Christmas Lightsabers

 

It was a small apartment located a quick walk from downtown Brevard. The type where you could stand in the hallway and touch the bathroom door, both bedroom doors, and the kitchen bar. The space normally allocated for a dishwasher was occupied by a stacked washer/dryer—the door kinda latched and you’d get the random piece of clothing thrown at you.

I enjoyed walking to downtown, especially at Christmas. On those walks I relished in the mountain air, so cold you could see your breath, people bustling about from small shop to small shop, the steady flow of amber-lit snowflakes mounted to light poles, and a Christmas tree at least 20 feet tall with ornaments the size of my face.

Inside the apartment, Elle and I had decorated a three-foot-tall tree that sat beside a black IKEA cube-style bookshelf. The multi-colored lights danced along the mustard yellow walls. Her stocking was pinned to the wall, and a UNC blue Elf on the Shelf kept careful watch over the whole scene.

The week before Christmas, all of my shopping was done and we had nothing but time on our hands. This time, Elle and I drove the Jeep to downtown Brevard and saw the new Star Wars movie at the one-screen Co-Ed Cinema. She was so enthralled with the film that she clapped at the end. We took another short drive to Marco Trattoria for some very good Italian food to round out the night.

This Christmas was also mine and Matty’s first Christmas together. We were in the beginning of our journey together. She was going to spend the first part of it with her family, then drive up to spend the rest with me. Leading up to Christmas, it was all I could do to contain my excitement. I felt like a six-year-old sneaking a 2am peek at the living room to see if Santa had shown up yet.

Christmas arrived with shiny wrapped gifts, a stocking full of candy and small trinkets, milk and cookies carefully placed on the bar, and wrapping paper strewn about the living room. Elle, at her young age and with her own money, had purchased me a koozie and a football-themed ceiling-fan chain pull.

After a dark multi-hour drive through Atlanta, parts of South Carolina, and some of WNC, Matty arrived. I met her in the parking lot and helped her bring presents and bags up the stairs and into the apartment. With limited funds, we exchanged presents. She gifted me a Tervis tumbler adorned with the same Star Wars characters that Elle and I had watched earlier in the week, and a couple of boxes of my favorite cereal!

The next morning I thought I heard a creak and a cracking. No, it must have been my imagination. But, there it was again, I definitely heard something. I then realized what was happening. That minuscule apartment was bursting at the seams from all the joy, love, and Christmas magic that it had held.