50 days from today is Christmas Eve Thursday, December 24, 2026. This is our favorite time of the year beginning with my birthday and ending with hers and the Lunar new year which changes days every year,
I will propose Christmas Tree Treaty this year for her consideration. Use our live pine tree, but instead of chopping it down like the one in Rockefeller Center.
Every year, my wife, my best friend forever and I say we should get a small, sensible Christmas tree.
Every year, we worry about getting a tree that requires its own parking space. We don’t have an extra paring space. This is NYC, where people pay monthly rent for this luxury.
This year we will modestly decorated together drinking hot cocoa by the sparkling lights at home. Perfect, I hope my wife will say.
We can decorate it together, hang the ornaments, offer artistic direction, while trying not to get tangled in the lights.
Then placing the star, and climbing the ladder. If the star leans left, we’ll make it lean right. My wife grabbed the ladder, while sneaky takes the opportunity to climb into the rose bush .
“Hold still!” she called. “I’m holding still!” “You’re holding the tree.”
“I’m holding both!”
After a few minutes of teamwork, mild panic, and one whispered negotiation, the star will finally be on top of the tree. It was crooked, but so was the tree, and together they had a sort of festive honesty.
We will step back to admire our work. The lights glowed. The ornaments sparkled. Sneaky emerges from the 🌹like a tiny, furious pet..
My wife slipped her hand into mine. It will be the “Best Christmas” we’ve ever had.
“Because it’s beautiful, Because we decorated it together.
I kissed her beneath the mistletoe. The tree creaked ominously, as if it felt the romance. Then what if the star falls off and lands in my mug of cocoa?
My wife will laugh so hard she'll have to sit down. Me too, and sneaky the squirrel took another treat from from our garden.
It may not be the picture-perfect Christmas Spectacular. It will be better: warm, ridiculous, and ours. And beside my favorite person, my wife and forever best friend, even a leaning tree and a cocoa-drowned star felt like pure perfect magic.