Nicole Hossler was excited. It was almost Christmas! She loved Christmas, it was her favorite holiday. She already had all her Christmas shopping done and all the presents wrapped. She couldn't wait to see her family. She missed her parents and her younger siblings. Even though she was only a few hours away from Galveston. Christmas was always a big deal in the Hossler house. Even once all the kids stopped believing Santa Claus. On top of presents and good food, they would bake cookies and watch Christmas movies. They would horribly attempt to make a gingerbread house that would end up falling apart two hours later. It would be lots of fun.<br/><br/>Although, she realized it wouldn't all be joy back home. Her boyfriend, Joel, was from her hometown. They had went to school together, started dating in high school. His grandfather was very ill and they would be visiting him too. Nicole wondered if this would be Joel's grandpa's last Christmas. She hoped not. He was such a nice man, treating her like a granddaughter. But...Things weren't looking better for him.<br/><br/>Nicole held Joel's hand as they headed up to Mandy's apartment. She had bag of presents for her friends. Nicole loved to give gifts and planned to give everyone gathered Mandy's place a present. She wouldn't be seeing any of them, other then Joel, over the break. She didn't even care if they didn't have any to give her in return. Christmas wasn't just about presents, although that was a fun part of it.<br/><br/>"Let's have fun tonight."<br/><br/>Nicole said to Joel. She knew he was having a hard time. He wasn't his usual happy self. Not that she blamed him, she knew how important his grandfather was to him.