Cookies & Christmas Wishes

"Granny Elaine, Granny Elaine! We bought the ingredients for the cookies!" Mai-Lynn blissfully dashed to my mother and gave her a tight squeeze. "Can we bake!? Can we!? Can we!?"

Her enthusiasm brought a gentle smile to mother's face and she laughed softly.

"Well of course, dear! We absolutely cannot let these ingredients go to waste now, can we?" Lynn shook her head eagerly in response, which made me giggle. "We must get to it right away! Santa won't be going hungry on Granny Elaine's watch!"

"Yeah! You're the best, Granny!" Lynn cheered, her big brown eyes sparkling with excitement.

"How about we get the food in the house first? You can't bake anything with the ingredients freezing away at the doorstep!" My husband called from the hallway.

"Ah, just leave them to it, Ray." I placed a kiss on his cheek. "Once they're in the Christmas spirit there's no turning back. It's not as much as I thought it would be. Me and Luka will help get everything inside while mother and Lynn prepare their bake station."

"Don't worry, mum. I've got this. How about me and dad bring the food in and you start putting it all away." Luka suggested, already carrying in his fifth shopping bag.

"What a wonderful idea. Sort of like pass the parcel." I patted Luka's head as I went by.

"Uh oh, your mum's been bitten by the festive bug too. Look at her, trying to put a bit of Christmas into everything."

"We're the only survivors left, dad. We have to stay strong. It won't be long before we're contaminated too."

I shook my head and laughed at their silly jokes as I left and headed for the kitchen.

***

"Where are my guinea pigs!?" Lynn yelled as she walked in with a tray of freshly baked cookies.

"We're all here!" Me, Ray, and Luka cheered in unison.

"Hmmm… I think something's wrong. I don't hear any pigs. Do you hear any pigs, Lynn?"

"No I don't, Granny. Maybe we'll hear the pigs better if they were wrapped in blankets!"

"That's a splendid idea!"

All of our eyes darted to the staircase with golden tinsel intertwined around the banister. Only a few seconds after that, the three of us jumped up and headed in that direction.

Luckily, I was closest to them so I managed to get a head start; however my reign was quickly ended as Ray grabbed onto me and tackled me down.

"Get off, you evil, sabotaging piggy!" I chuckled and kicked out, as he tickled my stomach and rendered my escape tactic useless.

"Run, valiant pig! For my sacrifice means that you can be the one to receive the sacred Cookie of Christmas!" Ray gestured that Luka should continue and he nodded in understanding.

"Your sacrifice will be remembered, Father!" He hurdled over us and sprinted upstairs.

As soon as Luka was out of our sight, Ray let me go and I seized the opportunity to at least be the second to get a blanket from one of the bedrooms.

I ran as fast as my trusty legs could take me, snatched a fluffy blanket from the closest room I could get to and ran back downstairs.

"I've got one!" I shouted, confidently, slightly panting because I haven't done much running recently.

At first I was feeling like I at least accomplished something by beating my husband but it appeared that I was wrong.

Luka and him were already wrapped up snug as a bug in their own blankets.

"B-But… how!?" I gasped. "You didn't even go upstairs!"

"A real blanketed piggy mastermind never shares his secrets." Ray sniggered.

"Nice one, dad." Luka couldn't stop laughing at the astonishment in my face.

"I don't like they way you two are tag teaming against me!"

"Honey, it seems that your the most unlucky pig this year." Ray pointed out, mockingly.

"Mum, you know what that means! You're the last one to try a cookie and you have to get everyone a glass of milk!"

"Yes, Lynn, thank you for reminding me." I scowled at Ray as if to tell him "Next time, I'll be victorious." and he put his arms up in surrender, still chuckling away with Luka.

Accepting my defeat, I fetched everybody a glass of cold milk and handed them out accordingly, then served myself one last to have with my cookie. "They're great per usual!"

"Granny never fails to bake the perfect cookies." Luka munched down on the remaining bits of his cookie.

"I helped too, you know!"

"Lynn, I'm pretty sure you only did some of the mixing. That's not the hard part."

