Inferno

~157~ Christmas Eve

Ellie's POV

It's Christmas Eve today, and it's my absolute favorite day of the year....well, Christmas Day is technically my favorite, but Christmas Eve is a close second.

I'm especially excited today because Liam is proposing to Nora tonight. I can't hardly contain my excitement. Savannah is finally ok with it. It took a long time of working through things. She's finally starting to respect Nora. She's been listening to her really well lately.

I'm sitting here staring at the main tree in the living room. I have a tree in the foyer, and then my tree in the living room. The foyer one is the fancy one. The one in the living room is completely filled with all of our family ornaments. It's my favorite.

As I'm looking at the tree, I'm remembering a month ago when we put it up.....
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"Ellie, let's at least get started fluffing the tree. You're so particular that it always takes forever" Taylor grumbles.

"No way. Not until everyone gets here" I say, glaring at Taylor. He just sighs and rolls his eyes. He knows it's pointless. He knows I'll just redo what everyone does after a while. But that's not the point. We all have to do it together.

We're waiting on Luke to get back from basketball practice. This is the first year that Mason is with us. I'm surprising him with his own stocking and ornament in a bit. The kids all get new ornaments every year. I'm a sucker for the traditions.

Luke finally gets here and we all start putting the tree together. I blast my Christmas record of Michael Bublé on my player. Taylor groans. "This guy drives me nuts. Can't we turn on the Alan Jackson one?" He asks.

"Taylor Reed Preston, are you going to be difficult this year?" I ask, putting my hands on my hips.

"No ma'am" he smirks as he puts another branch on.

Once the tree is up, we all start fluffing.

"How long will it last this year?" Luke chuckles as he starts working on his section.

"What do you mean?" Mason asks.

"Mom is so anal about everything. She's going to fire us in, my guess is ten minutes, and do it all herself" he laughs.

"5 minutes" Taylor chimes in.

"I thought you said you weren't going to be difficult" I scold.

"I'm not. Sorry love" he snorts.

Finally I've had enough. They're not doing it right. "Ok, back up" I say, shooing them all away.

Mason laughs. "15 minutes. Pay up, suckers" he says, holding out his hand.

Luke and Taylor groan as they hand him some money.

"What are you guys doing?" I ask, unamused.

"When you went in the kitchen, we bet on how long it would take...Beginners luck" Luke grumbles.

"TAYLOR REED PRESTON, you are not behaving young man" I say, getting flustered.

He chuckles as he comes over to me. "What's my punishment, ma'am?" He whispers in my ear.

"Don't test me. I may just give you the paddle" I smirk.

He immediately sobers up. "I'll behave" he says, hiding his amusement.

By the time we get all the lights strung up, Taylor is cursing.

"Ellie, this is insane. Can't you just string the lights like a normal person? Who seriously wraps each branch?" He asks, annoyed.