Up at 3 AM, Estella quietly tiptoed throughout the Serrano Estate, main lodging for her and her family. For the history nerds, this home was built by José Luis Serrano in the 1800s, before the Mexican-American war, and would be considered a historical landmark in Sanctuary. Over the years, it has gone through renovations and restorations, seeing how preserving an old home is not an easy task. Estella's great, great grandpa, Julio, built the guest house, which is now used as lodging for their live-in staff. This was solely to finish the Serrano multigenerational project, as well as to keep his family safe throughout the process. She’s pretty sure some of the issues this house had led to a few of her ancestors dying.

An old home can have hidden troubles but even with how expensive this endeavor was, the Serranos were willing to put all their blood, sweat and heart into fixing this treasure and keeping the integrity, character and history well and alive. Even if this house isn’t the same house it once was, there are still areas within it, like the tiles in the kitchen, the refurbished furniture and the once upon a time rusty door knocker, that comes from a time long ago.

Estella loved her home and she showed her appreciation by keeping it in tip-top shape and filling it with good memories. She didn’t want to disappoint her ancestors and make them feel all their hard work went to waste. The first thing she did was visit her family’s ofrenda. Due to the amount of deceased they had, there was no point in breaking down the altar after Día de Muertos just to rebuild it the following year. She didn’t mind and it gave her a place to kneel and pray. Once she paid her respect to her family, she made her way to the kitchen to prepare everyone’s lunches.

Today was a special day. Today was Araceli and Yessenia’s birthday! They were twenty three. She couldn’t believe it. Both were growing into beautiful young ladies and she loved being part of their growth, their happiness, and their life. As her first gift, she would do the house chores they were tasked with. First the dishes then to get the clothes off the drying rack outside. Her father hadn’t bought a new dryer machine, seeing how it broke two months ago, so instead of going to the laundromat, Estella encouraged her siblings to just use the drying rack they rarely use. Well, now it had use.

Once lunch and a handful of house chores were done, and an easy, hearty breakfast was made, she got ready for her day. Having already taken a shower the night before, Stella went back to her room to change into a faded blue shirt and cargo pants, making sure to put her wrist watch on since she rarely takes her phone out while working on the ranch. Her work boots were on the porch, seeing how she’s gone through several and there was no way she would bring that dirt, mud, and whatever else, into the house. When she exited her room, she heard the front door open and close. She rushed downstairs to swing the door open. By the time she was on the porch, her father was already nearing the stable. “Buenos dias papi! I’ll see you soon!” She energetically yelled, watching her father with admiration.

“Buenos días mi estrella. Be nice to your siblings.” Javier smiled at his eldest child, giving her a little nod, knowing exactly what time it was, before disappearing into the stables. Her dad had a long day ahead of him. He always did.

With her morning routine almost complete, Estella connected her phone to the in ceiling bluetooth audio system. In a matter of seconds, she played the twins’ fiesta playlist. Ella Me Levanto by Daddy Yankee transmitted to the 5 channels within the house. This meant the whole estate was filled with loud music. To add extra incentive to get all her siblings out of bed, she cranked the volume up and started dancing and swaying up the stairs.

First stop, Miguel.

Drumming on his door fast, warning him of her entry, she quoted Fairly Odd Parents, "I'm respecting your privacy by knocking but asserting my authority as your older sister by coming in anyway!" She flung the door open and made her way to the curtains to bring in the day. Miguel shook awake, still not getting used to this after years of experiencing Estella’s energy. Drool ran down his mouth as he wiped the sleep off his face. She grinned at her little brother, giggling in amusement, before salsaing her way outside to the next room.

