Mother appeared at 7.00am sharp and gushed over both of us. Vincent didn’t need any prompting to stand up and show off his frock. I on the other hand did. “Stand up Andrew… give us a twirl.” she grinned. Hesitantly I did as asked, without the twirl bit of course. She told me I looked very sweet and made me blush. “Stand together so I can get a photograph.” Mother insisted. I pleaded with her not to show it to anyone… especially Gregory, and Mother agreed. “You look like Santa’s little helpers.” she grinned as she previewed the photograph. “Big smile!” she said as she pointed the camera at us again.
Over the last six months I’ve got completely used to seeing my brother dressed as a girl. Even when he’s out there’s his school photo hanging next to Gregory’s graduation photo in the sitting room, which also shows Vincent wearing a dress. I’ve even got used to dressing as a girl whilst I do my homework, and wearing my sailor dress occasionally… but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a photo of myself dressed like a girl. At least Vincent looks like a girl with his lengthy wavy hair… I just look like a boy in a dress. “Right… what would you like for breakfast?” Mother asked “Bacon and eggs or chocolate?”
“Chocolate!” we replied in unison. Mother parked herself next to the tree and passed each of us a large flat parcel. Even with the wrapping in place, a selection box of candy is easily identifiable. Mine is themed around Toy Story which is a bit ‘young’ for me but that doesn’t matter. It’s the contents that count! Kit Kat, Marathon, Mars Bar, Flake, Double Decker, Chomp…. this could be the best breakfast ever. Predictably, Vincent’s selection box is a Disney Princess one, but the contents were the same. We chomped through a few candy bars and washed them down with a chocolate milkshake… then Mother proceeded to hand out the rest of our gifts.
This year there’s no chance of getting our gifts mixed up as mine are all in ‘normal’ wrapping paper and Vincent’s are all in girlie wrapping paper. We both may well be wearing dresses but Vincent’s still the one getting a bum deal this Christmas. He appeared to be grateful for the Cinderella stationery set, the Tinker Bell toe socks, the Barbie bead jewellery kit, the Hello Kitty radio alarm clock, several packs of colourful woolly tights, the sparkly pink hat, gloves and scarf set, the giant blister pack of hair clips, bobbles, bands and slides… plus a few skirts, dresses, blouses and more knickers than I cared to count! He feigned his appreciation admirably… far better than I could have, but it was clear to me that he’d have prefered an altogether more boyish Christmas. On the upside though, Mother had managed to find him an entire volume of vintage Girl’s Own Adventure stories, which he was genuinely chuffed with.
I unwrapped the usual gloves, scarf, socks and slippers, a couple of books, a digital watch, a calculator, a stationery set and the inevitable pack of underpants. Why Mother thinks a pack of underpants makes a good present I’ll never know. But at least I wasn’t unwrapping loads of girlie stuff.
“Now this is for both of you.” Mother said as she placed a large gift on the coffee table in front of us. We both had a good idea what was inside and both wasted no time ripping off the paper. Neither of us could contain our excitement and both of us wanted to plug it in straight away. Mother passed us each a DVD sized gift… mine is clad sparkly blue wrapping paper, Vincent’s in pink. We knew it was a video game each, but which one we had no idea. I was over the moon with the latest Special Ops game. Vincent was clearly less enthusiastic about his Princess Adventures video game, but pretended he liked it more than he did. The console itself came with the FIFA soccer game and a sports compendium which boasted over 40 different games… so there’s plenty of non-girlie games for him/us to play.
“Can we plug it in Mother?!” I asked, almost bouncing off the sofa with excitement.
“It’s a bit early for video games.” Mother said, “Plus there’s still loads of presents left.” she added. Mother said we could plug it in after 10.00am and after we’ve had some ‘proper’ breakfast. I glanced at the clock. It’s just gone 7.45am and 10.00am seems like weeks away. “Pull your dress down Andrew… I can almost see your knickers.” Mother said with a grin.
