Christmas was her favorite holiday. She always said it was the joy of it all: gifts, decorations, lights, holiday cheer, family, friends, and the general atmosphere of such a special time of year. She especially loved the snow. Ah yes, twas always the snow that made Christmas complete. She loved nothing more than waking up early Christmas morning, looking out the window and seeing a flurry of white covering the ground in its entirety. It was a sight that would always make her smile and feel warm inside. And whenever she would smile, I would smile, too, and be enveloped by a feeling of warmth, seeing her love for the beauty of the season. She always said that there was something special about the season, something she couldn't explain, but knew was present in all our lives.
And she would say that it was the spirit of the season that brought us together. Perhaps it truly was fate's doing that guided us together, both out Christmas shopping, as ironic as it may seem. Two weeks before Christmas and I had yet to commence the task known as holiday shopping. I was indeed a procrastinator at heart, despite what people may say about me. Yes, two weeks before Christmas and I had yet to form even a mental list of gifts, let alone buy a single one. And being packed in a department store with at least two hundred other shoppers, grabbing all the merchandise in sight, was definitely not the way I wanted to spend a Saturday morning. Two hundred shoppers and I was the sole one, standing in the middle of it all, with the most confused and perplexed look on my face. No wonder Carla spotted me and my dumbfounded daze; in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she saw it from the other end of the store. I still remember that day, as if it was etched in my memory for eternity.
"Hey," she said, her voice an angel's melody in my ears. I focused my attention onto her when she spoke and saw the most beautiful person alive. I must confess that it was not her angelic face that first attracted me to her, nor was it her slight but attractive smile, her shimmering shoulder length brown hair, her five and a half foot slim frame, the slight curves of her hips, or even her plentiful, though not overly ample chest. And it would not be her playful, adventurous personality, her somewhat unorthodox humor, her never ceasing creativity, or that certain charm and dignity, that I would quickly learn about her, either. Nay, what I can say ignited the first spark of love were her eyes. Those sparkling, green eyes with such a warm, mysterious stare, would something I would always think of first at the mention of her name.
"You look lost," she said, smiling up at me, looking at me with those eyes.
Such a perfect creature she is, pitying a person like me. Why else would anyone, for that matter, approach someone that was obviously out of place, other than out of pity? But I'd take pity any day when coming from someone like Carla. Thoughts raced through my head, trying desperately to think of a suave response, but all that I could come up with?
"Yeah," was the brilliant response, trailing off at the end. At least she laughed at that remark, but on the other hand she loved to laugh, and laughed at everything that was remotely funny. If nothing else, her laughter meant she was happy, and her love to laugh made it that much easier for me to cheer her up. She looked as if she were no older than I at twenty-two, but something made it seem as if she were full of innocence, but wise beyond her years.
I did finish most of my shopping that day, but not without the help of Carla, who, it seemed, had the uncanny ability to navigate through the string of shoppers and managed to locate almost everything you could think of with relative ease. What would have taken me until closing time with only half of the list complete, I finished...no...we finished in time for lunch. In the mere hours that I had known her, I knew that I never wanted to lose her.
"See, shopping isn't all that hard," she playfully gloated when we had sat down to some lunch, my treat of course. After all, it was the least that I could do for all she had down.
"Maybe it comes easy for you, but I don't plan to do this for another year," I had replied.
"Gonna wait last minute again?" she asked, to which I nodded. "Haven't you learned anything from last minute shopping?"
"Hey, if all else fails, I just might give you a call to come down to help me with all this. After all, it seems that you absolutely adore shopping."
"You've known me four hours and already you've formed an opinion about me?" she asked.
"Well, it does seem like you enjoy shopping," I said.
"Yeah, that may be true, but it's not like my life revolves around shopping," she retorted, with a smile. Yes, only she could pull something like that off without any mixed signals of what it is she meant.
"My shopping is done for the most part," I said, tossing the leftovers into a garbage can, "but what about you? Don't you need to do some shopping. After all, isn't that why you came to the mall, because I know that you didn't plan on helping out some pathetically lost person like myself."
"Actually, I finished my shopping over the last two weeks. I'm just here for some last minute window shopping, seeing if there's anything that I may buy for myself for a change."
