Amelia's Tree

“Everyone, sit down!” Mrs. Thomas yelled while waving her arms around like she was ready to lift up and out of the 3rd grade classroom. 

Mrs. Thomas didn’t know where things went wrong. It may have been when she stepped in a pile of scattered cat litter on her kitchen floor this morning (barefoot) while desperately trying to locate her car keys, or when she seemed to hit every red light between her house and the elementary school, or when she arrived at the parking lot only to find that someone had double parked in her favorite parking spot. By that point, she should have taken that as a sign from the universe and turned her car around and headed back home. But instead, she stupidly decided to enter the large double doors and briskly walked into her classroom to persevere through the last day of school before winter break. 

She may have been able to put her miserable morning behind her, if only the Annual Holiday Party had gone according to plan. But, like most things in Mrs. Thomas’s life lately, it did not go according to plan. It all began when she discovered the holiday treat Ezra brought contained peanuts. 

You have got to be kidding me, she thought to herself while she plotted how to discreetly shove them into the trash. Don’t parents know by now that you can’t bring peanuts into a school? You can’t even bring a peanut near a school. Especially since that one kid had an airborne allergic reaction from a Snickers bar in the classroom three rooms down from him. Can simply smelling a peanut cause an allergic reaction? Mrs. Thomas made a mental note to research that later. 

Ezra caught Mrs. Thomas’s mid way through her attempt to dispose of the peanut brittle. “Mrs. Thomas, what are you doing?” he shouted while he pointed an accusatory finger in her direction. Mrs. Thomas’s face flushed and she wondered when she started feeling embarrassed by these tiny humans.

Asher squeezed glue onto Clementine’s desk and shook red glitter liberally on top of it. Clementine promptly bursted into tears. 

Atlas sliced open his left thumb with safety scissors while making cutout snowflakes. They have a rounded tip for chrissakes, Mrs. Thomas thought. 

Wrenlee had a roll of sparkly green ribbon in her hands and ran in circles to sufficiently wrap up Cora like a present. Or a mummy.

Graham figured out the wifi password and must have hacked Mrs. Thomas’s Spotify account, because he was somehow controlling the volume of the Christmas music playing from her computer. 

Christopher was eating cotton balls. 

Mrs. Thomas cast a worried look at the clock above the chalkboard, wiping the back of her hand across her forehead. The second hand ticked by so slowly she wondered if it was moving at all. It was 1:07 p.m. on Friday, December 22nd. In other words, it was just about time for every teacher in America to have a nervous breakdown before winter break commenced. Only one hour and fifty-three more minutes Mrs. Thomas desperately repeated in her mind. A chant. A mantra. Perhaps a sort of prayer. 

She punched off the Christmas music blasting from her desk, and moved quickly over to the other side of the room before switching off the lights with a loud click! 

Everyone froze. Mrs. Thomas couldn’t help it, she smirked. A darkened classroom was always a surefire way to quiet her students. Mrs. Thomas didn’t envy the junior high teachers whose students this trick no longer worked for. 

Twenty-four sets of eyes looked at her with a mix of curiosity and fear. All of the holiday candy and cookies had undoubtedly sky-rocketed her student’s energy levels. She could practically feel them buzzing with excitement for the approaching holiday. 

With a cleansing breath, Mrs. Thomas readjusted her holiday sweater (red with an embroidered reindeer and sewn-on jingle bells), brushed her dark brown hair out of her face, and addressed the class. 

“Alright kids, here’s the deal. We have–” she shot a quick glance towards the clock “one hour and forty-eight minutes to get this party back on track.”

Blank faces stared back at her. 

Okay, right. Being the only adult in the room, I will get this party back on track.

Mrs. Thomas clapped her hands together twice. “Everyone, grab your coats and snow boots!” 

She felt certain this statement would be met with cheers of excitement, but instead, tiny voices groaned and whined at her announcement.

“Do we have to?”

“But it’s cold outside!”

“I’m not done with my project yet!”

“I don’t want to, Mrs. Thomas!”

She would not be deterred. Mrs. Thomas looked around the room for any faces of delight instead of misery and pain at her grand idea. Pouted lips and scrunched eyebrows filled the face of every child. 

