Christmas Morning 1989

I woke up in the morning and trudged into my living room with my bathrobe on over my comfy pajamas. I yawned and looked toward the little tree I had put up earlier in the month, and I immediately froze. I scrunched my eyebrows together and tilted my head in confusion. There were more presents under the tree than there were the night before... in wrapping paper that wasn't mine.

... Santa?

There was a knock at the door which startled me. I tightened my bathrobe tie as I walked to to door, looking through the peep-hole before I answered it. I smiled and opened the door and greeted Tom.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, giving him a kiss hello.

He handed me a bouquet of red flowers and said, "I wasn't going to let you wake up on Christmas morning alone."

Tom wanted me to spend the night at his place last night, but I said no because he had already invited me to have Christmas dinner with his family, and I had Christmas Eve dinner with him the night before. I didn't want to latch onto him and become a burden or a nag.

I let him come inside and he whistled toward the tree, "wow, where'd those come from?"

I rolled my eyes and chuckled, "what time did you really get here and break into my home?" I smelled the beautiful flowers and headed to the kitchen and waited for his response. I grabbed a vase from under the sink and filled it with water, added a penny to it, then I put the flowers in it and set it on my little dining table that rarely gets used.

He kicked off his shoes and said, "it's not breaking in if I have a key. But it was just a few minutes before you woke up."

"Uh-huh," I chuckled. "I was going to make cinnamon rolls, would you like one?"

His eyes lit up at the thought of delicious cinnamon rolls, "yes, please."

I had some instant cinnamon rolls that I just needed to tear from the packaging and put in the oven. Once those were baking, I sat with Tom in front of the tree. We put it up together and decorated it shortly after thanksgiving.

"Open yours first," I insisted and tossed a present his way. All the presents under my tree were either for Tom or my Jump Street team. I got Fuller a watch, Judy a pair of big statement earrings, Doug a football phone, and Ioki some hair oil. I even bought something for Blowfish, a book called 1001 Things to Look Forward To When Your Kids Move Out. I meant to give it to them last week when we had our annual Christmas party, but it completely slipped my mind. I was going to give it to them after Winter Break instead.

Tom set the box down and tore apart the snowflake wrapping paper. He ripped the tape off the cardboard box and pulled out a Panasonic video camera. His eyes widened at the new piece of technology and held it delicately in his hands.

"It's so small and light!" He said and brought the camera viewfinder up to his eye, "how did you get your hands on this?"

I smiled at his joy, I was so happy he liked it. I said, "at that new electronics store downtown. I figured that we should start documenting ourselves and our life. We have spent so much time pretending to be juvenile, we haven't had time to focus on ourselves."

"How does it work?" He asked, handing it to me.

When I bought it, I was given a lengthy lesson on how to work it. I opened the compartment to put a fresh VHS tape in, and shut the little door. I pressed the record button and brought the viewfinder to my eye, placing the body of the video camera on my shoulder. I felt like a professional tech-savvy nerd. I said, "I think it's rolling."

I pointed the camera at Tom's face while giggling. He looked into the lens and wiggled his fingers at the camera before leaning forward and flicked his tongue toward me, which made me laugh.

"Tom Hanson, always a professional," I giggled and backed up a bit, still holding the viewfinder to my eye.

Tom asked, "when that stops recording, we will be able to watch it?"

"Yeah, if I'm doing it right," I chuckled.

"That's pretty cool," Tom said. Then, he made a straight face at the camera before he slowly wiggled his tongue in and out of his mouth in a goofy manner.

I fiddled around with some buttons without looking and then I could see Tom's face get closer and closer through the viewfinder. Pretty soon, I could only see his eyes. I said, "this can zoom!"

"Lemme see," he chuckled. He took the videocamera from me and pressed the viewfinder to his eye. He smiled and said, "awe, look at you. How do I... I see."

I smiled from embarrassment and stuck my tongue out at the camera with a scrunch of my nose. Tom chuckled which made me laugh. I wasn't used to cameras being pointed at me so I tried not to look at it, but I was smiling and laughing. "I don't know what to do."

"Smile," he instructed and I smiled like he was taking a picture. "Don't smile," he said, which was difficult for me to drop, especially when I was looking at him. "Close your eyes." I was hesitant but I closed them with my lips flexed as I tried not to smile. "No peeking," he said.

"I'm not," I giggled.

"No smiling," he said again.

"I'm not," I lied, because I was definitely smiling.

I heard wrestling of what sounded like papers before he finally let me open my eyes again. I was confused but noticed him holding something above our heads. I looked up and saw that he was holding mistletoe. A small green plant with white berries and a red ribbon tying them together.

I chuckled, "where did you get that?"

"Same place I got your present," he answered. He leaned forward and gave me a kiss under the mistletoe.  "Speaking of which, you've got to open yours now."

