Yells filled the house, announcing to Dad and I that Josh had made it with the kids. I closed the fridge door and headed to the front door, being ambushed along the way by Celine.

"Happy birthday, sweetie!" I said as she hugged me. "Did you have a good flight?" She nodded as Scottie followed her lead and hugged me around the legs.

"Missed Mommy!" his comment muffled by his coat and my leg.

"I missed you too, Scottie. Let's take these coats off, okay?" They let go and took their coats off, handing them to me before running off towards the kitchen. I chuckled to myself and headed to the hall closet with the coats.

I made it to the hall and started to put the coats away.

"Merry Christmas, Sam." Lance's bass came from behind me. I turned around.

"Lance!" I hugged him. "I didn't know you were coming!"

He hugged me back. "I couldn't let Aydin and Aurora miss their last Christmas with their grandpa. Besides, C needed the help at the airport."

I laughed at the thought of Josh trying to cohort three kids into behaving through security.

"What's so funny?" Josh asked, coming from the living room.

"You are," I said, moving from Lance to Josh, giving him a quick peck on the lips with the hug. "Imagining you trying to keep track of the kids at LAX."

I was saved from Josh's retort by the doorbell. I answered it, letting Scott in.

"How is he today?" Scott asked, stepping in and stomping the snow off his shoes.

"It's a good day today. He's up and moving on his own. But he'd be better off if he'd quit smoking. The doctors said he should, and go on the patch, but he refuses to."

"Isn't he on oxygen?"

"Yes. He'll be puffing away at his cigarette with the oxygen going." I rolled my eyes. "There's no convincing him otherwise."

The guys all exchanged glances and I hung up Scott's coat along with the other ones and we headed into the living room.

Mom was helping Dad into his chair before hooking him up to the second oxygen tank we kept near there for him. He started to pull out a cigarette, but I was at his side in no time.

"No smoking around the kids, Dad. If you need the fix, we have a box of patches you can have for today." I said as I confiscated the pack and searching his pockets for more. Satisfied that there were none, I put the pack on the top of the grandfather clock. Dad grumbled at the idea of the patch, but seemed to be alright with the change in his plans.

"Did you see who came, Chris? Lance is here. You remember Lance. He's Aydin and Aurora's father. And Scott and Josh are here too. Everyone's here for Celine's seventh birthday." Mom said, distracting Dad from the loss of his favorite pastime.

Dad grunted at the guys and I left the room to check on Olivia. As I expected, she was awake and ready for a change.

"Guess who's here, Olivia! Oof, I can not wait until you're potty trained," I said as I changed her diaper. I smiled. "Celine and Scottie and Aydin and Aurora and Zara and Daddy and Uncles Lance and Scott are here!"

"'Ara?" Zara was her favorite playmate at the moment.

"Yep. Zara's here. She came all the way here for Celine's birthday and then Christmas!"

"Present?"

"Yep. Santa leaves presents for Christmas." I finished changing and redressing her. I led her out to the living room, where everyone had gathered. Olivia immediately dived into the legos the other kids were playing with and I sat on the couch next to Josh.

The adults chatted while the kids played and burned up energy.

After awhile, I pulled out the cake. We sang 'Happy Birthday' to Celine, and after the cake, we brought out the presents. Godfather Chris sent her a movie, and she wanted to watch it, so we put the movie on. Not too long into the movie, Dad returned to bed, the excitement (and lack of cigarettes) having worn him out.

The kids occupied again, the adults settled in again. Josh and I took the love seat this time and I draped my legs over his lap underneath a blanket. Josh slipped one hand under the blanket and was drawing circles lightly over my skin on the side of my knee for a few minutes before starting to move it slowly up my leg. I gave an involuntary shudder as his fingers reached where my leg met my hip. I stole a glance at Josh to see him obviously hiding a smile as he continued working his finger up my hip.

Returning my attention to the conversation, my eyes met Lance's as he studied me. As our eyes met, he turned his attention to Josh. Fingers slipped underneath the edge of my underwear and I tried not to let the change of location show on my face. It must have though because not more than five seconds later-

"JayCee." Lance said, causing Josh to jump and pull his hand back into his lap. Everyone's attention turned to us.

"What is it, Jimmy?" I asked, the seldom used nickname rewarding me with a bit of a glare.

"Nothing," Lance finally grumbled after a miniature stare down between us.

Josh kept his hands below mid-thigh for the next few minutes before Olivia joined us, climbing into our lap and leaning against Josh, sucking on her thumb.

"Are you sleepy, Miss Livie?" I asked, gently running a hand through her hair. She yawned and I smiled. A glance at the clock told me it was later than I thought it was.

"Well, no wonder you're sleepy! It's nearly bedtime already. Come on, let's go say goodnight to everyone." She scooted off our laps and I got up as well. She hugged her siblings, Scott, Lance and Josh before waiting for me to pick her up and carry her down the hall to my parent's room. She hugged my parents good-night and we headed to the guest room where I sung to her quietly as we changed for bed. She was asleep almost as soon as she was tucked into the toddler-sized bed.

When I returned to the living room, everyone was hugging everyone, Scott and Lance were getting ready to leave with their respective children. I hugged my children good-night and helped get them ready to leave as Josh took care of Zara's bedtime routine.

Everyone gone and the girls in bed, I got down to business, loading the dishwasher and picking up the stray bits of paper and tiding up. Josh got his coat on and brought in the suitcases from his rental car, and joined me on the couch for a cup of hot chocolate and the news. When the news was over, we also turned in for the night.

About one thirty am, I was awoken by movement on the bed. A tiny head rested on my pillow next to mine and I sat up, turning the light on. Zara climbed into my lap.

"What's the matter, honey? Did you have a bad dream?" She nodded and I told her to tell me what happened. As she described it, I gently ran fingers through her hair. At some point, Josh awoke long enough to mumble something nonsensical about lobsters in his sleep and we giggled at him. Zara calmed down enough, I turned the light off and we laid down and I whispered imagery of a town made of ice cream to her until she fell asleep, and I followed soon after.