On Christmas Day

It was Christmas Day....And as planned...

We all walked the three blocks to My sister and brother in law's house...

"My Brother in law answered the door..

'Well Damn...Do yall Philly Folks always get up this early??Merry Christmas.." he said..

"Oh Darryl Hush Up....Come on in everybody..."said my sister..

 "Your house is gorgeous!" said Bee Bee..

"Yessss and so big.."said Sofia..

"Awww thank you girls..."said Nellie...

 My Niece and Nephews ran into Beverly's arms..

Olivia's too!...

"They Love Olivia and Beverly..."said My Brother in Law...

''Everybody does except Assistant District Attorneys.." joked Rockland..

"Rockland stop it..." said Alfreda, laughing….

"That's okay Mrs. J.. He's telling the truth.."said Nelson, laughing himself!..

''Soon I'll be part of that hated list too.."said Josie, smiling..

"You'll be in good company..."said Yvette with a smile, rubbing Josie's back...

 "Yeah Look at us.."said Keith Jones..

"We don't win any popularity contests with the ADA's either.."said Kahlil..

 "I'm loved by a cop though..." joked Ms. Jade..

"I can't help myself.."joked Danny Ho...

Gary and Paris admired the table setting...

There was more traditional settings and food...Ham, Turkey, Greens, Candied Yams, Cranberry sauce, Hot Bisciuts….and a Pound Cake..

and under the tree was all of the presents we had bought each other from home and since we had been down here...

Hard not to feel all warm and fuzzy...






II-

I sat on the floor with Olivia sitting between my legs as we opened presents and passed them to each other.

I stared at everybody getting and passing presents...

I didn't know any of these people ten years ago...Now here they were in my sister's house ,practically family....

I remember years I had Christmas with them and it was just me by myself.. Neither of my two fiances ever made it here..

Only Olivia ...when we were just getting together...When I was just getting ready to move to Philadelphia...

My sister said to her..

"I've never seen my brother as happy as he is when you're around...He lights up when your name is mentioned..You're the one!...He's going to marry you....You just wait and see.." she said.

A Year and a half later, Me, Olivia and Beverly were down here getting married....

My Brother in law Darryl gave her away...

Since her father was deceased and she didn't know where her brother was at the time...

 Beverly was her maid of honor

And my sister was her bridesmaid..

My "Best Man" was my father's pal, Willie ''Sweet Dick" Jenkins of all people who kept asking me if Olivia had any older sisters or if her mama was still living....

I smiled at the memory of all that...

And the dress Olivia wore after we got married.....She changed at my sister's house and we went out and had a fabulous meal...

and then went to another fancy hotel..

where we consummated our marriage..

and boyyyyy did we consummate..

We made love all night long and into the morning...

That afternoon when we checked out, I remember there was a light rainstorm.....

"I'm so sorry baby...This weather is so unpredictable.."I said..

"Everytime we really make love it rains.. You and me...we are really a hot couple..steamy….I'd better get used to this.." Olivia joked and laughed and snuggled up under my arms...

I smiled at my new wife...

"We are going to be good together..."I said and hugged her..

III-

We all gathered around the huge table

As the food was prepared Buffet Style..

"Sis, you still in the catering business?" I asked..

"She caters too?" asked Yvette ,amazed..

"Yeah, my sister does a little of everything...She taught school at one point, She caters and now she's renting Air BNB's..."I said..

"Yeah,I do what needs to be done to make ends meet when my husband ,who is a longshoreman has lean days...When he's working...I don't have to do anything.."" she said..

Josie , Bee Bee, Sofia, Yvette and even Alfreda laughed and said in Unison....

"RELATIONSHIP GOALS"

Olivia and Beverly cracked up laughing..

 ''We are all kind of in the same line of work.."said Keith Jones..,

 "Yeah, Most of us.."said Kahlil..

Nelson laughed..

The doorbell rang...

"Oh that's right...Kayla and her husband are missing.." said my sister as she opened the door..

 It was Kayla and Ray...Kayla was mortified because we all had been here about an hour and a half and they hadn't made it..

Ray had a huge smile on his face..

They would have been here except...Kayla looked so good ,that he wouldn't allow her to get dressed, he kissed her and ran his hands down in her panties and she fondled him until they wound up

back in bed, making sweet love for another TWO HOURS!

