Decorating the apartment was a tradition Emmy had really only bothered with once she and Carmen moved in together. When she was on her own, she would - at most - maybe get one of those three foot trees for $5 at Walmart and call it a day. She wasn’t exactly a big holiday spirit kinda gal, but Carmen was enthusiastic, and it was hard to deny Carmen whatever she wanted. Emmy had a soft spot for her unlike any other - while, yes, Chace was her best friend, Carmen was kind of like her soulmate. There was no doubt in her mind that the two could live together with their significant others until they were 90, with Felix hissing at Carmen at every turn if she looked at him weird.
“I told you, lights aren’t supposed to last from year to year,” she replied with an easy grin from her spot on the floor - the tree was real, which made it more difficult - she had suggested they buy a pre-lit tree, but apparently that wasn’t festive enough. And now Carmen looked like the abominable snowman on crack - Emmy was trying very hard not to laugh, though she knew if Carmen fell it was inevitable.
“My advice is we pay one of the guys to come and light this fucker for us,” she shrugged, though she had finally gotten the tree to stay in it’s stand. It was just like adding insult to injury. The tree was murdered and then stabbed to stand straight in a small apartment. “Or, unraveling you and spreading it out so we can see exactly where the light is that fucks up the whole strand. Or just pretending that it’s supposed to be like that. Honestly, I’m okay with any option.”
It meant so much to Carmen that Emmy seemed to enjoy their holiday decorating traditions, and seemed to glean some sort of fun out of it. There was something about found family and the urge to stay indoors due to the weather that made the whole world seem cozier at the tail end of the year. Today was no exception. “Tossing those out always feels so wasteful! Maybe I should have become an electrician because apparently that pays way better than what I do now, and we wouldn’t have this problem,” Carmen said, struggling upon the sad discovery that she was now wrapped in both tinsel and indoor string lights. Also Felix appeared to be judging her from a distance, even though he didn’t pay rent or participate in any of the decorating rituals. How rude.
Exasperated, Carmen tried to throw her hands up, but did not have enough reach to make that work. “We shouldn’t have to pay someone else to make this work. I believe in us. And the extra lights that might be hiding under my bed. Okay, yes, let’s try unraveling me. I didn’t want to physically be possessed by the spirit of the holidays.” Yes, these were all modern symbols of Christmas, but Carmen had a funny relationship with religion. She believed enough, but always felt worried and on guard with the worry that people somehow knew that she didn’t belong or fit into churches. The holidays were beautiful and wondrous but she extracted as many traditions as possible in the most spectacular fashion.
