Back in Black (and Gold)

**December 21st, 2015 Max’s POV**

“I understand of course. No, I can’t say that I’m happy about it, but I did hit him late and so while I hate it, I have to accept the punishment meted out by your office.” I heard the kids coming down the stairs. “Sir, my kids are coming down the stairs from their naps and I’m on duty this afternoon so their mom can go and find things for their 2nd birthday in a few days.” I chuckled. “Trust me life is anything but boring in this house. Thank you sir, bye.”

Jaxson came in and grinned, followed by his sister and their lovely mother. “How long?” She asked, just as she had when I had gotten home last night.

“2 games.” She nodded sadly. “Hey just think, more time that I can help with these two.”

Jassmine scoffed. “You’ll still have to be at the games and practice.” She shook her head. “But right now that’s not what I need. I need you to get these two out of my hair for a few hours at least.”

I picked up both of the kids and sighed. “If I must my love.” In all seriousness this was a good thing, I had Jassmine’s gift to pick up and then I had to find a way of wasting a few more hours. “We have driven your mama crazy and must leave. Let’s go get your bags ready.” The three of us bounded up the stairs and left Jass alone.

**Jass’ POV**

2 games, I sighed. It could have been worse but that isn’t ideal for anyone. Once I was sure they were upstairs and busy, I picked up and dialed the phone. “Hallo?”

“V, it’s Jass.” We chatted briefly before I got up the nerve to ask. “Look, about the gifts from you guys and Tanger. Kallie told me to open it up so I could understand it and divide it up but I have no idea what should go where.”

Vero laughed. “Oh Jass, it is so easy. Both of us use those things to help the kids understand how things are going. Now is the time to start with them so as they grow you can add more things.” I heard her call someone over and then the phone was on speaker.

“What don’t you get Jass?” Ah, Kallie. She was going to be my next call.

“Honestly? All of it.” I was looking at the boxes that had come from Pittsburgh with trepidation still.

“Ok, well you’re in luck. You’re going to benefit from our trial and error. Start with the routine charts. What do the kids have to do every morning? You start by making a chart for each kid and as they do the things on it, they close the tab. Do the same with the evening one.” I looked at that package again and got it.

“So, by going through it with them, they eventually will get it and do it all themselves.” They both applauded me as I proved I got it. “Shut up, what about all those popsicle sticks in the different sizes?”

Vero giggled. “The ones with velcro can be used when you are out, along with the ones that have pictures on them, they can make shapes and match the puzzle. The ones that have names on them are the start of your prayer pails.”

“So the ones that have colors and shapes are also matching ones they just can grow as the kids learn to read.” I was understanding their gifts better now and had an idea of how to deal with them. “So the cleaning kits you sent, you know they’re 2 right?”

Kallie laughed. “Oh but they want to _help_! We make it a game for Alex, he uses his broom and dustpan to get the dirt into a square we tape off and then he goes over it with a swiffer, if it’s really dirty he gets to mop. Cut the sponges in half and put them and the microfiber cloths in the pencil box to help keep them separated. We weren’t sure how they were with lifting heavy things so we sent lighter spray bottles.”

I could then guess what the rest was for. “Ah so the larger box that is white is where I can put the pads to keep them out of it until we need it. The squeegee is too cute too. I’m guessing that helps them clean the glass higher than they can reach. Ditto with the dusting fingers, which I love that they are both the same color.”

“Exactly!” They both said loudly. Vero took over. “We all use Honest Company cleaners so with the funnels you can put some in the bottles and then they are really cleaning with the same as maman.” Oh how I loved that all three of us used those cleaners. They made the house smell so good!

“And the small scrub brushes? I’m guessing that’s in case of something sticky on the floor.” My guess was correct. “If those ideas weren’t enough, those clocks are _so_ awesome. I think those will be the Christmas gift and the rest for birthday.” Of course the ideas I got to keep the kids busy while out and about with these gifts, made my afternoon.

We all compared holiday plans and I found that while mine were busy due to dual celebrations, they both had family and lots of it, in town. Too soon though we had to say goodbye and I hid the box so while all of mine were out I would personalize the boards for the kids.

The family tumbled down the stairs and was soon out and I was alone. This gave me a chance to separate things out and get the birthday things out from under the tree. I also made sure I had all the birthday decorations for the tree. Yes, we put birthday stuff on the Christmas tree. They didn’t get it last year but this year they probably would.

