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24th
December 2009
Home for
the Holidays!
Ari’s
eyes shot open in the dark. She could smell
the warm goodness of the ham slow roasting in
the oven, and the lingering smell of freshly-baked
bread that her mother made earlier that evening.
The door had been left slightly ajar and through
the slit, she could see the moving reflection
of the colored Christmas lights that adorned
the tree.
Ari inhaled deeply and stretched. This was Christmas.
She and B3 had, only hours before, made the
two-hour drive home, so that she could spend
Christmas with her family, and B3 had been such
a sport about it. Being with her meant that
he wouldn’t get to see his family until
after the holidays, but practical as he was,
he said the days didn’t really matter,
as long as he got to see them.
Ari was a little more sentimental in that regard.
Certain days, dates, and holiday traditions
carried special significance. So she had to
be home on Christmas Eve, had to have ham and
eggnog, and had to arrive laden with gifts—one
of which was to be opened on Christmas Eve.
She turned to wake B3, but he wasn’t next
to her, so she plodded to the bathroom, washed
her face and made her way out front, to the
kitchen where she found B3, talking to her mom
and snacking on slices of freshly baked ham.
“Hey sleepy head,” they said in
unison as Ari smiled in greeting. It was 1 a.m.
“Hey yourself,” she nodded over
to B3. “But mom, how could you let him
cut the ham? You know I always get the first
slice!”
It was just something that she did ever since
she was a kid. Ari always had to have the first
bite of whatever came out of the oven. The first
slice of cake, hot out of the oven. The first
carving of ham or turkey, the first crispy morsel
off the top of a mac and cheese pie.
She found a knife and made her way to the table
where B3, and more invitingly, the ham sat,
and cut deep. The flavor of the meat brought
back memories of her childhood, when her entire
family would attend the midnight service and
go caroling afterward, which led right into
breakfast at one of their homes.
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She
would have loved to go to church, she thought,
but she hated the crowds. The next best thing?
Immerse herself in feel good Christmas movies.
And that’s just what she had a mind to
do.
Back in bed, propped up on pillows, Ari turned
on the tv in the dark. A cool breeze came in
through the window and she pulled the blanket
off the bed to wrap around herself, but as she
did, something rustled under the sheets.
She peeked under the covers and in the flickering
light of the television, was just barely able
to make out a medium-sized gift-wrapped box.
She glanced at the door, before snatching it
up silently, and shaking it. No sound. She put
it back.
“Babe!” she yelled over the sound
of the tv. “Babe!”
B3 came to the door.
“What’s this?” she said pointing.
“A gift,” B3 shot back matter-of
–factly.
“I see that. But why isn’t it under
the tree?”
“It’s yours,” he said. “Your
Christmas Eve gift.”
Ari stared, just to ensure that he wasn’t
kidding. He didn’t look like he was.
For months now, she’d been hinting at
a ring, but the box was way too big for a ring
anyway.
She picked up the box slowly, curiously, undid
the ribbon and lifted the lid. There was tissue
paper stuffing, and a smaller box inside. She
laughed and undid the second. Still a smaller
box. She looked up at B3 quizzically and unwrapped
the third.
B3 sat back observing, looking pleased with
himself. Inside box number three, was a fourth.
Small, like the size of a box a watch would
come in—not a ring. It was a watch!
Ari smiled knowingly. She had been complaining
for a while now about getting a new gold watch.
She undid the last box purposefully, already
beaming. But there was no watch.
Ari’s eyes grew frantic as B3 took the
box from her and moved off the bed. Then he
picked out its contents, got on one knee, and
held it out to her.
“Ari,” he said, “will you
marry me?”
Discuss
Story
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