"Jay, that's not gonna fit."
"It will fit." Jay argues, looking over his shoulder to meet his wife's gaze.
She just softly shakes her head from side to side. "It's like two foot too big, the top will be all crooked at the ceiling."
"Not if we cut the bottom of trunk high enough," he points at the ground, rising his finger to follow the path of the tree. "And it will sink into the pot."
Hailey draws her eyebrows together. "I don't think that's how it works," she says. Despite that, Jay continues to actively ignore her as he keeps checking out the one Christmas tree he had spotted toward the back of the yard. "Come on, there will be a good tree that isn't so tall."
Jay stands up straight again, placing his hands on to his hips. "I'm telling you I can get this tree to fit."
She tilts her head to one side. "That is exactly what you said last year and then the star at the top was facing sideways."
"Technically it was still pointed the same way it would have done if the tree didn't reach the ceiling, so I'm counting that as the tree fit fine," Jay responds. "I promise this tree will fit."
Hailey darts her gaze from Jay and moves it up and down the tree again, taking in the size of the tree. Not only was she certain the tip would bend at the ceiling, she was pretty sure the width around the bottom was too big to fit in the corner of the living room they designated toward their tree each year. But the more she fought against it, the more Jay seemed adamant he would be able to get the tree to fit in the space. She tried a few more times to get him to reconsider walking back up the yard to find a tree that would definitely fit but eventually she figured she wasn't going to win this, so she stayed with the tree as Jay went up to grab the attention of one of the workers to help them take the tree down.
The employee helped him take it over to the truck and strap it down over the cover on the back as Hailey paid at the front shed and when she returned to the parking lot, she found Jay standing on the opposite side of the truck, staring down at the tree.
He purses his lips, darting his gaze up and down the side of the tree. "You know.. I'm starting to think it might not fit."
All Hailey can do is roll her eyes and start making her way toward the front passenger seat, gritting through her teeth slightly for him to just get in the car. He did as he was told quickly, joining her in the front of the car and he started up the engine, starting the twenty-five minute drive back home.
By the time they got back, Jay was almost sure Hailey was right with the fact this tree wouldn't fit in their living room but he sure was gonna give it one hell of a go, even if the tree was lopsided.
He unstrapped the pine from the back of the truck and before he could figure out how on earth he was going to lift the eight-foot tree into the house, Hailey places her hand on top of a collection of the branches and shoots him a confused look.
"Why do you always get a tree that is way too big?"
He looks over the car to her and lightly shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know.. we always had a massive tree growing up, when I was younger at least, that was until mom realized if she had one of the plastic ones she could keep it up from Halloween till New Year without having it die," he replies, earning a smile from Hailey in return as she heard her husband talk about his mother, something he didn't tend to do - from what she had been told before, she had loved Christmas with her whole heart, and that was just another example of that passion. Jay then clears his throat. "And I guess I loved having that big tree, I mean it would be a pain in the ass helping Dad move it into the house, but Mom's reaction always made it worth it, and I love seeing the kids' reactions to the tree.. I mean they are gonna go wild when they see this thing."
Hailey bobs her head. Yes last year's tree was bent at the top and the star was pointed the wrong way (despite Jay's arguments it was still pointed upright one way) and it was about five inches away from the wall because the base couldn't fit any closer without the bottom branches getting damaged, but Alfie gave off the biggest grin when he woke up from his nap and found all the bright lights illuminating the corner of the living room and the way Macie squealed with excitement upon returning from preschool to find a tree ready to be decorated. There was no denying the pair would go insane at being able to decorate this tree and have it sitting in the corner of the room throughout the rest of the festive season.
Nothing else was said between them for the next few minutes, apart from the mild curses every time the pines would rub against their skin and Jay's quiet and mumbled thank god when it managed to squeeze through the front door. It was as if maneuvering a car as they turned it around the corner into the living room and getting it around the couch without covering the furniture in stray pines that seemed to be a challenge. Eventually they lowered the tree down into the pot they had already set up ready before they left to retrieve the tree and took a step back to admire their handy work.
They both stare at the tree for a moment, narrowing their eyes toward it before Hailey tilts her head slightly.
"It's very lopsided." She says.
Jay hums. "I was just thinking that." He adds and they both step forward, tugging the tree upright so it wasn't up against the wall so much. It's still leaning a little to one side by the time they get it to stand in the pot and they can't take it over anymore without risking it toppling over to the other side, but the lean is so subtle they could notice it when they stared at the tree for a minute.
Once they've accomplished getting the tree upright they turn toward each other, Hailey putting her hand up in the air and he meets hers with a high-five.
"Nailed it." Jay says, earning a short chuckle from Hailey in return and he laughs too.
