a sound she hadn't heard before

forty-two.

The next few days are full of special memories being made between Taylor, Joe, and Ayla. Before they know it, it's Christmas Eve.

"Joe," Taylor says as they are eating dinner, "Ayla and I have a little bit of a special tradition for Christmas Eve that we wanted to know if you were interested in joining in on this year."

"Oh?" he asks, raising his eyebrows. "And what would that be?"

"Mommy gets us matching Christmas jammies!" Ayla squeals. "Last year, they had Anna and Elsa and Olaf and Sven on them."

"Really?" Joe asks, a crooked grin growing on his face. "Something tells me I don't have much of a choice here."

"I mean, I already bought the pajamas," Taylor says, a glimmer in her eye as she looks at her boyfriend, "but you don't have to if you don't want to."

"Well, if you already bought them, then it's a good thing that I'd absolutely love to join you two."

"Yay!" Ayla squeals. "Mommy, Mommy, when do we get the jammies?"

"After you finish up your dinner, okay?"

"Okay Momma," Ayla replies, turning back to the food on her plate and beginning to shovel it in her mouth. "Can I choose a movie to watch after dinner?" She asks, her mouth full of mashed potatoes.

Taylor laughs. "Only if you ask without food in your mouth. It's not polite to speak with your mouth full, sweetie."

She takes a moment to swallow. "Can we watch the Curious George Christmas movie tonight?"

Taylor smiles. "I think that can be arranged."

Ayla cheers, then taking a sip of her milk. "I'm full, Momma."

"You can be done. You did a good job eating tonight."

The little girl smiles with pride. "Can we get jammies now?"

"Let me and Joe finish our dinner first, okay? Can you sit at the table with us like a good girl?"

"Yes Mommy."

The three sit together, talking and finishing up dinner. Joe tells Taylor and Ayla all about how his family used to celebrate Christmas when he was a boy, growing up in London. Taylor loves to hear his stories. She finds the cultural differences between England and everything that she knows in the United States to be so fascinating.

"God, I miss the Yorkshire pudding," he says. "We had it every year for dinner and it was my favorite. My mum made the best. This is my first year that I haven't been with her for Christmas. Last year, my family came to New York for the holidays because Pat, my little brother, really wanted to see the Rockefeller Christmas tree and all of the other touristy things. We went to the Bryant Park Christmas Market, saw the Rockettes, went to FAO Schwartz... all that good stuff. Every year before that, I always went home for Christmas."

"Well," Taylor smiles, "that just means that Ayla and I will have to make this year extra special for you, won't we?"

Joe smiles back at her. "Trust me, you've already done that just by being you, my love."

Eventually, dinner wraps up, which means that it's time for what Ayla has been waiting for: the new pajamas. This year, Taylor picked out red pajamas with a white snowflake pattern. For Taylor and Joe, it's just pants and a black, long-sleeved top. For Ayla, it's a fleece onesie with footies, which she absolutely loves. As soon as she opens up the package, she starts to squeal.

"Mommy, it looks so cozy!" she exclaims. "I'm gonna go put them on! You and Joe do the same thing."

At that, she runs out of the room, leaving Taylor and Joe to laugh. "Well," Joe says, unbuttoning his flannel, "we'd better do what she says, or else we might have a mutiny on her hands."