Every year now, when Christmas rolls around, I think of Wrens entry into the world and how joy and peace came with her and filled our holiday season with a deeper meaning.

Christmas was now new beginnings, and Christmas wishes, It was celebrating our family's existence and remembering a time that Harper was brave, and like a warrior, as all women are, she brought life into the world, for her, for me, for us all.

Wren being two was quite unbelievable in a way, where had those years gone, our little baby was quite grown up. Her legs were getting long, her arms were too, and her chub was mostly gone. Wrens strawberry blonde hair was down just past her shoulders now, and her big icy blue eyes, they sucked you right in until she got what she wanted.

Wrens birthday this year would be spent in our first little house together, it was a buyers market right now, and so I just went ahead and bought something. We didn't plan to buy anything yet, but I figured we could rent it out, when we eventually found something more ideal, and who could pass up living right next door to Willa?!

We didn't tell them we had bought the house next door, not until we packed the U-Haul up with all of our belongings. We told them we would show them the house when we got there, we backed out of the drive and turned into the cul-de-sac.

Willa's brows knit together "you turned the wrong way" she observes.

We tried not to give ourselves away with laughter before pulling into the drive next door.

Willa and Allie turned to us wide eyed, and then with excitement they leapt out of the van and pulled us into their arms, as we stepped out too.

"No way" Allie squealed "my baby's next door" and she ran to the boundary line and jumped over it "home" she called, then she jumped back to our side "my baby's home" she called again with delight.

We let Wren back out of the van, and she ran across to Allie who threw her up in the air excitedly "my little Wren right next to her gaga where she should be"

Willa places her arms around our shoulders as we all look on, to our new home "I'm so proud of you" she whispers.

I look to her and smile "thanks Wills" and I take Harpers hand beside me  "come on then my beautiful wife... let me carry you over the threshold" I say picking Harper up as she begins to laugh.

I carry her across the lawn, her arms wrapped around my neck, her cute denim overalls making me reminisce to a time she wore them all the time, and as we approach the door, I juggle her a little with the key.

"Teddy you're going to drop me" she squeals.

I tighten my grip as I place the key in the lock and kick the door open with my sneaker "I would never drop you Harps" and I walk her into the house, straight across to the kitchen counter and drop her down on top "welcome home baby"

She takes my cheeks, firmly in her hands, and kisses my lips "God, I love you Theodora".

"It's the mirror image of ours" Willa observes.

I turn, and release Harper as I do, she slips down from the counter to look around with Allie "it is" I confirm.

Willa and I do a walk through "The wood is far too dark. I need to lighten it up a bit, we need to paint all the way through. These people loved the colour purple, but other than that, it's in good condition, and the kitchen and bathrooms are all new"

"Three beds or four?" Willa asks.

I point up the stair case "Four... two en-suite"

"Perfect" she returns.

We head up the stairs, following Allie and Harper with Wren "this is Wrens room" I say pointing to the second largest with an en-suite, and a view of Willa's house across the side aspect.

I walk to the end of the hall and push open the door "and this is ours" I announce excitedly.

Harper pushes in behind me, her hand squeezing my waist "our own personal view of the valley" she muses. "It's so perfect"

Allie nods as she joins us all, walking toward the window "Oh Harper, you have the view. I am just so overwhelmed girls, that you will be next door. I was imagining you would all end up so far from me, and you are a few feet away instead"

"Mama this is only our two year house... we may very well move away at some point... Teddy's job isn't one that stays in one place long. We would rent it out, so that we kept hold of it though, we figured perhaps Mary and Erica may want to rent it one day to be closer to Willa... who knows"

"Okay" Allie says begrudgingly, brushing her hand down Wrens cheek "I won't get too attached to you all being here, but, just so you know, if you move west coast, Mary and Erica won't need to move here to be close to Willa... because we are going to have to come there"

We both laugh "oh mama" Harper says affectionately, giving her a tight hug, a hug that kind of squeezed Wren too, which made her giggle.

