The Christmas Spirit

“Rockin around the Christmas tree...” Anthony sang along with the radio, as Isabella covered her ears. His singing wasn’t bad but she was in no mood for Christmas songs right now. Sadly, she wasn't in the mood for Christmas anything. She used to love the holiday season once upon a time, but now it made her moody.

“C’mon, Isabella! Sing along with me!” He said, and started to dance around the living room. She just shook her head and tried to ignore him, going back to her book.

Anthony danced around, unaware of her mood, continuing to pull out decorations for the tree he had brought home earlier that day. He was so excited that he was able to find a real tree. He told her about how he loved the smell of real pine, and how it brought back memories of his childhood. She had looked at the tree with disdain when he brought it in, only thinking about how the needles would make a mess on the floor and how she’d be cleaning them up later on.

Isabella sighed in exasperation, but Anthony hadn’t heard her because now he was singing along, badly, to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” She wasn't able to take his cheery attitude much longer, she closed her book with a snap, and got up off the sofa. Fed up, she walked into the room he used as an office, closed the door, and tried to block out his singing.

Anthony was unwrapping an ornament, while still singing along, so he hadn’t noticed she was gone until the song was over and a commercial had come on the radio.

“Isabella? Where’d you go?” He got up off the floor and went searching for her. He found her sitting in the office, frowning down at her book in his armchair.

“What’s up, Isabella? I know my singing isn’t that bad.” He pulled out the desk chair and sat in front of her. “No offence, but you’ve been kind of moody since I brought the tree home.”

“Nothing, man.” She wouldn’t look up at him.

“Nah, it’s not nothing. What’s going on with you?”

“It’s just… look, I’m not really a Christmas person.” She looked up and saw shock on his face.

“‘Not really a Christmas person’, I have never heard that before.” He was truly confused. Christmas was one of his favorite holidays and nearly everyone he knew loved Christmas. This didn’t make any sense to him. “How can that be?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“But…”

“Come on, man, not now. You go on and finish your tree; I need to finish this book.” She folded her legs underneath her and stared down at her book, hoping he would just go away.

Eventually he did, still confused. Normally Isabella went back home to spend the holiday with her mom, and he with his family, so he didn’t know what was going on.This was the first Christmas the two would be spending together, and he wanted it to be a good one, but he didn’t see how if she was in a grinchy mood. He started to wonder why she disliked Christmas so much.

The days went on, and he tried his best to cheer her up. He did everything from making Christmas cookies and hot cocoa, to buying them both matching ugly Christmas sweaters to wear when they went out to see the lights around the city. She hadn’t cracked a smile at all. He was upset that she wasn't happy and nothing he did helped, so he decided to do some investigating. There was one person he knew that could give him some insight: her mother.

One day while she was out, he called her.

“Hey, Ms. Jeffords, how are you?”

“I’m doing well, Anthony. How are you? How’s Isabella?”

“She’s okay. Well, actually she’s the reason I called you.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Well, that’s the thing, I don’t really know for sure. She’s been kind of moody lately, and I thought maybe you could help me.”

“What’s going on? You two didn’t have a fight did you?”

“Oh, no, ma’am. It’s about Christmas.”

He heard her sigh. “Yes, it is Christmas soon.”

“Yeah, I don’t understand why she doesn’t like it. She’s been looking so sad since I brought the tree home.”

“Yes, I figured she wouldn’t be cheery. She hasn’t been since her grandmother passed away. I take part of the blame for that, but my advice is to try and talk to her. It may help.”

“Okay, I’ll try. Thank you Ms. Jeffords. Is there anything else?”

Her mom was quiet for a minute, thinking, “There might be something… there’s one thing I can send her, if I can find it. Be on the lookout for a package from me.”

“Okay, sounds good. Thank you again.”

“No problem,” she said. “And Anthony?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Maybe you can help my girl get her spirit back.”

“I’ll try.”

After hanging up the phone, Anthony waited for Isabella to come home, trying to figure out how to bring up the subject.

When she walked in an hour later, he was ready for her.

“We need to talk,” he said simply.

“Uh-oh, you have this look on her face. What happened?”

“Nothing. I just want to talk to you.” He stood up, walked to the door and grabbed his coat on the way. “Let’s take a walk.”

“Ugh, I just got in,” she said, but walked to the door anyway.

They walked around in silence for a while, as Anthony gathered his thoughts.

She decided to break the silence. “Anthony, what’s going on? Why did you want us to take a walk? You’re not taking me to see more lights or anything?”

Hearing the contempt in her voice, made him blurt out his question. “Why do you hate Christmas so much, Izzy?”

She was taken back. “I don’t hate Christmas!”

“Then why are you acting like this? I mean, I’ve tried everything to cheer you up and make it a good one, but you’re acting like… well, a Grinch.”

“I am not, Anthony.”

