"The Spirit of Christmas": The Writers' Spotlight

The Spirit of Christmas
By: Anumitha Arun
My whole life changed on Christmas eve. I never expected anything. I've had the most boring life for ten years. Why should anything interesting happen? and that's where I was wrong. I'd better tell you the whole story.
Ten years back, me and my ornament friends and family were hanging out in a fancy bag in the store. I was just going to tell them a particularly funny joke, but just then a family of four humans came in. My heart started thumping. Was it them? Holly, my sister rolled her eyes. She had the knack of knowing exactly what I was thinking, but for this, I knew that everyone knew what I was thinking. Were they going to BUY us?
"This is so silly, Candy Cane", Holly said.
"Ever since you met that cranky old ornament, you have been crazy."
I sigh. Holly has been ranting about this for days. I hate when she talks about like this about Icicle. He might seem cranky to SOME people, but once you really get to know him, he is the best. I met him about a week ago. He is in a used ornaments bag, right across from us. I was having a horrible day, when I met him. I wanted to get away from everyone. I heard a voice. "Hey kid, why so glum when it is almost Christmas?"
I'd turned to see an ornament shaped like (what else?) an icicle looking at me. He asked. "Do you know the myth of the tree?"
That got me very curious.
"What?" I ask, not bothering to be polite.
The old ornament began. "So, this myth is not really a myth, as I have experienced it. Back when I was a little ornament, as young as you, I'd sit in a dark box in the basement for twelve months and 23 days, till my human family took the box upstairs. They'd open it, and we would be able to hear the cheery tone of Christmas carols. Each year, they hung us up on a branch on their gigantic plastic Christmas tree. The Christmas tree branches are all alive, and they all have very different personalities. Once an ornament is hung on a branch, the ornament and the branch bond. It feels like having a friend, a best friend, who always listens to you. Some of the branches might not be the nicest, but we ornaments find a way to bond with them anyway. But there are never enough ornaments for all the branches. Those unlucky branches try to make friends with the closest branches' ornament, but they are never able to bond. Us ornaments, we are fragile. And the humans, they are careless. They hang us on the very tip of a branch so it is easy to fall. So many of my best friends fell that way and shattered. But I wasn't the only one who grieved. Their branches, their most very best friends, grived the most. They were never the same again. Their personalities changed as fast as lightning. The most loudest and talkative branches became the quietest. The nicest ones became the most mean. With us and the branches, everything is complicated, but I'll tell you one thing: you will never forget the feeling of bonding. It will be something you will treasure in your heart for the rest of your life.", he finished.
I had been transfixed for the whole story, my eyes glazed over. Now I needed to ask a question. "So every year will you bond with a different branch", I ask.
"Yep, now Shoo. I have other things to do than tell stories all day.", the old ornament said.
As I turned away though, I swear I saw Icicle wink at me. So, ever since that incident, I had been SUPER excited for a family to come buy us. So, you see why I was so excited when that family of four came into the shop. They looked like the perfect people to buy us. Then they actually came towards us. Now that I could see them clearly, I could see that the man and woman were a little younger than I thought. They had two children, one boy and one girl. The boy looked about 10 years old and the girl looked 14. The woman immediately spotted us.
"Wow guys! do you see that", she cried.
"They are so pretty!"
The boy takes our bag and puts it in their cart. My eyes grow wide with excitement. As the cart rolls through the rest of the aisles of the store, I became more and more excited. Then the family reaches the checkout place and buys us !!!, but then they see an even bigger cooler box of ornaments and forget us. Those ornaments were beautiful, with glitter, and a special type of glossiness I never had seen before.
"Can we buy these too?" the boy asks his dad.
The dad looks at the mom and she nods excitedly. Then a nightmare happens. "We would like to return this bag of ornaments."
the lady said talking about us. I gasped quietly.
"Sorry Ma'm, but at this store you can't return anything unless it was broken when you bought it."
"Ok" says the mom.
But when we leave the store, I can hear everyone groaning. This didn't seem like a family who loved us! When we got to the families' home, they dumped us in the darkest, moldiest corner of the basement. And that is where I stayed, till now.
I have no idea how much time has passed, but it seems like a lot. I think that we have stayed here for years! but nothing could have prepared me for the truth. A few days later, a piece of paper fell into the basement. It read "Christmas time - 2022 !!"
We had come here on 2012. TEN years. That is how long we stayed in the basement.
