“Anything from Teddy?”
“No.” I flip my phone over in my hand to stare at the blank screen.
“I’m sorry,” she says.
“It’s fine.” I smile and go back to watching Chevy Chase.
“I know you’re bummed and trying not to act like it, but it’s okay to be sad or disappointed or whatever you feel.” She takes my hand. “If Theodore doesn’t see how completely amazing you are, then he’s an idiot.”
“Thanks, Stell.”
“Beau has some cute friends.”
I laugh. “Let’s not give Felix a heart attack.”
I’m the first to wake up on Christmas morning. I know this because if Stella had woken first, she would already be in my room, jumping up and down with excitement. And Felix always sleeps in.
I don’t know how he does it. I can’t sleep in, no matter how late I stay up the night before. There is just something enchanting about Christmas morning. The air feels different, joyous, light, and yes, magical.
Throwing off the covers, I slide my feet into my reindeer slippers and shuffle out of my room. Mom and Dad’s voices carry faintly from downstairs. I spend a few minutes in the bathroom, getting ready, and when I come out, Stella is up.
“Merry Christmas!”
She rubs sleep from her eyes and murmurs back, “Merry Christmas.”
I wait for her, and we go downstairs together. To my absolute surprise, Felix is already up, dressed, and has a cup of coffee in his hands.
“Merry Christmas,” he says, and tips his mug in greeting.
“Breakfast before or after presents?” Mom asks, setting out the flour for her traditional Christmas morning homemade biscuits. Every year she asks and every year, the answer is the same.
“Presents!” Dad shakes his head and smiles as he takes a step toward the living room. “Who could possibly eat before seeing what Santa brought?”
Felix, Stella, and I share amused glances before we follow him. Mom is always last, making us wait just a few minutes longer to get started. I think she does it to build the anticipation or maybe just to annoy Dad.
Stella gets to open the first present. When we were little, she somehow convinced Felix and me that because she’s the youngest (by one minute!) she deserved to be first at something. I think she used that line to get her way a lot when we were younger, but this is the only thing that stuck.
She holds up a pair of swim goggles and smiles at Dad. “Thank you.”
He winks. “Welcome.”
After that, we tear into presents at random. I get some new books that were on my wish list, a bracelet, and new notebooks and pens.
Felix gets practice gear and clothes, and stuff for his apartment. He chuckles when he opens the present Stella and I got him. I wrapped it in a football poster I got from the Valley U bookstore and made sure his face was most prominent. He still hasn’t gotten used to all the attention, which makes it slightly more tolerable that he’s such a big deal.
“Thanks, guys,” he says, eyes twinkling with laughter, as he holds up the ‘World’s Okayest Brother’ mug.
All three of us get things we didn’t ask for but always receive: new toothbrushes, floss sticks, vitamins, socks, and gift cards to Target and various fast-food restaurants.
By the time we’re done, our gifts are stacked up in piles beside us and wrapping paper is strewn everywhere. Dad pulls on the new ‘I survived the Griswold Family Christmas’ sweatshirt wegot him and begins to clean up. Mom heads straight for the kitchen to get breakfast going.
Felix says he’s going to help Dad, which probably means he’s going to nap, and Stella and I put onA Christmas Storyand flit between watching our favorite scenes to helping Mom in the kitchen.
The day passes with all our usual tradition and merriment. As we gather around the dining room table for our Walters’ Family Annual Christmas Day Ultimate Game-a-thon (for the record, I am not the one that came up with that awful title), Felix puts on his jacket and says he’s going to meet up with some friends.
“On Christmas?” Mom asks.
“He knows he’s no match for my mad skills,” Dad says as he places his tiles on the board to kick off our Scrabble game.