by V, Krissy
“Sometimes they will come and feed off our hands, if there are a lot of people here then we will have to run after them and throw the food so they can eat it, but it looks quiet enough.” He says handing out the carrot and apple as we see some reindeers up ahead. He whispers “let’s walk slowly and quietly and then we won’t frighten them off.”
We all nod our heads and walk very quietly into the middle of the herd. Tully holds his finger up to his lips in a “Shh” fashion. We hold our hands out and the reindeers start to walk towards us, they go up to Tully first and sniff his hand and then they take the apple and carrot off it. I can see Tyler and Elena’s eyes open wide as they watch in awe of what just happened.
The reindeers start to walk towards both of them and they do the same, they sniff and then eat off their hands. Tully takes a couple of pictures of their faces with the reindeers taking the food.
Then the reindeers come over to me, I can feel my heart beating because these can be dangerous animals, with their antlers looking so big and spiky, but they are so gentle when they take the food off my hand. One of them looks up at me with his big wide white eyes and we stare at each other for a few moments, it looks like he is smiling at me.
I must be going mad I think and laugh when he has walked away. We continue feeding them for half an hour more and then other people start to turn up and they start to get scared and run off. “See you tonight!” Tully says and Tyler and Elena join in shouting at them too.
We walk back to the car, Tully takes my hand and the kids are chatting non stop about which reindeer was Rudolph. We jump into the car and then we go for lunch at Eddie Rockets in Blanchardstown, there’s a little bit of a queue but we don’t mind waiting.
After lunch we take Tyler and Elena home. On the way home they ask “Are you coming over to us tomorrow Auntie Nolly?”
I look at Tully and then I look at them “I don’t know, you know I don’t like Christmas, but this year everything feels different so I might come over in the evening or something. It will be fun to see your toys.”
They both start whooping and I smile, Christmas really is about the children. We drop them both home and I see Tully talking to my sister again, when I am inside I see the two of them disappear outside for a few minutes. I wonder what is going on?
I don’t have time to think about it, as it is soon time to go. We say our goodbyes and I then shout across the drive, before I get into the car “I might come over and see you tomorrow Bree, I know the kids want me too.”
“We all want you too, Nolly. See you tomorrow.” Bree says in return.
We get back to my house and we are in the lounge when I realise that I have no decorations up or anything, I’m not sure I am ready for that yet. Maybe next year though.
“Tully, I need to wrap some presents, I have some paper do you need to wrap any of yours?” I am curious as to what he might have bought me.
He laughs “do you think I am going to let you see your presents? Yes I need to wrap some presents, we can do it together.”
I laugh. I tried. I guess I’ll just have to wait. We spend the next two hours wrapping presents, mostly for his nieces and nephews and for mine too.
“Do you want a glass of wine or something?” he asks, I nod my head and he goes into the kitchen to open the wine. When he has poured two glasses he comes back in and we sit on the couch. The presents are all piled up in the corner, a pile for his family and a pile for mine.
“Do you trust me?” he asks a couple of hours and a couple of bottles of wine later.
“Of course I do, why?”
“Can you trust me to make this Christmas the most enjoyable one you’ve had?”
“Well you have already done that!” I say leaning over and kissing him.
“I want to stay the night and spend tomorrow with you, I can’t bear to think of you being alone. I think that is part of the reason why you hate Christmas so much because you don’t let other people help you to enjoy Christmas.” I go to say something, but he holds his hand up to stop me. “Please Nolly, I want to do this for you to show you how much I love you.”
He said it again, my heart is beating really fast, I can feel my emotions spinning out of control. “I do trust you and I want you to be here with me tomorrow, but I don’t want to make you miserable on what is supposed to be a happy day.”
“You can never make me miserable, I want to be here with you, I want to try to make you happy.”
I laugh because I know he will stay anyway, I can feel he has something up his sleeve. “Ok, ok” I don’t manage to say anymore because he kisses me.
We go to bed and I fall asleep and have mixed dreams about Mam and Dad, Christmas and my birthday. Everyone forgets it’s my birthday tomorrow.
Day 13
25th December (Morning)
My Birthday
I wake up with a heavy heart. Today is my birthday and Mam and Dad aren’t here to celebrate it with me. I can feel Tully’s arm wrapped around my waist and I start to smile, who would have thought that this amazing man would do so many things to make me happy. Let’s see how that pans out today, I think sarcastically.
“Good morning Nolly” he says kissing me on the back of my head, I turn to face him.
“Good morning” I reply.
“Now today is a special day, so I want you to stay in bed and I’m going to bring you breakfast in bed.” He kisses me on the nose as he climbs out of bed. I try to protest and he just says “Trust me Nolly.”
He goes downstairs and I check my phone, I have messages from my friends, from Bree and from Helena and Joey wishing me a happy birthday. I can hear a lot of noise coming from downstairs and I laugh because he probably doesn’t know where everything is yet.
