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The living room was bare, I was turning into Scrooge. "When do your parents get in?" I shouted up the stairs to Sidney. "They are sitting at the airport right now, flight's been delayed, why?" "We need a Christmas tree Ebenezer!" I heard him come down the stairs and he looked around. "Yeah I guess we do need at least something, Christmas is in six days though, where are we going to find a tree now?" I fell onto the couch and couldn't help the sad feeling that was overcoming my body. Six days until Christmas and neither of us had even realized it. "Be honest with me Sid, did you get me a present?" I looked up at him and his eyes grew wide. "Damnit! No, I'm sorry babe," he said as he knelt down in front of me. "That is totally okay, because I didn't get you anything either, I guess everything just flew over my head. We do need to get at least a tree though or your mom will have a heart attack," I laughed before giving him a quick kiss. "For Christmas can we just watch movies and drink?" Sidney asked as we both stood up. "I would like that."

A complete repeat of the previous year, and I was loving it. "This is what happens when you wait until the last minute to get your tree," the guy holding it said to us sternly. I couldn't help but laugh, "I love it." Sidney laughed as well as he wrapped his arm around my waist. "Are you sure it's not too tall?" I looked up at him and continued to laugh. "We'll take it," Sidney smiled and he carried it out to my car, throwing it in the back. "Are we going to have Charlie Brown trees for the rest of our lives?" I asked as he drove away. "Only until we have kids, then we'll upgrade to maybe a four foot tree," he smirked. Oh yeah kids, that's usually what you do after you get married right? Probably for us, I can hear my clock ticking and it's getting loud!! We set the tree up in the living room and took one string of lights and about ten ornaments and spent a whole five minutes decorating it.

Trina pushed Sidney to the side a bit and pulled me into a huge bear hug. "Oh dear, how are you?" she shrieked as she pulled away to look at me. "I'm good Trina, how are you?" "Fabulous, we have so much to talk about don't we?" I looked over her shoulder to see Sidney laughing. She had completely ignored him and then went on to drag me down to the luggage claim talking about wedding things, but I wasn't fully paying attention. Can I hire her as my wedding planner? Can she do it all? "Where's Taylor?" I heard Sidney ask his dad. "At home, she's been sick and said she's sorry but she will see you after the new year," he explained and I was a little disappointed, I wanted to see her the most. I turned around to look at Sidney and he looked outraged, as if he was about to hit somebody. What the hell?

We rode back to the house in silence and I giggled to myself a little bit. I could only wonder how Trina was going to react to our last minute Christmas tree. "Oh that's adorable," she laughed as the tree came into sight. We showed them to the guest room on the main level, and I dragged Sidney upstairs to 'help me with something'. "Why are you pissed off?" I asked after I shut the bedroom door. "Taylor's sick, yet they come see me. I know how she gets when she's sick, she doesn't leave my mom's side. It just pisses me off that they left her up there with Grandma Crosby. I could only imagine how she's feeling right now, it makes me sick. It's bad enough I had all the attention growing up, I just wish that attention was on her now." He fell onto the bed and I wiped a small tear off his cheek. I didn't know what to say to him, for the longest time I was Taylor, my parents put all of their attention into Robert. "You should call her later and see how see is doing, I'm sure she would like that." The last thing I want to see happen to Taylor and Sid was what happened to me and Robert. He leaned over and gave me a big kiss. I felt his hand wander up the back of my shirt but I quickly stopped him. "Your parents, remember?" I laughed.

The next morning I stumbled downstairs cursing to myself for being awake before 8 AM. I looked at our Christmas tree and smiled before starting the coffee in the kitchen. After I poured myself a cup Trina walked into the kitchen. "Morning dear, do you have any plans today?" she poured herself a cup and I thought to myself for a minute. "I just have to stop by the brewery, and then nothing, why did you want to do something?" "I would like to do some shopping, last minute Christmas gifts. I thought we could spend some time together without the boys." I knew how much Trina loved to get away from hockey and do girly things, so there was no way I could turn her down. We made plans and I headed back up to the bedroom to see Sidney sitting on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands.

"Babe, what's wrong?" I asked as I sat next to him placing my hand on his back. "I just woke up with a bad headache, do we have any Excedrin up here?" Is that an excuse? I got up from the bed and headed into the bathroom where I pulled some Excedrin out of the bathroom cabinet. I filled a glass with water and walked it over to him. "Hey so it's just your dad and you today, your mom is dragging me out to do some shopping. You going to be okay?" He set the glass down between his feet and reached up placing a hand on either side of my face pulling my lips down to his. I felt his tongue roam my mouth and we both pulled away to get some air. "I will be fine," he smiled then got up from the bed and headed to the bathroom. What the hell was that? Whatever, I'll take it.

After spending about a hour at the brewery I headed back to the house and picked up Trina. "So this is where I want to go," she smiled handed me a piece of paper with an address on it. "Umm okay," I laughed as I put the address into the GPS. I pulled down a street in downtown and the GPS alerted me we had arrived, I looked to my right and nearly crashed my car as I saw my mother standing in front of a bridal shop. "What the . . ." I quickly parked the car and Trina looked over at me, "your mom took the red eye last night." I jumped out and pulled my mom into a big hug. "So we're looking at wedding dresses?" I asked as they dragged me into the shop. "Yes, I don't think you realize how long it takes to get an actual dress, you have to look early," my mom explained and she started pulling a few out. I wish Taylor was here too.

Before I could even look at a single dress I was brought into a dressing room where there were about six dresses hanging up. Madison who was helping me try the dresses on looked through the ones that my mother and Trina selected for me. "This one will look amazing on you," she smiled slipping it on over my head. Two minutes ago I was driving, now I'm standing in a wedding dress. This is too much. Madison tied me into the dress, which in my eyes wasn't a dress at all, it was a straight jacket. I tried to take a deep breath, but the flow of oxygen stopped right above my chest. I walked out and looked at myself in the mirror. Okay, now it's starting to sink in. I'm getting married! I looked at Trina and then my mom and I could tell they just didn't like the dress at all. "Do you think I can maybe pick out a dress or two, something I want, not what my mother and future mother-in-law want," I laughed asking Madison and she smiled walking me out to the show room.

My fingers rolled down layers of tulle and lace, and I fell in love all over again. A lace bodice, with black satin wrapped around under the bust, it looked nothing like the dresses my mom and Trina had picked out. It was different, and I knew this would be my dress. "I have never seen a brides eyes light up the way yours just did, shall we?" Madison smiled as she pulled the dress down. I wanted to make the mom's happy by trying on a few more of the dresses they found for me, but I couldn't get my mind off of the lace dress. Finally I slipped into it, Madison zipped me up and I walked out. I couldn't even see myself yet, but I felt so good in it. Both my mom and Trina gasped as I stepped out. I turned to look at myself in the mirror and the tears began building up. Every dream I had as a little girl was started to unroll in front of my eyes. Will Sid like it? I didn't want to take the dress off. "Mom can you get my phone out of my purse?" She pulled it out and handed it to me, I quickly snapped a picture of myself in the mirror and sent it to Taylor. 'What do you think Maid of Honor?' About three minutes later, I was still spinning around in the dress and Taylor called. "Avery, you look amazing. I wish I was there to see you," she was losing her voice and I felt so bad for her. "I wish you were here too, when you come down next month I will bring you to look at it okay? Then we can look for a dress for you." I turned around and saw Trina crying. After I hung up the phone with Taylor I looked at Madison. "Do brides normally find their dress this fast?" I asked laughing. "I've seen some women find theirs quicker than yours," she smiled and I looked back in the mirror. I was sold.