"Ouuuu what am I going to do with you....You are such a horn dog...ohhhhhhh!" squealed Kayla..

"And you are so damn hot...I couldn't help it...OHHHHHH!" he moaned...

The bed was squeaking and the headboard was rattling... She was glad everyone had left.....

"Ummmmph…" he moaned...

''Ohhhhhhh my god.....ohhhhhh good lord.." Kayla moaned...

Which meant another shower afterwords!

Kayla was mortified, but even though we knew...Nobody said anything...Besides, they were newlyweds....It was expected...

Kayla and Ray marveled at the tree and all of the opened presents...

and the huge table where we all were assembled...

She and Ray just looked at the tree and the table and all of the food...They made plates for themselves and joined the rest of us..

This would go down as one of my most memorable Christmas's ever...

IV-

TWO DAYS LATER-

We were all at the airport.....Ready to head home...

"As usual Brother...I enjoyed your visit...We are coming to Philly one of these years to have Christmas with you guys...."said my sister, hugging me...

"Hopefully we'll do it before the kids get too much older..." said Darryl...

"Gonna hold you to it...Sorry I didn't get to see Pops..."I said..

"You know him...He's got this job in Houston...I mean Galvenston...He'll be back around New Years...I told him you all were comin..."said Nell..

 "Nell, Darryl, thanks for everything.."said Olivia..

"We had a great time.."said Beverly....

 "Yes, everything was amazing."said Nelson...

 "Thank You so much.." said Josie..

"Yes Thank You..." said Paris...

 "We may come back down here this summer."said Yvette..

"Just me and Vettie.."said Gary...

''Well, you got a place to stay, Just Call me.."said Nellie.

 "I like you....Thank you for letting us have Tall Dark and Southern..He is a joy to work with."said Alfreda..

"Thank You mam, this was a great trip...I loved it.."said Rockland, who felt so good to be a part of this..No way would he ever think of Olivia and Beverly and company as his enemies regardless if they ever faced each other in court again or not.. He sort of thought of them as family...

He smiled and hugged Alfreda..

 "New Orleans is the bomb....Got to get down here again.."said Keith Jones..

 "Yessss."said Bee Bee..

 "We had such a great time.."said Sofia..

 ''Yes we did."said Kahlil

 ''Everything was soooo nice."said Jade...

"Yes...Thanks again.."said Danny Ho.

"Thank you guys for helping me get this Air BNB thing off the ground..."said Nell..

Darryl smiled at Kayla and Ray...

"Yall made it this time huh? You aint getting left behind..." he laughed..

"No Not this time.." said Ray...

We all hugged and kissed and boarded our flight back to Philly....

The flight was Three and a Half hours...

A Transport Bus was there as we ordered... We packed everybody's luggage and gifts with the exception of Olivia and Mine..We had the SUV...

We followed them as the bus let us off at our home..

Josie and Paris

were spending the night with Beverly and Nelson..

 and Alfreda and Rockland were staying with

Olivia and I

in our extra room...

The Bus dropped

Kayla and Ray and Yvette and Gary off next..

Yvette was home long enough to unpack her bags and her gifts...

Then she retreated to Gary's house...Her second home...

Last but not least...The bus dropped Keith, Bee Bee, Sofia ,Kahlil and Jade off at their apartment complexes..

They were happy to be home...sleeping in their own beds...

Danny Ho would spend the night with Jade...

EPILOUGE-

LATER THAT AFTERNOON-

 "Wow this was such a nice Christmas.....I can't remember when I've had a better time..."said Olivia..

"Me neither...You practically had your entire family with you...Beverly and Nelson, Kayla and Ray and it was nice to add Rockland and Alfreda.."I said..

"And Vettie and her people... She spent Christmas with me and Bev, Jimmy and Kayla and my mother and father when we were in law school...She is an only child and she's often said I was the closest thing to a sister she's ever had.."said Olivia.

"Well she's got you and quite a nice family of her own now with Gary and those four kids and Jade.."I said..

"Yes, I'm happy for her...and us...."said Olivia..

I took her in my arms....

I kissed her passionately...….

"Merry Christmas baby!" I said..

"Merry Christmas to you too husband.." she said...

And to all, a good night!