Only You- A Harry Styles Fanfic

Chapter 21: Christmas Spirit

"It's everything about you."

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Chapter 21

“On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree!”

Clarissa hadn’t stopped singing since we’d all woken up on Christmas morning. She’d gone through everything from Jingle Bells to Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer, and she wasn’t stopping. Her latest rendition was the 12 Days of Christmas, and she’d only just begun.

As irritating as Clarissa’s constant noise was, I couldn’t bring myself to be irritated with her. It was Christmas, after all.

Clarissa and I still had our differences, despite being home two weeks. I couldn’t bring myself to like her, no matter how hard I tried, but I didn’t go out of my way to be rude. In any case, I felt like at some point I had to get used to her. And by ignoring her, I slowly grew to tolerate her.

Christmas had come particularly quick this year. It seemed like we’d just started school a few weeks ago when the Christmas tree went up, and only a couple more weeks when we had to start thinking about gifts to give. But I wasn’t worried.

Christmas, as ironic as it seems, had always been a simply affair for my family. All we did was put up a tree and a wreath on the door and have dinner together Christmas night, generally. We hardly did presents, as none of us really needed anything, and then promptly forgot about it the next day. But Clarissa had other ideas.

The first few weeks after Avery and I returned home Clarissa spent gloating and waving her ring in our faces. But once we all got used to the giant rock on her finger, she started to tone down her attitude. We thought, maybe, that we could keep things semi-normal for the holidays, but that was quickly shoved away when Clarissa caught wind of our usual holiday plans.

Our cheap eight foot fake tree was replaced with a full, fifteen foot real Christmas tree, decorated with expensive handmade glass ornaments and greenery. Garland hung on the banister and archways, and wreaths covered almost every door in the house. Nutcrackers, Santa Claus’, and mini light displays covered almost every exposed surface. Outdoors, a spectacular light display had been hung. Even our cars had bows on the front of them.

Christmas had never seemed like a big deal before this. But with Christmas music constantly playing through the house, family Christmas movie nights every day of the week, and the constant stream of Christmas cookies and family recipes that we had shoved in our faces by an enthusiastic Clarissa, it was hard not to be in the spirit. And as much as I hated to admit it, what Clarissa had done to our house actually looked good.

When we woke up this morning, Clarissa was already up and at it. She was practically bouncing off the walls in her eagerness to begin opening presents. She dragged us all out of bed with the promise of warm cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate, and then set us up on the sofa to start.

The tree was bursting with Christmas cheer and brightly wrapped packages. She immediately began to hand them out, and my father dug in like a four year old. By the end of it, Avery and I had new phones, some jewelry, and new books and movies. My dad had a few new ties and books, and Clarissa had a few nice pieces of fine jewelry.