It's Christmas Eve. I've had to go to New York City several times to get Christmas presents for everyone. Grace and Braxton each have several presents. They each have 25 total. I didn't want it to be too much but I didn't want it to be too little.

I sit down on the floor and wrap the last of Braxton and Graces presents. Jace walks into the bedroom. "What are you doing," he asks. "Wrapping presents," I say as I put tape on the present and label it to Braxton. "You shouldn't be doing that. It could put stress on the babies" he says. He is more protective and making me do as less work as possible while I am pregnant with the triplets. "Jace I'm fine. If you want to, you can come to help me wrap their presents" I tell him. "Where's mine," he asks. "Already wrapped and under the tree" I answer.

The Christmas tree is in the living room. We spend Christmas at the herondale manor. It's a tradition I started when Jace was gone at the war and it was just me and Braxton. The servants get the castle to themselves for Christmas.

Jace gets on the floor and helps me wrap presents. Things are in boxes so he doesn't know what is in them. "Mommy" Braxton yells. It takes me a minute but I eventually get off of the floor. "I will be back," I tell Jace and go find Braxton in the living room. He is all wet. "Braxton, why are you wet," I ask. "Grace made it snow. I jumped in a pile of it and then it disappeared and turned into a puddle and now I am all wet" he explains. I open the door to the backyard where Grace is being chased by cookie. "Grace Anneliese, you come here" I command her. She stops and cookie runs into her knocking her down. She giggles and pets on cookie. "Now Grace," I say. "No mommy, I want to stay out here and play with Cookie," she says. River is laying down in the shade by the door. I smile at her and look back at Grace. "You come here right now," I say. She crosses her arms and doesn't move. "One" I start counting. She doesn't move. "Two," I say. She hugs cookie still not getting up from her spot on the ground. Now she is starting to make me mad. "Three," I say. She still hasn't moved. I go inside and call for Jace. He comes into the kitchen. "Go get your daughter. I need to speak with her and she won't listen to me" I tell him. "Why me," he asks. "I would go get her myself, but I am seven months pregnant with triplets and not as strong as I usually am. Plus she will listen to you. You are also immune to her powers" I say. "I am not immune to her ice powers. I wish I was, but I am not. I will still go get her" He caves and goes outside. "Where is she," he asks. I go outside and see Grace is nowhere to be found. "Cookie where is Grace," I ask. She just looks at me. Useless dog. Jace opens his wings and flies up and disappears in the sky.

I go back inside and see Braxton sitting on the floor still soaking wet. "Come on, let's get you in a nice warm bath, you are going to get sick," I tell him. I go to his room and run a bath in the bathroom. While it's filling up I help him out of his clothes. I stop the tub water and help him in the bathtub. "What's going to happen to Grace," he asks. "Jace has to find her first, but she will be in trouble. She shouldn't have done that to you" I say. "But its Christmas," he says. "I know. I may take some of her presents away and keep them for another time when she is not in trouble" I tell him. "Mommy, can I have bubbles," he asks. "We didn't bring your bubble bath bud," I tell him. His bubble bath stuff is still at the castle. He pouts but then starts playing with his bath toys. He has some of his own stuff here since we come back here some during the year. I sit on the edge of the tub and I was his hair while he is busy playing. I go downstairs and grab a cup and go back to his room. I rinse his hair out and get all the soap out. "Are you warmer now?" I ask. "A little," he says. "Let's get you cleaned up and into some clean clothes and I will start a fire while we wait on Jace to find your sister," I tell him.

I help him finish his bath and get him dressed in some warm clothes. I take him down to the living room and wrap him in a blanket. I start and fire in the fireplace and I sit with him on the couch. "Is Santa going to come tonight?" he asks. "He sure is Braxton" I answer. "Are we going to make cookies again?" he asks. Me and Braxton have always made cookies on Christmas eve for Santa like me and mom used to do when I was little. "Sure we can, what kind of cookies are we gonna make," I ask. "Hmm" he hums thinking. He scrunches up his nose thinking hard. "Gooey chocolate chip," he says smiling. "Alright Braxton, should we make them now or wait until Grace gets back," I ask. "I wanna make them now," he says.

