It was finally the day of the Christmas party. And it was crazy. I was stressed, caffeine loaded, under pressure to bake 100 cookies on time, covered in flour but my god was I enjoying myself.

I was decorating the Christmas tree cookies, with a pink glaze, my idea of course, wearing matching aprons with mom who was on her second wine glass, living the life. She had gone through all stages of a nervous breakdown before 11 am and was really at peace with the chaos in the kitchen.

I mean we had cooked a lot of the food the day before, but we had things that had to be done pre party. You'd think she would call caterers this year but she refused to do anything grandma would do.

Meanwhile in the living room, Dad and Ace were dragging chairs and tables, rearranging the whole furniture for the guests, Kai was supervising everything, going through the notes mom and dad laid out for him. We were all stressed except Rehan who asked to be the one cleaning the bathrooms. He was doing that meticulously for hours and when I went to check on him, he was- headphones in ears- blasting, scrubbing the floor with a mop. He gave me a wide grin and went back to cleaning. I think the fumes of the cleaning products got to him.

I took the last batch of cookies out of the oven to chill and took a quick look at my phone if there was a message from Elri ...wait pause. my boyfriend..

I was desperate to edit his name and write my boyfriend on my phone, but because precaution he had to be labeled as "Ace's friend."

I could almost sob about it, but priorities came first.

I sent him a gif of a kitten waiting in front of a door.

He replied pretty quickly, with a gif of a kid smooching a kitten. I smiled at my phone.

"Aham." Mom cleared her throat. "A boy?"

"I'll refrain from any details for now." I said putting my phone away.

"Tell me soon?" She smiled.

"Maybe" I smiled.

"Alright." She smirked and went back to work.

Three hours later, the living room was more than a proper lounge place for the guests.

The food was ready, everything was clean and everyone could get ready in peace before the guest came, which was a rare commodity in this house.

I brushed through my loose curls one last time in front of the mirror, and then reached for the gloss and applied a small amount on my lips.

Gorgeous. I was sparkling. From my eyeshadow, my face, the highlighter on my collar bone and shoulders.

I walked over to my bed, took the dress and carefully slipped into it, trying not to get any makeup on it. The dress was this beautiful baby blue colour, made out of a silk material with thin straps and a loose round cut in the front, but it was still modest. The perfect amount of sexy and appropriate for this party. Not to mention it burned a hole in my wallet, but I had no regrets.

I put my fluffy heels on, added some small subtle jewelry, a bracelet, matching necklace and a set of earrings.

I looked at the time. There was still some time left before the guests arrived. I went upstairs to see if the others were ready. I glanced into mom's and dad's room. Mom was in front of the mirror fixing her makeup. She was wearing a long red dress and her hair was up into a sophisticated bun. I ran back down to my room and took her present out of my drawer. I walked back to her room and she was already ready.

"Where's dad? " I asked.

"He's getting ready in the bathroom." Mom answered.

"Perfect." I walked over to her and gave her the box. "It's my Christmas gift for you. I'm giving it to you early. You know I don't do this unless It's necessary and yes it's necessary."

She sat back down, careful with her dress and opened the box. She pulled out the pin, gasping. "Oh..This is beautiful. And it looks expensive. You shouldn't have spent money on us, baby."

I smiled. "I made it myself. I think I have a knack for making things look expensive."

"You made this? Francy this is a talent." She couldn't stop staring at it. "When did you get so good at this?"

I smiled and then gestured for her to turn around. I helped her put the pin on and my god..was I good or what. It elevated her look on the spot.

"Let's go and dazzle the guests."

****

The guests started arriving as early as 8. Mom and Dad's work friends, uncles, aunts and cousins, my dad's side grandparents, then bit later my mom's side grandparents which I was grateful they could make it this year as last year they were in Paris.

I was standing with my drinking buddies Ace, Kai, Fin and Rehan, watching over my little cousins. I was allowed to drink champagne and I was enjoying it.

Ace was rocking a black turtleneck, Rehan was wearing a beige suit with overalls while Kai was wearing a black suit and an unbuttoned white shirt underneath. I pulled out my phone.

"Let's all take a selfie." I lifted up my hand and they all posed.

I sent the picture to Remi with the message "sending you a treat to survive the night". Hopefully she will be motivated to come over later tonight.

Suddenly the doorbell rang. My heart started jumping. He was here.

I glanced down at myself hoping everything was in its place, No boobs were out. Okay Francy I'm sure people would have told you if your boob was out. You have to calm down. You look great, he will be wowed.

Ace went to open the door. He came back with Elric.

I blinked twice just to make sure I was seeing right.

He was wearing white. I've never seen him in white before.

My hand subconsciously touched the left side of my chest to make sure my heart doesn't burst out. My god. Just when you think he can't get any hotter.

His hair was up unlike his usual hairstyle and if I thought he was eye candy before, now he was a whole damn dessert menu.

Unbelievable.

God does have favorites.

