Christmas Day

"Daddy!! Mommy! Get up get up! It's Christmas!!" Penelope shouted jumping onto our bed. Grandma stood at our doorway with Danny in her arms, a smile on her face. I woke up first, Harry still face down on the mattress, hard as a rock.

"Yeah, go wake up daddy." I yawned rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand. I threw the cover off of me as she started to jump on Harry who slowly started to grumble awake. I chuckled, kissing Penelope's head before sauntering off to the bathroom.

"Okay, Pen.. I'm awake." I could hear Harry's deep morning voice. Penelope continued to shout and cheer, excited to see what Santa brought for her. Mommsy called for Pen, ushering her out of the bedroom and into their bathroom to brush her teeth.

Harry walked into the bathroom, giving me a lazy smile. I spat out the toothpaste that foamed in my mouth.

"Good morning." I hummed at him, he stood behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist and placed his head on my shoulder.

"Good morning, beautiful." He mumbled in my ear, I watched him through the mirror as he placed tiny little kisses all over my neck. "Merry Christmas." He whispered, placing one more kiss to my cheek before moving to his sink.

"Merry Christmas." I smiled back at him. We were both incredibly tired today, Penelope refused to sleep last night, insisting on staying up until Santa shimmies down the chimney. She eventually fell asleep on the couch in Harry's arms.

No matter how much she wanted to stay awake, she's never stayed awake past 11 pm.

"Why can't she be a deep sleeper. It's 7 AM on a Saturday." I grumbled as I started to make the bed that I so deeply wished to be laying in right now.

"She's crazy and she loves Christmas. You should've seen this coming." Harry smiled at me, walking out of the bathroom. "C'mon, I bet she's dying to open presents now." Harry grabbed my hand and we walked out into the living room, sure enough Penelope was waiting on the floor patiently with a huge grin on her face.

"Finally!" She shouted once she saw the both of us.

"I tried my best to hold her off." Grandma laughed, clearly not able to calm Penelope down.

We all sat in a circle on the floor, Harry started to hand out gifts to people from under the tree. Harry set up a small tripod and placed his camera on top, recording the process of the kids opening their gifts. Of course, Penelope ripped through each of her gifts quickly. She was a spoiled one but she always thanked us for everything and showed gratitude, that's all we could ask for.

Danny didn't really understand what was going on, honestly he doesn't like commotion and was very unhappy at the constant squeals of Penelope every time she unwrapped a new gift. But he was happy and content with the new toys that he got.

Next was grandma, she insisted that we didn't get her anything at all, happy to just be here with us as a family. But of course, neither Harry or I would have any of that. She was very thrilled however to see new gardening tools, baking utensils, a new jacket, and a necklace with a locket on it. I think that's the one that got her the most. It was Harry's idea, we had spotted a beautiful antique locket one day, Harry knew he had to get it for her. Inside was a picture of my mom on one side and the other side was a picture of me.

"My two little bunnies." She whispered, tears forming in her eyes at the gift. She gave both Harry and I a hug, but she held onto me just a little longer. "You're mother would be so proud of the woman you've become.." She whispered into my ear. That was enough for tears to form into my own eyes. "I'm incredibly proud of you. Always, little bunny." She smiled at me, wiping the tears from my cheeks.

"I love you, mommsy." I smiled at her, knowing very well that this would probably be our last Christmas together.

"And I love you." She booped my nose. "Come on, kids. We have pancakes and whipped cream!!" She sang loudly, Penelope screamed in excitement, completely forgetting about her toys and running to the kitchen, Mommsy and Danny following suit. Asher jumped from his spot in his little bed and followed mommsy, who he's taken a very big liking to.

I glanced at Harry, who was stopping the camera from recording.

"Wanna go eat?" I asked, but he quickly shook his head.

"We still have to open our gifts." He grinned, patting the spot on the floor next to him. I scooted over to him, handing him the gift from me. Harry's the hardest person to buy gifts for. He has everything he wants, and the ability to get anything else he wanted.

We both agreed on keeping it simple, wanting to focus on the kids. I settled on a wallet, his was old and grubby and he always complained about it falling apart. Of course he was thrilled and content with getting just that. But was surprised when I handed him one more box.

"I thought we agreed on one thing?" He huffed, slowly tearing the paper.

"You didn't think I'd actually do that, did you?" I chuckled. He lifted the lid of the box and his eyes instantly lit, a smile forming on his face. His fingers grazed the leather bound journal lightly, as if he would rip it if he wasn't gentle.

He lifted the journal out of the box and pressed the pages against his thumb, making them flick in the cover.

"It's beautiful." He grinned at me, He opened the cover of the page, revealing ink written all over it in my handwriting.

