Status: unfinished but I'm trying hard to do so! =D
Dressed up in Faded Costumes
Christmas Wish
Christmas was less than a week away and I had to do some Christmas shopping like I always do. I always wanted everybody to get a little something during Christmas, as long as I had the money.
Chris was back in LA for the holidays and had already done his shopping. His girlfriend, Janine, was spending the holidays at our house since her parents was in another country for a little vacation. At the time, it didn’t really bother me. I haven’t had the chance to get to know her back then.
It was already Wednesday and Christmas day was on Saturday. I called Maria and Leila so we could do some shopping at the mall. We met at the fro-yo place and went on from there. We started off in the department store so I could buy Lea some new clothes.
“Is this design cute for Lea?” I asked the two, holding up an off-white, floral dress.
“Isn’t that kinda big for her?” Maria asked.
“I think it looks cute,” Leila said smiling while looking at some clothes herself.
“Of course I’m gonna look for a mini version,” I laughed. “I’m focusing on the design.”
“Oh, well then it’s awesome,” Maria laughed with us.
Leila is a ‘dress’ kind of girl; while Maria is sort of in the middle of both Leila and I. I for one, rarely go out wearing dresses. If I did, I used Chucks to pair it off instead of some hard-to-walk-in heels. The three of us were totally different persons connected by a common bond of music and judgment.
I asked Leila about the dress not because the dress was for Lea. Of course, I knew what to get Lea and that was her coloring set. That’s what she always wanted since deciding a bit too early that she wanted to be an artist. For Maria, I knew exactly what to get her; and that was a new tee from JAGK. For Liam? Well, it was hard to find a gift for him. I wasn’t really good with giving guys gifts.
I secretly bought the dress and sneaked away to buy the JAGK t-shirt. I met back with them at the food court where both of them had extra shopping bags in hand. We kept walking and grew fond of the red and green color scheme we see every Christmas.
“What do you guys think I could get for Liam?” I asked the two of them.
“Hmm… I don’t know,” Maria said. “Anyways, I think he’ll love whatever you give him.”
“Well, he’s been dreaming of a new Gibson guitar,” Leila joked.
“Like I could afford that.”
“Give him a kiss!” Leila exclaimed nudging me at by the shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll love that.”
“Oh, please…” I smiled at them, pretending that a kiss between us had never happened.
I ended up buying him guitar strings and a 5-piece pick set… because I didn’t know what to get him. I know it’s silly; should’ve gotten him a shirt or something.
After ending up with a list like this:
Mom – aromatic candles
Chris – Latest issue of his favorite Manga
Janine – accessories…
Lea – coloring set
Uncle Richard – a new shirt. might as well..
Maria – JAGK shirt
Leila – any kinda dress
Liam – wha??? guitar strings… and picks.
Eliza – hmm… whaaa… ah! a new charm for her growing bracelet.
Melina – stuffed bunny.
Matt - ?
I kept thinking of what to get Matt. Hmm… what do I give someone who has almost everything he could wish for already?
“What do you think I should give Matt Ward?” I asked the two while we were walking.
“Matt?” Maria asked.
“Yeah. I’m in the band with him and I think of him as a friend, I figured that I give him a gift, too.”
“Well, I really don’t know what he’s like, so I can’t comment on what to give him”
“Why don’t you give him a Christmas card,” Leila said. “Easiest gift.”
“A card? I wanna give him more than that considering he’s been so nice to me.”
“Speaking of which, what’s his house like?”
I looked at both of them and said, “Normal?”
They asked more questions about it and I replied with limited answers and restraint. I didn’t have the right to tell them about Matt’s full secret. I left the two hanging with an answer of ‘okay-big’ after their question of ‘how big was the house’?
I bought new drumsticks for Matt… even though I knew he probably had a stock of ‘em at his house.
We all headed home after buying everything that we needed. And when I got home, I went straight into my room to wrap all the gifts that I’d bought. I turned on some music and got started.
While wrapping gifts on my desk, I remembered how Christmas used to be back in Minnesota with all the snow and pine tree smell; when grandpop helped me do the shopping. Back there, life wasn’t any better; except for the fact that there, I could run to the woods and just hide from everything.
After wrapping the gifts, I added the mini cards which had a short message and their names. I went downstairs and it was close to 5pm. I found Chris and Janine in the living room, and mom in the kitchen.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hi,” Chris replied. “Have you and Janine met yet?”
I shook my head and smiled, “Not really.”
