Finding Charlie Rose

The next morning Charlie woke up on Shane's chest and touched his face to try to wake him up. She giggled when she felt his beard before whispering "pretty". Shane was awake and lay still to see what Charlie did next. She began to tug on the beard softly and giggled. Shane sat up suddenly and said "boo" causing Charlie to scream out.

John, Damien, Sam and Liam came rushing into the room to see what the hell had happened. Shane was laughing at a pouting Charlie who was attempting to glare at him. "What happened princess?" John asked Charlie. "Not nice" she replied pointing at Shane and turning her head away from him. "What did he do?" Damien asked Charlie.

Sam and Liam were trying not to laugh at Charlie who was attempting to be angry but looked adorable in the process. "Scare Charlie, boo," she told Damien and dropped her bottom lip. Damien rushed towards Charlie scooping her up in his arms cuddling her to his chest. "Not nice Shane, don't scare the princess" he said being dramatic. Charlie poked her tongue out at Shane who was shocked at what was happening. Damien saw what Charlie had done and copied her before pretending to flip his hair and exiting the room causing everyone to burst out laughing.

Damien took Charlie downstairs and into the kitchen. "So gorgeous what do you want for breakfast?" He asked. "Strawberry" Charlie called out excitedly. "Ok, I'll get you some" Damien responded. "Munchkin you need to eat something else with the strawberries" Oliver stated walking into the kitchen. Charlie pouted at Oliver not happy with his answer. "How about yoghurt or toast Charlie?" Damien asked. "Oghurt" Charlie squealed out making Damien laugh at her. "Ok gorgeous yoghurt and strawberries it is" he replied serving Charlie her breakfast.

The others slowly trickled in grabbing themselves some breakfast. Shane came over and kissed Charlie's head "Sorry for scaring you Charlie," he said before sitting next to his cousin with his Vegemite toast. "Mite toast" Charlie said pointing at the toast. "Yeh babes Vegemite toast" Liam said sitting down on the other side of Charlie "Mine" Charlie said pointing at the toast. "No pretty girl, it's mine" Shane said causing Charlie to pout and glare. Charlie was still hungry and wanted some toast, "mine" she said again getting louder. "Would you like some toast, Charlie?" Uncle John asked her. Charlie nodded "Mite toast," she said loudly while swinging her legs excitedly.

John made Charlie some Vegemite toast cutting it into triangles and placed it in front of her. Charlie smiled at Uncle John and said "Peas". "You are welcome princess. After your toast do you want to go and see Santa?" Uncle John asked her. Charlie nodded her head. She didn't know who Santa was but she wanted to find out. "We can get a photo with Santa and you can tell him what you want for Christmas," he told his niece. "Otay, J come too?" Charlie asked. "Wouldn't miss it princess" John replied smiling at his niece. "We can all go" Sam spoke up. He needed to get some Christmas presents for Charlie anyway. "Where are we going?" Byron asked coming into the kitchen. He headed towards Charlie and kissed her head reaching for a piece of her toast. "Mine" Charlie cried out, glaring at Byron who quickly put the toast down. "Wow sorry" he said looking back at Charlie. Charlie grabbed all 4 pieces of her toast sticking them down the side of her booster seat before saying "mine" again. "Ok sweetheart it's your toast, no one will take it from you" Damien said trying not to laugh at Byron who looked scared of Charlie.

Once everyone was ready they headed out getting into two cars and headed to the local shopping centre to take Charlie to see Santa. Charlie was dressed in a pretty red dress with her white sandals and her hair was in two half ponytails. When they managed to get a park they all met up in the line for Santa photos. Charlie was looking at all the decorations and the Christmas tree that she didn't notice the man in the red suit.

Sam was carrying Charlie and walked up to Santa handing Charlie over to the man so she could have a photo. The guy behind the camera started clicking away. Charlie turned to look at who was holding her as everyone else was in front of her trying to get her to smile and she looked horrified and began to squirm and cry. She didn't know or like this person holding her. Sam quickly walked towards Charlie to calm her down but she was trying to climb over him. The guy taking the photo suggested he get in the photo too but it did nothing to calm Charlie down at all. Soon all the boys and Uncle John were in the photo smiling but all Charlie did was scream. The guy took some more photos and then they were off to choose the images they wanted printed. They choose the one of Charlie first spotting Santa and screaming and the one with all of them in the photo. They were laughing at poor Charlie in the images.

After the Santa photo, they all split up to get Christmas presents for each other and for Charlie. John took Charlie with him because he had done his Christmas shopping and even brought a couple of things for Charlie while on his break from work. He walked around with Charlie and asked if there was something she would like to buy for people. She saw the arts and crafts table set up and "Charlie paint" Charlie squealed. "Ok princess let's go paint" John said before taking Charlie over to the craft area. John paid $30 so Charlie could paint 6 ornaments for the boys for Christmas explaining to the woman why he wanted her to do so many.

John and the woman manning the arts and crafts area spoke while Charlie painted and he explained that she was living with him and her brothers because her mum had passed. She ended up giving Charlie an extra ornament saying it was for John for Christmas. Once Charlie was finished the woman sprinkled them with glitter and put them in the air dryer telling John to come back in 15 minutes to pick them up. John walked around and took Charlie to the toilet before heading back to see all the ornaments wrapped up and ready to go. He then messaged everyone saying he would meet them in the food court for lunch and headed to find a table.