Rescuing His Captive Mate: Saving The Future Luna

Chapter 203 - Artem - Star’s And The Boys’ First Christmas In Their New Life

~~

Artem

~~

  Life has been going so well for us lately. I honestly can't believe how good it has all been. Ever since we got back from the Fae compound, it has been nearly perfect for us. That was fine with me though, Star and my boys had been through so much, not to mention her parents.

I was just happy that now they didn't have to worry about anything. We were all living together peacefully as a family. My family, Star's family, and our family. It was multigenerational, and it was working for us.

Now though, it was time for Christmas. This was the first Christmas that we were celebrating since moving into the Alpha house. It was my first with Star, my first with the boys. And let's not forget that it was their first Christmas in a long time.

Star had gone the longest of them without celebrating Christmas. This was her first one in sixteen years. I guess Aaron had her beat since he had never celebrated Christmas; he had always gone to the Yule celebrations at the Fae compound.

Gloriana had wanted us to go there this year, but we asked her if it was alright if we skipped it. She understood that it was the first Christmas that we were celebrating together and agreed to let us go next year.

The entire month of December we were getting things ready for the holiday. We decorated every part of the house that we could. There were lights all over the outside. We got the inflatable things that went in the yard. There was a Santa and reindeer set that we had even managed to put on top of the house. There was nothing that we didn't do to plan it all out.

Mom, Dad, Aunt Criztie, Star, Chay, Kent, Ella, Bailey, Reed, Vivian, Aaron, and myself had gone to the store to buy way more gifts than were needed. And since Star was now five months pregnant she wasn't able to do as much stuff as she used to so the whole group had been there to also make sure that she was monitored and doing OK.

We bought toys, clothes, art supplies, electronics, everything we possibly could for the kids. And without Star knowing I was buying for her as well. She had tried to tell me to focus on the kids.

"I've gone without Christmas this long, I don't need anything for myself." That was what she tried to tell me to stop me from buying things for her. Yet every single time that she saw something that she liked, and her face lit up, I noticed. I paid attention to what it was that she wanted the most and hid it away so that I could surprise her later.

As the day got closer and closer, Mom and Aunt Criztie were baking up a storm. And I had heard that the triplets were preparing a special cake for Christmas dinner as well. There was just so much that was going on that it put us all into a festive mood. When the kids got out of school for their winter break, they were often seen making more and more decorations so that they could try to find a place to hang up somewhere. Or they invited friends over to see all that we had done.

There was going to be a New Year's party for the kids, but not for Christmas. That time we were spending with family and friends only.

The time it took us to wrap all those presents was a little ridiculous, but I still didn't regret buying all that I had. I knew that the kids were going to love it all, and wasn't that the point?

Finally when the morning of Christmas came, I woke up early so that I could take the hidden presents downstairs. I didn't want Star to know about them the night before. They were for her after all. Not to mention we had hidden most of the presents from the kids so that the younger ones would still believe that they had been delivered by Santa Claus.

Not all the presents. I didn't want them to think that Santa was so generous to bring them all, but some really special ones that we got for them. The rest of the presents were marked from Mom and Dad or Mommy and Daddy depending on what it was that they each called us.

I snuck back up the stairs and went in to wake Star up before the kids got up. I was just as excited to see her reactions today as I was to see the kids.

"Star." I called out to her in a small voice. "Star, it's time to wake up."

I was sitting on the edge of the bed next to her and I leaned over to kiss her forehead.

"Artem?" She was still a little sleepy since she didn't always sleep soundly. Our little baby boy was getting bigger and bigger in her belly and that caused her to have some trouble when she tried to sleep.

"Good morning." I smiled at her. "Merry Christmas."

"Hmm." She stretched and groaned as she woke up a little more. "Good morning. I guess it is Christmas now, isn't it?" Despite the early hour she was smiling happily.

"Yup, come on. It's our first Christmas as a family. Let's go get the boys, and then we can send them to wake everyone else up."

"That sounds a little evil and mischievous." She grinned at me. "And I like it. You're having such a negative influence on me."

"That's fine. We're allowed to do this type of evil stuff once in a while. Come on."

I took her hand and helped her over to the dresser so that she could get dressed. I even dropped to my knees to help her put on her shoes. I didn't need her toes getting cold at all.

"All ready?" I asked her as I stood again. I pulled her to my side and wrapped my arm around her waist. "Let's go."

We hurried, which was to say we didn't go very fast at all since Star would have to waddle because of the baby pressing down on her. After all the boys were gathered in the hallway we sent them to go and wake everyone up. They liked the idea and ran up the stairs excitedly while I continued to help Star down to the living room where we had set up the tree.

Most everyone wasn't enthused about the early hour they had been woken up, but they forgave it because the kids were the ones who woke them. We decided we were going to open the presents first then have breakfast.

The boys excitedly passed out presents to everyone, happily handing one after the other and loved when they got one of their own.

Star and the others had gotten presents for me just like I had gotten them all presents. There was a lot for everyone, not just the kids.

Star's face was filled with wonder and awe when she opened the bracelet I had bought for her when we got Vivian a new necklace and the dress she had liked when we bought something for Chay.

"You used the same method as before, didn't you?" She was smiling at me. "Everytime that I liked something you bought it."

"I couldn't help it. I wanted to get you stuff that I knew you liked." I was blushing, but she didn't seem at all upset about it.

"You're such an idiot at times. But I love you." She leaned over and kissed my cheek. "Thank you, Artem. I love you."

"I love you too." I smiled back at her.

The celebrations lasted the rest of the day. There was the big breakfast we had together and then all the desserts that Mom and Aunt Criztie had made. There were games and playing with the new toys outside.

A little after noon, Cohen came running inside and said it was snowing. That happened here from time to time so it wasn't completely unexpected.

"Snow?" Vivian sounded so surprised. "I haven't seen snow in years."

When we all rushed outside, we saw that it was barely snowing at all. It wouldn't even begin to dust the ground like that.

"This won't do." Aaron grinned. "My wife wants snow."

With a wave of his hand, the snow started to fall harder and faster.

"You can't just change the weather like that." Star snapped at him.

"I only did it over this property, nowhere else." Aaron grinned. "Aren't you happy to see the snow too?"

"Well, y..yeah I am." Star smiled and started to move through the snow. I was glad that I put warmer shoes on her and not slippers.

For the rest of the day everyone played outside in the snow. We built snowmen and had a snowball fight. The boys were overjoyed, Vivian was happy, and Star's eyes were shining bright. This had been the best Christmas in the history of the world. If you ask me, that is.

And the fact that we all got to go inside and have a really nice dinner together after we were all done playing in the snow only made it better. We talked about what we all liked the most about that day and what we were happiest for.

"Well, I for one, am the most happy about having all my family here." Chay smiled at us all. "My parents, my aunt, my cousins, my brother, my sister-in-law, my mate, and my baby." She put a hand on her stomach and smiled down at herself.

"WHAT?!" Mom nearly screamed.

"Last night, Bailey proposed to me, and I accepted, and this morning we found out we are pregnant.",

That started a whole new round of celebrations. All of us were happy, even me, although I was still a little sad because she was my baby sister and all. I was happy for them just like they had been happy for us.