I walked over to both of them and asked them things a normal, curious sister would ask. Janine is a blonde. Not that I believe in the stereotype ‘blondes are airheads and annoying’, but it seems to me that she lived up to it. I mean, I don’t just judge people in a snap but when I started talking to her I felt she was bad news. Of course, I lied to my brother and told him that she was okay. I didn’t want him to be saddened or mad that I didn’t accept her just by a conversation.
On the 24th, Christmas Eve, I put some of the gifts under the tree and the rest in a green bag and asked my brother if he could give me a ride to wherever to Leila’s and probably Matt’s.
First stop: drop off gifts for Leila, Maria, Liam, Melina and Eliza.
I knocked on the door and Aunt Liz answered.
“Hello, Michelle! Merry Christmas!”
“Hi, Aunt Liz. I just wanted to drop off some gifts for Leila, and the rest,” I said handing over the gifts. “Do Maria and her family spend Christmas here?”
“Yes they do, dear,” she smiled. “Let me get those for you.”
“Thank you. Well I better be on my way, I have to deliver one more gift.”
“Oh wait! I almost forgot,” she said. “We have some stuff for you, too”
Aunt Liz practically ran to the living room and grabbed a canvas bag full of gifts.
“Oh, thank you,” I said smiling. “Merry Christmas.”
I left their house and went to Matt’s estate. I told my brother where Matt lived and he drove me there.
Once we were in front of the huge gate I called Matt and told him that I was dropping off something.
“Who’s this ‘Matt’, anyway? Some kind of Duke or just some totally rich dude?” Chris asked.
“Just some totally rich dude.”
Chris drove off to the front entrance where Matt was waiting.
“I wanted to drop off a gift for a band member,” I said smiling. “It’s not much but I hope you’ll use it.”
I handed over the wrapped boxed drumsticks and just smiled.
“What are these?” he asked.
“Well, a gift, silly.”
“No, I mean, what’s inside?” he smiled.
“Well you gotta wait ‘til tomorrow on Christmas day.”
“I feel bad that I didn’t get you guys anything,” he said.
“Oh, no biggie!” I said.
“Wait just a sec.” he said running off inside his house, I mean mansion.
He walked back with a two huge Christmas baskets with big red ribbons tied over them. It was filled with chocolates, cookies and more stuff.
“My mom intends on giving friends Christmas baskets every year. One has your last name ‘McAdams’, and the other has ‘Montgomery’. Mom must’ve liked you guys.”
“Tell your mom these are wonderful,” I smiled. “Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas, to you too.”
I put the two baskets in the back seat with the rest of the gifts and zoomed away.
We dropped the Montgomery Christmas basket at their house, and went home ourselves. When we got home, Chris carried the basket inside and I got the canvas bag from Aunt Liz.
I sat on the carpet floor in front of the tree and emptied the bag with the gifts one by one. One gift each was for Chris, Lea and mom from Aunt Liz, and four were for me from Leila, Maria, Aunt Liz and Liam. I was excited to open them, but I didn’t want to be too eager.
As Christmas was slowly creeping at 10 pm on Christmas Eve, I was watching Sweeney Todd in the living room in my jammies, drinking some hot cocoa and comfortable on the couch. Why Sweeney Todd? I don’t know.
“Hey,” Chris said, suddenly appearing beside me. “What do you think of Janine?”
“I think she’s okay,” I said, lying once again. “How did you two meet?”
“Through a friend. She’s older than me by 4 years, you know.”
“Oh, so she’s already 23.”
Chris nodded and smiled meekly.
“What’s your Christmas wish, Chris?” I asked him as he stood up and walked to the kitchen.
We ask this question to each other every Christmas Eve. Our Christmas wishes were supposed to be between just the two of us. It was kind of our tradition.
“I don’t know,” he said opening a Chips Ahoy pack. “I guess, just to be happy with her.”
I saddened up a bit. ‘Just to be happy with her’… I get that answer from the same guy who wanted to be the best guitarist in the world last Christmas. I wasn’t sad about the fact that he was in love, but sad about the fact that he was getting too much into her; too much that he didn’t
Further on into the story, you, the reader, will understand how much I didn’t like Chris’ girlfriend…
When Christmas morning broke at 6:30 am, I woke up—force of habit every Christmas. I went straight downstairs like a little girl and found Lea already there checking the gifts under the tree.
“Gotcha,” I said, smiling at her.
She smiled at me the same and asked me if she could open her set of gifts. I nodded my head and went in to join her happily. I watched her open the gifts carelessly as I went to open my own set.
