Christmas lights, 2027

Round 17: December 2027

Alexandra Hayes is 53, Quinn is 51 and Jeremy is 16.

(Aaron is 19.)

Narrated by Alexandra.

School is closed for the holidays and I feel like all Jeremy does all day is mope around the house all day. He broke up with Ross in the spring and I think he's regretting it a bit. He's been out on a few dates with Iona Fielding who I suspect was at least part of the reason for the break-up but he hasn't been going out at all lately.

I finally put my foot down and told him that he can't just stay cooped up in the house all day so at least now he gets up from the sofa a couple of times a day to walk the dog. He won't talk to me about it - I don't think many 16-year-old boys talk to their mom about their heartbreak - but I'm hoping that he'll talk to Aaron when he comes home from university for his holiday break.

Quinn absolutely loves his job but he says a break is good. Teaching teenagers instead of little kids is more challenging but also rewarding. "It's the whole going crazy with hormones stuff that exhausts me" he often says. "Were we that crazy when we were young?" I always laugh and remind him that at least we were pretty stupid back then.

Aaron came home from Brixton and honestly sometimes it's hard to believe that he's technically an adult and Jeremy will go to college in about a year. When those two get together it's like I'm watching two little kids playing rough house.

We've sort of turned the third floor into a hobby/entertainment centre. Quinn convinced us to buy a poker table so he can invite "the guys" over - which means other middle-aged dads in the neighbourhood. Since our boys aren't exactly kids anymore we figured we might as well play a few rounds before Christmas dinner.

I'm not a great cook but I'm not completely useless either so I decided to go all-in with a turkey. Cooking is so much easier nowadays with internet because I just put on a cooking video which explained all the steps to cook the best turkey you've ever tasted.

We ate at candlelight and it was nice. The turkey was perfect and all the side dishes were good too. There's always a hint of sadness whenever we're all together because it makes us all miss Ethan so much but we have gotten used to it and just enjoy being together.

We did small gifts this year, we got Aaron a new phone and Jeremy a handheld game that he's been talking about. It's not like he doesn't have all possible games on his phone but he said that he still wants to get all the classics.

Jeremy misses Aaron so much. He tries to hide it but it's been more obvious since his break-up with Ross. Aaron told me that Jeremy's sad about the break-up even though he was the one to leave Ross but with that he didn't just lose a boyfriend, he lost two of his best friends. Obviously Ross but also his sister Madelyn who understandably doesn't want to hang out with Jeremy anymore either. I hope the three of them can be friends again after some time has passed.

It was great having Aaron staying with us. It's hard to think about Jeremy going to university after next year. Then Quinn and I will be all alone in this big house.

Quinn tells me we'll be fine. He says it'll be nice to have the house all to ourselves and I think in a way he's right. And who knows, maybe we can convince one of the boys to move back here once they're done with their studies. I try to stress so much about the future and instead enjoy the present.


Notes:

• Title from "Christmas lights" by Coldplay.
• This wasn't an overly Christmasy update and I probably should have included at least Patrick and maybe Stephen and Kaitlyn but I was too lazy to do that LOL.
• I can't believe this is Jeremy's last update as a teen! I was considering writing it from his perspective but I had already written out an outline from Alexandra's POV so I decided to stick with it. I haven´t decided what to do with the house yet. The third floor could be turned into a separate apartment pretty easily for one of the boys but it's not going to happen right now anyway. 
• A new year in Wellington is upon us so I´ll start updating the profiles and getting ready for January 2028 age-ups probably later today or tomorrow.