Violet
Christmas is this upcoming weekend and I spent last weekend wrapping gifts. Snow has started falling, which means the roads are slicker and it's colder out, it makes me appreciate how warm the kitchen is inside the bakery.
Kostas has a big Christmas tree that I helped decorate. Decorating with him was fun. His house is way bigger than my apartment, so there was more ground to cover.
I've also started to plan out how I wanted to decorate his cake. January is fast approaching and I wanted this cake to be perfect inside and out.
Right now, I'm cooking dinner at Kostas's home. I told myself a while back that I'd cook for him since he cooks for me so much. I don't think he's ever had soul food before.
I took it upon myself to bake cinnamon rolls. I remember how much he loved them when I made them last time. By the time I finish rolling and cutting this dough, most of the food should be done.
"It smells good in here." Kostas came into the kitchen with a towel on his neck. He must've just came up from the gym.
"Mhm everything should be done in another hour." I told him as I put the last roll on the pan. I covered them and set them to the side so they can proof again. It should only take about 30 minutes, then I can bake them. I have the frosting ready to go.
"I can't wait." He said kissing my temple. "I'm about to take a shower, I'll be back down soon." He went upstairs.
I checked on the food in the oven one more time and it was done. As I took the last pan out, I heard my phone ring. My family has been calling all day. I'm supposed to be meeting them tomorrow, it will be Christmas Eve and we're always together.
"Hello?" I answered. Silence.
I looked at the caller ID and saw it was an unknown number.
"Hello?" I asked again. When no one responded, I hung up. I'll see if Kostas recognizes the number when he comes back down. For all I know that could've been Andrea.
30 minutes went by and the cinnamon rolls were ready to go in the oven. Kostas came downstairs as I was putting them in. "Ready to eat?" I asked him as I set the timer.
I fixed us a plate and sat down at the island.
I wasn't surprised when Kostas's favorite dish ended up being the candied yams, he does have a sweet tooth.
I heard the timer go off and got up to check. Looks done to me. I take them out of the oven and set them on the stove.
"Oh, I forgot to ask, do you recognize this number?" I asked Kostas as I looked for the number that called me.
I find it and show him. He looked it over then shook his head. "Okay, that was so weird. Whoever was on the other line refused to say anything, so I hung up" I told him.
I waited a few more minutes, before I went to ice the cinnamon rolls.
They came out perfect.
The rest of the evening went by with no issues. I was happy to hear that Kostas liked the food. We were in his home theater where I was forcing him to watch The Grinch. I grew to enjoy the cartoon over the last few years. I don't think he's seen the original, so I'm saving that for this weekend.
Waking up the next day, I turn off my alarm. Unfortunately I have to work, but the good thing is we close early so everyone will be off by 6. Today is the busiest day of the year and there are still some orders I have to fill that will be picked up this afternoon before I get off.
Kostas groaned and held me tighter when I was about to get up. It's 4:30 and he usually wakes up an hour from now. "Why do you torture yourself with these ridiculously early shifts?" He asked tiredly. I laughed. I agree, it is torture.
"Because I get off early." I said as I escaped his grasp.
I went to the bathroom to get ready and that took about 35 minutes. As I was coming out, Kostas was getting out of the bed. "I'm about to leave." I told him.
"Hold on, let me walk you out." He said and walked with me downstairs and to my car.
On my way to work, I mentally prepared myself for the hectic day I'm going to have.
——————
"Ok, I'm setting the timer for 5 seconds. Everyone get ready." My mom said as she tinkered with her camera that was propped up.
We're always together on Christmas Eve with matching pajamas. This year we're wearing red. It's just me, Anthony, and our parents. Sometimes my other immediate family will be here, but this year, it's just us.
Anthony and I were always close growing up, even though we were 5 years apart. By the time I hit 8th grade, he was already in college.
My mom was obsessed with documenting our lives and she still is, she brings her camera everywhere, to every family outing or event we go to. Anthony and I have very thick scrapbooks that she won't stop adding to.
My parents are very content with their lives right now and always go all in for us. They both turned 50 this year, only a few months apart. They both love their jobs and always tell me it's going to be a long time before they retire. My dad is an architect and my mom is a guidance counselor. It's rare you find a guidance counselor that actually does their job right.
The kids at her school love her and she's always getting gifts from them for Valentine's Day, her birthday and Christmas. She's very well loved at that school, it's composed of mostly black and brown students. There's about 10 gift bags under our tree from them, they wanted her to open them on Christmas Day.
Click. The camera snapped our picture and my mom went to see if it looked good.
"Hm...okay one more!" We all groaned.
"I know, I know."
The next day was nice, I woke up to a text from Kostas saying Merry Christmas.
We opened our gifts and we all contributed something for dinner. I made sure to pack some leftovers up for Kostas when I go over there. I had to head back to my apartment to get his things and change into my pajamas.