I got a new top from Aunt Liz, some bracelets from Maria, a cute planner/notebook from Leila, new shoes from mom, 30STM’s album, ‘This is War’ from Chris, a card from Lea and nothing from Uncle Richard. Lastly, Liam’s gift was a mug… a MUG. Even though it wasn’t much, it made me smile because of two things. 1, he’s worse than me of thinking of gifts; and 2, he gave me a gift.
Before I even had the chance to really look at the inside of the mug, the doorbell rang. I walked to the door wondering who would be at the door at 7am. I opened the door and it was a guy. He had a Range Rover running in the driveway, and a guitar case leaning against the wall beside him, and an amp that came with it.
“Merry Christmas, may I help you?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m looking for Michelle McAdams. Is she awake?”
“I’m Michelle,” I said wondering what this guy was doing outside my front door.
“Who’s at the door, sweetie?” mom asked from the stairs.
“It’s for me,” I replied and shifted my look immediately to the person in front of me. “What can I do for you?”
“See,” he smiled. “My name is Garrett. My brother Matt is in the car and asked me if I could give this guitar to you.”
My eyes widened as he lifted the case and handed it over. My mouth hung open and I looked at the Range Rover parked.
“I can’t accept this,” I said. “I mean, I’ve always wanted a new guitar, but…”
“Take it. He insists. Even I insist,” he smiled.
“But,” I hesitated.
“Just take it. He really wants you to have it.”
I simply nodded and said, “Well then, tell him I said this is too much and thank you.” I smiled.
“Will do,” he said. “Merry Christmas.”
He walked back to the car where Matt was waiting and I went inside carrying the new guitar.
I walked to the living room couch and sat down comfortably and opened the guitar case. It was something I could never afford even with a year’s allowance. It was a Gibson Sonex 180… signed by Ray Toro. I just couldn’t believe that someone would give this as a gift; to me in the least. Stuck between the strings was a piece of paper.
“Merry Christmas, Michelle. Thanks for not putting a label on me and for being the first ever person in school to not judge me the way others did. –Matt.”
“Oh my gosh,” Chris shouted. “Where’d you get the guitar?”
“From a good friend.”
This was my Christmas wish when I was in the 4th grade—an electric guitar of my own. When I was in the fifth grade onwards, I wished either for family, the very few friends I had or my success in music.
I guess it goes to show that if you take chances and risks, you can reach goals one by one. Never be too afraid about image and reputation. In the end, it can be the one that makes your life less amusing.
Chris was back in LA for the holidays and had already done his shopping. His girlfriend, Janine, was spending the holidays at our house since her parents was in another country for a little vacation. At the time, it didn’t really bother me. I haven’t had the chance to get to know her back then.
It was already Wednesday and Christmas day was on Saturday. I called Maria and Leila so we could do some shopping at the mall. We met at the fro-yo place and went on from there. We started off in the department store so I could buy Lea some new clothes.
“Is this design cute for Lea?” I asked the two, holding up an off-white, floral dress.
“Isn’t that kinda big for her?” Maria asked.
“I think it looks cute,” Leila said smiling while looking at some clothes herself.
“Of course I’m gonna look for a mini version,” I laughed. “I’m focusing on the design.”
“Oh, well then it’s awesome,” Maria laughed with us.
Leila is a ‘dress’ kind of girl; while Maria is sort of in the middle of both Leila and I. I for one, rarely go out wearing dresses. If I did, I used Chucks to pair it off instead of some hard-to-walk-in heels. The three of us were totally different persons connected by a common bond of music and judgment.
I asked Leila about the dress not because the dress was for Lea. Of course, I knew what to get Lea and that was her coloring set. That’s what she always wanted since deciding a bit too early that she wanted to be an artist. For Maria, I knew exactly what to get her; and that was a new tee from JAGK. For Liam? Well, it was hard to find a gift for him. I wasn’t really good with giving guys gifts.
I secretly bought the dress and sneaked away to buy the JAGK t-shirt. I met back with them at the food court where both of them had extra shopping bags in hand. We kept walking and grew fond of the red and green color scheme we see every Christmas.
“What do you guys think I could get for Liam?” I asked the two of them.
“Hmm… I don’t know,” Maria said. “Anyways, I think he’ll love whatever you give him.”
“Well, he’s been dreaming of a new Gibson guitar,” Leila joked.
“Like I could afford that.”
“Give him a kiss!” Leila exclaimed nudging me at by the shoulder. “I’m sure he’ll love that.”
“Oh, please…” I smiled at them, pretending that a kiss between us had never happened.
