Each December, my husband hefts a fir-tree over his left shoulder and carries it home. The last two Yuletides it has been wet and miserable, sideways wind and rain, yet he has done it anyway. We live in an area that offers free delivery of the Douglas Fir or Norwegian Spruce of your choice, yet he declines. My husband doesn’t dress in ratty clothes and play burly lumberjack for an afternoon to prove anything to himself. He is not the type of man who needs to chop or hunt or drag things back to his lair in order to reaffirm his masculinity. He carries the tree for one reason, and one reason only.
Me.
He does it because he knows it reminds me of when we met, when he was a young flower vendor who stood in the cold and sold birds of paradise to well-heeled ladies and high-heeled girls on the streets of London. He knows it reminds me of a time when his hands were rough and calloused and stained with resin, when our voices were rough and calloused from the cigarettes we smoked. A time when our hearts were rough and calloused from other break-ups, other loves and other hurts.
It reminds me of a time when we were still mapping out the details of our relationship. Back then the time between trans-Atlantic flights and nightly phone calls seemed to move slower than normal; concrete blocks attached to the second-hand of the clock. Now it seems we scroll through days and months and even years. We find ourselves sitting down in December, looking backward. Another year gone by in the blink of an eye.
Ours was a holiday romance. A love story bookended by pumpkin pie and champagne corks. We met on Thanksgiving and four weeks later I stuffed all my hope in a duffel bag with some jeans and flew to London on Christmas Day. He met me at the airport, those impossibly long legs of his dangling from the railing he was sitting on as he waited for me. As we drove through the streets of London, over what would become my favorite bridge, that little seedling of hope burst into full flower. Three years later, on the eve of a new millennium, he asked me to marry him as we stepped from one century to the next.
I’ve never looked back. Not once.
We have changed, of course. I am heavier and he is grayer. We’ve quit smoking. Had a few kids. Moved a few times. He’s gone from working on a flower stall on the King’s Road in London, rough hands and dirt stained jeans to working in an office for an international organization. I’ve gone from New York City girl, jaded and black-clad, hopping from one job to the next to quasi-suburban housewife. We’ve switched from beer to wine. We spend more money on cheese. Our social life is more Sunday dinners than Friday nights at the pub.
Yet, underneath it all is the boy I met that Thanksgiving all those years ago; the one who ate my pumpkin pie and knew his way around Shakespeare. Under the gray hair is the tall, lanky young man who met me at the airport on Christmas Day, sitting on a railing, legs dangling, a shy smile on his face. Our middle-aged (oh, how that hurts!) bodies are pockmarked by time, our hearts bear the scars of the times we’ve hurt one another. You cannot love someone for as long as this without leaving behind a few battle scars. His hands are not rough and calloused, my heart is not bruised. We are the same, but different. Better.
Years and vows and anniversaries later, he framed a print of Millais’s Ophelia, a nod to the night we met. And every year, despite the weather, we choose a tree. He hefts it onto his shoulder and I get all squishy inside, and fall in love just a little bit all over again, remembering.
Happy Christmas, my Flower Man. All I want for Christmas is…
this.
Wine and Cheese (Doodles) 
Oh, what a lovely story. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Merry Christmas to you, your once-a-year lumberjack and your kids.
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Thanks Elyse, and to you too! I like that..once a year lumberjack. I think I shall tuck it away for later use. Merry Christmas, Elyse. All the best for a wonderful holiday season.
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Awww, this is beautiful.
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Thanks, GF. And Happy Holidays to you ;-).
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What a lovely tribute to your husband. Merry Christmas.
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And the same to you!
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I think I’ve got something in my eye….A wonderful read. Merry Christmas to you all!
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You do have a way to my heart, love hearing that story, never get tired of it!
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It’s a good one. I’ve got a lot of mileage out of it 😉
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Gorgeous writing, as always. Have a lovely holiday.
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Thank you, Cherry. I hope you’ve had a lovely one as well!
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Yep, that is a lovely story, and well told. Happy Holidays.
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Thank you. It was nice to experience it the first time and relive it a little bit every December. Happy Holidays!
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I love these beautiful glimpses into your and Mr WC(D)’s shared past. I love the story of who you both were and following the trajectory before I was lucky enough to get to know you(s).
Happy holidays to you all! xx
FYI I was thinking of Santa’s fleshy colored sacks the other day…
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Happy holidays to you both as well! It’s hard to forget Santa and his flesh colored sacks, isn’t it? Once you’ve seen them, you can’t un-see them. They’re like Herpes. They’re with you forever ;-).
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Enjoyed reading your love story.
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Thank you very much! I’m glad I have the story to tell :-).
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I’ve nominated you for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award! Hop over to my blog to find out more! http://www.sensitiveandextraordinary.com/very-inspiring-blogger-award/
Merry Christmas! 🙂
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Thank you very much for the nod!
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Absolutely love your blog!
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That was beautiful way to tell a beautiful story!
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Thank you so much! Sometimes, in the middle of dark, cold Danish afternoon, it’s a nice way to warm up, with a cup of tea and a nice memory.
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Bravo bravo Bravo that was a wonderful wonderful wonderful story I think that really did happen somehow to you maybe not and just does it backwards but somehow it was something like that I wish something like that was like that from my mom and dad they been together like 36 37 years now and they still don’t get along together I want to read that story it breaks my heart because I feel like my mom and dad don’t know what true love is but yet they had me and my sister and I don’t feel like with the 32 years of my life I’ve been alive their relationship is never gotten any better but they’re still together and I’m sure one day they’ll be a story behind it and hopefully I’ll be able to blog on here about it thank you for the story it was very very heartwarming and touching and made me think a lot about my parent and thank god you’re still alive and hope they have many more years of living on this earth because when they do pass away I don’t know what I’m going to do with my life once again thank you thank you for that story
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Thanks for sharing – I love your description of your memory of callouses and the bit when you packed all your hopes in a duffel bag. Merry xmas to you and your family.
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Thank you! I do like a good callous ;-). I hope you’re enjoying your time in DK.
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Reblogged this on Wine and Cheese (Doodles) and commented:
I get my husband back for the holidays tonight. Seemed fitting!
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Such a sweet story. I think it’s a winnner. ❤️
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Agreed, a winner. You, your family too…merry Christmas! Here’s to more money spent on cheese, less beer, more Sunday night dinners too. I’m with you on that. Cheers! Bill
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