His Wolf Pup - a Jasper Hale Story

17- Christmas

An entire year passed in pure happiness. Being a part of the Cullen family was the best thing to ever happen to me. Throughout the year, we all got closer to each other, and we slowly felt like one big family.

As winter break was once again coming upon us, I was excited to get away from school. Junior year was more challenging than Sophomore year, and the rest of the Cullens knew everything about every high school subject, so I struggled alone.

My favorite part of the holiday season was how festive the whole family got. Emmet and Edward picked out a tree, and Rosalie and I spent an entire day trying to decorate it before Alice took over and did it herself. Esme was always baking something with peppermint, making the whole house smell like pure Christmas. Carlisle, Noah, and Jasper even put up Christmas lights throughout the entire house. It made everything so much more fun.

The only problem was the closer we got to December 25, more presents accumulated under the tree. I had only bought the family a few gifts with some leftover cash I had gained over the years, but the rest of the family was filthy rich from decades of wealth. Seeing as this would be our first Christmas together, they went overboard. I let it all go, though, because I knew fighting them would be futile.

And before I knew it, it was Christmas Eve, and the whole family was seated around the living room watching Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer.

"This movie makes no sense," Edward said aloud for the 20th time.

"We're all aware of that, Edward," Noah said, annoyed. "Please shut up and watch the movie."

"But I don't understand what is happening," he complained.

"Wait a minute," I said, looking over at him. "Have you never seen this movie before?" Edward didn't respond, making me yell, "You've never seen this movie before!"

Jasper's arms loosened around my waist as I turned completely to look at him. "No, I have not." Edward's words caused me to have a significant realization.

"Have any of you watched this movie before?" I asked the whole family. When no one answered, I yelled, "Oh my gosh! What is happening?"

"Well," Carlisle said slowly, getting my attention. "We haven't really celebrated Christmas in a long time, so we haven't seen any of the more recent movies."

"Rudolph isn't recent. It's a classic," I told him before fully realizing what he said. "Wait, why are we celebrating Christmas then if you guys don't usually celebrate it?"

"We wanted to celebrate it with you," Esme told me cautiously, waiting to see my reaction.

When I didn't respond, Jasper pulled me closer to him. "You do want to celebrate Christmas, right?" He asked me.

"Of course I do, but I feel bad now," I told him. "You did all this extra stuff for Christmas that you don't usually do because of me."

"And it has been wonderful!" Emmet yelled. "This has been the best December ever."

"I have to agree," Rosalie told me. "It's been more fun with all the decorations in the house."

"I told you all it would look lovely," Alice said. "But did you listen? No." Noah pulled Alice into a hug as she complained about how everyone needed to trust her more.

"Besides, how would I have ever seen such a classic as Rudolph?" Edward asked me.

I shrugged in response as everyone's attention slowly went back to the movie. I snuggled into Jasper, enjoying the movie. As it came to an end, I let out a yawn making Jasper turn to me.

"Alright, time for bed, Puppy," Jasper told me.

I simply nodded as he pulled me off the couch and made his way to our room. Over the year, it had become just as much my room as it was his room. About a month after I permanently moved in, Esme had suggested I had my own room, but Jasper had immediately told her that he was staying in whatever room I was, so we decided I would just stay in Jasper's room.

I got ready for bed as Jasper laid down on the bed. I joined him and drifted off to sleep as he started reading a book.

I was awoken the following day by Emmet jumping on my bed.

"It's Christmas morning, and we have presents to open!"

"Emmet, shut up," I mumbled to him.

"No, come on." He grabbed my arm and literally dragged me out of bed and through the house to the living room, where everyone was gathered.

"Emmet," Jasper said. "I told you to give her time to wake up." I felt him hug me and pull me down to the ground, where I cuddled into him.

"Wake up!" Emmet yelled in my face, making me wide alert.

"I'm up," I told him.

"Great, we can open presents now!"

Emmet started passing out presents, letting everyone open some until there were no more presents under the tree. This happened for multiple hours and included two snack breaks for me.  By the end of the present extravaganza, I had a lot of cool gifts from everyone, but Emmet told me I had one last gift, and he had saved the best for last.

"It's from me, and you'll love it," Emmet told me, passing me the final present from under the tree.

I smiled at his ridiculousness as I opened the box he gave me. I lifted the lid and saw a thin black choker like necklace with a metal tag that had the word "Lucky" engraved on it.

As I picked it up, Jasper shifted from behind me. "Emmet!" He yelled. "You bought her a dog collar?!"

"It's not exactly a dog collar," Emmet said.

"That's rude," Jasper told him.

"Jasper, relax," I told him before looking up at Emmet. "I love it, Emmet."

"I knew you would," he said happily. "I was going to get you one for your birthday, but I couldn't find the right type of necklace. I wanted it to be something you could wear as a person and a wolf without it bothering you."

"Thank you," I told Emmet before turning to the whole family. "Thank all of you guys for all of the gifts. I truly love them all."