2019-12-31 - A Very Kelly Christmas

It's a Kelly Christmas Morning.

The adults planned on getting up by nine or ten but with many under one roof and a youngling? Yeah that in no way happened. The underside of that tree while not fancy with its homemade ornaments and garland was colorful and was made from family. (Not in the Willian Ghol way, the concept. Everyone calm down). Every box was opened and there is, thankfully coffee. In the big tradition of things there's Christmas Morning Buffet which is sort of like a weird breakfast picnic. A wide skillet is cooking pancakes and bacon over two burners and sterno keeps the tin plate of scrambled eggs going. There's fruit and another tin tray of breakfast hash, and a big non-denominational pile of toast mid table. A sign on the table reads:

Some of the toast is gluten-free. Enjoy!

Joey of course, has written this mystery off as a threat and avoided the toast all together. A few things still sit under the tree for people who they haven't seen yet, but hey the kid is happy and Uncle Jack made plenty of pancakes and grub before taking off to go visit his sister across town and do the rounds.

Roxy arrives dressed in a festive green knee-length vintage dress with 3/4 length sleeves, black trim and buttons, and matching black velvet pumps (https://www.pinterest.com/pin/784189353848756784/). She has a wrapped package with a 'Joseph' nametag on it, and a little clutch purse. "Merry Christmas!" she declares with a bright smile, shoving the package at what she hopes is the right Kelly twin.

Finding the right Kelly twin isn't too hard since Jaime is the one playing the guitar and eating the toast, fearing no gluten, or otherwise. He has a plate of toast slathered in butter, and some bacon stacked up next to it. And that might be all he plans on eating from the looks of it, at least for the moment. He nibbles a bit between strumming his guitar and playing some Christmas music while Jess sings along with him. He's got on a a pair of jeans and a dark green sweater flecked with gold that kind of matches the muddy color of his eyes.

Poe knocks and then just lets himself in - because music and good smells and people talking and it was unlocked anyway. He's still wearing some sweat pants that he may very well have slept in and his hair isn't exactly well groomed either. Yes, it looks a bit like he stumbled out of Christmas morning as his place, pulled on a coat and wandered down the street to find himself some breakfast at the Kelly estate.

Wouldn't be the first time.

"Merry Christmas!" He calls to anyone who is listening, maybe noticing that others are better dressed. Well, humbug on them. He'll eat toast even if it's free of gluten.

Nicole is defiantly still dressed in Holiday pajamas. She is wearing an adult-sized set of footie pajamas in stripes; white green white red white green... and so forth. Despite her attire, her hair has been tamed in between when they were awoken and now, soft waves tumbling all about, held back by a headband featuring reindeer antlers on top. She is seated on the floor by the tree, a small bowl of fruit in her hand that she eats with her fingers while talking to the others. She had to play Hostess Helper on Thanksgiving, but today seems much more relaxed.

"Merry Christmas!" she calls back to Poe, and all else who enter.

Joey's in his jeans, socks, t-shirt, and new hoodie. He had to go out once this morning and do the rounds. Standing he smiles and wades over lifting an arm and hugging his tiny dance partner, "Shit woman, you didn't have to. how you say Merry Christmas in Finnish anyways?" Turning he says, "You remember Jesse and my brother Jaime. Jess, you remember Miss Roxy?" She and Nicole have met. "Kick on in and eat. I can open this now right?" It's from Joey's room off to the side there's a whimper of a puppy. He looks to Nicole. "Ripley just woke up. I'm guessin she's afraid to jump down." He informs Roxy, "Dog's new."

"Hi Roxy," Nicole says as she clammers to her feet. She crosses to Joey, giving him a peck on his cheek before saying, "I'll go get her." Then to Roxy, "make sure he takes your coat and gets you settled." Smiling, she turns to go towards the bedroom to help the pup.

"Hyv�� joulua!" Roxy replies to Joey's question. "And yes, of course you can open it now. Hello Miss Jess and Jamie. Hello Nicole!" She greets everyone cheerfully. "I have moved to those new A-Frames on Sycamore, so I no longer live in the murder hotel," she announces. The news about a dog makes her smile even more.

