"So, you're leaving tomorrow." Emma says as I take some clothes from my cupboard and put it in my little suitcase.

"Yeah, it's been a while since I've been in Philadelphia for Christmas." I reply. "I miss student life, Emma. You get longer breaks." I sigh and plop beside her.

In the past four years, life got hectic. Job interviews, new schedules and a fixed number of paid leaves which made it almost impossible to go on a big vacation since I had just started to work. Over time, the number of days increased and I could visit my parents in LA and Jasper and I could attend Juliet and Michael's wedding two years ago. Mom would visit me every four months. Mom, Emma and I would go out on the weekends and mom would spoil the two of us.

We heard the doorbell ring, Emma got up from my bed and went to get the pizza from the delivery guy. I settle my bed in the meantime and walked into the living room.

Emma closed the door and set the pizza box on the coffee table and sat next to me on the couch. I open the box and took in the heavenly aroma of the Hawaiian pizza.

I take a slice and handed it to Emma. I took another slice for myself and took a bite of it. There was a cube pineapple in the bite I took. I couldn't think of adding any fruit on a pizza but there are exceptions for the pineapples.

"Any idea how this Christmas in Philadelphia will be like?" I heard Emma ask while I concentrated on eating my slice of pizza.

"I don't know." I stop chewing to reply to her and then took another bite.

"It's weird how you two will spend your anniversary with everybody around you guys." She says before she takes another bite. "It's your fifth anniversary, he has to make it special. Don't you think?" I shook my head.

"That depends on him." I shrug. "Besides, I don't even know what to get him this time. I've run out of ideas." I sigh and continue to chew on my pizza.

Five years.

Who knew I would be able to survive a long serious relationship. Time just flew and I felt like it was just yesterday that Jasper and I kissed for the first time.

It wasn't all rosy like you expect. With the world we're living in, you could never really have a rosy relationship but we worked on it. Most long lasting relationships would have their boyfriend or girlfriend move in with them but for both of us, we just decided that it was better for us to have our little place.

That made each of our dates exciting.

"What time is he picking you up?" She asks me.

"Around nine. I can't believe tomorrow is the twenty-fourth." She chuckles and takes another slice from the pizza.

"Luke wants to come home with me." I turn to her. "I don't want him to come anywhere near Eliot. He's a devil and he always pushes away the people I start to care a lot about." She frowns and looks away.

Emma and Ryan broke things off three years ago. The way the two were going, you would have expected to have been married by now but that never happened. They still talk to each other but it was their decision to end it all. She seems to be happy with Luke now, I'm not sure where it will head.

"So you're not going home." She nodded, "I'm spending Christmas here with Luke." She tells me.

We sat for probably another hour and then I remember nothing except for my eyes feeling heavy and that I needed to sleep.

-----

I felt something vibrate and it was annoying. I didn't bother to check what it was, thinking it would stop after some time but it didn't.

That annoying thing kept vibrating and I was forced to wake up from my sleep. I was on the couch, so was Emma.

So I slept on the couch last night.

Trying to wake myself up properly, I realized that the vibrations were coming from my pants. I reach for my pocket and pull my phone out to answer.

"Hello?" I try not to sound sleepy.

"Are you still in bed, babe?" I let out a sigh knowing who it was.

"No, I woke up ten minutes ago." I yawn a little. "Yeah, that is because I've been calling you for the last ten minutes." He calmly responds.

"What's the time?" I ask as I slowly got up and threw one of the cushions at Emma in order to wake her up.

"Half past eight."

"You're kidding." I quickly walk over to my room and take my bathrobe from the stand. "Why would I?" I look at the clock on the wall and sigh because it was half past eight.

"Don't worry, I'll be ready by the time you arrive." I say and end the call and run into the bathroom for a quick shower.

As I scrub some warm vanilla sugar shower gel on myself, I hear Emma bang on the door. "What!" I yell.

"You don't throw a cushion at me!" She yells I roll my eyes. "Emma, it's just a cushion. You've thrown a book at me!" I yell back. "And can we talk about this later, I'm in a rush." I yell again but I got no response.

"Emma?" Still no response.

I sigh and continue with my shower. I wore my bathrobe once I was done and got out from the bathroom to quickly check on Emma. When I reached the living room, I found her in the kitchen fixing herself a cup of coffee. I didn't want to disturb her so I turn back to my room and get dressed to go.

I had a lot to do and I had only ten minutes.

I dress in the clothes I had put out last night. I quickly apply some moisturizer and then I went back to adding the rest of my essentials into my bag. By the time I was done, I heard my phone ring and my clock was showing me that it was nine o'clock.

He was never too early and definitely never late.

