Right In Front of Me (Finished)

Chapter 29: Christmas Eve

After a an hour or two of walking around in the mall, I decided what I wanted to get for Greyson. I pick a few random things here and there, then head to Michael's Craft Store and walk straight toward the decorative box aisle. Most of them were kind of girly, but I don't think Greyson will really cares. Plus, after he takes his gifts out, if he doesn't want the boxes, I can use them for storing random stuff in my room. I pick out five of different patterns and sizes, then pick up a Mason jar. I pay a few bucks for them, and then stop by Target on my way home to pick up a few ingredients for my idea, then finally get home around 11:00. I put everything in my room, spreading it all out on the floor and my bed.
        I have Hallie's Christmas present on my bed, A movie night/ sleepover basket. All of the things for it are spread out on my bed. I spread the checkered fabric in the basket, then fold up a pair of pajamas for her, and set it in the basket. I set a few scented candles in the basket, then a few DVD's of movies we want to watch together, and a CD I put together of girls night-type songs. I sprinkle a few chocolate bars throughout the basket, and place two popcorn bags inside, since I could eat one bag all on my own, considering how much I love popcorn. I also put a Seventeen magazine inside for us to flip through.
        For Taylor, I have a small beauty bundle. I am putting a few great beauty products I bought for her in the middle of a square of fabric, and I pull all the corners of the fabric into the middle, tying them together with a ribbon. I place the bundle in a small box, then wrap the box, placing a bow on the top.
        I got Yolanda a phone case, perfume, a necklace, and some mustache nail designs. I put it all in a little clutch purse for her, and just stick a bow on the front of it. Then, for Lana, I put in a cute little box, a bike necklace, some floral nail designs, and my favorite perfume, 'Aqua Kiss'. Then for Mercedes, I put in a gift bag for Mercedes a pair of Vans sneakers, some nail polish.
        For Mason, I just simply got him a new basket ball, since Jackson popped his last one. And as for Jackson, (I am terrible at shopping for guys) I just got him a football. I figured getting him something sports-related was a safe bet. For Diego, I just got him a snapback, since he loves them so much.
        Then, for Hayden, I got him a watch, a tie, and some cologne. Can't go wrong with that, right?
After everyone's gifts were done, I set them all under my bed where they can't get ruined. Then, I get started on Greyson's gift.

        Once I have most of his gift done, I go into the kitchen, my ingredients in hand, and begin to bake chocolate chip cookies from scratch, since this is part of Greyson's gift. Around 3:00, I am done with Greyson's gift completely. So, I put his gift in my closet, since in won't fit under my bed.
        After that, I work on Summer's gift, which is a book of happy memories, and a few beauty products. When that's done, I put a baseball, and a small racecar piggy bank in a bag, put tissue paper inside, and label it 'Brian'. Then, I put a tie, and a watch for my dad in a bag and do the same. Next, I put a dress and scarf for my mom in a box, and wrap the box. I tie a ribbon around it, label it 'Mom ♥' and slide it under my bed, along with the rest of my family's presents. I walk down the stairs, as it is now 4:00, and we are eating dinner early so we can get to church tonight. We prefer to go to Christmas Mass on Christmas Eve, so we have all of Christmas day open.
        After dinner, Greyson leans in my window and asks when we will exchange presents. "When is family done with the whole Christmas morning routine?" I ask him. "Umm, like around 11:00. Does that work?" He says. I nod, then ask, "Do you wanna hang out at my house tonight? We're just all watching Christmas movies and eating junk. You can bring your family, if you want."
        "Great! Because, my sister is just now on Christmas break from College, and she really wants to meet you and your family." He answers. "Okay, but I'm not getting all dressed up for making a good first impression. I'm just wearing my pajamas." I warn him. He just shrugs, and says, "You're already gonna make an amazing first impression just by being you." I blush and hug him. Why do I feel like meeting his sister and making a good impression has to do with me liking Greyson? I really want her to like me.
        I pull back and say, "Cool, then! Now, I have to get ready for Church. Shoo!" I wave him out of my room. "Really? I already went." He tells me. "Okay, well, I haven't. It starts in an hour, and since it's Christmas Mass, we have to get there extra early. So, bye, Greyson!" I push him out onto the bridge and watch him disappear into the tent.
        I get ready for Mass, and forty-five minutes later, we all leave for Mass.
        
