Chapter Twenty Three Deck the Halls

"Cole." Skylar shook my shoulder. "Cole, wake up." She shook me again, harder. "It's Christmas!" She announced, happily.

When I heard Christmas, my eyes opened and I shot out of my bed, nearly knocking Koda off the edge. If you didn't know already, Christmas was my favorite holiday of all time. It was filled with joy and it brought tons of spirit. It just made me so happy and I got to spend it with my family.

I opened the door and skipped down the hallway singing with glee. Skylar giggled and she copied what I did. With our singing and making a lot of noise, we woke everyone up.

"Really Cole?" Levi said, rubbing his eyes as he stood in his doorway. "You couldn't wait another hour?"

I smiled. "Nope. Now c'mon."

They followed behind me and I sat right infront of the Christmas tree, looking at all the presents. Mom went straight to the coffee maker and Dad sat on the couch along with the rest.

Skylar picked up one of her gift and grinned. "This one's from Santa."

She unwrapped it or more like torn it apart and gasped as her eyes widen. It was another doll for her collection. This one was from a part of Asia.

"He went to China." Skylar said still in shock.

Last year "Santa" went to "Hawaii". Vonna told Skylar to write Santa what place she wanted him to go next so he could get a doll from there. It was adorable that Skylar thought Santa went to all these places for her. It made her happy.

While we were opening our presents, Mom was using her brand new kitchen supplies to make breakfast. Dad and I took turns supervising her.

I got Levi football tickets for his favorite team. They cost me an arm and an leg but he was grateful for them. Hunter didn't cost nearly as much. He was simple. He loved shoes and shades so that was what I got him. Dad got his recliner and watch and Mom got her new MK purse.

I opened my gift from Levi. "Are you tryna call me ugly or something?" I looked at the box of make up.

"I mean, have you seen yourself in the morning, lately?" He said, smiling.

I narrowed my eyes. "You ass-" I stopped myself from calling Levi an asshole when I realized we weren't the only ones in the living room. "'Mazing person ever. I love you so much." I finished.

Mom gave me a warning look. "Watch it." She turned her head to the side. "And you quit teasing her."

After we ate, we got ready for the day. I knew it was going to be a horrible day because Mom and Vonna thought it would be a wonderful idea to wear ugly Christmas sweater.

I was wearing a green sweater with Rudolph on it. Hunter had on a red sweater with a Christmas tree while Levi had cookies. Skylar was wearing blue and had an angel. Landon was wearing snow and Jayce was Frosty the Snowman. Mom and Dad matched with their ornaments and so did Vonna and Michael but they had Christmas lights.

"Let's just hope we don't have to take pictures." Hunter said.

"We look cute!" Mom exclaimed. "We should take a picture."

"You just had to say something." Jayce said.

We got by the fireplace and took thousands of pictures and I knew Mom was going to post them all over the internet. Let the embarrassment begin.

We piled into the cars and drove down the mountain. I didn't know what Mom had planned this year but I knew she had something in store for us. She did every year.

We stopped downtown and walked around for a little bit before Mom forced us to take a picture with Santa. Skylar was beaming. She asked so many questions at once I felt bad for the poor guy. He answered as many as he could before another kid came along.

We continued to walk and up ahead there were a group of people singing. They saw us coming and one of them invited us to sing with them.

Like I said, I wasn't a singer but Mom didn't believe that. She volunteered us to sing karaoke on a corner street. At least I wasn't alone. Mom recorded us while Vonna, Michael and Dad stood there smiling.

I'd admit, I actually had fun. These people could care less if we could sing or not. They were all about having a good time and a good time I was having.

"Cole, I know damn well, you didn't try to hit that high note." Levi said, looking at me.

I crossed my arms. "Yes I did."

To be clear, I probably shouldn't have tried and failed to sing high because it was a Mariah Carey song.

"I didn't sound that bad." I said as we walked back to the car.

"But you did." Levi told me.

"You can't sing either." I pointed out.

"But I didn't try to hit a high note."

"Y'all, all sounded lovely." Mom said.

"Are we gonna became famous now that you put us on the internet?" Skylar asked.

"I mean we've could of been famous if we didn't have Cole in the group." Hunter teased.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How did I get stuck with y'all two being my brothers? Y'all are rude."

Levi threw his arm around my shoulders. "We're just playing, baby sis. You know we love you."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah I can totally feel the love."

We climbed into the car and drove to Winter Park. When we arrived there were ton of people already here. We park the cars and walked through the entrance.

"I think we should do the tubing first." Landon suggested.

"Yeah we can do that." Levi agreed.

We walked over to the tubing area and went uphill. We had ten people in our group and it worked out perfectly. The tubes connected and we could all go down at the same time. It was like a mini rollercoaster.

Michael and Skylar were in the front and behind them was Landon and Vonna and then Hunter and Levi. Mom and Dad were after them and that left me with Jayce.

I hadn't spoke to him all day. I didn't know what to say. Was I suppose to forget that he kissed me last night or actually this morning? It was a brief kiss but still I felt sparks. What did that mean? Did it even mean something? No, it meant nothing. I was dating Chance and I was happy with that.