I take my suitcase and my handbag and walk into the living room. Emma was waiting by the door. "He's again on time." She comments as we both step out of my apartment.

"If he gets late, it's all because of me," I say as I lock my door and go down the stairs with my suitcase that Emma was also helping with it.

I open the door and step out of my building. I spot Jasper's car. I turn and hug Emma goodbye and walked to the car, Emma waited at the foot of my building. Jasper helped me with the suitcase and kept it beside his suitcase in the trunk of the car.

I wave at Emma as I got into the car, she waves back and Jasper drives out from the spot and heads out from the neighbourhood.

I lean back in my seat and watched my boyfriend drive. We stop at Starbucks before we hit the highway to Philadelphia. As usual, he told me to stay in the car and I patiently wait like a child, humming along to the song that was being played.

He came back with two cups in his hands. I placed them both in the cup holders while he sat on his seat.

I took my cup and took a sip of the winter classic. "So, what time did you sleep last night?" I hear him ask.

"I don't really remember," I say before I took another sip of my coffee. "I found myself on the couch so you could say it must have been late." I shrug and he chuckles.

"Is Juliet and Michael going to be home? I'm dying to see baby Leah." He nods his head. "They're spending Christmas with us, everyone is going to be there." I smile and think of how it was five years ago. My parents were also flying into Philadelphia today, Sarah wanted it to be a very big Christmas which made me happier. Everybody that I cared for, except for Emma, would be together for Christmas and also the day that Jasper and I complete five years together.

We spoke in between and for some time, Jasper let me sleep. Even if he did give me chances to sleep, I couldn't sleep much because it's not fair to sleep while he drives.

He drives into the driveway and the sight I had before me made me smile like a Cheshire Cat, okay maybe not that big. We got out of the car and took our suitcases from the trunk of the car. We rolled our suitcases along with us and this time, I rang the doorbell.

My parents arrived in the morning, it was close to one in the afternoon. We wait for someone to answer the door, I could hear the laughter and soon the door opens.

Sarah, Jessica, Juliet and my Mom were standing in front of us. I run in and hug my mother and then turn to Jessica and Juliet while Jasper hugged his mom and greeted my mother. While I hugged Sarah; James, Jesse, Peter and Dad came in to greet us.

After we greet everybody, Sarah told us to freshen up before we had lunch. Since my parents were here, the room I used was given to them and the other spare room was given to Jesse since the twins were now teenagers and they needed their privacy.

Jasper opens the door to his room and I walk in. I set my suitcase next to the table and walked over to the window, Jasper set his beside mine. He came over to where I was standing and snaked his arms around my waist from behind me.

"I missed this place," I say, looking at the view in front of me.

"I know, I did too." I hear him say.

"Do you think some miracle will happen this year?" I ask.

"I don't know, it might be different or special. Isn't Christmas always like that?" I nod to his words and turn around, placing a kiss on his lips. He let go of me after our little kiss and headed to freshen up as fast as I could because I was hungry.

----

"Let's just put chocolate cookies this time." Jessica looks at Jesse and James.

It was back to the hour before these three went to bed and had their usual discussion of what Santa will have when he visits. Every member of the Anderson family now knew the secret of Santa Clause, even the nine-year-old James but that never stopped them from keeping the cookies and a glass of milk on the table for the man in the red suit.

"I'm going with my sister this time, Jesse." James innocently agrees with his sister as he sat beside me.

"You know what, keep the chocolate cookies." Jesse sighs and drinks some water from the glass he held. "Last year, I wanted the sugar cookies. This year can be the chocolate ones." He tells Jessica.

Jessica placed some cookies in the plate and poured some milk in the mug. I watched the three of them walk into the living room and placing the cookies and milk on the table. I turn off the lights and then the four of us climbed the stairs to head up to our rooms. The twins and James walked away into their rooms.

I got into Jasper's room and saw he was already sitting on the bed. I take my night clothes and get ready for the night. I climbed on to the bed after I was done, Jasper switched off the lights and wrapped his arms around me and placed a kiss on my temple.

"Goodnight Holly." I smile.

"Goodnight Jasper." I say and close my eyes and fall asleep in his arms.

----

Waking up on Christmas morning in my lovely boyfriend's arm is simply one of the best ways I loved waking up in.

I snuggle more in his arms slowly try and open my eyes. It was cold but he kept me warm, so did the duvet we were using.

"Jasper, time to wake up." His arms tighten around me and I let out a chuckle. "Jasper, come on its Christmas morning!" I say with excitement and this time I heard him chuckle.

"What?"

"Scrooge is excited for Christmas morning." He laughs, I roll my eyes. "That joke is old Jasper," I tell him. "Now wake up before somebody comes and bangs on the door." I try, remove his arms and get out of bed.

