“I’m just not used to it.” She smiled. “I’ve had to take care of myself for a really long time.”
“Not anymore.” I shook my head back and forth. “You can have a tree with golden branches and diamond ornaments if you really want it.”
“Well why didn’t you tell me that earlier?” She threw her head back and laughed. “I tortured myself over which shade of green I wanted!”
“Maybe next year then.” I lifted up and leaned back on the couch. “Are you ready to get started?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t have any eggnog yet…”
“Good point.” I nodded. “Why don’t you start taking the ornaments out of their boxes while I fix that—then we can put up the tree.”
“If that eggnog is as potent as it sounds, we may not get very far…” She laughed and sat up.
“We’ll be fine.” I chuckled under my breath and walked to the kitchen.
The eggnog sounded a lot more potent than it was, but it definitely had a kick. The eggs, milk, and heavy cream were used generously to offset the alcohol. Normally, I would have liked to let it sit in the fridge overnight to thicken it up some, but we didn’t have time for that. I poured two glasses of eggnog, and we sipped it while we assembled the tree. It required a lot of fluffing, but it looked nice once it was sitting in the corner of Elly’s apartment. The lights were next, and we plugged them into the wall as soon as the strands were in place.
“It does look like Christmas…” Elly smiled and leaned her head against me.
“Yes it does.” I nodded.
“Okay, which ornaments should we put on it first?” She turned towards the ones that were sitting on the table.
“Hold on.” I walked over to the bag and pulled out her present. “Why don’t you open your present first.”
“I’m not ready to give you your present.” She winced. “I want to wait until we get my apartment decorated.”
“It’s okay.” I put the box in her hands. “Open it.”
“Okay.” She smiled and started tearing the paper.
“Hopefully, you like it as much as a big bag of coffee and a gift card to Dillinger’s.” I chuckled under my breath.
“This is…” She titled her head as she opened the box. “It’s an ornament!”
“Yes.” I nodded.
The present I picked out for Elly was a hand-blown glass ornament that had been painted. There was a silhouette of a couple holding hands on the front, and a sunset painted on the back that gave the appearance that they were watching it go down.
“The first…” She read the words that were painted above the couple’s head and then looked at the words on the bottom. “…Of what I hope will be many.”
“That’s exactly how I feel right now.” I put my hands on her hips. “I hope this our first Christmas together—and far from the last.”
“Me too.” Elly looked up at me, and I saw tears forming in the corner of her eyes. “Thank you! It’s perfect!”
I pulled Elly into a tight embrace and kissed her. We got lost in that moment for several minutes—two people that believed every first we shared was the beginning of a new tradition—our tradition. After our lips finally parted, Elly put the ornament front and center on the tree. I hoped that I would get to give her a new ornament every single year until she needed a tree that wouldn’t fit in her living room. There was no doubt in my mind that Elly was the woman I wanted to spend my life with. I didn’t need weeks, months, or years to know what felt right. Lightning had struck in the perfect spot when we found each other. Neither of us were looking for love, but it was looking for us.
“I think I’m going to need more eggnog.” Elly held up her empty cup.
“I’ll get you a refill.” I reached out and took the cup from her hand. “Why don’t you find a nice spot for that Beauty and the Beast ornament.”
“I still can’t believe you bought this for me.” She held it up. “It was way too expensive.”
“I saw you eying it.” I shrugged. “I figured there was a reason.”
“Yeah.” Elly nodded and walked to the tree. “When I was a little girl, I didn’t have many movies that I was allowed to watch on my own. This was one that my parents approved of, so I ended up watching it so many times that I memorized every single line…”
“Did you watch the new one?” I refilled her cup and walked back into the living room.