Once all of that was done and ready to do, the phone rang. “Hello?”

“Hi sweetheart!” Oh great, dad… He was still trying to buy me and the kids with big things. “Hey, I know it’s really close to the kids birthday and Christmas but I was wondering if they needed anything.”

I sighed heavily. “Dad I told you already, they have everything they need.”

I heard his girlfriend Penny behind him. “I told you to call her first.” I liked Penny, she was everything mother was not.

He sighed. “I hope this won’t upset you but I found some great dishes for them. They’re from Re-Play and made of recycled milk jugs and well your nieces and nephews just love them.”

I searched for Re-Play on the net and found that wow those were some nice dishes. “Dad you didn’t have to get them this.”

He scoffed. “Of course I did. They deserve the best. You should be getting them soon, I got 2 colors for each of them so they can mix and match. What’s coming is divided and flat plates, bowls, 2 kinds of cups, forks and spoons and a snack containers.” I looked up what he was saying and was amazed. These were plates that the kids could grow with.

Penny took over the conversation then. “I told him to call you first but he wouldn’t listen. I _was_ able to talk him out of getting things for little littles, I had him get no spill cups and normal cups when he wanted to get the no spill ones and the spout ones.”

“Oh god no, they hate those kind of cups. They aren’t quite up to normal cups but the no spill lids will be great.” I thought briefly about what Dad had already gotten them for Christmas. “I’m not going to ask what he spent but I will say that they don’t need anything else. We _are_ trying to teach them that having less is not a bad thing. In fact Max’s family went in jointly on part of their gifts with us.” That really wasn’t surprising with what we had gotten them. Balance Bikes, helmets and pads.

“Just be glad I got him to call you about this. He wanted it to be a complete surprise but I had a feeling that would have upset you. I know you haven’t had the best relationship with him and I’m doing what I can to make it better.” She sounded guilty that she hadn’t done more.

“Penny, you make him understand a bit more how we live. We don’t want to go over the top with gifts for either celebration. It’s _much_ more important that they understand that what they get for both is just right for them.” She had talked dad out of buying all sorts of things for the kids cause his grandkids needed the best of everything all the time.

She laughed. “Simple gifts are better because you are almost always outnumbered.”

“Not only that but having their birthday _and_ Christmas, for now it’s important to have it on the same day but as they get older, they will understand more and we’ll be able to have it either before or after the actual day. That’s the real reason we don’t want them to get used to tons of gifts right now. We want them to understand that their birth is _just_ as important to this family as Jesus’ is.” I checked the time and decided that I better start dinner. I had no clue where Max was but that wasn’t going to stop the kids from needing to eat.

**December 24th, 2015 Max’s POV**

Where did the time go? 2 years ago we were waiting for our babies and now they were 2! They were out with mama right now getting something, so I was home making sure we had 2 identical gifts from Santa. After some discussion we had decided on a homemade version of a learning tower. I had asked around the room who might have an idea of how to do this and gotten blank looks so I called Kells, who was out with a broken leg, sure enough he knew of a good pattern for them and already had the tools I’d need to get it together. With his direction I went and got everything I’d need and had put them together. Now I had to just keep the kids from seeing them for a few more hours. I eventually just put them in Gran’s closet. I knew that even they did go in there, they wouldn’t look in the closet.

I knew that we were planning on going to Midnight Mass, so I made sure that we had everything for after ready to go. Santa’s Key, Reindeer Food, The plate, mug and bowl for more inside. I had those set in the kitchen but out of toddler sight. Those things we would put out after we got home from Mass.

That also made me realize that we didn’t want a full meal before Mass so I made a bunch of our favorite finger foods. They would help keep the kids happy and Jass wouldn’t have to cook, both big pluses in my book.

Then I went to make sure that all of the stocking stuffers I knew about were ready for after the kids went to bed as well. Jass had told me that she had made sure things were separated into Christmas and Birthday gifts already.

Then my beloved mother of dragons was home with our beautiful dragons, uh I mean, children. She came in with a box in her hands and a frazzled look in her eye. Knowing that look I took over the kids without her saying a word. “Come my little dragons, why don’t you two go get your Christmas clothes ready for Mass tonight.”

They bounded up the stairs as I took the box from Jass. “How bad is it out there?” Jass flopped onto the couch and nearly screamed. “Ah, that bad.”

