"Alright, Aiden, let's get these decorations up!" Esmeralda spoke, smiling brightly at her now six year old son. The two had just managed to find a nice little apartment for the two of them with the money Esmeralda had made from her first book, which surprisingly was a huge hit, and Esmeralda was wanting to go out as much as she could for holiday decorating, much to Aiden's delight.

Aiden smiled excitedly back at his mother. "Yeah! Let's do it! I wanna put the star on the tree all by myself!" he exclaimed, that excited smile still on his face.

"Hmmm... I don't know about that, Aiden. Do you think you'll be tall enough to put it up there?" Esmeralda teased, a playful smile on her face.

Aiden giggled. "Yeah! I'm a big boy now, remember? You told me yourself!"

Esmeralda let out a soft laugh in response. "Well, I suppose that is true... but still, even big boys need help from time to time."

"I know that, too! You always help me when I get boo boos!" Aiden responded brightly.

Esmeralda smiled softly at her son, nodding in agreement. "That's right. So, if you have trouble putting the star up on the tree, you'll ask me for help, right?"

"Yeah! 'cause that's a big boy thing to do!"

Laughing softly, Esmeralda playfully rustled Aiden's hair, causing a few giggles from him. "Alright, good. Though, you'll have to wait until we get the apartment and the tree decorated before you can put the star on, okay?"

"Okay! I'm gonna help decorate so we can get it done faster, too! And 'cause decorating's fun!" Aiden chimed.

"Well, that's good because I'm going to need all the help I can get with these." Esmeralda responded with a bright smile as she started to unpack the decorations they had bought, along with an artificial tree. Sure, she did like the real trees, but she figured she would save more by having an artificial tree she could reuse each year. And besides, she figured an artificial tree would be a bit better for the environment since she wouldn't have to worry about it rotting and having to throw it out.

She also had a slight allergy to pine needles, so there was that as well. It really wasn't much, just a little bit of a rash, but she still figured it was better to be safe than sorry. Besides, she didn't know if Aiden had allergies to it, so she figured it would be best not to risk it.

Back to the moment at hand, as Esmeralda began getting decorations out of the box, she began to instruct Aiden on how to handle them. "Now, you have to be careful with some of this stuff since it breaks easily, okay Aiden? Can you pinky promise to be careful?" she spoke, holding out her hand with her pinky extended.

Aiden grinned and nodded in response, wrapping his pinky around Esmeralda's. "I promise, mommy! I'll be super duper careful with it!" he spoke, that bright grin still on his face.

Chuckling, Esmeralda nodded in understanding before handing him a few decorations. "Okay, good. Now, why don't you go put these somewhere you think they'll look good? And remember to be careful with them."

Nodding, Aiden excitedly went to go do as he had asked while Esmeralda got a few other decorations set up, mostly focusing on the much more breakable stuff that she didn't feel confident with Aiden handling. Sure, she trusted that he would be as careful as he could when handling the stuff, but she also knew that accidents happen and she really didn't want anything happening to these decorations as they'd been in her family for a while.

Her parents had been luckily willing to let her bring them with her when they kicked her out and she was going to do all she could to keep them safe, if only as a bit of a sad reminder of all those Christmases she had with her family.

She had thought about selling them initially when she was broke with nowhere to go since they did run for a lot of money, but at the end of the day she just couldn't bare to part with such precious items and now she was happy that she didn't and waited until she finally had her own place to call home to put them up in. Yes, the memories the decorations brought were a bit painful, but at the same time they made the place feel like more of a home in her eyes and that was all she needed.

A few moments after placing the decorations, Esmeralda was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of Aiden's voice. "Oooo, those are pretty! Where did ya find them, mommy?" he asked, his eyes practically sparkling as he looked at the decorations Esmeralda had just placed.

Esmeralda smiled a bit sadly. "They were a present from your grandma and grandpa. We used to put these decorations up every Christmas and they decided to pass them down to me so I could put them up." she responded, deciding to give Aiden at least a little bit of the truth.

