Here We Stand [H.S]

156.*

"Honey bunch, angel of mine, baby cakes, baby bear, blossom butt... wake up."

I turned, groaning and ducking my head further into the pillow as Harry's raspy breathing cascaded across my shoulder.

I stretched out, refusing to open my eyelids as I cracked my back and eased my relaxing muscles as Harry continued to kiss me awake.

We were back in Holmes Chapel after a couple of days away back home in Wales, and after staying at Gran's place and taking some time out to spend those precious couple of hours with all three of them at their resting place, I felt much more fulfilled and happier in my heart, so we eventually came back to Anne and Robin's place on Christmas Eve.

It felt strangely weird pulling back up to his parents' house, but somewhat felt... normal, real and exciting.

Now that I had my moment with them, Harry and I had put down flowers and a wreath as he promised, and I spent a couple of hours with the gravestone and talking to my parents and Gran as if they were really there.

Of course they wasn't, but to me, they were... and after completing my little ritual (and introducing Harry to my mum and dad, which was... weird but, nice) I was ready to put my past behind me and fully enjoy the rest of the Christmas holidays and festivities with Harry and his family.

We'd only been away for a couple of days, and already England was completely different to Wales- and seeing as we were all in the same country, I couldn't understand how England had become so picturesque compared to Wales because of the weather.

I mean, how could England have snow and not the rest of the country?

It was so bloody strange, I swear.

The front garden of Anne and Robin's home was now covered in snow, a wreath hanging on the door that accessorised itself with strands of multi-coloured Christmas lights.

I wasn't so shocked though, Anne seemed like the kind of woman who loved Christmas, and knowing that Harry was going to be home for it, I wasn't at all surprised to see that she had gone all out for it.

The front porch of their garden was scattered with outdoor Christmas decorations, and when we arrived and walked through the door, we were met festive Christmas music (I'm slightly positive that Robin was on the karaoke murdering Last Christmas by Wham!) along with the smell of cinnamon rolls, biscuits, cake, chocolate, cupcakes, gingerbread and mince pies that obliterated my senses.

The way it seemed, nobody loved Christmas as much as Anne and Robin did.

I was so pleased to be here, experiencing a completely different side to Christmas that I had never experienced before.

I had never seen so much food and drink in my life (whereas before it was only myself and Gran) the decorations were classy, beautiful and oh so very English... not to mention that I felt content and warm.

I loved being in an atmosphere over Christmas with my fiancé and his exceptional family.

Even though I was utterly mesmerised by how much effort Anne and Robin had put in with their home, Harry was quick enough to hand me a glass of mulled wine last night and explained to me shortly after that nothing had really changed much since he had been a child, and that right now, it looked like every other Christmas Eve he'd spent here, and this made me smile.

Thinking of Harry as a small boy with his family, getting excited over Santa delivering his presents had me feeling all sorts of things, and in a way, it brought me right back to thinking about Oscar and how we would never get to experience this with him.