Your eyes open, the sunlight light streams into your bedroom, and you can hear your younger brother’s feet padding through the hallway. Even though you’re not a little kid anymore, you still get that jolt of excitement knowing its Christmas. You’re still trying to wake up when the door to your bedroom swings open and your little brothers bound into the room, jumping onto your bed, shouting, “Its Christmas!” Wiping the sleep out of your eyes, you can’t help but laugh.
“Merry Christmas!” You tell them as they bounce up and down on bed. They continue bouncing as you reach for your phone to see a text from Shawn, Good morning baby, Merry Christmas! I love you, and I’ll see you soon. And the next text he sent tells you to tell your brothers Merry Christmas from him. This is the first Christmas you and Shawn are celebrating as a couple, and you can’t help but smile, staring at your phone.
You wake up before Shawn does, scooting closer to him. Its Christmas, is your first thought, just like it is every Christmas morning. But your second thought, that quickly follows, is Shawn. You don’t normally wake him in the morning, but this morning, you do. Moving closer to him, you gently shake him awake. “Morning,” You say when his eyelids finally flutter open.
A sleepy smile crosses his face. “Good morning! It’s Christmas.” He says, wrapping his arm around you and pulling you in for a kiss.
You can’t help but smile too, saying, “It is. Merry Christmas, Shawn.”
“Merry Christmas, y/n.” He tells you. You kiss him one more time before starting to get out of bed, but he pulls you back before you get the chance to get up.
“Where are you going?” He questions.
“We have to get up,” You remind him. “We have breakfast at your parents house.”
Its both you and Shawn’s first Christmases not at home in your childhood houses, so your parents have made you promise to go back home to your houses to celebrate Christmas with your families. So you’re having breakfast at the Mendes’ house and lunch with your family.
“I know, but let me just have some time with my girlfriend on Christmas morning.” So you end up staying in bed with him for another twenty minutes before you have to rush to get ready for breakfast so you’re not late.
“Good morning wife,” You hear Shawn’s voice pulling you from your sleep. As soon as you open your eyes, you see Shawn.
“Merry Christmas,” You say, immediately closing the space between you two, greeting him with a Christmas kiss. Its your first Christmas as husband and wife, and there is no one else you’d rather wake up to on Christmas morning and every morning.
The sound of crying wakes you much earlier than you’d like. Its still completely dark outside, but you drag yourself out of bed and down the hall. When you return to your bedroom with the baby, you find that Shawn has woken up, and he’s sitting up in bed. When you enter the room, his eyes meet yours, the lack of sleep you’ve both been getting since the baby was born is evident on both of your faces, “Merry Christmas, baby,” He says, his voice groggy. “And Merry Christmas little baby,” He says to your daughter as you climb onto the bed. He moves so he’s holding you in his arms while you feed your daughter.
You’re awoken by the sound of footsteps pounding down the hall, giving you a few seconds of warning before your door swings open and your eight year old charges the bed, jumping onto it, and effectively waking Shawn by jumping right onto him. She’s followed shortly by your five year old and three year old sons, who were a little slower at running.
“Its Christmas!” She shouts, “Wake up daddy!”
Shawn takes a few seconds to wake up enough to reply. “It’s Christmas?” He pretends to be surprised, earning a laugh from your daughter. You lean down to help the boys onto the bed, and now you have three excited children jumping up and down on your bed.
Amidst the bouncing and excited children, Shawn scoots closer to you, catching your attention in the middle of the chaos. “Merry Christmas,” He says to you with a smile. Before you have time to reply, your youngest son wedges himself between the two of you. You don’t get a chance to say it back, but he knows. Even sixteen years later, you still love him more than ever.
Its been a few years since the storm of footsteps have woken you and Shawn up every Christmas morning, and you do miss it a little. But even though your kids have grown up and moved out, you’re glad that you still get to wake up to Shawn on Christmas morning and every morning. “Good morning baby,” Shawn says with a smile, “Merry Christmas.” He pulls you closer to him.
You lean up, kissing him. “Merry Christmas, Shawn.”
