All I Wish for Christmas

Five years later, Tilly was no longer one of the youngest ornaments, well established in the rhythm of Christmas. This year, Alexa had moved into a large flat closer to downtown in the city having graduated from college with a Masters in Business Administration and embarking upon her way up the ladder at the major advertising agency she’d gotten hired with right out of school. The job must be paying off, the ornaments and toys thought this year, as the new view of the nighttime cityscape, sparkling beneath their upper-floor living room window was spectacular.

Alexa’s small four-foot tree had also been exchanged this year for a taller, six-foot tree and beautiful, shiny blue and red bulbs and lush garland accompanied the usual ornaments who now had more room between them with the larger limbs.

Tilly and Robin were trying to corral the five tiny skater children who, by day, were magnetized to a track that ‘skated’ them in a circle on a musical ice rink display. By night, they were quite rambunctious and full of Christmas Magic, skating their way across the small, polished table in front of the large window overlooking the city.

“Stay away from the edge, Billy! You’re going to fall into the air vent, and I promise you, you won’t like it down there much,” Robin scolded in her sing-song voice, as she hopped around the table and fluttered her blue robin wings.

“Yeah, we’re in a big city where big rats live, and I’m pretty sure they live down in holes like that!” Tilly piped up behind them as she grabbed Scarlet and George by their coats as they slid on the freshly oiled wood. “Can’t you kids play somewhere else?”

She hoped that by the end of the next four weeks, the kids would be settled down a bit more. They’d been a gift from Alexa’s sister, and a headache to keep out of trouble, constantly running around and bumping into things. She loved their playfulness and adored each one of them, and it wouldn’t have been so bad if so many of the decorations weren’t just so breakable. Being plastic themselves, the children didn’t quite understand the concept of breaking. Tilly fully intended to get them more well-behaved before an accident happened.

When she wasn’t babysitting, Tilly often spent her time on Alexa’s office bookshelf. She enjoyed going through their lovely life-bringer’s books. There were college textbooks, other informative books, and several fictional novels. It was no secret that she read all of Alexa’s books, often telling her friends tidbits of information she’d read, or would create fantastic retellings of chapters from exciting novels. The skater children especially enjoyed her renditions. But her personal favorites were the historic fiction fairy tale romance novels, where the knight or prince would have to save the damsel in distress. Then, once rescued, they’d fall in love and live happily ever after.

The first week of December had come to an end, and Tilly and Dolly had just been pondering whether or not Alexa would buy a new decoration or ornament this year, since she’d upgraded the tree. “That might be a big enough purchase for her,” Dolly mentioned, knowing Alexa was usually pretty frugal with her money. They also didn’t expect any of Alexa’s childhood toys to come this year, as her parents had given her some fancy dishes to go with her new apartment.

The next night, Tilly awoke to find this year’s newcomer, standing tall and proud on the tabletop by the giant window, to the right of the cream-colored candle display in the center, and opposite of the ice-skating kids’ display. His bold green eyes were trained on the tree, and Tilly, having been positioned facing the window, had the opportunity to see his first magical awakening in his new home. She recently read Alexa’s program from the ballet she’d attended Friday night, and Tilly knew exactly what this handsome gentleman was.

A nutcracker!

Dressed in a dark green painted uniform, with accents of equally vibrant, but dark reds, and bejeweled with golden thread tassels and shiny red sequins, he stood tall and straight. The only slightly unkempt bit being his bushy black beard and hair coming from under his tall military cap. Yet, his mustache was finely painted with precision under his sharply jutting nose. Tilly had never seen such a fine-looking gentleman. Not that the wise men and elves didn’t keep their appearances up, but this decoration was the epitome of pristine details and fine lines. He was beautiful and handsome—bold, but not flashy. He was perfect!

“Hello!” Tilly called out as she fluttered across to the tabletop, alighting gently onto the surface.

It took the soldier a moment to grasp his surroundings and finally he cleared his throat, addressing Tilly with all seriousness as he took off his hat and bowed slightly, “Madam. Captain Tinsel at your service.”

Tilly blushed at the formality, and tried to contain her giggling smile, not used to such treatment as everyone else was just so familiar and family-like. Extending her hand to shake his, Tilly replied, “Nice to meet you, Captain Tinsel. I’m Tilly Tip…”

Tilly trailed off, for instead of shaking her hand as anyone else would have, the nutcracker, who had at least another inch on her two inches, bent at the waist again, taking her ceramic hand softly in his wooden one, looked her in the eyes with his piercing green ones, and gently kissed the back of her hand.

Unexpectedly, Tilly’s wings quivered with delight at the handsome soldier’s gentlemanly attention, as if he were taken from a page in one of Alexa’s novels. The little angel momentarily wondered about the sudden fluttering in her stomach. It slightly reminded her of how she used to feel when Glint would flirt that first year he’d arrived, yet this was different.

“Tilly’s found a newcomer! Up there, on the table!” someone called out.

“Ooh, a nutcracker! Isn’t he dreamy?” Tilly recognized Clementine’s voice.

