Kim knew that they were up to something; she had tried to text Adam throughout the morning since she had left only to get vague or one word answers:

"You and Mack having fun?"..."Yep"

"Need me to pick up anything on my way home?"... "Nope"

"What are you two up to?"... "Just hanging out"

She even tried calling Kevin though he wasn't much help:

"Hey Kevin, are you over the house? Adam said he planned to invite you over."... "I am! Stayin' for dinner too. Hey, Kim gotta go though ok? See you later!"

She was out shopping with Zoe enjoying some precious one to one time with her neice. As Zoe got older Kim knew that these days would be numbered. Zoe had already started talking about driving, PSAT's and where she was thinking of applying to college!. Long gone were the days where she held her hand as they crossed parking lots.

"Aunt Kim? Earth to Aunt Kim!"

"Huh? Sorry Zoe"

"Everything ok? Do you need to get home? It's ok if you do."

"No, no, let's go get lunch. Everything's fine. Or fine enough." Kim replied with a short chuckle. Maybe if she kept saying it she could manage to convince herself.

"What did Uncle Adam do now?"

Kim laughed: Leave it to her very intuitive niece to figure out that it was Adam up to no good and not the actual child of the household.

"I don't actually know yet. All I have been able to figure out is that whatever he is doing he has Kevin and Makayla as accomplices."

"I can't wait to find out what he did."

"Well I'm glad you're excited; that makes one of us."

As they entered the small cafe Kim and Zoe grabbed a small table in the corner after ordering some soup and salad meals to hold them over until dinner. Zoe and Nicole would both be joining them at their house and Kim smiled to herself at how she couldn't have scripted a better way to spend an off day during the holiday season.

"Hey Zoe question for you; have you heard what any of the girls you teach swim lessons to are asking for Christmas? Gotta love Makayla, she asks for some of the easiest things to grab like a new hat/mitten combo to wear skating. Could use some ideas for some things while she adjusts to getting comfortable asking for stuff."

Zoe fell in love with swimming once things with her mom settled down. She started volunteering at her swim club's pool as soon as she was old enough and landed a job as an assistant swim instructor to the 9 and 10 year old group as soon as she could pull a work permit. Kim was proud of her and she, Adam and Mack made sure to attend a few meets where she coached as well as swam throughout the season.

"Ooo you know what I heard a few of the girls chatting about? One girl got this as her birthday present and now all the girls want it. You know the neon shop signs that say 'OPEN'? She got one in purple and teal but with her name to hang in her bedroom. Evidently after they all saw it at a slumber party they all went home declaring it 'the coolest thing ever'. Not gonna lie, 10 year old me would have found it very cool."

"Wow! I think adult me would still kind of find it cool."

"Ha! Same!"

"Thanks Zoe, that's perfect. She's been having a blast over the past year or so decorating and having fun with her room at our house. I think that'd be a perfect idea."

"Awww yay! I'm so happy I could help! What about uncle Adam? Need some 10 year old girl gift ideas for him?"

"Funny! But seriously, I think he secretly enjoys being guilted into our mani/pedi nights so you never know."

"Well who doesn't love a mani/pedi! We should plan that as our next day out adventure, you should bring Makayla, make it a true 'girls day out'. I'll even ask my mom, make sure it's a weekend where she is off work."

Nicole had been doing much better over the last few years. She was back working; being able to work from home during the pandemic was extremely beneficial to her as she was getting her feet back on the ground. There were still times where she was reluctant to leave the house, especially when it was dark out and getting her to eat out at bars or restaurants would occasionally trigger her. She still stuck close to home but would go out with those closest to her and over the past year started going out for groceries on her own again.

"Oh Zoe, I love that idea! As soon as I get into work tomorrow I'll look at a few weekends where I'll be able to put in for a day and send them to you. You and your mom let me know which one works best for you both ok?"

"Definitely! I can't wait!" Zoe said enthusiastically.

They both finished lunch over some small talk about other happenings at Zoe's school before grabbing their bags and leaving the cafe.

"Let's get you home so you can catch up with your mom and get ready to come over for dinner. Meanwhile I am going to head home and begin cooking the lasagna all the while finding what surprise those three have in store for me."