"Hey Nicole." Poe says, flashing her an easy grin. "Santa good to you?" He wanders deeper into the room, sharing his festive good cheer with anyone that happens to cross his path. It's a good thing that he didn't bring his mistletoe on a stick to this event - no one in his path is really safe when he's got that weapon. "Hullo Jaime. Joey. And - Roxy, right?" He'd seen her at the Cabaret.

"Did you just say you've got a new dog here?" Poe says in some surprise, a grin pushing at his lips again. "Going to be awkward. I boxed up cats for everyone's present this year. Figure I owe this how three or four of them."

Joey blinks at Roxy and says, "Okay that then. I ain't gonna get that any time soon." Nicole gets a dirty look, but, well, she's not wrong. "Gimme your coat." She speaks gruff fluently. He's not worried. "Got somethin for you but I couldn't wrap it. So..." He'd like to have but maybe it's a cake or something. Hard to flip the box over? He looks to Poe and heaves the hand out, shakes it, and gives the bastard a hug. "Hey, my lil girl is being raised to like respect other cultures and shit. She could be bilingual in cat. I dunno. Just don't like rush her. She's had a hard time." To say the least. He looks around and says "Lex is doin hte rounds. " Thumb over his shoulder he says, "You know where the food and the booze are. You half grew up here. go get it yourself." Hey it's said with good humor.

Roxy nods to Poe. "Yes, I have seen you at the...bake sale." Fight Club. She blushes a bit and heads to the kitchen to load up a plate full of carbs.

Nicole comes back out fairly quickly, holding a cute but shy looking pup in her arms. She comes to stand near Poe, Roxy, and Joey, saying, "this is Ripley. She's kind of timid, but she's so sweet." Smiling at Poe then giving Joey a wink, she says, "Santa was excellent to me. I hope you got more than coal in your stocking this year." Elbowing Joey, she says, "open Roxy's gift already!"

"Not sure I deserved much more than coal to be honest, but got a few things in there that were pretty nice. Big guy still looking out for me." Poe replies to Nicole after shaking Joey's hand and grinning at his friend. "Yeah, yeah. I'm comfortable. I know this place better than the one I'm living in right now. honest."

Poe smiles when the puppy comes into the room. You need to smile when you see a puppy. Can't really resist that.

"It was a great bake sale this month." Poe agrees with Roxy, grinning. "I love cupcakes."

Roxy returns with her plate loaded from the buffet and looks at the puppy with wide eyes. She might squee. She is trying to contain herself. "Oh what an adorable puppy!" she declares.

Joey holds up his hand "I am taking care of the last thing I was asked to do." He looks to Roxy and takes her coat and heads back to hang it up in the closet, and says "Now I can... after I eat. "Jaime, those new strings sounding good, brother. You two need anything while we up?" Seeing as how he's all set for right now he lets it go. He sneaks something the size of a two stacked shirtboxs to Roxy as she fusses with the hashbrowns. "From us...to you. Mostly Nicole. She's the one with taste." Which is true. he doesn't have an instagram following, he has a police investigation following him. Looking back to Poe he watches him make the face one makes when cue puppy. Hey she's only got the three legs but is making up for it int he cute category. "Ripley, Poe. Poe, ... you can't keep her."

"I have enough cats to keep me company. Cutie though. Can't say I'm not tempted with the stealing." Poe says and then slips away to find himself some food. It's likely a bit early to get into the drinking - sometimes he has been known to have a few, but he has reached the point in his life where he mostly doesn't start before noon.

Though, this is a special occasion. Not like Christmas comes every day.

"Hey - not really going to stay long. Just wanted to get over and say Merry Christmas. Going to head back over and hang with Gran and Lex and play with my new train set." That last part may or may not have been true.

Indeed, after he eats a bit and lingers he'll properly say his good-byes and head back out into the cold to walk back down the street.

