Arriving home Kate sighed sitting in the car. Switching off the engine she sighed heading in to the house. Chucking her bag in the hall she headed straight upstairs. Pulling her uniform off dropping it in front of the wardrobe she pulled on a pair of leggings and an old t-shirt.

Heading downstairs she flopped down on the sofa. Grabbing the remote she switched on the TV trying to find something to watch, but it was mostly trash talk tv and daytime chat shows. Eventually she settled on a channel that was playing Christmas films all day every day. They were the cheesy budget sort that all had the same basic plot line. Either young American girl falls in love with a handsome dashing European guy and ends up following him to his home land to find out he is the royal hair and has to compete with the obnoxious spoilt heiress for the prince's heart and ultimately wins and they live happily ever after in a castle with lots of snow around. Or the high school underdog returns to their home town after making something of themselves in the big city only to fall in love with the queen bee or quarterback and after a bumpy ride they eventually declare their undying love for each other just as the snow begins to fall on Christmas eve.

Pushing the remote back on the coffee table she curled up it was. It wouldn't be her first choice to watch but she didn't really want to watch things with other people's problems. Hearing her mobile buzz on the table she pulled it looking at the number. She could see it was Nikki. Rejecting the call, she sighed dropping her phone next to her. It rang again, again it was Nikki. Rejecting the call again, she didn't want to talk to anyone because she knew if she did it would remind her of what she was about to lose and she didn't want to think about it.

3 hours later Kate was on her 3rd film and it was exactly the same plot as the other 2 almost word for word except set in a different American city and different made-up European principality. Sighing she switched the TV off in frustration. She couldn't be doing with all the happy Christmas vibes the people in the film were just too happy and it was just not realistic. Sighing she looked round the room, it was dull which wasn't helping the way she was feeling.

Hearing her phone ring again she closed her eyes wishing they would just leave her alone. Pulling it towards her she could see it was mike and she had 10 missed calls from him in the past hour plus half a dozen voicemail messages. Her finger hovered over the reject call before she decided it was best to answer

"hello" she said forcing a smile in the hopes she sounded happy

"Kate what the hell! I have been trying to call."

"i noticed" she said

"well why are you not answering your phone"

"because I am not in the mood to talk to anyone" she sighed

"Kate" he sighed. Being down like this was not going to do her any good. She needed to be positive and things would work out. "I have to go. I only stepped out of the meeting for a breather."

"okay" she said weakly

"are you sure you are okay?" he asked

"mm-hm" she replied

Hanging up she closed her eyes. She was far from alright. In what had been a dumpster fire of a year so far it felt things were only going to get worse and there was nothing she could do. looking in to the corner of the room she sighed.

Standing she made her way upstairs to the spare room. Opening the annex, she made her way to the back she pulled out all the Christmas decorations. Dragging the huge bag downstairs, she placed it in the hall whilst she busied herself sorting out the corner where they normally put it. Grabbing the base, she placed it down and began putting the branches in to place.

She watched as Midnight walked over sniffing round investigating the new feature that had appeared in the house. it was quite comical to watch the little kitten with the tree, although she knew she would have to put a guard around it and any breakable decorations up high as little kittens loved to pull trees down.

Placing the lights around it first she plugged them in setting them on to the twinkliest mode that there was. Sitting back on her feet she routed round in the box of decorations that they had. A mix of ones the kids had made at pre-school and kindergarten as well as ones they had brought and given as gifts. She pulled out one that looked like a ship. It had been a gift from Mike for their first Christmas. He had it made to look like Hammersley. Shaking all thoughts out of her mind she hung it high on the tree where it would be safe.

Pulling out other baubles he watched as a red, green and white candy cane bauble bounced out rolling along the floor chased by Midnight she laughed as the little kitten batted it along the floor chasing after it. Pushing herself to her feet she walked after the little cat picking her and the bauble up.

Dropping the bauble in to the box she sat on the edge of the coffee table, tickling midnight behind her ears she smiled as the little cat wiggled demanding to be put down on the floor. Dropping her down she sighed looking at the tree. She had a lot of decorations to add and she wanted to finish before everyone came home.

2 hours later Kate looked around the room. She had finished the tree and added the angel on top. She had hung the garland around the walls and long the island in the kitchen. she had put the stockings on the fireplace. She had witched the tea towels and oven gloves out to the Christmassy ones, the same with the mugs.

Hearing the door bang open she turned to see Mike stood standing in the door way.

"Kate! What the hell!" he said

so hope you like it.

the description of the xmas films is mainly the hallmark ones. which my sister made me put on the Christmas film channel and we watched 2 films in a row and they were both practically the same plot!

anyway is it too early for christmas decorations. normally yes but in the year known as 2020 i think we all need some festive magic to look at

enjoy and let me know what you think x