Christmas Film Express Novels & Stories

I learned to be thankful and quiet. That acceptance made me hate Christmas. Love songs made my skin crawl. The lights under our tree looked like glass eyes. The ribbons on the presents were traps. Every year, the house tuned itself to cheer and I pretended to enjoy it. The twenty-fifth became the night when a new kind of cold touched my bones. It was the day the truth had crawled out at me like an animal. It was the day I had learned how much of my life had been decided by other hands.

"Well it's a bit smaller than Burlington, so it has that small town vibe. Everyone knows everyone which can be very annoying at times. People in Rutland like to go all out for Christmas. There is a festival with booths at every corner, contests, stuff like that." "That sounds like fun." Olivia beamed. I didn't miss the gleam in her eye at the mention of the festival. I bet she would love it. "Knowing my mom she will drag us to every event, even if it is freezing. So beware." From past experience I knew we would be attending everything Rutland has to offer for Christmas. Knox was quiet as I spoke, his eyes focused on the road ahead. I found myself glancing at him every few minutes despite the

“What items would those be?” “There are several,” Brady said, undeterred by their attitudes. He hadn’t expected this job to be easy, after all. “For example, the Christmas festivities. I haven’t been in town long, but my understanding is that Christmas used to be a special time here in Holiday Hills. Now, it seems to be more of an afterthought.”

That night, we all sat in the living room watching a classic Christmas movie. Onscreen, in The Polar Express, Santa slid down a chimney with his giant sack of gifts, smiling at the children. I watched the screen, but all I could picture was the twisted figure Sophie described. Spider fingers, too many joints, a tilted head, standing perfectly still. Suddenly, it hit me. A gaping hole in Sophie's story.

New York is beautiful at Christmas, especially when it snows, but being in this place, well, it just feels magical. The moment we are in there, Riley plucks Nina up and places her on his shoulders, causing her to squeal with laughter, resulting in my cheeks hurting from smiling so hard. Only soon my smile turns into laughter that causes tears to fall down my cheeks as Josh starts running off like an excited child while shouting "Let the fun begin!" while Riley starts chasing him with a squealing Nina still on his shoulders.

Patrick avoided my eyes, but I caught the faint smirk he tried to hide. Dad, thankfully oblivious, clapped Patrick on the shoulder. "Well, since we're all here, what do you say we have a movie night? We could watch one of your films. I've been meaning to rewatch *Shadow Protocol*. What do you think?" Patrick did not look particularly thrilled at the idea of watching himself on screen, but he smiled politely and nodded. "Sure. If that's what you guys want, I'm in." Both my parents lit up with excitement. Mom immediately started talking about snacks and blankets while Dad began saying he had already searched for the movie on the streaming service.

I said happily. "Your wish, always my command," he murmured. This was probably one of the most normal things Zach and I would do! It was also one of my dreams to watch a movie with the man I love beside me. Hay, What a romantic Christmas. It's just the beginning but the I've been getting more than I'd imagined! Would you believe that he didn't push me away when I told him I love you? I got lucky me. Very. Really. After we went down, I bought a cd to watch. The title was Indecent Proposal. It sounded so interesting so I placed it right away. We also didn't turn on the light for effect.

Markus We gorge on our meal and talk about the most random things we could think of, conversations with her are so easy and comfortable I could basically speak to her for months without getting bored. “Your favorite Christmas movie?” she asks, “perhaps Last Christmas, what about you?” she doesn’t answer just stares at me “Elizabeth Cooper are you out of words?” she blinks a few times before saying “you’ve seen Christmas movies?” she asks me again “of course I have, why do you take me for an unfeeling bastard?” I say laughing at her. She shakes her head “no, no it’s not that, I mean a beast of a man like you watching Christmas movies is kind of funny” she thinks it’s funny because of my size?

If he thought something was off with Jason, he wouldn't be wrong at all. "Wanna sit down and watch this Christmas movie with us?" Jamie asked all cuddled up by Damien's side. "Which movie?" Ty asked. "We just put in Deck the Halls, It's not a classic, but it's funny." I answered with a slight smile. "Yeah, I remember us going to see that at the movie's when it first came out." He chuckled then came and sat down on the couch me and Jason were leaning on. He plopped down right next to Carrie and Matt and settled in for the movie.

“We’re going to do something fun.” “Like what?” Autumn asks, looking up at me. She still looks worn down, but there’s a ghost of a smile on her lips. That’s a start. “Christmas movie marathon. We’ll watch some of the classics and some of those awful ones where the girl gives up the job of her dreams to move in with a guy who sells Christmas trees for a living or something.” Autumn’s smile grows. “They’re kind of romantic, in a way.” “What would be romantic is if the Christmas tree seller guy moved to the big city with the girl and got a real job,” Benedict says. “Let him make a sacrifice for once.”