On Christmas eve, (the ornaments can always tell when is Christmas), we get a surprise. Someone OPENS THE BASEMENT. This is definitely the most excitement we'd gotten in 10 years. The room suddenly lit up, I never knew there was a light switch in here. I blinked rapidly and squeeze my eyes shut, trying to get them to adjust to the bright light. When they finally do, I see a man walking towards us. He isn't the dad. I can tell that by looking at him. It could be... NO
WAY, was that Harry? Yep, that was definitely him. I could see the resemblance now. The old Harry and this Harry both had those super wide looking green-blue eyes and dark orange hair. They both were tall and had the sharpish nose. But this Harry was a bit more pudgier than the old one.
Harry came over and finally took our box out of the darkest, moldiest, corner of the basement. I bet they were taking us out because they'd broken all of the other ornaments or something. I start feeling some resentments towards them, but then all of my feelings of resentment wash away. I'd always seen pictures of Christmas trees in the store looking so pretty. But this, no pictures would ever be able to capture the pure magnificence of the Christmas tree. It was around 8 ft tall, 9 if you counted the star. It is beautiful. Multi-colored lights were sparkling and it was the most majestic thing I'd ever seen. It was this time when I really, truly felt the Christmas spirit. Then a woman walk towards Harry. Now I am pretty sure that is Hazel. She is still pretty short, but thin and her blonde-orange hair is shorter than before.
"I thought I was supposed to get the ornaments" Hazel says.
"Well, I got them anyway" Harry says back. Hazel rolls her eyes, but says nothing.
She grabs her phone and plays some Christmas music. My heartbeat quickens. I remember Icicle's story, where Christmas music plays right before the ornaments get hung up, on the tree! I was right. Harry grabs the B, as we all call him and hang him. He is the biggest bully in the whole box. We were all glad to get rid of him. Then he takes my sister, Holly, and puts her near the top of the tree. Hazel takes my Mama Snowflake, and hangs her next to Holly. I am glad that they are together. I hope I will be with them too. They keep on hanging the ornaments till its' my turn. I feel something like electricity in my body, making everything go wild, crazy, like got zapped by lightning in a non painful way. Hazel reaches for me, and she takes me. Her warm hands cupped me. I get put in the middle of the tree, next to my other sister, Hot chocolate. "Yes!". I think, Hot chocolate is not only my sister, but she is like my best friend. She is kind and gentle, but she is also a prankster and loves to have fun.
"Hi" I whisper, not wanting the humans to hear us talking.
"Hi" Hot chocolate says back.
"Isn't all this exciting", she asks.
"Definitely" I say.
Then I remember what Icicle said about ornaments and branches bonding. I make sure nobody is looking and twist my body to see my branch. It is pretty ordinary looking with its' realist looking plastic leaves and dark green color.
"Uh, hello" I say nervously, not sure how to introduce myself to a tree branch.
I wait for sometime, but the tree branch does not respond. Hot chocolate looks at me like I am crazy, and I wonder if I was. Had I been tricked by Icicle? Was this some sort of joke for me to make a fool of myself? Just as I really start to feel pretty foolish, waiting to see a plastic branch on a Christmas tree talk to me, it responds. It has a deep voice, so I assume it is male like me.
"Hello, Candy Cane"
WHAT??? How in the world does he know my name?
"What is your name?" I ask quietly, like the branch, not wanting for the humans to hear us.
"You can call me EG", he responds.
"Does it stand for anything?" I ask.
"EG stands for EverGreen" He says.
So far Hot chocolate has been watching me with a bewildered expression on her face. Now she decides to try meeting her branch. I hear her say quietly,
"Hello, my name is Hot chocolate, what is yours?"
Hot chocolate's branch does not wait so long to speak. This branch seems like a young female. She has a perky voice, and seems talkative.
"Hi! My name is Pine. Thanks for being so polite. My old ornament was so mean"
and like that Pine jabbers on and on. If EG had eyes, I'd swear he would have rolled them. Soon all the ornaments are hung up and the humans close our old box and go away. Another ornament had watched Hot chocolate and her branch, and he decided to try introducing himself to his branch too! Soon all ornaments caught wind of the news that the branches are alive. Some branches introduce themselves to the ornaments before they do, and the opposite for others. Soon the room is filled with commotion. Suddenly Harry opens the door.
"I thought I heard some noise in here." he says to himself.
We all instantly quiet down.
"Huh, guess I imagined it." he says and turns to leave.
He closes the door behind him and we all breathe a sigh of relief. Suddenly I feel a little scared. I have never been so high up, so exposed before. It is always humid feeling in the basement. It is a lot colder up here, where we aren't in a safe enclosed space. I had never thought I'd miss living in the darkest, moldiest, corner of the basement. As if he read my mind, my branch says to me,
"My previous ornament felt super nervous when she first got hung. I am pretty sure that is exactly how you are feeling too, wanna play a game?"
