Gingerbread houses, fruit cake,
eggnog, candy canes and Christmas trees; it’s Christmas season: a time for
giving and celebrating Christ’s birth. After a mass on Christmas Eve, my family
and I rush home to prepare for tomorrow’s celebration. Guess who I’m inviting;
I’m inviting the girl who has been with me ever since high school. Yeah, that’s
her. It’s our first Christmas together since I got back. And yes, I did
get her a present! Daniel bought a box of mistletoe.
“In case a few ladies would want
some of me,” he winks then runs up the stairs.
My brother’s weird but I hate to
admit, I might snag one of those. Please don’t ask why, it’ll make me feel even
more uncomfortable.
Every year, my family throws this
Christmas party for some of the neighbours and family friends. It’s very fun,
and I can’t wait until she comes over.
My dad and I help out with the
finishing touches of the decorations in our living room and foyer for tomorrow.
My mom is very laid back with the décor, maybe that’s because we’re doing it
and she trusts our judgement.
In my room, I hop into my pyjamas
after stripping off my church out then drift off into a dreamless sleep.
The next day is rather hectic compared
to last night. Amber and Jazzy are running across the slippery tiled floors,
running back and forth with ornaments dangling around their bodies. Teddy, the
family’s poodle, settles himself down on a carpet by the fire, doing absolutely
nothing other than breathing and napping.
“No, no, they go here, honey.” I
hear my mom directing my sisters.
“Oh okay,” Jazzy answers obediently,
climbing onto a little ladder and hanging up streamers onto the line of
intersection between the ceiling and wall.
“Perfect.” My mom’s face is
gladdened.
Meanwhile, a roast is cooking in the
oven and the giant crock pot is bubbling over a stove. It smells like
Christmas; the smell of fresh pinecones and ginger filling the entire house
fluently through the archways. The fire crackles from time to time, begging for
more logs. Outside is cold and bright; normal for a winter afternoon.
My sisters are in baggy sweaters and
skinny jeans. Each sweater has a picture of a reindeer with a big red nose;
matching sweaters I may say.
“Nice sweaters,” I say as I walk
pass them to kiss my mom on the cheek.
“Oh shut up, we were forced to wear
them,” Amber sticks her tongue out at me jokingly.
“Stop bickering, back to work,” my
mom pesters them.
“Can I help?” I offer though I look
very unpresentable—bed hair, saggy pants and dry throat.
“It’s all right. Go wash up, there
are still more things to prepare. And your sweater is in the bathroom. The dark
blue one,” my mother flashes her thin-lipped smile at me. I nod then go
upstairs, scratching my head.
In the bathroom, I find a sweater
hanging by the towel rack with a post-it note: David. That’s mine and it’s dark
blue. I’m more of a light blue guy, but I guess this can work. Next to mine is
Daniel’s and it’s in the colour of moss green.
After a hot shower, I put on a while tank top, then squeeze my head
through the stretchy hole of the sweater. When I face the mirror, my sweater
has a kitty cat on it and like my sisters, has a giant nose popping out and
black whiskers made from yarn.
I walk out of the bathroom, earning
a breathless laugh from Daniel as it is his turn to take a shower.
“Okay, who picked the sweaters this
year,” I come down, announcing to the entire room. My sisters stop hanging up
the streamers to look at me then they burst into laughter, holding each other
so they won’t topple off the ladder.
“I picked that especially for you, big brother because I love you oh so much,” Amber cackles.
Just then my mom comes into the
conversation, gasping, “Oh, look at you! If only I made you wear that when you
were 12! Don’t you look handsome!” She walks over to me to squeeze my cheeks.
“I’m 23, news flash,” I cough.
“Scratch that; 24 in 3 more days!”
my dad comes into the conversation. Snow sits on his shoulders as he holds a
few cables. I believe he’s fixing up the outdoor Christmas lights.
‘Joy To the World’ is playing on the
home stereo system in the living room, behind the huge Christmas tree with an
angel on the top.
I help myself to a box of streamers
and start hanging them up where my mom instructed me to hang. Through the
windows, I aimlessly watch the snowflakes gracefully falling from the sky and
land on the driveway where my dad is shovelling snow to the side.
“Santa hats, everybody!” Daniel
yells from the stairs, holding a handful of Christmas hats. “Work, my elves!”
He puts the bright red hats onto my
sisters then on me. I fix mine. He has a Santa hat on his head already. My mom
willingly wears one too then laughs.
I love Christmas.
We prepare until 6 PM. The sun has
already gone by then. The roast is almost ready, the crock pot is whistling
away and the entire kitchen is a battlefield with my mom and sisters in it.
I help my dad and Daniel fix up the
Christmas tree and arrange the Christmas presents under them.
“Nice sweater, David,” my dad
compliments me (more of a tease).
“Thanks, it’s starting to grow on
me,” I manage to smile, playing along with his game.
Daniel snorts from the other side of
the tree, “Are you kidding me? That is a girl’s sweater.”
“Excuse
you, what did you get then?” I spew my words out like venom.
