Me and My Boys

“CHRISTMAS! CHRISTMAS! GET UP, ITS CHRISTMAS!” the boys cry as they jump up and down on my bed. I groan and open my eyes sleepily, and they cheer. I sit up and grab each of their arms, pulling them towards me. They grumble as I cuddle them, and after a few minutes I get up.

“Alright, now it’s Christmas time,” I smile, stretching my arms towards the ceiling. Jack and Jimmy bolt down the steps, and I smile. I can hear them exclaiming loudly as they see the tree. I walk downstairs, and they’re already sitting next to the tree, their eyes wide with anticipation.

“Mom, there’s so much!” Jack says quietly.

“Well you’ve obviously been good boys this year then, haven’t you?” I ask. They both nod, and I ruffle their hair before taking their stockings down from the mantel.

“Stockings first boys, you know the rules,” I chuckle, and we all dump our stockings in unison. Jimmy makes a face as he unwraps his first little stocking stuffer-a toothbrush.

“Don’t make that face Jacques. You know brushing your teeth is important,” I scold lightly. He sighs in defeat and puts the toothbrush next to him. Pretty soon the boys are done with their stockings, getting more and more excited with each present. Little toys, hockey pucks, candy, and a few things they actually need filled the stockings, and were now in neat little piles. Their eyes turned to the pile of boxes under the tree, and I chuckled.

“Go ahead,” I sigh happily. They let out another cheer and each grab a box.

“Oh, Jimmy I got yours!” Jack says, handing the box to Jimmy.

“I got yours too,” Jimmy says, handing Jack the box. They tear the paper off in unison, and as they pry open the box they both high five. They pull out matching Devils sweatshirts, one in black, and one in red.

“Cool!” Jack says happily.

“Now we can match!” Jimmy giggles. They continue to tear open box after box, and by the time they’re done I feel good about the purchases. I had been saving up for a long time so that they could have a good Christmas, and the fact that I had gotten a fantastic pay raise from work wasn’t hurting. I had also gotten a beautiful check from my publisher (I wrote free lance novels on the side), and so I allowed myself to spoil the boys just once. They had gotten the sweatshirts, a lot more clothes (they were growing so fast I didn’t know what to do sometimes), new hockey skates, a hockey ball, stick tape, new sticks, lego sets, a basketball, a football, some books, and they each got a movie they had asked for. I start to pick up the sea of wrapping paper after they run upstairs, but suddenly they clear their throats.

“Mommy, we got you presents too,” Jack says quietly. I turn around, the wrapping paper still in my hand, and I raise my eyebrows.

“Where did you get the money?” I ask.

“We saved up our awowances,” Jimmy replies. I smile gratefully and motion for them to come over to me. They each hand me a box. I open Jack’s first since he was the first born, and inside is a pretty wooden jewelry box in the shape of a star. I hug him tightly and kiss the top of his head.

“It’s beautiful,” I say, and then open Jimmy’s box. There is a set of pretty pens inside, made out of dark red metal.

“I can use these in school!” I beam, and then hug and kiss Jimmy as well. James pulls another box out from underneath the couch, and I raise my eyebrows once more.

“This is from the both of us…we made it ourselves when we went to that cool art class,” Jack says, handing me the box. I open it up, and inside is a red ceramic picture frame with black and red ceramic hearts on the top left and right corners. Painted in black and white at the bottom is the word family. There is a picture of me, Jack, and Jimmy from one of their hockey games inside. I feel tears prick the corners of my eyes, and I hug them tightly.

“I love it,” I say, and then I place the picture frame on the center of the mantel. The boys play with their new toys as I make breakfast, and by the time breakfast is done they’ve already threatened to destroy my family room with the hockey ball I gave them.

“Boys, no hockey in the family room. You know the rule, basement only…now get in here and eat!” I call over to them as they battle for the ball against the wall. They had taken to shooting it into the empty fireplace, and they look up with apologetic grins.

Breakfast is quick, and the boys convince me to go outside and build a snowman with them. We all go get our snow gear on, and head outside. The snow has gotten ridiculously deep over the past few days, and I sink in it almost to my knees. The boys are practically up to their chests in snow, but they laugh even louder as they try and swim through the deep, fluffy snow. Eventually we get a good snowman going, all three of us pushing the large balls of snow around the yard. I stack them, and Jack and Jimmy each request that I pick them up so they can put an eye on him. Once they’ve given him big black eyes made out of rocks, I stick a carrot in his face for the nose, and make a smile out of tiny pieces of twigs.

“Mommy he needs clothes,” Jimmy says before running inside. Jack and I wait patiently, and I can’t help but laugh as Jimmy comes out toting one of my older Devils sweatshirts, a Devils scarf, a Devils snow cap, and drops them in my arms.

“So he’s a Devils snowman now?” I ask.

“Well, what other kind of snowman would he be? He can’t be a Flyers snowman,” Jack giggles.

“Or Wangews!” Jimmy says, scowling at the name.

“Oh, I’ve taught you two too well,” I smirk before putting the sweatshirt on the snowman. His nose falls off, but I simply put it back on before wrapping the scarf around his neck and putting the hat on his head.

“Yeah, you have taught them pretty well,” I hear Zach chuckle, and I turn around, a smile spreading even more widely across my face.

“Zach!” I say happily.

“Merry Christmas!” the boys yell in unison, and Zach chuckles.

“Merry Christmas to you guys too,” he says, bending down to high five the boys. He keeps one hand behind his back. He is in a puffy gray winter coat, black snow pants, and heavy black boots. He has a black hat on, and his chocolate brown eyes are sparkling happily.

“So what brings you here this morning?” I ask, and he shrugs.

“I saw you guys building a snowman, and when I saw you were dressing him in Devils stuff, I figured I should contribute,” Zach smiles before pulling out a Devils flag.

“It can be a cape!” Jimmy cries out, and Zach laughs.

“A cape? Alright, let’s make it a cape,” Zach says, handing the flag to Jimmy. Jimmy tries to tie it around the snowman’s neck/head, but he can’t reach, so Zach immediately picks him up. Jimmy grins widely and ties the flag around the neck of the snowman.

“Perfect!” Jack says with a grin.

“Yeah!” Jimmy agrees.

“Thanks Zach,” I smile. He nods, putting Jimmy back down.

“Not a problem. Say, I heard there’s a great sledding hill around here from Marty…would you guys be interested in going?” he asks, and the boys stare up at him excitedly.

“Sledding?” Jimmy asks. I groan.

“You’ve now awoken the beasts,” I mutter.

“SLEDDING! SLEDDING! SLEDDING!” the boys cry, jumping up and down.

“Can we go Mom?” Jack asks.

“Can we pwease?” Jimmy asks, extending the last part of the word please. I give Zach a look, and he smiles apologetically.

“Yes…let me get the sleds out of the garage,” I sigh in surrender before hauling open the garage door. I can hear the boys roughhousing, and when I walk out with a sled tucked under each arm I see that Zach is playing with them, wresting Jack to the ground as Jimmy pounces on his back. I feel my heart warm at the scene. Zach is laughing, a huge smile plastered to his face. The boys are having a great time, and I put the sleds into the trunk of my SUV without saying anything. They stop playing as I shut the trunk, and Zach stands up, brushing snow out of his hair.

“You guys ready to go?” he asks.

“You bet,” the three of us say in union.