"No, no, you're not doing it right." April dropped the big ribbon that she had been working on, taking the stairs two at a time so she could reach Jackson at the top. "You need big loops. Like this."
Taking a hold of the garland herself, she pulled down for more dramatic loops of it compared to the modest ones that Jackson had been doing himself. She made sure that they hung low and took up a good two-thirds of the height of the railing. She fluffed it out just a little bit more with her fingers before stepping back to make sure that she liked it and giving a nod of her head. "There," she murmured. "That's what it should look like."
"You know that it looks pretty much the exact same, right?" Jackson commented with a raise of his eyebrows.
"Oh, hush, it doesn't. Make sure you get the lights wrapped around them once you're done."
Decorating for the Christmas season was something that April had loved for as long as she could remember and had pretty much consistently taken over the top year after year. Jackson wasn't sure how she managed to outdo herself every year, but she did. He appreciated putting up a tree and decorating it, getting a nice topper for it and sitting down with a glass of eggnog to admire it in the living room. That was something that even his apathetic family had managed to pull off pretty much every year for the holidays. But his memories of Christmas with his mother and grandfather were nothing like the extravagance that April enjoyed putting up in their place every year. Now that they had a proper house, and Harriet, she seemed to enjoy it more than she ever had before.
Finishing up the bows that she had been working on, she set them down at the foot of the steps so that could be added in with the garlands and lights. She busied herself with getting over the fireplace and getting more garland across the top of it, as well as large red candles and a wooden sign centered that ready Merry Christmas in a swirling text.
"Now, I didn't like how the stockings looked last year with three. I know that it should be okay because it's symmetrical but it doesn't feel full enough nor balanced," April remarked.
"Is this your way of telling me that you want to have another kid?" Jackson questioned, trying to untangle a strand of lights.
"No. Well, that sounds like a good idea, but that's not what I'm trying to say." She shook her head. She reached down to the box on her left and pulled out a red stocking that had a baby angel embroidered on it. "I got one for Samuel." She turned around, showing it to him.
Jackson stilled for a moment as he stared at the stocking that his wife was holding onto, blinking quickly to keep the tears that swelled at the bottom of his lids from becoming visible. The first Christmas without him that he had spent alone had been agonizing, not a single decoration in the house, not able to even put up a tree without having April around. Since then, it wasn't something that they had discussed at the two Christmas' that had passed. With his birthday two days before Valentine's Day, that was the holiday that it was usually brought up around now, not Christmas.
"What do you think?" April questioned, growing uncomfortable in his silence.
"It's perfect," he finally answered. "I love it."
A few long moments passed where the two of them just smiled at one another, both pausing to reflect on the beautiful baby boy that they had loved dearly and lost. It had been the thing to tear them apart, both individually and as a couple. They were lucky that their daughter had come along later to bring them back together, stronger than ever. For every part that Samuel had been a tragedy, Harriet had been a miracle and a reawakening.
With a somber smile still resting across the curve of her glossed lips, April hung up the stockings, two on each end of the fireplace. Jackson and Harriet's hung on the left side, while hers and Samuel's hung on the right.
The centerpiece of the living room was the Christmas tree, which had already been up in the living room for the past week. Given that Black Friday was something that neither April nor Jackson had any interest in participating in, not when most of it could be done online and neither one of them had a great need to deal with massive and rowdy crowds when they were well-off enough that they didn't need to save hundreds, their Friday after Thanksgiving had been spent at work for the first half of the day and putting up the Christmas tree with Harriet for the second half. Jackson had lifted up Harriet nice and high in the air so that she could put the angel on top of the Christmas tree all by herself – something which she had been extremely proud about.
"Do you want to start a fire?" April suggested. There was some wood already to the side of the fireplace, half decorative and a half for actual use. "I'm going to light the candles but it'll add to the ambiance."
"You and your ambiance," Jackson chuckled. "Yeah, I'll light it. Is the stair garland good now?"
"It's perfect." She smiled.
Gathering up all of the throw pillows from the sectional and the two extra chairs in the living room, April shoved them into the hall closet before getting out the new ones that she had bought just for the season. They matched the other decorations that had already been put up in the living room and entrance way so far – red and white, primarily, with some additions of silver and gold.
"Did you really buy new throw pillows just for Christmas?" Jackson questioned. "I don't know why I ask. Of course, you did," he shook his head although a smile still shone bright and revealed his straight white teeth.
"Oh, come on," she laughed. She set down most of them before picking up one with a penguin on it. "You can't tell me that this little guy isn't adorable. Don't you just want to cuddle up with him?"
"Of the options in this house to cuddle with, he's pretty low on my list." He answered.
April rolled her eyes. "He's adorable. I guess he'll just have to be my cuddle buddy then."
"I think these guys are a little better." Jackson picked up one of the decorative Christmas birds that were on the end table by more candles, something that they had decided on mostly unanimously at Target. "They don't take up quite so much space."
"Throw pillows are a necessary part of the living room. You know that." She smiled.
Putting down the pillow on the chair and straightening out the other ones that she had pulled out of the closet, she stepped back toward the fireplace so that she could look at the chairs and sectionals and make sure that she liked the way that everything was set up. She gave a little nod of her head in approval of the work that they had put in so far. Just because they had a day off didn't mean that they weren't going to be productive, especially during Harriet's nap time.
"I like it." April decided. "Oh! I almost forgot."
She moved over to grab the empty glass cylinders that had been filled with some decorative pine cones and a few shimmering of fake snow. It took her a few attempts to get them arranged exactly how she wanted them on the center of the coffee table.
"There we go," she straightened back up, placing her hands on her lips. "Now it all works."
