On Christmas Day, Justin made an effort to hang out with his parents instead of hiding away in his room. However, he did get on Friendbook and InstaFace and saw multiple pictures of his friends' celebrations. Dominic got a new smartphone. Rick was skiing with his dad in Colorado. Kristi and her very large family all had matching Christmas pajamas. Alexa and Zack wore elf hats and held up matching Christmas mugs of eggnog at his parents' house in Orange County. Emily posted a picture of Daisy sitting on top of one of her new books as she was trying to read it and her mom tagged her in one of all of her siblings lined up bleary-eyed in the hallway before being allowed to open presents.
All the presents were opened—Justin only got gift cards and clothes this year—and Emily still hadn't called so he shot her a Merry Christmas text and decided to send one to Alexa too. Knowing she was spending her holiday with her surrogate family because her own had abandoned her made him a bit sad.
