Icicles still hang from the window ledge, the ground outside is still under a thick blanket of bitter cold snow. It’s still snowing apparently, that’s what I’ve been told. Cheryl’s just got up to go to the bathroom and she’s retracted back to our bed. The bed Paisley is now jumping up and down on. It’s like a scene from some corny Christmas film but I love it, of course I do.
We get up and we don’t need much persuading from Paisley once her begging becomes too much. She looks so excited and Cheryl does too. She’s like another child in the house, and at the minute we have a lot of them. I quickly clip back Paisley’s hair and of course Paisley being Paisley has dragged Amy out of her bed too along with Joan. Everyone else is still fast asleep; we may as well leave them in peace while Paisley opens her presents. We’ll open the rest together when they get their selves out of their pits.
Paisley looks as if she could burst with excitement; her eyes are practically popping out. Her hand squeezes mine as we wait at the top of the stairs. She’s bouncing on the balls of her feet, I love that she’s getting older and she’s starting to understand about Christmas a lot more. Once Cheryl has announced that the famous Father Christmas has indeed been she sprints down the stairs giving me slight anxiety.
“He’s really been” Paisley gasps standing by the living room door. She skims her eyes over the room. You can barely see the floor for presents piled ontop of eachother. There’s even a gift for her outside in the back garden that we had Garry and Joe put up last night before they headed off to bed. Its just a shame she won’t be able to play on it for a while with the weather being so bad. I just look at Cheryl and she smiles warmly at me, this is our first Christmas together and i can already tell its going to be an unforgettable one. “A car!” Paisley now screeches and we try to quieten her down while giggling before she wakes the rest of the house up. She runs over to the electric car sat by the tree. I hadn’t a clue Cheryl had even bought it until last night, it must have cost an arm and a leg. Its white and its reflecting the gold lights dotted up and down the tree. Its a mini range rover with her name on the license plate. Cheryl even topped it off with a big pink bow on the front.
“You’ve spoilt her rotten” Joan laughs wrapping the throw from the back of the sofa around her petite shoulders.
“I know but she’s worth it, look at her face” Cheryl grins looking back at Paisley who has now climbed in the car after a slight struggle at first. She presses down on the pedal and jolts forward. At first I think she got a bit of a fight but then taking us all by surprise she throws back her head and starts cackling. She sounds just like Sarah. I turn to my little sister stood watching and I elbow her in the arm.
“Go on, find yours!”
“You got me something?” She asks slightly amazed.
“Well we weren’t going to miss you out were we? Half of these are yours you just have to find them” She pulls me into a hug and she kisses my cheek, I wasn’t expecting that reaction but I peck her cheek back and rub her back.
“You’re the best, the both of you” She hugs Cheryl too before diving into the presents. It looks like we’ve made these two more than happy. Well if their faces are anything to go off.
“Come on Pai, you have more things too. What do you want to open first?” Cheryl lifts her out of the car and she points to a big box next to Joan. Joans so little the box is nearly the same size as her, I find it quite amusing. “How about we leave that one to last, yeah? What about this one?”
*
“This is brilliant!” Joan comments holding one of Paisley’s ‘dancing Elmos’ in both her hands. She keeps laughing as it moves side to side shaking its hips.
