Page 24 of Mission: Merry Christmas
“Actually, I did a commercial for this company the year we won the World Series. They sent all this to me for free. There’s a huge box with a tree in here somewhere, too. It’s supposed to be lifelike. I guess we’re about to find out.”
By the time they had dragged everything from the garage into the house, it became apparent they didn’t need any more decorations. Avery hung the wreaths, and they instantly gave the place a pick-me-up.
“The tree is pre-lit,” Avery said as she read the side of the box. “Should we use the rest of these lights inside or outside?”
“I’m out of my league here. What do you think?”
She considering how excited Nico had been about snow. “I have an idea. It might be a little crazy, so you can say no. I promise you won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t want to do it.”
“How crazy can it be?”
“Well, Nico is missing his first white Christmas because you can’t travel, right?”
“Thanks for reminding me.”
“No. I didn’t mean it like that, but does he really have to miss out on snow?”
“I know I’m walking pretty good, but I think at this point, it’s best if we stay here.”
“I agree. I wasn’t suggesting we travel. But why can’t we make this place a winter wonderland?”
She could see the ideas chugging in his brain, and then the edges of his mouth turned back up. Lordy, she loved making him smile.
“You’re a genius,” he said.
“I don’t know if we can get our hands on a snow machine, but I know how to make fake snow out of baking soda and hair conditioner,” she said. “I’ve done that before, and it makes pretty fantastic snowballs. They’re fluffy and everything.”
“There’s got to be a video online about how to make a snow machine. I’m pretty handy. I could probably pull that off.” He grabbed his phone and started a search.
“We can make snow angels and build a snowman, too,” Avery added. “I think it could really be fun.”
“And do s’mores over a fire with Christmas carols playing.” He turned and pointed at her. “You know we have to have a snowball fight, right?”
“Yeah. Of course. I can make the snowballs. I’ll make a hundred for each of you! We can even build cardboard igloo bunkers. That would be so fun. Easy too. You have about a gazillion shipping boxes stacked up in the garage. All we need is some tape. If we wrap them in white paper, or plastic trash bags that might be better, so they don’t get soggy.”
“And look more realistic.” He reached over, placed his hands on the sides of her face, and kissed her square on the mouth. “You are the best.”
She stood there, mouth agape.
He didn’t let her overthink it. Instead he swept her into his arms and twirled her. “This is going to be an awesome white Christmas.”
Emotions reeling, a nervous giggle escaped. Good grief, she’d turned into a breathless, giggling teenager! “I’ll draw out a plan.”
“As you must,” he teased.
She grabbed her notebook and sketched out all of their ideas, then divvied up the work. “It’s a ton to get done, but if we divide and conquer, we can do this.”
“We make a pretty good team.” Drew took the sheet of paper and tore it in half. “First on my list is the Christmas tree. I’ll get started on that now.”
It didn’t take five minutes to unpack and position the tree. It was a good one. It didn’t even require a ton of fluffing and tweaking of the limbs to give it a good shape. They shimmied it into place, and Avery spread a shiny red tree skirt around the bottom. With one press of the button on the remote, the entire Christmas tree lit up.
Avery hung ornaments while Drew continued to play with the remote, changing the colors of the lights. Blue. Green. Red. White. Multicolor and running lights that made her a little dizzy.
“I think we should stick to the colored lights. No blinking.” She handed him two shiny bell-shaped ornaments. “Hang these toward the middle. They are too pretty to hide.”
He hung them, and with each shiny bauble they added, the tree looked even more festive.
She opened a box printed with a knit sweater design on the front. “Oh gosh, look at these crossed wooden ski decorations. Are they cute, or what?” The wooden skis were hand-painted with snowflakes and even had miniature metal bindings and ski poles.
