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1mnobodywhoareyou · 5 months

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That's what Christmas means to me

1707 Words | G Rating | Julie and the Phantoms AU

Luke kicks open the door, his keys hanging from his teeth and hands overflowing with bags from the grocery store. “Guys?! A little help?” he calls, words a bit jumbled as they form around his clenched teeth.

Alex appears at the end of the hall and lets out a soft chuckle, “you know you can take multiple trips, right?” He grabs one handful of bags and takes them into the kitchen, leaving Luke to remove his keys from his mouth and redistribute the remaining bags.

“You say that…” Luke replies, trailing after Alex and setting the bags onto the counter.

“How did you even get the door unlocked?”

Luke jazz hands as he answers, “magic!” He’s met with a fond eye roll as they both work on putting the groceries away. “Why’s it so quiet? Where’s Bex.”

“Uhhhh,” Alex hesitates. “You should probably just see for yourself.”

Luke quirks an eyebrow at that but leaves it and finishes up, tying the bags into bows and depositing them in their bag of bags under the sink.

“Does any of this need to go next door?” Alex asks and Luke shakes his head.

“Nope, not this time. We both know I’ll be here pretty much full time for the next two weeks anyway.” It’s their collective Christmas break and they officially have no responsibilities outside of their strange little family until the new year. “How scared should I be to leave the kitchen?” he wonders.

“I think you’ll be ok. Maybe. It’s everyone else I’m worried about.”

Luke cocks his head with a look of combined confusion and curiosity but opts to simply go into the living room. He’s met with what can only be described as a Christmas explosion and can’t help the laugh that erupts out of his throat. Boxes and totes are open throughout the space, they have a half built tree, decorations trail from box to box and beyond. Reggie and Willie are both wrapped in tinsel and garland, each topped with an elf and santa hat, respectively.

“It looks like you let a two year old loose at the north pole,” he says once he’s regained his composure.

“They kind of did,” Alex chimes in from behind him.

“Where IS Bex?” Luke asks again.

“Exploding Christmas wiped her out. She fell asleep,” Reggie explains as he works to detangle some beads.

“Ah! Explains the quiet.”

“Mhm,” Alex hums as he moves over to where Willie is, taking the newly fluffed branches and working to add them to the tree.

“Gonna help or stare?” Willie directs at Luke after a moment.

“Oh, I’m gonna stare. Y’all got yourself into this mess. I’m just here to enjoy it,” he flops onto the couch and props his feet onto the ottoman in front of him, exaggerating his movements obnoxiously. He’s in the middle of reclining back and putting his hands behind his head when he’s hit in the chest with a mass of shimmer.

“You’re going to help,” Reggie tells him, matter of fact. “Detangle those.”

Luke obliges, trying to find the end of the string of baubles that had been thrown at him. “Bex did all of this?!”

“No, they came out of the bin like this. I’m displeased with past me,” Reggie explains.

Luke hums in acknowledgement and continues his task.

“We’re listening to me when we pack shit up this year,” Alex states.

Willie groans, “ugh, but taking everything down and winding it up to be packed away is so tedious.”

“Future us will thank me,” Alex insists. “And you’re telling me that this,” he waves his arms around the space, “isn’t tedious?”

“Point, Alex,” Luke says and Willie responds by sticking their tongue out at him.

The four of them into their tasks, letting a comfortable silence surround them. Alex and Willie get the tree built and lit while Luke and Reggie successfully untangle everything that had needed it, building neat piles of decorations. They’re just able to start wrapping the tree with garland when they hear a small voice from behind the couch.

“Unca ‘Uke! Unca ‘Uke!”

Luke drops what he had been holding and turns to greet the toddler, crouching down to scoop her into his arms as she runs up to him, “hey, Peanut! You sure made a mess with your dads, didn’t you?”

She squeals as he spins her around. He settles her onto his hip and turns back toward the tree. Bex looks toward it and then back at Luke. “Why don’t we let Daddy, Papa, and Nomy do the boring stuff and then we can help hang the pretty things when they’re done?” He directs a questioning look his friends’ way for confirmation and they nod.

