25
Tessa
Things have been touchysince Damon came home from the hospital. Even though he has no broken bones, he still needs rest, and he refuses to take it easy—typical man. The doctor took him off work for at least a week, and he hasn’t tried to go back yet, but I know it’s only a matter of time before he does. Emily and I have loved having him home, and he’s been watching her while I work since school is out until January 6. Christmas is tomorrow, and I’m beyond excited to share it with him. Lex let me take the entire week off, since it’s usually slow around the holidays, anyway.
“You excited about our first Christmas together?” Damon says, slamming down his UNO card.
“Christmas is my favorite time of the year. My dad was a fanatic with decorating. We would cover the house in lights and decorations everywhere. It was a big deal to him.”
Remembering Christmases with my dad is hard. Sometimes he got a call and had to rush out, but he still did everything he could to make me and my mom happy with the time he had with us.
“Well, you can go pick out some decorations and get them up before we go shopping. I’ll have Aiden and Liam come over and help put them up.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“You’re right. But I want to. I want our first Christmas to be perfect.”
He hands me his debit card and throws me the keys. “Emily can stay here with me.”
When I get to the department store, I’m overwhelmed. There are probably forty aisles of Christmas related decorations, but blowups are my first pick. Maybe I can find some that are like the ones my dad used to put up. My eyes land on a blow-up Santa with a sleigh. Emily will love this one, so I have to get it, and then before I know it, I have a snowman and a big north pole sign thrown into my cart as well. What fun is Christmas without some huge decorations. Next up, lights. They have every color imaginable in lights, and so instead of getting a box of some colors, I decide on the multicolored lights and put six boxes into the basket. My goal is only to spend around two hundred dollars so that way I can just pay with my debit card. Damon doesn’t have to buy these things. I can chip in. On the way to the check out, an aisle is filled with inside decor and I pick up a few things for the living room mantle as well before finally getting into line for checkout. The basket is getting harder to push with the amount of weight inside, but I get to the lady in aisle eight and she scans all the stuff.
“Your total is four hundred twenty-three dollars and twenty-one cents.”
My eyes go wide, not meaning to get that much stuff, and for a brief moment think about putting some stuff back, but then I would have to have her void the transaction and remember where I got everything. So, instead I just swipe his card. I will give him money back the next time I go to the bank.
I have a hard time getting the basket to the car, but we make it without running into anyone or anything. The lights are placed in the front floorboard, and the Santa box in the passenger seat. The other two boxes are put in the back seat along with the inside decor. I am glad I didn’t get anything else or there wouldn’t be room. Damon still has his trunk full of stuff.
When I get back to the house, Aiden and Liam are waiting outside for me.
“So, what’d you get?” Liam asks.
“All kinds of stuff. Here are the lights,” I say, handing them the six boxes of lights to choose from. “I’ve never done lights before. So hopefully they work.”
While they string the lights, I get the blowups situated. The three end up being big enough to see from the road which I love. The Christmas spirit is going to be big in this house and I can’t wait for Emily to see.
I carry the other two bags inside to set up in the house.
“Looks like you had a blast. It’s looking great out there,” Damon says, sitting on the couch. “I really wish I could’ve helped you.”
A kiss on the lips makes him shut up and follow me into the kitchen. “I got some little things for Christmas Day for the table.”
He looks through the bags and appears happy with my purchases.
“It’s going to be the perfect Christmas after all.”
He helps me put some little things up on the mantle while his brothers continue putting lights up outside. I can’t wait to see the finished look from the road. My dad would be so happy right now if he were here.
Emily is sitting on the floor, cross-legged, watching Animal Planet like usual, without a care in the world.
“Do you want to go see outside with us?”
She gets up and jets to the door. “Let’s go.”
We all walk to the road to see the finished product, and it’s absolutely beautiful and will be around for many more Christmases to come.
“It looks like you guys are the only ones on the street prepared. Your neighbors are slacking,” Aiden says, laughing.
“Liam, you think you could watch Emily for a couple of hours while me and Tessa go pick up some last-minute things?” he asks as I look at him in confusion.