All I Wish for Christmas

Tilly’s first memory on her nineteenth Christmas began on a cold, rainy night around the first of December. Not unlike her first Christmas ever, it was dark at first, yet she could hear what sounded like a carriage drawn by horses down a cobblestone street outside the window, and the smell of recently baked cookies emanated throughout the house. She felt the wonderfully familiar prickle of the plastic pine needles against her back, and opened her eyes to find a very different living room than the one they’d had before. She inhaled deeply, happy to be once again warm and alive with the magic of the Christmas Spirit. As her senses came into focus, the first tangible thing to come to her mind was the devastatingly cute, but terribly worried snowboy she promised to miss over the last eleven months.

“Sammy!” She called out, quickly unhooking herself from the limb above her, recalling how she’d gone to unhook him each night last year as his arms were too short and he couldn’t get himself down. “Sammy, I’m coming!”

She had no idea where Alexa and Bill would have placed the snowboy, but she had to find him before he got scared. Skirting down the tree, Tilly stopped at every other row of branches to listen for him, nodding, smiling, and wishing those she passed on her way a Merry Christmas. The faces were all familiar, either from years past with Alexa or from last year when Bill’s ornaments joined the family.

“Sammy?” Tilly thought she saw what could have been his little snow-body, but it was only the white cotton ball belly of Mr. Christmas, the holiday mouse that Bill had made when he was a little boy in elementary school. The elderly mouse had been re-glued several times over the years, but was still pretty spry for being made solely of mostly gray-colored cotton balls, felt feet, hot glue, yarn for a tail, and googly eyes.

“Nope, it’s just me,” the mouse replied as Tilly wished him a Merry Christmas and moved nimbly along the branches.

She was just beginning to worry that something horrible had happened and that Sammy’s fears had come true—that he’d been left in a box or lost enroute from the United States during the move—when she heard his familiar giggle. But it wasn’t coming from the tree.

Expanding her wings for the first time in eleven months, Tilly fluttered off the tree, listening for the snowboy again, then catching sight of what had to be his knitted stocking cap or scarf from behind a pine swag decorating the center of the fireplace mantle above the two stockings hung in honor of Alexa and Bill.

Olivia and Oliver had apparently regained their positions on the mantle, one on either end, and Olivia waved from the far side as she caught sight of Tilly bobbing in the air in their direction. “Til! I think what you’re looking for is over here!” she smiled brightly with a twinkle in her eye, pointing to the centrally located swag where Tilly had seen the stocking cap disappear a moment ago.

Just as Tilly landed on the corner next to Olivia, Sammy dashed out from behind the swag, giggling with joy, and all of Tilly’s fears dissipated. Sammy hadn’t expected to see Tilly suddenly standing in front of him, and he stopped, wide-eyed.

“Tilly!” the snowboy exclaimed with elated excitement, “You found me!”

He rushed into her open arms and Tilly squeezed the young snowman tightly in return, “Oh, I did find you! I was so worried when I couldn’t see you in the tree! But I heard you laugh and then saw your...”

She stopped short, glancing up to see Sammy’s more mature and taller twin emerge from behind the pine swag. Catching her breath, Tilly knew this had to be Trevor, Sammy’s missing father. Why she didn’t expect to see him with Sammy, she didn’t know, as it only made sense that the missing ornaments would be reunited with the rest of them this year, just as everyone hoped they would.

“You must be Tilly,” the heartthrobbingly cute snowman said with an equally adorable smile, and Tilly was suddenly glad she was an angel and not a snowwoman, for she’d have melted for sure.

“Y-yes,” she stuttered before gaining control of her senses. Sammy grabbed her by the hand, pulling her towards the snowman and Olivia giggled behind her as Oliver arrived from the opposite side of the mantle and nudged his sister.

“Tilly, come meet my dad! He’s here! He’s here this year!”

Smiling, Tilly extended her hand to the snowman, “You must be Sammy’s dad.”

