Christmas break. My favorite time of the year. The time where I get to spend the most time with my family and not in the glorious school dorms. Time with my family is horrible. Not only am I lesbian, but my family is homophobic.

They only know about me because they found me kissing my ex-girlfriend in my room. Said, the private schooling with dorms.

The names Summer, Summer Boyer, kind of ironic as I hate the heat. But now it is winter. And I dread break, which is starting today, by the way. Going home to see my family is awful. Each year, they ridicule me, they are never going to change.

I walk off of the train, to see my family smiling joyously, as if happy to see me.

“Summer!” My little brother Jacobe yells, running to give me a hug. He is eight, and the most cheerful one there is.

“Hey, I brought you something, little bro!” I laugh, being tackled by his small body. He jumps off of me, looking up excitedly. I hand him a small box, inside holding an origami crane. He loves those, especially when I make them, but this one was special. This one had been hard waxed, to keep it strong, and it was made with a paper of his favorite color.

“We have something for you too, Summer.” My mother finally spoke, surprisingly warmly.

“Ah, yes. But we should wait for when we get home for that.” Father says.

We get home, and they rush inside. I stay out for a minute, admiring the snowy weather.

As I walk in, I notice each family member holding one gift, save for my mom whom was holding two. They hand them to me all at once, barely giving me time to take in their large grins. The first three are large, but thin, while the last one is quite small, a box that is about the size of a note card. They tell me to open the large ones first, I open the one from my mother. ‘My Child Is Gay And I Am Proud’ the shirt said. Smiling, tears starting to trickle down my face, I open the one from my father, and brother. Both say similar things.

As I am about to say something, my brother eagerly tells me to open the box. Without question, I do. Sobbing tears of joy, I give them all tight hugs, dropping the note saying ‘Welcome Home.’