The Christmas Wedding Planner

Prologue

Soft flakes of snow dropped on my nose as my mother led me to the front door. The air was cold and the occasional breeze made my teeth chatter. Our boots shuffled through the white snow of the poorly shuffled driveway from our vintage minivan. With my elder sister, Andrea, walking beside my mother, we made our way to the barren wooden door that held up a single green wreath with some small red mistletoes tucked in it neatly. My eyes searched around the street, observing the bright, lively houses around us, decorated joyfully for Christmas, their lawn filled with snowmen and Christmas trees as their multicolored lights flashed on our empty canvas double-story house.

“Ugh, Christopher. Not again!” Mom sighed loudly as she looked up at our desolate plain house.

“Mom, why are there no colorful lights?” Andrea blurted out innocently, making Mom’s hand tense around my gloved hand.

We opened the door and headed inside the warm living room to see Dad buried around tangles of Christmas lights, his forehead scrunched up and his eyes narrowed in frustration. Stockings hung over the fireplace and candles rested on the mantle. The Christmas tree stood in the corner, messily decorated by Andrea and me while soft Christmas music filled the air.

“Daddy!” I yelled out and lunged myself at him, ignoring the prickly bulbs since it wasn’t that often that we got to see him.

Dad caught me in his arms, dropping the bunch of untangled lights in his hand, “hey there, Peach! Did you have fun at the mall?”

“Yes! It was so fun!” I exclaimed, my mouth hurting from my huge grin.

Andrea lunged at us excitedly, “Mommy bought us gingerbread cookies!”

“Ooh, that sounds yummy. Did you bring me one, Muffin?” Dad replied to my goofy sister, wrapping us in his arms, ignoring the snakes of lights around us.

Unfortunately, not all of us were happy. Mom looked at us from a distance, her eyebrows narrowing in disappointment. She dropped the bags in the doorway and walked towards us, her feet heavy against the hardwood floors.

“Chris, you promised to get all the lights up! The house looks so sad on the outside.” Her hands rested on her hips, her aura of frustration echoing through the room.

Dad’s grip loosened around us and he retracted them back to his body, “I’m sorry, Honey. I was busy with work and when I did decide to start, I got overwhelmed with all this. How is it that someone has not invented a way to de-tangle Christmas lights?”

“I can’t keep having this argument with you, Chris. There’s always an excuse. You were supposed to take time off during the holidays. We don’t see you enough throughout the year and now we don’t get to spend time with you during the holidays?” Mom said, sighing deeply.

Dad got up from the floor and approached Mom, casually leading her away into the hallway, “listen, Honey, we shouldn’t be arguing in front of the kids.”

“You’re right. But, I’m so sick of this happening all the time. You were supposed to get the decorations up and now, our house looks so pathetic among the rest. The girls were so disappointed!” Mom whispered sharply.

“Will you cut me some slack? I’m here, am I not? It’s not like I did it on purpose. I had to work, there was no one else to do it. Stop making me the bad guy here, Holly!” Dad retorted, his cool attitude slowly diminishing.

Andrea pulled me away from the hallway and tried to distract me, like a great big sister, but their conversation still reached my ears. My little susceptible heart filled with concern and fear as I looked around the decorated living room, my mind linking their arguments to the otherwise joyous holiday.

Mom’s shaky voice reached my ears as I peeked over Andrea’s shoulders, “Chris, I don’t know what to do with you anymore.”

“Let’s just move on, okay, Honey? You wouldn’t want the girls to be terrified when it comes to the holidays, right? I promise we will work things out. You know me, Honey, you know that you and the girls mean the world to me.” Dad reached his arms and pulled Mom close against his chest, her shoulders relaxing in his embrace.

Dad planted a kiss on her forehead before turning towards us with a huge grin on his face, “now who wants some hot chocolate?”

“Me! Me! Me!” Andrea and I shouted out in unison with glee.

Dad scooped us up in his arms and we wrapped our tiny arms around his neck. He headed into the kitchen as Mom looked at us longingly, her feet glued to the carpet of the living room.

A smile was plastered on her face, but her eyes carried a hint of worry and uneasiness. Despite being a mere child of eight years old, I had grown fairly intuitive to emotions, especially when it came to my own family.

Soon after Mom joined us in the kitchen, we sipped on our polka dot mugs of hot chocolate as Andrea sneaked in some mini marshmallows in her mouth. My silly big sister kept denying her actions but her mouth betrayed her. She looked like a squirrel full of acorns in its mouth, a sight that was burned into my mind and prompted a fit of laughter through the kitchen.

Besides a rocky start, it was truly the season for joy. Just like every year, it brought a fuzzy feeling in my heart, despite the stress it brought upon my parents. But somehow, they managed to push it aside—or at least they hid it well.

Eventually, we wrapped ourselves in a big comfortable red plaid blanket in front of the fireplace as melodic Christmas carols filled the air. I remember vividly exchanging a look with Andrea—a look of serenity and pure bliss.

But, none of us knew that it was the last time we would celebrate Christmas as a happy family—joyful, contented, and full of love.

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FYI, this book will be leaving Dreame on 13th December 2021 and will no longer be free after that. So, please read it before then! Thanks for all the love and support!

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