We get up from the couch and I get the ingredients out to make gooey chocolate chip cookies. We always make the cookies from scratch. That's how I would do it growing up and that's how I am going to do it now with my kids. I put the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. "Here Braxton, can you stir this for me," I ask. He nods and takes the bowl and starts stirring it up.

"Is this good mommy?" Braxton asks after a few minutes. I look at the bowl. "Looks good Braxton," I say and take the bowl and set it to the side. Next in a separate bowl I put melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar and mix it up. When it's mixed good enough I separate the egg white from the yolk and put it in the bowl with the butter and sugar. I put a full egg in as well and add some vanilla and let Braxton mix it up. I like letting him help. I add in the other bowl as well. I add in two cups of chocolate chips slowly while he is mixing everything. Once everything is mixed enough I scoop the cookie dough onto the pan. "I wanna do it," Braxton says. "Here," I say and hand him the spool and help him get a good enough size for a cookie and he puts it on the pan. He does the same until all the cookie dough is all on the cookie sheet. I set the cookie sheets in the oven and set a timer for 17 minutes. "Can I have a cookie when it's done?" he asks. "Later tonight, maybe. We need to leave enough for Santa" I tell him. "Okay," he says.

"Can I open a present now?" he asks. "Not yet, but you will tonight," I tell him. "Okay" he says. We sit on the couch and wait on Jace.

After a while, Jace comes home pulling Grace behind him. He is looking mad. He goes upstairs and disappears with Grace. He comes back down without her. "Are you alright Braxton?" he asks. "Yes, daddy. I am all better now" Braxton says. "That's good buddy. Grace shouldn't have done that to you. That was mean" Jace says. He sniffs the air. "What's that smell," he asks. "We are making cookies for Santa," I tell Jace. He smiles.

"Should I invite Jonathan, Alice, and Ash over for dinner?" I ask. "Yeah sure," Jace says. I write a note asking them to come over at 5:30 for dinner and I send the fire message. "Where is Grace," I ask. "In her room. She is to stay there until tonight" Jace says.

I go upstairs and walk into her room. She is sitting on her bed crying. "Grace," I ask. "Go away," she says. "No, Grace-" I start. She says "you made daddy hate me, he spanked me." "He doesn't hate you, Grace. You shouldn't have done that to your brother. You also shouldn't have run when we were trying to get you inside" I tell her. "But he does hate me. Daddy spanked me, he's never spanked me before. Plus I said something really mean to daddy so now he double hates me" she says. "What did you say," I ask. "I called him a stupid meany and told him to go away. When he didn't I told him I don't like him or Braxton anymore" she explains. "Jace still loves you baby, but you shouldn't have said those things or done that to your brother. You have to eat dinner up here tonight. You will only come down when it's time to open your first present tonight" I tell her. "You're so mean mommy," she says. "That's fine," I say and walk out of her room.

I go downstairs and see Jace pulling the cookie sheet out of the oven. Jace starts making pork for dinner. After it starts cooking it smells weird. I scrunch up my nose and suddenly I feel like I am going to throw up. I open the back door to the backyard, since I don't think I will be able to make it to the bathroom, and I throw up whatever is in my stomach. Jace comes out here with me. "Are you alright?" he asks me. "Yeah," I say I stand upright and wipe my mouth. I go inside and feel uneasy again and go back out. "What's wrong," he asks and I sit down on the bench. "I need you to get rid of the pork and the smell. I can't handle it. It makes me want to throw up" I tell him. "Alright, stay out here. I will get rid of the pork and do my best to get rid of the smell" he says. I nod. "Do you want me to bring you some hot chocolate or something since its cold out here?" he asks. "That sounds good" I answer. "Alright, I will be right back," he says and goes inside.