        When we get back from Church, we take some pictures, and then my mother retreats to the kitchen to make frosting to decorate Christmas cookies for Brian to leave out for Santa Claus. I go upstairs to change into my pajamas and wash off my makeup. I pull on a Santa hat without undoing my hair. I go to Greyson's window and invite him and his family to come over. They show up at our front door because I'm guessing they either don't know about the bridge, or don't think it's safe. I let them in.
        Greyson's sister comes right up to me and hugs me, saying, "Hi! I'm Dakota!" She pulls back and, thankfully, she is in her pajamas, too. She is gorgeous. "You must be Avalon! Greyson's told me a lot about you. You're all he ever talks about when he calls me at college. You two must be pretty close, huh?" She continues. I look around for Greyson, but notice that he is already over with my family. He has Brian draped over his shoulder, while he hugs Summer. Brian is yelling, "Uncle! Uncle!" Greyson puts him down. Dakota and I watch Summer ask Greyson, "Oh, so he gets picked up as a hello, and all I get is a hug?" Greyson picks her up and spins her around, then puts her back on the ground. I say to Dakota, still watching, "Yeah... real close." I smile, and run over to Greyson's parents, giving them a hug and inviting them into the kitchen for hot chocolate. They follow me into the kitchen and Dakota goes right over to Summer and strikes up a conversation with her.
        Greyson's parents compliment our Christmas decorations. When I am done making hot chocolate for them, I walk over to Summer who is saying to Dakota, "You're how old?" Dakota answers, "Nineteen. I'm in my Sophomore year of College at Christopher Newport." Summer nods in approval. "Nice. I'm in NOVA, in my Freshman year there. It's just so much cheaper to go to NOVA for two years, then transfer to another school. Plus, you have guaranteed acceptance to any College after that, so I'm going to transfer to CNU after that." Dakota exclaims, "Oh, yay! We'll be at the same College for a year!"
        Greyson and I leave them to talk, and we go over to the table to frost cookies. I pick up a sugar cookie shaped like an angel and sit down next to Brian. I grab a paper towel and put my cookie on it. Greyson sits across from me and grabs a cookie shaped like a gingerbread man. We begin frosting cookies while we make jokes with Brian.
        I noticed that all of the parents are sitting on the couch talking and laughing. Yes! I mentally exclaim.
        Once we have each frosted and decorated a few cookies, Greyson says to me, "What the- how did you do that to your cookies? They look amazing!" I laugh, looking down at my angel cookie, which is the best looking one in my opinion. I gave it a curved pink sprinkle for a smile and little, blue, rounded sprinkles for eyes. Her hair is made of yellow frosting and her wings are frosted white with tiny, crystalized, white sprinkles all over them. She has a blue frosting-dress with a little pink flower in the middle of it. As a finishing touch, I had added a little gold halo out of sprinkles. It does look pretty great. I just shrug at Greyson, and he announces, "I vote for Avalon's angel cookie to be put on the plate for Santa to eat!" Brian agrees, then says, "I also want my candlestick shaped cookie to be given to Santa." I tell him that we each get to put a cookie on Santa's plate, and that Brian can be the one to put the plate by the fireplace before bed tonight.
        "'Buddy the Elf' is on!" My dad announces. Everyone piles into the family room, and with all of the parents on the couch, Greyson, Summer, Dakota and I move the coffee table out of the way, and we all lay out a bunch of blankets on the floor. We all lay down to watch the movie. Brian sits in the rocking chair by the fireplace, which is unable to be lit since it is a gas fire place and we don't actually have a chimney. The movie is just starting when Greyson asks, "Um, what's 'Buddy the Elf'?" We all turn and smack his arm. "Greyson! It's only the best Will Ferrell movie- ever!" Dakota tells him. It's hilarious; you'll love it." Summer chimes in, then we all turn back to the screen to see Will Ferrell in The North Pole with all of the elves, while he still thinks he is one of them. It shows how everything is way too small for him there; his head pokes out of the top of the shower, and he even crushes a few elves just by sitting on them. Not to mention how his yellow tights are way too tight in the wrong places. He is a thirty-something man pretending to be an elf- what could be a funnier Christmas movie to watch on Christmas Eve?

        When the movie is over, and we have eaten all of the Christmas snacks my mother had made, Greyson's family left, but before Greyson left, we pinky-promised to make this a new tradition. "Sleepover tonight?" Greyson whispers. He doesn't want to give his sister the wrong idea of would be happening at this sleepover. I nod, say, "See you in a few." He leaves, and I go to my room to retrieve my family's presents. I bring them into the family room and arrange them nicely around the bottom of the Christmas tree. I tell my family I am going to bed, but they remind me that we need to hang up our stockings.
        We have one stocking hanger for everyone. Each one is a different letter of the word 'SANTA'. I always pick the 'N', and Brian hangs his on the 'A' at the end of the word. Summer's is hung on the 'T', and my mom uses the 'S' while my dad has the first 'A'. Behind the letters is a beautiful display of nutcrackers. We have tons of them for the winter, and we always use them to decorate the mantle on top of the fireplace. Between the letters and the nutcrackers, though, is some garland with pine needles and pinecones splayed out all over it. The whole display looks really great.
        We have a few small ledges mounted on the upper wall that the couch is up against, and on each ledge is a different two-foot tall Santa. Also, on top of the cabinets in the kitchen are more Santas. We have wreath hanging above the fireplace, and so when the Christmas tree is lit up with all of the other lights off, the house looks so cozy. There is an eight-foot tall fake Christmas tree in the living room, which just has some Christmas bows hanging all over it. The only other Christmas decoration we have is a super tall, skinny fake Christmas tree in the front hall, next to the staircase. That tree is just decorated with a ton of more fancy-looking ornaments, whereas the ones on our real tree are all homemade ones from when we were kids. This fake tree, though, has three wired ribbons strung around the tree in a pattern; a gold, a green, and a red one.
        My dad lifts Brian up on his shoulders so he can reach the top of the real tree and put the angel on the top. When he is done, he is placed on the ground, and he puts the cookie plate and a glass of milk on the brick step in front of the fireplace.
        Soon after, we all disperse and head upstairs. I find Greyson in my room, and see that he has hung something from the ceiling above his head. I walk closer so I can see it. It's mistletoe. I giggle and stand right in front of him. This is the moment I have been begging for. And, apparently, all the other times when we almost kissed, Greyson has been wanting it to happen as much as I have; otherwise he wouldn't have done this. I think of when we almost kissed in his room, before Hallie walked in. And when we were in his room and we were talking about wishes, and how I kissed his cheek but wanted to kiss hiss lips. But now I'm glad we hadn't kissed those times. Because it wouldn't have been the perfect first kiss where the feelings were clear between us. This would be the perfect time. I smiled, but the smile soon faded, and I felt completely serious about what was happening. I leaned in most of the way, feeling his lips barely brush mine, his breath warm and closer than ever. Then all at once, we both lean in the rest of the way in, and we kiss the first real and genuine kiss we have shared. It's better than any of Hayden's. They don't even compare, because this kiss is with the person I really love.