My mom turned off the vacuum and faced me, hands on her hips. I closed the front door behind me.

When I faced her, she said, “Que bueno que ya llegaste.” Obviously, she was glad I was home. Probably because there was now an extra body present to help with the million things on her to do list before Christmas Eve. “I need you to clean that room of yours,” she went on in Spanish. “It’s a pigsty in there, and everyone will be here before we know it. I want all the dirty laundry…”

That’s about when I tuned her out and headed to the kitchen for a snack. Couldn’t I just make it to the couch and watch Christmas movies all day like Rey? I was sure her parents didn’t have her cooking and cleaning all day like me.

My mom followed me into the kitchen. “Lena, go do it now. No TV until you’re finished.”

“But mommm,” I whined, drawing out the word and closing the fridge behind me. “Why do I need to clean my room? It’s not like the party is going to be in there.”

“Selena Martinez,” she said, using my full name.

I knew she was serious now, so I closed my mouth and listened.

“Go clean that room before I take your phone. It’s a huge mess in there. I could hardly walk in. You know that we’ll need it as a guest room. You and your sister will share her room again.” She turned to leave, and I sighed. “Oh, and when you’re done, come back in here to help me start dinner.”

I groaned again, even louder, but she ignored me and went back to vacuuming every nook and cranny in the house.

Dragging my feet all the way to my room, I wished I could switch places with any of my friends. Why was I the one who had to spend the entire winter holidays doing twice as many chores?

I hated cooking and cleaning. I liked my room the way it was, and when my mom had me help her with dinner, it was always the same. Chopping up peppers, lettuce, and tomatoes into a million tiny little pieces or it wasn’t right.

I landed on my bed, face down, and groaned into my pillow for good measure.

Then I closed my eyes and pulled the comforter as best I could over my body. “Why can’t I just nap?” I said out loud. “Isn’t that the true meaning of Christmas? No school and getting to do nothing all day?”

“No,” I heard my sister say. “Definitely not.”

I tried to roll and turn toward Maria, but somehow, I reached the edge of the bed and fell on the floor with a shriek.

Brushing my hair out of my face and wrestling the comforter away, I finally managed to sit up. “Hey,” I told Maria. “Is mom making you clean your room too?”

She smiled that smug grin of hers and crossed her arms as she looked down at me. “Nope. My room is already clean. You know, it’s a lot easier to keep your room clean if you just maintain it that way.” She reached over and picked up an ancient banana peel. “Like if you just threw all this stuff away instead of letting it pile up. What is this? A compost pile?” she said, putting the withered and black banana peel back where it was among the empty yogurt containers and bags of chips near my TV.

I stood up, picked up my trash can, and tossed everything in. “No,” I said. “Compost can’t have man-made things in it. Duh.”

She stared at me, surprised.

Now I gave her a smug grin, even though I’d only heard Ella say that one time.

“Don’t plan on making this kind of mess when you stay in my room,” she said, walking away.

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever,” I said after her.

Maria was only around so much lately because she was off for winter break too. I couldn’t wait until this holiday nightmare was over.

Then she could go back to being in college all day or studying all night, and I’d go back to my favorite thing to do: soccer practice and varsity soccer games. Best of all, the endless cooking and cleaning and talking to a million stranger relatives would be over for another twelve months.

I didn’t know why everyone, including my friends and mom, thought Christmas was such a big deal.

It definitely wasn’t. I’d be looking forward to it being over so I could get back into my normal routine, even if it did include school. Barf. Soccer would make getting up early worth it.

And, after winter break, Ian would be back from the remote small town in Oklahoma he was currently in, visiting relatives. Without cell service.

For now, I was just counting down the days until December 26th.

Bah, humbug!