023

I couldn't stop the tears and the pain in my stomach was overwhelming. I had to stop laughing or else I felt like I was going to pass out. "I don't find it that funny," Sidney said as he stood next to our Christmas tree. "Honestly, look at it. It's cute, it really is, and it's very thoughtful of you to go get one. It's the Charlie Brown tree though, look hang an ornament on the top." He pulled an ornament out of a box and hung it on one of the top branches, and the branch quickly bent downwards, the ornament was too heavy for it. More laughter came and I fell onto the couch, I was happy to see that Sidney found humor in this too. "Okay so it's our little Charlie Brown tree, but it's our tree," he laughed sitting down next to me. I curled up into his arms and we both starred at our three-foot Christmas tree. "I love it," I smiled leaning up to give him a kiss. "So can we have sex yet? No rush, just wondering?" he asked trying to act very sly about it. "Yes we can, but I want to wait, it's my present to you for tomorrow. So what do you want to do tonight?" "I think we should bake cookies." My eyes lit up. Did he just say he wants to bake cookies? Is he going soft on me? I chuckled a little and jumped up to go into the kitchen. "Okay, looks like we have everything we need," I shouted to him only to notice he wasn't on the couch anymore.

I began to pull out bowls and cookie sheets when I heard Sidney coughing out in the living room. "This is your first present," he said as I glanced up at him. Yet again I began to laugh. "Can you turn around for me?" He spun around and sure enough, no underwear. Completely naked with just an apron on with Marty Turco's face on it. "This might be the best present I have ever received, just be careful not to burn anything," I laughed as I flipped the front of the apron up with a wooden spoon. "Hey now, don't wake him up." Baking with him, knowing he was naked was such a turn on for me, I didn't want to wait to give him his present. I turned around to see him bend over to put another sheet of cookies in the oven. "Hey, since I'm on the edge right now, and I want to attack you, how about we just exchange gifts tonight and then we can recover tomorrow?" I asked laughing. "You really got me sex didn't you?" he laughed right back. "There's more to it," I smiled. "Okay, I want to give you your gift first then," he smiled before running back to the bedroom. He walked back out and handed me a jewelry box that was obviously holding a necklace. I opened it to see a beautiful white gold chain with a ring hanging off of it. I looked at the ring and immediately knew what it was. "It's Irish and it says. . . " Sidney began to explain but I cut him off. "Mo anam cara, my soul mate." A huge smile came over my face as I pulled the chain out and had Sidney put it on me. "I thought it could kind of be a promise ring, as corny as that sounds. I know you wear a claddagh so that's why I put this on a chain." "Sidney," nothing else could come out of my mouth. He thinks I'm his soul mate. I could only kiss him. "So what about my present?" he asked raising his eyebrows at me. "We need to wait until these cookies are done, then I will go get it."

One last check in the mirror, I threw my hair up into a very messy bun, tugged at my skirt a little bit and walked outside of the bedroom. I had picked up one last accessory for my outfit, a whip and shouted for Sidney to close his eyes. I stood in front of him between the couch and the coffee table. "Okay you ready? Open your eyes," I smiled and he quickly opened his eyes. He grabbed my thighs and looked over every square inch of my body. "I uh . . . I uh . . . " he was speechless. "You're going to do what I say, and right now you are just going to sit there," I smiled before I turned around and pushed the coffee table away a little bit. I spread my legs and bent over to touch the ground, giving him a little bit of a sneak peak. He reached back out for my thighs but I quickly hit him with the whip. "I didn't say you could touch." I could only hope that he thought this was sexy because I felt like a dork. I went on with my lap dance, and I didn't know how much longer he could endure as I could feel he was already very hard underneath his apron. I crawled on top of him and pulled my hair out of the bun it was in. I began to kiss him along his neck and reached around and untied his apron, but I didn't take it off. I crawled back off of him and slowly pulled the skirt off throwing it at him. He gripped it in his hand and the smile on his face was still there. After a little bit more shimmying and shaking, I untied the back of the corset and did my best stripper moves to take it off. I pulled a condom out of thong and finally took his apron off.

