Journey- Karl Jacobs

Chapter 9- Merry Christmas

Silent layers of snowflakes layered themselves on the ground outside as the houses on the street gradually started to wake. The families with young children were obviously up first, excited to see what Santa Claus had left under the tree and in their stockings at the ungodly hours of the morning. The Jacobs' household meanwhile was enjoying the peace in the earlier hours of the morning and elected to get up at a more reasonable time. 

It was about 8am when everybody in the house got a text from Corry saying 'get up it's christmas!' and they soon heard footsteps running downstairs followed by a faint squeal of excitement. The others soon followed- with a little less energy however- crawling out of their beds and going downstairs to greet the youngest Jacobs girl who had prepared hot chocolate for everyone. 

The fire in the corner of the room crackled as heat filled every inch of the space that wasn't swamped with rainbow coloured wrapping paper and presents. They had all managed to pick the perfect kind of gifts for each other, even if they didn't know them very well. 

"Oh my gosh a deluxe 200 piece paint set? This is amazing there's so many colours!" Corry gasped opening the present Ellie had picked out for her after scrolling through her Instagram and twitch streams, seeing her passion for art. The overjoyed look on her face was well worth the torturous shopping trip with Karl. "Thank you so much!" She pulled Ellie in to a quick hug before going back and examining the paints more closely, admiring the many different colours and the multiple canvases that came with it. Karl was also amazed at the presents he received off his girlfriend, mainly the matching hoodie and converse that were a royal purple with his identifiable green swirl on them. Shaun received a variation of video game style presents like Pokémon cards and room décor, and Ellie got gifted some clothing vouchers, cute unique jewellery and other general christmas presents. 

It soon became 12:30 and the dinner table was completely set, the steaming hot food being set in the middle of the circular oak table. The 4 youngest took their seats at the table whist Mr and Mrs Jacobs finished getting the roast potatoes and gravy out of the oven to complete the delicious looking christmas dinner. 

"Are you alright?" Ellie asked Karl quietly, noticing he was picking at his fingernails and seemed to keep zoning out. 

"Oh, yeah I'm fine I'm just so happy, I have everything I could ever need right here. I'm surrounded by my family, I have the best friends in the world and the love of my life sat right next to me, what more could a guy want?" He smiled and linked his hand with hers under the table, and she reflected his goofy grin. 

The dinner was lovely, the atmosphere was so homely whilst they tucked in to the moist chicken, fluffy potatoes, crunchy vegetables, warm pigs in blankets and covered in piping hot gravy. 

After their delicious meal had settled they played multiple party games and got rather competitive. First up was Cluedo which no one ended up winning because everybody guessed too early and one of the cards went missing- turns out the candlestick wasn't in the kitchen it was just under the table. Next they had a few boys vs girls games, including Pictionary and charades. The girls won by a mile, need I say anymore? 

Once the games had gotten a little tiresome and the monopoly board had been flipped at least once, they all sat down in the living room to see what christmas films were on TV. It was a tough decision between Die Hard and Home Alone 2 but they ended up choosing the second one and settling down with some popcorn and other snacks to enjoy the movie. 

By the time it had finished it was nearing 9pm and they were all pretty wiped out after the vigorous game of charades from before- Karl's dad was even snoozing away on the couch. Karl and Ellie offered to finish off the washing up and let the others head up to bed after the long christmas day.

The kitchen wasn't as big as Karl's one at home but was still pretty spacious with marble counter tops and an island sat in the middle which Karl was sat on, an anxious look plastered all over his beautiful face.

"What's wrong?" Ellie asked rubbing the bubbles out of one of the crimson red dishes.

"Nothing." He said at first before Ellie shot him a look telling him she knew he was lying. "There was another present I was gonna give you but I chickened out, I just wasn't sure how you'd react."

"You already got me loads of presents, but you shouldn't be worried about how I'd react, you know I love everything you do for me. You could never give me a bad present."

"I just thought maybe it was a bit too soon."

"Too soon?"

"Too soon." Karl sighed as he hopped down off the counter, sauntered over to his coat and pulled out the small box that he had put there last night, holding it behind his back. Ellie put the last clean dish on the drying rack and dried her hands, turning her confused face to Karl who seemed to be sweating profusely with nerves.

"What's wrong babe?" Her expression turned more worried seeing something was really bothering him. Karl sighed again as he decided he had to go in and bite the bullet.

"I was always scared of messing things up, messing this up. I really do love you Ellie and I can't imagine my life without you. You've made me happier than I ever dreamed an idiot like me could be, the minute I met you in that candle store I knew you were something special but I didn't see me falling so hard for you." Ellie moved forward and wiped a tear off his face whilst one began to fall down hers at these beautiful words he was saying. "I really didn't want to screw stuff up by going too fast but I just have to ask you this." He took a long shaky breath as he slowly lowered himself to the ground, Ellie clapped a hand over her mouth as she realised what he was doing and the tears just didn't stop. He brought the box out from behind his back and opened it to reveal a sparkling crystal ring.

"Ellie Davidson, will you marry me?"