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christmas music filled the room as you came out of the kitchen. two mugs of hot cocoa were in your hands and you set them down on the coffee table on top of snowflake coasters. sersi was bringing down boxes from your attic, and you smiled at the jingling. you two had collected numerous ornaments over the years, and now it was your favorite day of the year: it was time to decorate the tree. sersi made it clear that each year, you’d have a real tree, no fakes. she enjoyed the smell of real pine too much to ever give it up, and you were happy to oblige.
“don’t you look excited?” she asked, and you couldn’t help but laugh.
“of course i am. it’s the best day of the year. hot cocoa, warm cookies, and getting to decorate the tree with the most amazing woman in the world,” you said, wrapping an arm around her waist to press a kiss to her cheek. you caught her face flushing slightly before she returned the gesture, and you grinned. letting go of her, you crouched down and opened up the nearest box of ornaments, sighing happily as the light that bounced off of them lit up the room.
“it’s also a nice little walk down memory lane,” she said, crouching down across from you. you nodded in agreement and gently began to pull ornaments out from their boxes. but with each one you removed, you wondered if you’d be able to fit them all onto the tree. perhaps you could talk your girlfriend into getting a second christmas tree, a fake one for ornament purposes only. she could be agreeable to that…
“oh my god, i remember this one,” you said, snapping yourself from your own thoughts. it was a glass ornament, beautifully red and gold, something you had picked up during a christmas in prague.
“oh, i love that one. it reminds me of makkari’s suit a little bit,” she said.
“it does, doesn’t it? i bet we have at least one for each of them at this point,” you said, and she chuckled softly.
“if not, i think we should try and collect some.”
you two shared a brief kiss before getting started with hanging up the ornaments. you reminisced about each one you carefully pulled the box: a glittering stocking ornament from italy, a fat and jovial santa from russia, the little eiffel tower covered in strings of christmas lights you got in france all those years ago. each one just as special as the last.
“i never realized just how many places we’ve been,” you said softly as you hung up a cute little novelty ornament from mexico.
“me too. it’s actually kind of scary. but there’s no one else i’d rather see the world with than you,” she said, reaching to give your hand a squeeze. you smiled a bit and glanced back down into the box, then tilted your head as you reached down. you pulled out a small ornament, and you could feel the tip of your nose tingle.
“oh wow… i thought we’d lost those when we had to flee germany all those years ago,” she said, and you could only nod.
in your hand sat a very simple ornament. two ceramic hands that held onto simple gold bands. your very first wedding bands. of course you two wore different ones now, nothing too elegant for either of you, but these…
“well, i’d say this is a christmas miracle, wouldn’t you?” she asked, setting her hands on your shoulders.
“yeah, i’m gonna have to agree. and i know just where to put these,” you said softly. you walked up to the tree, and in the open spot just below the christmas star that adorned the very top, you carefully hung the ornament, then stepped back to admire your handiwork.
“i think it looks beautiful,” she said, coming up to stand beside you. she took your hand and gave it a squeeze, smiling as you squeezed back.
“i do, too. but i did have one small question to ask.”
“and what might that be?”
“would you be opposed to a fake tree? simply for decorative purposes. we still have two unopened boxes!”you gestured around you, and she laughed while giving your hand another squeeze.
“you know what? i think that sounds like a great idea. we’ll go get one tomorrow, i promise. i kind of what to see what other old memories we can find buried in these boxes,” she said, and you smiled warmly at the love of your life.
“yeah, me too.”