"Allie ...we are moving?" Willa questioned, eyebrow raised. It was the first she had heard of it.

Allie nods "they jump...we jump" she replies.

Willa shakes her head "Okay then" she muses and she wraps her arms around Allie and places her chin on her shoulder "I guess it doesn't matter where we land, not really, as long as we don't miss a moment of you guys and the kids... " Willa says, looking to Harper and I "family is what matters, not the location"

"Kids" Allie asks "plural" she adds amused.

Willa looks back to me and Harper "they bought a four bedroomed house... they clearly intend to fill it a little"

"She's not wrong" I reveal.

Allies eyes widen "you guys are killing me today. I'm going to need to sit down in a minute, with a whiskey"

Allie places Wren down to look around the room "you've moved next door and announced you intend to have more babies, all within ten minutes, anything else you want to tell me" she asks.

"Well no, but whilst you are here I would like to borrow you Allie?" I ask.

She looks to me curiously.

"Can you come with me?" I ask.

Harper reaches for my hand as we turn to leave "what is this about" she asks curiously.

I raise an eyebrow teasingly "nothing for your pretty little ears to hear"

Wren follows Allie and I out of the room. I pick her up as we go back down the stairs, before placing her back down safely at the bottom step, to run around the open space.

"Teddy" Allie asks, with a twinkle in her eye "has the time come" she adds with a little grin.

I walk her through to the furthest room, away from Harper. "It is a little late on arriving, I know, but Allie, I want to ask you, as the mama of the girl I love, the girl I adore and would happily die for... can I take her hand?" I ask.

Allie tears up a little, which makes my own eyes misty "I thought you would never ask" she says, and reaches her arms out and brings me in for a hug "I only have one condition for my child to marry..." she states as she lets me go "and that is that she marries for love, just like my own mama said to me. I don't even have to ask her that though Teddy, because you've made Harper the happiest girl in the world. I've never seen her more content and confident in her identity, she's so full of life and joy and it's all because you bring out the best in her, because you love her with no boundaries or walls"

She hugs me tighter before releasing me, and holds my shoulders lovingly "You are both finally free to run into the sunset together, and I personally adore a sunset... so yes you may take her hand...I wouldn't let her take anyone else's, not now I know it's you, the one for her, it's you"

"Thank you. I won't let you down... I will take good care of her, of them all" I promise.

She nods contently "I know you will" she whispers.

Willa and Harper reappear, and Allie turns away quickly, wiping her eyes, to avoid anyone noticing.

"What was that about" Harper asks.

I point out the back, to the yard "I wanted to ask your mama to be our personal gardener since she's such a perfectionist in her own yard" I lie.

Harper raises an eyebrow at me "sure" she says disbelievingly.

***
After a couple of days moving in and painting, we took Wren down to the local farm to pick out our Christmas tree. The tradition of picking out a tree seven times taller than Wren began again, this time as we stood her against a couple seven footers, we grimaced a little "this won't be a fun game in a few years... she's already grown enough to warrant the next size up" Teddy confessed.

I shook my head, adjusting my winter hat "you started it Ted... now you must live with the consequences" I say teasingly.

We both take one of Wrens hands, her little hands are gloved and kind of slip through your fingers without a firm grip. I look down at her between us and smile, she is wearing a red winter bobble hat and an all in one snowsuit that's navy blue with snow people on it that also have little red hats on. Her little feet scuff along the ground beside ours as we walk down the muddied walk way between the trees, her tan snow boots making her look like she was doing the moon walk, with large exaggerated steps.

She looks up at me as if she senses my gaze, and smiles, and Teddy looks to me too, and her dimples pop. It's one of those moments, with the scent of the trees, the flashing coloured lights in my peripheral, and the sounds of carol singers in the distance, that kind of takes my breath away. I had never felt happier in my entire life. I expected I would look back as we all got older, and this moment would play for me like a home movie, of a time that life was so pure, so full of adventure, and a whole life ahead together. I knew I would get a little sentimental one day, at how it all was, back when our youngest was small, and our life was just beginning.

