64. My Presents (Liona)

Liona waited for her mom's advice with baited breath, "How about once your heat subsides, you take the time and go and talk to him. You're perfectly capable of having a mature discussion with someone your age, so go in with your head held high, and do what you feel is best to approach the subject. You won't know how he feels about this until you do. For now, we have the rest of the weekend for you to recover before we gather as a family for your grand birthday celebration with everyone."

"Okay, I'll do that. Oh, that reminds me Momma. What are you proud of me for doing? I don't think I did anything that should make you feel proud…" Her mom laughed as she trailed off.

"Liona, baby. Your grades! Don't you remember that they were due yesterday? We got your report card from the school and both your father, and I are proud of you. You did your absolute best, and it shows. Although you still failed three subjects, they were your highest grades in them all semester, proving that you did put in that effort to raise them. The breakdown of your scores shows us how hard you've worked on each subject and where you still need a little help, but we are proud of your work ethic for overcoming your most difficult subjects to raise your grade points enough that they put your total grade for those three classes into the D+ range instead of the F- from last semester…"

"But I thought that you wanted me to pass my classes. You're proud even though I still failed?"

"We do want you to pass, but progress has been seen and we can be proud of that progress. At this rate, your final semester in school will be enough so that you don't have to take an entire summer school course. You'll be able to get away with only the subjects that you need the most help on." Her mom seemed so glad that Liona couldn't really believe her ears. She was being praised even though she failed. Sometimes she didn't understand her parents.

"Liona, your gifts are waiting for you in the office. Your father piled all of them in there so that when the maid comes later today, she won't disturb them. Do take a little time to sort through them and decide which you are keeping and which you are giving to your friends. It will save us a trip to the donation center later."

"Okay Mom. I'll work on the pile, but I don't guarantee that I'll be able to get through the massive amount given this year. I swear that pile gets bigger every year and I don't know why it gets bigger, when the number of people I invite is the same every year just about! It's like Dad slips more in when I'm not looking or something!"

"That's because he does! No matter how much I scold him for it, he does it anyway!" Her mom exclaimed.

"Really? He actually adds more presents to my pile even though you both give me my gifts separately. Why?"

Her mother sighed, "Because he gets a kick out of you finding a gift he gave you anonymously. He's been doing it ever since you latched onto that giant unicorn plush he gave you when you were five."

"Wait, Dad's the one that gave me Whinny?! I thought that the birthday fairy gave him to me when I was little!" Liona laughed, since she had believed in this made-up little fairy her dad told her existed from the time she was in preschool, on up until middle school. Of course, now, she knew that someone was giving her more than one gift but had never discovered who it was.

"Your dad loves you and wants to spoil you, and he gets great joy when you really love the gifts that he gives you. Whether it's anonymous or not, he loves finding that one thing that you really love and become attached to. He does it with your brothers and sisters too. I've been known to put one or two gifts in as well over the years, but I'm nowhere near as bad as your dad about spoiling you all. Make sure to let him know that you love his silly little tradition now that you know the truth. I'm sure he will pout, but you know that."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to break it to him nice and easy and give him a big hug as thanks mom. I really did love those silly little anonymous gifts I'd find." Liona got up and hugged her mom who had been hovering near her as they talked.

"Thank you for my birthday gift this year Momma. You know just what I like. I wore them to my party yesterday. They matched my dress so perfectly!"

"I'm glad you like them. Those clover earrings were made to match the necklace your dad and I purchased for you a while back. I'm glad they were done in time for you to wear for your birthday. As for matching your dress, it wasn't hard to figure out that you would wear something with at least a bit of green in it. It's your favorite color after all. You take so much after your Grandfather Lionel with your beauty and taste. Sometimes I wonder how much of my family you have in you, then you open your mouth and I hear my mother and grandmother and see them in your mannerisms."

Liona laughed. She remembered her great-grandma when she was small and how she used to tease her mom about sounding like her grandma. It seemed that trait had been passed down through her mom's family to her. She knew that her Grandfather Lionel's favorite color is also green, but he liked a darker green than she did. She liked bright peridot greens with a hint of yellow to them, while her grandfather liked darker more blue-greens such as emeralds. 

As she pondered this, she made her way over to the office. Her mom was likely headed for bed for a morning nap, depending on when she got home last night or this morning, so she left her to do what she needed while she tackled the pile of gifts.

Entering the office, Liona smiled and laughed a little at the huge pile of wrapped gifts that reached all the way to the ceiling. It was way more than she was expecting, which meant that either her dad had gone overboard, or her grandparents had snuck some in after she had passed out last night.

Getting to work, Liona unceremoniously unwrapped the mountain of gifts and noted who had gifted which ones, so she could send thank you cards out later. As she worked, she sorted each gift into those that she would keep and those that she would donate. A lot of her gifts were unfortunately things she could care less about since most of her classmates just got her things they were into, rather than taking note of her interests that she made them well aware of every year.

As she worked, she would periodically take things up to her room once the pile of gifts to keep got too big to keep working on in the office. During one of these trips as morning turned into early afternoon, the maid arrived and set to work cleaning the house. She paid no mind to the woman as she worked since she hated to be interrupted while on the job. It was just one of the quirks of their cleaning lady. The older woman had served their family for quite a long time, and Liona had known her since she was small, so she was well familiar with her personality and her routine.

At one point the doorbell rang, but Liona paid no mind to it since the cleaning lady, or her mom would get the door since she had her hands full carting even more gifts up to her room. By evening, Liona had completely forgotten the doorbell had even rung and finally had everything sorted from her gift pile. She had actually broken it down into three piles. One to keep, one to donate, and one for Erik's family. The pile for Erik's family were mostly useful things that Liona didn't need, but Erik's family could probably use, or at least find a use for since some of these gifts were things like tablets, new phones, or other tech gadgets to make life easier.

At dinner that evening, Liona told her mom about her decision to give some of the things she would otherwise donate to Erik's family. Her dad though, had a better idea so that they could make use of those gadgets, he would contact one of the charities their family worked with closely and that would allow them to get a reduced cost if not free service plan for the things like the tablets and phones. Liona had forgotten that service plans were required to make use of things like that since her parents paid for all her devices. She felt a bit sheepish for forgetting that fact. Of course, Erik's family wouldn't be able to afford these things otherwise, if Erik's three part-time jobs were anything to go by.