Bex excitedly agrees, pushing away from Luke so that he sets her down. She leads him to one of the bins that hadn’t already been emptied and digs into it, pulling out some of their other decor.

Luke offers a small chuckle, taking everything she hands him. “Yeah, we can put these out while we wait.” He trails behind her as she sets out the decorations throughout the apartment: singing animatronic snowmen wind up in the doorway to the kitchen, a dancing snowman is set just outside her bedroom, Luke guides her to place the doormat in the entry hall, and various bells are placed on the first doorknobs she encounters. When they return to the living room lootless, the others are almost done wrapping the tree.

“You know what we’re missing,” he directs to Bex.

“MUSIC!” she cheers and he laughs.

“Yeah, you know what’s up. Music! You gonna help?”

She nods vigorously, “I help!”

Luke digs through the various boxes until he finds what he’s looking for, their small record collection of Christmas music. He calls Bex over, not that she ever drifts far from his side when she’s around, and her eyes widen in excitement.

“I pick?”

Luke nods, “yeah, you pick. What should we listen to?”

Bex sifts through the records, as gently as she’s capable of considering her age, pulls out a bright purple album and hands it to Luke who can’t help but laugh.

“When did we get Cee Lo Green’s Christmas album?”

“Probably Willie,” Alex mutters.

“Yep! That was me,” Willie readily agrees, “I saw it at a thrift store last year and couldn’t not.”

“Sounds about right,” Luke laughs as he walks over to the record player, letting Bex lead him through the process and stepping in where she needs help. “We’ll get you rocking properly one day,” he tells her softly as he places the record on the turntable.

He was apparently still loud enough to be heard because Reggie coughs out a laugh of his own, “you have her trained on how to properly handle records and operate the record player, what more are you wanting from her?”

“Luke’s in charge of potty training, by the way,” Alex chimes in from the other side of the tree before muttering an addition, “the only person she’ll actually listen to.”

Willie and Reggie utter grunts of agreement, still battling their ongoing bitterness at her very obvious preference for the only one of them who was adamant he was not parent material.

“I’ll laugh my ass off if she grows up refusing to listen to what you like,” Willie directs back toward Luke.

Luke makes an affronted sound as he scoops Bex into his arms, “she would NEVER!”

She giggles at him as he tries to help form her hand into devil’s horns. “Rock and roll forever! Right, Peanut?”

“Ro’ ‘n roll!” she agrees heartily.

Alex sighs before moving them on, “we’re ready for you.”

“Hear that, Bex? We’re up!”

The five of them work through the various ornaments and candy canes, letting Bex place anything that isn’t fragile where she can reach and the others trying to counter balance her heavy hand through the rest of the tree. They fall into various song and dance breaks as Cee Lo Green plays in the background meaning that their task takes them significantly longer than it might otherwise but none of them mind. Their little family is just happy to have this time together.

When they’ve finally finished with the tree, Reggie crouches down to hand Bex the star. “This is a very important job, Munchkin. Can you handle it?”

Bex nods vigorously, taking the star from Reggie.

“OK, Daddy is gonna lift you up cuz he’s the tallest. You just have to put it on the very tippy top!”

Bex nods again. “Tippy top!” she confirms before running over to Alex who scoops her up and leans her toward the top of the tree. She gives placing the star her best effort but Alex has to help smush the branches together so it settles on nicely. Once they’re satisfied, he props her on his hip as he steps back, letting Willie plug it into the strand of lights.

“You ready? Alex asks Bex and she nods. Luke makes his way over to the switch for the overhead lights and Reggie takes his position at the outlet behind the tree. They are almost in sync as the room goes dark, only to be illuminated by the lights of the tree.

“Ooooohhh!” Bex coos as her eyes widen at the sight.

Willie and Reggie make their way over to where Alex and Bex are, crowding in on either side of them and Luke digs out his phone to take a picture.

Willie tugs on the hem of Alex’s sweater, pulling harder when they get his attention so that he leans down for a kiss.