For Francisco, she took a pin out of her pant’s pocket and as if she’s done this many times before, she unlocked her brother’s room. She raised an eyebrow as she noticed a new sight. He was wearing sound canceling headphones. Cute. Just like she did in Miguel’s room, she brought light inside. She knew he wasn’t sleeping. Cisco suffered with insomnia so she knew he knew she was there. Grinning mischievously, she grabbed his accordion and started attempting to play it, poorly. She whirled and twirled around his room and just like that, when she turned back to face him, he was standing in front of her, grumpy. She gave the musician his instrument and she mouthed, seeing how he was still wearing his headphones, “Good morninggggg.” She was rewarded with an eye roll.

Once she was out of his room, she walked past Hector’s, already hearing him shuffle around downstairs. The front door opened and closed. She checked her wrist watch and right on schedule, 5:30 AM, her brother was going for his morning jog. Lastly, the twins shared room, which was two rooms joined together since they requested to connect their rooms. To her surprise, the door was not closed. Both Araceli and Yessenia were ready for work, dressed in overalls and with a gentle amount of makeup on. The faster they got their ranch chores done, the sooner they could go back home, shower, dress pretty and leave to have fun.

The twins widely smiled at their older sister and joined her dancing around their room to their playlist. Out of the three girls, Araceli was the one with the fluid movements, as if dancing was in her spirit. She screamed over the music, before her sister got a chance to say happy birthday, “I’M SO EXCITED! TODAY’S THE FESTIVAL!”

Yessenia chimed in, but didn’t shout, “And our birthday.”

“AND OUR BIRTHDAY!” Celi gleefully shouted, as she shimmied with Estella, all giddy on the inside. She was ready to make today her bitch. It was her birthday and she deserved to shine. And with that, the whole Serrano household was ready to start their day. They had a busy next few hours ahead of them, which included preparing the petting zoo and apple stand by 2 PM. That didn’t include the Date Auction Araceli was throwing for the community after 7 PM.

All the Serranos were up.

At the crack of dawn.

Good morning, Sanctuary.

Hours had passed and the Serrano kids were showered, dressed to impress and taking turns at the petting zoo and the apple stand. They were fortunate their dad instructed a couple of his employees to help out so his children could have some downtime to enjoy the festival. Estella was running the petting zoo, making sure the animals and children played nice, when Hector came back from playing the basketball game. He was carrying a large baby sloth plushie. He didn’t have a girlfriend so he was likely just going to give the giant sloth to the twins. They loved collecting an unnecessary amount of plushies. They couldn't help themselves when they saw cute things.

Being freed from her duties, Estella graciously pulled her brother into a hug before skipping off. She wore a traditional floral embroidered blue dress with a lace trim off the shoulder. If there was one thing that this town knew about the Serrano girls it was that when they weren’t off doing work, they were wearing dresses, and more often than not they were on the traditional side. Especially for events like festivals. They were a family that took pride in their culture and if they could show off in any way, they would because that was what it meant to be proud of who you were.

Both the twins wanted to stand out, obviously. It was their birthday. Yessenia wore a halter dress with artisanal embroidery and Araceli chose an off the shoulder party dress with red flowers as the focal point. A hot color for a hot girl. Estella had no idea where they were but she was sure wherever they chose to flaunt their beauty, there were many eyes on them. The Serrano twins liked standing out and getting compliments. It made them feel important.

With some free time on her hands, Estella had one thing on her mind. That was: how else can she make their birthday spectacular? Truth be told, she was having doubts about the gifts she bought them which were wrapped up and under her bed. She was going to give it to them when they all got back home but after hearing all the things they hoped they were getting throughout their work day, Estella was internally freaking out. As the older sister, she couldn’t disappoint them. She’d hate giving them something they never asked for.

Internally panicking, she searched for a place to sit and think. With a few hours before the town got really lively, Stella hoped she had enough time to change gears and get a new gift. Amidst the chaos in her mind, her amber eyes fell on a face she hadn’t seen for a couple days now, having not visited the cafe due to other obligations. With a bounce in her step, she strolled to the boy before calling out, “Yoohooooo! Levi!” She vigorously waved. It wasn’t long till she found herself by his picnic table, she quickly asked, “How’s it goingggg? Are you having funnnn?”