For Rachel Beckett the Olympics was a huge defining moment in her life, something she had been working tirelessly towards since she was five years old. Winning that gold medal meant everything to her and when she finally got there and choked, her li...
Rachel looked out the window and took in the beautiful views of the coast of Northern California, a state she had never been to before today. It was a chilly 45 degrees but nothing like how frigid it was back home in Minnesota right now.
Cain pulled onto a long driveway that had a row of trees on both sides and at the end there was a nice, white two story house with tall Greek columns and a balcony on the upstairs with rocking chairs and a porch on the lower level with rocking chairs. There was pine cone garland hung from the balcony railings that was lit up with white lights and she could see red poinsettias sitting out on the front porch.
The house was completely decked out for Christmas with lights strung around each of the columns and there was a large nativity scene in the front yard and a full-size sleigh with Santa and his reindeer.
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"Wow! Your Mom really does go all out for Christmas," Rachel laughed as they parked in the driveway that was already full of cars.
"Uh, yeah," Cain laughed. "My Mom is a little crazy when it comes to Christmas. You'll see," he smiled as he parked the car and came around to open her door and take her hand. She remembered his Mom saying that they had family that came in from all over the U.S. for their Christmas party.
She looked up at the beautiful house as they walked closer and saw there was even fake snow on the roof and bushes like what you see in those Hallmark Christmas movies that are filmed in the summer. It looked pretty real though.
When they walked in the front door Rachel could see a bunch of people standing around in ugly Christmas sweaters, sipping eggnog from glass moose cups and some were wearing santa hats and some had on reindeer antlers.
"Cain!" several people shouted and they were suddenly swarmed by happy, smiling faces that were giving Cain hugs.
"This is my Aunt Judy, my Great Aunt Flora, my Grandma Jane and my great grandma Ruth. Everyone this is my girlfriend Rachel," he said with a proud smile.
"Oh it's so nice to meet you!" they all said before they all gave her a hug.
His Mom shouted from across the room, "Cain and Rachel are here!" before rushing over and giving them both crazy tight hugs.
"Oh I'm so excited you got to come for our Christmas party! There are SO many people I want to introduce you to," she told Rachel.
Over the next hour she met so many people and they were all so excited to meet her. They asked questions and took a genuine interest in getting to know her. They were friendly with good senses of humor and they all seemed so nice. Cain's big family was so incredible it made her want to cry because that's how she had always wished her family was. They were so sweet and supportive and kind, just like Cain. Now she knew where he got it from and seeing that made her love him even more.
The inside of the house was even more Christmasy than the outside. There were six foot tall Nutcrackers and garland hung around the windows and they had a few different real Christmas trees, one in every room. As soon as she walked in she could smell pine cones, gingerbread and fresh coffee brewing and it made her feel at home. There were Christmas jingles playing in the background and someone was at the piano singing and playing Christmas songs too.