I arched my back and could hear it cracking in several different places. "You're getting old," Sidney laughed as he rolled over and gave me a kiss. "Old people don't bend the way I do." "That is very true, that was the best Christmas Eve ever, hands down. Merry Christmas baby, should we go see what Santa brought us?" "You are such a dork, Merry Christmas Sid," I laughed and he sat up. "No really, we should go see." He pulled me up and he slipped into some boxer briefs. I slipped into some underwear and threw on one of his t-shirts. He tangled his fingers with mine and I walked out to see a box underneath our Charlie Brown tree. "See you were a good girl this year," Sidney smiled as he kissed me on the neck and then ushered me over to the tree. I picked up the box and took the lid off to find a folded piece of paper. "Go put some warm clothes on and head out to your car," I read out loud before looking at Sidney completely dumbfounded. He grabbed my hand and dragged me to the bedroom when he changed into jeans and a sweatshirt, I quickly followed suit. "Are you sending me on a scavenger hunt?" I asked pulling one of his sweatshirts over my head and then put his gongshow hat on. "Maybe," he smiled.

I jumped into my Jeep, and Sidney crawled into the passenger seat. I pulled a note down from the rear view mirror and read it out loud, "you lost half of your saliva here. Hint: apron." I started my car and sat there thinking for a minute. I looked at Sidney and he was playing with his fingers. "Apron? Oh, oh! Half my saliva, whatever," I laughed as I pulled out of the driveway. The streets of Pittsburgh were empty and the snow was slowly starting to fall, it reminded me of the day Sidney and I met. I pulled up in front of the restaurant where we ate with Marty Turco. I got out and looked around a little bit, Sidney stayed in the car and rolled down his window. I turned around and looked at him a little frustrated. He kept looking down at my shoes, so I looked down along the sidewalk and found a box by the door. I opened the box to find a Red Hook bottle cap. I climbed back into the car and drove to the brewery. "You are so excited right now, it's cute," Sidney laughed. "I've never been on a scavenger hunt before," I smiled. I pulled up to the brewery and saw another box by the front door. I jumped out, grabbed it and got back in the car. I opened it up to pull out a Smithwicks glass with a note inside. "Mo anam cara, go to the bone crusher for your big surprise," I read out loud then yet again became stumped, "the bone crusher, would that be where we met?" There was no expression on his face at all, so I went ahead with it and went to the intersection where we first met. I pulled up to the light to see a large sign on the side of the road, 'psych! you might as well head home'. "Head home? What?" I asked Sidney turning to look at him. "Well you better do what it says," he laughed. I was trying my hardest not to speed home, but I was very excited. I pulled into the driveway to see a very large Irish flag hanging on my garage that wasn't there before. I turned my car off and ran up to the flag where I found a letter attached to the top right corner. As I opened it up Sidney wrapped his arms around my waist.

Mo anam cara,
Merry Christmas Avery! I hope you had fun driving around town today, it brings a lot of memories back seeing those places this morning. There's nothing I want more than to make more memories with you, so this summer we are going to the Smithwick's brewery in Kilkenny, Ireland. Just you and I in a castle for five days exploring the west coast of Ireland. Make sure you prepare yourself to drink because we will be going on a few private tours of some of the oldest breweries in Ireland. Cheers my love, Sidney.

I turned in Sidney's arms and gave him a big kiss. "Sid, this is amazing, thank you so much," I smiled before kissing him again. "I want to make you breakfast," I smiled before dragging him into the house. I quickly made some banana pancakes and brought a plate to Sidney who was sitting on the couch watching 'A Christmas Story'. "This has to be the best Christmas ever," Sidney mumbled with a mouth full of pancakes. Oh my word it's Christmas, only a matter of days until I'm 25, half way to thirty, eek!! "It really is," I smiled before kissing him on the cheek.