Present time

“Well, I have to admit,” Vyki complemented, “those crepes were really and a nice treat; thank you.”

“Thanks,” Matthew said gathering up a few plates, “it seemed like a good light meal.”

“I helped!” chimed in Jessica as she grabbed some plates and cleaned off the table.

“The berries were very fresh & well balanced, sweety,” Vyki added, “and I liked that the syrup wasn’t overpowering and just a small hint to tie it together.”

As the kids came back to the empty table, Vyki looked to Molly, “so, now what?”

“I don’t know,” Molly said and tormentingly continued, “maybe some parcheesi. Or I hear there is a new remastered version of ‘Dr. Zhivago’ airing today.”

“Oh, that reminds me!” Vyki said ignoring the antsy actions of their kids as Jessica was visibly bouncing, “there is that new documentary out about the textile histories and dies of the late Middle Ages in Eastern Europe; it looks fascinating!”

“Every year!” whined Jessica. “I was hoping you wouldn’t do it with Aunt Vyki here, but she’s just as bad as Dad about it.” Vyki looked at her eldest and raised an eyebrow. “Can we please open presents?”

“Well, I guess,” Vyki said, “did they even get any presents this year?” she asked Molly.

“Hrmmm... I may have seen one or two, but it's so hard to remember.” Molly teased.

“Gah!” grunted Jessica with a frustrated giggle, “you two are insufferable.”

“I think we might need to head to the Christmas tree before she explodes,” Matthew observes. Jessica just looks at him gasping feeling betrayed, “oh, I want to open presents too, but it's a lot easier to let you take the point with your entire outpouring.”

“Alright, fine,” Molly relented, “let’s go.”

Jessica immediately stands up and rushes out; Vyki can’t help but giggle at the infectious enthusiasm. Matthew followed shortly after with Molly and Vyki enjoyed watching their enjoyment as the came after them.

With them all in the room in spots, the children sat patiently for the next family ritual.

“So, who’s passing out presents this year?” Vyki asked as she tried to sweep her minuscule nightie under her as she sat down.

Matthew looked at his ‘aunt’ and asked with a grin, “we were hoping the one with the most experience would be ‘Santa’s Little Helper’ this year,” referring to their family orderly role for doling out presents.

“You do have the uniform for it,” Jessica said gesturing to Vyki’s nightie.

“They got a point,” Molly said with a bit of cringe as she held out the traditional Santa’s cap to Vyki.

“Besides,” Jessica piped in again with a wide grin, “Auntie’s never had the chance.”

Vyki looked at the hat almost as if it were poison as she was not looking forward to being the center of attention with her family like this. However, as she looked at her grown children, her heart quickly melted as they simultaneously said “pleeeease,” and she immediately responded “okay” without another thought.

With the red hat firmly in place, Vyki cautiously walked over to the tree and said “alright, let’s do this,” as she gingerly knelt down careful to keep her nightie modest, she grabbed presents for the three of them and distributed to each. As she went to sit down, Matthew noticed, “well, what about you?”

“Oh, well, I like watching y’all open them,” Vyki replied.

“Oh, God!” Jessica said, “we don’t have any presents for Aunt Vyki,” looking to her brother in near panic. “That was really rude of us!”

“Not like we knew ‘she’ would be here,” Matthew responded back incredulously.

“True,” Jessica replied contented. “Since Dad skipped out on us this year, you can just open his instead,” she replied haughtily with much contempt. Then seeing Vyki’s exasperated look, she winked and giggled, “just kidding, but seriously, open your presents.”

“Fine,” Vyki said rolling her eyes grabbing a small present addressed to Paul. “Now, will you please open your presents.”

This continued for several ‘rounds’, each person taking a turn opening, letting everyone ‘ooo’ and ‘aah’ at seeing others got, then examining them in more detail as Vyki would gather the next set, and going around the room again.

Before long, it turned into the inevitable usual show where the parents had gone through their lot, but there was still more for the children. However, as Paul & Molly ensured every year, each child ended up with the exact same number of presents.

Furthermore, they both got to their final ‘big’ present that Vyki had really been antsy waiting for as she dragged out a couple of large boxes nearly identical to each other. Paul had spent a long time trying to find something cool, geeky, and fun for his adult children, and with everyone locked away remotely, the idea had finally dawned on him.

And so it was with much bated breath, as Vyki literally sat at the edge of her seat watching the kids as they did the typical “1, 2, 3” as they raced to open their final present to see who had the best one.

They both were a little perplexed as the looked at it until Matthew finally identified it, “VR sets?”

“Exactly,” Vyki said excitedly. “It was the full motion capture camera that is great for exercising and fast action games, but you can also just use the handheld controls for most games. Also, it comes with that music game with the big light swords, so you should be able to play immediately, but there is also a slew of free games out there.” As they both started opening them rapidly, Vyki remembered one small detail, “but be careful, the elves left a note there might have been a small gift they had to slide in because the big guy couldn’t add funds directly to your accounts that don’t exist.”

“Well,” Jessica said, “it's a good thing we have someone who knows St. Nick so intimately to keep us so well informed, Mrs. Claus.”

Vyki blushed immensely as she briefly bowed her head remembering her embrace with Sir Bill yesterday and things running through her mind during it.

“Hey!” Matthew exclaimed interrupting the teasing, “these things have a full charge. Wanna do a round of me beating your ass, sis?”

“Oh, you’re on, Donkey Kong!” Jessica chided ripping out her own equipment.

Giggling at watching the childish behavior return to her kids, Vyki immediately started picking up trash and boxes to clear space for them. Molly joined in as soon as she saw what Vyki was doing and helped move furniture around while they retreated to the kitchen to do their typical preparations while the kids played with their toys.

It didn’t take long before they were able to get all the food Paul had already prepared two days ago before the kids’ flight was cancelled in the oven and warming up for lunch. Vyki started in on the dishes left over from breakfast since the kids were good enough to do the cooking. Vyki noticed Molly kept looking out at the kids playing, and while she would love to go out and watch them too, she knew her mind would be thinking of this pile of dishes. “Go play with the kids, I got this,” Vyki said to Molly as her hands were already soaked in sudsy water.

“You sure?” Molly asked apprehensively feeling guilty about leaving Vyki in here, but really wanting to go be with the kids.

“I’m sure,” Vyki admonished, “I’ll join you in a moment.”

“K,” Molly says slowly padding off in her pajamas trying not to feel guilty as she couldn’t help but admire the feminine form doing dishes that just seemed sexy in so many different ways.

Vyki continued washing the dishes when she was interrupted by a voice, “here, let me help you dry those!”