Bex watches them intently, impatiently speaking up when they separate. “Kiss Bex!”

The adults laugh and they each pepper her face with kisses of their own until she’s squealing and pushing them away.

“Merry Christmas, family,” Reggie says wistfully as he takes everyone in.

“Merry Christmas, Reg,” the others echo back.

“Merry Chrismus, Papa!” Bex cheers, reaching out to him. He takes her from Alex and wraps her into a tight hug. It takes less than a moment for three additional pairs of arms to join the hug and they relish in the short moment of peace and togetherness they’ve allowed themselves.

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a9saga · 6 months

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i mentioned this but my grandfather passed away last week. he was 95. my grandmother died in february of 2021 and it's really something that he made it that long without her at his age. they were married 69 years and had 7 children and 21 grandchildren, as well as 11 great grandchildren now with two more on the way. his wake was wednesday night and the memorial mass and burial were yesterday.

my auntie cindy married my dad's oldest brother i believe 50 years ago now. they were high school sweethearts. she knew my grandparents since she was a child, so did the rest of her family for that matter. my grandmother or sometimes my father used to mention a boy in the neighborhood who had unfortunately died very young of a drug overdose. no one outright told me this but i put together when i got older that that was cindy's brother. this is to say of all the in laws that cindy was well acquainted with my family for the longest time, and my family with hers as well.

some months after my grandmother's death, that spring or early summer, cindy had sent out a letter to everyone recalling growing up around my grandmother and marrying into the family, maintaining that relationship for decades. she mentioned something her brother used to say that my grandmother would often quote when cindy wasn't around. she closed the letter with, "i just wanted you to know that i loved your mother like she was my own," which i think was always very evident. cindy's own mother had passed away somewhere over a decade earlier. 4 or 5 years ago diana and i were over her house with our mother, cindy referred to a picture of her mother in the kitchen and said "i talk to her all the time." she's not religious, if that makes it any different. she and everyone else in my family were raised catholic but if you ever get on the topic with her, she thinks the bible and christianity and everything are a load of bullshit. but regardless she does speak to a picture of her mother, which i think is pretty interesting. but i digress.

at the wake, there was a line to the coffin with my grandfather in it. cindy's a sociable person. i got in line behind someone i didn't know. a lot of family friends showed up. cindy came and started chatting her up and she introduced me, and then she told me she'd gotten in line about 6 times but shied away from actually paying her final respects. i was like, wanna do it with me? and she did. so we kneeled before the coffin and she caressed the rosary in his hands, and when we got up i mentioned how much i appreciated her letter in 2021, and it took her by surprise. she said she had wanted to read it as a eulogy at her mother-in-law's funeral but she and my other aunt ended up in a bad argument around it. neither of them are perfect, to be clear. that's not why i'm making this post and i don't plan to elaborate on that.

but anyway, after the burial yesterday everyone went to lunch. i could tell all of my dad's siblings appreciated having each other after both of their parents have died. last weekend my dad and his brother that he's closest to went out to lunch because both my mom and aunt thought they needed it, i know first hand my dad has been very down in the dumps about everything. but anyway, after lunch yesterday when cindy was saying goodbye to me, she rubbed my chin and said "thank you, that was so sweet of you to bring up the letter about connie last night. do you know you had me crying on the way home?"--i don't think i have ever seen cindy cry.

#under a break bc it's just long as hell #i miss both of my grandparents #i am all right tho #also established at the wake/funeral i have long overdue hanging out with my cousin in boston to do #after everything i think everyone is at peace #i got my grandfather a '365 things to appreciate about being irish' calendar last christmas #i didn't anticipate he would remember to flip the pages every day #but i did have fun reading him weeks at a time when i visited him #i am not surprised he did not live to finish it but i kind of anticipated that nd that is okay #what a long couple of weeks #i was just numb and out of character since last monday but i finally got some overdue tears out yesterday #going that long without being ready to cry was scary and somewhat guilt inducing #shut up kaily

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