E-Rated Christmas.

I went to answer the door. I didn’t know if everyone was arriving together or not, so I didn’t know who or what to expect at the other side. Right at the bottom of that list, though, was seeing Mila with sunglasses, a Santa hat and a fake, long, white beard.

“HOHOHO! Merry Christmas, young Oliver!” she said, putting on a deep, booming voice.

I stared blankly at her for a moment, my brain processing what it was seeing. And before I could even start to understand, Alice burst out laughing behind Mila, bending over and holding her stomach.

“Oh no…! Hahaha! It was funnier than I thought!”

Noelle also laughed, albeit more softly than Alice. “His face was pretty funny, yeah.”

“It wasn’t THAT funny…” Sarah said, looking at her friends like they were weirdos.

Mila had the biggest grin. She put her hands on her hips and thrust her chest forward. “So? Do I look cute?”

I crossed my arms and put on an exaggerated thoughtful face. “I don’t know… The sunglasses are out of season, aren’t they?”

Mila and Alice laughed even harder at that.

I chuckled and shook my head, stepping aside to let them all in. When Grace came out of the kitchen and saw Mila, she grinned. “It was Alice’s idea, wasn’t it?”

“I was going to wear those myself,” Alice said, wiping a tear from her eye. “But when Mila tried them on, I had to let her do it. It looks too perfect on her.”

“Doesn’t it? This mighty beard requires a lot of care, you know?” Mila said, stroking said mighty beard.

“But why the sun glasses?” I asked.

“They were in Sarah’s car, so I just put them on,” Mila explained.

“What are you guys talking about… Oh hell yeah!” Isabelle cheered and laughed when she saw Mila, going up to her to high-five her. “Picture!”

“Yes!”

Mila grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the frame of Isabelle’s phone camera. She kissed my cheek and maintained the pose until Isabelle took the picture.

Even I had to laugh at that. God, it looked so goofy!

“Well, things are lively already,” mom said, coming down the stairs.

“Oh. H-Hello, ma’am!” Mila stiffened, as did the others.

“We’re sorry for the ruckus,” Alice said with a sheepish smile.

“Relax, relax. Make all the ruckus you want. I’ll leave you to your business. I’m not so out of touch that I’d try to fit in with you youngsters,” mom said, chuckling.

“We promise we’ll behave, Mrs. Brooks,” Noelle said.

“What do you say we exchange gifts now so I can leave you all to your fun?”

Isabelle nodded fervently. “Yes! I’ve been holding back all day!”

I didn’t think doing it right when the girls arrived looked very good, but it did leave us the rest of the evening to hang out freely, so I also agreed.

“I’ll go get the bags from the car, then,” Sarah said. “Alice, help me out?”

“Sure.”

“You didn’t forget the thing, right?” Grace asked Sarah, going with her and Alice.

“Of course not. How could I?”

The thing? What thing?

I went up to my room to get my gifts for everyone, then we all moved to the living room and placed the gifts under the Christmas tree. Cake got curious and started smelling and pawing every bag and box. There were quite a few.

“So how do we do this?” Mila asked.

We had all taken seats around the coffee table, where we set all the sandwiches and drinks. No one was eating yet, though.

“Let me do it,” Isabelle said, standing up. “I’ll pick them at random, read the tags, and hand them over to the gift giver.”

“Okay, I like that,” Sarah said.

“No picking yours first, okay?” mom said.

Isabelle blushed. “I wasn’t going to! Oh, but…” She looked at me, leaving it up to me to deliver the bad news.

I sighed. “Isabelle and I bought your gift together. It was supposed to arrive yesterday, but…”

Mom chuckled. “Don’t worry. Waiting one more day won’t kill me, but I admit I’m even more curious now.”

“You’ll love it, I know it,” Isabelle said. “Now, let’s pick gifts!”

She started picking bags and boxes at random. The first one she picked was a round box wrapped in a blue paper with a pattern of Christmas bells. She read the tag and frowned in confusion.

“Okay, we’re starting with something hard. Who do I give this one to?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” I asked her. “What does it say?”

“From everyone to Mrs. Brooks.”

“Oh.”

Mom blinked. “Huh? For me?”

“It’s from all of us to you, Mrs. Brooks,” Alice said. “A small thank you for letting us be here tonight.”

Mom chuckled and even looked a little bashful. They totally caught her off guard. “Please, it wasn’t necessary.” Regardless, she gratefully accepted the gift.

Mom opened it carefully to preserve the wrapping paper, as she always does. Inside was a blue metal box of chocolates. Mom’s favorites that she doesn’t eat often because they’re pretty expensive.

Her jaw dropped. “How’d you know?”

“We asked Isabelle what you would like,” Noelle said, blushing.

Mom chuckled. “I love these. Thank you very much, girls.”

I saw the girls smile with relief. Mom, then opened the box. The small chocolates were each in their individual slot, almost looking like a box of jewels.

“Here, take one each,” she said, putting the box forward. We hesitated, but mom insisted, so we each ate one. I had the bad luck of randomly picking one that was filled with liquor cream, but I kept quiet about it.

Mom didn’t say much else, but I knew the girls had earned themselves some nice points with her. Not because of the chocolates themselves, but because they took the time to get her something she would enjoy. Mom appreciates that kind of thing.

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