All I could think about for the rest of the day was the advice that Doug had given me.

It even rang through my head as I was wrapping Ellie's present the next day. I was listening to Dan giving Ellie a piano lesson in the living room as I was in my and Dan's bedroom trying to figure out how to properly wrap a music box because wrapping wasn't exactly something that I was gifted in.
You're going to make mistakes, whether you like it or not.
Doug's advice from yesterday began echoing in my head for what felt like the millionth time since he first said it to me.
When either one of you, or both of you if it applies to the situation, I want you or Dan or both of you to learn from the mistake that you made so that you don't keep on making the same mistakes over and over again.
I sighed as I realized that I hadn't even talked to Dan about what Doug had told me. I was too tired after coming home from the mall because I had been gone for much longer than I would've liked, mostly due to the fact that Doug's quite a talker and it's very difficult to get out of a conversation with him when he starts talking because he just loves talking to people so much. Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course. It's just a little bit annoying when you're like me and like to go to places to get what I need as quickly as possible and not waste time conversing with others and wandering around stores for no good reason.

*****

As I finally figured out how to properly wrap Ellie's music box, I heard the piano come to a sudden stop. Confused as to why this happened, I stood up and began making my way downstairs. Once I had made my way down there, I saw both Dan and Ellie sitting on the piano bench. Ellie was sitting on Dan's lap and her eyes were focused on the piano keys.
"Hey guys." I walked over to them, desperate to break the silence that had suddenly filled the room a few moments prior. "What's going on? I heard the piano suddenly stop."
"I can't get the notes right." Ellie whispered sadly, as if I would be disappointed by this. "No matter how hard I try, I always mess up."
Dan sighed. "Ellie, what have I been telling ever since I started giving you piano lessons yesterday?"
She stared at the piano keys for a few moments before looking up at Dan. ""Practice makes perfect. You aren't going to get it right the first time or even the first few times so don't give up, even if it gets really frustrating.""
I was honestly surprised to hear Ellie recite what Dan had apparently told her yesterday perfectly. With me knowing Dan almost better than I knew myself, I had a feeling that he only told her what she had just said once. I was impressed that she was able to remember it word for word, even though she had heard it only just yesterday.
But, then again, my praise doesn't really mean all that much considering that I don't exactly have that great of a memory.
"That's right." Dan looked back at Ellie. "Now, with that being said, what do you think you should do now?"
Ellie looked back down at the piano keys and placed her hands down on them. "Keep practicing the part that I just can't seem to get right until I actually get it right?"
Dan nodded. "That's right. Start at the beginning so you can get better at it while you continue to practice the part that you keep messing up."
Ellie nodded before she started following Dan's instructions.
"Well, I'll be upstairs if either one of you need me." I said, unsure if they actually knew I had been here the entire time. "I heard the piano stop suddenly and I wanted to make sure that everything was still okay."
They must have lost in their own world because they didn't even acknowledge my presence. I didn't mind though. It was nice to see Dan and Ellie getting along.

*****

My heart sank in my chest when I had finished wrapping Ellie's gift and remembered that I hadn't told Dan the advice Doug had given me yesterday. I decided that I would wait until Ellie had gone to bed and when him and I laid down for the night to tell him the advice that I had been given.
As I was hiding Ellie's gift underneath the bed, I noticed that there was a purple bag next to all of the gifts I had been keeping down there to give to my family on Christmas day. I tilted my head in confusion when I saw it because I didn't remember putting any of the gifts I had bought. My confusion immediately faded when I saw that "To: Ellie" was written on top of the tag and "From: Santa" was written on the bottom of it. I didn't want to just go through the bag to see what the gift was so I decided that I would ask Dan about it later when Ellie wasn't around because I knew that that gift was from him.

