"Merry Christmas!" The three figures on the screen were beaming smiles at me and I was grinning back at their enthusiasm.

"Merry Christmas to you three too." I replied. I laughed a bit as my sister accidentally smacked my other sister in the face with her tilting reindeer ears that matched the ones my mom had sent me. I touched the ridiculous ones on my own head to make sure they were still on, and then looked down at the bright red plaid flannel pants that I was wearing.

"You wore your Christmas gifts! You look so cute hunny." My mom gushed over the internet cam. I just waved her off with a roll of my eyes.

"It's tradition. How has everyone been?" I asked. My sisters giggled and were play fighting in the background.

"We've been great hunny. Thank you for asking. How have you been doing? Are you having fun at the Wrights'?" My mother was ignoring the girls and just talked to me instead.

"I've been good. It has been really nice visiting here. I helped with dinner last night and Mrs. Wright thanked me. Apparently none of the Wright boys have any interest in cooking." I mentioned.

"That means you are definitely going to be the wife." My elder sister said over her shoulder. I grimaced and shook my head.

"We are both boys. I'd still be a husband, but that's beside the point. It's too soon to be talking about that shi-i-uh. Sorry mom." I coughed as my sisters giggled. She rolled her eyes.

"And how is Vincent? Is he good too hunny?" Mom interrupted the girls and clapped her hands. The two in the back rolled on the bed in their pajamas and antlers.

"Yes, Alex. How is Vincent?" His younger sister teased.

"Or better yet, how are Vincent's brothers?" His elder sister asked with a grin and wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Hush, girls." Their mother rolled her eyes and waited for my answer.

"He's... uh... good I guess? He has been showing me around the place. Yesterday we went to this diner for breakfast. I think it was called... Sam's Place? Or something. Yeah." I felt awkward talking about him with my mom. I mean, this was a guy I was swapping spit with. I'm not about to tell her how great a kisser the dude was or anything.

"Oh my god, look he's blushing." My younger sister said with a gushing voice. If I wasn't before she said it, then I was after. Why are sisters so embarrassing? I covered my face with one hand and shook my head.

"Shut up." I muttered quietly enough that none of the three heard what I said as my mother argued with them. I heard a knock at my door and called out. "Come in."

"Damn I have bad timing." Alan said as he walked in the door and peered over at my screen. My eldest sister stopped what she was doing to stare over at the screen and wave shyly at us.

"Ah yeah, I suppose I should introduce you if this is going to be a regular occurrence. Mom, this is Alan. Alan, that is my mom and sisters." I pointed to the screen.

"Hey, uh which one is your mom?" He said with a wink over at me. My mom giggled and waved at him like a teenage girl while I tried not to roll my eyes.

"The one in the middle, Casanova." I replied drily. He chuckled and sat next to me on the bed.

"I was going to see if you were awake enough to join everyone for breakfast, but it looks some other nice people managed to snag you first." Alan commented so everyone could hear.

"Yes, we arranged this on the weekend so we could wish each other a Merry Christmas today." My mom said to him.

"We never sleep in. Dad always manages to wake everyone up on his way to early mass in the morning." My youngest sister said somewhat bitterly.

"You guys don't go with him?" Alan asked innocently.

"No way. We go at normal times of the day. You know? When the sun is up." My eldest sister said sarcastically. My mom told her to watch her tone and looked uneasy.

"I'm just used to getting up early because of school." I said offhandedly to dispel some tension. My mom smiled at that and nodded.

"Well, we don't want to keep you if breakfast is being served." She said to us both. My eldest sister perked up at the words and nodded.

"Yeah, we don't want to keep you. If you want to talk later, my name is Beth and Alex can give you my number...." She said with a bit of a blush on her cheeks.

"Oh my god. Seriously? Ignore her. She has recently discovered hormones." I waved off the gasp and rude gesture coming from the screen as Alan chuckled warmly at us.

"Okay, okay, enough you two. We are hanging up now." My mom states as my sister argues in the background and points at me.

"Well. Your family is pretty cute. Come on downstairs before the vultures get it all." He tapped my back in what he probably thought was a gentle slap but was enough to nearly send me off the side of the bed.

"Don't say that on camera or my sisters will stalk you." I admitted wryly as I followed him out my door. He shook his head and took the stairs two at a time on the way down.

"Nice ears." Ian says to me as he passes me on the stairs, flicking the reindeer ear. He was trying to skip every three stairs and nearly falls down the last five or six as he slips on one.

"Thanks." I grin and check that the headband on my reindeer headwear hasn't slipped. Vincent is arguing with Riley as I walk in the kitchen. There is a humongous feast laid out on the island to pick from.

"Mom! Tell Vincent he can't take all the bacon!" Riley shouts into the dining room.

"I didn't take all the bacon, dumbass. If you had eyes in your head you can see there is plenty left there." He retorts back as I walk up to him. He hands me a half full plate of food and kisses me full on the mouth in front of his brother.

"Ew. Get a room." Riley says. I grin.

"Morning babe. I started on the stuff that goes the fastest for you." He licks his lips and we turn to finish loading up our plates. Not surprisingly, we both have a pile of bacon on the plates already.

"Thanks, I get the feeling not all of this is for me." I reply in a low voice with a raised brow. He just grins at me and loads some French toast on his plate.

"I don't know what you are talking about." I roll my eyes and grab some fruit salad and two of the fresh crepes with whip on them. We finish choosing our food and head out to the dining room table to eat with everyone else.

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