“That’s me! The name’s Trevor.” He grasped Tilly’s hand in a firm and sincere handshake and she felt a rush of feelings course through her body. She was beyond happy to have Sammy reunited with his father—that in itself was an emotional event. Yet, she felt as though she already shared a special connection with this good-looking specimen of a snowman, something warm and emotional in its own right. Of course, she thought to herself, they shared the love for the little snowboy standing between them.

“Nice to finally meet you, Trevor,” Tilly ushered back.

“Sammy tells me that you took care of him all last Christmas.”

Tilly laughed, “Oh, it was a bit of a joint effort on everyone’s part.” She tilted her head back towards Olivia and Oliver behind her, “But we did spend a lot of quality time together. You have a very special son.” She smiled down at Sammy who was grinning from ear to ear.

Trevor beamed, “I know. I’m definitely proud of him. Seriously though, thank you for watching out for him. You apparently made last Christmas very special for him, despite what could have been a much worse season, being on his own and all.”

It seemed as though Sammy had wasted no time filling in his father on last year’s events in the short time that they’d been awake this evening. “Oh, even without me, he wouldn’t have been alone. We’re all family here,” Tilly explained honestly, extending her hand out to the room beyond them. Then looking at Sammy she continued, “But, Sammy made my Christmas just as special.” She ended back to Trevor, “I’m just glad that you made it out of storage this year.”

Trevor blushed slightly before smiling back at her, “Thanks, me, too.”

“Uh, we should probably head over to the coffee table to meet up with everyone,” Oliver interrupted, bringing Tilly back to the present, for it seemed as though the world stood still as she and the snowman visited. “Captain and Candy will be wanting to do a head-count soon. And they’ll be anxious to know that you’re here.”

“Yes, we’ll have plenty of time to talk later,” Tilly agreed, blushing.

The twin elves assisted the snow-fellas in getting to ground-level, reminding her of the first Christmas when Balthazar had helped her down the tree before she learned to fly. Olivia and Oliver hurried ahead to the coffee table where the Nativity set was displayed this year, leaving the ceramic ornaments to mosey over on their own. Sammy, ecstatic with the idea of having both his father and Tilly with him this year, grabbed both their hands as he walked between them.

Several ornaments and decorations, also on their way to the meeting place waved their hellos to the trio, some being more familiar with Tilly, and others, who’d known Trevor and Sammy over the years, wishing him a warm welcome back to the group.

“Sammy says that Bill got married to his girl, Alexa,” Trevor pressed for details, looking at Tilly over his son’s bobbing stocking cap as they walked across the hardwood floor.

Tilly liked how he’d called Alexa ‘Bill’s girl,’ and she smiled as she nodded, “Yeah, they just hit their first anniversary a week ago! Bill got orders to Europe, so we’re living overseas now.”

“Oh, wow! He’d been wanting to go overseas for a while. Good for them,” Trevor exclaimed. “So, knowing about military moves, I’m guessing my box ended up in storage, and that’s why my box-mates and I missed out on the holiday last year?”

Tilly nodded, “Yep! We had quite the military operation of our own going on, searching for you guys last year, and even had a platoon put together to venture up to the attic to see if your box was up there.”

Trevor laughed and looked at Sammy between them, “Sounds like quite an adventure, huh, buddy?”

Sammy nodded solemnly, “It was kinda scary.” Simultaneously, Trevor and Tilly squeezed the young snowboy’s hands and Sammy relaxed again. “But, now that we’re all together again, it would be fun to go on a secret military operation this year!”

Arriving at the base of the coffee table with the rest, they waited for Captain and Candy to finish tallying up all the known ornaments, decorations, and toys. In the end, all nine of the ornaments designated as Missing in Action last year had been accounted for this year, much to everyone’s relief.

Balthazar and Candy went about assigning partners to those new to the now-merged group under Bill and Alexa’s combined household. Tilly didn’t need to be officially assigned as Trevor’s guide for the season, as Sammy dictated that on his own, already making plans for the three of them. Not that Tilly minded at all. She found herself very interested in the snowman who Sammy had talked about and missed so much last year, and after meeting him herself, she felt compelled to get to know him better. This was going to be a very different Christmas for all of them, she was sure.