There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort

 

Tyra wished they could have stayed home for Christmas, but she knew that would be selfish.

"We've got New Year's," Naoki reminded her. They'd just finished up all the leftovers that everyone gave them. Although Tyra gave the Christmas cookies to the squirrels. "And you know how happy you were to see how much your mom loved getting that new electric tea kettle and the Village Inn gift cards, and the fleece jacket we found at the last minute."

Tyra and Naoki actually went  Christmas shopping and found everything at ROSS or Marshalls, which was close to where they lived. 

"I know, I know, it was a good Christmas." Tyra gave in with a hug on the couch as they were watching a fire in a fireplace on their smart TV. She sighed. It was quiet for a while, nestled in each other's arms, wearing matching pajamas. They hadn't spent too much on each other. Just little quickies of lust, sometimes in the livingroom, but in the steamy shower, and of course, the bedroom. 

Tyra looked around their place. "We should decorate."

"Really?" 

They didn't have a tree this year. There just wasn't time for one. Of course, they could have, but that just wasn't them.  Now Tyra felt they should make the condo more of a home. Her sister Millie and KC had found time to make a statement wall in their living room with something of a cottage core theme, dotting in pictures of when they were little or together. Some of it was cheap art that her sister either thrifted or crafted from old calendars. They had a tree, and practically every stuffed animal her little sister had had since she was in elementary school adorned the tree.

"Millie seems happy," Tyra mentioned about her apartment with KC. Tyra and Naoki had spent Christmas Eve dinner with them. It was just pasta and meatballs, but it was a sweet occasion while her parents had dinner with Naoki's mother and Joe.

"We should invite Millie and KC over for New Year's Eve." Tyra decided.

"Really?"

"Yes, we can do this, she told him. They could stay over." She looked him in the eye as if it were the right thing to do.

"OK." Naoki nodded as if he understood.

"But first we have to make this place cozy," She got up as if she was ready to make these bare walls home.

"Cozy?" Naoki winced. He switched to YouTube, then on the TV. "We're going to need some video to be inspired."