His head and body out peeks from the
tree, smiling and showing me his moss green sweater decoration with a dog’s
face with its reddish tongue sticking out.
“Face,” he mouths, placing his hand
over his face.
“Hey, behave. Your sister is coming
to visit with Adam, so I expect both of you to act like men,” my dad advises
us.
Claudia is coming with Adam to the
Christmas gathering. I haven’t seen her in ages ever since she moved in with
him. I miss her terribly.
The home stereo starts to play ‘Angels
We Have Heard on High’ above the fire place. I hear my mom carolling from the
end of the hallway, I carol along with her. Soon my dad joins in, then two
shrill voices ring from the hallway while my brother mumbles the lyrics a
little bit.
Soon the cats, Katsu and Tsuki, walk
into the room and meow along with us. The house is filled with Christmas spirit
instantaneously. I’ve never been so glad to be home after a long comeback Christmas
tour. My kitty cat sweater seems to grow on me completely. I’m starting to like
the loose whiskers dangling on it.
After hours and hours of labour, the
kitchen is finally cleaned up and the dishes are lined up on the counter by
courses. The dining table is extended with more tables and chairs. The room has
never looked so crammed.
The first person to arrive is
Claudia and Adam. We greet them with bear hugs each. Claudia, as usual, makes
fun of my sweater.
“I picked it out!” Amber chirps from
the huge crowd around them.
“Very smart. You’re doing well at
filling my shoes,” Claudia nods in approval. I laugh bashfully. Claudia used to
take advantage of my innocent nature to trick me. I don’t mind with the
practical jokes, it’s like a training ground for the outside world. Once I was
on tour with Demi Lovato and she came bursting through my room, ready to pull a
prank on me. Fortunately, I didn’t buy it then she felt bad then left. It took
her 5 seconds to leave after I said, “What did I do wrong?!”
After taking off their coats,
Claudia proceeds to the kitchen while my dad keeps Adam entertained with a
drink. I still wait for her. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when I
give her her present.
Gradually, the house is filled with
my relatives. I kiss my aunts on their cheeks, I shake my uncles’ hands and
welcome them and no sign of her yet so I stay by the living room, listening to
my uncle’s stories about his travels around the globe.
Then my neighbours start to appear
and hot drinks are passed around. I help myself to tea. Chocolate gets me
really jumpy, I don’t want to get jumpy when I hang out with her. She’d shoot
me a look if I do.
“Let’s play David’s Christmas album!”
one of my aunts exclaims. I start to walk out of the living room after I say, “May
I be excused?” I don’t like listening to myself even after years of singing, I
don’t. It’s weird, I sound nasally.
I seek refuge to my mother.
Unfortunately she’s too occupied with her daughters so I walk upstairs to see
my brother combing his hair in his room.
“Hey, Daniel,” I knock at his door.
He turns around.
“Oh, it’s Kitty.” He resumes styling
his hair.
“Listen, can I get one of your
mistletoe?”
A smirk starts to form on his face
as if he has cheated his way through high school and never got caught.
“What’s in it for me?” he says.
“Me as your loving brother. That’s
it.”
“What’s in it for me?” he repeats his question.
I sigh in defeat. “Unlimited access
to the bathroom in the mornings.”
“And?”
There’s more!?
“What else is there, Daniel?” I ask.
“Uh, to stop singing after 10 PM?”
he says obnoxiously.
“Fine. Do we have a deal?”
“Take one, not more,” he waves at
the little box on his desk. I help myself to one and say thanks on my way out.
In the living room, I see my family and a few more neighbours sitting by the
fireplace listening to stories with hot mugs in their hands.
I keep the mistletoe in my pocket to
avoid any suspicion. Apparently, they haven’t been playing my album. I feel
like I’ve been tricked again for the second time today.
I keep myself busy, looking for a
location to hang up the mistletoe, wasting absolute precious time.
Then, “hey!” comes from my back.
I jump in the middle of my search to
see a brown-haired girl with a wide grin on her face greet me. She pulls me
into a rib-crushing hug.
“What are you wearing?!” she laughs at my kitty cat sweater.
My cheeks start to get hot real
quick.
“Oh, Amber… picked it out especially
for me,” I laugh along with her, “I like it though!”
“Yeah, very cute,” she twirls the
loose ends of the whiskers.
Shortly, we’re called for dinner.
The roast is amazing along with the casseroles and the crock pot. My family
loves to give out ample supplies of freshly cut fruit, so we hand them out
without a care. The plates are returned empty, wiped clean.
As soon as the guests and my family
are directed to the living room to unwrap their presents, I drag her away from
the bustling scene after getting hold of her present.
“Isn’t my present in there?” she
questions me as I bring her into the tool shed (more like a little room with
tools in them, it’s located in the very back of the house after the kitchen)
where it is serene. From the little foggy window, I see the bright yellow light
of the living room radiate.
“It’s too noisy there,” I tell her. Next
I bring up her present; a fairly medium sized box wrapped in lime green wrapping
paper and a purple ribbon around it. Her eyes go wide and her mouth flings
open.
“Oh,
what could it be?” she shakes it, placing her ear next to the wall of the box.
