An Imperfect Beauty and Her Beast

A Comfortable Christmas

"Giovanna. Wake up. Dinner's ready."

I heard David's voice and felt my shoulders being shaken back and forth. I squinted my eyes open and presented a frown on my face. There's truly nothing I hate more than being woken up. Especially from a nap. If only I could grow some claws and poke David away. 

"Noooo. Leave me alone."

I turned over on the couch so that my face was buried in the pillow.

"C'mon, if you keep on sleeping you won't sleep tonight."

"I don't care."

"Please? Linda said we have to wait for everyone to get to the table before we eat. And there's also a surprise for you," he tauntingly whispered.

"Ugh fine, but don't yell at me if I'm crabby."

I slowly got up and followed David into the dining room. The lights were dimly lit and Christmas lights hung all over he walls. My eyes widened and I gasped. It looked beautiful. The sleepiness escaped my body as I looked over at a smiling David.

"Surprise," he said softly.

"Did you do all of this?"

"Well Josh and I did the handiwork, while Linda told us where to hang the lights."

"It's wonderful."

"I wouldn't have woken you up if it weren't important. Otherwise you'd claw my eyes out."

"True...I just can't believe you guys did this."

"I know nothing's like Christmas at home, but it was worth a shot."

"Thank you. I may not be with Matt or Gina but this feels almost better than home."

I didn't believe myself when I said it. Well not at first. It's as if I didn't want to believe myself. But, I slowly came to the realization that I was actually happy being here.

We smiled at each other until Josh cleared his throat. I turned bright red at the realization of how long we were just standing there and directed my attention toward Josh.

"If you guys don't mind breaking up the love fest here, dinner is getting cold."

I felt my face heat up even more from his comment.

We sat down and dug into our Christmas Eve meal. The food was delicious. Somehow it tasted better than usual nights. If that was even possible.

When we finished, it was 9:00 and we all walked into the living room. Only the tree and extra lights were on when we entered. It felt so peaceful with the soft glow of the lights and the snow in the background. I sat down in front of the fireplace and watched the flames crackle and burn old newspaper. I started wondering what I would be doing if I were home. I could imagine Matt getting excited that Santa Clause was coming tonight. He'd try to stay up, but he always fell asleep during the billionth rerun of It's A Wonderful Life. Gina would usually wrap the presents while I wrote a response letter to his Christmas letter to Santa. After Matt was asleep and everything was ready for Christmas, I'd usually scroll through my Tumblr feed. God knows how long that could last. I haven't checked it in months now. I'm a bit worried on what I've missed.

David clicked on the TV that hung above the fireplace and guess what was on? It's A Wonderful Life! Well most channels play it on Christmas Eve so I shouldn't have been so surprised. I looked up and noticed that it was the end of the movie.

"Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings."

"I'd have to say that this is my favorite part," I heard Josh say behind me.