As I put the covers back where they were in order to conceal the gifts that were hidden underneath the bed, I heard a knocking on the door. It was only when I heard this knocking on the door that I noticed that the piano's sound no longer filled the air once again. Shrugging slightly, I walked over to the door before opening to see that Ellie was the one who was behind the knocking.
"Hi Phil!" She smiled brightly, looking extremely happy to see me. "Did you hear me playing piano?"
I started smiling when I saw that bright smile of hers form on her face. "I did. You sounded great. I'm guessing that Dan's been teaching you how to play piano?"
Ellie nodded, still smiling brightly. "Yep. He's teaching me how to play Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. He told me that that's your favorite Christmas song."
I nodded. "It is indeed my favorite Christmas song."
"I knew as soon as Dan told me that, I just had to learn how to play it. I had a feeling that it would make you happy to hear me play and sing it."
"You'd sing for me?"
Ellie nodded. I guess she expected me to be more excited than I actually was because her bright smile suddenly turned into a frown. "Well, I don't have to sing and play for you if you don't want me to."
"No, no, don't get the wrong idea." I quickly reassured her. "I want you to play and sing for me. I'd love it if you did that."
Thankfully, her frown didn't stick around for very long and her bright smile, the smile that I loved seeing so much, returned. Once it did, she grabbed ahold of my hand and pulled my arm gently. "Come on, I think I've finally figured out how to play from the beginning all the way to the end."
"I've gotta hear you play then if that's the case." I chuckled a bit as I allowed her to lead me to the piano.

*****

"I'm ready when you are." I sat down crossed-legged on the floor as Ellie got onto the piano bench with Dan's help.
Ellie looked up at Dan. "I'm not sure if I can play this perfectly like you can. Can you help me out at some parts if I mess them up?"
Dan smiled a bit as he nodded. "Of course I can. As your piano tutor, I'm here to help you out when you're struggling."
Ellie simply gave him a smile as she turned to face the piano. I smiled as I saw her legs dangling from the piano bench, not even grazing the floor with her feet even slightly. When I noticed this, I noticed something that I hadn't noticed the entire time I had known Ellie.
She was really small for her age.
Now, I didn't think that this was something to worry about. After all, some kids got their growth spurt later in life. And based on the size Ellie is now, it looks as if she's going to be one of those kids.

My thoughts of Ellie's tiny figure were immediately pushed deep into the back of my mind when I heard her begin playing Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. When it was time for her to sing, I was going to sing along with her in my head since I knew the lyrics by heart.
That is, until I heard Ellie singing.
Her voice was absolutely beautiful. She didn't even sound like a ten year old when she sang. She sounded like she was much older than she really was. Plus, she hit every single note perfectly. I couldn't believe that such an amazing voice could come from someone her age.

*****

"Well, what do you think?"
I guess I must've fallen into some sort of trance while Ellie was singing because I found myself suddenly jolting upright and opening my eyes when I heard Ellie's regular voice.
"Phil, w-were you even listening to me?" Ellie looked at me with such a sad look on her face that it made me want to cry. Her lip quivered as if she was trying her very hardest to hold back tears.
Not wanting her to cry, I quickly stood up and grabbed both of her hands before looking straight into her eyes. "Yes, I was definitely listening. You have a really beautiful voice Ellie. When you first started singing, I was blown away by just how beautiful your voice was. When you were singing, you sounded like you were much older than ten. I would really love it if you sang more often."
Just then, what I feared Ellie would do happened.
She started crying.
"No, no, please don't cry." I immediately fell into a panicked frenzy as I began rubbing her back in an attempt to calm her down. "It wasn't my intention to make you cry."
"No, they aren't tears of sadness." Ellie whispered in my ear as she rested her head on my shoulder. "They're tears of joy. What you just said is probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me."
I smiled as I silently sighed with relief and began running my fingers through her hair. "I mean it too. I'd never lie to you."
Dan must've seen the look on my face after I told Ellie I'd never lied to her despite having lied to her in the past because he got up from the piano bench and walked over until he was standing behind me. Once he was, he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me as tightly as he possibly could.

"Hey, what are we doing today?" Ellie asked after a few moments of silence between all three of us had passed. "It's Christmas Eve so we've gotta do something special."
Feeling cramped from hugging for so long, I broke the hug that I had going on with both Dan and Ellie before standing up and smiling ever so slightly. "Well, since it's unfortunately still not snowing outside, it looks as if my original plans aren't going to happen. But..." I trailed off as I looked over at Ellie. "Hearing you sing made me come up with another idea."
"What is it?" She asked, a spark of curiosity evident in her eyes.
"Well, I was thinking that we could go around and do some Christmas caroling for a few hours."
Ellie nearly jumped up from the piano bench because of how excited she was about this idea. "Really?! I've always wanted to do that!"
"It's a good thing that I have sheet music for all kinds of different Christmas songs." Dan chuckled as he grabbed the folder that he kept all of his sheet music in and opened it.
"Hey, how about we go and get bundled up while Dan gets all of his sheet music out?" I gave Ellie a little pat on the back as I spoke. "He's probably going to take a little while. He's not exactly the most organized person you'll ever met."
"Hey, that's so not true!" I could see a small smile had formed on his face. "I'm very organized."
"Yeah and my hair's still red." I replied sarcastically as Ellie stood up.
"Okay, maybe I'm just a little bit disorganized." Dan shrugged slightly as the tiny smile on his face grew. "But like you're any better."
"True." I shrugged slightly as well, deciding not to argue with Dan because I wasn't exactly the epitome of organized. "Well, Ellie and I will be upstairs getting ready while you're trying to get everything together."

