The Surprise (On Hold)

Traditions

It has started to become a tradition for Grace to go to church with us every Sunday. When I pull up to her house every Sunday morning she waves good bye to her parents and skips to the car. Grace's face in her beautiful smile. Her eyes shining. She hops in my car and off we go to church.

At school Grace has started to get more talkative again. I watch as she starts to get back to her old self. The crazy girl I fell in love with. "Wait, fell in love with. Oh no. This isn't good. I can't be in love with Grace. She is my friend. "

I shake my head and smile looking at Grace for a minute then look back to the road as we head to church. It's the first of December and the air has a nice chill to it. Grace wears a purple dress with a light blue jacket that matches the accents on her dress. Her hair is curled at the ends and her eyes shine with the sun shining through the clouds.

The radio plays "The Christmas Song," sung by Nat King Cole as we drive. I hear Grace humming along loving Christmas music. Winter is her favorite time of year and she gets naturally happy. The signs of the insecure Grace are starting to disappear.

Grace lays her head on my shoulder and looks up at me as she holds my hand. "It's almost Christmas," she says happily. " Yes it is, and you know what that means, " I reply glancing down at her for a second. " We get to go caroling?" She asks hopefullness in her voice. This causes me to chuckle a bit at her love of Christmas music.
" Yes we can do that. I was thinking more along the lines of presents," I tell her as we pull up to the church.
" Do we have to do presents?" Grace asks as she sits up in her seat and unbuckles.

" Isn't that what Christmas is about? " I ask her. She gasps. " I can not believe you just asked that," she asks as she gets out of the car. I sigh and unbuckle confused on what I said wrong. When I get out I see Grace is already in the church. I close my car door and lock the door as I head inside.

~~~ Church Service Ensues~~~

Grace is invited back to our place after church. The car ride is silent on the way home. When I pull into the driveway I put the car in park and sigh. I look at Grace. " What did I say wrong?" I ask. " You dont understand what Christmas is about," she says unbuckling and getting out of the car and heading inside. " What does she think Christmas is about?" I think as I watch her. I feel the cold air start to slip in the car and I get out myself and head inside.

When I get inside I'm greeted with Grace making hot chocolates for everyone. She makes the best hot chocolates. The chocolate amount is just right and the whipped cream in a perfect swirl on top. If you like peppermint she adds it to the hot chocolate and puts a bit of crushed up peppermint to the whipped cream.

I see my brother waiting for his at the kitchen table. Grace hands it to him warning him it's hot and to be careful. I watch and admire how caring she is. Something bumping my shoulder snaps me out of my thoughts. Turning I see my dad give me a look.

I feel myself blush a bit and turn away. Walking to the kitchen I trip over one of our cats that ran underfoot. I fall on my stomach. " Dylan!" I hear Grace say as she comes over. " Are you okay? Are you hurt? " she asks with concern in her voice.

I chuckle a bit and roll onto my back. " I'm fine. Thank you for the concern though," I say as I cup her cheek. I hear Joshua laugh and spit out some of his hot Chocolate. Grace turns to look. She shakes her head and gets up to clean it up leaving me on the floor. I stand up and head over to the table. Grace sets a peppermint hot chocolate in front of me.

My mom and dad come and join us as we all sit sipping our hot chocolate. My brother gets up and puts on some music and comes back to join us. Everyone is silent as we just enjoy each others company and drink our delicious hot chocolate.

After everything is cleaned up from our wintery drinks my mom brings out our counting tree. Its a small wooden Christmas tree that has 25 small nails throughout it. There is a white tray at the bottom of the tree that holds 25 ornaments each numbered one through twenty five.

I smile seeing the tree in my mom's hands. I take Grace's hand and lead her over to it. She pulls away her hand. I try not to look hurt as my brother and dad come over as well.
"This is a tradition of ours Grace. It's a countdown to Christmas. We start with the 25th ornament on the first of December. We keep decreasing in number as we get closer to Christmas," my mom explains to Grace who is smiling watching.

" We usually have the ladies go first which every year has been me and then we go in birth order after that. Since you are here we would like you to put the first ornament on the tree," my mom says smiling at Grace.
" Really? Thank you I feel honored, " Grace says and my mom hands her the ornament. She puts it at the bottom left corner of the tree. My family cheers and just looks at it for a minute smiling.

I hug Grace from behind and rest my chin on her shoulder. My parents start to dance as the Christmas music fills the house. Grace looks at me the best she can. " This is what Christmas is about. It is about traditions, music, family, birthdays, and happiness. My Christmas present I want this year is to have you learn that," she says softly. I kiss her cheek and turn her around to face me. I place one of my hands by her waist and hold her other hand out. Grace smiles and puts her hand on my shoulder as we start to dance alongside my parents in my living room.