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Christmas in the Agreste house would be extra magical this year. Not only was it Nathalie’s first Christmas as an Agreste, it would be the first of many with the newest member of the family, baby Chantal, who was 10 months old. Even Gabriel, notorious grinch of the house, was looking forward to the morning. They had done everything- decorated the house, put tons of presents under the tree, and made Christmas cookies. It was finally the big morning, and Adrien was so excited that he woke up earlier than ever. Gabriel and Nathalie came prepared, already awake when Adrien was. As a family, they all decided to wake up the baby from her room. Slowly, they all entered her room, and turned on some gentle lighting. Nathalie approached the crib, bending over to pick the baby up. She seemed a bit confused, her dark blue-grey eyes slowly opening as she sucked on her pacifier.
“Merry Christmas, Chantal… It’s your first.” Nathalie smiled, as she held her daughter close. The baby curled up to Nathalie, and Gabriel stood by his fiancee and daughter. He smiled, as Adrien also stood close by.
“Seems like she’s a bit confused… are you tired, Chantie?” Adrien asked.
Gabriel leaned over and brushed a finger across his daughter’s cheek. “Let’s go and open presents. We’ll let her watch you open them first, and then she can open hers.”
Adrien nodded, as he led them all downstairs, to their larger-than-life Christmas tree. There were a multitude of presents under there- wrapped in silver, gold, red and green paper. Adrien knew that his gifts were the ones wrapped in green, with Gabriel’s in red, Nathalie’s in gold and Chantal’s in silver. Adrien sat on the floor by the presents, as the adults pulled up chairs in the foyer.
“See Chantal, you get to open gifts on Christmas… Like this.” Adrien reached for a box, wrapped in green. He unwrapped it, the sound of the crinkling paper seeming to capture the baby’s attention. She perked up, sitting up on Nathalie’s lap as she watched her big brother’s face split into a grin. He had just received the newest gaming console- hard to find and even more sought after. “Thank you, Father! How did you get this?”
Gabriel and Nathalie exchanged looks. “I have my ways…” Essentially, he paid someone a hefty sum to wait in line on release day to obtain said console. Worth every penny to see his son smile. Chantal looked at the shiny wrapping paper, making grabby hands for them. Nathalie smiled, and set her on the ground. The baby scooted on her butt towards Adrien, reaching her hand towards a silver box.
“Here, let me get that for you.” Adrien smiled, gently placing the box in front of her. Chantal first went to chew the box, not quite understanding the concept of unwrapping the present. The parents and big brother got a good laugh. After taking a picture, Adrien helped her out and guided her in opening the box with her hands. With fistfuls of paper, she opened the toy and had a big smile, showing off the few teeth in her mouth. A pop-up toy, where you would push a button in it, and an animal pops out. When the animal would pop out, she would giggle, being loud enough to echo through the foyer.
“I think we found her favorite toy.” Gabriel commented, watching his son alternating between opening his own gifts, and helping his sister open hers. Nathalie nodded, as she reached to take Gabriel’s hand. She held it as she watched their smiling faces unwrapping their presents. When they had finished (and it took a bit of time), Adrien wound up with a new gaming system, some new video games, a custom suit that Gabriel had made for him, a new phone case, a new fencing sabre, and a gift that meant the most- a keepsake box, filled with some of Emilie’s prized possessions, as well as some pictures of her and Adrien. The plaque read, “In Loving Memory of Emilie Jolie Graham de Vanily Agreste”. It was perfect in every way- and when he had kids of his own, he’d be able to show them what his mother was like.
Chantal, on the other hand, got plenty of toys, along with some clothes. She got a walker toy, a set of stacking rings, a teething toy, a wooden rainbow, a toy with pop-up animals (which was clearly her favorite), a mini, colorful piano, a new dress made by Gabriel (that coordinates with Adrien’s suit), a small indoor playset where she could crawl and then walk all over, and a toy laptop. Then, it was time for Gabriel and Nathalie to open their gifts. Nathalie got three gifts- a lovely necklace from Gabriel, a book from Adrien, and a handprint coffee mug from Chantal. Gabriel had gotten a roll of a particular fabric he had been eyeing from Nathalie, a pair of cufflinks from Adrien, and of course, a similar handprint mug from his daughter. The adults lovingly kissed each other, before watching their kids playing together- consisting mostly of Adrien showing Chantal how all of her new toys worked.
“I think I’m going to keep this mug in my safe.” Gabriel turned to Nathalie.
Nathalie raised a brow. “Why?”
“Because, I want to cherish this forever. She will never be this small again, and I want to keep this as a reminder for her of her first Christmas. Today, we should start adding things to her memory box, similar to what Adrien has.”
Nathalie agreed. “We should add this to Adrien’s as well. He was so excited to have a little sister, and we can add this as a moment he can remember forever.”
He nodded. “And there will be many more moments to encapsulate for years to come- for them, and for us.”
They look on, living in the moment before it becomes a memory for the boxes.