She looked at me. “I swear this city has the worst drivers out of everywhere we’ve been!” I could understand how she felt, there are insane drivers here. “Not only that but they all seem to think that where they are going is the most important place.”

I went to the fridge and poured a glass for her. “Here, relax.” She took a sip and I could see her relaxing as she did so. “I don’t even know what we’re going to do for dinner tonight seeing that we’re going to Midnight Mass.”

I chuckled. “I made some of our favorite finger foods earlier thinking those would help. What if we forgot what French Tradition is and start our own?” The look of bliss on her face said it all. I brought her into the kitchen and showed off the things I had done. Easy and the kids loved them. “If you want to add a few things, that’d be great.” I had fruits waiting, along with dip. Half assembled things that needed to go into the oven just before serving like the ham and cheese sliders and pigs in a blanket wreath. The timer rang and I stepped around Jass to pull the mac and cheese bites from the oven.

I slid the soft pretzel bites into the oven after taking the bites out. I then got the meatball bites out of the muffin pan as they were cool enough now. “Could you stir the kielbasa bbq please so it doesn’t burn?”

In short order everything I had planned was out of the oven and or warming in it. Jassmine had gone upstairs to supervise the kids finding everything they needed for tonight’s Mass. Normally she and the kids went to the 8 am Sunday Mass and I would join them as I could.

They came downstairs soon enough all looking happy. “Papa, our little dragons have everything ready for Mass tonight and are now hungry. Do we have anything to feed them?” I nodded and grabbed the kids up to show them everything that was on the table.

We all enjoyed eating all the little things I’d made. It made for a much more relaxed evening than even last year when Jass tried to do it all. Soon enough it was time for the kids to take a nap before Midnight Mass. We tucked them in and promised that it was only a short sleep and then went downstairs to clean up and enjoy what little quiet time we’d have.

**Jass’ POV**

A few hours later, knowing that Christmas was always a busy time for any Church, we arrived at 10:30 pm. Yeah we had an hour to kill before the Carols began but better to be guaranteed a seat than scrambling for one. Father Gaspar was the first Priest we saw. The kids looked great, however I was less than thrilled that Max chose to wear the same “suit” he had worn to the Bruins Holiday Party. Even if it was “festive”.

“Welcome Talbot family!” He said happily.

“Good evening Father Gaspar. Did you know that tomorrow isn’t _only_ Jesus’ birthday?” The kids began to preen a little bit.

Father Gaspar looked a little confused. “I’m pretty sure it’s his birthday we’re celebrating…”

I smiled. “Oh but we’re also celebrating Jaxson and Danique’s birthday too.” I laid a hand on Jax’s head. “Jax was born at 12:01am and Nikki at 12:03am nearly 2 years ago.”

We hadn’t noticed the Cardinal come up behind Father Gaspar until he spoke. “What lucky young people, to share their birthday with our Lord and Saviour.” He looked at us. “Just how _does_ that work?”

We chuckled and Max enlightened them. “Actually we figured out a pretty good plan last year that we’re going to do this year as well. From the time they get up in the morning until they get up from their afternoon nap, it’s Jesus’ birthday and we celebrate that. While they nap Mama and I turn the house into their birthday party, including decorating the birthday tree. From when they wake up until bed time it’s their birthday.”

Cardinal O’Malley laughed. “Now that’s a great way to celebrate! Sharing it and yet they each have their own special times. Not everyone gets a birthday tree, I would love to see pictures of it on Sunday.” He knelt down and brought both kids close. “Close your eyes now.” Both kids did so without hesitation. Cardinal O’Malley began. “In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Heavenly Father, lover of all, we praise you for giving us Jesus as our Saviour: He blessed the children who came to Him, and welcomes those who come to Him now. Look with love upon Jaxson and Danique and protect them with Your love. May they grow in wisdom and age and strength in Your presence and in the sight of all. We ask this blessing, Father, through Your beloved Son, Christ our Lord. Amen.” I wasn’t expecting a special blessing but still was glad they got one. “Happy birthday to you both.”

Max grinned. “Merci Cardinal.” He tried waving it off but Max insisted. “Seriously, you have done a lot to make my family feel welcome here.” He would have said more but he got bumped and turned around.

