Deserve [H.S.]

A Very Decorative Christmas - Blurb

DECORATIONS

Sighing to himself as he watched his mom and sister excitedly digging through a bunch of totes, Leo leaned closer to his dad and murmured, "do we really have to help?"

Harry sighed as well and leaned toward Leo while quietly saying, "the sooner you realize that you should just do whatever it takes to make your spouse happy, the easier your life will be."

Leo scoffed and responded with, "is that why you're such a pushover with mom?"

That unexpected comment made Harry nearly choke on his own spit before he turned his gaze from Noah and Cody to glare at his oldest son, furrowing his eyebrows in offense.

"Look, you might be sixteen now, but I can still ground your ass for that shit. Also, I am definitely not a pushover."

Knowing that his dad was mostly bluffing, Leo buckled down with, "you are definitely a pushover with mom."

Harry simply stared at Leo for a solid few silent seconds until saying, "okay, so I'm a pushover. And I'm a proud pushover. You think your mum still loves me after all these years by me fighting her on anything she wants? Absolutely not. You're welcome, by the way. Your parents are still happily married because I constantly make sure she's happy."

The mini-rant that Harry went on did nothing to impress Leo, so his simple reply was, "yeah, okay, sure, dad. Whatever you say. Anyway, if that's the case, why do I have to help decorate, too? Why can't it just be you if you're the one who needs to make her happy?"

It was Harry's turn to scoff before he said, "you think your mum would be happy about her son not helping out? She wants it to be a family thing, so you need to help, too, otherwise she'll be upset. Especially if you sit out on it. You're like her little sidekick, after all."

Leo sighed and mumbled, "you're right."

"I always am, I'm your dad," Harry declared confidently. "Just go with it, okay? Your mum wants quality family Christmas time and it's the least you can do for her after all she does for us."

The innocent guilt trip made Leo want to roll his eyes, but he didn't want to be any more disrespectful than he already had been, so he just said, "yeah, yeah. She's a great mom, I'm aware. The best, actually."

"Exactly," Harry said while clapping Leo on the back. "Now, here she comes. Act excited when she asks us to help with something."

Like Oscar-winning actors, both Leo and Harry smiled widely at Noah as she approached and sweetly said, "hi, my handsomes. Could you two get the Christmas tree out of the garage and set it up by the fireplace, please?"

"Of course, my beautiful angel," Harry responded with an unnaturally large smile that looked painful.

"Anything you want, oh sweet mother of mine," was Leo's contribution.

Noah's sweet smile changed into one of suspicion as she squinted her eyes and switched her gaze back and forth between her oldest son and her husband.

"You two are annoying," she said simply before expertly turning on her sweet mom tone, "thank you bunches!"

As Noah happily waltzed back to Cody, Harry and Leo exchanged knowing glances before standing up and heading into the garage to do exactly what she had asked of them.

Thankfully for Noah, without any nagging from herself, River and Owen joined in on helping decorate. River, the thirteen-year-old, was tasked with stringing lights and garland up along the railing on the stairs. Owen, now nearly seven years old, was told to change out the pillows in their living room with Christmas ones.