Christmas with Queen 2019

Advent Day 6

The Unwelcome Gift - John

Daisy, our dog, began to bark. This usually signalled that the postman has just come through the gate. I held the grey weimaraner by her brown leather collar so she wouldn't run up to the door and give the poor postman a heart attack. I let her go when I saw the postman exit our front garden.

I noticed there was a big parcel delivered when I went to pick up the post.

"John, did you order anything?" I called out. The package was addressed to the both of us so I was confused as to what it was

"No. What's up?" He called back from the kitchen

I followed his voice until I found him leaning against the kitchen counter.

"This just came and it's for the both of us. I didn't order anything so I haven't a clue what it is" I explained

"Open it up" John ordered softly

I tore open the package and found a card resting on the top. I decided to take it out and read it, hopefully it would give us a clue as to what the mystery package is.

"My dearest (y/n) and John. This year I decided to send presents a bit earlier so you can make good use of them over the festive period. All my love, Grandma x" I read

"Aw" John cooed, "What has she sent?" He asked

"You don't want to know, Granny's presents are...tasteful" I shook my head

"What is it?" John questioned cautiously

"Hand made, knitted, Christmas jumpers" I said the dreaded words, "she always made them for me and my cousins, every Christmas"

"I think we should put them on. She must have worked really hard on them. How many cousins do you have?" John quizzed. The poor bloke has no idea what Granny's knitted jumpers are like

"Including me, there is 9 cousins" I answered

"Please can we put them on. We can take a photo and send it back to her as a thank you" John planned

"Oh John. You still have a lot to learn about my family" we had got together just before Christmas last year so he was able to escape Granny's knitting needles that year

"Please" he tilted his head and put that cute smirk on his face

"You know I can't say no to that face! It's not fair!" I whined

"Come on, give me mine and you take yours. I'll change in the bathroom and you change in the bedroom. We can surprise each other" He did that smile again

"Alright" I handed him his jumper without looking at the design on the front and did the same for me

"See you in a second" he winked before locking himself in the bathroom

After putting on my jumper I went and stood in front of the bathroom door, "Are you ready?" I called

"Yep" John said before I heard the lock click open

The smiles on our faces broadened as the door swung open. We looked ridiculous. My jumper was red with a snowman on it. The carrot nose was popping out of the jumper in a kind of 3D effect. John's jumper was green with Rudolph on it. Granny made a red pom pom nose which was also 3D.

"Do you see what I mean now?" I tried to contain my laughter

John couldn't even give me an answer. He burst into giggles and he looked at me then looked into the mirror. I had never seen him laugh so much but I was so cute. His eyes were barely open as his whole face just beamed. His hands then went over his face to try and cover up the laughter. Before long I was chuckling too, then it turned into a full on cackle. Me and John were practically rolling around on the floor. We couldn't contain ourselves because if one stopped, the other started then off again. It was a vicious circle of laughter.

"Oh, Oh my gosh" John breathed heavily  as he finally composed himself

"These are ugly" I pointed to the jumpers

"Come on lets get a photo to send to your grandma as a thank you. I don't want to seem ungrateful" John stood up to grab the camera

"Even if they look worse than... well...than anything and everything in the entire world?" I questioned

"They aren't that bad" John said, trying to spare my Grandma's feelings

"They are!" I bellowed

"Alright, they are pretty bad. But can we just get on with the photo before I laugh again? I can feel myself going red" John begged

"Yeah yeah. Where shall we go?" I asked

"By the white wall" John pointed

We set the camera up and got a photo of ourselves. John then went off to get it printed in town whilst I stayed and looked after Daisy. She is only a puppy so she needed a lot of attention.

Grandma now has that photo framed on her mantlepiece. Even though we are wearing those hideous jumpers it turned out to be my favourite photo of me and John. We were mid laughing so that meant we looked extremely happy - and we were. I was slightly bent forwards as I chuckled. My arms were around John's waist and his arm was gently hanging around my neck. My favourite part of the photo, though, was John's eyes. They just lit up the photo as he was looking at me. His smile was proud and it just warmed my heart.