While Jay ran out to pick the kids up from school, Hailey dug through the attic to retrieve the ornaments they had shoved up there just after New Years. It was insane how short it felt since her back almost gave out pushing the very overflowing box across the attic floor and she couldn't quite figure out how it was Christmas again already.
Once she got the box down the ladder, a task she was surprised her foot or arm didn't slip at any point and sent the box flying (or crashing straight to the floor because with the weight of it she doubts it would have any air time) she pulled it down the two flights of stairs before kicking it along the floor into the living room. Luckily it was hardwood floors the entire way so there was no rougher terrain that would make the job harder. She brought it around the side of the couch and let out a huffed breath of relief when she stopped the box beside the tree, staring down at it full box and she mumbled to herself.
"We gotta lose some things.. or get another box." She says with a small shake of her head before she finds herself collapsing on the couch, waiting for her husband to return to start decorating the tree with the kids.
They were about halfway through the box, with at least three quarters of the tree covered by lights and a large array of different ornaments when Macie speaks up with curiosity in her voice. At this point Alfie had lost all interest in decorating the tree and had gone off to sit on the couch and watch the TV, and Macie's focus was just about hanging on a thread (and honestly they were surprised they had kept her entertained for this long.) Her question makes both of her parents stop what they were doing and look over at their daughter to see what she had found.
"Who's is this?" She asks, holding up an ornament.
Hailey narrows her eyes and outs her hand out, silently asking her daughter to hand it over so she could inspect what the five-year-old had found. Once it is in her hand, she recognizes the red dots around the ornament, and the small painting of the grey and white rabbit makes her heart squeeze slightly. She reads the words on the front and instantly remembers the night she was gifted this particular ornament six years prior.
'Thumper's First Christmas'
Hailey looks back down at Macie and hands it back to her daughter as she replies to the younger one's question. "It's yours." She says, seeming to just confuse her further so she farts her gaze over to Jay very briefly before meeting Macie's again. "Daddy got it for me before you were born. We didn't know if you were a girl or boy so we called you Thumper because you liked to kick me a lot."
Macie giggled slightly, bringing the ornament close against her chest. "Can we put this one on the tree?" She wonders.
Hailey smiles. "Yeah of course, whereabouts do you want it to go?" She asks.
Macie purses her lips slightly, darting her gaze up and down the tree deciding where she wanted it to go before she smirks and points right up toward the top, near where the star would go after the tree was finished being decorated. The girl then handed it over to her father so he could put it where she said and watches as it's hooked on to one of the branches.
"Beawtiful!" She exclaims, clapping her hands together when Jay moves his hand away from the ornament.
Three days later, Jay and Hailey wrapped up the last of their paperwork and took off out of work early, Jay giving the rest of the unit an early start to their night off. They got home and dismissed the babysitter, thanking him again as he left for his weekend.
After Andrew left, they managed to get the kids ready for their outing into the cold December chill relatively quickly, Alfie not putting up a fight about going out before eating dinner.
As Hailey strapped Macie into her car seat, the small blonde looked up at her mother with a dip in her eyebrows.
"Where are we going?"
Hailey lightly shook her head, sending her daughter a smirk as she hands over the hat for Macie to hold in her lap until they reached their destination. "It's a surprise." She says, making Macie groan.
From the drivers seat, Jay chuckles slightly at Macie's impatience and inability to wait for a surprise and turns the ignition on the truck, lighting up the dashboard and he cranked the air con all the way up to warm up the car - because even though they had only been in the house less than thirty minutes, the 24-degree weather meant the inside chilled fast.
Hailey tapped Macie's leg before she stepped backwards, shutting the back door with a quiet slam to make sure it was shut properly and then she moved to the side, jumping into the passenger side seat. She pulled that door closed too and as she strapped herself in, Macie whined from the back seat.
"Please where are we going?"
Jay and Hailey simultaneously shook their heads, Jay replying as he pulled the truck away from the curb. "It's a surprise."
She threw her head back against the headboard of her seat dramatically and let out a prolonged groan and her parents just about managed to hide their reaction from her until their toddler sitting behind Jay lets out a giggle at his sister's impatience and then the two can't help but chuckle.
They had to circle the block a few times before managing to find a parking spot Jay could get into, and he quickly switched off the engine. As soon as the noise from the car cut out, Macie spoke up, pushing herself up in her seat and she leaned to the side as best she could, peering out the front window.
"Where are we?" She questions.
Jay shrugs lightly. "You'll have to wait and see." He replies before unbuckling himself from the seat and looking out the side mirror to make sure it was safe for him to open the door.
