Bundle of Joy

“Yay!” Charlie says, dancing around and then jumping up and down. “Christmas tree is coming to our house!” he sings, to the tune of Santa Clause is Coming to Town.

That kid is just so damn cute.

Suddenly there’s a team of guys at the front door, carrying a large Christmas tree that looks like it was freshly cut. They have snow on their clothes in their hair.

“Hello, sir,” one of them says to Daniel. “Where should we put this?”

“In that corner,” Daniel says, pointing. “Thank you.”

“Wow, when you said you sent your driver to get a Christmas tree, where exactly did you send him?” I ask.

“To the woods a bit upstate from here,” he says, without even blinking. “And I hired these guys to ride along and help get the tree.”

“Wow,” I say, laughing.

I think about saying, you know, most families I know go choose their own tree or cut one down in the woods together, but this must be the Manhattan rich people way of doing Christmas, but I don’t want to offend him. It’s obvious he thinks he did something phenomenal and that the thought of getting the Christmas tree himself had never occurred to him and would never occur to him.

Plus, Charlie’s happy, so that’s all that matters. I’m not a fan of the cold and snow unless I’m skiing so I would rather decorate a tree someone else had to go get, anyway.

“Here you go, boss,” says another of the guys, who is carrying way more boxes of pizza than we could possibly eat tonight. “Smells good.”

“Thanks!” Daniel says. “You want a piece?”

“Really?” the boy asks, looking shocked.

“Sure. Chow down; there’s plenty.”

He opens one of the lids to the pizza box and the guys gather around the counter and take a slice each.

“This is really good!” one of them says.

“Sure is. You can’t beat Maggio’s New York Pizza,” Daniel responds happily. “Best in the city.”

Soon, the guys are gone and the three of us are eating pizza and playing Christmas music and decorating the tree. Charlie is running back and forth between the box of ornaments that Daniel had also had someone pick up on the way, the tree, and then my legs and Daniel’s legs, as he took turns hugging each of us that way. I’ve never seen the kid this happy.

Come to think of it, I think, as I watch Daniel putting the star on top of the tree with a big smile on his face, I’ve never seen Daniel this happy, either.

“Daddy, will Catharine be with us on Christmas?” Charlie suddenly asks, gazing up at his dad.

He had dropped the subject, but Daniel and I had already talked about it and decided what to tell him the next time he asks. This would help transition me from the role of nanny to “Dad’s girlfriend” in Charlie’s eyes.

Although, Daniel and I didn’t specifically use the word “girlfriend” when we talked about it. I certainly feel like that’s what I am to Daniel, but neither of us have broached the subject of making the relationship status official.

“Yes,” Daniel tells him. “Catharine will be coming over for Christmas dinner.”

“Woo hoo!” Charlie says, hopping and skipping around while wearing a Santa hat.

And I have to admit that my inner child feels just as excited as he looks.

Chapter 11

Daniel

Time seems to have flown by even faster than it normally does, and now it’s already Christmas day. I’m not normally one to celebrate holidays – in fact, I usually get rather depressed around this season – but this year is completely different.

It’s been so much fun to get ready for Christmas with Catharine and Charlie. I enjoy watching his child-like wonder come out and I can’t help but think that Catharine puts me in the best of Christmas spirits as well. She makes everything fun, whether it’s changing the words of Christmas carols or adding different fruits to hot cocoa as if they’re cocktails that Charlie can drink, too.

I told her that was a strange way of doing things and she fake pouted and said, “Have you never heard of chocolate strawberries? It’s exactly the same thing!”

“I like them, Daddy!” Charlie had protested, and I had pat his head and told him, “Well, that’s all that matters.”

I was happy to see the changes that had come over him. He had always been a sweet, smart, funny boy, but he had had those horrible tantrums and was difficult to regulate. Now, it was as if he was a shining star example of the perfect child.

Sure, he pouted and cried some, and he ran around the house knocking into things without looking where he was going, which drove me crazy, but overall, he has been an amazing kid lately. And I give all the credit to Catharine, who has made a much better nanny than I ever expected.