*****

"Phil, there's something you need to know." Ellie spoke softly as I helped her put on the winter coat I had bought her when I had found her outside pretty much freezing to death.
"What is it?" I spoke softly as well, confused as to why she felt the need to speak in a hushed tone.
"I don't know how to read music." She spoke so quietly that her voice was barely audible.
"That's okay. It's really easy to learn. Dan could teach you how to read it while we're walking around. It's almost like reading a book."
At that moment, she replied to me but I couldn't make out any of what she said.
"What did you say Ellie?" I asked her gently so that she would be more likely to repeat it.
"I said that I didn't know how to read." She spoke just loud enough for me to hear her. "I never learned how."
"Didn't you go to school?" I asked her with a puzzled tone in my voice.
Ellie shook her head. "I..." She trailed off, obviously hesitant to continue.
"You what? "I continue to speak to her gently so that she wouldn't be scared to tell me anything. Even though there was a high likelihood that Dan and I were going to send her to live with my great grandma (I say high because Doug's advice has really stuck on my mind ever since he told it to me yesterday), the last thing I wanted was for her to upset on Christmas Eve.
She shook her head. "It's not important. Besides, it's Christmas Eve. We shouldn't be sad. We should be happy. Christmas is a time to be happy, not to be sad."
"Yeah, I suppose." I suppressed a sigh. "Well, let's go then. We don't want to keep Dan waiting."

*****

Don't get me wrong, Christmas caroling is fun.
But it isn't fun when you're trudging around in the bitter cold (With not even a single inch of snow on the ground, mind you) and everyone is either answering the door only to slam the door in your face once they realized that you were a Christmas caroller or ignoring you completely by not even getting up to answer the door when it's obvious to you that they're home because you can see them through their living room window.
"This is getting absolutely ridiculous." Dan turned around as yet another person, probably about the tenth one by now, slammed the door right in our faces just as we began to sing We Wish You A Merry Christmas. "Why do so many people hate Christmas carolers? You know, there was a time when Londoners loved Christmas caroling. When did everyone become such a Scrooge?"
I sighed and shrugged. "Do you think that it has something to do with the fact that it hasn't snowed even once this month?"
Dan shrugged as well. "I don't know. But whatever it is, it's starting to look like we won't be able to do Christmas caroling."
"What?" Ellie's voice cracked and I noticed that her eyes were beginning to fill up with tears. "No, don't say that. We just have to keep on walking. London's a big city with plenty of people in it. Surely some of them want to hear us sing Christmas songs. Surely some of them haven't lost the Christmas spirit."
"Ellie's right." I looked over at Dan as I pulled Ellie into a hug so that she wouldn't cry. "We have to keep going. We can't give up hope. Not yet, at least."

*****

Ellie was right when she told us that we couldn't give up hope.
Once we reached a different neighborhood, we managed to knock on so many doors and sing at almost every single house that we went up to.
"See? I told you guys that we couldn't give up!" Ellie was leading the way with a big and bright smile on her face. "We just had to go to a different neighborhood."
"Yeah, you were right." Dan chuckled as he squeezed my hand. "I'm glad that we listened to you. I'm having a really fun time."
"I'm so glad to hear that." The smile on her face seemed to somehow get a little bit bigger. "I want you to be happy on this special day." She then looked over at me. "What about you Phil? Are you having fun?"
I smiled back at her. "Of course I'm having fun. I'm really glad that we're doing this."
"I am too." Dan and I said at the exact same time. We looked at each other and smiled when this happened.
"Come on guys, there's another house coming up." Ellie motioned for us to follow her to a house that was jam-packed with Christmas decorations. The front yard had a giant blow-up rubber duck with a Santa hat and it also had a huge light-up sign that spelled out, "Merry Christmas!" near the giant rubber duck. As we were walking up to the door, I noticed that there were a bunch of Christmas lights all over the entire house. It made me happy to see that whoever lived here was getting into the spirit of Christmas.

