Chapter 44 #2
“Perfect,” Alex agrees, a soft smile playing on his lips.
E and Alex haul the older boxes closer so we can start hanging the garlands and ornaments. It’s an eclectic mix of delicate older baubles and personal ornaments. We hear stories of their history as we decorate.
When we’re finished, Steven grabs a box from a side table and opens it up, handing it to Alex. “I’m sorry I lost my way when your mother passed, son. I hope this year is a new beginning for us, with many happy memories to be made in the future.”
Alex removes a large white ball with a green silk ribbon attached.
He smiles and nods at his father before placing it in the centre of the tree.
The front has a photo of Alex, Steven, and who I’m assuming is his mother, with ‘new traditions’ written above and the year below.
It’s a beautiful piece. Alex hugs his dad as we try to give them a minute, gathering up the extra decorations and boxes.
“Would you put the star on top, son?” I hear Steven ask.
We step back as Alex climbs the ladder to place the tree topper, and Steven turns on the lights.
“It’s perfect,” I comment with a smile toward Alex.
“Let’s gather in front for a photo.” Steven calls Mr. Grant into the room, who takes several photos of us as a group before taking one of Alex, Steven, and E.
E seems surprised and reluctant to join in the photo, but they insist. Steven comments he has two sons now, so both of them need to be in the photo.
E’s eyes are glassy, but he has an enormous smile on his face.
With Steven promising us copies, we leave them. Seb and Gabby are going to my place so we can put up our tree. Bay’s family gets a real tree each year, so they won’t be getting theirs up for a few weeks yet, but they put other decorations up this weekend.
I text Zander we’re on our way as Seb drives us home, and Gabby plugs in her phone to play carols for the drive. I join them in singing out loud the entire ride. It’s hard not to be filled with Christmas spirit when I’ve spent the day surrounded by it.
Zander and Troy are just getting out of his truck when Seb pulls up alongside it. “How was your day, darling?” Zander asks.
“Great. I’ve never decorated so many trees before.” It’s been such a fun day so far.
We go inside, where Zander grabs the ladder and climbs into the attic. I haven’t been up there, so I follow him. I’m surprised to find a warm, clean, finished area. We can’t stand up straight, but there are lots of items up here.
“Holiday decor, some of my grandparents’ things, and Army stuff, darling,” Zander tells me. “Can you slide over the boxes marked Xmas and I’ll hand them down to the guys?”
“Sure,” I reply, crawling past him to find the marked boxes. We spend about 20 minutes moving boxes before I climb back down the ladder.
Troy and Zander set up the tree, and Zander asks me how I usually celebrate while we fluff it out.
“We always put up a real tree, so it went up the first weekend of December, and it made the house smell wonderful,” I reply.
“We had a lot of homemade decorations around the house, and each year, Mom bought something new for us to paint, put together, or make.
We also decorated a fresh wreath for the front door and hung multicolored lights around the roof and in the bushes in front of the house.
We'd bake cookies all afternoon and watch Christmas movies that evening.
“Lily bee had a school concert every year, the day before winter break. We baked cookies to give to friends and neighbors and went shopping for gifts for each other. Lily bee still believed in Santa, so I helped Mom take care of that aspect. We always went skiing over the break, too.
“Christmas Eve, Jake joined us, and Mom let us open one present each, which was always our Christmas pjs. We’d put them on while Mom made hot chocolate, then we turned all the lights off except the tree and outdoor Christmas lights, and we snuggled down in front of the fireplace, watching movies and eating cookies. ”
Zander steps over and wraps me in a hug. “Thank you for sharing, darling. It sounds wonderful. We can get a real tree next year if you wish. With traveling, it may be difficult this year, but we could try.”
“That’s okay, maybe next year. Can we get a real wreath to hang inside so we can have the smell?”
“Of course,” he smiles. “Now let’s get this tree decorated.”
Zander and Troy step back and let Seb, Gabby, and me decorate.
He has some beaded red garland that we wind around the tree first, and there are half a dozen older ornaments from Mara and Philip that we place next.
The rest is a random assortment of plastic baubles in gold, red, green, and silver.
He asks me to place the angel on the tree once we finish, which is also from my great grandparents.
Zander plugs in the tree, and the room fills with colored lights.
“It looks great. Thank you, everyone,” Zander smiles. He doesn’t have any other decorations for the inside, so we go out to hang lights on the roof, barn, and the azaleas out front. We finish early evening and then enjoy the last of the turkey leftovers.