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Nonna laughed with them, then ruffled their heads before ambling over to the sink. “I’m glad the Shelf Elves did their research. I knew they wouldn’t disappoint me.”

“We’ve been wanting these for so long!” Oli chimed in, missing the details my grandma was hinting at. “But Mom never let us have these like our friends.”

A blunt blade struck my gut. I didn’t have money for video games, even if I did approve.

“I wish we could call Kevin Maddaheim! Rub it in his face that we’re finally cool enough to have a Switch,” Mat added.

“A Switch 2!” Oli corrected.

Mat waved the box in the air. “We’re finally cool!”

The blade twisted.

That was my worst fear about homeschooling them. I wanted them to be smart, to excel academically. I wanted them to have certain values, and I opted for a classical education. While those things could be accomplished in a private school, that was something I used to think we couldn’t afford, so I volunteered to take on the task when Andy and I found out we’d be parents.

I didn’t realize my late husband had more than enough to send them to any fancy school in the Tri State area. Now those accounts were gone just like my husband.

But to think that my kids felt inadequate compared to their peers? That because I didn’t do video games or stupid holiday traditions, I’d somehow failed them? They’d never been this excited over any gift I’d given them.

I slumped against the kitchen island as the twins jabbered at my grandmother, showing her features on the box.

I’m failing them.

Which was exactly what I was pissed at my dead husband for doing.

“Rosetta?” Nonna broke the brackish, turbulent thoughts swirling inside me. “What is it?”

“Nothing,” I choked.

“Oh, Mom doesn’t believe in Santa,” Oli explained in a rough whisper.

Nonna nodded. “Just because she doesn’t believe in the manifestation of the magic, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

“Huh?” Mat gulped.

Nonna glided over to the stove. “Un caffè?”

I shook my head. “I already had one.”

“Don’t be so grumpy,” Nonna chided under her breath, so I was the only one who heard. “This is going to be so much fun. A new family tradition.”

“Is that why you did it?” I sighed.

She nodded. “I looked for fun things to do with you and the boys, and this is perfect.”

Defeat weighed on my shoulders. There was no turning back. The damage was done. “Fine. But keep the language child appropriate, okay?”

I was about to give her a whole list of instructions. Like checking in about gifts for the boys. They needed things like books or clothes. Toys needed to be STEM or constructive.

But Nonna was frowning up at me. “What do you mean?”

I shoved the note in her chest. “You wrote the f word, Nonna!”

Her gaze snapped to the paper, and she scanned the note quickly. Her lips pursed. She shook her head. “Sciocco ragazzo.”

“What?”

“Oh, I’ll deal with this.” She crumpled the paper and shoved it in her pocket. “Non è niente, Rosetta.”