“Open it,” I suggest.
So she does—gingerly untying the bow
and tearing the paper apart. She lifts the lid to unveil the Christmas present,
gasping.
“It’s perfect, David. Thank you,”
she places her hands on the left side of her chest with a touched expression
upon her face. I got her a compact atlas. The one she was drooling over at the
local bookstore. She couldn’t get it, it was… too pricey at the moment. Since
Christmas also brings discounts, I got it for her, assuming she was too busy to
care for Christmas shopping. Thus, I don’t expect anything in return. Nothing
like a girl who adores books, eh?
“I got you something too but I didn’t
place it under your tree. I wanted to give it to you personally.” She fishes
out a thin-looking square out of her bag and hands it to me, gesturing me to
unwrap it. So I do.
It’s a scarf.
“It gets cold here in Utah. Colder
than before,” she walks over to me to wrap the scarf around my neck, “Guess
what? I knitted it myself.”
My heart starts to swell. “That’s
really nice of you.”
“Yeah?” she beams at me.
“Yeah.”
I grab her into my arms, feeling the
warmth of her body sink into my kitty cat sweater. Her mouth presses against my
shoulder. I feel her inhale my scent. In the stuffiness of the shed, it feels
warm and relaxing.
To tell you the truth, we haven’t
kissed since the night I got back. You know, the night where she blurted out
her love for me. We’ve been hugging things out instead, and I like it. They
never get old.
“You smell like pinecones,” she
mumbles.
“In a good way?” I run my fingers
down her back.
“Definitely in a good way. This is
how Winter smells like.”
I agree.
We walk back into the kitchen to
find pieces of wrapping paper scattered all over the floor and a few kids
running around with their presents.
It’s havoc, I’m telling you. The
chatter is getting louder by the second. All the smiling faces are the excuse
though. My brother waves at me then gives me a thumb up, thinking that I
probably nailed this girl (which I absolutely didn’t. I don’t ‘nail’ girls).
The kitchen looks empty as I
continue to watch the people’s eyes light up along with the Christmas spirit.
“Did you get anything for your
family?” she asks out of nowhere.
“Of course I did. Daniel, a new
joystick; Jazzy, a Legend of Zelda shirt; Amber, more Pokémon cards to add to
her collection; my mom, a pair of earrings; and my dad, a Nat King Cole album.”
I spent a lot of money getting those
presents but they’re definitely worth it. I see my sisters screaming over their
presents in the corner of the room, seeing my mother say, “Just what I needed!”
and my dad laughing at his present—it’s a laugh that says, “He knows me, he
really knows me.”
I decide to open my presents later
when everybody’s gone. Right now I’m trying to find a way to plant this
mistletoe without her noticing. Afraid she might get lost in the crowd, I tell
her to stay put as I go look for Daniel.
When I do find him, I ask him for a
favour. He whines at first, I remind him about the deal we made earlier on so
he stops. I ask him to plant the mistletoe anywhere in the house (excluding the
bathrooms, you never know what Daniel might be up to). After that he scurries off.
I beckon her to walk outside of my
house with me after a few minutes from being dragged into one conversation to
another in the living room. We decide to walk about outside my house starting
from my backyard. Snowflakes fall in a small amount.
One falls on her eyelash, I had to
brush it away and watch her cheeks go red.
“Oops…” she mumbles under the
breath, fog puffs from her lips.
By the time we reach my front porch,
I see a little green plant hanging from the long rod by the porch steps. Daniel
definitely knows how to plant mistletoe all right.
I take her hand in mine, coaxing us
to the steps. She doesn’t protest.
We sit by the porch, watching the
empty streets light up with the luminaries lined up by the sides of the street.
She slowly takes off my Santa hat to place it on her head, smiling at me, “I hope
you don’t mind.”
I shake my head as in no, I don’t
mind at all.
Here we are, sitting below the
mistletoe (that rhymed). I wonder if she noticed it yet.
“Any plans for your birthday?” she
starts.
“Um, well, a cake. That’s it,” I
laugh.
“That’s a shame, I thought, you
know-”
“Throw a party? No way, look at this
one,” I point to the commotion inside the house where everyone’s clinking their
glasses together. “I want a nice subtle birthday.”
She nods, “You’re getting old,
David.” Here comes the teasing.
“I don’t mind, another year wiser.”
That gets her to stop talking all of
a sudden, she fumbles with the loose ends of her sweater.
My heart starts to race faster. I
should tell her we’re sitting under the mistletoe. I really want that kiss
right now. I’m not supposed to lust over things like these but I really want
one right now.
“Hey… uh… look. I think my brother…
planted one of them here,” I point toward the ceiling. She looks up when I do.
“Oh,” she says in surprise. “I don’t
mind.”
She scoots close to me, snaking her
arms around my neck then pulls me in for a kiss. Everything feels very right
today. My family getting all festive, getting her the present she’s dreaded for
and getting a kiss. Nothing can replace this feeling, ever.
“Merry Christmas,” she says after
that, tugging the hand-knitted scarf.
I kiss her red-tipped nose.
“Merry Christmas.”