"Here you are," the old lady twittered cheerfully as she unlocked the door and flicked the lights on. "Your boyfriend will be ever so pleased to see you – it's such a relief to know he's not going to spend Christmas all by himself after all."
Theresa nodded in agreement, patiently waiting for the landlady to finally excuse herself and shut the door on her way out. The flat was neat and quiet, though completely devoid of decorations; Martin had obviously thought he wouldn't need them since it was hardly likely that anyone visited him here in Zurich, but that was where she was all set on proving him wrong.
Christmas tradition dictated that she celebrated the festivities with her family; however, she knew that Martin would hate it just as much as she did, and in the end she'd got the better of the enormous argument she'd had with her mother – meaning that she was going to spend the holidays with her boyfriend, with her brother's seal of approval on top of that.
Setting the bags she was carrying on the coffee table in the living room, she peeked inside to find the small artificial tree she'd purchased for this specific purpose; there was also a set of shiny glass baubles, far more tinsel than she was ever going to need, and fairy lights too. 'You come with decorations. Like a little Christmas tree,' that was she'd told Martin on their first meeting, and she thought it was quite appropriate for her to give him one as a present on their first Christmas together.
It didn't take her long to find the perfect place for the miniature tree, and she started humming O Tannenbaum under her breath as she decorated the little thing as well as the rest of the room. After that she headed to the kitchen where she spent the rest of the afternoon fixing the Christmas dinner and mulling some wine for good measure.
Never in a thousand years she was going to forget the look of startled joy that lit up Martin's face when he walked into the flat to find it full of lights and decorations, a cheerful carol playing in the background and an affectionate girlfriend waiting for him with a mug of hot chocolate and a welcome kiss. And if she had to reheat the dinner because they got otherwise distracted, that was proof positive he had enjoyed her surprise as much as she'd hoped he would.