8 Christmas and Gifts 1

[ Note: A little magic in this chapter :).

Enjoy the chapter and Happy reading! ]

It was the evening of the Christmas Eve, as the day was heading towards the end the weather became colder.

Ray had planned a special surprise for all of them. He had organised a camp fire in the backyard of their house. He had set up a tent like structure in the four corners of the backyard for the family to be seated so that they could avoid snow flakes falling on them directly.

He also wanted to make sure that the musical instruments which he had planned to set up was not directly exposed to the snow. The camp fire would be set up in the middle of the yard.

He had planned many games which could be played as a family. There was sumptuous food, wine and Christmas carols.

After the games were played it was time for the Carols. Ray brought out his Guitar, while his dad was at the Piano.

As per the usual custom, Rachael was the first to sing. She had picked up a very special Carol song "I'll be Home for Christmas (1943) when the rest of the family except Ethan pitched in for the chorus part.

And then it was Rachael's mum turn to sing. She sang the Silent night from 1818

[ Author's Note: This is my personal favourite :) ]

And then there was "Bleak mid winter" followed by "O come all Ye Faithful" and the list continued.

The family sung for close to one and a half hours and then it was time for dinner.

Ethan helped Ray carry the Piano inside the house and then the two men help set up the table for dinner.

Rachael and her dad helped her mum get the dishes out on to the table. The menu consisted of

- Vine (Ray had taken this effort of sourcing vine as per each ones liking)

- Ginger bread (which is a must for winters and perfect for the holiday season.)

- Fish Pie with Cheesy Mash

- Garlic Rosemary Prime Rib Roast with Horse Radish Cream

- Secret Ingredient Honey Garlic Roasted Carrots.

- Vegetables Bechamel Lasagna

- Christmas pudding for the dessert

Rachael's mom had planned more dishes for Christmas dinner.

Ethan was silently thinking in his mind, if the Christmas Eve had such good spread how wonderful will the actual Christmas dinner be. His mouth drooled just thinking about it.

Overall it was a wonderful and a fun filled evening and was well spent.

The family was from Zeus, and they never celebrated Christmas while they were on their home planet. But after moving to earth they had fallen in love with this planet, it's customs, culture and the mannerism.

They made sure to celebrate all of the local festivals and they enjoyed them.

The first year on earth they just saw how people around celebrated festivals. Rachael's parents did a detailed study about all these festivals after each festival and made their notes. Starting second year they also started following these festivals.

The initial two years they celebrated these festivals just to make sure they did look like odd man out of the society. But eventually they had fallen in love with these festivals and now the festivals were a part of their lives.

They never hesitated to follow the culture and customs , which they had embraced.

Rachael's parents had planned to make earth their permanent home. And where their children wanted to settle was a decision left to them.They never interfered or forced their decision upon their children.

All of them stayed up until midnight and once the clock struck 12, they hugged each other wishing each one of them a "Merry Christmas". After this, the entire family took part in clearing up everything before heading back to their beds.

There was a joyous feeling in each one of their hearts except Rachael. But she did not show her feelings to anyone and her certain thoughts were securely sealed. All thanks to spell shared by Ray.

Everyone woke up a little late than usual on Christmas Day, as they all had stayed up late the previous night. Their dad had ordered breakfast from outside. He had seen his wife toiling in the kitchen for the last few days in preparation for Christmas and he wanted to give her a break. He wanted to make sure that she enjoyed Christmas to the fullest.

All of them freshened up and got ready to go to Church. Breakfast was to arrive late as they had planned for a brunch which was trending these days. The family headed to the Church for Christmas prayers. Ray had taught Ethan on the Church Etiquette's which made Ethan comfortable while he was at Church.

This was the church which was closest to their home. It was a 15 mins drive and the family has been visiting it since their move here. The family had moved to New York after Rachael's wedding and it was a second visit to the church for Rachael.

While the prayers were going on Ethan stood on the left of Rachael and Ray stood on her right. Her parents stood next to right of Ray. During the prayers Rachael had an urge to open her eyes and look up at the idol of the lord she had seen and admired during her last visit.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked up to see the Lord. She saw a hallow which was glowing green on top of Jesus's head. It gradually turned to pink and then back to green. It looked real pretty and gave her a warm feeling in her heart.

She thought that probably this was due to some special light effects shown only during special occasions. She had not seen it the last time she had been here for prayers. She closed her eyes and continued praying.

After the prayers she again felt like looking at the idol and she no longer could see that hallow. She found it a little strange and felt that they must be turning it on only during prayers and now that the prayers were over they must have turned it off.

Rachael wanted to ask Ray about the hallow and why was it turned off, but held back and sealed the thought. She was waiting for the right opportunity. But with Ray and Ethan always hanging out together she just couldn't open up to her brother easily this time.

They all headed back home after the prayers. The breakfast arrived in 20 minutes once they reached home. After the breakfast it was time to open the gifts and to check what each one of them had received as Christmas presents.

