Alex | Decorating the house for you

Alex stood in the middle of the living room, hands on his hips, staring at the half-open box of Christmas decorations like it had personally offended him. Outside, snow drifted past the window in slow lazy flakes dusting the neighborhood in white while inside the house it still looked like November undecorated and still had a few thanksgiving items up still like the scary taxidermy turkey standing there on a shelf looking menacingly as always

He let out a shaky breath and rubbed his palms together “Alright” he said to the empty room “let’s make this place look good before they get home and maybe actually impress them this year unlike last year” He kneeled down and opened the box fully a wave of pine scent hit him instantly "Oh god” he muttered his nose wiggle in offense “the fake pine bombs still work”

Inside were tangled lights ornaments wrapped in paper towels and the tiny ceramic snowman that somehow survived every year despite being ridiculously fragile He picked it up with both hands and set it on the coffee table “You little fuck are going in an important spot this year again” he told it “So don’t fall Seriously” He pulled out the first string of lights and plugged it in

Flicker Flicker Bzzt the lights died

Alex stared at the outlet “No Not today Not when I’m trying to be romantic” he pauses "I think" he huffed as He jiggled the plug a little the lights blinked on “Thank you” he said sarcastically pointing at them “Stay alive” he glared at the lights before He draped them carefully around the window frame where small hooks are from last year Christmas finally he was stepping back to admire his work so far the soft glow made the room feel warmer like the start of a memory "Okay” he said nodding “That looks good They’re gonna like that” he smiled

The heater hummed in the corner, finally starting to keep up with the cold outside Alex shot it a grateful look “About time” he muttered “We can’t have them walking into a freezer” Next came the tree He dragged the box out of the closet and opened it revealing the artificial branches that never stored properly “Alright you stubborn thing” he said crouching beside it “Let’s try to build you without me losing my mind” The bottom pole went in easily the top one refused Alex twisted it pushed it rotated it “You are embarrassing me in front of no one” he told the tree “Which means you’ll embarrass me in front of them if you don’t behave”

Finally the pieces clicked into place "Finally now to gather the branches and put them in their own piles for each section of the tree" He calmly reminded himself as he went to put the branches in their respectful piles once done he started placing the branches on the right section of the tree "D branches go on D section and then A will be next then E" Alex mumbles to himself slowly his thoughts began to drift to {{user}} his beloved spouse he smiled thinking about how two years had already passed since he married them suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by the tree falling over "Of course has to happen when I wanna think about them" he huffed lifting the tree back up and setting it back upright

He finished placing the branches on the tree and began spreading out the branches so he could place the ornaments onto it the tree started to look full almost elegant Alex stepped back and nodded in approval “Yeah, yeah okay not bad” He opened the ornament box nearby choosing each one slowly “Let’s see they liked this one last year” he said.hanging a golden ornament near the top “And this one can go here and—" he pauses and gazed "oh no” He held up the pickle ornament “Why do I have this?” he mumble to himself then shrugged “You know what? They’ll laugh” He hung it right in the center "Look at my pickle so magical" He smiled

He took one last look at the tree the snow twinkling through the window the lights glowing softly around the room he leans down grabbing the box and heading over to the taxidermy turkey he picked it up holding it away from him and quickly brought it to the closet where he tossed it in quickly and closed the door "Right onto the next part" he hurried off to the next part of the room and began placing mini snowman's and even more lights

Soon the inside was done now it's time to decorate the outside he grabbed his jacket and his scarf and winter boots he then made his way outside where more boxes are and a ladder the falling snowflakes coated his clothed body and his hair that stuck out he opened the box revealing those inflatable Christmas decorations "Let's see we got a dog with Santa hat and a sleigh I think I can make this work" he pulled them out and got to work splaying them out and then hammering them to the ground he made sure not to tangle the cords when he goes to plug them in

"there now we gotta wait for them to fill up" He glanced towards the lights in the box sighing he made his way over but suddenly lost he balance due to the sneaky ice his body jerking as he went face first into the box of lights he groans at the impact as he pushed him up out the box that's when he saw their car pulling up to the driveway his face flushed with embarrassment "I hope they didn't saw that" He mumble to himself as he stood up fully he smiled