I looked over at the door when Ellie knocked on it. There was a wreath hanging on the door that had a bunch of bells and some garland on it. It was nice to know that the Christmas spirit hadn't faded away entirely in London. I always liked people who had a lot of Christmas decorations on their house like this person did.
A few moments after Ellie had knocked on the door, an older woman with a breathing machine trailing behind her. Despite looking very sickly, her smile still shined so brightly. Her teeth were as white as pearls and her eyes twinkled like the stars.
Ellie looked back at both at Dan and I before giving us both a slight nod. She didn't like being the one to sing first and had made the two of us start singing before she joined in a few moments later.

We didn't even give the sickly old woman a chance to question who we were or what was going on before we started singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas. A sudden gust of wind almost caused my sheet music to fall off the folder I was using so I could see the music better. Thankfully, I managed to grab ahold of the sheets of paper in time before they all blew away. Chuckling a bit at myself for the neap mishap that just occurred, I continued singing and briefly glanced up at the sickly old woman who answered the knock. Her twinkling eyes glistened with tears and I had an instinct for a split second to stop singing and ask her what was wrong. But this instinct faded away as quickly as it came because I knew that her eyes weren't glistening with tears of sadness.
They were glistening with tears of joy.

"That was absolutely wonderful." Her voice sounded as sickly as her appearance showed her to be. It was almost as if she could drop dead at any moment.
I knew better than that though. She was clearly strong enough to walk on her own and plus, her breathing machine was helping her body get the oxygen it needed to keep her vital organs going. "I haven't had Christmas carolers come to my door in thirty years. You three were such a pleasant surprise. You really made not just my day, but my Christmas as well."
I couldn't help but smile when I heard this. During this time of year, there's nothing more that I loved than being able to somehow put a smile on someone's face because making people feel happy and joyous was what Christmas is truly about.
"You have no idea how much it means to us to hear that." Dan gave the sickly old woman a smile. "We hope that you have a Merry Christmas."
The woman smiled for what felt like the millionth time. Not that I had a problem with that though. Her smile was quite lovely. "You three have a Merry Christmas too."

*****

"See you in the morning." I whispered to Ellie as I pulled the covers over her after we left chocolate chip cookies out in the kitchen for Santa to eat when he came tonight to leave us presents (Not literally, of course.) "When you wake up, there'll be presents for you from Santa."
"Sweet dreams." Dan gave her a kiss on her forehead before standing up.
"Wait!" Ellie suddenly cried out, causing my heart to stop for a brief moment. "Before you guys go... Do you think you could read me a Christmas story?"
Dan and I looked at each other and smiled. When that happened, I knew that we were thinking the same thing.
"It's funny that you say that." Dan looked over at Ellie, the smile remaining on his face. "Because Phil and I actually have a Christmas book in our room. Do you want me to go get it so we can read it to you?"
Ellie smiled and nodded. "Yes please."
"I'll be right back then."

Once Dan returned, I saw that he had the book in both of his hands. The book had both black and red on the covers and 'Twas The Night Before Christmas was written in golden text across the cover.
"What book did you get?" Ellie asked as she sat up in her bed.
Instead of telling her, Dan turned the book so that she could read what was on the cover.
Suddenly remembering that Ellie had told me that she didn't know how to read, I quickly whispered in Ellie's ear what the title of the book was.
"''Twas The Night Before Christmas!" Ellie cried out in excitement, making it obvious that she was pretending to know what the cover of the book said without me having to tell her.
"Phil, why'd you tell her what the cover of the book said?" Dan asked as he looked over at me with a confused look on his face. "I'm pretty sure that Ellie's old enough to read what the title says on her own."
A sad look fell on Ellie's face when he said this.
"Dan..." I trailed off, not really sure how to tell him that Ellie couldn't read. After a few moments of silence had gone by, I decided that I wouldn't beat around the bush. "Ellie can't read."
"Wait, what?" The smile that Dan had previously had on his face faded away. He then looked over at Ellie. "Why didn't you tell me that you didn't know how to read when I gave you the sheet music earlier?"
She sighed. "You were so excited about us using sheet music that I didn't want to ruin your excitement. I told Phil that I couldn't read earlier, even though I really didn't want to tell either of you."
Dan sat down on the edge of her bed. "Why didn't you want to tell us that you couldn't read?"
Ellie's eyes began to glisten with tears. "Because I'm ashamed of the fact that I can't read."
"You shouldn't be ashamed though." I said, sitting down on the other edge of her bed. "There are plenty of kids your age around the world who don't know how to read."
Ellie shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose so." She frowned as she looked down at the covers.
"Hey, crying on Christmas Eve is strictly forbidden." I smiled a bit as I placed my hand underneath her chin and slowly lifted her head so that she was looking directly into my eyes. "Now that we've established that very important rule, how does reading the Christmas story that Dan picked out sound?"
Ellie smiled a bit, but I couldn't tell whether or not it was forced. "Yeah, that sounds nice."
Whether or not she forced herself to smile or not, I smiled back at her nonetheless. "I agree." I then proceeded to lay down next to her and wrap my arm around her before giving Dan a nod. "Do you mind reading the story?"
Dan shook his head as he scooted closer to Ellie and me. "Not at all. Just promise me that you won't fall asleep Phil." He chuckled.
"I won't fall asleep." I promised. I knew that I couldn't fall asleep, no matter how much I wanted to or tried to. There were way too many things on my mind for me to actually succeed in falling asleep.
"If you say so." Dan smiled as he opened the book. He turned a couple of pages before he actually began reading. ""''Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...""

