Hazel moaned as she laid in bed. Her body was achy, her nose runny, throat scratchy, and her mood wasn't happy. She rolled over and noticed her husband, Frank, was still asleep not noticing how miserable she was.
It was even worse in her mind. Today they were suppose to decorate their house for their first Christmas as a married couple. They had the day all planned out. In the morning they were suppose to go get their freshly cut tree. Then have a nice lunch at this cute little cafe that they loved going to. Hazel loved their paninis. Next, they would come back home and decorate the outside of the house. They spent the end of November picking out lights and inflatables that would go on their lawn and house. Once it was too cold, they would make hot chocolate before going back to work. Then once the sun was down, they would order Chinese for dinner. As they waited, they would start putting lights up in their windows. And right before they call it a night, they would decorate their tree. That was their plan, now it was ruined.
She coughed, hard into her blankets that Frank woke up to it. Now, feeling really bad that she woke her husband up, she slowly turned towards him.
"Morning." It took all of her energy to say that. Her throat burned afterwards.
Frank didn't say anything. His hand went to her forehead and then to her cheeks. He noticed that she was flushed.
"I'm fine." Hazel coughed into the blanket. "I'm excited to start our day."
"Oh no you aren't. You're way too sick to do all of that activity." Frank told her. "We can push it off for a week."
"No we can't. We're going to see Nico next weekend." Hazel reminded him. Her throat burning with every word. "Then it's the week of Christmas. We can't wait that long."
Frank looked at his sick wife. He wanted to make her feel better so they could do everything that they planned.
"I'll make you some oatmeal and tea. You need to rest, hun." Frank kissed her temple before getting out of bed.
"You know our first Christmas together is ruined. It's not even feeling like Christmas." She looked down at her blankets. Hazel was disappointed in her body and herself for getting sick. Maybe after eating she would feel better.
Frank went downstairs, feeling a little defeated. Hazel has been planning this day for a week already once they realized that this would be their only free day. He had to make his wife feel better.
As he started to make the oatmeal for her, a smile crept on his face. An idea popped into his head that would make Hazel feel better. But he would need to be out of the house for a majority of the day. How he was going to do that, he didn't know.
Once breakfast was set, he went upstairs to Hazel, who was sitting up and looking miserable. She saw Frank and smiled a tiny bit.
"Here you go." He gave her the oatmeal and a glass of orange juice. "Since we aren't doing the tree today, is it okay if I do tomorrow's errands today?"
"Yeah, that's fine." Hazel seemed defeated in the fact that Christmas wasn't going to happen in their house.
Frank smiled and kissed her cheek before getting ready for his surprise. His mind was racing as he got dressed for the day. He could still do some of the things on their list if Hazel was up for it. He could get take out from their favorite cafe and get Chinese food for dinner. Make her some hot tea instead of hot cocoa. It might work.
He kissed Hazel's head and took her dirty dishes before leaving their room. Having a skip in his step, he put the dishes into the dishwasher before leaving the house.
Frank came into the house with food from their favorite cafe; a grilled cheese panini with tomato soup for Hazel and a chicken Caesar wrap for him. Trying to hold his excitement, he went up to the bedroom where his sick wife laid.
"Hi honey." Frank smiled. "How are you feeling?"
"Horrible." She sniffled. "You finished all the errands?"
"Most of them." He replied. "I did pick up food from the Oracle though. Got you grilled cheese and tomato soup."
"Oh that sounds so good." She tried to sit up.
Frank helped her up and went to get a tray for her food. He set up her lunch and sat with her, talking to her about what she imagined the house would look like once the lights and inflatables were all set up. Frank listened carefully to every detail.
She finished up her lunch and was exhausted. Frank kissed her head and told her to get some rest since he would be in and out all day. He cleaned up and went downstairs. His brain was trying to remember everything she told him. There was so much and he wanted to perfect everything.
He threw away the plates and plastic silverware as he went out to the garage to get started on his all day project. Hopefully he wouldn't cause too much noise. He didn't want to wake Hazel and ruin the surprise.
Frank could remember when they got a tiny little apartment in a town called New Rome together so he could go to work and she could finish school. They didn't have enough room for a tree at all, which made Hazel a bit disappointed. Even the ten dollar foot tree didn't make it feel like Christmas. Hazel even decorated the windows with lights and hung paper snowflakes from the ceiling to try to get into the holiday spirit.