"Sure" I respond, not really sure what to feel.
Then EG leads me through a bunch of games, including 20 questions, "Name, Place, Animal, Thing" and Last Letter, including the place version. The whole day passes fast, faster than I imagined it would.
Then it's nighttime. Santa! I have always heard stories about him and most humans don't believe in him, but every one of us ornaments do. I hear a thump, followed by some crunching. I remember there were some cookies left for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. He is here! Then, I see a cheerful looking Elf peek her head out of the fireplace. She looks in all directions and then reports to an unseen person - probably Santa - that the coast is clear. Then a face with the bushiest white beard I have ever seen peeks out. It's Santa! when he, too is sure the coast is clear, Santa and the Elf come out. I can see now that Santa is lugging a huge sack that must be filled with presents. He takes two wrapped packages out of the bag and places them under the tree. An unexpected thought pops into my head. Should I talk to Santa? I don't think this counts as talking to a human. After all, if Santa wasn't there, we'd never have been created. Santa says quietly to the tree.
"Ho, Ho, Ho, have a great Christmas!"
and turns to leave. It is now or never. I take a deep breath and say it.
"Hi Santa"
Santa whips around, and looks everywhere, trying to see who talked. I can tell that all the ornament's eyes have shifted to me, wide, paniced, eventhough I am looking at Santa.
"Uh, Santa" the elf speaks. "I think that it was an ornament who spoke."
I am pretty sure that EG was asleep all this time, but now he woke up. When he realized what was going on, he smiled at me. I speak "Yes, it was me who spoke". More nervous stares from the other ornaments. Now the Elf and Santa see me. Santa smiles at me, and nods, encouraging me to go on. I didn't have anything else to say. I just wanted to talk to Santa, the Heart of Christmas.
"Merry Christmas" I say, "and Thank you for spreading Christmas spirit and joy. I never realized how important that was till seeing this tree, how beautiful and festive it is. Next morning, hundreds of, thousands of, millions of children will wake up to find their presents under the tree. So.. Thank you." I say again.
"Very few of us choose to see the true meaning of Christmas." Santa says. "Thank you for being one of those few. Out of the millions of kids I give presents to, only a few hundred have felt the true Christmas spirit, like you. Christmas can be about getting presents, but really it is about feeling, feeling the beauty of the tree, the love and happiness that is floating all around the room, the joy of everything on Christmas."
"See you all next year." Santa finishes and with a heavy thump Santa is gone.
In the morning, two children, one boy and one girl, who I didn't know ran into the room. (Later I would find out that they are Harry and Hazel's baby brother and sister and their names and ages are, Emma who is 8 and Thomas who is 6 1/2). They grab the presents and tear them open. Thomas got some new binoculars, while Emma got a train set that ran, called the "Polar Express". They both squealed in excitement and ran back to the family to show them what they got. After that they came back.
Emma told thomas "Can you feel the happiness, the magic feel of Christmas?"
Thomas nodded happily. They both then gazed contently at the Christmas tree. And then I could tell that they were also feeling the spirit, adding two more to the few hundred children who felt the spirit of Christmas.
Soon, the family left to go visit their friends, so now we were free to talk as much as we liked. I, like the children, feel content. Over the past few days, I have had lot of events happen in my life. I'd gotten a surprise knowing we'd been in the basement for ten years. I have been hung on a Christmas tree and made a wonderful friend called EG. I have met Santa himself and spoke to him. I have seen the joy of Christmas.
As I glance at EG, I get the feeling that, he is thinking the same thing as me. We both sit there and enjoy our lives for a moment. That was when I felt our bonding. That was when we truly became best friends. A week passes when me and EG get to know each other more and share our feelings to each other. Today, I tell EG something.
"I love you EG" I say.
"I love you too" EG says.
and I realize that we are no longer friends, but family.
Hazel then pokes her head into the room and the unthinkable happens.
"Time to take down you ornaments!" she said cheerfully.
No, this can't be happening. I hardly got to spend any time with EG! But then, with Christmas music blasting out of her phone Hazel unhooks and puts us into our box one by one. I was one of the last to be took down.
"Bye, EG" I say. "I love you"
"I love you, Candy Cane", EG responds.
and then those warm hands of doom cupped me and go down fast, into the box. I take one last, pleading, loving, look at EG and I get put into the box. A few minutes later the lid closes. I wonder if I will ever see EG again, but I knew I wouldn't.
"Thank you for your friendship." I whisper into the air.
and my hunch was right. I never saw EG again, but he was with me in my heart, for the rest of my life.

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