"We all deserve more than coal, Poe. We all do. Even if sometimes, that is all we get, and we're good and happy to get it too." Nicole nods as she scritches Ripley behind the ears a little. She does, in fact, have a missing leg, but is adorable with tan and white coloring, some sort of terrier mix maybe? Small enough to be carried without too much effort. She often seems to be smiling, "I love cupcakes too... Hey Jess!" She calls over to the child. "We should make cupcakes later!" Smiling at Rozy, she says, "I hope you like them. If not... well, I would be happy to go with you to exchange them and find something else. Just let me know." She turns to Poe then and says, "hey! Train set! Cool! Tell Gran and Lex hi for me."

Knock knock. At some point there late morning or brunchish time, there's a knock at the door to announce the arrival of Lilith all bundled up next to Byron. She has two wrapped obvious booze bottles for the twins (nice scotch so they can make jokes about being fancy) and a gift bag full of random noise making toys for the little baby Kelly she's met running around in the house. The things in that bag are the kind of collected noise and mess makers that kids get from people who are certainly not parents, slime, noisy toy guns, clackers, a plushie with an annoying squeeze voice, etc. Go Lilith.

She has her good North Face coat on in black with teal trim, getting out of it to reveal red and black semi-dressy sweater with stylish, uneven geometric hemming by the hips, dark skinny jeans, and a pair of slightly heeled snowboots that combine style and efficiency with creep lacing up the calves. Also there's red gloves and a scarf to unwind and get out of too, as red as her lips to go with holiday cosmetic scheme and sleek, tended and lazy curl-flipped hair.

She is absolutely glowing, and it's not from cold. She's practically bubbling over with holiday spirit and it's all over her, amping her up instead of the more dry, casual, laid back Lilith people tend to get, "Kellys, Kellys, more Kellys, and company! Hi! Merry Christmas!"

This is Elm street and Byron's spent a portion of the early morning unwrapping gits of his own, so it's easy to excuse him if he doesn't show up in a suit and tie and instead comes donning a thick sweater in seasonal colors (mostly green) and a dark pair of slacks and black boots. Draped over all of that he has a heavy coat while his hands are fitted in leather gloves. While Lilith's carrying some of the smaller gifts, Byron comes in with much larger presents. One in particular looks to be wrapped with a child in mind.

It seems the pair were just coming in as Poe is heading out. "Mornin' sunshine!" He calls out with a wide smile over in Joey's direction. "And Merry Christmas." Kicking off the snow from his boots before venturing further, he informs the room, "Just brought a few last-minute gifts if you don't mind." And no one ever minds gifts. He's sure that most of the presents were opened by now as he set the large box down near the tree.

Roxy eats and chats and pets the doggo, thanking Nicole and Joey for her wonderful presents, before she has to be on her way as well.

Joey is unwrapping something, the thing he got from Roxy and doesn't care if he shares with the family. Jaime knows and Lilith? Just walked in at the right damn time. New men's dance shoes. Black. Obviously. The kiddo though lights up and grins pure mischief at Lilith. Joey says "We'll have to take you over Mr. Clayton's house so you can show him later." Lilith gets the A-ok sign. "Yeah merry Christmas. Lilith, you get a machete from Santa or somethin? You are in a really good mood." Byron is offered a hand in greeting. "Jaime just ducked out a second. "Stay a minute." He parks himself in teh worn tweed chair that's still there from '77.

"Lilith! Byron!" The pup Nicole carries cowers at the loud noise she makes and she spends a moment trying to assure the canine everything is fine. She shushes and makes smoochy faces until the pup calms once more. "Thank you guys for coming. Joey will take your coat." Is it payback for her having to be on coat duty the last holiday? She smiles at the Sexier Kelly then says to Lilith and Byron, "Merry Christmas. I have to say, Lil, the holiday looks good on you."

