A Series of First Christmases
Part I: Christmas Eve, 2026
“It’s still pretty early, should we watch a Christmas movie?” Emily asked from the living as Zion was pouring two glasses of wine in the kitchen. They finished pouring the drinks and sat down beside their wife on the couch. This was the first Christmas they were spending together as a married couple and they had closed the bakery early today so they could have dinner and go to church with Zion’s family. They were also keeping it closed tomorrow so they could spend the day together and have dinner with Emily’s parents.
“That sounds like a great idea.” They responded, handing her one of the glasses. They tucked their knees into their chest, gently leaning against her as the two debated their options. They watched their movie, refilling their glasses a few times and just silently enjoying each other’s company. They changed positions a few times over the course of the film but by the end of it, Emily was sleeping with her head on their shoulder.
“Did I fall asleep?” She asked sleepily, waking up just as the credits started rolling. Zion laughed and nodded.
“Yeah, you did.” They responded, gently running their hands through their hair. She sat up straight, letting Zion stand up and they walked over to the Christmas tree in the corner of the room. They picked up a small box from under it and brought it back to where their wife was sitting. “Why don’t you open this one early?”
Emily took the box with a smile, delicately ripping the wrapping paper. Underneath was a small white box. She lifted the lid, revealing a silver snowflake ornament. The ornament was a photo frame and in the middle was a photograph of them on their wedding day. Emily took the ornament in her fingers, admiring it.
“Zion!” She exclaimed, her smile widening. “This is beautiful! Thank you.” She kissed them before resting her head against theirs.
“I wanted us to have something to commemorate our first Christmas being married.”
“Let me put it on the tree.” She stood up, beaming, and walked over to their Christmas tree. After scanning it for a few moments, she selected the perfect spot for the ornament and placed it on the tree before returning to Zion’s arms. “Merry Christmas, Zion.” She said as she snuggled into them.
“Merry Christmas, Emily.”
Part II: Christmas Day, 2032
Zion turned the oven light on, bending down to check on the cookies that they were baking. As they stood up, the doorbell rang.
“Zi, can you get that?” Emily called from upstairs. “It’s probably your brother.”
“On it!” They responded, walking to the front door. They opened it, revealing their brother and his family behind it. They greeted Christian first, then Kevin and then lowered themself to Athena’s level to talk to her. “Merry Christmas, Athena.”
“Merry Christmas.”
This was Athena’s first time spending Christmas with them and her dad had explained to Zion and Emily that the holiday was hard for her after the divorce. This would be her first “normal” Christmas in years. It showed in her body language. She was guarded, small. Her gaze was pointed down, even as she spoke to Zion, who was currently at her level. Simply put, she looked uncomfortable. As if she wasn’t sure what to expect.
“Athena, do you know what I have in the oven right now?”
“No.”
“I have Christmas cookies. Me and Aunt Emily baked them this afternoon. I think they’re ready, do you want to come see?” Athena nodded and Zion stood up, gesturing for the girl to follow them. She did so eagerly and when they took the cookies out of the oven, they turned around to find Athena looking at photos they had on display.
“Is that Chris?” She asked, pointing to a picture of them and their brother at Zion’s high school graduation. Zion set down the tray of cookies and walked over to Athena. They smiled as they looked at the picture, nodding to the girl to answer her question.
“It is! That’s from my high school graduation. Chris was 16 in that photo.”
“That’s a long time ago.” Zion laughed because they knew that she was insinuating that they were both old but she was right. It had been a long time since they’d graduated from high school. Now it felt like ages ago.
“I hadn’t even met Emily yet.”
They continued to look at the photos Zion and Emily had on display and Athena wanted to know the story behind each one. Zion happily told her all of them and by the time they were done, the cookies had cooled enough to be eaten.
Part III: Christmas Day, 2034
Zion was woken up by soft knocks on their door. Xavier had a tendency to wake up in the night, more often than not, needing comfort, and so over the past few months, Zion had become a light sleeper. They got out of bed and went to their door, finding a smiling Xavier standing behind it, his dog standing beside him, wagging his tail.
“Merry Christmas, Dama.” Xavier’s smile became contagious and Zion found themself grinning from ear to ear. This year would be their first celebrating Christmas as a parent and they couldn’t tell who was more excited, Xavier or them and Emily. They pulled him into a tight embrace, seconds later having to loosen it to give room for their wife.
“Merry Christmas, Xavier.” They responded, gently running their hand through his hair. The family migrated down to their living room and Zion watched as their son’s eyes lit up seeing all the gifts under the tree.
“Dante, look!” Xavier said to his furry friend as he found the Christmasy collar hanging beside the small stocking bearing Dante’s name. He showed it to him before getting his dog to sit so that he could exchange his collar for the new one and take a picture of Dante and his new festive accessory. The family continued their gift exchange, Zion having to hold back happy tears because of how perfect this moment with their finally complete family felt. At the end there was only one gift left.
“Xavier, I think that one is for you.” Emily directed, pointing to the lonely slim box under the tree. Xavier crawled under the tree to retrieve it, sitting back down with his parents before carefully unwrapping the gift and lifting the lid off of the box. Inside was a watch with a brown leather strap. He took the watch out of the box, running his fingers along the strap.
“Turn it over.” Zion instructed. Their son nodded and then did what he was told, turning over the watch to reveal an inscription of his full name and birthday on the back of the watch face. For a moment, he was quiet as he ran his finger over the inscription. “Do you like it?” He nodded.
“Mom, look.” He finally spoke, motioning for Emily to come closer to him. She complimented the watch before pulling him close. This triggered a chain reaction as Xavier put his arm around Zion, pulling them in as well. “This is the best Christmas ever."
The End