In the dining room, there’s a large spread of soups and grilled sandwiches, along with roasted veggies and salad. We each fill aplate before taking a seat at the table. Conversation is light about the upcoming holidays and school.
After lunch, we head back into the living room, where we find a ladder, Christmas cookies, and hot chocolate waiting.
“Cookies!” Seb exclaims excitedly. “Who made these?”
“I did,” E replies. “Shortbread rounds with buttercream and the trees are sugar cookies with royal icing.”
Seb moans around a mouthful while the rest of us grab a few. The sugar cookie is lovely, but the shortbread literally melts in your mouth. They may be the best shortbread cookies I’ve ever tasted. “E, you need to sell these. Oh my gosh, they're incredible,” I tell him.
“Thanks,” he smiles. “It’s my recipe.”
“They are extraordinary, Elijah,” Steven comments. “Truly. I know a few caterers who would pay a handsome price to serve these at holiday parties.”
“I’ll think about it,” he replies with a slight blush on his cheeks.
This tree is prelit, so we only need to add the decorations. We open the boxes and find a vast assortment of decor. There seem to be several boxes of each color.
“These are themes Alicia decided on over the years,” Steven tells us, walking over to several older boxes. “But these I kept from when your mother was alive,” he says, opening a large, dusty box.
Alex walks over and pulls out a gold and capiz star with a smile. “I remember this. Mom used to put it on top of the tree each year after we finished decorating,” he says, rubbing his fingers over the star.
“I thought we could use your mom’s decorations and add some others as needed to fill the tree?” Steven asks him.
“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 olderbaubles 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 ifyou wish. With traveling, it may be difficult this year, but we could try.”