"You okay" Teddy asks, noting my expression and silence.

I lift my lips "perfect" I return.

We both look to Wren, stomping through the mud, and Teddy shakes her head "perfectly imperfect" she adds, and I couldn't agree more.

***
With our giant tree erected in the family room, coloured lights strewn across it, Wren and Teddy placed the last ornament, the star.

Teddy holds her up so she looks like superman, and she giggles away as Teddy pretends to drop her into the tree, her little fingers poised with the star, ready to place it. I step up onto the ladder beside her and help guide her to it "there" I say.

Her little face lights up and the star is placed "star" she says.

Teddy and I clap "yes... star" we say.

"astéri" Teddy adds.

She looks at us both, strawberry blonde wisps of hair covering her little features "stari" she tries to say.

Teddy and I look to each other "that works" Teddy confirms. She kisses her nose as she sat her back in her arms from the outstretched superman pose, and I lowered back down the ladder.

The house wasn't much like home yet after only a week, we had unpacked and bought some new furniture. Willa as apparently promised, sent her couch over with a giant bow on it, and a card that read "I think this is yours"

Teddy had to explain how she had teased Willa, that we had had sex on the couch whilst they had been away for Valentine's Day. I was mortified, and hit her with the cloth I was holding, but it was a welcomed sight in the family room, and it kind of made it feel more like home. It smelt comforting, like Willa and mamas house.

I had come to learn though, as we got to Wrens birthday, and both mama and Willa, Mary and Erica (who were down for Christmas) stopped in for her little tea party, that a house was only a home with people in it, and love living and breathing inside of it. As we all sat around the kitchen table, singing Wren a happy birthday, every person focused on her, beaming with love and pride, I finally felt at home. We made it home, the people inside of it, we lived and breathed love into it, making the walls of it warm, and the bones of it ours. Teddy would cement our stamp on this house that night, when we put Wren down to sleep, all partied out from her party, beyond loved, and her belly full of cake.

"Come down stairs" Teddy asks, taking my hand from where she stood halfway down the staircase.

I note the lights flickering below and look to her curiously. I take her hand, and she leads me down to the bottom step, my eyes looking to the candles, beautiful flickering candles and flowers everywhere. On the back wall, is an old fashioned style video camera that's playing against the white wall, flickering away. It is showing old home movies, of me when I was little, and then Teddy and her sisters, all kind of merging and one after the other. There was my mama and daddy with me at Christmas... my first steps... my first time on a bike... every first my dad had ever captured on film. Then would come Teddy's home movies, her deep dimples and cheeky grin thrown onto the wall, as she threw baskets and her baba cheered her on. Willa popped up next, holding a little Teddy up high, so that she could make the shot, and I gasped a little to see that. Willa was in so many of Teddy's home movies with the family, it was easy to forget that she had been there since Teddy was only three years old. I look sideways to Teddy as her eyes mist up like mine, and we just stand there in the middle of the room, both watching these clips play around each other. Mama comes on screen with me for a few seconds, cuddling me as I wriggled out of her arms wickedly, and then we fade out to Teddy, sat on Callie's shoulders, as she walked into the ocean with her, a holiday somewhere beautiful, most obviously Greece. A young Thea pops up next, throwing Teddy into a river,  and then she walks away. Demitra can be seen rolling her eyes dramatically into the camera as Christos had to drop the camera and run in to retrieve little Teddy.

She came out of the water, giggling away, completely unharmed, and you can hear Christos call in his thick accent "Thea... why did you do that?"

And the little blonde turns around and declares "She loves it" and she wasn't wrong, because little Teddy was giggling away.

I start to laugh through tears "you guys don't change" I whisper, as the sound and picture changes back to me with Mama, a holiday at the lake, and a similar video of us in the water, but mama is teaching me how to swim.