Bergy just grinned. “Come on Max. I’m sure he’s very busy and he knows that this church has done a lot to help make Jass and the kids welcome. After all didn’t he listen to your concerns about the other two parishes you went to before coming here?”

Steph and I were gushing over the kids and got surprised when he stopped. “What? Oh yeah he did. I like coming here, it’s not Good Shepherd but it’s friendly.” Good Shepherd, where we were married, treated us like family and not just parishioners.

We found seats together and by the end of Mass was glad we had. Even more so when we had a certain young Bruin come down the aisle looking for anywhere to sit. “Psst, Pasta.” Bergy said which made the young man turn quickly. We squished a bit and he joined us.

I knew there were others on the team from more similar backgrounds than us so I asked him. “Why here tonight?”

“Promised Mama.” He said kind of chagrined. We all understood promising to mom and how you couldn’t go back on that one.

It was nearing 1:30 when we finally got out of Mass. The kids had done their best to stay awake but didn’t make it. Yeah it meant that Max and I took turns holding one while the other was on the bench behind us, but now we could go home and put out the treats for Santa before falling face first into bed.

To my amazement the kids were mostly awake when we got home. “Santa?” They asked sleepily as we came in from the garage. Max took Nikki from me and kissed them both. “Let’s get our pj’s on first.” He took them upstairs and I let out a sigh. I wasn’t sure where the set was until I turned around in the kitchen. That wasn’t where I left them.

I picked the set up and moved it to the fireplace. I arranged them so that there was room for Santa and at least 1 Reindeer. I then went and got the edible part. By now the kids were coming down with Max. I had them each pick 1 cookie while I put some milk in the mug. Then not only did we put some reindeer food in the bowl but also on the front lawn so they knew this was a good spot to stop for them.

Then the kids got tucked into bed and were quickly fast asleep. I went and grabbed the few boxes that I knew the kids would have gotten into from our closet while Max went into Gran’s room. We met downstairs and I saw our Training Towers for the first time. “Those are awesome.”

Max grinned. “Yeah Kells knew that these would be best cause as the outgrow the skeleton it can be taken off and they’ll still have the stools. Are we going to do Santa boots this year?”

I giggled. “Of course, they will expect them. Maybe Santa should come in the front door so he can use his key.”. Max went and dug out the big Santa boots and Reindeer hoof print maker and then grabbed the glitter bag we figured out last year. Carefully he put every boot print in the right place for Santa coming in the front door. When those were done he carefully did the same with the hoof prints. Max was very good at making sure it looked like the gifts left were eaten by Santa and whatever reindeer came with him into the house.

While Max did that, I made sure that everything from stocking getting filled to the perfect alignment of the Towers for that excited first sight was ready to go. Then I added the special trick I figured out, a special letter from Santa. No, we didn’t use a service to do it, I wrote it on my computer in a password locked file.

Dear Jax and Nikki,

Happy Birthday! I can’t believe it’s been 2 years already. Mrs. Claus wanted you to know how much she likes you so she made something special for you as well as what I had made for you. We hope you enjoy them. Keep being good and we’ll see you next year!

Always your friend,
Santa

I made sure that the tags from both Santa and Mrs. Claus were printed out. Mrs. Claus always sent her gifts in brown paper packages tied with candy cane ribbon and with a tag similar to those of her most beloved husband. I checked that Max was outside and snuck upstairs to grab his gifts from Santa and Mrs. Claus.

When I grabbed those gifts, I also put the semi-naughty one I had gotten on his pillow. It wasn’t that we had a bad sex life, more like we needed times to spice it up. We didn’t give things like this on Valentine’s Day, we preferred a simple date night for our anniversary (or as close to it as we could get).

Satisfied that the post-Santa was as ready as it could get, I went back downstairs. Max was grinning at me and showed me his handiwork. He’d apparently done everything except deal with the cookies and milk. We split those and then went up to bed.

Before we shared our personal gifts Max blindfolded me and took something downstairs. I heard him come back up and felt him kiss his way up my back. “I couldn’t forget your gifts from Santa and Mrs. Claus.” We exchanged the personal gifts that the kids never saw. “And I see you found something that goes well with our theme.” He said as he chuckled upon opening the Naughty Knots book. Last year’s theme was reconnecting while this year’s was not being tied up away from each other so much.

