Quite a Tree

My wife and I have been pretty good at playing house. Years before we were married, we put a Christmas tree up in our apartment in Brooklyn, and would surprise each other every now and again with a new ornament one of us had bought at one of the local stores in Park Slope. The tree always looked good, and it always meant a lot to us.

Tonight, the first ornament we put on was an angel holding a book that read “Baby’s First Christmas – 2005.” My wife was holding baby in a sling across her stomach in the “kangaroo” position, and baby watched as her mom’s hand and my hand guided the ornament to its pine bough. Then the wife and I shed a handful of tears. I joked with baby about her sentimental parents, and then her mom and I continued decorating the tree. For reasons both economic and aesthetic, it’s probably the smallest tree we’ve had.

And it’s by far the most beautiful.