Chapter 2: Winter

I dozed off during the car ride back to my mom's house. When I opened my eyes, I noticed we were in the middle of the forest. The sight was beautiful. The trees were covered in snow and there were houses neatly placed along the road. The sun had started to go down and the streetlights came on as well as the Christmas lights on the houses. Everything looked like a winter wonderland. I was in awe, it was such a beautiful sight. Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year. And it's places like this that decorate and go all out is one of the reasons why.

"Wow! Everything is so beautiful, no wonder you love it here so much." I told my mom bringing a smile to her face. I can't wait to tell her I'm moving back. This may be a different town from where I grew up, but my mom will always be my home.

"I'm glad you like," mom said, "we are almost home." I couldn't wait to see her house. We would always go all out with Christmas decorations, so I know my mom would not disappoint me.

We pulled up to a giant house with magnificent Christmas lights all over the house. The front porch was huge and wrapped around the house. The walkway to the porch steps had solar lights with fairy lights attached to them. The yard had light up reindeer and a tree. The pillars at the top of the steps had lighted garlands wrapped around them and the railing along the porch also has the lighted garland. There were two 5-foot lamp posts, one on each side of the front door. A beautiful lit-up wreath took up residence on the front door. "Mom, it looks gorgeous out here," I said while still in awe of the decorations.

My mom just smiled big and admired all the lights. "Yeah, but wait until you see the inside." I couldn't contain my excitement any longer. Mom opened the front door and the smell of cinnamon and fresh baked cookies filled my nostrils. My jaw hit the floor as soon as I stepped inside. There was a staircase that led to the second floor. The banister had lighted garland all around it. After taking my shoes off my mom gave me a tour of the house. Off to the left was the living area. It was a huge open space with a beautifully decorated fireplace. The fireplace itself was white stone and had a white marble mantle. Their tv was wall mounted above the fireplace and had lights behind it. The mantle was decorated with a ceramic village set ranging from a ski slope, to a movie theater. Stockings hung off the mantle with care. Jared's stocking hung first and it had the most beautiful wolf howling at the moon scene on it. Looking at the other two stocking's I couldn't help but smile because they were the same as Jared's but except had my mom's name and my names on the other two.

The Christmas tree sat in the corner between the fireplace and the window. It was a stunning sight. The tree stood at 10 feet. It was flocked and had pinecones in it. Looking at the ornaments I noticed new ones and the ones my mother and I have collected over the years. My mom and I always loved having a red tree so the majority of the ornaments were red and the tree topper was not your average topper. It wasn't a star or an angel, it was a top hat. It was beautiful. It was red and had a pine cone attached along with holly. There were different types of Santa paintings on the walls. One of Santa and his reindeer, one of him next to a train, one in his workshop with some elves, and the final one with him and his naughty and nice list.

After ogling the living area my mom took me to the kitchen. The kitchen is gorgeous. White cabinets along the wall and a big island which contained the stove was in the middle of the kitchen. A rack of pans hung about the island and of course my mom put garland around it. She even added the touch of a train track at the top. The chairs at the island were decorated with precise. Each chair has a snowflake or snowman cover with a red ribbon tied into a bow at the back of the chair.

The top of the island had a long runner. It looked like the front of Santa's suit. White on the ends as the fur, then red velvet for his suit, and a black belt in the middle. There was a candle set on top of the runner and a small 3 foot tree at the end of the island. I was in love with this kitchen. The window in front of the sink had a beautiful view of the woods. "So, what do you think so far?" my mom asked me.

"It's all so beautiful. You have outdone yourself," I said giving her my approval of the decorations. My mom smiled brightly again and nudged her head for me to follow her. She led me up the stairs and to the first door on the right.

"This is where you'll be staying, I hope you like it," she said as she opened the door. As I stepped inside the room, I couldn't help but admire its beauty. The bedroom itself was bigger than my apartment back in Georgia. A massive California king size bed with red and black buffalo plaid sheets and comforter on top. There was another fireplace decorated with lighted garland and a north pole village on the mantle. The tv was mounted on the wall above the fireplace. There was a tree beautifully decorated in the corner of the room by the fireplace.

"I'll let you get freshened up. We are heading to the Conner's house in two hours." My mom said before giving me another hug and leaving my room. I put my suitcase on the bed and started to unpack. I walked into the bathroom and was floored by the size of it. A massive walk-in shower with a 5-foot rainforest shower head hung from the ceiling. Across from the shower was a beautiful claw foot tub. I can see myself taking long baths in that thing. The vanity itself was for two people. There were his and hers sinks and separate mirrors. The counter was white and white marble. I smiled to myself when seeing a few Christmas decorations on the counter. I noticed a door by the bathroom door that led back to the bedroom, so I opened and walked into a huge walk-in closet. It was so big there was even a make-up vanity in it. I wonder what Jared does for a living to have a house like this. And this is just a guest room.

I finished unpacking and laid out a maroon velvet dress that I would be wearing to the party. I decided to test out the claw foot tub and took a nice bubble bath.