Jackson looked around the living room at everything that had been thrown together in the past forty-five minutes and gave his own nod of approval. It was so much more than he would have ever thought to do on his own – putting together the pine cones on the table like that, all of the decorative garlands across the top of her fireplace, the lights and bows with the stair garland. But even he had to admit, everything had pulled together and looked pretty damn good now. Even if it did remind him more of a magazine spread than a house that someone would actually live in, let alone someone with a toddler. Harriet would love it, he was sure of that, but he wondered how long it would stay looking this nice.
"It looks really nice." He pulled April over by the belt loops of her pants, leaning down to press a kiss against her bottom lip. "And so do you, in case I haven't told you today. You look even nicer."
The redhead stretched up on her toes, kissing him back hard. "Decorating like this is kind of a turn-on."
"Seriously?" He couldn't help but laugh loudly against her lips, giving her another kiss.
"Turn-on, exciting, I don't know. The line is blurred." She giggled back against him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "It makes me happy."
"I think that I'm pretty good at making you happy, too," he replied suggestively.
Bending at his knees, Jackson reached down and grabbed onto his thighs, easily lifting up his wife with both hands and wrapping her thighs around his back. April complied and went with it easily, capturing his lips in another kiss, this one more heated than the last had been.
Though tempting, Jackson doesn't hold her up for long. Lowering down slowly, her back met the couch and he hovered on top of her, using his forearm to keep himself raised just enough that he didn't crush her. The weight of his hips rested on top of hers, filling that space there easily. She kept one leg hooked around his waist and made sure that he stayed pressed into her, not wanting any unnecessary space between them. It was right where he was supposed to be and exactly where he wanted to be, toy birds staring at them be damned.
A moan passed through April's lips and was swallowed into Jackson's mouth as he ground his hips down against hers. Her grip on him only tightened as she embraced him. She was happy to take every part of him, even in the middle of the living room. So happy and caught up in the moment that she doesn't notice the distinct pattern of footsteps that come from their daughter.
"Dada?" Harriet questioned, rubbing her eyes sleepily with a tiny fist. "Why you on Mama?"
April's hand slapped against Jackson's chest to try and get him off of her, grateful that there's no boner between them yet. Even if it certainly had been slow to that point. "Hey, ladybug," she greeted with a sheepish smile.
"What you doing?" Their little girl asked.
"Mommy and I are just having fun with each other," Jackson answered, lifting himself up further.
"I wanna have fun!" She cried out. April had to stifle her laughter.
"Come here, baby." She adjusted herself so that her legs were no longer underneath Jackson and tucked one leg beneath herself, reaching out for their girl. Harriet jumped up onto the couch and April assisted her, lifting her up into her lap. "You wanna have fun with Mommy and Daddy?" Is that what you want?"
"Yes!" Harriet squealed with excitement.
"Here comes the tickle monster!" Jackson threatened playfully, his hands reaching over to his daughter and beginning to tickle her ribs and abdomens. Harriet screamed with laughter, little limbs thrashing and a giant smile stretching across her young features as she tried to resist the tickles. April joined in with the fun immediately, kissing the top of her curly hair and gently tickling the back of her neck. Both parents couldn't help but laugh as they watched their little girl, going until they were all completely out of breath.
All three of them panting for air, Harriet had squirmed her way to laying on top of April's legs with her socked feet pointed toward her mother. A smile was still on the little girl's face, her eyes now wondering around the freshly decorated living room.
"Do you think the room looks nice with all the decorations, ladybug?" April asked her daughter.
"Yeah. When Santa coming?" She asked.
"Twenty-four more days," her mother answered.
"And then that tree is going to have all kinds of presents underneath it, just for you. As long as you keep being a good girl. Then you're going to get all of the presents from Santa." Jackson promised her.
April bent over, kissing a socked foot. "Do you think you could be a good girl till Santa gets here?"
"Yes!" Harriet answered enthusiastically.
"Santa will come at night and leave you all presents. Then after we wake up and you get to open your presents, we're going to go to Grandma Catherine's and Richard's house for a nice, fancy lunch. How does that sound?" Jackson asked.
Harriet flipped over to her stomach so that she could look at her father. "Mac 'n' cheese?" She asked.
"Yes, I'm sure that there will be some mac and cheese for you," he chuckled. "I'll make sure of it."
"Tonight?" She asked.
"Do you want to have mac and cheese for dinner tonight, ladybug?" April asked with a smile cracking across her features. There was no doubt as to what her favorite food of the week was.
"Yes pwease." She grabbed a fistful of April's jeans and pushed herself so she was sitting on top of her mother's legs properly, able to look back and forth between both of them.
"How about we do some mac and cheese, and broccoli? Do you think that you can be a good girl and eat some broccoli? I think Santa would approve if you did." The redhead suggested, running a hand over her daughter's head and raising her eyebrows."
"Okay," Harriet pouted.
"Atta girl," Jackson encouraged, reaching forward so that he could pick up Harriet. He lifted his daughter as high into the air as his arms would allow from his current position and she laughed loudly. "You're so good. Santa's going to have to bring you so many gifts."
April and Jackson shared a knowing look. Neither one of them was good at resisting the temptation to spoil her.
"Oh, birdie." Their daughter got distracted easily by one of the little decorate birds on the end table that they had picked up from Target, reaching out for it. Jackson lowered her so that it was within her reach and she picked it up, squeezing it with both hands though it wasn't particularly soft or squishy. "Can I keep? My room?"
"Sure, baby," April agreed with a nod of her head. Jackson laughed. "I think we can decorate your room a little more."