"And you don't mind the crowds?" I had asked. And all she did was smile and take a sip of her coffee.
We had stayed at the mall for another couple hours or so, doing nothing but wandering through the departments. I cannot honestly remember anything that we had talked about, or remember much about that afternoon, except that I was in awe of her beauty and I did get her number as we parted ways that afternoon, the sun already sinking in the sky as we drove off in opposite directions.
I had called that very night. Yes, that may have been desperate, but I was never good at playing it cool. We had our first date a week later and for a week, I could do nothing but think about what I was going to have planned for our date. Honestly, I drew a total blank and could not come up with anything better than a dinner and a movie. Or if you wanted to get technical with it, you could say that I came up with brilliant ideas for the perfect first date, but a dinner and a movie was the only thing that could fit into my budget...barely. All complications aside, though, it was a relatively smooth date. Nothing went terribly wrong, though it was semi-embarrassing when I came three dollars and thirty-five cents short for snacks at the concession stand. What has become of the world when a pack of Kit-Kats costs me two dollars and fifty cents? It became a joke of ours when she would randomly remind me of the three thirty-five that I never did pay back.
And so when the night ended, I had learned much more about her and held such a high level of respect and admiration for her in my heart. And when we stood at her doorstep that night and said our good-nights, it was the most awkward moment of my life. I knew not what to say or to do and it became an opportunity for Carla to laugh, though at my expense, to which I did not mind too much. At least it broke the awkward tension between us. In the end, we parted ways on good terms, me knowing a great deal more about this person whose life I wanted to be a part of, and her with a last minute good-night peck on the cheek.
Knowing and dating each other for two weeks, I felt obliged to go shopping once again, for her Christmas gift. Unfortunately, I did not know her well enough to pick out a gift for her when it seemed as if she deserved it all. So I had to settle for a best-seller novel that I gave her as well as chocolates and roses that were delivered to her home first thing in the morning. And I had thought roses were expensive around Valentine's Day. She had given me a gift certificate to be used online, saying that I "would never have to walk into another mall again." What I remember most of that first Christmas of ours was how it snowed. It was then that I learned of her love for the season. Christmas afternoon, we strolled down the shoveled paths in the park, empty of all people. It was still snowing lightly and we were wrapped up tightly in layer of sweaters, gloves, and hats. I remember her holding on to my arm as we walked with a firm grip, smiling without cease as we strolled onward.
That next year together, we did our Christmas shopping together. She had to literally drag me out of my apartment to do some shopping. "I don't want you to wait until last minute," was her response to my refusal to budge. We did not finish all of our shopping at once, but eventually over the course of about a month, we did finish our holiday shopping. Part of me was too lazy to consider shopping before Thanksgiving was even finished, but another part of me was relieved that the stress that was no longer there at last minute shopping.
After saving every penny for a year, I felt that I could get Carla something that would show my love to her, even if she deserved much more. I cannot even begin to describe the joy on her face as she opened up the little silver box and lifted up the necklace with the crystal pendant of a snowflake. Her eyes glittered with awe as she admired the gift. The pendant glittered and reflected the colors of the Christmas tree lights as I helped clasp the necklace around her neck. That was an especially white Christmas, if I remember correctly. I recall that it snowed heavily during that week of the Christmas holiday and up to the New Year celebration. In fact, that was why Carla's parents could not make their visit on Christmas Eve, but the day after Christmas. As I recollect, she was indeed depressed that her parents wouldn't be able to arrive that day, or even on Christmas, but sometime after, which in all reality was indeed too late for the planned celebration; much of the Christmas dinner that she hopefully prepared was stored away, save some for ourselves, that we ate in silence. All the while I was comforting her disappointment, not at the weather, no never the snow, but that they hadn't decided to come a week earlier as planned and be there for Christmas. But by the time dinner and wine was finished, and she had reluctantly opened her gift from me, refusing to open any from other friends without her family nearby, her sorrow was diminished and replaced by an abundance of joy that even the blind and deaf could now miss.
"Now its time for your present," she had said, smiling broadly. She got up off the couch and started walking up the stairs. I quickly followed her up the stairs and into her bedroom.
"Here's your gift," she said, fanning her arms outwards as if she were presenting something.