The video plays out and I am in awe of how she's managed to do this, to merge all of that so beautifully, to hear our voices coming together, almost as if we knew each other for a lifetime already, and to see the parallels of our lives, to see so much love on either side for us both.

Teddy and I were both well loved children, that was clear, and now we had our own, together.

As the screen goes black it lights back up again and Teddy appears on screen, a recent video as she's in this house... with Wren on her hip "Hi Harper... say hi to mama,Wren" she says to her.

Wren follows Teddy's guidance and waves at the camera "hi mama" she says turning her head sideways, sweetly, and she continues to wave.

Teddy smiles and looks back to the camera "I hope you enjoyed our home movie, there have been so many firsts in our lives,
so many moments that imprinted forever, many apart but many together...and here's one of our firsts" she says holding Wren up in her hands as she giggles "our first baby" she says proudly and she places her back on her hip "and our first home... I'm literally stood in it right now" she says, gesturing to the floor.

I turn to her beside me and smile before looking back "our first time" she says wriggling her eyebrows and she looks to Wren who starts to do it too.

Teddy laughs "I still can't believe she can do that" she says looking back to the camera jovially "anyway ... so many firsts ...Harper Jameson... you are my first official girlfriend, my first love, my first baby mama, my first legal wife and now I really hope you will say yes and become my first fiancée... because we skipped that title and I know you like to collect them all" she says jovially "so will you Harper ... will you marry me... romantically?" She asks.

The video cuts, and I turn and find Teddy on her knee, a beautiful ring raised up between her fingers "Will you" she whispers.

I gaze down to her large brown eyes, full to the brim with emotion and her dimples that deepen as I smile.

I just nod silently, with the broadest grin,
as she lifts me up into the air and spins me around, peppering my cheeks with kisses before slipping the ring onto my finger.

It was the most beautiful platinum band, with a large diamond at its centre. "Wow" I observe "Teddy it's beautiful" I say dropping my hand, and instead cupping her cheeks and looking into her eyes "Teddy that was so beautiful" I confess through happy tears.

She leans forward and captures my lips softly as she runs her fingers through my hair.

As we break away from the kiss, I look back to the ring on my finger and smile "a fiancée" I say out loud "I've completed the title trifecta" I beam.

She laughs "and I went to your mama, your daddy, and also grandpa Joseph, for some sage advice and wise words"

"You did" I ask.

Teddy nods "I did, and they all agreed that you couldn't do better" she teases, laughing.

"I couldn't" I agree, and I stroke her cheek "God I love you Theodora Nomikos, and seeing those videos of you when you were little, it makes me want a baby Teddy even more" I say shaking my head "you were the cutest thing" I confess thinking about her little chubby dimpled cheeks and large chocolate brown eyes.

"Be careful what you wish for... it's Christmas Eve and those wishes tend to come true" she reminds me, eyebrows raised.

I grin "Will it come true?" I ask "this year coming?"

She nods " So can I tell you my plan.." she asks.

I nod slowly, and await her words, staring at her lips in apprehension.

"I'm not going to play next years season" she announces.

My eyes widen with surprise, as my frown deepens "I'm sorry what?"

She takes a deep breath, and sits us both down on the couch "Harper, I can't play basketball and be heavily pregnant at the same time"

My features must all change instantly, as I take in what she's saying "you want to take a year off to have a baby" I ask, completely caught off guard.

She nods "most definitely" she confesses. "Because my wish, and I believe yours too, for Wren this year, is for her to get a sibling... god willing"

"Yes, yes I want that more than anything" I say eagerly grabbing at her hands and bringing them into my own.

She lets my hands go, and cups my cheeks "so you want to make a baby with me?" She asks wiggling her eyebrows.

I lean forward and kiss her lips before breaking away smiling "no time like the present to try" I say playfully.

She lifts me up from the couch, like I was as light as a feather, and carries me up the stairs to our bed.

We obviously didn't make a baby that night, but boy did we try... and try.... and try.