#Chapter 86 – Christmas

A few days later, Christmas morning dawns with a fresh fall of snow, which I’m glad to see. It’s been so long since we’ve had a white Christmas. It’s the boys’ first, actually. They came tearing down the stairs at the break of dawn, eager for their presents, but I was ready for them, having slept down here on the couch after setting everything up. “Mommy!” Ian had said, giving me a big hug. “How did you beat us down here? We woke up so early.” I laughed and gave both of them a kiss. “I stayed down here all night! I wanted to see if Santa Claus would give me a Christmas kiss.” The boys wrinkled their noses in disgust, making me laugh harder. “Don’t kiss Santa,” Ian said, “he’s old.” “Yeah,” Alvin said, picking up the thread of the conversation as he fell to his knees and started riffling though the wrapped presents. “Besides, you shouldn’t kiss anyone except daddy.” I raise a hand to my cheek now, remembering that moment a few hours ago when my face had gone red with emb