december 20, 2019 ; 6:15pm
"ave, you wanna decorate the tree?" my 4 year old daughter avery nodded rapidly before running over to her dad pulling on his shirt. i stayed seated on the couch in the living room across from the christmas tree, sipping a hot chocolate. he looked down at her and smiled. "what baby?" she lifted her arms so he could pick her up. he held her on his hip and kissed her cheek making her giggle.
"can we decorate the tree now?" she pouted. ethan glanced over at me as if to ask if that was okay, and i nodded. "sure! let's go get the ornaments." they both walked out into the garage to get the two small boxes of ornaments that we put on the tree each year.
ethan and i have been married for 6 years and agreed to collect ornaments to fill up the tree eventually.
soon they came back inside, ethan holding the boxes in one hand while holding avery's hand in the other. i smiled at the cuteness in front of me. i placed me mug on the table beside the couch and got up, meeting them at the tree. ethan had picked avery up again and held her close to the tree, the lights reflecting in her eyes.
i placed my hand on ethan's upper arm and pressed my head against it as well. we all stood there together, ethan and avery talking about the lights and branches on the tree.
"can we put the orments on now?" she messes up the word a lot, like she does with some other words.
"sure ave, come here baby." ethan puts her down and she walks over to where i'm now sitting holding the boxes. i handed her an ornament and she walked swiftly but carefully back to where ethan was squatted down in front of the tree.
"look daddy!" she held up the ornament in front of him, proud as could be.
"i see baby! you wanna put it on the tree?" she nodded. "way up there!" she got on her tiptoes, pointing way up on the tree. we both laughed as ethan picked her up so she could put the ornament up high like she wanted.
we spent a good 30 minutes putting them on the tree and enjoying each other's company. but now that we had finished, we decided on watching a christmas movie. and of course, we let avery choose, which led to us watching 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' for the tenth time this week.
we all sat on the couch together, ethan and i beside each other, his arm around my waist, and avery's head laying in my lap. i played with her hair and she curled up wrapping her blanket, that she got from the hospital when she was born, around herself.
she didn't make it all the way through the movie, falling asleep on my lap.
"here, i'll take her up." ethan stood up and picked her up, careful to not wake her. "and i'll come with you." ethan smiled down at me and we both brought her up to her room.
ethan placed her on her bed and tucked her in. before stepping away, he kissed her forehead. "goodnight baby girl." i heard him whisper, which almost made me tear up.
they're relationship is absolutely precious.
he stepped away letting me tell her goodnight. i did the same thing, kissed her forehead and then whispered,"goodnight love." i backed away and ethan and i walked out after turning off her lamp. i left the door cracked and then we headed to our bedroom, which is across the hallway.
once ethan got ready for bed he collapsed into the warm blankets. i laughed at him quietly from the bathroom where i was brushing my teeth. once i finished i walked to my side of the bed and crawled across to snuggle into ethan.
"you know," he mumbled. i looked up at him and he kept his eyes on the ceiling. "tonight only made me fall more in love with you and ave." he finally looked down and made eye contact with me. i sat up and climbed up to straddle him. he put his hands on my waist and stared into my eyes as i leaned forward.
"i love you." i whispered. then our lips smashed together, creating the same fireworks that they did the first time we kissed.
a random christmas imagine for your feed.
published jan 23 2020