I stepped in and Jayce sat behind me. The staff member asked if we were ready before he pushed us down the hill. It felt as if we were on a rollercoaster and you were going down a long drop.

It didn't last very long but it was fun. After we got off we split into two groups. Vonna took Skylar to the kids area and Mom went with them because she wasn't a big fan of heights.

The rest of us went to the lifts. Once we got to the top we waited in line for the zip line. Half of our group went in one line and the other half went to the second line.

There was a guy around my age, maybe older, working the ride. He smiled when he looked at me.

"First time visiting?" He asked.

"How did you know?"

"Because I would definitely remembered seeing you around." He replied, grinning.

"I'm sure you say that a lot." I told him, getting into the harness.

He shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not." He winked.

"Dude, quit hitting on my sister and do your job and make sure she strapped in safely." Hunter appeared from behind me.

The guy looked at him, looking him up and down. "Sure." He responded once he figured out he wouldn't be a match for Hunter.

He pushed me forward and I was on my way down. I imagine this is how it felt to fly. I was going pretty fast and I was holding on the harness with dear life.

I reached the bottom and waited for the rest to came down. After every one got down, we grouped up with Mom, Vonna and Skylar. We ordered hot chocolate and found a vancant firepit and surrounded it.

We made s'mores and reminisce over the good, fun times.

A hour later, we were going to get something to eat before we rode the sleigh. Vonna found this little homemake cooking  restaurant not far from where we were. It was called Tina's Cafe.

There were a few families here but not as big as our group. We were seated and we ordered our drinks.

"Cole." Levi said.

"What, Levi?"

"On this sleigh ride we're gonna have some rules." He started.

I rolled my eyes. "You can't stop me from singing."

We argued for about five minutes before Mom intervened. The waitress came back and we ordered our food.

"How does this taste?" Hunter asked as he reached over the table and took a bite from my plate.

"I was wondering the same thing." Levi agree doing the same thing as Hunter.

I narrowed my eyes. "If y'all don't quit taking my food.." I picked up my fork and pointed it at them.

"Here you can have some of mine." Levi offered, moving his plate closer to me.

I made a face. "No one wants that nasty thing." I told him pushing his plate back to him. "What is it anyway?"

He shrugged. "Don't know. I saw the name and I thought it would be good."

"You're still eating." Mom told him.

After we ate, we ordered dessert to go and we were heading to the sleigh. It was close to being dark and I was excited to be riding the sleigh at night. We waited for half an hour before it was our turn. I smiled when I saw the horses and red sleigh.

There were bells lining the reins on the horses. They were so beautiful. The best part was when it started snowing, lightly, as we got a tour of the town.

Even though Levi told me I couldn't sing, I couldn't help myself and beside the song fitted perfectly with what we were doing.

"Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle all the way" I sang. "Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh..hey!"

"Why that song?" Levi asked.

"Oh I'm sorry Deck the Halls didn't came in mind." I said, sarcastically.

The tour lasted for about forty five minutes and after we got back to the start, we climbed into the cars and headed to the cabin.

"Colby I didn't forget this time." Mom told me as she walked into the kitchen.

I smiled. "You made my sweet potatoe pie."

The good thing about liking something no one else liked, you get the whole thing to yourself. I cut a slice and took a bite of it.

Jayce's pie was good but Mom's was amazing. I was in Cloud Nine right now.

Koda and Bear came running into the kitchen and they jumped on my legs. Mom suggested I should take them outside since they been cooped inside the cabin all day. I did as she said and they played in the snow and did their business.

A few minutes later, Jayce joined me on the swing.

"So am I suppose to forget that you kissed me?" I asked, looking at Koda and Bear.

"We were standing under a mistletoe." He said.

"That gave you a reason to kiss me?"

"Why are you making it a big deal?" He questioned. "It wasn't like we made out. It was just a quick kiss."

"That's true but I have a boyfriend." I told him, turning my head to look at him.

He rolled his blue eyes. "Yeah boyfriend."

"Why don't you like him? Why are you keeping things from me?"

"It doesn't matter why I don't like him and the secret I'm keeping is to protect you."

I frowned. "Protect me from what?"

He sighed and a cloud of air was made. "From getting hurt."

"Hurt? Who's gonna hurt me?"

"I told you before Chance is using you."

He did tell me. He told me at the Christmas party and I didn't believe him. I still didn't. Why would Chance use me?

"Yeah I remember but if that's Chance's secret, what's yours?"

"Don't worry about it."

I stood up. "You keep saying to forget about it but I can't and I'm not. You're just making it worse by not telling me. I used to be your best friend and you told me everything but every since that day at the park, you're not the same. We're not the same. Why?"

I waited for him to say something but he didn't and I walked away. Maybe if I would've waited a few more seconds, I would've got my anwser. Maybe if I wasn't blind, I would've knew he told me everything I needed to know. Maybe if I looked into his eyes, I would've saw how hurt he was.