He followed Ace as he was making his way back to us and then he saw me. He checked me out from head to legs then back to my face.

His eyes lingered on mine for a few moments, a lustful look in them that twisted knots in my stomach. Why was it suddenly so hot in here?

I waved my hand under my face trying to calm down. He casually greeted all of us and started chatting with Ace, while glancing my way.

Oh stop it before anyone notices us. I smiled at walked away before I make it obvious we're dating.

Let's just entertain other guests for now.

***

As the party went on, we drank, danced and eventually sat down to eat. The food was so good I didn't notice how hungry I was until I sat down and put a bite in my mouth.

Fin was making us laugh the whole time. He was actually so funny that the adults were all interested in hearing the story of when he was little and how he believed that he saw Santa.

Dad laughed so hard he almost spilled his drink. "Oh this reminds me of a certain Christmas."

Mom grinned from ear to ear. "Oh I know what you mean darling." She laughed so hard it was almost evil.

Oh no.

It was all fun and games until this moment.

"Should I tell it or you want to?" He asked mom.

"Oh you tell it so much better." She leaned her head on her hand to listen.

The guests were waiting.

"It all started when on one certain Christmas morning when santa might have mixed up the present tags"

I coughed out my food. Oh no no no.

Dad got inspired by Fin to tell the story that everyone in our family loved, but Ace and I found it disastrous as we were the victims in question.

It was a story of a grim Christmas, including two children fighting over a present from Santa gone very very wrong.

Everyone was listening in, even Elric.

Dad continued. "Now you think that this matter could have been resolved peacefully, but suddenly the Santa hat we had laying around was used as a weapon.."

My heart was going to burst out of my chest. Oh he better not finish that sentence. I will not have this story told in front of my boyfriend.

I gave one look to Ace who seemed to be on the same page as me.

It was time for THE ITALIAN CODE.

I leaned towards Rehan. "Do the italian thing."

"What's the Italian thing?" Elric asked distracted by my whispering.

Fin leaned back on his chair, laughing in amusement. "Oh, don't ask."

I looked over at Ace to see if he had notified Kai.

Everything was ready.

Suddenly Rehan fell off his chair,completely passed out on the floor. Silence befell in the room and everyone gasped in panic. Dad rose from the table to see if there was a need for medical attention.

"No worries. It's only a side effect from one of his experiments." I helped him get up.

"Is he okay?" Elric asked FIn.

Fin tapped his back to reassure him.

Rehan got up, dusted off his clothes and sat back at the table.

"Mi scusi"

Mom and Dad sighed, throwing their hands in the air. They knew where this was going.

"Oh no he is talking in Italian again." Ace sighed.

"You should spend more time with him as a brother. Maybe he wouldn't be weird then." I yelled out to Ace.

"Maybe you should spend less time with him then."Ace yelled back.

"I know a guy with the exact same symptoms. We can fix this. It's not gonna last a week like last time." Kai added.

Suddenly we started speaking over one another and mid sentence I switched it up.

"Mi innercesi bela sempre parlo italiano" I spoke, shaking my head and dropping back in the chair with an exaggerated sigh like I was angry.

"La capisco benissimo. Quella roba lì Vattelappesca mi cosa." Ace fake argued back, holding his hand up Italian style.

"scimence puto italiano si par de la dona." Kai got involved as well.

I peeked at the rest of the adults. They were still interested in us.

"What is going on?" My little cousin ask.

As I was gong to talk, Fin replied to her in Italian ."Questo è molto divertente."(this is so funny)

"Unbelievable. They got Fin involved. "Dad raised his hands completely defeated. Their attention turned back to their side of the table ignoring us . The embarrassing story was long forgotten.

"That was close." I raised my glass taking a sip.

"Fin, you did great man." Ace saluted him.

"What the fuck just happened?" Elric leaned his elbows on the table laughing. "Can someone elaborate?"

Fin nodded. "They say random Italian gibberish and just go along with it. Sometimes they include real phrases. I've always wanted to be part of this so I learned few phrases of my own. Ace's conversation record is three minutes."

"You spoke Italian gibberish for three minutes?" Elric asked Ace laughing.

"I'm a man of many talents."

"Don't you get tired of falling like that?" He asked Rehan

"The Italian thing was my idea." Rehan smiled. "It's a language you can't dispute with"

"He has a flair for theatrics." I replied.

Rehan brought his glass up for a cheer. " To the Italians"

"To the Italians." We all raised our glasses.

Also here is a list of my Christmas movie recommendations (the less obvious ones like Home Alone)

Not in any particular order:

1.Serendipity

2.While You were sleeping (with Sandra Bullock)

3.The family man (with Nicolas Cage)

4. Miracle on 34th street (1994 year)

5.Love at the Christmas table

6.A princess for Christmas

7.The Christmas Chronicles

8. Snow ( with Ashley Williams- Queen of Christmas )

9. Last Holiday (with Queen Latifah)

10. The family stone (2005 )

And many more that I will add some other time....