"Make a mess and annoy the piss out of everyone, pretty." Lilith squats down to murmur encouragement to the kiddo while handing the gift bag over, then straightens and puts the wrapped bottles next to the big gift Byron dropped off. Settled to socialize, she turns and smiles between Joey and Nicole with incandescence, though not without turning that glow sidelong onto Byron as well. The hell did he do to her? It's not that people don't know they're a little (a lot) ga-ga over each other any other time, but she's really... she's super girlish giddy about it this morning. He's put some stars in her eyes, somehow, no doubt, this morning. While talking, though, she does a double take at the dance shoes and snap-points at what Joey's holding.

"Thanks! I dig the jammies. It was tempting to wear PJs on principle for breakfast food shove-in, but we're playing elves around with packages and things today too, so I figured, I'll be a pretty elf in snow boots. But now Joey's going to put those babies on and dance circles around me so... maybe I should have worn some salsa heels to get the edge." Lilith clicks her tongue once before pulling in a breath, and hugging Nicole with step forward brief squeeze. Then she pulls her Piaget rose pendant out from her sweater to show, though it's probably not the real reason she's all glows, even though she clearly adores it, "Look at this pretty. Did good, didn't he?"

Back over her shoulder to Byron, she wonders, suddenly doting, "Babe. Do you want me to make you a plate?"

With Jessie's hands full of toys, Byron hunkers down beside the large wrapped box he'd brought, as he tries to coax her over, "Nicole, Merry Christmas," He'll start, before his attention is drawn to the kid, "Hey, Jes, want to see what we got for you?" Though now that he's crouched down to this level, he does catch sight of those fancy shoes Joey's wearing, making him add in, "Looks like your uncle Joey might be jazzed up about this too. You better watch out for that one." He then lends a hand if necessary, for the young girl to tear into the gift.

What's beneath the fancy wrap? It's one of those piano floor mats, like everyone saw in the movie Big. "You and your uncle can tickle those keys," Sensors, "With your fancy feet." It's only a minor jab at the dance shoes, but he's not focusing his attention on it. In fact, he grins up at Lilith for a moment, watching her glow and showing off that rather expensive pendant, before helping to unbox the thing now that it's unwrapped. "You know, Kelly, we've been up for hours. Had a light breakfast just so we could save up our appetite for what you've got served here." Turning to regard Lilith once more, he, "Please do. I feel like I could eat a reindeer."

A slow grin spreads across Nicole's face as Joey opens his gift. She gazes at him with a sidelong glance before saying to Lilith, "oh... don't you worry. I'll be playing with her to make sure she makes a big mess. It's one of my favorite things about spending time here. Looking down at her footie jammies, she beams brightly. The bells on her reindeer antlers jingling with the movement of her head. "Thanks! I warned Joey that I did not care who was coming over, or even if we had to leave, I was staying in my footies at least til like, almost dinner. I can't remember the last Christmas I truly enjoyed, so I feel like a kid again. I should be able to live like one!" She returns Lilith's hug with one arm, the pup still held in the other, then oohs at the pendant. "That is amazing. Sparkles just like you. No wonder you are smiling so much. Joey did pretty great too." She gestures to one of the tables where her new camera rests. "I'll be asking for motorcycle rides all over this green earth for pictures now." Ripley begins to squirm in her arms with a whimper and she says, "lemme go get her some food. I'll be back." She unfortunately misses the unwrapping of the big keyboard, but she will surely get video and pictures later.

Joey watches and the stoic boxer gets a bit wide eyed. He immediately looks for Jaime and back to the mat. Quietly he murmurs, "I always wanted one of these..." Looking up to Byron he snappoints back, "You, sir, have just made us the worst neighbors to have ever. Thanks man." He means that. "Lil, that's fantastic. Byron, good job living another month. I salute you." Yes, lil, camera turned out great. Fantastic teamwork. And now? "You kids get. We have to watch the Ref and Die Hard and Gremlins. Hey, Merry Christmas." He looks to ROxy and says "Now these movies might have very well been biographies of Gray Harbor, I dunno. They are classics tho." Because if there's going to be holiday gremlins somewhere...