Different

33

    It was Christmas Eve and I was in my house alone. We had family it's just that they lived far and without a car I couldn't go see them. I had gotten my cast off two days ago and I was quite happy about it. It was around 6 o'clock when I decided I wasn't going to sit around and have a crap Christmas without my dad. I got off my ass and went to the kitchen to make myself a Christmas dinner. I stood in the kitchen thinking about what I could make. I finally decided I'd try my best to make  some chicken, vegetables and a dessert.
     While I was baking the chicken and listening to music I felt myself remembering Christmas's with my mom. She used to make chicken because I hate ham. We'd make Christmas cookies together and it was so fun. She was a beautiful person. My dad was madly in love with her, but he still had a drinking problem. She excepted him for who he was and tried to help him. He'd get mad sometimes and yell at us but he never got physical, he loved my mom too much. Her smile was beautiful. She had little dimples and would crinkle her nose.
   She loved Christmas. One year, we decorated the day after thanksgiving but we didn't get our tree until Christmas Eve. That was her favorite thing to do. She loved getting our tree the day before Christmas. We'd go to a tree market. We never got a fake tree, she hated them.
    She always said "A real tree has real love." She thought real trees helped the love grow. She really was amazing. She had pale skin like me, her hair was reddish brown. Her eyes were hazely blue. I looked like her. The only differences were I had my dad's nose and I had black hair. I know I tell people I don't remember her, but I do. I remember a lot about her and that makes me happy. But I don't want to talk about her because it makes me sad that I don't have her anymore and my dad got to live but she died. I think it might be okay to talk about her. I don't know.
  I came out of my trance when I heard a knock at my door. Billy was away with his family for Christmas and Nancy was at her grandparents house so I didn't know who it could be. I slowly walked to the door and opened it slightly. Under the yellowy light of the porch light I saw none other then Steve. I opened my door fully and smiled to him.
     "Hey Steve! What are you doing here?" I asked friendlily. He smiled.
  "I was at home all alone because my parents had a business trip and won't be back for a few days so I thought I'd take a walk, and I knew you'd be home." He smiled. I invited him in. He came in and took off his coat. I was surprisingly happy to see him. I hadn't seen him in a while and I missed him.
      "So Stevie, how have you been?" I asked.
"I've been okay, I missed you I haven't seen you in a while." He said smiling. I smiled back and nodded.
   We talked for a while and I continued to cook, I made enough for two people so I invited  Steve to eat with me. He agreed and we had our dinner. After dinner we sat in the living room listening to Christmas music and talking.
    "I miss Christmas's with my parents." I said lowly. He sadly smiled at him.
   "Me too. I've never heard you talk about both your parents before." Steve said cautiously.
"Yeah, I don't really talk about my mom much." I said.
      "If you don't mind me asking, what was she like?" Steve smiled. I shifted my glance from Steve to the floor. I quickly stood up and went to my room.
    "Dani? Aw I'm sorry you don't have to talk about her-" I heard Steve call from the living-room. I came back with a small shoe box in my hands. I sat down next to Steve. He looked confused. I opened the box.
"This is a box of stuff that was my moms or reminds me of her." I said smiling. Steve smiled too and got closer to look.
Inside there was things that I thought would be nice to remember my mom. The first thing I pulled out was a small pine needled branch.
"This is a branch from the last Christmas tree my mom picked out. She loved Christmas." I said softly. Steve hesitated to touch anything in the box.
"Oh go ahead you can touch them. Just ya know be careful." I said. He nodded. He pulled out a Polaroid of my mom. She was smiling and her hair was blowing in the wind. She really looked so happy. It made me happy.
"She was beautiful." Steve said rubbing my shoulder. I nodded.
"You look like her." Steve smiled. I chuckled. I touched my hand to the gold cross around my neck and smiled.
"This was hers too." I said showing him the dainty necklace. He touched it gently.
"It's very pretty. Was she religious?" He asked. I shook my head.
"No not really.I remember she said that she just liked the shape. But she also said god must be real because she was gifted with me and my dad." I said smiling. I was surprisingly happy talking about me mom. It was nice. Steve put his arm around my shoulders and rubbed my arm.
"Thank you for sharing this with me." He smiled sweetly. Steve was been so sweet it was nice. I missed having him around. I starred at his eyes and face smiling. He then leaned in.