White Houses During Christmas

Chapter 1: Deck the Living Room

-- Nicky's P.O.V. --

It's amazing what a couple years can do to a person.

"Nate, you better get down from there! You're going to fall!" I yelled at my son, as he aimed to hang the ceramic white sphere into the tree standing in the middle of the living room.

"Mom, I can do this!" Said my five-year-old son, as he proudly reached towards a branch, pretty high for his height, and aimed to place it into the tree.

But, because he wasn't tall enough, he tripped while standing on his tip-toes, and nearly fell to the ground. I ran towards him to try to prevent his fall, but my husband beat me to it. He was already grabbing our son by the waist, as he wrapped his arms around his torso.

"Whoa, careful there, bud! You're gonna ruin this beautiful tree your mom just made." He joked.

Nate blushed, and then freed himself from his dad's grasp as he ran towards the lower branches of the tree to place more ornaments on the tree. My daughter soon came out of the back side of the tree, as she was embellishing the tree with a turquoise bow ornament her godmother, my best friend Jenny, got her two years ago as a charm for a prosper new year. Since then, Nic has been begging me and Justin to put in in the tree.

Even after twenty-six years of knowing her, Jennifer still surprises me every time.

"Mommy, when is Samantha coming?" Nicole asked me as she gently grabbed my hand and shook it for me to acknowledge her.

I kneeled down so that I was at her level and said, "She'll come soon, darling. Don't worry. In the meantime, how about you put something a little more Christmas-cheerful to set the mood?"

She excitedly nodded, and then walked towards the iPod speakers and changed the song from "Silent Night" sung by Michael Bublé, to "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carey. Then, she twirled around the chimney and sang along to the tune, as her dad walked over to her and danced with her. I laughed at the pair and couldn't help but feel the warmth of the moment; the tenderness in a father-daughter dance, a family putting together a tree for the holiday season, a pair of young adults living in a beautiful house with two wonderful children.

Then I knew, it was going to be a very merry Christmas.

While the two were still dancing, I grabbed my son and carried him on my arms as I helped him putting the ornaments on the higher branches that he wanted to reach so badly previously. After a while of us placing the white and turquoise sphere ornaments on the tree, it looked beautiful. We were only missing the glitter thick-thread that wrapped around the tree, making the ornaments and the lighting stand out.

I walked over to the box by the dinning table, and grabbed the rolled-up sparkly thread and unrolled the tip and a few yards of the rolled-up material. While grabbing one end of the thread with my thumbs, I carefully tangled the end with the top of the tree while standing by the staircase near the tree to later put the finishing touch on the top of the tree, and wrapped the thread around the tree. Before I got to the bottom, there was already a pair of hands waiting to help me get down and ready to take on the job after me. I looked down and saw my husband there, with a cheerful little girl waiting to wrap the much-awaited thread around the tree. To be honest, that was Nicole's favorite part of the decorating of the tree; she loved anything sparkly.

As I got down from the staircase, aided by him, he looked around the roof and noticed something I hadn't before.

"You know, we're still missing something." He said.

"And what's that?" I asked curiously.

Then, he lowered his face and made eye-contact with my eyes, as if that was to give me some sort of clue, or idea, of what was missing in our house.

And then it made sense.

We still hadn't hung up the mistletoe, and it cannot be a Bieber-house without the special holiday object. Suddenly, there was a ruffling sound coming from the box where the Christmas decorations were stored in just a couple hours before.

Suddenly, the ruffling stopped, and Nate came out of the box with the mistletoe in his hand. "I got it!" He excitedly yelled.

Justin walked over and picked him up and kisser his cheek. "Yes, you sure do."

He giggled.

"Do you want to put it this year?" He asked her.

"Yes, daddy!" He said.

"Alright."

With my help, he placed Nathaniel on his shoulders to help him reach the door-less frame that united the living room with the dining room, and placed it there by tying it to the nail already in the frame with a red bow. Soon, the mistletoe was hung in place, the tree decorations were set only missing one detail, the stockings hung in the chimney with care, two in total: one for Nicole, as well as one of Nathaniel.

The decorations of the front yard were already set; we had two reindeer with Christmas lights on each, and they moved their heads side to side periodically. We also had Mickey Mouse-shaped green and red floor lamps lining up the pathway from the driveway to the front door.  We also had nets of lights on every shrub and tree, making it look like a magical dream. But the very best part of all, was the luck we had by experiencing, once again, a white Christmas. There was snow all around the house, as well as all around town; in our yards, we had our very own Winter Wonderland.

"Well, we have nearly everything to spend the holidays; only missing one tiny detail." I said.

"I wonder what that might be..." Justin playfully suggested.

Like lighting, the kids ran towards us and nearly tackled me down as they jumped excitedly at the moment to place the final touch to the tree; the star.

"I want to do it!" Nicole yelled.

"No, I do!" Nate yelled.

"You did it last year!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Guys!" I stopped their discussion as I stood in between them, seeing as Nic was ready to attack her brother, just the same as Nate was ready to attack her. "What about if both of you put the star this year?"

"Can we do that?" Nate asked.

"But isn't only one person get to do it?" Nicole asked.

"That may be so, but we've always changed things up a bit in this house, haven't we?" Justin suggested smiling.

The twins nodded, and soon I was holding my daughter as Justin was holding his son, and they were both grabbing a side of the star. Together, we raised the children to reach the top of the tree and they placed the final touch on the top of the tree.

"Well, I guess we're ready for the holiday season." I sighed smiling.

We both brought the kids down to the floor and together they looked around to place more decorations around the house. Justin held my hand and brought me over to stand underneath the mistletoe. There, he said, "You know, there's a song that talks about standing, with the one you love, underneath the mistletoe."

"Really? I don't know the song." I sarcastically commented.

"It goes a little like...

...With you, shawty with you

With you, shawty with you

Under the mistletoe..."

I blushed and smiled at the same time, as he leaned in closer and kissed me underneath the mistletoe.

"Get ready for a crazy holiday season." He said.

I laughed, and said, "And this is just the beginning."