When he walks into the bedroom he has a tray with French Vanilla’s, French toast, a small vase with a single rose in it and something under his arm. He puts the tray down on my lap and then he takes the birthday hat that Santa gave me and puts it on my head. I laugh and try to take it off. “No no no, don’t you remember Santa said he wants to hear us singing happy birthday before he goes to sleep after his long trip last night.”
I laugh “don’t be silly, he didn’t mean it.”
He has a straight face “Santa always means it Nolly.”
I laugh and say “ok then.”
So he starts singing to me in a breathy, Marilyn Monroe kind of way.
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday dearest Nolly
Happy Birthday to you
He then leans in and kisses me, I was laughing the whole way through it because he was just so funny. “Thank you” I say with tears of laughter in my eyes.
“Right come on then lazy bones, we have a lot to do today.”
I look at him, surely we are just going to laze around the house today?
He takes the tray in one hand and then he holds my hand with the other and he pulls me down the stairs.
I gasp when I get into the lounge, there are banners and decorations everywhere and they all say “Happy Birthday”. I turn around and look at him “When? Why?”
He laughs. “Today is your birthday isn’t it? So let’s celebrate your birthday.” I can see some presents with birthday wrapping paper on them. All the Christmas presents have been moved somewhere else because I can’t see them.
He sits me down on the couch and goes to get my presents, there’s quite a few of them I notice.
He hands me the first present from Tyler and Elena. I open it slowly and it’s the latest Cecelia Ahern book, The Year I Met You. I smile “I’ve been dying to read this book.”
He hands me the next one from Bree and Rory. I open it, it’s soft and squidgy. When I open I see it is the most beautiful red dress I have seen – it is black on the outside panelling and then red in the middle with black lace over the top of the red and then the sleeves are a dark black lace. “Oh my god it’s so beautiful” I’m so excited, I can’t wait to wear it.
“There’s more” he says handing me another present. It is from Helena and Joey and when I open it they have given me a complete guide to chocolate. It’s like an encyclopaedia of everything that is chocolate and there is even place for me to write what I think about each chocolate that I taste from the world over.
“I love it, but how did you get it from them?” I’m curious how all these presents have appeared here.
“Don’t ask questions, just enjoy the moment Nolly.” He says kissing me gently on the lips.
Next are two more presents and they are both from him. I open the first one and it’s a digital picture frame. “Let me plug it in for you” he says taking it away to plug it in.
He turns it on and it starts showing some pre-downloaded photos and they are all of Mam and Dad, with me or Bree or both of us. “Where did you get these photos from? I haven’t seen these for years.” I ask in shock.
“Bree helped me, once I told her what I wanted she found these and we had them uploaded. It’s lovely isn’t it. Now you don’t have to search your memory for them, you have the visual memories right here in front of you and you can have it on all the time so that they are with you all the time.”
I stand up and give him a hug. “You are so thoughtful, thank you so much I am going to treasure this.” I sit back down as he reaches over and gives me one last present.
It’s hard and I can’t work out what it is. I open it and when I open the box inside I can see it’s a bike helmet. It’s pink and black and it has “Nolly” written across the back. “This is for you to use on my bike, the one I was lending you didn’t look good enough for you so I want you to have your own, I know we will be using the bike all the time.”
“Thank you so much, it’s lovely.”
I hug him tight, I am so lucky I fell over that day. We sit looking at my presents and then he says “I want to run you a bath, I’ve some candles for you to light and then I’m going to make a bit of lunch.”
“OK that sounds nice” I say as he takes my hand and we walk upstairs.
“Why don’t you wear your lovely new dress, I’ve got some nice clothes to wear too, we’ll look very presentable for lunch.” He kisses me quickly on the lips as he lays his clothes out on the bed.
He walks off to run the bath and light the candles, then he disappears down stairs and brings up a glass of bucks fizz. I halt when I see it because Mam always made bucks fizz on Christmas Day. I take it from him determined to enjoy every minute of my birthday.
I take the drink from him and slip into the bath. “Now lay back, relax and I’ll be back up to scrub your back later” he winks at me.
I laugh “oh yes please.”
He chuckles and kisses me on the lips then he stands up and says “I’m going down to prepare and put lunch on, don’t get out til I get back.”
I do what he says and lean back, relax and sip my glass of bubby. When that’s finished I put my glass down and close my eyes. I have lots of things going around in my head, but the most important one is that Christmas doesn’t feel so bad this year!
25th December (Afternoon)
Christmas Day
“Nolly, Nolly wake up” it’s Tully and he is sitting by the side of the bath with another glass of Bucks Fizz for me. “I thought you might have finished your glass.” He smiles as he hands it to me.
“I did and then I think I had a snooze” I say yawning.
He kisses me on the nose. “You can snooze if you want to it’s your birthday.” I smile at him because he is making such an effort.
When I’ve drained my glass he takes it from me, then he takes the towel and holds it out for me to step into. He takes the time to dry me off and all of a sudden he picks me up and carries me into the bedroom, I can’t stop laughing “put me down Tully, I’m too heavy.”
