But after taking a shower, Thomas had decided to leave the presents there until the morning.

“Why don’t you want to open them now?” Sara asked.

She seemed more excited for Thomas to open them than he did.

“Because I just—’cause I have my reasons.”

“You can open them whenever you like.”

He nodded, then studied them. “I like having them under the tree. Just sitting there waiting to be opened.”

Lynn nodded, still not quite understanding why he waited. She still couldn’t believe that after everything, the gifts had arrived.

I wish I could thank the man who bought them. Perhaps thank his wife and give them a little something for their two new additions.

“You didn’t think they’d come, did you?” she asked Thomas, messing up his hair.

“I was planning on them coming, to be honest,” he said.

“Looks like we get to celebrate Christmas morning twice this year,” Lynn told them.

“Yep,” Thomas said with a mischievous look on his face.

Paper Angels

In the wildness of the past few days, it was easy for Kevin to overlook the gift God had given him several years ago.

Why is it so easy to blame God for unanswered prayers and so easy to forget the ones He answers?

Kevin parked the car and glanced at his son in the backseat.

“You doing okay?” he asked.

“Uh-huh.”

They had just been jamming to a little Brooks & Dunn as he drove Gregory to his aunt Becky’s house. He thought of how excited Gregory had been to meet the twins. Now it was early morning, and though Kevin’s life had seemed to erupt, his firstborn was doing remarkably well.

He climbed out of the car and then unbuckled his brute of a son. Gregory walked to the familiar front door and rang the door bell several times. But before the door opened, Kevin took his son’s hand.

“You know something?”

His cute, optimistic face looked up at Kevin. “What?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Daddy.”

It was the sort of comment that was true and unabashed.

Gregory smiled and gave him a hug.

We prayed long and hard for you and God answered those prayers.

When Kevin’s sister came to the door, he spent a few minutes updating her on Jenny and the twins. Gregory was already inside, ready to play with his favorite aunt.

“Thanks for watching him.”

“Please,” Becky said. “Just let me know when I can see those cute little babies again.”

“Will do.”

Climbing in the car, the sun shining, Kevin was thankful. Overwhelmed, exhausted, but thankful.

Thomas woke up Sara with the first present. He stood on the edge of her bed and then nudged it. It took a few nudges to get her to open her eyes.

“What?”

“I have something for you.”

Sara’s Christmas gifts were on the floor next to her bed. There was an American Girl board game, a few outfits that all kinda went with one another—not that Thomas really could tell for sure—a set of teen paperbacks with white covers and spooky-looking images on them. Somewhere in the room was the perfume that he’d teased her about.