Mary Margaret

The thing Mary Margaret loved most about Christmas was the tinsel. And the baubles. Well, any decorations really. She loved pretty, sparkly things and she always said she wanted her house at Christmas to reflect her personality. It was her Christmas crazy, something her husband had allowed and even encouraged.

David had been out that morning and bought the tree, and Mary Margaret had spent the afternoon rooting out the decorations from the basement. He was picking up the kids from school and then the four of them were going to make the house pretty for Christmas. So what if it was only the end of November. David would agree to anything if it meant keeping the smile on his girlfriend's face.

Mary Margaret sat down in front of the fire, a box of the children's old things beside her. Inside were all sorts of items from the past eight years, from Emma's 'baby's first Christmas' decorations, to the candle from Leo's christening, held on Christmas Eve, three months after he had been born. She put the items aside, picking up more from the box. It was the matching outfits that they had worn on Leo's first Christmas; his a onesie, Emma's the same but for a toddler. She held them up to her nose and took a deep breath in, closing her eyes. They still carried a faint, Christmas, baby smell. Almost like winter spice, talcum powder.

It was hard to believe her kids were now five and seven. She had treasured every moment from when there were babies, and it wasn't like they were grown and ready to move out, hell, she was only 32 herself, but she felt them slipping away from her as they started school, found friends and became more independent. She shook her head clear of all thoughts and shoved all the items back into the box. The kids would be home any moment and David would want to get started cooking dinner.

She stood up and perused all the decorations. She had a few new ones, one Leo had made in kindergarten class a few days before, a glitter covered pinecone they had made at home one rainy Saturday, and a bone shaped ceramic decoration they had bought in memory of their dog Pongo, a rescue dog from the pound they had got last Christmas, who was hit by a car in October. It had been David who was most devastated by that though, he really was a big softie.

Mary Margaret turned around as the front door opened, sweeping her two children in to her arms as they chatted loudly about their day. They began talking louder to speak over one another, and Mary Margaret laughed, having missed her kids more than she'd like to admit. David followed them in, kissing the top of her head. When she looked up at him, he winked at her, putting their book bags down on the chair before he made his way into the kitchen.

As soon as the kids had calmed down and finished rabbiting on, she helped them remove their coats and gave them each a cookie. She told them they had thirty minutes to do any homework and then the rest of the day would be for decorating.

In the kitchen, David was pulling out the ingredients for spaghetti, but stopped when Mary Margaret joined him. He left the stove, and took hold of her hands, chuckling as he noticed her new manicure. She had spent ages that morning painting little pink snowmen, and purple snowflakes onto her silver nails.

"The kids are doing their sums and spelling until four and then it's time to spread Christmas cheer!" David laughed at the natural exuberance in her voice. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrapped cylindrical box. Mary Margaret gasped, reaching over, pausing before her fingers touched it. "What is it? David you promised me no more gifts for no reason!" However, she couldn't stop herself from grabbing it, tugging lightly at the ribbon.

He winked again, kissing her lightly, before taking the gift box back from her, redoing the ribbon, shaking his head at her protests. Mary Margaret raised her eyebrow, noticing the bottle of brandy she had been using for the Christmas cake, stood open on the counter. "Don't drink my ingredients!" She kissed him back, walking out to check on the little ones. Emma had finished her spelling, and was helping her little brother with his sums. Mary Margaret sat down next to them, ready to help if they needed it, but started drawing little Christmas trees over a blank piece of paper.

By 5:30 they had finished their homework, eaten dinner, iced some Christmas cupcakes and watched a few cartoons. It was time to decorate the house. Mary Margaret internally squealed, running her fingers over the silver tinsel. David stood the mini-thems on stools, standing behind both of them so they wouldn't fall, as they hung light decorations on the lower branches of the tree. Mary Margaret strung the lights and tinsel with precision, wanting the tree to look perfect. She was a bit OCD about the tree, and every year spent a couple of hours after the kids had gone to bed, moving some of the decorations, making it look perfect. Of course the kids were so young they never noticed.

David carried on helping Emma and Leo until the tree was finished, lifting Emma on his shoulders so she could put the angel on the top of the tree, as Mary Margaret helped Leo hang bunting over all the doorways. Mary Margaret held both of their children on her lap as David plugged in the lights, and they all cheered as the room lit up. Even the angel had a light on top of the head, which made the halo look like it was glowing.

They carried on decorating, each of them arranging and rearranging the huge array of Christmas teddies on their windowsills, spraying fake snow on all the windows and doors facing the street, and cutting out paper snowflakes with crinkly safety scissors. Mary Margaret smiled fondly as Emma helped Leo cut his.

When the little ones were tired, and all the kiddie stuff had been done, David sat with them on the sofa, cartoons on as they dozed against his side, as Mary Margaret walked around, putting the finishing touches to the house. She put out the scented candles, but didn't light them, displayed all the cards on the holder, hung the wreath and all the decorations that were two high for the young devils to reach.

She sighed in satisfaction as she looked around the house. It was perfect. The kids had even done an even better job with the tree. Leo was asleep with his head on David's lap and Emma was clearly forcing herself to stay awake, sucking her thumb as she blearily watched Mary Margaret move across the room.

"It looks so pretty momma." Mary Margaret smiled down at her eldest, lifting her effortlessly into her arms. The little blonde wrapped her arms and legs around her, gripping Mary Margaret's long dark curls in her tiny fingers. She laid her head on her shoulder and Mary Margaret closed her eyes, breathing in. Her daughter, the baby smell long gone, smelled like cookies, and a slight lavender mist that was sprayed in her room every night. David stood with their youngest still fast asleep in his arms and they walked together upstairs until they reached the end of the hall. They took their babies into their separate bedrooms, tucking them in, kissing them goodnight, and then passed each other in the hall as they went into the others bedroom, to say goodnight.

When Mary Margaret sat down on the sofa, tucking her feet up under her, it was only a little after eight. David handed her a glass of wine, turned on the TV, and turned up the fire, sitting next to Mary Margaret, tucking her into his side. She looked up at him to find him staring at the tree, which made Mary Margaret paranoid for a second, worrying she had done something wrong. She watched him as he stared, until a noise on the TV broke him out of his daze.

"I know there are like three weeks until Christmas..." Mary Margaret nodded, waiting for him to continue. "But that gift I gave you earlier... I want you to open it." This time she shook her head. "No, but sweetheart, I have Christmas sorted... I want you to open this one now."

After staring at him for a few minutes, trying to break his gaze as he stared back, she relented, moving to go to the kitchen to search for it. David produced it from behind his back, but instead of handing it to her, he undid the ribbon himself.

"Mary Margaret, you have been the love of my life for the past ten years. You have given me two gorgeous children, and you have been the perfect mother and partner. You always put everything you've got into keeping this family running, and I do not think I could live without you in my life. Will you marry me?"

With that, he opened the box, showing her a gorgeous diamond ring. She bit her lip as if she was about to cry and nodded, holding her breath as he placed the ring on her finger. She wrapped her arms around him tightly as he kissed her, lifting her into his arms.

The last thing she noticed as he carried her out of the room was the moonlight glinting off the silver baubles on the tree, reflecting the snowflakes begin to fall outside.

God, she loved Christmas. As long as she had her family, it was and always would be her favourite holiday.