Christmas

Christmas wasn’t like it was for me back in the day. When I was younger, I couldn’t wait to get up to open the little bit of presents that I had. I would be up by 8 am knocking on the door for my mama to bring her ass. Here it was, 10 am on Christmas day, and my girls still weren’t up. I was more excited than they were. I walked to Logan’s room first because my baby girl was the one who had toys and shit to open. Ava only wanted clothes, shoes, a MacBook and them ear air pod shits.

“Loggy Logs,” I said, snuggling up with her in the bed.

“What Dad?” she said groggily.

“Wake up. It’s Christmas stinky butt.”

“Dad, it will be Christmas all day. Let me sleep.”

I laughed at this smart little girl and started to tickle her. That would get her butt up.

“Okay, okay Daddy! I’m up, I’m up.” She laughed like crazy.

“Aite. Go brush your teeth with that dragon, funky breath.”

“Oh, you’re one to talk,” she said, going in her bathroom and shutting the door. I had one up and one to go. Ava wasn’t that hard to wake up once she heard she had the latest Balenciaga’s under the tree.

I watched my babies tear through the expensive black and silver wrapping that the girls had to have all their gifts wrapped in, and I couldn’t put a price on their smiles. All I heard was, thank you Daddy, this is exactly what I wanted Daddy.

I even copped baby girl a training bra that she begged me for. The girls went on playing around with their new gifts and I showered and slipped out for a minute. Chef Carry was there preparing breakfast and dinner and my little brother had come over to get the gifts that I had gotten for him. His big sixteen-year-old ass still got excited about Christmas. He didn’t know that he cost me damn near $10,000 alone because of the grown man designer clothes and shoes that he wore.

My first stop was to Danni’s so I could drop my nieces and my nephew’s shit off. Their house was filled with wrapping paper and the kids looked happy as hell thanking Mario for their things. Mario wasn’t even the oldest two kids’ dad, but he treated them no different from his kid. My sister just sat there on the phone not even interacting with the kids. That shit pissed me off, so I dipped before I broke the fucking phone and stuffed it down her throat. My second stop was to each of my older brother Jaylen’s, baby mamas’ houses, and it was five of them shits. I couldn’t wait until his ass got out next month so that primarily taking care of his kids wouldn’t be left solely on me.

Lastly, I made it to my mom’s crib and dropped off her and her husband Cliff’s gifts. Cliff was the best damn stepfather. He was the one who taught me how to be a man. My mom met him when I was sixteen and he couldn’t have come at a better time because I was spiraling out of control. I chopped it up with Mom and wiped her tears because I had gotten her these diamond earrings that she had been saving up to get for months. They cost a pretty penny too, but there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for my mama.

My last stop was to the K-Spot. I arrived just as Kayla was parking.

“Merry Christmas Jahfar! What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Oh, I came here to see you really quick.”

“Well, where is my gift?” she asked like the spoiled brat that she was.

I pulled out a stack and put it in her hand. Kayla was all about the green. Her eyes lit up like she was twelve again before she jumped on me and hugged me.

“Aite now, Kayla. Get the fuck off me,” I joked.

“Boy, whatever. I don’t want to mess up that new Gucci sweater you’re rocking, but Anna is in there. I know you didn’t come here to see me because you didn’t even know that I would be here. I came over to invite her to my place for dinner, but I guess that isn’t necessary anymore, huh?”

She thought that she was so funny with that damn clown ass smile on her face. I didn’t even answer her ass and went in without her.

Anna’s door was closed so I knocked.

“Come in,” she sang sweetly.

“Merry Christmas,” I said after opening the door. She was sitting on a bean bag reading The Color Purple.

“Merry Christmas to you too,” she said, kind of caught off guard.

“So, check this out. I’m cooking tonight at my spot. It will be just me and my daughters and I would like for you to join us. And before you say no, the little one put me up to this. She said, ‘Daddy ask the lady that we picked up that night to come to our house. You know, the one who looked like a melanin queen.’” I did my best impersonating Logan with her little raspy voice.

She laughed. “And how could I say no to someone who described yours truly as a melanin queen? Sure, I will come.”

Damn, I thought for sure that I would have to drag her out kicking and screaming, but shit went by smooth as hell. Anna mentioned that she didn’t really have family, so I didn’t want her to be alone on Christmas.

“Okay, so I will give you some time to get ready and I will send a car for you around four. Is that cool?”

“Yep, I will be ready. See you guys then.”