He hefted the awkward box into the back of his Ford Explorer, and slid it over the laid down seats into it’s resting place. He sighed deep at no longer having to carry the box any longer, and after a beat started helping his wife load the rest of the goods into the trunk.
“I still regret not buying a real tree.” She said, placing ornaments gently into the trunk.
“I don’t.” He replied. “A real tree we’d have to get rid of every year. We’d have to buy a new one, keep the house clean from all it’s shedding, we might have to worry about bugs…fake is better. Plus if we take care of this one it could last us decades.”
“I know but it still feels cheap.”
“It is cheap, that’s why we’re doing it.”
The two closed the trunk and loaded into the car, him getting in the driver’s seat. He turned the car on and they both instantly turned their seat warmers on. They shook and vibrated from the morning’s chill. She would never admit it, but she was rather cold. Not that she didn’t like it, the cold was always fine with her. She loved the snow, she loved being up north, and she loved more than anything that he was there with her. Just…you know…maybe he could be there with a blanket.
The car hadn’t warmed up yet but they took off regardless to get out of the labyrinthine Home Depot parking lot they were stuck in. It took three stop signs, two one way roads and a u-turn just to start heading back home. He rolled his eyes at it, and he was going to start complaining. He took a glance in her direction and saw that rubbing her hands together had transitioned into bouncing in her seat, and she had the biggest smile on her face he had ever seen. Her excitement grew until she had to vocalize it, coming out with a squeal.
“Ooooh I can’t believe we have our first tree!” She said, her infectious joy spreading to him. He smiled and nodded at what a big deal this was She kept going about her dreams. “I’m gonna decorate the whole house! Garlin everywhere, wreath on the door, the most beautiful tree skirt…”
“You ever done mistletoe?” He asked, as soon as he got a word in edgeways.
“No, have you?”
“No my family never did it. I want to try it.”
“I do to. We have to watch ourselves for the next few days, see what hallways we meet under the most.”
“We could put mistletoe over our bed?”
“Oh please, we kiss there anyway.”
They talked more about their decorative plans. She did all the talking, he did all the listening. He loved to hear the kinds of things she thought would be nice. He loved to hear her brainstorm away and get all giddy about getting to make her dream Christmas. He did occasionally have to veto some of her plans, him being the one who’d have to set most of it up. They talked more about the tree, and their philosophies on ornament placement. He was more classical, liking mostly white lights and standard round ornaments. She liked wild, with multicolored lights and enough ornaments to fit on every branch. He was worried about that, since there isn’t much compromise to be made, but she heel turned when she said it didn’t matter to her, and a big part of having a non-living tree was collecting ornaments over time, so she’d be fine if they went smaller for year one. That idea saddened her slightly, which turned to another sad thought.
“What about presents?” She asked.
“What about them?”
“It was always so fun seeing mine and my siblings presents under the tree all wrapped up and waiting for us. Even if we wrap ours right away only two people’s present’s will look sad by themselves.”
Ronin knew what to do about this, as he had always been an only child. He smiled, and felt relieved that there was such a simple fix for her issue.
“Oh yeah my family had that problem. Put presents for other people under the tree all month long.”
“What other people?”
“You know like friends and relatives. Any present we’re going to give someone but we haven’t yet. Wrap it up, put it under the tree. It makes it look more alive.”
“We’re giving presents to people in person?”
“I thought! You wanted to have the Christmas party this year.”
“Yeah that’s true. I guess with Amazon I totally forgot you give people other than family presents in person.”
“Well stop it. We just bought this house, I want to show it off. We’re having parties and we’re giving presents.”
“Deal.”
The two drove the rest of the way home, fantasizing about their holiday adventures. She thought about watching him out the window chopping wood with the smell of cookies baking through the whole house. He thought about coming home from work to the sound of music, pretty lights and a happy wife. They both thought about cuddling together on the couch, by the fire, and in their bed. They thought about when their tree topper would arrive. And they both knew they couldn’t wait to get started.