The Hockey Life

PART FIFTY-FIVE: HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
The airport was extremely busy when I got there in the evening, but that wasn’t much of a surprise to me. It was Christmas Eve, after all. I just felt lucky that the snow we had begun to accumulate didn’t delay Patrick’s flight. Things could have been disastrous before the holiday even officially started, but so far they weren’t. I watched a crowd of people make their way off the plane and into the airport and I smiled when I saw a familiar head of blonde curls.
“Hey. How was the flight?” I asked as I intertwined my fingers with his and we made our way through the people to get to my car.
“It was alright. A little turbulence,” he answered.
“And how was Christmas with your family?”
“Just a little more exciting than my flight. It was pretty fun. It always is,” he said.
“That’s good. Did you get any awesome presents?” I wondered.
“I got clothes, mostly, but my mom got me a new pair of headphones,” he explained. We were outside at that point, and I quickly grabbed my gloves out of my coat pockets and slipped them on. Winter was definitely here.
The drive was a little longer than usual, mostly because of the Christmas Eve traffic. Once we got out of the city, it was a little better. Even so, I felt much better once I had pulled into the familiar driveway of my childhood home. As much as I enjoyed snow, I hated driving in it. Now I could just admire the big flakes that were falling down. Patrick and I grabbed our bags and went up the path to the front door. I could tell that my dad had cleared it out, but there was a new, thin layer of snow that covered it now. I rang the doorbell and wrapped my arms around Patrick to keep warm while we waited for someone to answer. I could hear Puck barking, so I knew someone would be there soon. Sure enough, my mom answered the door and we hurried inside. I hugged my mom first, then my dad, then Brian, and lastly Puck, who seemed to be happier to see me than anyone. He was pretty excited to have Patrick around as well.
Once we were out of our winter layers and we had set down our bags in my room, I showed Patrick all the decorations. We had a Christmas tree in the main living room, the basement, and in the open space near the spiral staircase. Apart from that, there were lights and garland on the staircase and on shelves. My mom also set out cute holiday-themed knick knacks. I loved how the house looked at Christmastime.
“Are you guys hungry?” my mom asked when we made our way into the kitchen.
“A little,” I admitted.
“I made some caramel corn, so don’t be shy,” my mom told us. I didn’t hesitate to dig into the big tin of it on the counter. Patrick joined me. Once we had gotten our fill, we joined my parents and brother in the living room for the annual Home Alone Marathon (which only included the first two films). My parents were pretty tired by the time the second movie was over, so they headed to bed. Us “kids”, however, weren’t ready to go to sleep yet. Instead we discussed our plans for the next morning.
“Okay, so we have this tradition where we young adults act like little children on Christmas morning and find a ridiculous way to wake our parents up,” Brian explained. “This year, you get to help,” he added as he glanced over at Patrick.
“Okay. What exactly are we doing?” Pat asked.
“We’re not sure yet. That’s what we have to figure out,” I said.
“In the past we’ve done things like jumping on our parents’ bed and blasting Christmas music. We need a new strategy for this year,” Brian decided. After talking for a while, we came up with a new, original idea that we were able to agree on. Once we had that figured out, we realized it was late and we should probably get some sleep, even if we didn’t really want to. Brian went up to his room and Patrick and I went up to mine. I was sure my parents would have preferred that we didn’t sleep together, but they never said we couldn’t. Besides, there wasn’t a spare bedroom and I didn’t feel like sleeping on the couch or making Patrick do so. I brushed my teeth and took off my makeup before we each took a side of the bed.
“Technically it’s Christmas,” Patrick said as he checked his phone one last time.
“It doesn’t really feel like it to me until I wake up in the morning,” I said.
“Same here.” He pulled me close to kiss me. When he pulled away I was a little disappointed, but I knew I would be cranky in the morning if I didn’t get some sleep.
“Goodnight. I love you,” he said.
“Goodnight, I love you too,” I answered, and with that, we both fell asleep.
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Patrick’s P.O.V.
When I woke up, it was early. I felt Lena moving around next to me and I opened my eyes. She grabbed her phone and checked it. She smiled at texts and began to answer them.
“Merry Christmas,” I told her in a pathetic, sleepy voice.
“Hey, Merry Christmas! I didn’t know you were up,” she answered.