He and Hailey got the kids out of the back of the car and lead them on to the sidewalk, Jay keeping a hold of Alfie on his hip to stop the toddler from running off into the large crowd Jay could see already spilling out from the Plaza.
Macie jumps in one spot, pointing over to the warm lights brightening up against the building surrounding the event. "Is that where we are going?" She asks.
Hailey chuckles once, sending her daughter a nod in response. Macie then stopping and standing straight.
"Why?"
The sudden drop of excitement on her face pauses both of her parents for a moment and when they move their gaze down to look at her her head is tilted to one side subtly.
Jay draws his eyebrows together. "Because we thought it would be fun for you, I used to come here when I was a kid."
"You did?" Macie wonders, a smile pulling up on the corner of her lips.
Jay bobs his head. "Oh yeah, my mom brought me and your uncle Will every year from when they started it," he responds and Macie laughs. "She loved it here, and so did I, and I think you and your brother will like it here too."
The smaller blonde smiled and grabbed hold of her mother's hand and they set off toward the main entrance.
They walked around the square once, peeking inside each of the stalls before Alfie starts squirming so Jay lifts him up higher, sitting the toddler down on his shoulders and he keeps a tight grasp on his ankles just as the youngest then starts complaining he was hungry, Macie copying him straight after. They find a nearby food stall and order, and while they are waiting to pick it up, Jay looks around for a place to sit down, but all the tables and benches are occupied. That's when Macie points out one of the stalls on the opposite side of the path and grabs her mother's attention.
"Can we do that one?" She asks, Hailey around to see what her daughter was pointing out and reading the sign on the top for ornament making, she shakes her head with a laugh.
"Mae, we've still got half a box at home with ornaments that didn't fit on the tree, we can't make more." She says, managing to get through the whole sentence before the five-year-old draws her bottom lip over her top to send her a pout.
Hailey hooks one eyebrow up and stares down at her daughter for a second, watching as Macie's pleading face got more and more exaggerated before she caves.
"Okay, fine, just one."
Macie cheers loudly just as the vendor calls the name for their food and Jay collects it, thanking the person in the stall before handing out the food to everyone. As Macie is given her pretzel, she points over to their next destination and Jay smiles before standing up straight again and looking over at his wife.
"I thought we said no more?" He asks and Hailey shrugs her shoulders.
"She has your pouty face I couldn't exactly say no." She says.
Jay can just about hand Alfie his food before the older of the two is almost dragging her parents over to the stall, face beaming at being able to decorate her own ornament. The vendor asks them how many they would like, Hailey buying one for both of the kids.
With a smile, the vendor hands off one of the giant transparent glass orbs over to Macie, who audibly gasps as the size. "What are you gonna paint?" She asks as she hands over the second to Hailey for Alfie's behalf.
Macie purses her lips as she thinks about what she wanted to decorate the ornament with. She then turns her head upwards and looks up at her parents. "Can I put my name and then put it next to my old one from before I was born?"
Hailey smiles. "That sounds like a great idea," she says and with that Macie picks up one of the paintbrushes and starts looking over all the color options. Hailey then moves her gaze up to Jay, quickly getting her husband's attention. "Maybe we could do the same for Alfie, have matching ones from their first time here?"
Jay nods in response and watches as she does the same, picking out a brush before asking Alfie what color he wanted on his ornament, the toddler pointing out the yellow pot of paint with a smile.
"They look great, Mae." Jay comments as he adds her ornament to the top of the tree beside the other.
She had written her name in bold, bright red, slightly wonky letters as well as covering the rest of the surface with what her parents could only presume was supposed to be white dots but because she hadn't watched the brush off properly before changing colors it ended up in a mix between a white dot and a pale pink dot. But regardless of that, Macie shone a bright smile as she showed her parents her ornament and that was all that was important.
Hailey placed Alfie's a little further down, which had his name written across the front and a smaller date below it, all in a bright yellow text. Alfie loved it solely for the fact it had that color on and to him, that was all that was mattered.
And even now they had another two ornaments they were certain would not fit in the box when it came time to packing it all up in the new year, they had some more personalized ornaments for their kids, so the packing up was an issue for future them to worry about.
-
bit of an all over there one, some really short scenes. writing going out and doing things is something i need to work on, so skips over a lot, and as not a chicago native, i have never been to that particular market, and the website can only give so much information about all the vendors and events.
thank you so much for reading, and just a fair warning the next chapter is quite a long one. also i'm very sorry for the lack of updates the last few weeks, with finishing college/final exams along with the fact (i believe) i've had glandular fever, there hasn't been much time to write. i am slowly getting back into it, but i'm going away to sweden in 2 weeks for college, so that will cause a massive blip in writing again.
but thank you all for being so patient, have a great week and i'll see you all in the next one :)