“You are, Izzy, and I just want to know why.”

She shook her head and walked on. Anthony grabbed her arm and turned her to face him. “Look,” he sighed. “I called your mom…”

“You did what?”

“You’ve been so upset I just wanted to know what was going on.”

“You didn’t need to do that, in fact, I wish you hadn’t done that.”

“No, I needed to. I want to know what’s wrong. She said to talk to you… about your grandmother.”

She hung her head, sadness overtaking her.

“Izzy? Isabella? Talk to me.”

She shook her head again. He put his hand under her chin, lifting her face up to his. There were tears cascading down her cheeks. Remembering her grandmother, and how she felt when she lost her, still hurt.

“What is it? Why are you crying? Please, talk to me.”

“I…” She took a breath to steady herself. “Okay, fine. you remember I told you how my grandma died of cancer years ago?”

He nodded. He remembered. Her whole family had been devastated that the matriarch was gone. The cancer had come quickly, taking her only months after the diagnosis.

“She was the one who held everyone together. Everyone went to grandma for anything. Christmas was her favorite holiday, mainly because she got to have her family in the same place at once. We used to put up the tree and she’d sit in the living room, directing us on where to put every ornament, and every decoration. We’d play her favorite Christmas song, while she polished this silver bell, real silver, and she’d just smile. She would be so happy and it made me happy.”

Isabella sniffled remembering her smiling face. She grew up in her house with her mom, and she took care of her.

She took a shuddering breath and continued. “After she died, the family stopped coming around, and my mom and I stopped decorating the house. We haven’t put up a tree since she died. We figured that since it was just us, why bother? Besides, mom was so upset that she couldn’t bring herself to do it. I didn’t push her.”

She looked at him. “I don’t hate Christmas, I just miss what it used to be. I miss her, Anthony, and it’s hard knowing she won’t be here smiling at me.”

Tears glistened his eyes, “I didn’t know, Isabella. I’m so sorry.” He folded her into his arms, hugging her tight, as she cried.

They both walked back to the house and he left her alone for a bit, while he thought of what he could do. Everything he had tried only made her upset, and now that he knew why, he felt bad for trying to push her. All he wanted, was to make her happy, and for her to find her Christmas spirit

He couldn’t figure out what to do, since she revealed to him why Christmas made her so sad, she had been distant with him. He knew she was still grieving for her grandmother, she had been like a second mother to her, and losing her had left a hole in her life. Anthony knew he couldn’t fix that hole, but he wanted to try and make things better.

The answer came a few days later when a rather large package arrived at the front door. He brought it in and opened it. There was a note on top of the wrapping.

Anthony,

These are some of Isabella’s grandmother’s ornaments. I want her to give them to her. Remind her that her grandmother loved the holiday season and the best way for her to honor her memory is to celebrate it. Tell her not to be sad and that I’m sorry for not being strong enough to handle it.

Thank you.

Anthony called Isabella into the living room and handed her the note, she recognized her mother’s handwriting instantly. Once she read it, she reached into the box and pulled out the wrapping. Inside was her grandmother’s angel, that went on top of the tree, a few of the ornaments she made for her in elementary school, and special collectible ornaments.

“Hey, Isabella, there’s some pictures in here too,” Anthony said to her. She turned and he handed her a small stack of photos.

She flipped through them grinning and soon laughing.

“What is it?” Anthony asked, peering over her shoulder.

“Old Christmas photos,” she said, handed him one of her first Christmas where she sat in her grandmother’s lap as a chubby baby, a red dress on, white stockings, and a little Santa Claus bib.

As she flipped through them, she told Anthony all about the stories behind them. She remembered all the dinners, the presents, her little cousins running around and terrorizing the house. She kept on smiling.

She reached back into the box and took out the ornaments her mom had sent her. As she handed them over to Anthony, she told him about them too, each one having a special story. she started to cheer up, remembering all the Christmases past. Her mother had been right, this was the best way to honor her grandmother’s memory.

She walked into the kitchen, and started to make a cup of hot cocoa, when she heard a tinkling sound. She peeked back in the living room, and saw Anthony holding a silver bell in his hand, her grandmother’s bell. It was polished to a shine. Her mom must have cleaned it up before she sent it.

She went and took the bell from him and looked at it. When she held the bell in her hand, she teared up. It was all here. She looked up at Anthony who was smiling at her.

“Thank you” was all she could say.

“So how about we put this on the tree. There’s plenty of room.”

She nodded and went to the tree with the bell. Anthony handed her a hook and she gently placed it on a top branch in the middle, with a shaking hand. She looked at it nestled amongst the pine needles, lights, and all the other ornaments and smiled, closing her eyes she could picture her grandmother smiling at her.

Anthony came up and wrapped his arms around her. “Merry Christmas.”

“Merry Christmas.”