I ended up buying him guitar strings and a 5-piece pick set… because I didn’t know what to get him. I know it’s silly; should’ve gotten him a shirt or something.
After ending up with a list like this:
Mom – aromatic candles
Chris – Latest issue of his favorite Manga
Janine – accessories…
Lea – coloring set
Uncle Richard – a new shirt. might as well..
Maria – JAGK shirt
Leila – any kinda dress
Liam – wha??? guitar strings… and picks.
Eliza – hmm… whaaa… ah! a new charm for her growing bracelet.
Melina – stuffed bunny.
Matt - ?
I kept thinking of what to get Matt. Hmm… what do I give someone who has almost everything he could wish for already?
“What do you think I should give Matt Ward?” I asked the two while we were walking.
“Matt?” Maria asked.
“Yeah. I’m in the band with him and I think of him as a friend, I figured that I give him a gift, too.”
“Well, I really don’t know what he’s like, so I can’t comment on what to give him”
“Why don’t you give him a Christmas card,” Leila said. “Easiest gift.”
“A card? I wanna give him more than that considering he’s been so nice to me.”
“Speaking of which, what’s his house like?”
I looked at both of them and said, “Normal?”
They asked more questions about it and I replied with limited answers and restraint. I didn’t have the right to tell them about Matt’s full secret. I left the two hanging with an answer of ‘okay-big’ after their question of ‘how big was the house’?
I bought new drumsticks for Matt… even though I knew he probably had a stock of ‘em at his house.
We all headed home after buying everything that we needed. And when I got home, I went straight into my room to wrap all the gifts that I’d bought. I turned on some music and got started.
While wrapping gifts on my desk, I remembered how Christmas used to be back in Minnesota with all the snow and pine tree smell; when grandpop helped me do the shopping. Back there, life wasn’t any better; except for the fact that there, I could run to the woods and just hide from everything.
After wrapping the gifts, I added the mini cards which had a short message and their names. I went downstairs and it was close to 5pm. I found Chris and Janine in the living room, and mom in the kitchen.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hi,” Chris replied. “Have you and Janine met yet?”
I shook my head and smiled, “Not really.”
I walked over to both of them and asked them things a normal, curious sister would ask. Janine is a blonde. Not that I believe in the stereotype ‘blondes are airheads and annoying’, but it seems to me that she lived up to it. I mean, I don’t just judge people in a snap but when I started talking to her I felt she was bad news. Of course, I lied to my brother and told him that she was okay. I didn’t want him to be saddened or mad that I didn’t accept her just by a conversation.
On the 24th, Christmas Eve, I put some of the gifts under the tree and the rest in a green bag and asked my brother if he could give me a ride to wherever to Leila’s and probably Matt’s.
First stop: drop off gifts for Leila, Maria, Liam, Melina and Eliza.
I knocked on the door and Aunt Liz answered.
“Hello, Michelle! Merry Christmas!”
“Hi, Aunt Liz. I just wanted to drop off some gifts for Leila, and the rest,” I said handing over the gifts. “Do Maria and her family spend Christmas here?”
“Yes they do, dear,” she smiled. “Let me get those for you.”
“Thank you. Well I better be on my way, I have to deliver one more gift.”
“Oh wait! I almost forgot,” she said. “We have some stuff for you, too”
Aunt Liz practically ran to the living room and grabbed a canvas bag full of gifts.
“Oh, thank you,” I said smiling. “Merry Christmas.”
I left their house and went to Matt’s estate. I told my brother where Matt lived and he drove me there.
Once we were in front of the huge gate I called Matt and told him that I was dropping off something.
“Who’s this ‘Matt’, anyway? Some kind of Duke or just some totally rich dude?” Chris asked.
“Just some totally rich dude.”
Chris drove off to the front entrance where Matt was waiting.
“I wanted to drop off a gift for a band member,” I said smiling. “It’s not much but I hope you’ll use it.”
I handed over the wrapped boxed drumsticks and just smiled.
“What are these?” he asked.
“Well, a gift, silly.”
“No, I mean, what’s inside?” he smiled.
“Well you gotta wait ‘til tomorrow on Christmas day.”
“I feel bad that I didn’t get you guys anything,” he said.
“Oh, no biggie!” I said.
“Wait just a sec.” he said running off inside his house, I mean mansion.
He walked back with a two huge Christmas baskets with big red ribbons tied over them. It was filled with chocolates, cookies and more stuff.
“My mom intends on giving friends Christmas baskets every year. One has your last name ‘McAdams’, and the other has ‘Montgomery’. Mom must’ve liked you guys.”