I grinned. “Well I thought it was perfect.” I opened what he found and had to smother my laughter. He had gotten the Liberator Silk Sashes I had been eyeing. “Oh that’s funny. I almost got these.”

Instead of trying out our gifts, we went to sleep. Something about 2 kids getting up sooner rather than later…

**Max’s POV**

There’s nothing quite like being jolted awake by your children. They were right now pounding their way back up the stairs after seeing all the hard work we had done after they went to bed. “Papa! Santa Come!” They tried to open the door but they were just a tiny bit too short. This gave me a fraction of time to wake my love before they started banging on it.

“The dragons are awake love.” I said softly in her ear. She groaned and rolled over.

“Papa? Mama?” They called. I got up and got moving to open the door while Jass woke up a bit more.

“Joyeux Noël et Bon anniversaire! (Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!)” I said as I opened the door. The kids hugged my legs tightly. Picking them up I spoke, giving Jass a bit more time to get herself up too. “Mama a besoin de café et le petit déjeuner. Allons-y. (Mama needs coffee and breakfast. Let's go.)”

We went and put water on to make coffee and then turned the oven on for the Christmas Casserole. I then struck up the Holiday Music and danced with the kids in the kitchen while Jass came downstairs.

After some coffee and food we were ready for opening gifts and stockings! The kids were so excited to see what they got. They started opening their stockings and about squealed the house down. Tons of different popsicle sticks that I didn’t understand at first until Jass explained them to the kids. Activity popsicle sticks of all kinds.

They dug deeper and deeper into their stockings loving everything they pulled from them. Doodle Pro to go, Etch a Sketch pocket, Brain Quest question box, new toothbrushes and toothpaste. Soft sunglasses that they had to put on right away. Ouchie Caps, which I hadn’t heard of before now that were also put on right away. Then they reached the toe of the stocking and found all the Badger Kids stuff that was waiting for them. 2 kinds of sunscreen, bug repellant, after-bug balm and as always their favorite Night Night Balm.

By now they were eyeing the other things under the tree. Jass was feeling more awake and went into the office to grab her computer. She set it up and got ready to Skype with our families. “Ok, first thing is first. It looks like Santa left you two something and a letter.” They tried arguing over which one was whose but they were identical and without the usual color. “Hold on! Why argue about which one belongs to which of you? Maybe they were meant to be shared and not fought over?”

Leaving those Nikki gave me the letter and I read it to them. “Oh you are so lucky! Mrs. Claus made you both something. Where are her packages?” They scrambled and found the boxes from her. We had to make sure they opened the right ones.

“Dwagon!” Jax said excitedly. Quickly the peeled off the sunglasses and ouchie caps and on went the dragon hoods. That led into going through the rest of the presents for this portion of the day.

Wake up clocks and Prayer Pails from Alex and Estelle. Books and lacing cards from Gran. Triangle crayons and paper from their cousins in Philadelphia. Oh they two of them were in heaven!

Then I brought over the twin packages from my family. They about squealed as they tore into them and found matching elbow and knee pads. Jass then spoke up. “We got you 1 big present from us, but you can’t get them when you are still in your pjs. So we will all go change so we can give you those.” Up the stairs they flew as Jass whispered to me. “They’re in the garage, only place I could figure out to hide them where they don’t normally go.”

Soon enough we were all ready to find the kids’ last gift for Christmas. I hit the garage door opener and watched my kids looking around. Nikki found them first. “BIKE!” She yelled and pointed. Lightning fast they were over and looking at their balance bikes.

I went over and supervised as they pawed all over their new bikes. I didn’t notice that Jass had slipped back into the house and had come out with the pads. She set them down and set down the ground rules. “These bikes _can_ _not_ be ridden in the house. They also _can_ _not_ be ridden without safety gear.” She handed each child their gear and we helped them into it all.

I pulled my car out so the kids could ride in safety. They loved figuring out how fast they could go and how to stop. Soon enough they got chilly and wanted to go inside, that helped.

The rest of the morning was quiet. The kids figured out all of their new toys and had lots of fun playing with them. Before lunch I helped them take all of them upstairs so they would be out of the way for what’s coming after naps.

Speaking of, they did _not_ want to take naps today, they were too excited about the day in general. I had to put my foot down. “Arrêtez! Voulez-vous vos cadeaux d'anniversaire? (Stop! Do you want your birthday gifts?) They both froze in horror and nodded ever so slightly.
“Vos cadeaux d'anniversaire vont attendre un autre jour si vous n'y allez pas et sieste maintenant. (Your birthday gifts will wait another day if you do not go and nap now.)”