"Whatever it is please take a picture for me before you make them either clean it up or put it away? Promise?" Zoe loved Adam but also knew he at times could get carried away in his excitement to do something. He always had the best intentions at heart though.

"Oh you know I will. I need to make sure I have any and all evidence of his decisions backed up somewhere. You know, for when he tries to deny his miscalculations. Someone other than me has to have proof!"

Kim drove Zoe back to Nicole's house; the two singing along to Christmas music along the way.

"Thanks for the shopping trip and lunch Kim. I'll see you in a few hours!"

"You're welcome Zoe. Tell your mom I said 'hi' and that we're excited to see you both later. And please just bring yourselves; we've got everything at the house."

"I'll try but you know my mom. She'll insist even though we're all family."

"I do, but it's always worth the try! Maybe one of these days she'll listen to her little sister!"

"I'm going to make like Adam and not get in the middle of THAT!" Zoe said laughing as she closed the door to Kim's car and walked up to the front door of her house. Nicole was waiting at the door and gave Kim a wave as Zoe entered. Kim responded with a wave in response and a quick honk of her horn as she drove away. She loved where her relationship was at with her sister. They still had their moments where they didn't see eye to eye on things but they always made sure to talk their issues out with each other rather than spilling it to anyone else that would listen.

The drive from her sister's house to their home wasn't too long and there wasn't much traffic to bog her down. It did provide her with plenty of time for her thoughts to return to wondering what Adam, Kevin and Makayla were up to. The 'radio silence' from them wasn't unusual as they were very good at entertaining themselves. But she was still suspicious.

As she pulled down the street she noticed Kevin had left her her usual spot behind Adam's jeep open for her. Right in infront so she could get a clear view of the two men on ladders adjusting Christmas lights along the roof of their home. Makayla was a few feet away from the ladders telling which one of them needed to either raise or lower their side.

"Dad! Uncle Kevin! Mom's home!" She yelled as she noticed Kim pulling up running over to the fence.

"Hi Mom! Look! When it gets dark out it'll look like a gingerbread house with its lights like in that movie!" Makalya could barely contain her excitement and it was contagious. Kim knew that they had been up to something with how secretive they had been all day but she had no idea that THIS is what they had been up to.

"I can see that! And are you running quality control over these two? Making sure they don't slack off?"

"Yup! I'm the boss!"

Both Kevin and Adam had begun climbing down having leveled off the front.

"Yea, she's the boss alright." Kevin said with a chuckle as he came over to great Kim with his signature bear hug.

"For real, she'd give Platt a run for her money" Adam joked as he walked over and put his arm around Kim pressing a kiss to the side of her beanie covered head. "Soooo… what'dya think?"

"About you comparing our daughter to our desk Sergeant?" She joked "Ok ok, I like them. I like them very much. You boys really outdid yourselves and I had zero clue you were doing this so I'm still trying to see everything you did."

"Bottom line Kim, if there is an edge to your house it has a strand of lights on it. This guy had me here not 5 minutes after you left to hit up the store and find out exactly how many and what type of lights we'd need."

"Is that your way of saying if anything goes wrong it's all his fault?" Kim laughed as she joked with Kevin.

"Yes, yes it is." Kevin replied as he walked back up to the front of the house to take down one of the ladders and bring it out back to put away.

"I'm going to pretend to be only slightly hurt by all this lack of faith in me!" Adam stated before turning to Kim who was still tucked into his side. "But seriously, do you like it? I heard you and Makayla the other night. You both said how cute you thought the houses looked in that movie and that you wondered what our house would look like all lit up.

"Adam! Are you serious? You went through all of this trouble for us? You didn't have to do this!"

"Yes I did. When I bought this place I said we'd fill it with happy memories for you and Mack." He said as he looked back at the house. They had at least 20 more minutes before it became dark enough to really see the lights. Kim could tell how content he was with this life.

"Judging by the excitement on her face when I pulled up, this is something she'll never forget. It's also something you will now have to do every season. You better hope Chicago December's stay relatively snow free for the next decade mister. It's your butt up the ladder from here on out."

