"Didn't you say that the gift wouldn't be opened until the next morning?"

Lu Li carefully confirmed each gift, looked at the size, wrapping colored paper, and weighed it with both hands, but he didn't open it, carefully picked it up, and put it down carefully, and asked in a loud voice according to the mood of anticipation. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Cole didn't go straight to the hall, but went to the kitchen first. This is really not normal, usually the positions of Ke Er and Lu Li should be reversed, but today is more special, because Ke Er only made a special trip to make eggnog, in this regard, he is an expert, Lu Li is willing to bow down.

Cole turned on the stove and lit the fire, and although eggnog was developed to be available at room temperature and chilled, the traditional eggnog still needed to be hot to match the Christmas spirit. Before setting off in the afternoon, they make two large jars of eggnog, and in the evening, they warm a glass of milk and pour it in, ready to drink.

Hearing Lu Li's question, Cole raised his chin and said in a loud voice, "Tradition is indeed like this. ”

Then after a slight pause, he changed the conversation and said lightly, "But you know, it's to tell the kids that these presents are from Santa Claus." So, when you wake up in the morning, open your socks or open your gifts, which is a special feeling. If you can't wait, you can take it apart now, technically speaking, it's past twelve o'clock in the middle of the night and Christmas has arrived. ”

Lu Li joked, his voice full of loss, "Oh, you mean, Santa Claus doesn't exist?"

The colorful tone, as if he was really disappointed, Cole glanced at Lu Li speechlessly, but did not intend to respond, but changed the subject, "I know this is not your first Christmas, you are still looking forward to it? ”

"But that's someone else's Christmas, not mine. Lu Li shrugged his shoulders and didn't continue to joke.

Festivals in big cities are not festive, just an excuse to enjoy a party, and of course, the best time for merchants to promote, and a real festival can only be enjoyed if you understand its meaning. This was true for Halloween before, and it is true for Christmas now.

Lowering his head, Lu Li picked up each gift box and shook it gently next to his ears, just like those children in the movie who can't wait to open the gifts. Even on his birthday, he has never seen so many wrapped gifts, and this sense of anticipation is really hard to let go.

This year is the first Christmas at Cloud Peak Ranch, and it is also the first New Year, after all, it is still a little different.

So, Lu Li proposed a simple but interesting game, everyone draws lots to choose a name, as the object of the secret gift, so that everyone will receive a mysterious gift, while also keeping the surprise, in addition, Lu Li himself also bought a lot of gifts, all kinds of gifts, stacked under the Christmas tree, to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to open the gift, at least twice.

Of course, these are just gimmicks. The real gift is the year-end bonus, Lu Li has prepared a year-end bonus for every member of the ranch, which is directly transferred to everyone's account to thank them for their hard work and investment in the past year.

"This gift is mine. Lu Li found the name on it, looked at the crooked handwriting, and couldn't help but laugh dumbly, "Haha, who the hell is this, and deliberately writes with his left hand to avoid making me recognize the handwriting? ”

While speaking, Cole came over with a hot eggnog and handed a glass to Lu Li, "You just take it apart and take a look, don't you know?"

Then Cole took a cup himself, carefully sat down beside Lu Li, began to rummage through the gifts in front of him, and then found his own, and put it next to Lu Li's gift and compared, "Why does my gift look so small?" I have a sense of foreboding. ”

"The size of the gift is not the most important thing, the contents are. Lu Li took a sip of eggnog and nodded contentedly, "If this is given to me by Tony, maybe it's a big clump of weeds?" You know, Tony always makes some unexpected choices, if it's really Tony, I'm a little worried, what kind of surprise is it, more surprise, or more joy." ”

"If you want, you can take it apart now, and if you don't like it, then you can change it for a gift and play a good trick on Tony. Cole also took a sip of eggnog and couldn't help but let out a comfortable sigh, "Wow, now I finally feel home, and besides, it finally feels like Christmas." ”

Lu Li thought about it, and finally shook his head, "Let's wait for the morning." ”

It was his first Christmas present. Of course, it is not the gift itself that is special, but the atmosphere of the ranch, which makes him really feel the festive atmosphere of Christmas, which makes the gift special. Since he's been waiting so long, he doesn't mind waiting a little longer.

Anyway, it's not a few hours until dawn now.

