Celebrations of missed birthday and Christmas had been an all day affair, not that she really minded because her parents had been so happy to have her back. They had woken her, as opposed to the usual other way around, and breakfast had been a delicious treat of pancakes and eggs. It was something her father cooked, as her mother knew only how to make the traditional Vietnamese foods (and she refused to learn anything but), and was only made for special occasions. She had quite enjoyed breakfast and the big fluffy discs of dough (pancakes were often a weakness for her, but that was a secret privy to her and 'Nacio only).

Afterwards they moved to the large family room where the large artificial tree (it kept better and left less of a mess) was still put up and the room decorated as if nothing had happened. Presents were placed underneath it and the sight made her smile with glee. Carefully she sat in front of it, her parents on the nearby couch made of white, supple leather as her favourite Christmas music played on the stereo system.

"Go ahead and open them," came the teasing tone of her father - who spoke wonderful English. "They won't bite you know."

She only rolled her eyes at him, giggling and reaching for the first one. She blinked as it was a gift for her mother from her father and she looked at them. Did... they not open their own gifts? Apparently not, as her mother took the gift from her and smiled.

"Thank you, darling."

Trying not to let herself tear up, Melody found the one for her father and handed it to him before turning to tackle the rest of the gifts which were labeled as hers. Question was, which one to open first. It took some time, maybe about ten minutes or so, to figure out which gift to start with and from there it took considerably less time to open them. Even as well brought up as she was, Melody was like every child and the excitement of opening gifts meant well loved wrappings didn't last that long at all. Which was fine because both parents enjoyed watching her tear into the colorful paper like she was five again.

The gifts were mostly music related, for which she was grateful because that meant she could work on composing more music. A new laptop was among the gifts as well, and it was all ready set up with a program to help her work on her music composing too. Never mind that they would have to replace her cello and other needed equipment for it. Which was fine because once they all got dressed, and the destroyed wrapping paper was cleaned up, they would be going shopping.

As they piled into the SUV, about thirty minutes later, Melody found herself staring out of the window again as they headed into the city and for the mall. They had uniforms to buy for her, she would be returning to Crystal Academy - not that she remember the school that well and musical instruments and things to replace. It wasn't going to be a long shopping trip as they had other things to do that day as well.

It was after lunch when she had braved asking her parents if she could go and pay respects to those who lives had been lost in the "organ trafficking" ring. She had wanted to celebrate their deaths, or rather try to celebrate their memories and mourn their deaths, since they seemed to be in a celebrating mood. She got shot down, told to wait for another day. There was no arguments, though she certainly was pouting, and made plans to go the first day she could.

When they returned home it was immediately time to go and get dressed for dinner, not even time to put away what they had bought, as dinner was going to be spent over at Gran's house with cousin Monroe. He'd been cooking all day, apparently. Melody was all sorts of excited, thrilled even, to be able to see her horror genre obsessed cousin and spend time with him. She was told dinner would be formal, as always, and she dressed nicely for the occasion. With out her make-up even!

Once again they all climbed back into the SUV to head for Gran's estate where cousin Monroe was living. It was a long drive but worth it to celebrate. Once they hit the road the radio was turned on and holiday music found, where upon mom and dad began to sing a-long as usual. She could only smile and settle back into her seat for a nap to kill the time, it had been a long day after all and she still had yet to get into the swing of things again. But what better way then with an impromptu Christmas? T’was the season, after all.