December 14, 2007 (Berkshire Mall, Pennsylvania)

She was fascinated by all the green and red lights and the music that played the snowman and reindeer songs on constant repeat—seeing all the Santa's ringing bells whenever they went to get food made her happy. To her, nothing made her happier than sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what a good girl she had been this year.

What she wanted the most for Christmas this year was for Mommy to be nice again. Since the babies came, Mommy has been mean only towards her and not the older ones. If she were just as loud as her sister and brother, she would be the one Mommy would complain about. If she did something bad along with them, then she would be the only one in time out.

"Stephen, can you get them to quiet down? I don't want to get out of line."

She looked up and saw Daddy bouncing the crying babies in his arms.

"They need a diaper change, Kate."

"For God's sake, I knew this was a bad idea; the boys are only three months old. It's not like they will even remember their first meeting with Santa."

She couldn't see Daddy's face but knew he wasn't happy.

"It means a lot to Naomi, Nathan, and Claire. Let's get out of line so I can change their diapers, and then I'll take over the older ones for a while in case the twins get hungry later."

Mommy was holding Naomi and Nathan's hand, while she held onto Naomi's, and then she sighed.

"Alright, Naomi needs her shoes tied anyway."

She felt herself being tugged away, and all she could do was whine when Santa got farther away from her sight. She was afraid her wish of having her old Mommy back wouldn't come true if she couldn't tell Santa.

"Stop being a pest, Claire, and let's go."

November 2020 (13 Years later- Hudson, Ohio)

Penny groaned as she emerged from her dream and returned to reality, reluctant to leave the comfort of her queen-sized bed. She hugged her pillow tightly as she thought about the dream from the previous night. It was one of those dreams that felt incredibly real, yet at the same time, it was still hazy, and she couldn't even discern the faces of the parents. She was only sure that the mother in her dream seemed unnecessarily harsh to that one girl.

The dream faded from her mind as her mother's familiar voice called out from the other side of the door.

"Penny, it's 7 o'clock."

Again, she groaned as she placed the pillow over her head. "Mom, it's Saturday, there's no online classes."

"You said you were going out with Kim this morning and asked me to make sure you were up since we both know you'll just sleep through your alarm."

She instantly regretted planning to meet with Kim at 10 AM, as she was not a morning person. Despite not being able to hang out much since the pandemic started, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, she's beating herself up for it.

"I'm getting up," Penny said reluctantly, sitting up and stretching her arms out.

"Breakfast will be done shortly; hurry before your father eats all the Cinnamon rolls."

She heard her mother's footsteps walking down the stairs as she got out of bed and headed towards her vanity table. Penny sighed as she ran her hands through her long, wavy brunette hair, knowing it was long overdue for another highlighting appointment.

When she went downstairs, she could smell the warm, delicious Cinnamon Rolls coming right out of the oven. She only saw her father in the kitchen; her mother was nowhere in sight.

Her father laughed when he saw her enter the kitchen. "There she is; you're not going to bite my head off like yesterday, are you?"

"No, Dad, I'm fully awake. That was your fault, though. You know I don't like being woken up earlier than I have to, especially since we're still on Thanksgiving break."

Penny rolled up the sleeves of her sweater and quickly grabbed a couple of Rolls as she joined her father at the table.

"In my defense, I wanted to see if you wanted to shoot some hoops with your old dad; I know how bummed you were because the basketball season was put on hold because of the pandemic."

Penny's disappointment at the postponement was more than words could express. She has been involved in basketball since middle school, with her father coaching her all along. However, the pandemic has disrupted her entire sophomore year. She cannot participate in basketball, and her school will remain online until at least the beginning of next year.

"So, do you and Mom both work today," she asked quickly, changing the subject.

"One of the nurses called in sick, so your mom is going in for half the day, and I've got to go to the office for a little while. I'll be working at home for the rest of the week. If you and Kim need a ride to the mall, I don't have to leave until noon."

Penny smiled at the thought that soon, in a couple of weeks, she could start learning how to drive herself instead of relying on others for rides that would be too far for her to walk.

"At least in a couple of weeks, you won't have to worry too much longer about driving me around."

Her dad just put his hands up to stop. "Don't remind me, just let me live in my little world, where you would never turn 16."

"Then I'll have to put you in a home sooner than I thought," she said, teasing him as she took another bite of her cinnamon roll.

Her mother then entered the kitchen in her scrubs. "Please, Penny. No home would be able to deal with your father's punctilious, especially regarding how his food is cooked."

"I can't believe the two women in my life conspiring against me to put me in a home at only 55."

Her mom kissed her dad on the cheek. "Don't worry, John; you've got another twenty years before that."

"Aren't you going to eat Nicole? Plenty to go around," he asked as she walked away from the table.

"I'll grab something on the way to work; with the hospital shortage in the ICU, I would like to try and go a bit earlier. Some night shifts work doubles; they need rest, especially when dealing with poor family members. Even if I'm part-time, I want to do what I can to help."