"Where are grandma and grandpa, anyways? Are they gonna come visit us for the holidays now that we have our own home?" Aiden asked, a bit of eagerness evident in his voice.

Esmeralda let out a soft sigh. "I don't know, honey... they weren't really happy with me when I... moved out." she responded, deciding she wasn't really ready to have to explain the real reason her parents weren't really happy with her.

Aiden frowned slightly. "But you said mommies and daddies should love you forever and ever, even if they aren't happy with you... are you sure they won't come over? We made the house look pretty and everything..." he responded in a bit of a dejected tone.

Esmeralda hesitated for a bit. "Well... I suppose I could try giving them a call and inviting them over... though, I'm not sure how well it'll go, so don't feel too bad if they can't come, alright?" she responded, before grabbing her phone. Her hands shook a bit and she fumbled a little with the phone before taking a deep calming breath and finally managing to dial her parents' home phone.

It rang for a little while, nearly hitting the answering machine before someone picked up and Esmeralda's mother's voice came over the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey mom... u-um, it's me... Esmie." Esmeralda spoke, her voice shaking a bit with nerves.

"Esmie...? Oh... oh my god, my baby girl, how are you? I saw you had released a book! I... I-I've been wanting to try and contact you, but I never could find where I put your number." Esmeralda's mother spoke in an anxious tone.

"O-oh, u-um, I've been doing okay... in fact, I just moved into a nice little apartment. It really isn't much, but it's got enough room for me and Aiden... and well, we were decorating for the holidays and, um... A-Aiden would really like it if you two came over for Christmas..." Esmeralda spoke, her tone still quite nervous.

"O-oh! Of course! We'll make sure to clear up our schedule! I would love to meet my little grandson... and we do have a lot to talk about. I'll call your brother and sister as well and see if they'd like to come as well."

"That... that'd be great. I think Aiden would like to meet his aunt and uncle as well as his grandparents. I'll send y'all the address." Esmeralda responded, fighting back tears.

"Sounds great. We'll see you then, Esmie. We love you, honey."

Those tears that Esmeralda had been holding back began to flow at those words. "Yeah, see you then... I love you guys too." she responded before ending the call and wiping her tears on her sleeve, though a smile graced her face. "Well, that, uh... went better than I expected. Looks like your grandparents and maybe even your aunt and uncle may visit us for Christmas, Aiden." she spoke, smiling towards her son.

Aiden immediately lit up at what his mother had said. "Really? They might all come?" he asked bouncing around with excitement when Esmeralda nodded.

"But first, we need to finish decorating so it looks pretty for them, okay?" Esmeralda informed him after shooting off an email to her mother with the address to her apartment.

Aiden excitedly nodded in response. "Okay! Let's make it look extra pretty, too so that way they'll all be super happy!"

Laughing softly, Esmeralda nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a plan. Now, let's get this finished." she responded, taking out some more decorations.

A few hours later, the decorations were all nicely put up and looked stellar, with color and lights practically permeating every inch of the apartment. Esmeralda and Aiden stepped back a bit to admire their handiwork.

"Yay! It looks so pretty!" Aiden exclaimed, clapping excitedly.

"It certainly does, honey. And it's all thanks to your expert decorating skills." Esmeralda responded, playfully rustling her son's hair once more. Aiden beamed up at his mother before realizing something.

"Hey! We still gotta put the star up on the tree! C'mon, mommy! I need your help!" he spoke, practically dragging his mother over to the tree.

"Oh? I thought you said you'd be tall enough to put the star on by yourself." Esmeralda teased. Aiden pouted a bit.

"I didn't realize how tall the tree was! Can you please help me, mommy?" he asked, his eyes glimmering with hope.

Esmeralda let out a soft laugh and nodded in response. "Of course, honey." she responded before picking him up just enough for him to reach the top of the tree. Aiden excitedly, yet gently placed the star on top of it.

Upon seeing their handiwork with the tree, Aiden grinned. "This is gonna be the best Christmas ever! I just know it!"

Esmeralda smiled slightly. "It sure will be, honey."