Tuesday, December 3rd, 2035

23 Days to Baby 

I folded clothes on my bed as Christmas music played in the background on my speaker. It was a long day at school, but there was so much work to do. Today, now that baby Christopher's clothes were all washed, my best friends Georgie and Genny were helping me get everything folded and put away.

With ten kids divided up into seven bedrooms (the eighth bedroom was for guests and when we had sleepovers, but it would become baby Chrisopher's nursery), I was so fortunate to have my own room. My family helped me get everything moved over, so there was a section of my room for the baby to sleep for now.

"Ah! This is so kitch! I'm obsessed!" Genny said, holding up a sleep and play with blue snowflakes on it.

"I know! That's literally my most favorite one," I said.

"I love all these little hats for him," Georgie said, putting more hats in the bin labeled "hats."

"So, you're still definitely coming to Winterfest? Even though you're nine months pregnant?" Genny asked.

"I wouldn't miss it! Honestly I feel fine. I can't ice skate or build snowmen, but I can watch. It'll be fun in its own way." I placed another cloth diaper in with the others. "My mom told me that when we were babies, they still had disposable kinds of these. Like you literally used them one time and threw them out. Can you believe that?"

"Stuff like that is why polar bears are gonna go extinct in ten years," Georgie said.

"Wait, really? I thought it was fifteen?" I said.

"No, Madam President literally said yesterday that with the ozone layer emissions or something it's down to ten now," Georgie said.

"Aww. That's not kitch at all. I love polar bears," I said, folding a sweater that literally had little polar bears on it.

"Definitely not," Genny said.

I rubbed my baby bump, feeling baby Christopher's faint little kicks. Stupid anterior placenta.

We kept folding clothes for a while and sorting all the cloth diapers. Yesterday and today, it was like all I wanted to do was nest. It was even better with some great background music and my two best friends.

The moon is right

The spirit's up

We're here tonight

And that's enough

"Oh, turn this up! This one is my fav!" Genny said.

Simply having a wonderful Christmas time

Simply having a wonderful Christmas time

We were all singing along to the song when I got a notification on my phone. I should've known by the sound of all my siblings' footsteps running downstairs.

It was time to watch a movie! But this wasn't just any kind of movie night. This was part of the Covington Christmas Classics series. We picked a day of the week when the whole family was home (this year it was Tuesdays) and watched Christmas movies from after dinner until bedtime. We could usually watch two in a row, which gave everyone a chance to pick at least one that they liked.

Tonight it was Brooke and my mom's turn. My mom wanted to show us a movie from before she was even born called Home Alone. We'd never seen it before. She said it was my grandma's favorite. My Grandma Sophie's. She died earlier this year.

Brooke really loved this kitch vintage franchise called Charlie Brown, so she wanted to watch her favorite movie, which was the Christmas special. Last year, I picked out the Star Wars holiday special, which nobody liked. My dad said it was an abomination and we were never watching it again. I love Star Wars so much that I have no standards. I'll watch anything with the logo on it and appreciate it, even if other people think it's terrible.

"Movie time! Let's go!" I said, slowly getting my big self up off my bed.

I couldn't believe I thought I was just putting on a bunch of weight from all the ice cream I was craving when it was literally a whole baby growing inside me.

I changed into my favorite Christmas pjs and socks, then went downstairs with everyone else. The fireplace was going, the Christmas tree was all lit up, and we had a ton of different things to munch on.

There was a tray of candy apples that the sextuplets made the night before, a big tray of frosted sugar cookies that we got from the local bakery, and of course, lots of popcorn. My mom and dad were handing everyone different festive mugs full of cocoa. Each one had a big mountain of whipped cream on the top, marshmallows, and a candy cane to stir around. It was heaven in a cup. So kitch.

"Which candles do we want? Pine, cinnamon, or vanilla?" my mom asked.

"Vanilla!" I said.

"Vanilla it is," she said.

"Wait, why does Ella get to decide?" Brooke asked.

The rest of my younger siblings were all chiming in, chirping about the same thing.

"Because Ella is the pregnant one. Her senses are heightened and certain smells bother you when you're pregnant. We're lighting the vanilla ones," my mom said.

"When are we gonna use that candle I got Dad last Christmas?" Lukas asked. I saw ZoZo laugh and playfully swat him. "I just want to know what it smells like."

"Oh what, the fart candle? Never in a million years are we lighting that one!" my dad said, making us all laugh.

"Okay, everyone put your phones down and try to pay attention! The movie's starting!" my mom said. "That includes you, Zophia!"

"Yeah, stop texting your boyfriend," Raven said, teasing her.

"Me and Oliver are just friends! Shut up!" ZoZo said.

"It's technically supposed to be 'Oliver and I," Lukas said.

"The second I'm off these meds that are screwing up my bone density, I'm gonna strangle you," ZoZo said to him.

"Hey, phones off! Eyes on the screen! I'm not telling you again," my mom yelled.

ZoZo huffed and put her phone in her pocket. The title screen came onto our 100 inch TV screen, and the movie started. It was so crazy to see what things were like during Christmas in the late 1900s.

I rubbed my baby bump and it just kind of hit me that baby Chrisopher would probably live to see the year 2100. He'd be sixty-five. With the life expectancy dropping all the way down to seventy this day in age, there's no way I'd live to see 2100 at eighty-two years old.

I curled up a little closer to Georgie and Genny. They found the heated blanket, which I wanted. They handed me part of it, which was perfect. I tried to take everything in, sitting here with my family and my best friends. This time next year, baby Christopher would be watching movies with us, too.