Mom,
I love you. I couldn’t imagine life without you. If I could have picked the perfect mom, you would be it.
Love,
Emily
Both of us are emotional at this point, staring at this wonderful little girl who loves us both. We just want to give Emily the world.
Emily sits back down on the floor and eyes the remaining stuff under the tree. Her smile has still not wavered.
“What’s next?” I ask.
She picks up a smaller present, shakes it by her ear, and then begins to tear the wrapping paper. “I wonder what it is.” She struggles toward the end. I guess I used too much tape on that one.
“Let me help you,” I say, reaching out my hand and tugging it open slightly. “Here, now try.”
The paper slides off and she screeches. “Are you serious? I’ve been wanting one of these. Thank you. Thank you.”
I watch as she plugs the earbuds into the mini iPod and starts listening to music. Tessa downloaded a bunch of her favorite songs on it already, knowing she would want to listen immediately once she opened it. Smart mama.
Next is something I know she will love and get used often. Plus, it’s something we can do together as a family.
“Hmm. I wonder what this is. No sound,” she says, shaking it next to her ear again before she tears the paper. “What is it?”
I take the plastic card from her. “It’s a year pass to the Dallas Zoo. So me and your mom can take you anytime you want. Isn’t that amazing?”
“Thank you. Can we go this weekend?”
“Maybe. Let’s get through today first.” Tessa laughs.
For the final big reveal, she walks over to the huge wrapped present and just stares. Emily begins slowly taking paper off it, but it looks like she has no clue what could be inside. This is the reaction I’ve been waiting for, hoping she likes it. Tessa goes over and helps her unwrap it faster since it’s a lot of paper.
Emily’s eyes get big, and without speaking, she turns toward me, tears making an appearance. “This is... the dollhouse I begged for. Mommy, how did you do this?”
“It’s from both of us. We love you, sweetie. You deserve to have something like this to play with...”
Emily runs up and gives us the biggest hugs and then goes to play with the dollhouse. She will play with it on a regular basis, and it is well worth the money spent. Hell, just to see her reaction is worth it.
“While you play, we’ll cook breakfast. What would you like this morning?” Tessa asks.
Emily thinks hard. “Omelets. We all like those.”
Great choice. We migrate to the kitchen to get everything together for the omelets while she plays. I take bell peppers, red onions, and bacon out of the fridge. Just how we all like them.
“So, you sick of us yet?” Tessa asks, bumping her hip into mine. “Holidays are usually stressful.”
“Never. You’re everything to me. Literally the reason why I look forward to coming home every day.”
She smiles and begins cooking the omelets.
I watch her, wondering when I should give them my gift. Hopefully she doesn’t feel like it’s too soon. Hell, we are already living together anyway.
We gather around the table to eat our omelets and talk about things we will do today. Emily is set on singing Christmas carols on the machine, which I am totally for. Believe me, I can’t sing, but that doesn’t bother me.
“We’ve got one thing I would like to do after we clean up breakfast.”
“Really? What?”