River comes out and lies at my feet. "Mommy" I hear Braxton ask. I look over at him. "Are you okay?" he asks. "Yeah buddy, my body's not agreeing with the smell of the pork though," I tell him. "Oh," he says and goes back inside. Jace brings me out some hot chocolate and goes back in. After a while, Jace calls me back in. "Better," he asks. The smell is all gone now. "Yeah" I answer. "I'll just make pasta for dinner," he says. "Alright. I'm gonna go finish wrapping the last few presents " I tell him. I go into our room and wrap the rest of the presents.

At 5:30 Jonathan, Alice, ash, and zillah get here. "Hey, guys," I say and let them in the house.  "Alec, Magnus and the boys should be here soon hopefully. I invited them too" Jace tells us. "Where is Grace" Alice asks. "In her room. She is in trouble so she is having to eat dinner in her room" I explain. "Why," Ash asks. "She was mean to Braxton and ran or flew away when we were trying to get her back inside" Jace explains. "What did she do to Braxton," Ash asks. "They were playing outside and she made it snow. Braxton jumped in the snow and was playing in a pile of it and she made it melt and he got all wet and cold" I tell them. "She laughed at me too," Braxton says and pouts. "I'm sorry Braxton" I apologize. "I will go talk to her later," Ash says.

Alec, Magnus, Rafe, and max get here a few minutes later. "Whos making dinner I'm hungry," Alec asks. "I am," Jace says and goes back to the stove to check on the pasta. "You cook," Alec asks like he doesn't believe it. "Yeah, I can make some things. I had to learn to make stuff when we were living in New York still and Clary was working late and I was stuck making something for dinner. It was either learn to cook or starve until breakfast" Jace explains. "You wouldn't have starved. I had food in the fridge and snacks in the pantry. I always tried to have a frozen pizza just in case too" I point out. Even if I was not there he would have had enough food to eat dinner. I was just if he was lazy enough to get up and make something or to just sit there and as he called it "starve".

"Well, what are you making," Alec asks. "Pasta. I was going to make pork with mashed potatoes but clary couldn't do the pork" Jace answers. "What do you mean," Alec asks. "The smell of the pork didn't agree with me. I don't think I will ever be able to eat or smell pork ever again" I say. "I guess that cancels out dinner meals at the castle from now on" Alice comments. "Yep" I confirm.

Once Jace makes the dinner he sets everything on plates and we all take our food and decide to sit and eat in the living room on the couch, chairs and by the fireplace. "I can take Graces food up to her" Ash offers. "Alright, if you really want to," I say and hand him the plate of pasta and bread. "Which one is her room," he asks. "The one with the closed-door" Jace tells him. Ash nods and goes upstairs to Grace.

"I went to the Castle this morning. You know just to check on things for a few minutes. I asked the maids to do a deep cleaning of the rooms in your tower just because. Otherwise, everything was fine. I think they are enjoying having the castle to themselves and being able to relax" Alice says. "I bet they are. They deserve having the castle to themselves at least a few times a year" I say. "Well some of them deserve it. Some give me a hard time and are lazy butts most of the time" Alice says. "What do you do if they give you a hard time," Magnus asks. "Well, there are different things you can do. I usually talk to them first. If they do it again they could spend some time down in the bunker. That usually gets their attention and teaches them to do what I tell them" Alice answers. "What's the bunker," Alec asks. "It's pretty much an underground hole. About half the size of the kitchen in this house. It's not very big, just big enough to hold a person and for them to be able to walk a few steps" she explains. "Why is it so bad though," Magnus asks. "Depending on what the person did to get put in the bunker means different punishment. It could range anywhere from being in there for a night, a few days, a week. Depending on what they did they may not get fed. It's not often we go that far as to not feeding them, it's rare but its happened before" Alice explains. "Well I'm suddenly glad I don't work for you," Alec says. She just shrugs and keeps eating.