Rachael was beginning to open her presents. She had received a brand new iphone from her brother Ray. All the nostalgic feelings from what happened with her a few years back on Zon rushed to her from her sub conscious memory and she immediately sealed it. (1)***

This was a painful memory she wanted to forget and had succeeded in forgetting it as she had consciously tried. She hugged her brother while tearing up. She loved her brother and no one knew the amount of love she had for her little brother.

She was glad that until this time she had forgotten about this memory and this was stored in her sub conscious memory. The sub conscious memory was one that no one could sneak into except my be god. The active memory was the only one anybody could sneak into.

Her mum saw her eyes filled with tears and she immediately got into her daughter's memory but couldn't find anything as Rachael was quick enough to seal it.

After hugging her brother Rachael quickly wiped her tears without anyone noticing but her mum did notice it. She knew that Rachael was hiding something but she didn't want to ask her unless Rachael opened it up to her.

Rachael was back to her normal self within few seconds and then she opened gifts given by her parents.

Her mum had presented her with a bag from Victoria Beckham's designer collections as she knew Rachael loved collecting bags and and how crazy she was about her fashion idol Victoria. She gave a joyful squeal before giving a warm hug to her mother and kissing her.

She then went ahead to open the present given by her dad. It was a bag too but something different and not unique. It was a an soul space bag and her dad had ordered it this year for her daughter specially from Zeus.

This bag was invented by famous scientists from Zeus and there was years of effort to get the right product made. It was finally certified by the authorities of Zeus before being launched into the market a few months ago. Rachael's dad was one among the early customers to place an order for it.

The bag could be used as is, or could be set to invisible mode and then clubbed with another bag. Any number of items could be stuffed into it and it would still remain weightless.

Searching for anything inside the bag also was made easy. The person using the bag had to put her hand inside the bag and think of the item she was looking for and the item would move close to her hand for her to grab it. (2)***

There was a few instructions to be followed before using the bag and this had to be done every time the person had to use the bag. There were two spells to be used.

The first one was to link the bag to the soul and this was done merely for security reasons. Even if the external bag attached to this soul space bag was lost or stolen the soul space bag would still be intact and could not be stolen until it was de-linked from soul.

The second spell was to put an un breakable lock on the bag with an encrypted key when the bag was not in use. This was again for safety reason. It was important to de-link the bag while sleeping and while bathing.

Had this bag been invented on earth it would have been a dream come true for all the women who carried heavy bags.And there would be mad rush to get one.

Her dad knew that Rachael had Poshitis - A syndrome leading to muscle and ligament damage that can result from carrying heavy bags in the crook of the arm like fashion designer Victoria Beckham.

Rachael being a big fan of Victoria copied many of her fashion and style statements, if not all. And this was the best present she got from her dad this year. This would be very handy for her. She could continue following her idol without further damaging her elbow ligament. She jumped in joy and gave a happy hug to her dad.

"I love you Dad. Thank you so much for this gift. I love this gift so much and will cherish it for the rest of my life"

Her dad felt happy knowing that her daughter loved his present.

Finally it was time to open the gift which was given by Ethan. She wasn't really interested in his gift and deliberately had kept it at last to see it. She had to put up a fake acting in front of her family that she was all good with her husband.

She opened the box to find a beautiful gold ring which was adorned with tiny rubies, emeralds and sapphire stones surrounding a single diamond stone cut in the shape of a heart. The ring looked exquisite and one of its kind.

She just gave a quick smile to Ethan and gave him a quick hug. If this was given by someone else in the family or by Ethan himself may be a year before her reaction may have been different.

Ethan knew all of his wife's likings and this he had specially gotten it custom made for his sweetheart. But after seeing her pale and fake reaction which she was forcibly putting on, Ethan was disheartened. He just gave her a smile back.

No one seemed to notice the gradual break that was slowly occurring between the couple. Both of them were silently suffering their pain.

Rachael seemed aloof to Ethan's emotions right now. She did admire the craftsmanship of the ring but she just wanted to get off this relationship after what she had been silently dealing with. That would have been her best gift. She was ok to be single all her life and could be at her parents side in their old age supporting them.

She was forced into a marriage although it helped her save Ray but this was one decision that the destiny never gave her a choice. This was one decision she wanted to take it was snatched off her. Thinking about her plight she silently sighed.

Rachael then noticed an instructions slip inside the box along with a note attached. She initially thought it to be the bill, but the bill and the price of the present was never disclosed to the recipient. That caught her attention and she removed it from the box.

To be continued...

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Author's Note:

Updated : Made edits to paragraphs for convenience while reading and adding few references.

Reference:

(1) *** - Rachael was teleported along with her phone to Zon a planet in a different universe where she was held captive a few years back. During those days the mobile which was gifted by Ray had helped her in many ways although it was outdated.

If you are interested to know more on what happened then, you can check out the Novel "Finding Ray".

(2)** - This book has little of everything from Refreshing Romance, Touch of Magic, Science and Mystery. So the bag gifted to Rachael by her dad is a concept which I picked up from some show. Ok now I can't tell the show or I'll have to hide ROFL :D