Ninety minutes later, my hands smelled so strongly of peppermint, I could probably earn a decent wage as the world’s first human air freshener. But shout-out to me: I’d done an awesome job. There wasn’t an inch that didn’t look red and white. Nice—if you liked that kind of thing.

I leaned back on the wall at the top of the stairs and snuck another look at my latest post—562 likes. No new followers.

But a noise downstairs made me freeze. A key in a lock…the front door opening.

Oh no! The family must be home, way before they should be.

And I looked like a hot mess. Mom and Dad were going to freak.

Could I get out of here without being seen?

Deep breath. Heart, calm the heck down. I needed a plan. Quickly.

But when I heard the voice of the person who walked in, my brain went to mush.

Here I was decorating for my Christmas dream, and I was seconds away from my Christmas nightmare.

Chapter Two

Holly

I put my card from myself—to me—up on my desk, angling it so I couldn’t quite see what I’d written. How could I be eating chocolate AND ticking off my Christmas Bedroom Decoration Plan and still feel so meh?! This wasn’t how Christmas was meant to feel! Although it wasn’t really a how, was it? I knew it was really all about the who.

Nope. Brain, don’t go there.

I stuffed some more chocolate in my mouth, turned up “Santa Tell Me,” and draped some of the bushiest tinsel over my photo collage of Ruby and Fred.

Yes! Things instantly felt a bit better. How can anyone feel rubbish when there’s tinsel around?

I should do some crowdfunding. Year-round tinsel for days that sucked.

I tucked a gold bit in my hair tie for good measure. Was Colin looking at me with jealousy or alarm? I figured jealousy, so I added some to his collar too. So fierce. (The tinsel, not Colin. He was scared of rain.) I put out the other six cards I’d sent myself over the years and tried to focus on all the happy memories they contained instead of all the meh that I contained.

I loved Christmas. I couldn’t let anyone ruin it. Not even him.

I mean, sure: break my heart and make me cry into some popcorn, but hands off my Christmas!

That was not part of the plan!

I rolled back onto my bed. Seems my brain was going there after all.