Home for the Holidays

Rachel pulled the first batch of cookies out of the oven. The perfect scent of Christmas filled the air. Cinnamon, warmth, and happiness.

“Mmm” she grinned. Snickerdoodles. Her favorite. Setting them down on the hot pad, she made sure none of the cookies had collided into one giant treat. With a gentle wave of her wrist, cinnamon sugar sprinkled from her fingertips on top of the warm goodness for some extra sweetness.

While the first batch cooled, she grabbed one more cookie sheet to start rolling the next batch of dough balls. Scoop and plop; right into a large bowl of cinnamon sugar. She worked it around with her fingers making sure every possible millimeter is covered in the mixture. She worked the dough ball into a perfect sphere before placing them 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.

As she popped them in the oven, she heard her front door open and the sound of snow boots running toward her.

“Merry Christmas, Auntie Rae!” exclaimed Rebeccah with her arms open wide. Her winter coat still hung on her shoulders. Rachel embraced the outstretched hug and squeezed the fluffy coat hoping the hug finds its way to the little human inside. Little Becca, as Rachel liked to call her, giggled and screamed as Rachel began poking and tickling the small areas of skin peeking out from the coat. She was the loudest when Rachel found the belly button and gave it a little twitch with her finger.

Olivia, the taller, former brunette now blonde, older sister of Rachel strode around the corner with her arms folded over her chest. “Honey,” she sighed with an exhaustion in her tone. “You’re tracking snow through the kitchen.”

Little Becca didn’t hear her mother, her eyes found the freshly baked cookies sitting on the kitchen island waiting for taste testing. Her big blue eyes popped over the lip of the counter as her outstretched fingers were just shy of the cooling rack. Her mother scooped her up from behind. Becca reached in more to swipe the cookie, but to her betrayal, Olivia was carrying her out of the kitchen away from her most desired snack.

There was a long pause before Rachel heard the smallest of sniffles. Little Becca was a good girl, obedient and patient, too. She had a strong will, but understood more easily than most 5-year-olds. “Wise for her age” their dad would say at the Christmas table or over FaceTime when she would explain how her school day went and how none of the other kids could understand their math problems and she could instantly. This would be the first Christmas their dad would be visiting them for the holidays. It was usually the other way around. Last year Olivia and Rachel lost their mom, and so it was hard on their dad to keep up with the house. After months of trying to convince him to move closer to them, he would refuse to move that far. After some coaxing, he finally agreed to downsize into an apartment. It wasn’t too big that he couldn’t take care of himself and the house, but not big enough to host family gatherings like Christmas and Thanksgiving. Any minute he’ll walk through the front door, open his arms wide and say, “Where’s my beautiful girls?” Every single time without fail. Not only were they waiting for their dad to show up, but also an incredibly special surprise for Little Becca.

The next moment, Becca marched around the corner, shoeless, grabbed a handful of napkins out of my dining room table and began mopping up her tracked-in-snow. Rachel opened my mouth to protest, but Olivia just helped up a finger to silence me. She threw her hands up in surrender as she watched her dispose of the now wet napkins and stand in front of her mother with the biggest of grins! Olivia points to Rachel and says “Ask your Aunt Rae if you may have a cookie,”

She whirled her head in that direction. Ignoring the fact her pig tail just smacked her nose, she took two long strides in the direction of her aunt. She wore her United States Army t-shirt her dad brought home for her last year when he was on leave from being stationed in Europe. She almost never took it off.

“Auntie Rae,” she squeaked while batting her eyelashes. “May I have a snickerdoodle?”

“I don’t know,” Rachel teased. “I think you missed a spot,”

Little Becca flung her hands up in the air, around in a full circle then landed her hands on her hips. Her lower lip curled into the pouting position. How could she say no to that face?

“Oh alright,” she caved. “You may have one,”

Rachel grabbed the plate and lowered it to Becca’s level. She looked around for a second to find the biggest cookie, then made her choice. Becca skipped off to the living room to munch on her snack on the couch. Rachel offered one to Olivia before returning the plate to the counter. She shook her head. Olivia had been on “sugar-free” kick since before Thanksgiving and only cheating on the day.

“I’m going to make some coffee; would you like some?” Rachel asked as she grabbed a couple mugs from the cabinet.

“Yes, please,” Olivia grinned. She took a seat at the kitchen island and checked her watch. Rachel looked over to the wall clock. It read quarter past four. Their dad said he would be here by 4:30 at the latest.

Rachel slide into the seat next to her sister and asked “Have you heard from either of them yet?” Olivia smiled and bounced her leg nervously against the foot rest of the barstool.

“No,” she said “Not yet.”

The next moment, Little Becca had snuck over and tapped her mom on the arm.

"Mom, can I eat a second cookie for Daddy?" she asked in a low, quiet voice.

Olivia glanced over at Rachel trying to compose herself first before answering. "Sweetie," she croaked, "how about you save Daddy's cookie for later and you can eat it after we talk to him later?"

"But what if Daddy can't talk tonight?" she exclaimed almost in tears.

"It's Christmas Eve, they Army should be able to let him talk to us for a few minutes. And you can show him the bear he sent you last week?"

"Aunt Rae, did I show you my new bear?"

Before Rachel could answer, she ran over to her backpack her mom had set by the door and pulled out a teddy bear covered in fabric circles and black string. It was covered in Christmas lights. Than all of a sudden the colored patched started to glow with a green light, and then red. back and forth it flickered from green to red.

"Daddy sent this to me with a message that said he would try to be home for Christmas, but not to get my hopes up,"

At that moment, everyone heard a car door close outside.

"Looks like Grandpa is here," Rachel announced. "Becca, go open the door for him,"

She ran over to the door and opened it wide. Rachel and Olivia peaked around the corner in her direction. The teddy bear slowly dropped from her grasp onto the floor as she sprinted out the front door. It wasn't grandpa. It was her dad. He did make it home for Christmas.