“No you’re not, you’re as light as a feather.” He places me down on the bed and then we both get dressed for the afternoon. On one hand it seems strange to be getting dressed up to eat in the house, but then on the other hand it feels natural. Mam and Dad used to always make us dress up nice on Christmas Day, she always said “you never know who will call in on such a special day.”
When we’re are ready we walk back down the stairs and once again I am speechless. Gone are all the birthday banners and balloons, in their place are Christmas decorations and a Christmas tree with lots of presents underneath.
“Tully what did you do? This wasn’t like this when I left earlier, you have been busy.
He turns around to face me “Happy Christmas Nolly” and he gathers me into a hug. “Two very special days rolled into one” he says.
He pulls me to sit down on the couch and then he asks “Will we open some Christmas presents now or do you want to wait for later?”
I don’t know what to say, I wasn’t expecting any of this. “Ehm I don’t know.”
All of a sudden the front door flies open and there are scampering feet everywhere and lots of noise, it frightens me because we were having a moment. “Aunty Nolly, Aunty Nolly” Tyler and Elena scream flying at me in the lounge. “Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas” they say when they are hugging me. I can feel some tears falling from my eyes, I love these guys and I have let my feelings shadow the excitement of the children over the last few years.
Bree and Rory walk in and hug me tight “Happy Birthday Nolly. Did you like your presents?”
“I did they were lovely” and I proceed to tell them about what Tully did for me this morning.
“That’s so nice” Bree said making herself comfortable on the couch. Tully comes back into the lounge with a glass of bucks fizz for everyone.
“We haven’t opened any Christmas presents yet” he says as we all take our glasses and take a sip.
“I want to raise a toast” I say, not really sure what I want to say. “This has been the best birthday slash Christmas in a while and I wanted to say thank you to everyone for making it special.”
We all hold our glasses up in the air and then take a sip.
“Come on let’s open some presents, the kids are dying to open theirs. They’ve only opened their Santa presents and are itching to find out what everyone gets.” Bree says opening the black bags that I hadn’t seen in the corner.
“You mean they haven’t opened their presents? Why?” I don’t understand.
“We all wanted to spend Christmas with you this year Nolly, so they opened their Santa presents and we are all opening the rest of our presents now. You go and sit under the tree like you used to do and be the master of the presents.” She smiles at me and it brings it all back to me. I remember doing that every year and I used to love it.
I walk over and sit beside the tree, I really can’t believe how many presents are under the tree, I start to pull them out and give everyone one present each. We take it in turns to open them.
I give Tully his present from me, the French Vanilla chocolate that is in the bauble. I watch his face as he opens it, he sees the chocolate in the shape of a cup and looks at me. “Try it” I say smiling.
He smiles back at me and then he tastes a small bit of the chocolate, I see his eyes open wide and see him savouring the flavour. “I don’t believe it Nolly, you did it! You captured all the right flavours for the French Vanilla. When did you do this? I thought you hadn’t come up with a new flavour?”
“I woke up on Monday and it came to me as I was sitting here daydreaming. I went into work, Helena and Joey came with me and it took us all day to come up with the right flavours.”
“I love it thank you so much.” He leans forward and kisses me quickly on the lips.
“Can we try some?” Tyler says.
“Well it’s really an adult flavour” I say because I know they won’t like it.
“Ah ok” he says looking sad. I reach out and pull off some chocolate decorations I just spotted on the tree and give them to the kids instead. They are delighted.
“This is your present Nolly” Tully says “
it’s really something from your Mam and Dad, Bree helped me with it.”
What on earth could be from Mam and Dad? I don’t understand. I look confused and look at the box. I start to unwrap it very slowly and when I do I see that inside is a cardboard box. I open the top of it and when I look inside I feel nostalgic. “Oh my god, I forgot about these things. Thank you so much.” I slowly pull everything out, there are Christmas tree decorations that I made with my Mam and Bree which always hung on the tree. As I take them out I hang them on the tree.
“These are memories that you need to hang on the tree every year Nolly, these are memories that you should cherish and treasure and not push to the back of your mind.” Tully says, helping me hang them on the tree.
When that is done, I give out more presents to everyone and then I hand Tully his main present from me.
He looks at the size of the package and he slowly unwraps it. When he sees the golden disc, signed he can’t quite believe it. He looks like a child in a sweet shop, he comes over to me and hugs me tight and kisses me a bit more passionately. He only stops when Tyler and Elena say “ewww”, we all laugh.
He shows it to Bree and Rory and says “I can’t believe this, this is the song I was singing when Nolly fell over in front of me. Someone was looking down on me that day. I think your Mam and Dad made you trip up so that we would meet.”
Rory takes it off him and has a look at it “mate this is really cool.”
He gives me another present and I look at him because he has gone way over the top, I open it carefully because it feels fragile. It’s a jewellery box, I can feel my heart beating faster. I feel a little embarrassed and then I open it and my heart stops beating for a little while.
I stand up and throw myself at Tully, I can’t help myself, I’m sobbing. “Thank you so much, you are the best thing that has every happened to me and I am so grateful to have you in my life. It’s so beautiful thank you.” I kiss him with all the passion I have.