His Wolf Pup - a Jasper Hale Story

104- Decorations

Seeing as The Volturi were coming two days after Christmas, we decided we would have the best Christmas ever. The unspoken truth was we would make it the best, in case it was our last.

We tried to make it as usual and as festive as possible. It gave everyone something to focus on and some happiness to hold onto.

Our favorite activity had quickly become decorating the house as ridiculously as possible. Alice and Esme had gone overboard buying every decoration that ever existed, so we all took it upon ourselves to find a place for every decoration in the house.

The outside of the house looked pretty normal, just in case someone came by. There were a few random decorations out on the porch that Esme had put out there, and Seth had put a wreath on the door.

As soon as someone walked into the house, however, they would realize we had gone crazy. Every inch of every wall space had been completely decorated. There was tinsel and decorations either taped or nailed to every wall. It was insane. Some of it looked good because Esme and Alice had put it up. Other areas look atrocious because Charlotte and Seth told Emmet and Noah where to put decorations.

Our favorite activity, above all else, had been when we decorated the tree. Jasper had brought it in the house with Carlisle and placed it in the living room corner. Alice and Esme started to take out some decorations from years prior when Charlotte and Seth revealed they had also made some decorations of their own.

Charlotte had drawn little drawings that Seth had turned into ornaments with string. Everyone made a whole ordeal out of it and helped Charlotte place them in precisely the right places. As soon as she had them placed in the right spots, the rest of us put up decorations wherever we wanted, with input from Charlotte.

After the entire house had been decked out, we moved on to making cookies. Everyone helped out in some way. Esme and Carlisle made sure we had all the right ingredients in the right amounts. Alice, Rosalie, and I were in charge of making the dough since none of us trusted the boys. Noah and Emmet rolled the dough out so Charlotte, Seth, and Jasper could cut them out into cute shapes. Edward had been in charge of watching the oven and ensuring they all baked perfectly. Bree made all the frosting and set up everything for the decoration stage of the cookies.

Our line of workers got to work immediately, Esme taking a million photos in the process. Within a few minutes, I was completely covered in flour because Rosalie had dropped it into the bowl from too high up. Emmet broke a rolling pin about five minutes after that. Edward had managed to catch his shirt on fire with the oven, prompting Alice to throw a bowl of water that she had set aside on him. The only people not making a mess were Charlotte, Seth, and Jasper since they were extremely focused on cutting the cookies.

Then it was time for decorating.

"Emmet!" Charlotte yelled, looking at his cookie.

"What?" he asked, not understanding why she was freaking out.

Everyone looked over at his cookie to see a mountain of sprinkles pilled high on the cookie instead of in a cute design like the rest of us had been doing. "Why are there so many sprinkles?" I asked him.

"Because they taste good," he told me.

"That many will make someone sick," Seth told him. "We should make Jacob eat it."

"Seth," Esme scolded. "Stop talking bad about Jacob."

"If I don't do it, no one will," Seth exclaimed, looking over at me for support.

"No, I agree," I said, smiling mischievously at Seth. "If someone dares Jacob to eat it, he will."

"When are they coming over again?" Noah asked, looking up at the clock to see how much time we had.

"They're coming over in 30 minutes," Alice replied, not looking up from the flower design she was currently focused on.

Seth went back to working on his cookie as Emmet started another one. I watched him put frosting on the cookie before pouring sprinkles on top of it once again. "Emmet!" I yelled.

"What?!" he exclaimed. "I want to see how many of the boys I can get to eat one of these, so I have to have ready enough."

"I think everyone but Sam will," Jasper said, knowing the boys well enough by now. "He'll claim he's too old for such childishness."

"He's literally the most childish out of all of them," Edward added.

"We all know that," Seth said. "But we all just pretend that he's right to not hurt his feelings."

"Make two for Nathan," I told Emmet. "He'll eat them simultaneously. I've seen him do it before."

For the next 30 minutes, we all focused on our cookies, Emmet making piles of sprinkles. We started to clean up the supplies three minutes before they were supposed to show up. As we put the last of the dishes away, the doorbell rang through the house.

Carlisle went to answer the door while the rest of us set up the random snacks we had bought for them. The pack walked into the kitchen, and all of the boys' eyes went straight to Emmet's cookies.

"What are those?" Sam asked, assuming it was something absurd.

"Emmet made those," I told him. "And he doesn't think you guys will eat them."

"I will not," Sam said, "but I'm sure they will."

Jacob, Quill, Paul, and Embry all immediately grabbed a cookie, but none of them ate it.

"I'll eat it if you do," Paul said, looking at Jacob.

They all hesitated, prompting Nathan to come forward and grab two, saying, "You guys are cowards. Watch this." He stuffed both cookies into his mouth, eating them very quickly. I was sure he would feel awful later, but he showed no signs of it then.

With Nathan's craziness out of the way, the other boys quickly ate their cookies to prove they could. The rest of us grabbed a few cookies and some snacks before making our way to the living room.

I sat down on the couch with Jasper as everyone pilled around the room. Esme had recently added more furniture and beanbags into the living room so everyone could fit comfortably. Seth and Charlotte made their way over to us and sat down between Jasper and me. Everyone picked their spot as Carlisle put Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reinder on the TV.

I looked around the room at all of the Cullens as Edward looked over at me, smiling, obviously remembering the last time we watched this movie. It was such a simpler time, but I couldn't regret the decisions that led me to the family I now had. We were a much bigger group, and I couldn't imagine life without them. The Volturi could wait. I was determined to enjoy Christmas with my family.