Story: Curse of the Syfire (not yet published)

Prompt: First christmas together

Couple: Sophia x Thomas

***

In Norwich, the whole town always came together for the celebration of the year: Christmas. There was a huge tree that the town brought in and everyone would come in to decorate it.

Sophia stuck her face against the windowpane and looked out, watching as people passed by with boxes of materials for decorating.

"Thomas hurry up!" she called out. "I'll go without you." She watched his reflection in the mirror and turned around to where her boyfriend was carrying a huge box. "How is it possible we've accumulated so much?"

Thomas laughed. "We've been together for several months and you save everything. Half of this is things Louise gave me for you."

"Really? Why?" Sophia scrambled up from her spot to peek in the box.

"Because she thought it'd be sweet for our first Christmas together." He kissed the top of her head. "Have a look at what you wouldn't mind showcased to the town. I was hoping we could, er well, I wanted us to maybe take some photos. You know, for a holiday card."

"That would be a great idea!" Sophia blushed. "The tree would be a fabulous backdrop and we could send them out to our family and friends..." She trailed off, realizing she hadn't yet met any of Thomas' family. In fact, he rarely mentioned family to her at all. "I-I'm sorry, that was...I know family is a rough topic—"

"No, no, don't apologize." Thomas squeezed her hand. "My family would love a card. I don't talk about them much because I rarely get to see them seeing how we're here and they don't travel. But a card like this will be exactly the thing to bring them Christmas spirit."

"So you're okay with it, sending out the cards?"

Thomas kissed her cheek. "Absolutely, my love."

They spent the rest of the morning putting together a box of decorations to bring out to the town tree then dressed for the photos. Outside, the atmosphere was bright with laughter and love, as a constant stream of people added their memorabilia to the tree.

Thomas and Sophia each added on their own trinkets. Then, standing in front of it all, Thomas aimed the camera high. They posed cheek to cheek and at the last second before the flash went off, Thomas turned his head to kiss her. Sophia laughed, a sound like silver bells tinkling in the wind, as the camera captured the candid moment that the pair would remember for years to come.

The image spit out from the camera, developed in seconds. Sophia smiled at the faces that stared back at her. Two faces filled with admiration for the other, knowing that they were both deeply in love.

"This is a lovely photo," Thomas said. "And there's no one I would rather share this moment with than you."

Sophia cupped his face in her hands then lifted one hand away with her pinky, pointer finger, and thumb up in the universal 'i love you' symbol. "I love you so much, Thomas. I wish us to have a million more Christmases exactly like this one."