“Tell your mom these are wonderful,” I smiled. “Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas, to you too.”
I put the two baskets in the back seat with the rest of the gifts and zoomed away.
We dropped the Montgomery Christmas basket at their house, and went home ourselves. When we got home, Chris carried the basket inside and I got the canvas bag from Aunt Liz.
I sat on the carpet floor in front of the tree and emptied the bag with the gifts one by one. One gift each was for Chris, Lea and mom from Aunt Liz, and four were for me from Leila, Maria, Aunt Liz and Liam. I was excited to open them, but I didn’t want to be too eager.
As Christmas was slowly creeping at 10 pm on Christmas Eve, I was watching Sweeney Todd in the living room in my jammies, drinking some hot cocoa and comfortable on the couch. Why Sweeney Todd? I don’t know.
“Hey,” Chris said, suddenly appearing beside me. “What do you think of Janine?”
“I think she’s okay,” I said, lying once again. “How did you two meet?”
“Through a friend. She’s older than me by 4 years, you know.”
“Oh, so she’s already 23.”
Chris nodded and smiled meekly.
“What’s your Christmas wish, Chris?” I asked him as he stood up and walked to the kitchen.
We ask this question to each other every Christmas Eve. Our Christmas wishes were supposed to be between just the two of us. It was kind of our tradition.
“I don’t know,” he said opening a Chips Ahoy pack. “I guess, just to be happy with her.”
I saddened up a bit. ‘Just to be happy with her’… I get that answer from the same guy who wanted to be the best guitarist in the world last Christmas. I wasn’t sad about the fact that he was in love, but sad about the fact that he was getting too much into her; too much that he didn’t
Further on into the story, you, the reader, will understand how much I didn’t like Chris’ girlfriend…
When Christmas morning broke at 6:30 am, I woke up—force of habit every Christmas. I went straight downstairs like a little girl and found Lea already there checking the gifts under the tree.
“Gotcha,” I said, smiling at her.
She smiled at me the same and asked me if she could open her set of gifts. I nodded my head and went in to join her happily. I watched her open the gifts carelessly as I went to open my own set.
I got a new top from Aunt Liz, some bracelets from Maria, a cute planner/notebook from Leila, new shoes from mom, 30STM’s album, ‘This is War’ from Chris, a card from Lea and nothing from Uncle Richard. Lastly, Liam’s gift was a mug… a MUG. Even though it wasn’t much, it made me smile because of two things. 1, he’s worse than me of thinking of gifts; and 2, he gave me a gift.
Before I even had the chance to really look at the inside of the mug, the doorbell rang. I walked to the door wondering who would be at the door at 7am. I opened the door and it was a guy. He had a Range Rover running in the driveway, and a guitar case leaning against the wall beside him, and an amp that came with it.
“Merry Christmas, may I help you?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m looking for Michelle McAdams. Is she awake?”
“I’m Michelle,” I said wondering what this guy was doing outside my front door.
“Who’s at the door, sweetie?” mom asked from the stairs.
“It’s for me,” I replied and shifted my look immediately to the person in front of me. “What can I do for you?”
“See,” he smiled. “My name is Garrett. My brother Matt is in the car and asked me if I could give this guitar to you.”
My eyes widened as he lifted the case and handed it over. My mouth hung open and I looked at the Range Rover parked.
“I can’t accept this,” I said. “I mean, I’ve always wanted a new guitar, but…”
“Take it. He insists. Even I insist,” he smiled.
“But,” I hesitated.
“Just take it. He really wants you to have it.”
I simply nodded and said, “Well then, tell him I said this is too much and thank you.” I smiled.
“Will do,” he said. “Merry Christmas.”
He walked back to the car where Matt was waiting and I went inside carrying the new guitar.
I walked to the living room couch and sat down comfortably and opened the guitar case. It was something I could never afford even with a year’s allowance. It was a Gibson Sonex 180… signed by Ray Toro. I just couldn’t believe that someone would give this as a gift; to me in the least. Stuck between the strings was a piece of paper.
“Merry Christmas, Michelle. Thanks for not putting a label on me and for being the first ever person in school to not judge me the way others did. –Matt.”
“Oh my gosh,” Chris shouted. “Where’d you get the guitar?”
“From a good friend.”
This was my Christmas wish when I was in the 4th grade—an electric guitar of my own. When I was in the fifth grade onwards, I wished either for family, the very few friends I had or my success in music.
I guess it goes to show that if you take chances and risks, you can reach goals one by one. Never be too afraid about image and reputation. In the end, it can be the one that makes your life less amusing.