There was a smile on his face as he remembered. It was one of the best Christmas' ever. They couldn't fly to New York to see Nico because of the big snow storm. So they had a California Christmas, no snow and about fifty degrees. Hazel was really looking forward to seeing her brother like she normally did.
But Christmas Eve, Frank stayed up late trying to make their Christmas feel like a New York Christmas. He sprayed the windows with fake frost. He built some snowmen from foam balls that he found in Hazel's craft supplies. He also laid out her gifts under their tiny tree. There was nothing he could do about the tree but everything else, at least he could try. The smile on Hazel's face when she woke up was priceless. She was so happy to see the fake frost and snowmen. Frank was exhausted but the work that he put in was completely worth it.
Before Frank knew it, it was getting dark out and he still had some things to do. He went back inside, carrying a huge tree. He carefully placed it in the living room before going up to see how Hazel is doing.
She was asleep. The TV was on some cooking show that was probably there for background noise. That was great for him, she didn't hear anything that he was doing. He kissed her head before heading downstairs and ordered some Chinese food and started on his next mini project.
He knows that Hazel would love decorating the Christmas tree. Her and Nico did it together all the time as kids. From what he could tell, they would have their own set of decorations to put up and take turns putting up the star. They also had a tradition, that Frank never heard about, called the Christmas Pickle. Once the tree was decorated and they would go to bed, their dad would hide an ornament pickle in their tree somewhere. Whoever found it got a special gift. Hazel wanted to continue that tradition when they have kids.
The doorbell rang and he went to answer it. He paid the delivery man before taking the food upstairs. He saw that Hazel was finally up and sitting up.
"Hey hun. How are you feeling?" Frank asked.
"Better. Just sleeping all day helped a bit." She yawned. "You got Chinese food?"
"Yeah. I got you your lo mein and some beef and string beans for me." He set up the food on the tray that was in their room.
"Sounds delicious." She smiled as she sat up. "So is all of your errands done?"
"Yup." He replied as he set everything up for them. "And I was able to keep our lunch and dinner plans."
"I know." She smiled.
Frank wanted dinner to go faster. He wanted to show her what he really has been working on all day. But he had to play it off like no big deal. Like he actually did all of the errands that were planned for tomorrow.
"You okay?" Hazel asked him. "You seem very distant."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." Which wasn't a lie. His body was finally catching up with him.
"Alright." She folded up the take out box still mostly full of food. "Maybe tomorrow we can do everything we wanted."
"You're still sick." Frank told her. "You need to keep resting and drinking fluids."
"I need more water." She sighed, moving the tray.
Frank watched as she got out of bed. "Where are you going?"
"Downstairs to get a bottle of water." She replied.
Frank got up, making sure his food won't spill all over the bed. That was something he didn't want to clean up.
He followed her down the stairs, making some excuse about making sure she didn't fall down the stairs. Hazel blew it off as nothing. The stairs ended to the main entrance and she turned towards the living room. Frank could hear her gasp.
The windows were lit with the white lights that she planned, one was designed in Christmas tree. The little knickknacks that they bought were carefully placed on window sills and over the fire place with the stockings.
The tree was up and bare, but that didn't bother Hazel at all. She walked around the house, seeing that Frank did everything that she wanted to do. Each room had some Christmas theme to it. The kitchen had stick on snowflakes, the dining room had a red and green table cloth and napkins, and the bathroom smelled like cookies.
"You did all of this?" There were tears in her eyes as looked around the house.
"And one more thing. Put on your boots and coat." He told her.
She started to pull on her boots and Frank got their jackets. He helped her put it on before they headed outside. Their house was lit up with colorful lights all along every edge imaginable and a huge inflatable Santa with his sleigh and bag of toys.
"You did all of this?" Her voice cracked as she looked at the sight before her.
"Yeah. I'm surprise you didn't hear me." He replied. "I thought it would be a good surprise for you."
"This is the best surprise ever." She told him. "Even better than the one at that tiny apartment."
He smiled and kissed her warm forehead. "I still have a Christmas tree to decorate. If you're up to it-"
"Yes! Let's go decorate the tree." Hazel grinned before heading inside.
Frank chuckled as he followed behind her. He thinks their first Christmas as a married couple will be a good one.