I stared at the Christmas tree that was sitting in the middle of my living room. I know what you are, I thought. You're no tree. But of course it was nothing but that.
Still, it was easy to imagine it was more, covered in ornaments and lights in the middle of my tiny apartment. I had barely been able to afford it, much less fit it in my home. But I had been insistent on getting a full-size, real tree my first Christmas not living at home.
Normally I'd be at college, but I was home for the holidays. My parents and my two older brothers were coming down the day after Christmas, but tonight was Christmas Eve and they hadn't made it up in time for the blizzard that had recently come on. They all lived in Florida, and I was way up in Michigan.
So here I was, spending Christmas all alone but for my two cats in my shoebox house. No wonder my mind was getting away with thinking the tree could be human.
The reason I thought this was because I had the funniest feeling about it. When I had gone to pick it up from the grocery store (no tree farms this year), it had seemed to call to me.
Once I got it home and it was all decorated, I received a surprise visit from my next-door neighbors, eight year-old Sophie and her mother Maria. The two lived alone, so it wasn't a surprise that overworked Maria often brought her excitable daughter over to be babysat when she needed to get something done. That visit went something like this:
Maria: "Hello, Sara. I trust your day has been going well so far?"
Me: "Yeah, thanks. I just managed to get my tree up." I gestured to the thing that now dominated half my living room.
Sophie: "Oh, my god! You have a real tree! Whoa, it's so big! And it smells great! Mom and I never have a real tree. We just have a little small one at home. But we can only fit, like, three ornaments on it. Wow, you must have a bazillion on yours!"
Me: "Well, not quite. Close enough, though. I've definitely brought enough with me from my childhood."
Maria: "Your tree is beautiful, Sara. You should have called us over, though, we could have helped you if you needed it."
Me: "Oh, no. I was able to get it up alright."
Sophie: "I would've helped you, Sara! I'm good at helping. Mom says that I can help with anything. I helped with our tree!"
Maria: "Sophie, honey, don't knock the tree over. That'd be a lot more work for Sara."
Sophie: "No, I would have helped if it fell!"
Maria: "I'm sure you would have." She turned to me. "I'm terribly sorry to ask this, but I have some preparations to do before I can settle down with this one for Christmas Eve. You know, more presents to wrap." She whispered the last part, as Sophie probably would have about burst a spring if she'd overheard.
Me: "Of course. I'd be happy to."
At that point, Maria thanked me, said goodbye to Sophie, and left us alone with the tree. After that, I busied myself wrapping presents for my family ("You got your mom pots and pans for Christmas?" Sophie asked in disgust) while Sophie, who had said she would help, had fun on the floor getting tangled up in the ribbon. After ten or so minutes of this, Sophie got bored.
Sophie: "Sara?"
Me: "Yes, Sophie?"
Sophie: "Is your tree a boy or a girl?"
Me: "What?" I cocked my head at her.
Sophie: "Look at it, Sara. Beautiful tree like that-it has to be more than just a tree." She whispered these words, as if in awe at the beauty of my tree. I laughed.
