It was December first, Dad woke my brother and I up really early, it was about 4 am. Simon, my little brother, wasn't so happy to be woken up this morning, it is a weekend, and he does like to sleep in late on weekends. But that wasn't going to stop dad from getting the perfect tree. We always go out and hand pick and hand saw it down each year. Dad was already up and making us breakfast, Simon was asleep on the couch, and I was helping dad make omelets, dad only makes them on special occasions. Breakfast was done, I woke Simon up from his nap, and he wasn't very happy about that, but then he smelled breakfast and was up immediately. We ate, dads with everything he could fit in it, vegetables, meats and cheeses, mine with cheese and ham pieces, and Simons with just cheese.
After that, we put on our jackets and boots, hats and gloves, and I wrapped Simon up in a scarf, which he may or may not hate me for now, and we all piled into Dads black 2013 Ford F-150 STX. Since we live a little ways out of town, it's not a far drive to our neighbor Dale and his wife of 40 years Susan's farm, they have 40 acres of private land.
When we get there, we spend about 20 minutes looking for the perfect tree. We looked at nearly 50 different trees, each and every one of them was wrong in some way, shape, or form. That was until, we found this 7ft beautiful, full of pine needles, the darkest green needles, very healthy looking as well. "Well..whaddya think?" Dad said, huffing from air from us dragging him around nearly 2 feet of snow, looking for the perfect tree, "It's perfect" Simon and I said in perfect unison. Dad spent a good 15 minutes cutting through it's tough, thick trunk, and as always, as soon as it started to fell, we all yelled "TIMBER!". Dad dragged it back to the truck, and it took all of us to get into the back.
It was a short drive home, Simon somehow fell asleep in the back. When we got home, I woke Simon up, and as he held the door open, dad and I forced the tree in through the door. We got it in, set it up in the stand and put some water into it. Now it was time for a little break before we started decorating. Simon went back up to his room to finish sleeping, dad was finishing up his "Single Dad" blog, and I went upstairs to shower and make myself "presentable".
I had a nice hot shower, my body burned/tingled a bit from the cold to the hot. I decided to put on black leggings that I may or may not have worn the day before, and a red, oversized sweater that I got from the men's section at a thrift store. After that, I curled my dark Scottish red hair, put a little bit of makeup on, did a simple cat-eye and mascara. I went to wake Simon up for the last time, his room was dark but dimly lit with Christmas lights, they weren't there yesterday..he must've stayed up all night decorating his room. I beat him awake with a pillow and told him to get dressed. I went downstairs to start digging out the Christmas decorations. Simon eventually came down, wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt that said "Little Debbie" in the corner. "Start the tree without me, I gotta finish this up." Dad announced from his home office. So that's what we did. Simon and I started wrapping the lights around the tree, almost being careless about where we put them. Then we started the ornaments, placing them with more care and thought than we did with the lights. Dad eventually joined us. We each have our own favorite ornament that only ourselves gets to put on the tree, mine is this small little ornament that looks like a snowglobe, well it basically is a snowglobe, just small...I apparently got it for mom when I was 2 years old, the year that mom left us. Dad lets me put it on the tree, he knows how much I miss mom, even though I hardly remember her. Simons is this one that he made in kindergarten, it's a wreath that he made out of macaroni. It's really ugly, but it makes us all laugh. Dad's is this one that's in the shape of a whiskey bottle and says "Drink me I'm Scottish"..it might not be inappropriate but it reminds us of home. Once we were finished with the lights, it was time for the star, for the top of the tree.
Since dad and I aren't tall enough, Simon puts it on, since he's about 6'5, he's the only one that can properly reach without struggling so much, dad records him doing it, he always puts it on Facebook, and his blog, and basically shares it with the entire family, who lives all the way in Scotland. After that, we spend the next hour decorating the rest of the house.
When we were done, we take a step back and smile. It gets more beautiful and more enchanting each year. Each year we get a new piece for our "Christmas Village", this year we got the "Ice Skating Rink" part for it, it was about 35 dollars, but it was more than worth it. We spend the rest of the day relaxing, drinking hot chocolate and doing whatever, Simon usually goes up to his room to play video games, and I go to my room to watch youtube, I like watching Vlogmas, and dad is usually watching his shows. Decorating is one of my favorite parts of Christmas.
YOU ARE READING
25 days of Christmas writing prompts
General FictionIt's exactly as the title sounds. I'm just doing this for fun, but I will be focusing on these characters and this family. Some rules I've kinda made for myself is that I have to already include the prompt word or a word similar to it at least once...