"And you?"

"Adam this is seriously one of the best things I could have come home to. My day was already pretty awesome. Coming home to this?" Kim said as she gestured to their home "This has been something I wished for since I was a little girl. My parents never did the whole lights outside thing. I was lucky if I could convince them to hang a real wreath on our door."

The smile on his face was priceless. All he ever wanted was to make his girls happy.

"Next year you should stay home while we hang them. Get a nice view of my butt while it's up on that ladder!" He said as he walked over to help Kevin pick up the rest of the tools and remaining ladder while they still had a bit of daylight left.

"It IS one of my favorite things after all." She remarked as she walked towards the house. "You boys finish cleaning up the stuff out here. I'm going to get the ingredients for the lasagna out. Call me when you are ready to light it?"

"Deal!" They both said in unison.

As Kim entered the house Makayla was picking up some of the discarded trash from the light packaging.

"Makayla, thank you for helping your dad and Uncle Kevin with those lights. And for helping clean up."

"You really like them?"

"I really really do. I can't wait to see our house all lit up." Kim really was excited. She felt more at home than she had in a very long time and she could definitely get used to this.

"Neither can I!" Makayla said as she finished putting the last scraps in the trash.

"How about you go wash up real quick ok? The guys will probably need to shower once they come inside. You want to help me make lasagna after we turn the lights on?"

"Yes!" Makayla loved helping her parents in the kitchen. She got to wear her own apron and was dubbed the family sous chef; a title she was extremely proud of.

"Ok, go wash up a bit. Don't worry I won't start much without you and I'll make sure they don't turn the lights on before you're out there!"

It was only about 15 minutes later that they deemed it dark enough to turn the lights on. They were all really excited to see how it would look. And it didn't disappoint. Adam and Kevin did an amazing job. The house looked perfect.

"Well you three, I think you have set an extremely high bar. This is amazing!" Kim said as she stepped back to get a picture of the entire front to send to Zoe.

"Look what Adam and Kevin did with Makayla's help!" Kim texted as she sent a picture

"OMG! That's so cute! They did such a good job! Are they for hire if I can convince mom to let them do our house? LOL!" Zoe replied

Kevin, Adam and Makayla gave themselves some fist bumps as they made their way inside. Kim and Makayla went to continue to prep dinner while Adam and Kevin took turns cleaning up before grabbing some beers and staying out of the way.

When Nicole and Zoe arrived a bit later they both marveled at how good the house looked. They both agreed that the lighting looked better in person than it did in the picture Kim had sent. Nicole of course refused to come over empty handed and brought some cheesecake brownies to enjoy after dinner.

Jordan was also able to join in on the dinner; lightly lamenting that he had to finish some classwork and couldn't have been present to witness his brother and Adam hanging the lights. Oh the comedy show that must have been. He had surprised Kevin that past fall by handing him a copy of a course schedule. HIS course schedule. Kevin was happy that his brother was back on a path. He didn't care if he chose school or a path straight to work but just wanted him to have some sort of ambition for himself.

Once they were all done eating they moved to the family room and busted out some games. There was a clear boys vs. girls divide in the household where unfortunately as good as the guys were at hanging Christmas lights they were not as skilled with pictionary or Taboo.

As Adam helped Kim get some refills for the drinks and put some of the dirty glassware in the sink to be washed later he felt her wrap her arms around his waist and rest her head against his back.

"You ok?" He asked as he reached down to put his hands over hers

"Better than ok." She replied as he turned around, her arms still around him

"Yea?" He wrapped his arms around her holding her a bit closer to him.

"Yes, my life feels like a Lifetime movie right now. I couldn't be happier."

"I love that for you. I love you so much" He said as he gave her a quick kiss.

"I love you too, c'mon let's get back to the crew before they come in here and find us making out in the kitchen"

"Hmmm… making out with you in the kitchen would be my definition of a Lifetime movie!"

"I'm sure it would. Let's go!" She said as she gave him one last chaste kiss before unwrapping herself from his arms and heading back into the family room smiling from ear to ear and feeling the love of everyone around her.