"What about you?" Lu Li turned his head to look at Cole, only to find that Cole had also put the gift down.

Cole shrugged, "Get used to it, the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning is to open your gifts." If that's not the case, it feels like something is missing. Cole's words made Lu Li smile widely, and his flickering eyes had a tacit look, which made Cole laugh, "Then let's open the gifts together in the morning." Have an authentic American Christmas. ”

"That's how I intended it. Lu Li nodded with a smile, and saw the flashing red light on the message machine out of his eyes, "There is a message, who will call on Christmas Day?"

The top of the clouds ranch is equipped with a landline telephone, which is a legacy from the old days of the Ritz. However, now that everyone has a mobile phone, the frequency of use of landline phones has dropped rapidly, and the same is true for landline phones on farms, which are more often used as work phones, such as the official cooperation of H-E-B supermarkets.

On Christmas Day, there are also people leaving messages on landlines, which is really uncommon.

Cole glanced back and couldn't help but be stunned, "I don't know either." As he spoke, he moved over and pressed play.

"You have a total of eight messages, beep. After the electronic sound of the machine, a cheerful and crackling voice rang out, "Twelve? Am I twelve? Merry Christmas! Guys, Merry Christmas! I'm the first at twelve! I've been busy all the time, I don't know which guy, I'm pretty sure, I'm the first after twelve!"

The babbling shout wasn't who Randy was, his voice was almost distorted, sharp and excited. Lu Li and Cole exchanged glances, and then both laughed.

"Man, I mean, thank you so much for your support over the past year, and hopefully the next year will continue to be a smooth one. And then, I'll ...... tomorrow Uh, no, today, I'm flying to Los Angeles today, haha!

After Randy's message ended, Jessica's angry voice followed, "It must be Randy's guy, the phone is always busy, it's definitely Randy! I'm the first now? No matter, I just want to say, Merry Christmas! Fourteen, and Cole, thank you for your willingness to stay on the ranch, don't worry, I'll be back the day after tomorrow." Remember, don't open my gifts!

Then Tony, then Adam. Surprisingly, Adam's voice was filled with joy and cheerfulness, and he couldn't wait to join the frenzy of midnight messages. Then Scarlett, then Justin, and finally Brandon.

Everyone rushed to call and congratulate Merry Christmas as soon as possible. It's not entirely true to say that either, and Justin and Brandon are unhurried.

"Fourteen, Merry Christmas. Brandon's message was always slow, and he was a quarter of an hour slower than the others, "Merry Christmas, Cole." By the way, Jia Simin has something to say. ”

Then Jasmin's voice came, "Merry Christmas, guys, Victoria is fine today, everything is fine, she greets you too, happy holidays." Fourteen, to be honest, I think it was a wrong choice for Brandon to come back from vacation, he couldn't give up all day today, and when he hugged Victoria, he almost fed milk powder to his mouth, haha. I think he's missing those old guys. ”

Jasmin then handed the phone to Brandon, but he didn't argue, "Thank you for taking care of those naughty guys." Finally, enjoy eggnog. "The recording is broken here, as always in Brandon style, concise and straightforward.

Just when Lu Li thought the recording was over, another recording rang out, it was Fred, the Fred who had disappeared for months. He is now in Alaska, bathing in the aurora, walking on snow, drinking whiskey and recording his footprints with his camera.

That's the biggest surprise of Christmas, and it's the best gift of Christmas.

Everyone called over and celebrated Christmas with them in a recorded way. Perhaps, they are not at the top of the cloud ranch at the moment, but each of them is a part of this family. Lu Li finally knew what was missing from that piece of the puzzle, it was Bucky, but it was not just Bucky, and it was only now that the puzzle pieces were put together.

Raising his head, Lu Li's gaze fell on Cole, and he couldn't help but think of what he looked like on the first day he arrived at Cloud Peak Ranch, time flew by, and when he spent his first New Year here, everything was still exactly the same. Lu Li couldn't help but show a big smile and said loudly, "Merry Christmas." ”

Cole lowered his head and touched Teddy's head vigorously, hiding his faint emotion. Such a ranch reminded him of the time when Liz was still there, warm, cozy, caring, cordial, and beautiful. From the beech pasture to the cloud top ranch, life seems to have changed here, but nothing seems to have changed.

Then he nodded and said in a deep voice, "Merry Christmas." ”