*****

By the time Dan had finished reading the story and had closed the book, Ellie had fallen asleep and her chest moved up and down slowly in the way someone would when they were sleeping.
"Sweet dreams." I whispered as I gave Ellie a soft kiss on her forehead. Dan followed suit a few moments later.
After giving Ellie a kiss on her forehead, I slowly and carefully moved my arm so that it was no longer wrapped around her. I then began tiptoeing out of her room and closed her door behind me once both Dan and I were out of her room.

"So, Dan, there's something that I've been meaning to talk to you about." I whispered as we entered our bedroom after we had taken all of our presents downstairs and put them underneath the Christmas tree.
"What is it?" Dan whispered back as he sat down on the edge of our bed.
I proceeded to explain to him how I had ended up talking to Doug about Ellie and what our situation was when it came to her and how we had decided to take her to live with my great grandma. After explaining that to him, I told him the advice that Doug had given me, the same advice that had been echoing in my head over and over again ever since he first gave it to me.
"Wow, that's actually some pretty damn good advice." Dan stared down at his feet as he ran a hand through his hair. He then let out a long sigh. "Hey, there's something I need to talk to you about too."
For some reason, I felt my heart sink when he said this. Nonetheless, I forced myself to speak. "What do you need to talk to me about?"
Dan sighed. "Over the past few days, I've been doing something behind your back."
I felt my heart sink even more. "What have you been doing?" It was so hard to force those words to leave my mouth and it sounded as if someone had their hand wrapped around my throat and they were forcing me to speak against my will.
"I've been getting to know this couple I met while I was trying to figure out a backup plan in case sending Ellie to go and live with your great grandma somehow managed to not work out."
"Why didn't you tell me about this?" I asked him, feeling more disappointed than angry.
"I wanted to make sure that they were qualified to take Ellie in if need be."
"That makes sense."
"Anyway," Dan continued on after he allowed a moment of silence to pass. "I told them that I would inform them by tomorrow whether or not we would allow them to adopt Ellie."
"Well, I could tell that my great grandma didn't really want to adopt Ellie when I asked her if she would do so." I sighed as I ran a hand through my hair. "So you're quite a lifesaver for coming up with a backup plan."
Dan didn't respond as he laid down on the bed and scooted until he was resting on his pillow.
I proceeded to lay down next to him and pull the covers over the both of us. "Are we really going to do this? Are we going to break her heart because we aren't ready to be parents?"
Dan sighed and nodded. "I guess we are. I feel pretty fucking shitty for having to do this though."
I sighed as well. "Sometimes the right thing to do isn't the easiest thing to do."
"You're right." Dan whispered as he turned and laid on his side. "I'll call the couple tomorrow and let them know that they're able to adopt her the day after."
"Okay." I whispered back. "And let's do ourselves a favor and push this matter to the back of our minds. The last thing we want is to be upset on Christmas, which is supposed to be the happiest day of the year."
"Agreed." Dan mumbled as he began to drift off to sleep.
"I love you Dan." I mumbled back as I began drifting off to sleep as well.
"I love you too Phil." Dan's voice was barely audible as he fell asleep.