look at the bread.

I need to modify it a bit.

I looked around, hoping to find something when my eyes caught on some fresh cucumber and carrots in a dish.

A cucumber sandwich would be delicious.

I take one cucumber and reach for a kitchen knife. I begin to slice it when I noticed a beautiful red apple sitting in front of me. Perhaps some apple bites for starters. Kids like that right? I mean why would McDonald's have apple bites for kids?

I grab the apple and give it a quick wash. I slice it and placed it on a plate and handed it to James. "Why don't you start off with some apples," I tell him.

"I don't like apples but mother forces me to eat them." He frowned and took a slice. "It's the things you don't like to eat that keeps us from getting sick." I tell him as I slice up the cucumber. James silently sat there and chewed on his apple slice.

I apply some butter on one slice and placed the sliced cucumber on it in rows and columns. I place another slice over it and cut triangles with the knife and put them on a plate, like pyramids. I walk over with it to James and placed it in front of him. He let go of his apple and grabbed a triangle and bit into it. He turned to me with a small frown on his face.

"I want ketchup." he says and points to where a ketchup bottle was standing. I nod and run to where it was and hand it to him. I took a slice of apple from the bowl and put in my mouth, I gathered all the things I had used and placed in the sink to wash. I was about to turn on the tap when I heard James struggle with the bottle.

I turned around and saw how he tried to open the squeeze bottle. I jog up to him and offered my help but he refused and tried to open it himself, I tried to take the bottle from him but he kept pulling it towards him. The tussle continued and I heard a squirt.

A gentle reminder, never give a ketchup squeeze bottle to a four-year-old. You are most likely to have ketchup spilt on your clothes, just like mine.

"So sorry!" he cried when he saw the ketchup on my sweater. "Hey, don't cry." I wipe his small tears away. "I can wash it off." I smile and look down at his hands, they were with ketchup as well.

Did the bottle break?

I take the bottle from his hand and placed it on the counter. "Let's get you clean?" he nods his head. I helped him get down the chair and he ran to the nearest washroom. I was walking behind him when the doorbell rang.

"Great," I mutter and change the course of my walk and went to answer the door.

"James, I'll be right there!" I yell and open the door, my eyes met with Jasper's blue eyes. His sight moved down to the sweater and he chuckled. He walked in and I closed the door, when I turned around, I saw him looking at me. "Got into a food fight?" he asks me.

"Sort of, I need to go help James." he nodded his head, I fled to where James was.

That was a little embarrassing.

----

"What!" Jessica yelled. "Mom! Grandma needs to come here for Christmas! Who is going to tell us stories!" she continued to yell.

The Anderson household was calm until Sarah received a call an hour back, since then it wasn't calm.

"Jessica, Grandma cannot travel when she is not feeling well." Jesse threw a cushion at her. "Ouch! Mom! He's throwing cushions again!" Jessica yelled. I sat on a couch and Jasper was sitting at the other end of the couch. I watched how Jesse continued to throw more cushions at Jessica and how they fought with each other.

Was it really this fun to have siblings around?

"Stop it, Jesse." Sarah walked in with James walking in right behind her. "And Jessica, this Christmas you're going deal with me for the story." She told her.

"What if we Skype with them, that way Grandma can tell the story to all of us at one time." Jessica asked.

"Grandma has a bad throat so nobody will be hearing the story from her." Sarah replies. "Now, you to go to your room and finish off your work." She managed to get them out of the room, even she and James went away.

"What was that about?" I ask Jasper.

"The Anderson Christmas Story Evening. That's what it was about." He turns to look at me. "Every year, our Grandma gathers all her grandchildren to tell her the story Jesus Christ's birth. She never wants us to go out of touch with our beliefs, so grandchildren of all age must be present for it." He explains.

"That's nice of her to do," I say. "Yeah but this year that won't be happening but mom is there." He tells me.

"When is this Story Evening?" I ask him. "Tomorrow I guess." He shrugs. "I forgot to ask though, did you get that ketchup stain off?"

I thought you would forget all about it.

"Yeah, I got a little help from your mom though," I reply.

"That's good because that's a beautiful sweater you were wearing. It would a shame if the stain remains because you won't be able to wear it again." He looks at me.

"Thanks." I felt my cheeks burn up a bit. Please tell me I wasn't blushing over a comment of my sweater!

---
New chapter!

Am I moving too fast? Is it going on a story line? I'm just a bit worried because I do not have much reads.

Those who do, thank you so much for your support! ❤️

Vote. Comment and Share.

~Sapphire Castle