Tom put the camera and the mistletoe down on the floor as I scoffed, "you promised me no gifts."

"You and I both know that that was an empty promise," he said and leaned toward the tree to grab a little wrapped box and he placed it in my hands.

"You still have a couple more to open," I said and gestured to the few more presents under the tree with his name on them.

"I will later."

"Fine," I said and took the box anyway. I shook the box gently and asked, "is it... orchid seeds?"

Tom got me a pair of comfortable slippers and a toaster that I really wanted for my birthday at the beginning of the month so I made him promise me to not get me anything for Christmas. I should have known better. Maybe next year I'll make him promise me in writing.

Tom advised, "easy with the shaking."

Slightly confused, I looked down at the gift and ripped off the white wrapping paper. It was a little black box. I lifted the lid and my heart burst out of my chest.

It was a promise ring. The band was gold with a thick light blue sapphire on top. It sparkled under the twinkling of the Christmas tree lights, and I was absolutely shocked. I placed my hand on my chest, and I could feel my heart throb under my fingertips.

"Tom..." I said softly.

He took the promise ring out of the box and cleared his throat nervously before he said, "this ring is a promise to remain faithful, and I will always be there for you. This ring is a symbol of my love and my commitment to you. I want you to know that I do have intentions to marry you, and this will be replaced with an engagement ring one day."

"Tom!" I squealed and catapulted myself onto him, tackling him to the ground in a pile of laughter and love. I laid on top of him and smothered his face in kisses to express my outburst of love for him.

I felt his hands grab my waist and my wrist and he somehow quickly tilted me to the ground and he was careful not to crush me as he straddled me at my hips. I rested my head on the floor and giggled as he lifted the ring to my eye sight. I gave him my hand, and he slid the ring on my finger. I admired the ring, and loved what it represented. I felt like I was dreaming.

He leaned down to give me a kiss and I smiled up at him like a dope. The sweetness of his lips lingered to mine when he kissed me slowly. I said, "thank you, I love you."

I've always had a difficult time saying I love you to people important to me. I tend to show my affection in other ways, but I'm trying to be better at it. This make be cliche, but it feels like every person I've ever loved has left me. My father left me, my mother left me, and my brother left me. Even Jenko left me. Saying those words feels like a jinx, so I try to avoid it as much as I can. So you know if I'm saying it, I really mean it from the bottom of my heart. 

"I love you too. I am so in love with you," he said and gave me another kiss. I don't wanna miss out on this precious holiday, but I can't stop staring at his face. I can feel how much he loves me just by the way he looks at me. I love him. He is my best friend.

Our moment was interrupted when the oven began beeping. We raced to the kitchen to take out the cinnamon rolls, then we frosted them together. We even put food coloring in the white cream cheese frosting to make it more fun. I couldn't believe I used to think that Tom was too-serious.

I'm not really a tacky person, but I love a tacky Christmas. I like the tinsel on the tree, the homemade ornaments, the candy canes, and the cozy nostalgia of everything looking like a tacky vintage Christmas magazine cover. I think it makes Christmas feel more homey. I can't wait to have more Christmases like that with Tom.

As we ate our gooey cinnamon rolls, Tom was trying to guess the gifts I bought for the team. He used methods of guessing, shaking the boxes, and even sniffing them. He only got Fuller's right, but he was very close with Doug's. He knew it was football related.

The rest of the day was uneventful. After our late breakfast, I got dressed in a ribbed cream turtleneck sweater and loose vanilla trousers as Tom found a movie for us to watch from my collection of VHS tapes. We had a small lunch because we knew that we were going to have big dinner with his family, and we were going to need to eat as much as we could.

As soon as the movie ended Tom looked over at me and asked, "are you ready to head to my moms?"

"She's okay with me coming, right?" I asked, sitting up on the couch. I fetched the remote to turn the television off.

"Of course. She adores you. After Thanksgiving, she couldn't stop talking about you," he chuckled.

"Really?"

"Really."

I smiled and got up to put on my shoes. I blinked away the happy tears. Tom saying that really made me feel better about joining his family for the holidays. I wasn't just a tag along, I was welcomed and wanted. That's all I've ever really wanted. I used to wonder where Christmas disappeared to, but I think I found it. For the first time in forever, I could feel Christmas in my heart. Christmas was here, and it was everywhere. And now, this time I'll make it stay. The bells will be ringing, now and forever.

The future is unpredictable. Next year we could all be living in the past, so I was going to enjoy this holiday as much as I could, because who knows if it will be our last. If the Lord allows, we will be together at least. I'm going to hold this day in my heart. Maybe heaven is a place not too far away. Maybe it's right here, with Tom.

This chapter was inspired by the gifs! 😂
Next chapter is about Mickey and Tom on New Years!
Don't forget to vote and comment! 😁