"Christmas Love"

“Christmas Love”

By Tina Lynn

It all began with my grand return to Manhattan, New York. Here I am, back home after two years being gone and I felt the Christmas cheer while I saw the snow covering the ground. When I got off the plane and saw the ground covered in snow.  I close my eyes as the snow is falling on my face and I wish, “I wish I fall in love again.” I stayed with my parents at their house with their three cats. My parents are in their late 60s and they were in full Christmas mode. When my parents picked me up, it was nothing but tears and smiles and hugs. The flight from Boston to New York wasn’t too bad and I was grateful for that.  Coming home can be hard. I had a really serious boyfriend back in high school and when we broke up I was crushed. Next thing you know, I graduated from NYU with a bachelor's in business and now I am starting my own clean, vegan makeup brand. Makeup has always been a passion for me and I feel good that I am doing something with my life that I have a passion for. The start of the company has been going great, I’m partnering with my roommate from college. 

Back at my parents house, the fire was burning, the lights were shining and the Christmas spirit was high. We made hot chocolate and sang Christmas carols. It was beautiful. Being an adopted only child, my life has been interesting… I’m Japanese and my partners are white. I remember growing up seeing all the looks me and my family would get, it was crazy. I never really belonged in school and then that’s when I met him. Freshman year of highschool. I had transferred to Our Lady Mary High School. We both had first period English, for the life of me I can't remember the teacher's name but it was love at first sight. His name is Henry, “H” for Henry and “H” for Hannah. I thought we would get married. Because I am an adopted only child from Japan, I never felt like I belonged, that’s where Henry came in and I had never felt more comfortable or free to be me. He was my angel and I was his princess. We were together for 3 years. We broke up mid senior year due to the fact that we were going to opposite sides of the country for college, he went to a school in  California and I went to NYU. We broke up right before graduation and the month leading up to graduation was hell. I saw him everyday, missed him everyday and loved him everyday, even though breaking up was the right decision, it still hurt. 

On Christmas Eve my aunt and uncle came over and we went to the Christmas Eve service at my parents church. After the service as we were walking out, I saw something in the corner of my eye and I saw Henry holding white tulips, my favorite. My parents looked at me and motioned for me to go over so I did. Henry’s first words to me were, “Just when I thought you couldn’t get more beautiful.” He handed me the tulips and I took them. The moment I took the flowers, a single tear fell from my eye. Henry noticed and asked me what’s wrong, I answered with, “It's just a lot to see you, I don’t know what you want from me. How did you know I would be home and at church tonight?” He smiled and replied, “A little birdy told me.” We talked for a few minutes and then he asked me if I could grab a cup of coffee with him, so I did. My parents were very understanding and thought I should catch up with Henry. The church is actually right around the corner of the church, “Cup of Joy,” so we went there. I was so nervous, my hands were shaking. We sat down and I asked him why he wanted to meet up and he responded with these four words, “I. Still. Love. You.” I was so surprised and shocked that I fell out of my chair and spilled my coffee all over me. I cleaned myself off and then we got back to chatting. He told me that when his little “birdy” told him I was going to be in town, he hopped on the first flight he could from Los Angeles to New York. He said he had to see me and tell me how he felt and he wanted to know if he could have a second shot. I started crying, again. Then I got up and walked out of the restaurant. He followed me outside and looked me in the eyes and asked me what’s wrong. The second I saw his big brown eyes, I felt the melting feeling again. The next thing we know, we’re kissing in negative degrees weather, while it’s snowing. I pulled away and said, “Yes.” He reached down and grabbed my hand and tingles shot up my whole arm. We then went on a walk around the block and we were talking about life and what we’ve done with our lives all these years. He asked me if I remembered how we first met and I said, “Yes, silly, it was second period English. With what's her name?” Henry laughed and said, “Wow you can’t remember her name? Mrs. Smith would be so disappointed in you.” We laughed for what seemed like an eternity. As the night grew to the morning, the catching up, coffee and laughs had to go home along with me. So Henry dropped me off at my parents. As suspected, my parents were still up and desperately waiting to hear all the “tea.” I filled them in on everything and tears were falling yet my face hurt from smiling so much. We all head off to bed, Christmas is here!

Like I said, being an only child is hard but the plus side is I don’t have to share presents with any siblings. Although I’m an adult my parents spoil me like I’m a 5 year old. I handed each of my parents their gifts, a nice watch for my dad and a Tiffany necklace for my mom. As we sipped our coffee around 11am after we did presents and ate, we heard a knock on the front door. I looked to see who it was and there was Henry. When I opened the door, he started singing “Little Drummer Boy,”  my all time favorite Christmas song. My parents and I joined in, the holiday cheer is here! We said our “hellos” and gave hugs and Henry came in and said he had a present for me. I sat down on the couch and my parents sat in the relaxing chair in the living room and Henry stood up. I motioned for him to sit down next to me but he just started talking. “Hannah, I love you and breaking up with you was the worst mistake of my life. After seeing you last night, hearing about your life, you are truly an amazing person. I love you and I don’t want to spend another minute, second or hour without you. Will you marry me? And don’t worry, I already got permission from ol birdy over there.” I started to cry, again. He pulled a little blue Tiffany box from his and said, “Let’s do it, let’s get married today.” Before thinking, I said, “Well it took you long enough.” Laughing broke out among the three of us. “Yes, I will marry you. Today.” My dad stood up and said, “Great, because I got my officiant certification a week ago. Now let’s go get you married!” Since we were eloping, we wore what we had. Henry was already wearing a nice shirt and pants now all I needed was a dress. Mama bear had that covered, she went to her room and showed me a beautiful floor length backless dress in the most perfect shade of white. I tried it on and sure enough, that was the dress I got married on that Christmas Day. After the elopement, we went out for a nice lunch with my parents and Henry’s parents. 

Henry and I had decided that he was gonna move back to Boston. We finished up our lunch and we headed back to Henry’s to start packing. Once we finished there we headed back to my parents and Henry’s now in-laws house and when we got there, the whole house was empty and there was a note and a key sitting on the dining room table. The note wrote, “Hi angel, now that we’re older we don’t need this big house anymore. Since you and Henry are now married, as a wedding present we would like to gift the house to you and Henry. We always wanted you two to get back together and sometimes love needs a nudge. Merry Christmas angel, you too Henry. Enjoy your new house and all the memories you will create in this home. Love you forever. -Mom and Dad

P.S. Tweet Tweet.”

Henry and I were floored, tears ran down both of your faces, we embraced ourselves in kisses and hugs. At that moment, I had never been happier and more content with my life. I was definitely skeptical, but Christmas wishes do come true.