The Matthews Family

Riley and I went to bed late last night. We started a silly little tradition years ago when we were in college to stay up on Christmas Eve until the first minute of Christmas Day, we've been doing it for a long and we've only continued to do it with the girls.

It gives us that little bit of time to say Merry Christmas to each other before we're bombarded with footsteps and praises of all the presents Santa brought.

They go to bed early and my wife and I crack open a bottle of wine and eat whatever cookies the girls didn't leave out for Santa while watching a holiday hallmark movie.

It's become our thing.

But a consequence of our little tradition is that we go to bed late on the one day a year the girls wake up extra early.

I held Riley in my arms while she slept quietly on my chest. We had no plans of waking up anytime soon since we were only going to Colton's house for dinner.

That's also become our thing since Kinsley and Nala became friends. Colton doesn't have any family nearby to spend his holidays with, and Kinsley's father is a piece of shit, we spend Christmas with them always.

Thanksgiving at Stella Perez's house and Christmas at either our house or his house. It's just the way it's always been and I don't see it changing anytime soon.

"Mama," a little voice whispered next to me.

I stirred slightly. "Mama," she whispered again.

I fluttered my eyes open slightly. "Hi button," I said to Leilani who stood at my bedside in her Christmas pajamas and her curls all sitting messily on top finger head.

"Can I jump in? I want to be here when Santa comes. I don't like the noise he makes on the roof." She said softly.

I stretched over and checked the time, it was only 2:38 am, still incredibly early. "Of course, baby, jump in," I said to her and she smiled widely before jumping in and crawling into my arms.

I pressed a kiss to her head and Riley stirred a little so I pressed one to her head. Her eyes fluttered open. "Hi Lei," she said softly "What're you doing here?"

"I don't like the noise Santa makes on the roof and I wanted to be here before he comes." She said and I just smiled.

"Okay baby, but do you promise you aren't waking up early?" Riley asked.

"Not even to check the cookies?" She asked.

"Not even for that."

"Okay, I promise." She said and cuddled next to me. "Goodnight Mommy,"

"Goodnight sweet girl," Riley said.

I now held both the brunette girls close for the next few hours while we slept.

🎄

I was the first to wake up. Despite only three people going to sleep in our bed last night, I woke up to all four of us in bed together. Nala lay in Riley's arms while Leilani lay in mine.

I smiled and all I could do was shake my head.

I looked at the time, it was 8:45 am, two hours later than the girls usually wake up on Christmas Day.

I smiled contently and pressed a kiss to Leilani's head before turning over a little and I pressed a kiss to my wife's shoulder.

She stirred a little before turning over. "Merry Christmas, butterfly." She smiled.

"Merry Christmas my love," I said. "What time did Nala get here,"

"Maybe two hours ago, she couldn't find Lei and came here instead." She said.

"As expected," I smiled. "How much longer do we say they're going to stay asleep for?" I asked my wife with a smile.

"I give them ten minutes or so until they realize what day it is." Riley smiled and I agreed.

I took her hand in mine and rubbed it back and forth as we just talked quietly as we waited for the girls to wake up. First, it was Nala but she wasn't in a rush to get downstairs without Leilani so we asked her what she thought was under the tree.

She had a multitude of answers from ones she wished for to the ones she actually had on her list to Santa.

After Nala, Leilani stirred a bit before she sprung up with a smile on her face. "It's Christmas!" Leilani smiled widely.

"It is baby," I said and she wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

"Can we go open presents now?" She asked with a smile.

"Yeah, can we please?" Nala asked.

"Go on, we'll meet you both downstairs," Riley said with a smile and it was only a matter of seconds before both our girls were running down the stairs full of giggles.

She laid back in my arms once again and kissed my neck, cheek, and then on my lips. "Merry Christmas, my love." She said softly.

I wrapped my arms around her again and held her close. "Merry Christmas baby," I kissed her. "I love you so much my love," I said.

"I love you too butterfly."

"He ate the cookies!" Leilani screamed with excitement to go downstairs.

Both Riley and I chuckled before we jumped out of bed to spend the morning with our girls.

"Can I open the big one first?" Leilani asked.

"It's always better to go from the smallest one to the biggest one," Nala said.

"Nope, I want the big one." Leilani smile.

She grabbed the big present she had under the tree with her name on it. "Wait, wait, wait!" Nala said to Leilani.

Her sister just groaned at her for a moment. "Why now Nala? I really want to open this one." She asked.

"What do we always say, baby?" Riley asked as she lay in my arms on the couch.

"Right," she sighed. "Merry Christmas from us to you." Our girls smiled and happily got to rip open their first presents while I placed a gentle kiss on the top of Riley's head.

"Merry Christmas baby," I said softly.

"Merry Christmas butterfly."