Page 85 of Fortunate Miracles
“We’ll give you a minute to hide any gifts for us in your room, Sunshine,” Seb tells me before leaving me alone on the couch. Digging through the bags, I grab Zander’s present and Gabby’s and put them in the spare room dresser. I didn’t get a gift for Seb last night, not seeing anything I wanted.
Gabby and Seb, help me unpack the rest of the items so I can organize what I bought. Zander purchased a surround sound system last night, so he and Troy get to work setting that up.
There’s still plenty of room in my closet, despite my expanded clothes collection, so I stack the gifts there, writing a new list with names and presents on it to hang on the closet wall for reference. I have Gabby, Holly, Jaxon, E, Bay, Nick, Sue, Mal, and Zander bought for now, with Seb, Alex, Ray, and Jake to go.
“Sunshine, who are these for?” Seb asks, holding up wraps and a t-shirt.
“Nick,” I reply. “Even though he’s not here right now, I wanted to buy for him, too. Hopefully, he'll be back with us by then, and if not, I’ll keep it for him until he returns.”
“I got him something too,” Gabby tells us, with a sad smile on her face.
Seb pulls both of us into a hug. “That’s awesome, ladies,” Seb says, squeezing tight.
We return to the living room and find Zander setting up a ladder and Troy moving the furniture. Apparently, Zander knew he wanted surround sound at some point and ran electrical in the ceiling in anticipation. We spend the rest of the afternoon installing the ceiling speakers and cleaning up.
Zander pulls steaks out of the fridge to grill while Gabby, Seb, and I check on the garden and flowers. I still have some greens growing in the vegetable garden, so Seb cuts some of those for a salad while Gabby helps me trim up several of the flower beds for winter.
Dinner is fantastic. We have grilled steaks, potatoes, corn, peppers, and pineapple to go with the greens. Troy bought himself a new tv for his room that Zander is going to help him install tomorrow. The guys usually go through the donation gifts and decorate for Christmas on Saturday. This year, with Steven home, the guys and I will help Alex put up his tree in the apartment, then help with the larger one downstairs. Alicia usually has decorators come in, but Steven asked Alex to help him decorate the main tree this year. They’re both still realizing how much they missed out on together.
Zander drives us to the condo in the morning. He and Troy are hanging the tv while I follow Seb and Gabby to their storage room on the bottom level. The room is small, with several boxes along the sides. I hold the trolley while Gabby and Seb load it up with a tree bag and several boxes, and we take the items up the service elevator to the condo. Seb takes the trolley back down once we unload the stuff into the living room. I don’t see Zander or Troy, so they must still be working. Gabby turns on a Christmas movie while we put the pieces of the tree together and fluff it up. Seb helps us with the top part when he returns, then we test and hang outdoor lights on the balcony. Seb and Gabby are singing and dancing as we clip the lights onto the railing, and I can’t help but enjoy it all.
By the time we're done, Troy and Zander are in the kitchen with coffees. “Let’s get the tree done next,” Seb declares before grabbing himself a coffee.
Gabby offers me an apple juice, then we gather back in the living room. We let Zander and Troy untangle the lights and put them on before we start on the ornaments.
All the ornaments are personal, and I hear many stories as we trim the tree. Troy had Seb, Gabby, and Nick decorate their own ornaments the first Christmas they spent with him. Gabby’s is full of color, with sparkles and swirls. “I was hopeful and wanted to impress my new family,” Gabby smiles.
Seb’s is more somber, not matching his vibrant personality now. “I was in a bad headspace, Sunshine,” he tells me. His ornament is a flat white disk with a stick tree in black on it, nothing else.
“It also shows how far you’ve come, Seb,” Troy reminds him with a squeeze on his shoulder.
Troy shows me Nick’s ornament next. His is a round white ball that looks like a professional drew on it. It’s sort of graffiti style and in full color. There’s a hint of the American flag behind a silhouette of an MMA figure. I also find boxing gloves, a Christmas tree, a knife, and the words Gabby, Troy, Seb, and freedom. It’s a mismatch, but it’s beautiful. “It suits him,” I smile, running my fingers over his work.
“Why don’t you hang that one up Summer,” Troy offers.
Nodding, I find a spot front and centre and secure it there. With the stories, it takes the better part of an hour to hang all the ornaments up. Gabby sets the angel on top, then Troy turns on the lights. “It’s beautiful,” I comment with a smile.
“Looks great,” Troy agrees.
The guys hang several garlands around the room while Gabby and I add Christmas cushions on the couches. She also has a small white tree for her room that she decorates, which I help her set up.
When we're done, Seb drives Gabby and me over to Alex’s house to go through the extra gifts in the garage, while Zander and Troy hang out at the condo.
Bay pulls into Alex’s just after us, and he has the garage door open, waiting for us.
“Hi guys,” I smile. I get a hug from Alex and a wave from E. “So, how do we sort this stuff?” I ask.
“We purchase for the orphanage children, and the rest of the gifts go to Toys for Tots, which is a Marine organization,” Alex tells me. “I have a list of kids from the orphanage, which may change a little before Christmas, but it will give us a guide. We can reassess closer to the holiday and make adjustments if needed. We wrap those gifts while we leave the Toys for Tots unwrapped. Zander and Troy will gather those.”
“Finn puts out a Toys for Tots box in the office, and we put one at school,” Seb adds.
“Fantastic,” I reply.
We unpack and spread the items on the floor. As Alex calls out the names of the kids from the orphanage and what they're interested in, Gabby and I tag the gifts with their names and place them in a box. We seem to have enough variety for everyone, which I’m happy to find. Once we're done with the orphanage, Alex makes a list of the remaining toys, and those go into a separate box for Troy and Zander.
We leave the boxes near the back of the heated and cooled garage before going up to Alex’s apartment to decorate his tree. His decorations are mostly from his mom, with a few from the guys over the years. It’s a hodgepodge of styles and colors, but looks wonderful when it’s done.
Steven is waiting for us in the living room when we finish. There's a massive green tree sitting in front of the windows with a gold tree skirt surrounding the bottom, and I can hear Christmas music playing. Many boxes are sitting off to the side, waiting. “Hello everyone. It’s nice to see you all,” he smiles. “Let’s have lunch before we decorate the tree.”
