Mother turned her attention back to Vincent who was pushing his arms into his new winter coat. Unlike mine, his was girlie with flashes of pink ruffled lace contrasting with the dark blue quilted fabric. It had a band of pink fur around the hood which is replicated around the cuffs, and two pink furry pompoms hang from the ends of the hood’s drawstring. It went almost to his knees and completely concealed his dress. Gregory went to the big hallway mirror and Mother looked at me with a broad grin on her face. “What?” I asked.
“Nothing.” Mother replied. “I just think you look nice, that’s all.”
She could make me blush at the drop of a hat, which I did. I looked down at myself and my white tights with their holly leaf pattern, the band of faux-fur around the hem of my green velvet dress and my brand new jacket. The ensemble didn’t really work but it wasn’t bad. I was at least thankful that she’d bought me a ‘normal’ dress and not something really prissy like half of Vincent’s.
I cast my eyes to the foot of the tree. There were only a few gifts left and I wondered if any more of mine would be girlie. I looked at Vincent’s pile of gifts; a resplendent display of pinks, purples and lilacs. He got more clothes than anything else, which seemed like a shame to me. My pile was far more palatable and contained far less clothing. On top of my pile sits my new knickers, vests, socks and tights. They’re not ideal but it could have been worse, and I guess it’s good that my brother’s not the only one getting girlie gifts this Christmas… good for him anyway.
After eating a proper breakfast of bacon and eggs and toast, Mother finally let us plug our new games console. First we played FIFA, but Vincent kept beating me so we switched to playing Special Ops. After an hour of that, Mother suggested we try another game as the gunfire and explosions were beginning to give her a headache.
We wanted to try out the numerous games in the sports compendium, but Mother said that we should play ‘Sonia’s’ game next because it looked ‘nice’. The Princess Adventures is a collect and effect game in which one or two players choose one of the eleven Disney Princesses and collect gold coins that can be found in variety of landscapes. There’s also flowers to pick and butterflies to find, and according to the blurb on the box, elusive flower fairies that grant magical wishes. Being a girl’s game aimed at the 4-8 age group, it was really really easy. Each princess had different powers and moves, and the coins they collected could be exchanged for new costumes which were required to progress to the next level. The flowers we collected could be arranged in your ‘princess bedroom’ and providing the display is big enough and colourful enough, the butterflies we’d collected wouldn’t fly off. It also had lots of mini-games including coconut shy, balloon bounce, princess tennis, a horribly girlie version of Asteroids and a despicable dance along game, which Mother insisted we play. It wasn’t all bad as the bowling game was a lot of fun, as was the sledging game in the Winter Wonderland level. By the time Christmas dinner was ready, we’d actually spent more time playing Princess Adventures than we had playing FIFA and Special Ops combined, but this is one detail I won’t be boasting about at school in the new year.
We turned off the console, donned our pinafore aprons and sat down for Christmas dinner. “The Princess Adventures game is a lot of fun isn’t it.” Mother said. “Much nicer than all that shooting and blowing things up.”
“It’s too easy.” I said, before sort of bragging about how many coins, flowers and butterflies I’d collected.
“And which Princess were you playing as?” Mother asked.
“Rapunzel.” I sheepishly replied. “She’s got really long hair that she can use as a rope and climb trees and buildings and things.”
“And a lasso.” Vincent added.
“And which princess did you play Sonia?” she asked.
“Merida.” he replied. “She has a bow and arrow.”
“I’ve not heard of her before.” Mother said, which prompted us all having a conversation about which princess if from which film. Of course Mother and Vincent are more knowledgeable than I on the subject… I didn’t even know which film Rapunzel was in.
“I think Tangled is in that Princess DVD box set that Sonia for Christmas.” Mother informed me. “Maybe we should watch it after dinner.” she suggested.
I wasn’t keen because it sounded lame, but watch it we did and I must admit (but not publicly mind), I really enjoyed it. At around 7.00pm, Mother suggested that Vincent and I have a bath before getting ready for bed. We both moaned about this, it being Christmas Day and all, but Mother reminded Vincent that he has a bath every day and today is no exception. Mother, then told me that since I’m having a girl day too, I should also have a bath. “Anyway I’ve got one more surprise for you.” she tentatively added, more in my direction than Vincent’s.
