This will do for now

Don't worry. I'll be posting soon. The week before last we were at the beach and last week I had a cold :( But next week starts Mother's Day Out and my daughter is going twice a week. Hopefully this will give me some more writing time. So, I'll just post another segment of what I've already written for now. This picks up right after my first posted segment. There are some areas in this segment, however, that I might expand on in the future.
Hope you all enjoy.


Laura wanted to make Christmas last as long as possible. She sat in the middle of her grandmother’s living room with her very last wrapped present in her lap. Her extended family had all finished opening their presents and some of the adults were gathering balled up wrapping paper into trash bags. Laura’s cousins John and Peter began wrestling in the living room as their mother shouted, “Boys! Outside!” Other members of her extended family were trying out their new presents; a new camera, a new jacket and matching scarf, a new manicure set. Laura looked up and saw her mother walking towards her. Her mother was making a funny face. In fact, her mother had been making this face all morning. It was the same face she made last summer when her mother had to explain why their family beach trip had been postponed due to a hurricane. Laura could tell her mother was afraid Laura was going to be upset. “Sweetie, aren’t you going to open up your last present?”
“But I don’t want Christmas to end, Mommy!” Laura’s mother started to say something, but then stopped and just smiled. Laura could tell her mother understood what Laura was thinking. This was it; after this, Christmas would be over. Laura didn’t want Christmas to end. And even though she was really excited about the new toys and dolls she had received, in the back of her mind, she was disappointed. Her father had warned her she was not getting what she asked for, but she couldn’t help the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She knew that what she wanted more than all the toys and all the dolls in the world was not sitting her lap wrapped up in reindeer paper. After looking in her mother’s eyes for a long time, Laura finally sighed and began to open her present. She very carefully took her index finger and ran it under the scotch tape that held the paper together. She quickly closed her eyes when she glimpsed the color of pink peeking out at her through the opening. But the curiosity got the better of her and she finally opened one eye and then another. She looked down at the opened present in her lap. It was a pink baby stroller. Although she was still disappointed, she was excited she finally had a stroller for her dolls. She had been telling Lisa for months now about the commercial with the girl pushing her baby doll in a hot pink baby stroller with purple, glittery flowers on the side. She jumped up and hugged her mother. “Thank you, Mommy! It is exactly the one I wanted! I can’t wait to show Lisa!” After their hug, Laura thought she glimpsed a small tear in the corner of her mother’s eye. But it was quickly wiped away, and Laura wondered if it had been her imagination.

She then scanned the room for her dad who had witnessed their embrace from across the room. Her father smiled at Laura and mouthed, “I love you.” He then turned his head back to his conversation with Uncle T. With all the commotion of tidying up the disaster of unwrapped presents, it seemed odd that her father and uncle would be sitting down having a quiet conversation. Although Laura saw Uncle T and his family often, she always was a little scared of him. He always sounded like he was mad. “He has had a lot of sadness in his life,” was her father’s response when Laura once asked about her uncle’s demeanor. With her excitement of her new pink baby stroller, Laura almost ran to her father and interrupt their conversation to show it off, but something in their faces stopped her. Laura could tell they were speaking grownup. Laura instinctively turned to find someone else to show off her new toy.