Decorating the tree, coupled with the sweet smell of mulled wine drifting from the kitchen, reminded me of the only Christmas I had ever spent in any company.
A few years ago, I had been traveling through Scotland, and I’d been lucky enough to meet Mrs. Kynoch. She was the proprietor of a B and B, and had been kind enough to give me a job cooking and cleaning in her establishment during the busy seasonal period, in exchange for full board.
I’d decorated the tree there with an eight-year-old girl who was staying with her parents. She had enthusiastically rammed every last ornament and piece of tinsel onto the green branches that she possibly could. Through the eyes of a child, that tree couldn’t have been more beautiful. But it was the joy she’d shown as she dressed it that made it truly special to look at. For every piece that twinkled only reflected the happiness of the girl who had placed it there.
On Christmas Day, I had sat down with the guests and eaten a full turkey dinner with all the trimmings. We’d pulled crackers, sung songs, and danced like no one was watching. It was the only Christmas, until now, that I hadn’t been totally alone.
While I hadn’t expected to be spending Christmas this year with a group of Vampires, I was suddenly grateful that I was. No matter how strange, they were a family. And as long as I was with them, I was part of that, part of something. Just as I had been, once before.
“I’m done!” Brooke chirped victoriously, bringing me back to the task at hand. Brooke stood back to admire her middle layer, and I had to admit, it was pretty.
“Hmm, Ruadhan, you got any more of these clear fairy lights?” Brooke asked.
“Maybe. There’s another boxful in my room, have a rummage.”
She was gone in a split second.
Jonah plopped down on the floor, his legs crossed, observing while I crammed star shapes and reindeer—two at a time—onto the lower shoots.
“Not sure what look you’re going for, beautiful. I’m starting to think Santa’s workshop exploded and somehow landed on your part of the tree!” he teased.
I laughed, and I was surprised that I had managed to put my concerns and hurt feelings to one side, for a few moments. “I don’t know how they do it across the pond, but in the UK, well, the more Christmassy the better!” I said.
I reached down to pick up a piece of red tinsel and brushed Jonah’s hand accidentally as he passed it to me. A short, sharp shock tingled under my skin, but I ignored it and carried on.
“Thanks,” I said quickly, scrambling around the tree, bobbing and weaving the long strip through the foliage.
Dusting myself off, I stood and admired the conflicting decor.
Jonah’s baubles were dangling neatly and I tilted my head as I pondered his choices.
“Dark and light can be a striking contrast. Don’t you think?” he said, crossing his arms and standing beside me.
“I guess; looks like it’s a bit undecided though, the way it’s all mixed up. Why don’t you split it into two halves, so when you stand behind the tree it’s black, and when you’re in front it’s white?”
“I don’t know, I think it takes a certain eye to appreciate the two blended together—”
“We’re out of fairy lights!” Brooke zoomed back into the room and stomped her feet.
“Ah, never mind,” Ruadhan called from the kitchen. “Come, let’s put the finishing touch on the very top.”
He slammed the oven door and strolled over.
Reaching into a small cardboard box, he lifted out an ornament of an Angel dressed in white, complete with a wire halo above its head. I raised my eyebrows, surprised.
“You don’t like it, love?” he asked.
“No, no, it’s not that. It’s just funny, with the halo and wings and all … it’s not really … accurate.” I stopped myself. If Ruadhan believed the Bible, then to him, this was how he saw things. So I veered off. “Just thought you might pick something else.”
“Well, now. I think in this family it’s only right we have an Angel. After all, we have our very own to thank for us all being here, together.” He gestured over to me, so I stepped toward him and he handed me the ceramic figure. “And, as the newest addition to our little family, I think you should be the one to place it on the top, sweetheart.”
I turned to the towering tree, which nearly brushed the ceiling, and considered that we couldn’t possibly have a ladder tall enough for me to climb in order to reach it.
Bear-hugging me from behind, Ruadhan leapt into the air, hanging off a beam on the ceiling, and I remembered I had something better than any ladder.
Unfortunately, as I attempted to pop the Angel on the top of the tree, I leaned over too far and unbalanced the both of us. As Ruadhan lost his grip on my waist, I fell headfirst into the pine, knocking it over as I went down with it.
“Ahhhh!” I screamed, plummeting.
Jonah, as ever, was the fastest to react. He jumped into the air, meeting me halfway to the floor, and landed on his back with me on top of him.
I gawked in horror as the tree came crashing down.
Brooke was speedy, just about managing to stop it from hitting the flat-screen TV on the wall and saving some of the decorations in the process.
Before I knew it, I burst into laughter. Ruadhan was still hanging one-handed like an uncoordinated monkey from the beam above; Brooke was struggling to balance the enormous forest tree, shouting profanities; and Jonah had me sprawled out on top of him, pinning him to the floor. I rolled off his chest and cried with hysteria.
“What is so freakin’ funny? You’ve ruined my glass snowflakes!” Brooke wailed. She only made me laugh harder.
Ruadhan landed on all fours and helped Brooke pull the tree back up to a standing position, observing the Christmas massacre strewn everywhere. He glanced at me wiping my eyes and started bellowing a deep, hearty laugh. Even Brooke started to giggle, though she moved her hand over her mouth to try and mask it, trying her best instead to maintain a deep scowl.
Jonah sat up and, for the briefest second, his hard bad-boy exterior faded away as he looked at me. Shaking his head, he laughed in a way I had never heard him laugh before. It was a beautiful, happy sound—one I was sure I would never be able to forget.
“Well,” Jonah said, gathering himself. “If anything I think it’s only improved your section of the tree!”