I never saw them move so quickly and clumsily up the stairs, it was as if I had spanked them when all I did was threaten. Jass kissed my cheek as she went up behind them. I was frazzled and knew I needed a few minutes before going up there. When I finally did get upstairs both kids were in Jax’s room and now were just sniffling. “We love you both _so_ much and we know this day is exciting, but we also know you need rest time. Without it you are not happy and we want you to be happy today.” Ah my patient and loving wife hit the nail on the head.

I made myself known and saw the kids clutch each other tighter. “Come Nikki, let’s go plug your new clock in.” She got out of the bed and followed me. I got the clock out of the box and had her show me where she wanted it. “Ok this is a special clock.” I went through the special face colors with her and she began grinning ear to ear. “Then there is red. Red is for when you do something that you get in trouble for and you must stay in your room for some time. Only Mama and Papa can make the clock go red.” Nikki’s face was getting pale. “Now is not the time for red though, it is time for Cyan, which means what?”

“Rest Time.” Mama said from the door. “Until 2:30 it is rest time.” I set the clock and put it where Nikki wanted it. “We will set bedtime and wake up time later. For now this will do.” She took Jax and set his clock.

Before flopping on the couch and enjoying what quiet there was in the house we undid Christmas and re-did Birthday decorations. No, we did not take all of the ornaments off the tree, we just covered it with birthday stuff so you couldn’t see the Christmas ornaments. We never took our tree down until after New Year’s.

It was 3 o’clock before we saw or heard either of our children. Jass prodded me awake on the couch where we fell asleep too. “I just heard a toilet flush.” I looked at the clock on the entertainment system. “Yeah they’re running a bit late but I’m ok with that.”

Soon enough they were both downstairs. Jass kissed them both twice. “Two kisses for two years.” She said while I tried not to laugh at Jax who was trying to wipe the wet kisses off his face.

We soon were opening presents. “Ok this one is from Estelle and her family.” We set the gift in front of them. Paper tore quickly and then came the confusion. Jass handled this. “These are just like what Estelle and Alex use for their morning and evening routine. When the tab is done you close it.” She showed them by opening one tab and showing them that there was something that needed to be done on the inside and Done on the outside of the tab. “Estelle and Alex also use the weekly calendar so that they know what is happening that week.” She showed off the various things like library time and errands and even had Hockey games, several of those in fact.

Then we made sure that they opened Alex’s gift. Again Jass took the lead on explaining it after they were confused. “You know how you want to help mama when she is cleaning?” Nods all around. “Well I told Alex’s mama and she put these together with Tante Vero. Now you have your own cleaning kits to help.” Oh that excited them. They could help!

Jass had switched up what her dad gave them for when and now it was time for his gift. “These are from Grandpa.” They opened the box and squealed. “It’s like Grandpa knew that you needed big kid dishes.” I knew that Jass had been freaking out a little bit about what to do to tame the clutter of dishes the kids had so I took care of it, slowly taking some away. I hadn’t gotten rid of them yet but I would once only the new things were going.

The rest of the gifts were opened and loved, including the sets of big kid underwear. They had earned those, both of them. Then the puzzles were opened. Oh they loved those. When they thought they had gotten everything Jass brought out the last two boxes. “These are a part of your big present and from now on you can not be on your bikes without this too.”

They tore into the boxes and were thrilled to find helmets for their bikes. Nikki went and got their elbow and knee pads and they went together and put them on their bikes. They did put on everything but we were able to talk them out of going out to ride today.

After a busy day both kids were happy to tumble into bed. We set their clocks with when bedtime was and how early they could get us up.

At the end of our night we were more than happy to crawl into our bed as well. “Well we survived another one.” I sighed out.

Jass laughed. “Just wait, Monday is their 2 year check up.”

Then something hit me, in the hustle and bustle of keeping the kids on track we had not opened our gifts. I went and dug them all out and brought them to bed with us. “We forgot our own gifts because of everything.” She chuckled and laid her head on my shoulder. I handed Jass her half of what I had and we slowly opened everything. Oh boy did we know what each other liked. She got me things to make travelling easier and make me even more popular. I got her an electric kettle and a Tumi 'Voyageur - Small Q-Tote' Nylon Tote. Soon enough we had our bounty all over and it was time for her to open her last gift.