I walked into my room and got ready. I did some light makeup and put on the onesie. I packed his pajamas and put all of his gifts into a big pink garbage bag. On the way out, I put on my coat and some tan colored boots. I grabbed the food and locked up before putting everything in the backseat of my car. It's almost seven o'clock so it's pretty dark out now and light snow is falling. It's not sticking, which makes this drive so much easier.
I park in his driveway and got out to get the bags. I knocked on his door and waited, I had the bags slung over my shoulder like Santa.
He finally opened the door. He was only wearing some plaid pajama pants.
"I come bearing gifts." I said and he smiled. He grabbed the bags out of my hand and we walked into the house. I took off my coat and shoes and hung my coat up by the door.
"Change into these while I put my gifts under the tree." I said while handling him the bag with the onesie.
He looked at it in question. "What is this?"
"A onesie." His eyes widen.
"I haven't worn one of these since I was in diapers." He said. "Well today's your lucky day, go change." I told him. He sighed and went upstairs.
The first thing I did was put the food in the fridge so it wouldn't sit out too long. I then began to place the gifts under the tree. I sat on his couch and went to find How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I told him we needed to watch this today.
I still don't understand the concept of having a theater room and also having a tv in the living room as well as his bedroom, but I don't question it. I prefer to watch this here anyway, because his theater room doesn't have any decorations at all.
Once the movie was all ready to go, I went back into the kitchen. I wanted some hot chocolate, but after searching the cabinets I didn't find any packets. I could always make it from scratch. I left some coco powder over here from the last time I made him brownies.
I take out milk, sugar, vanilla extract, chocolate chips and the coco powder. "I think that's everything." I said to myself.
"What are you making?" I heard Kostas behind me. I jumped a little because his footsteps were so quiet. I think it's just because his floors don't creek.
I turned around and couldn't help but giggle. "You look adorable." He shook his head. "I look like a man-baby." He said making me laugh.
"I'm making hot chocolate. Also, I brought some food over from dinner if you get hungry." I told him. He thanked me.
"Did you have fun with your family today?" I asked as I took out a medium saucepan.
"Mhm, we typically exchange gifts on the 1st, but we did it today this year. Christmas is typically celebrated through the 6th where I'm from." He said while warming up some food. He said his mom cooked earlier, but knowing him and his appetite, he has room for more.
"Wow so you really are a Christmas baby huh? You're birthday is on the 3rd." I said.
5 minutes later, the hot chocolate is finished and I took out two mugs and poured it in. I topped it with whipped cream and marshmallows.
"Wow." Kostas said when he took a sip. I laughed. "I've never had this made from scratch before." He said, drinking some more.
Once we were done and he finished his food, we went to the tree. We decided to open our gifts before the movie. I was very shocked to find out all of those gifts under the tree were for me. I guess it should've been obvious from the fancy pink wrapping paper. They were all wrapped like you see on tv with ribbon and bows.
And I thought I was doing something with my snowman wrapping paper.
Kostas got me a lot of accessories, like so many I don't even know where I'm going to put all of this stuff. He also got me about 200 silk scrunchies, because he knows that's what I use to tie my hair up. I have every color you could think of now.
A lot of the gifts I got him were personalized, like the black and gold coaster set I got him that had his company name engraved. I got them to go in his office. There was also the Whiskey decanter set with his last name engraved on it. He loves all that expensive liquor. I also got him another beard kit, he said he was due for another and that he's had his current one a long time.
I was happy to find out that he actually takes care of his beard, just a few hours before that, I found out that a good percentage of men have fecal matter in their beards and I wanted to throw up.
Now wonder some people end up with face rashes after kissing their man. I guess I got lucky with a hygienic boyfriend. That's so sad when you think about it.
After opening the rest of the mountain of gifts, he tells me that's not all. "What else could there possibly be?" I asked him. He got up and grabbed a small box on top of the fire place.
I opened it once he placed it into my hand.
A key.
"What is this for?" I asked. He pointed to the front door. I looked at the door for a minute before realizing what he was implying.
"You got me a key to your house?" I asked slowly to make sure I'm processing this right. He nodded.
"Why?" I asked him. We've only been dating almost 3 months. Isn't this a little early.
"Because I wanted to." He simply said.
Nice explanation.
"I want you to also consider bringing some stuff to keep over here. You already have bonnets and a few pairs of pajamas, but it'll be nice if you had more things to where you wouldn't have to pack so many bags to come over here." He said.
"I'm not asking you to move in, I know it's still really early for that." He added before I could reply. I'm lost for words.
"Um..okay. Are you sure?" I asked him. This is a big step.
"Yes, I also wanted to ask if you would like to come to my birthday party, it's being held on a Sunday." He said. I would be meeting his family if I go to that.
"Okay." I smiled.
This is what I mean when I say I never have to second guess how he feels in our relationship.
I got up to add his house key to my key ring and when I got back to the couch he pulled me onto his lap where we shared a kiss.
Afterwards, I grabbed the remote to start the movie.