Candle in the Wind

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Anna turns over in bed to see her husband sleeping soundly. She smiles and gently kisses him on the cheek. "Merry Christmas, baby."

Anna heads downstairs and starts to make hot chocolate, their Christmas tradition. She hears footsteps coming from the stairs, and Tom walks down with a smile on his face. "Merry Christmas, darling."

He walks over to Anna and gently kneels down. "Merry Christmas, Alora." Tom says. "My little angel."

"I like that nickname." Anna chuckles.

"Me too."

"Okay, well, the hot chocolate is in the microwave and I'm putting on A Christmas Carol."

"That would be a fun role." Tom says.

"Scrooge?"

"Yeah. You get to see his character development throughout the whole thing. If you watch how he is at the beginning vs at the end, it's an astronomical difference and getting to play him would be such a treat."

"Maybe you'll get to when you're older." Anna smirks.

"I can't tell if that's hopeful or a sick joke." Tom laughs.

"Well, I meant it hopefully, but take it how you want."

"Oh, come here, my love." he wraps his arms around Anna and rests his chin in the crevice between her collarbone and neck. "You look beautiful."

"Thanks, honey." she smiles. "You don't look too bad yourself."

The microwave goes off and Anna sets the mugs on the table in front of Tom. The hot, minty, chocolatey liquid swirls around in the cup as it it's placed.

The steam makes Tom's glasses fog up and they both laugh. 

"Is it good?"

"Darling, you make the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted. Alora is going to be so lucky on chilly days coming home from school."

"Yeah, the three of us are going to have hot chocolate together and cuddle on the couch. Speaking of which," Anna says, slowly getting up to take the presents out from under the tree. She sets them on the table in a nice pile. "Open this."

"Wait, darling, what about your gifts?"

"We both have more than one."

"Alright," Tom says, gently rips the wrapping paper off of the box. He removes the tap and opens the lid. Inside, is a soft, maroon colored v-neck sweater. Tom takes it it and rubs it. "Darling, this is so soft, thank you."

"You're welcome, baby." Anna smiles. "Now... what about me?"

Tom chuckles as he picks up each box in Anna's pile, trying to determine which is which. "You can open the one on the far right."

Anna grabs the bag and takes out a wrapped box. She unwraps it and there's a marble tea set. "Oh, Tom, I love it."

"I know you've been enjoying tea more these past few months and our set is a little old, so I thought you'd like that."

"It's very pretty."

They open a few presents. Tom and Anna had a tradition to only each other 5 things a year. They would save money to to on a vacation every year. Not that they couldn't afford it, they traveled alot, but they would go on a nice romantic vacation for a few weeks just to get some alone time. Usually, they were both very busy people. Anna used to be a bartender, but she switched to Starbucks after dating Tom. He was gone alot, so she didn't want the time they did spend together to be cut short by her having to work or being too tired. She worked as a manger and when got pregnant, she decided to take some time off. They don't need the extras
money but Anna never liked sitting still.

"Alright, honey, here's your last present. I hope that you like it." Anna says.

Tom gingerly takes the book out of the bag. He opens it and sees a beautiful scrapbook. It has almost ever picture they're ever taken together.

"Oh my, darling, this is-" he's rendered speechless. "This is absolutely amazing. You can see how we grow. You were such a cutie back in the day, now you're a beautiful woman."

"I was 25, Tom, that's not that young." Anna laughs.

"No, really. Thank you so much, Anna May, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever received." He leans over and kisses Anna.

"Now, for yours, my love," Tom says. He gets up and goes into his jacket pocket. He pulls out a black jewlery box.

"Tom," Anna says. "Honey, what is this?"

"Just open it."

Anna opens the box to reveal a beautiful silver necklace. The pendent is a circle and written on it, in Tom's writing, is "with all the love in the world, my darling".

"Tom... oh my God." Anna cries. "This is beautiful."

"I know you're not a huge fan of jewlery but I thought this was nice."

"No, Tom, I love it so much."

"I'm so glad."

Anna moves her hair and hands the necklace back to Tom. He gently puts it on Anna's neck and clasps it. "It looks so beautiful on you, darling."

Later That Day

"I'll finish off the liquor." Tom says and pours the last of it into a glass.

"You drunk." Anna teases.

"Come out on the porch with me."

Anna grabs a blanket and brings it to the porch. They sit on the couch outside and wrap the blanket around themselves. Tom turns on the speakers and plays, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas."

"Did you have a nice Christmas, my love?" Tom asks. Anna pulls his arms closers to him to get more warmth. "It was absolutely amazing, Tom. Every second I get to send with you is absolutely amazing."

"I love you so much."

"I love you too."