H,

Merry Christmas. Our first Christmas together. This past year has been the best yet most trying year of my life. There's so much to be joyful and thankful for.

You and your kids literally ran into my life head on and ever since then, it's been an uphill journey. My life has never felt so whole, until I met you. You have taken everything I know about love, about relationships, about family, and you've redefined it. You've opened not only my eyes but also my heart. You've taught me that in order to love others well I first need to love myself. Something that I was never good at.

I know this past month has been crazy and really hard for the both of us. I know that. I know that you've gone above and beyond to make me feel okay, to make me feel loved and valued. You've never failed. We lost something, together. We lost a precious little angel and it still hurts so bad. I just want to say thank you, for everything that you've done for me. For the late night coffee talks on the porch, for the back massages, for the sweet, sweet songs, for helping me find myself when I get lost. Thank you for never giving up on me even when I did.

Our first Christmas together. Man am I excited for the many more ahead of us. I noticed your journal was full.. so here's a new one

To write your songs in, to write your hurts in, to write your happy moments in. To do whatever you want with.

Merry Christmas, my love.

I love you, always.

Anastasia

Once Harry was done reading, his gaze lifted to mine. He closed the book softly and placed it on the ground, cupping my face in his hands and planting a kiss smack on my lips.

"I love you so much." He whispered. "Thank you."

I nodded my head, swiping my thumb across his cheek to wipe off the tear that had fallen from his eyes.

"It's your turn." He sniffled with a smile. He handed me a small box. "This one is from me, the kids also have something for you, I'll call them once they're done eating."

I took the small box from his hand and opened it. A silver charm bracelet, halfway filled with charms. I carefully took the bracelet out of the box and admired each charm.

"It's beautiful, Harry." I smiled at him, I stuck my arm out to him and handed him the bracelet to put on for me.

"Penelope! Why don't you guys come back and give Anastasia her gift!" Harry called out loud, we could hear the rustling of the kids as they ran back into the living room. Harry handed them Penelope the wrapped present and scooted behind me.

"Merry Christmas, mommy!" She grinned handing me the thin box. I glanced back at Harry who leaned against the couch behind me, I turned back to Pen who was urging me to open the box.

I ripped open the wrapping and pulled out a flat vanilla envelope.

Certificate of Adoption

My eyes widened and my hand flew to my mouth as I stared at the paper in my hands.

"The other day you asked me what Pen told Santa she wanted for Christmas.." Harry spoke from behind me. "This was it." His words were gentle and soft, giving me a reassuring nod knowing how I must be feeling right now. The tears were falling down my face as I wrapped my arms around Penelope and Danny.

"I love you guys so much." I whispered placing a kiss on each of their heads. Harry coughed behind me.

"You didn't think you were the only one that broke our one gift rule, right?"

I turned around from my spot and was met with Harry, on one knee, ring box in hand.

"Shut up!" I shouted, without thinking, my hand flying to my mouth. Harry chuckled and shook his head, grabbing my hand with his free one.

"Anastasia Walker. My my have you changed my life." He started to say, a small smile played on his lips. "I never would've thought that I would find love again, never thought I would find someone so caring and loving as you. Someone that's just so perfect for me and the kids." His thumb stroked the back of my hand trying to soothe me as he spoke, sobs leaving my mouth as he spoke.

"You are one hell of a nanny." He laughed. "I love you. With everything in me. It's been one hell of a year, Anastasia. It's been filled with laughter, hardship, tears, smiles. There is nobody else that I want to spend the rest of my life doing all of those things with. I love you so so very much, angel." He grinned at me.

"Anastasia Walker, will you marry me.. please?" He finished.

"Yes. Yes, a million times yes." I cried, throwing my hands around his neck, we fell to the ground in a heap as he held onto me tightly. He slid the diamond ring onto my finger with ease.

"A perfect fit." He grinned staring at me hand. "You are a perfect fit." He whispered, kissing my lips tenderly. The cheers of mommsy and Penelope filled the room.

I pulled away from Harry and we stood on our feet, Penelope instantly running to our legs. Mommsy came over and wrapped her arms around me.

"Congratulations you two animals." She winked at Harry, causing me to turn red at her choice of words. "I love you both very much." She kissed my cheek and then Harry's.

Once we finished throwing out all the trash and wrapping paper, we settled into the kitchen once more, finishing up the food that was set out for us.

Mommsy sat and chatted with the kids, helping feed Danny. Harry nodded with a grin at whatever Penelope was telling him. I sat in silence, admiring the scene that was taking place in front of me.

"Here's to the future." Mommsy smiled, lifting up her coffee mug into the air.

"To the future!" Harry and I shouted in unison, lifting our mugs to clink with hers.

"Our future." Harry whispered into my ear, placing one last kiss to my head.

That's right. Our future.

The End.