"Well-! H-how would you know!? You didn't bake with us!"

"Just a hunch. I wouldn't trust you to measure out ingredients if I was in charge."

"I can measure ingredients just fine, thank you very much!"

"Alright you two. No need to bicker." I interrupted their little dispute.

"Yes, I'm sure Lynn was an excellent helper no matter what she did or didn't do." Ray added.

"Yeah, Luka!" Lynn stuck out her tongue at him and Luka rolled his eyes in return.

"It's getting pretty late… how about we watch a film before bed?" Mother put on the telly and directed everyone's attention to it at the perfect moment. A great distraction on her behalf. "Let's see what Christmassy movies are on tonight."

***

Me and Ray were both huddled together on the couch under a blanket, meanwhile the others had fallen asleep on the other sofa an hour into the film.

He was watching too intently to notice that I romantically snuggled in closer to him. The best he could reply with is a "you alright there?" which basically meant "can you please stop moving about so I can watch this film?".

I giggled to myself at his oblivious response and decided to enjoy the moment as it is.

Mother's living room was the epitome of the perfect festive atmosphere. The main lights were all turned off in the house, leaving only the speckles of dim glows from the fairly lights placed around the house, the dying flames from the fireplace and the bright light from the TV.

I was thinking that this was much better than any cinema. It was definitely cosier…

"I guess you managed to relax a little after talking to your mum about whatever was keeping you so pressed." Ray suddenly mentioned.

"Oh, you could tell something was up, huh?"

"Yeah, you were looking more tense then usual before me and the kids left - plus you volunteering to stay and help out around the house rather than enjoy some outdoor scenery was pretty suspicious in itself. I had a feeling you'd tell me once you got it out of your system."

"It wasn't anything too big. You know me… I'd worry about anything and everything all the time if I could."

"Don't you do that now anyways?" The words slipped out from his mouth.

"Oi!" I hit him, playfully, knowing he was right to an extent. "Remember mother's snow globe?." I asked after our chuckling died down.

"That one we were messing about with and we thought we broke?"

"That's the one." I laughed, nervously from remembering how scared I was back then mixed with the lasting uneasy feeling of the kids having the globe themselves. "She's re-gifting it to the kids."

"Ah, so this is what has your knickers in a twist!? Goodness me, Lana, it'll be fine! I think it's a great idea! Spice up this year with a little fun!"

"Oh… yes… fun." I smiled, wryly, in response to his unsurprisingly carefree attitude.

"You haven't changed at all. Same old worrywart I fell in love with way back when. You should learn to loosen up a little!" Not soon after that, I was attacked by a flurry of affectionate kisses.

"And you're still the silly beaninie I fell in love with way back when." I gave into his warm embrace and returned his kisses.

Before we took things a tad too far on the couch, especially while my mother was still in the room with the children, I suggested that it was time to put them to bed. By the time I had carried Mai-Lynn upstairs she had woken up to wish me a good night.

"What do you think you'll be getting from Santa tomorrow?"

"Everything on my list!"

"Everything?" I laughed at her bold claim.

"Yes, everything. I've been a very good girl this year, haven't I, mummy!?" She glared at me, intently.

"Yes, you-"

"And that's why Santa has to - he just HAS to - get me everything I asked for! I hope Luka didn't forget to place the milk beside the cookies! I don't want him to ruin my chances of getting presents, mummy!"

"I'll make sure to double- no triple check for you, Sweetie." Lynn was still so excited, however, she let out an exhausted yawn. I guided her head to her pillow and placed a kiss on her forehead. "It's time for you to get some rest for the big day ahead tomorrow."

"Goodnight, …mummy." She was already back to dozing off.

"Sweet dreams~"

I headed a few steps down the stairs only to be greeted by my husband dressed up in red and white, a rounded stomach (probably stuffed with the cushion from the sofa) with a black belt and boots, a beard and the classic Christmas Santa hat. Strutting up the stairs and past me with a sack full of gifts, he paused and did a power pose.

"Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas~!"

I had to stop myself from bursting out into laughter and waking everyone up.

"You look ridiculous!" He does this every year yet I still can't get used to it.