During the week of Christmas, Lucy was really very unwell. Scott knew perfectly well why - the baby that was in mummy's belly was not being very nice and was making her ill. No matter how much he tried to tell this tiny baby that he or she had to behave for mummy, the baby stubbornly refused, which meant that the eldest son had to stay with his little brothers while their mummy slept throughout most of the day.

But Scott was 7! He didn't want to be babied around, he wanted to help make sure his mummy and his unborn brother or sister were cosy and warm during the freezing winter. Scott knew that his 5 year old brother John and 3 year old brother Virgil were worried for their mummy, and this knowledge made him more compelled to do something instead of sitting back and watching the hours tick by.

With Christmas Eve almost over, Jeff had kindly asked for the boys to start getting ready for bed, making sure they had clean pyjamas and pearly white teeth before settling down for the sleep that would carry the day from the 24th December, to the 25th. And the three boys had more than willingly complied - what's better than being able to surprise your mummy with a late night cuddle and then Santa coming along and bringing presents, Rudolf eating the carrots, and being able to see the grandparents in the morning?

Scott had Virgil's hand secured in his, making sure his littlest brother didn't trip up the stairs and fall, hurting himself. That was the last thing his mummy, or daddy for that matter, needed on their hands. The 3 year old honestly didn't mind his biggest brother's smothering - it reminded him of the mission he and his brothers were going to embark on, to make sure Christmas for his mummy was going to be good.

Once upstairs, Scott opened his bedroom door to reveal a multitude of apparent mess - only it wasn't. A pile of cut out paper snowflakes hug on string lay clumped on the floor, and all the boy's pyjamas were hazardously thrown on Scott's plane covered bed. John walked forward to collect up his night clothes, before heading to the bathroom to change, which left Scott to help Virgil remove his day clothes and change himself.
The actions that followed weren't especially easy for the 7 year old. Virgil was cold, and taking off his day clothes would mean being even colder. Virgil wasn't the type who'd throw a tantrum, but that didn't mean he'd make it easy for his biggest brother to entice him out of the warm clothes in favour of lighter, less cosy night clothes. Nevertheless, after a lot of bargaining, and a promise that Virgil would get the spot next to Lucy, Scott finally got his littlest brother into his pyjamas, and folded away all the clothes Virgil had worn during the day.

When John returned to Scott's room, both eldest and youngest brother were ready to head to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Naturally, John being John, he'd already taken care of his teeth, so now he had the sparkliest, whitest teeth that could guide a ship home in a storm. He watched his siblings walk to the bathroom, and he sat next to the pile of paper snowflakes, making sure they were all untangled and ready to be hung up around their parents' bed. John waited patiently for his siblings, knowing that all good things would come to those who waited. After all, the brightest stars only came out when the sky was dark enough, and John would always wait for those.

By the time Scott and Virgil arrived, the plan was almost complete. All they had to do to finish the mission was to head to the adult's room, hang up the awkwardly cut out paper snowflakes and snuggle up to their mummy and the baby bump, to make sure she was going to be ok. This was going to be the best Christmas present ever!
Lucy was so happy to see the three suddenly curled up to her when she woke up at the sound of the bedsheets moving. Despite feeling rough from the movement of her next child, she still made the attempt to pull her boys close into a warm, protective hug. The paper snowflakes that hung over the end of the bed only made Lucy smile more, and the sight on her husband's face when he realised he wouldn't get to cuddle his wife almost made her laugh so loudly she'd wake up the boys.

Even if she was ill, seeing her boys make all the effort to make her happy truly was a mission success if she'd ever seen one.