“Dreamy...? That’s exactly what he is!” she thought to herself as he released his hold on her hand and straightened again, giving her an equally dreamy smile. She backed off a little as several of her friends made their way over, climbing or flying to the top of the table to greet the Captain. He held her gaze a bit longer before turning to acknowledge the elves who’d arrived next. Tilly introduced them, then to Balthazar, and the rest of the Nativity set next.

“Captain Tinsel, am I correct in assuming that this is your first Christmas?” Balthazar queried.

The wooden soldier shook his head, “No, sir. Well sir, it is my first Christmas in a traditional setting. But before this I was on display at the Fountain of Words bookstore on 75th Avenue. I served six years at that post, and this year would have been my seventh, but the shop has gone out of business and everything, to include the Christmas ornamentation, has apparently been sold.”

“Oh, Alexa loves books, and I’ve seen some receipts from Fountain of Words in her office. I’ll bet she was very disappointed that it was closing,” Tilly interjected.

“Tilly is our resident bookworm,” Oliver added lightheartedly, and Tilly cringed inside at the idea of being compared to a worm in front of the Captain. Normally, she wouldn’t have thought a thing about it, but the connotation mattered to her all of a sudden. Rocking back and forth on her heels, Tilly blushed, “I’ve been known to read a bit.”

Balthazar laughed, “‘A bit’ is putting it mildly. Tilly is full of information she’s garnered from Alexa’s books. She also keeps us all posted on Alexa’s whereabouts and news as she keeps tabs on the mail and any other information she can get.”

Tilly blushed even more now, feeling somewhat embarrassed at the gushing attention from her friend and mentor. Surely, the Captain wouldn’t be interested in her hobbies. But to her surprise, the nutcracker regarded her again, tilting his head to her, “Miss Tilly, information gathering and a penchant for expanding one’s knowledge are very valuable traits from where I come from.”

Well! When you put it that way, my hobby doesn’t sound silly at all, Tilly thought to herself as she turned an even brighter pink that she already was. Speechless, she smiled helplessly while her heart and stomach fluttered more than it had before. Nope, her attraction to Glint all those years ago had nothing on what the nutcracker was doing to her emotions now.

“Well then, since Captain Tinsel is familiar with the idea of Christmas and his overall presence here, Tilly, why don’t you show him around and introduce him to everyone so he can feel more at home?”

“Me?” Tilly squeaked back to Balthazar. Not that she hadn’t taken other newcomers under her wing—figuratively—in the past, but she wasn’t expecting the wise man to suggest she be Captain Tinsel’s guide. Balthazar nodded, “Yes, you both seem to have some common ground, which will make his transition easier.”

Before she could say anything in return, the Captain turned and bowed again, “It would be an honor to have you as my guide, Miss Tilly, if you don’t mind educating a soldier on the finer art of domesticated living.”

Tilly heard the tittering giggles of the faceless angel triplets and would have joined them herself if she were watching the scene unfold, instead of being in it at this very moment—and, if she weren’t overwhelmed by the romantically proper ornament who might as well have stepped right out of one of her fairy tales. “Uh, no! I wouldn’t mind at all!” she finally ushered, leading the way with introductions.

Starting with those who’d come to greet him first, Tilly took him around the entire living room. While she flew to the ground, Captain Tinsel had no problem climbing furniture to get to places where others resided. He’d apparently had a talent for rappelling down bookcases and scaling other obstacles from his tenure at the bookstore, and Tilly was impressed.

It didn’t take long for the pair to fall into an easy conversation, despite Tilly’s initial nerves. Balthazar had been right, they did have a lot in common, and soon she felt more at ease as she launched into discussions about Alexa and the rhythm of Christmastime as a part of Alexa’s household. By the time Captain Tinsel had met everyone, there wasn’t much of the night left and Tilly circled back to the nutcracker’s table, “Well, I suppose that’s everyone. I guess I’ll leave you to settle in on your own for a bit before sunrise and I will see you tomorrow.”

Captain Tinsel smiled warmly, and as he’d done when they’d met, bowed slightly, “Tilly, you’ve been a wonderful hostess this evening. Thank you. I do hope that I will not be a bother if I ask for your company tomorrow night for a tour of that office space you spoke of earlier?”

Tilly’s heart welled up again; he wanted to spend more time with her, and he really did want to see where Alexa’s books were stored. “Oh, that would be just fine!” she beamed back at him.

“The sight of bookshelves may make me feel more at home,” the Captain replied with a jesting smile to Tilly’s surprise. “Until tomorrow,” he bid his farewell and effortlessly shimmied up the curved table leg, leaving Tilly to watch him from below.

Finally, flying up to her own perch, Tilly set herself on the branch, resting her chin in her hands as she sat cross-legged, suddenly noticing the clear view she had of the soldier just below. The chivalrous Captain was on the windowsill, scanning the landscape out the window, his back turned to her.

Tilly smiled to herself as she sighed. He’s everything I’ve read about fairy tale heroes and is every bit a gentleman. Then smiling even more, she realized that he had kissed only her hand upon meeting. None of the other ladies had the same privilege.

What does that mean? she wondered. Until tomorrow, Captain.