Dreaming of Cheers (Standing Up to Life Book 3)

Chapter 33:

SUNDAY MORNING WAS a little bit crazy. Mom had me wear another one of the holiday dresses I had. I was grateful for the fact though that I didn't look like I was seven in this one. 'More like ten,' I thought a little mournfully. 'At least I look pretty,' I said to myself as I spun around in the bathroom while watching the reflection of my dress. Mom had spent nearly an hour doing my hair for me and helped out with my makeup. Each day it was becoming a little easier to hide the bruises. Mom's parents were coming in to spend Christmas with us this year, so we had made sure that the spare room was made up for them.

Her brother Raymond was also coming with his wife, Jill, and two daughters Lauren and Lilly. They were going to spend the night tonight in a hotel along with her sister Penny, her husband Andrew and their daughter Halley. All of them were going to spend Christmas Eve and Day at our house. My dad's parents were supposed to come over for dinner and a bit the next day too. Though our house was way too small to really get everyone in it comfortably, we felt it was better than being in a hotel room or something... I was sure it was going to be crowded though, so I was ordered about the house to clean up one thing after another.

About one o'clock my grandparents pulled up. I panicked suddenly; it was going to be the first time they had met Tiffany. As they came in the door, I clung to Mom just in case they freaked out about everything. Grandpa Bill came in first and said, "Hi!" to us all. He gave me a big hug and said, "I'm so glad that you're okay sweetie," and I only cried because I was in shock. I had been so caught up in everything that had happened to me, that I hadn't had a chance to be apprehensive about this visit, like I had when we had gone to Denver. Now that it was here, I couldn't believe I was getting that from him so easily.

Grandma Dorothy pulled me over from him and gave me a hug before looking at me and saying, "Tiffany you really are a pretty girl," and gave me a hug. It made me wonder if I didn't look pretty if she would have accepted me, but I just let that pass by.

"Thank you, Grandma," I told her. The two of them settled in pretty quickly and before long my grandfather was watching TV with my dad, while my grandmother helped Mom and I get some pies done for the evening. We had been cooking for an hour or so when we heard the doorbell ring again. I went out with my mom to repeat the meeting of Tiffany with Uncle Raymond, Aunt Jill, Lauren, and Lilly. My Aunt and Uncle had prepared my cousins for the fact I was Tiffany now, but Lilly, being just seven said, "Daddy I thought you said Tiffany used to be Brandon..." It was just cute enough to be laughable.

Lauren was ten, and Mom quickly sent me to go play with the two of them and got us out of the kitchen. I took the two of them back to my room and watched their eyes pop out of their heads at my doll house and dolls that were setup inside. "WOW!!!" Lauren exclaimed.

I just smiled at them and began playing Barbie's with the two of them. We'd been playing for about an hour when the doorbell rang again and the final members of my mom's family that were coming came in the door. Aunt Penny and Uncle Andrew came in with loads of stuff to put underneath the Christmas tree. Both of them doted on me a little before Halley joined Lauren and Lilly in my room.

Halley was the same age, twelve, as I was – but a grade behind me because of where her birthday fell. She kind of didn't want to play with Barbie's, but the three of us dragged her into it anyway. "I can't believe you're still playing with Barbie's and in seventh grade," she told me at one point.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Well..." she started but couldn't find anything to say.

"It's fun, isn't it?" I asked her. She'd been smiling all afternoon.

"Yeah... but..."

"I know. I only have a few friends that still play with them.... And I don't play with them a whole lot anymore because I don't have time, but that doesn't mean you can't."