"Holly! I'm cold now!" He exclaims and I couldn't help but laugh. "Why are you so mean, Scrooge!" I continue to laugh and got into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

Once I was ready, Jasper got in to get ready for the day. I did the bed and waited for Jasper to come out. I tried calling Emma but she wasn't answering her phone, so I left a message wishing her "Merry Christmas!".

"Ready to go Scrooge." I cringe when I hear him.

I nod and got up from the bed. The two of us headed downstairs. From the sounds I was hearing, everybody seems to be in the dining room. We walk in and greet everybody, individually. Baby Leah reached her hand out to me when I approached Michael to wish him. I took Leah in my arms carefully from Michael and looked at Leah who had her adorable little smile.

She giggles as I softly tickle her on her tummy and then she held on my finger. Holding her securely in my arms, I walk into the kitchen to greet the rest of the ladies in the house. Since Juliet and Jasper were now here, Sarah decided that we have typical Sarah's style breakfast which was pancakes, hash browns, bacon and everything.

Not to forget the chocolate chip cupcakes that was set on the workstation.

"Why don't you take the cupcakes? It will be easier to take them since you're holding Leah." Juliet tells me as she held two plates that had large stacks of pancakes on them. I take the cupcake stand by the loop on the top.

"Let's take these and see how Uncle Jasper is going to attack them." I whisper to Leah as I walked behind Juliet to the dining. I place the cupcakes right in front of Jasper which made him look at me, I wink at him and giggle.

I hand Leah back to Michael and head back to the kitchen to help mom and Sarah with the grand breakfast.

In a matter of minutes, everybody was at the table. We said our grace to God and begin to the delicious breakfast.

A big family breakfast.

---

We were all on the porch in the backyard. The sun was setting and Dad and Peter had set a little fire in the backyard and Sarah switched on the lights of the porch.

The sun had set and we were going to open all the presents we had received. The twins and James brought them all at set them under the little tree that was set in the porch. Juliet joined us a little while later after setting Leah to sleep.

Like the tradition of the Anderson family, Jesse, Jessica and James handed out all our presents according to the names written on the tags. Once everybody received all their presents, the gift wrapper was carefully removed to let the presents out to light.

My parents were sitting beside Sarah and Peter and they were having a laugh at one of the presents that they had opened.

I begin to open my presents. A turquoise dress that I remember telling Juliet about, an expensive pair of earrings and matching necklace to it came from my lovely parents. Sarah found out how I loved pump heels so she found me black studded pumps that would go perfectly with my leather jacket.

After opening Jessica's present of summer shorts and a casual top to go with it and Jesse and James' present of Bath and Body Works special signature collections, I was left with my last present.

It was a medium box and on the tag, there was my name and it was from Jasper. Wondering what could be inside, I slowly shake the box beside my ears but I heard nothing. I place the box back on my lap and remove the clear tape that held the gift wrap carefully.

Did I mention how adorable gift wrapping paper was?

There was another wrapped box under the paper I had just removed. I turn and look at Jasper, he was busy opening his presents. I look back at the box I held and start to remove the gift wrap from the box and I opened another box to another wrapped box.

Not giving up yet, I remove the clear tapes that held the wrapper for hopefully what would lead me to my present but to my dismay, there was another box.

I turn to look at him again but he was busy talking to Michael.

What did he have in here?

I check the small box I was holding. I shake it again near my ears but nothing moved. I mentally let out a sigh and slowly remove the clear tape off. I was on the last clear tape when I saw a blue velvet box under the paper. My eyes widen realising what I was holding.

I slowly turn my head to look at Jasper but he wasn't sitting beside me anymore. I look back at my hand to see the box missing, when I looked straight I saw the blue eyes I fell for and still makes me wonder how it all happened.

"Don't say anything," he tells me when he saw me open my mouth to speak.

"I couldn't think of any other way and day to do this." He looks at me. "It's been five years." he begins to say.

"If I were to be more precise we met five years and over a month ago but it was on this very same day five years ago when we told each other what we felt." I could feel my eyes tear up as he spoke to me and the memories of what happened five years ago replayed in my mind.

"Believe me, Holly, since that day I haven't regretted anything." I smile and I felt a tear fall on my cheek. "You turned my world around and I do not know how it will be if you aren't going to be with me for the rest of my life." I let out a chuckle and wipe the tears that fell on my cheeks.

"Since I'm not very good at speaking, I'll cut it short." he opens the blue velvet box, revealing a diamond ring, I gasp a little realising that it was all real.

"What do you say, Scrooge." I giggle when he mentioned his nickname for me.

"Would you like to be partners for the rest our lives?"