When zillah gets bored of playing with her toys, Alice brought with them, zillah crawls over. Jonathan picks her up. He gets to eat some more and she plants her hands in the middle of the food covering them in marinara and meat sauce. "Okay I guess you should eat now" he gives in. He puts the plate on the coffee table and looks in the diaper bag Alice brought. He pulls out a jar of sweet potato, mango and kale baby food.

I feed river and cookie and ash comes back down with two empty plates. After they both eat river comes in the living room with us. "Ooh," zillah says her eyes getting big. "What was that for," Magnus asks. "Dogs. She loves dogs for some reason. Every time echo or bear comes in the room she is in she does that too" Jonathan explains. Once she finishes eating her baby food he sets her on the floor and she crawls over to river. "Has river seen a baby before?" Alec asks. "Yeah, she was around Braxton. She watched him and was around him growing up" Alice says. Zillah pulls on rivers fur. "Careful zil" Alice warns.

"So What are you guys doing tonight," Jace asks. "The boys get to open a Christmas present each tonight," Alec says. "We have some Christmas movies at home so I think we are either going to watch home alone or a Christmas story," Alice says. "Those are good Christmas movies. My favorite is probably home alone though. Me and Simon watched that all the time growing up" I say. "What about you guys," Magnus asks. "We have the night before Christmas we will read to Grace and Braxton tonight and they get to open a present tonight," Jace tells them.

We all spend some more time together and hang out and they go back to their houses. "I'll go get grace and they can open their first present," Jace says and he goes upstairs. He comes down with her holding his hand and she sits on the couch. Braxton sits beside her and I hand them both their presents. I put them in bags so it's easier for them to open as their first present. "Open it," I say. Grace opens hers first. "It's cute. Thank you, daddy, thank you mommy" she says. They are pajamas with a reindeer on the top and plaid pants.

"You next Braxton," I say. He opens his bag next. He laughs. "It's a shark," he says grinning. They are pajamas that have a shark that says Santa Jaws. The shark has a Santa hat on its head.

"Go change into your pajamas and come back down. We are going to read you both a story before bed" I tell them both.

They change into their pajamas and come back down. They look so cute in their new Christmas pajamas. We all sit on the couch and Jace and I read them the night before Christmas. "Now off to bed you two. You want Santa to come don't you" I ask. "Yes" they both say excitedly. "Come on. We will tuck you in" I say and the four of us go upstairs. I pull back the sheets on Grace's bed and she gets in. "Goodnight grace, I love you," I say and kiss her head. "Nite nite mommy," she says. I leave her room and go over to Braxton. Jace finishes tucking him in and then leaves the room. I sit on Braxtons bed and smile down at him. "Goodnight my little prince," I say and kiss his head. "Nite nite mommy, I lolu," he says. When Braxton was learning to talk he couldn't say I love you so he said lolu. "I love you too baby," I say. He's so sweet. I give him another kiss on the head and walk out of the room.

I go down to mine and Jaces room and look through the bag I packed. I pull out my plaid maternity pajamas. They are Christmas colors. I put them on. It takes a little while but I get them all buttoned.

"I got you one too," I say and hand him his bag of Christmas pajamas. "I got one too," he asks. "You sure did," I say and put the bag in his hands. He sits on the bed and opens it up. He smiles at the pajamas I got them. "Well put them on," I tell him. He puts them on. "I like them. Do you" I ask. "Yeah," he says. They are snoopy Christmas pajamas.

I get ready for bed. "We need to get at least a little sleep before we have to get up again, "I say. "I agree," he says. He sets his alarm for a few hours later. "Goodnight love," he says. "Goodnight Jace," I say. I give him a kiss and close my eyes and fall asleep.

Did you guys like the chapter?

Do you like everyone's Christmas pajamas?

Every Christmas Eve my family goes to dinner with some of our family friends and j figured I would do that with the herondale family and they eat with Magnus alec and Jonathan and Alice and their kids.

What's a Christmas Eve tradition you guys do every Christmas?