“I just woke up like three seconds ago,” I yawned. “What time is it?”
“7:13.”
“It’s not even eight and people are already texting you?”
“My friends get up early on Christmas,” she answered. “And so do me and Brian.”
“Does that mean we have to get up to wake your parents up already?” I asked, not ready to get out of bed.
“Not yet. We usually wait until 7:30 or 8. We’ve got some time,” she assured me.
“Good,” I decided. She moved closer to me and I wrapped my arms tightly around her. “I think you’re going to have to wake me up somehow,” I told her. She kissed me, sweetly at first, then more aggressively.
“Are you awake yet?” she asked.
“Not yet. You’re going to have to try harder,” I lied as I pulled her on top of me.
“Brian’s in the room next door,” she reminded me. I didn’t reply. Instead I continued to kiss her, moving my lips down to her neck and then her shoulder. “Patrick, seriously…” she mumbled.
“Okay, fine,” I pouted. We laid in bed for a few more minutes before she got a text from Brian, asking if we were ready. I slipped a shirt and a sweatshirt on and Lena threw on a hoodie. We met Brian in the hallway and then snuck downstairs. We got into our coats, hats, scarves, gloves, and boots. We made our way outside, where it was still snowing. There was quite a bit of white fluff on the ground now. Together we traced the words “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” in it with sticks. Once that was done, we made some snowballs.
“Ready?” Brian asked. Lena and I nodded, so we put our plan into action. We began chucking snowballs at their parents’ bedroom windows. We did so until they went to a window and opened it.
“Merry Christmas!” we yelled, and we smiled as they laughed at the great effort we had put into creatively waking them up.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, Merry Christmas. Nice wake up call,” Joe, Lena’s dad, said. They closed the window and Brian, Lena, and I headed back inside. It felt nice in the house after being out in the cold winter weather, red cheeks and all. We had coffee and doughnuts and then we began opening the presents we had gotten for each other. I loved all the things Lena got me, and she seemed to enjoy my gifts for her, which included shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, soaps, and lotions from Bath and Body Works and a few scented candles as well. Her parents were kind enough to get me a couple gift cards and they made sure to fill my stocking with Twizzlers and plenty of other types of candy.
After cleaning up the mess from unwrapping presents, we took turns with the bathroom and got ready. I tried my best to look nice so I could have a good first impression with Lena’s family. I wasn’t sure about it, but she promised I looked fine and assured me that everything was going to go well. I wasn’t so sure that she actually believed that - she seemed a little nervous about it herself - but we stayed optimistic.
We first went to Lena’s mother’s parents’ house. I immediately felt welcomed when I got there. We had a delicious meal, exchanged gifts, and got to know each other, and it actually was very enjoyable. When we left, Lena warned me about the next group of family members I would be meeting. However, when we got to her dad’s parents’ house, everything seemed perfectly fine to me. Everyone was excited to meet me - some of her younger cousins were fans of mine, apparently. Everyone wanted to know what it was like to be on the Blackhawks. Lena tried to get them to stop bothering me, but I didn’t mind it, honestly. I wanted her family to like me and I felt like once I opened up, I began to fit in better. In the end, once we headed back to Lena’s old home, we were able to say that it was a good day. As usual, we had been worried about absolutely nothing.
After we had been back for a while, Tess and Johnny came over, since she had brought him home for Christmas and she and Lena always had a gift exchange. Joe and Marion were delighted to have Jonathan over, of course, so he socialized for a bit before we all disappeared into the basement. Tess gave Lena her present, which consisted of a bunch of different coffee-related items from Starbucks. Lena then gave Tess her Christmas present, which was a top and yoga pants from Pink as well as a Victoria’s Secret gift card. Johnny winked at me as soon as he saw it, and I just shook my head and laughed at him.
Before it got too late, we all got our bags together and we headed back to Chicago. Unfortunately, there was an away game in Vancouver the next day, and we had to be in Chicago so we could travel there from O’Hare airport with the team. Luckily, Lena agreed to spending the night at my apartment so we could go together, and we got alone time that we weren’t able to have at her parents’ house. However, we were so tired when we got home that our alone time quickly turned into bedtime before we could have too much fun. I guess a good night’s sleep was a decent way to end Christmas, so I couldn’t complain too much. It felt good to be back in my own bed, even if it was only for one night.

Notes