“Max…” She sighed as she got a look at the gift. It was a Spa Day at the Mandarin Oriental and a weekend away for just us.

I kissed her lightly. “With everything you do, you deserve this and _so_ much more my love. Both families are willing to come and watch the kids and I was thinking that All Star Weekend would be a good time for us to go.”

I wasn’t quite ready for her reaction, but I _did_ enjoy it, better yet I made sure she did even more.

**December 28th, 2015 Jass’ POV**

I was trying hard not to freak out. Family skate was in 2 days, the Winter Classic 2 days after that and then Taika and Tuukka’s baby shower. This week was as busy as last week. Today we were in for their doctor’s appointments. The kids weren’t thrilled with having to be here, not that I blamed them.

Once in the room and the nurse had weighed and measured them. “Oh wow, they have gotten big in the last few months.” She showed me the difference between the first visit here in August and now. Nikki had put on 2.5 inches in height and was now 35.5 inches high. She’d put on 5 pounds and was 30 pounds now. Jax was right with her having gained 1.5 inches and was the same height of 35.5 inches and also had gained 5 pounds being now 32 pounds.

“I knew they had been eating more and growing, I didn’t expect those numbers.” She grinned at me.

The doctor came in in a little bit and we chatted about everything that had been going on since our last visit. I told him that they had pretty much decided to potty train themselves and that we had agreed and helped them learn how to do what they needed to. “In fact they are working on night time training now all on their own. They do wear cloth trainers still at night but more and more they are dry in the mornings and at every nap time.”

After everything the kids were thrilled that they didn’t need shots and we happily left the office. I had even gotten permission to get them new car seats and no longer have them rear facing. I called Max on the way home. “Our dragons have grown, we need new car seats.” We discussed and finally decided that I would make the choice with the kids. If we could get colors close to what they wanted, so be it. However, I would only be buying 1 brand of seat.

We went to several places before finally going to Buy Buy Baby. Finally here we found the two seats the kids had liked side by side. With permission I got the Peg Perego Viaggio and the Maxi-Cosi Pria 70 down and let the kids go back and forth between them, all while I buckled them in so they would know how it would feel. They had a conversation that I wasn’t privy to before standing next to the Maxi-Cosi. “Dis one mama.”

That meant we now had to find a color for them. Neither green or purple was a choice. “G’ey mama. Like potty.” Jax finally said. While the person helping us was confused, I understood easily.

“Do you have any grey ones in the back? That’s the color they want.” The kid had no clue so he went to find someone who would. I repeated my question and the reason a couple times before the Manager understood what and why we wanted that color.

“Ah, I’m not positive but let me go look.” He went and looked and came back with pictures on his phone. “We have Total Grey, Mineral Grey and Grey Gravel. I have 1 each of the first two and only 2 left of the Grey Gravel.”

The kids were looking at the pictures and doing that twin thing they did sometimes. Nikki finally spoke up. “Dat one.” She was pointing to the Grey Gravel.

I managed not to laugh at her emphaticness. “You heard her. We’ll take both Grey Gravel seats.” We paid for them and got them out to the car. I uninstalled the now outgrown seats, to much cheering and then went about installing the new ones. Eventually I got both installed and the kids crawled up. The seats moved a little bit. I texted Max and told him where we were and he came right over.

“Oh wow these are nice.” He said after I explained the issue. The kids were corralled in the front while he used his own weight and strength to secure the seats fully. “Order a couple for mine too yeah?”

I laughed. “Already my plan. I can’t believe they are both 30 pounds or more. What happened to our tiny babies?” Max laughed at me and kissed the kids. We met at home and quickly ordered matching seats for Max’s car.

After we all were in our beds, we went looking at websites. “You know, I don’t think we’ll need another seat for them.” Max said as we read the information about the seat not only on Amazon but also on Maxi-Cosi’s site. These are going to need a few things to make long distance travel, like for summer, better but we can get those after doing some research.”

I chuckled. “Probably true. We’ll be able to use the sun shades to cover these seats too which will help.” Oh did the kids like putting those on when it was a hot day. “For now let’s not worry about it.” I yawned. “This week is busy enough without extra stuff.” Sleep came soon after closing the laptop.