Penny then turned to her mother, who looked over her bag and ensured she had everything.

"Mom, don't forget you promised me we'll get my hair done again soon. My roots are starting to show again."

"Already, didn't we just get them done not that long ago?"

Penny rolled her eyes, not surprised her mom was probably misremembering. This whole summer, she was taking on extra hours to help with the nurse shortage in the hospital during the pandemic despite technically being only part-time.

"I haven't had it done since the beginning of the year before everything shut down, and now that everything is opening back up, I want to lighten it up again."

"I still think you look just as beautiful without all the highlights and whatnot; sometimes natural is the best way to go."

"Please, Mom," she begged. She took a lot of pride in her hair, and the light brown she has now has gotten her so many compliments that she would have kept her dark brown hair, which almost seemed black to some.

Her mom turned around with a smile on her face. "Alright, but you'll have to wait until my vacation. I made sure my vacation lines up for your birthday so we can celebrate your sweet sixteen."

Penny was on the verge of complaining about wanting to get it done sooner, but she knew better than to argue right now with her mother about to leave for work. After all, December 14 was just a few weeks away; she could last that long.

Penny gazed out the passenger's window at the falling light snow. She had always loved winter; the snow made everything look like it was covered in a fluffy white blanket. Of course, with winter comes her favorite holiday, Christmas.

As a child, she loved the abundance of presents she always received. However, as she grew older, she cherished the traditions and the sense of togetherness that the holidays seemed to bring out in everyone even more than the presents. She and her parents would watch as many holiday movies as possible throughout December. She enjoyed helping her dad decorate the house with lights and setting up blow-up Frosty and Rudolph in their front yard. She loved helping her mom decorate gingerbread men and indulging in the leftover icing.

"Alright, girls, here we are," her father announced as he entered the Mall's parking lot.

Kim, who had already taken her seatbelt off, leaned up between them. "Thank you for the ride, Coach Simmons."

"You girls got your masks right."

Penny and Kim nodded, both holding up their differently designed masks. "Yep."

"Got Hand sanitizer, too," Kim said, taking out two small bottles and handing one to Penny.

"Stay 6 feet away from everyone else."

Penny snorted at that. "Dad, we know the CDC guidelines; Mom basically drilled it into my head."

"I'm just making sure, is all; we've gotten lucky that none of us have caught COVID; I would like to keep it that way. After all, I'm one of the vulnerable ones at my old age of 55."

"Now you want to use your age as an excuse; it's over 60, by the way," Penny said, side-eying her dad with a smirk as she exited the car.

Her dad just chuckled. "Ok, go on, get out and have fun shopping."

Penny and Kim quickly got out of the car and headed towards the entrance.

"Oh my god, look at how many more stores are closing down," Kim said, pointing to where the former Spencer's was at.

"Yeah, it's only to get worse. Feels like this pandemic is killing all the shopping malls since everyone is doing all their shopping online," Penny said, adjusting her mask as they started making their way toward the center.

"I don't see how anyone can shop online for clothes; I have to try them on before I buy because you know how weird my body is with certain brands."

Penny nodded as she looked up at the Christmas decorations that were already placed. "Yeah, I bet this mall won't last much longer after the new year."

"By the way, did you start Mr. Bloom's history project, which is due before Christmas break?"

She groaned, "No, I did not; I don't understand the point. Researching our family background, I don't think it matters much. I know Dad's side comes from Ireland, while my mom is English and parts of Germany."

Kim just laughed at her

"Procrastination at its finest, you might learn a thing or two. Like me, my grandpa told me when his parents migrated from Hong Kong when he was just a boy, and he got so sick, they didn't think he would make it. You realize how close it could've been that your best friend might not have ever existed"

"Would that be such a terrible thing?" Penny said, lacing it with full-on sarcasm.

Kim hits her shoulder. "Screw you too, Penny."

By the time they reached the center of the mall to reach their first destination, Penny noticed that the Meet with Santa was already being set up, with someone dressed as Santa ringing the bell for the Salvation Army.

Penny was glad the mall waited until after Thanksgiving to start preparing for Christmas. In her humble opinion, starting before Thanksgiving takes away from the Christmas spirit.

"Hold on, Kim, I'll be right back," Penny said as she walked towards Santa Claus, digging into her wallet, and pulling out a five-dollar bill.

She quickly placed the bill in the bucket as the man looked up at her with a small smile.

"Thank you, miss, and Merry Christmas!"

Penny just smiled as the girl from her dream suddenly came back into her mind, remembering how much she wanted to meet Santa. She almost hoped she would dream of her again and see if her wish about her mom being nice to her again came true.

Author's Note

I'm so excited to finally get this first chapter published. This story has been on my mind for a while now, so I'm looking forward to sharing more with you guys. I hope what I have so far is enough to keep you intrigued as more questions and answers come up.