Besides for one. 

Amelia sat quietly at her desk and swung her legs back and forth from her chair. She was focused on painting a picture of a Christmas tree covered with multicolor ornaments. 

There was a large evergreen tree located in the center of the playground behind the school. It had stood there sturdily for decades, witnessing the change of seasons and the change of children’s faces each year. All of the students grew up and left the school eventually. The evergreen grew. But it never left. 

That day, its branches were weighed down by the wet snow falling from the gray sky. The tree didn’t mind. After all, Christmas was its favorite time of year. 

Amelia picked up a purple crayon and drew a round ornament on her tree, carefully coloring inside the lines. She stuck her tongue out between her small lips while she concentrated on adding a streak of dark blue through its center, creating a pattern like a ribbon.

A large purple ornament with a blue ribbon appeared on the evergreen’s branch while snow slowly collected on its top. 

Amelia took a break to stretch her hand. She looked to her left and gazed out the large windows, peering down at the cars driving down Maple Avenue. Since she was eye-level with the trees, she watched squirrels and chipmunks and birds scurry along the branches. That Friday afternoon, she was mesmerized by the flurries of snow slowly making their way down to the ground. Being next to the windows meant being next to the bins of crayons and markers and brightly colored construction paper located in the “Art Cubby” along the back wall. Amelia had the first choice of all the best art supplies, which was crucial considering the current circumstance. 

Amelia looked with dismay at the state of the classroom. The Annual Holiday Party was always nothing but mayhem. Everything was in complete disarray. Desks sat askew, chairs were overturned, the Christmas music playing from Mrs. Thomas’s computer was too loud and kept stopping and starting because of the unreliable wifi (or was it because of Graham?), spilled punch slowly leaked off the long table set up at the front of the room which created a sticky red puddle in the middle of the floor, scraps of paper were strewn about from holiday craft projects gone wrong, and everyone was loud.  

Amelia surveyed the snow falling peacefully outside the second story windows, clinging to bare trees and car windshields. The peaceful scene outside was a stark contrast to the chaos erupting from indoors. 

“I’ll go outside with you, Mrs. Thomas,” Amelia called from the back of the room. 

Mrs. Thomas said a quick prayer of thanks to Amelia’s parents for raising such a sweet and cooperative child. 

What are her parent’s names? Have I met them before? For a peculiar moment, Mrs. Thomas had absolutely no recollection of ever meeting Amelia’s parents. 

“Wonderful!” Mrs. Thomas said with forced delight in her voice, in an attempt to entice the other students to join along with Amelia. 

One by one, the children made their way over to the coat room, realizing that Mrs. Thomas had not flicked back on the classroom light, a clear indication the party had met its demise. 

I need some way to burn off their energy while still creating a sense of Christmas cheer. Mrs. Thomas was deep in thought as her single-file line of students approached the back doors of the school leading to the expansive playground. 

She took a quick count of her student’s heads to ensure no one had gotten lost along the way or come up with other plans. Surprisingly (thankfully), everyone was accounted for. 

Once outside, the children split up into small groups, having no issue coming up with ways to entertain themselves. A group of girls were lying on the ground making snow angels, while others had begun to roll up a large ball of snow for what presumably would be a snowman. Some stuck out their tongues and leaned back their heads to catch the delicate flakes. 

Mrs. Thomas smiled to herself, feeling a mix of relief and achievement at having reigned in her unruly students. She genuinely cared for each of them, but most of the time, they were a pain in her ass. Ah, the rollercoaster of emotions that is primary education. 

From behind the evergreen tree, a shimmer of red peeked out. It caught Mrs. Thomas’s eye and she furrowed her brows in confusion. She took a step closer and realized it was Amelia. Right, yes, Amelia… Amelia’s last name had escaped Mrs. Thomas’s mind. She had only turned thirty-five earlier this year. Surely she was too old to be struggling with her short-term memory. 

For a moment, Mrs. Thomas could not recall seeing Amelia walk into her classroom this morning. In fact, she could hardly remember if Amelia had been in class at all this week. 

Is she so well behaved I simply didn’t notice her? No, no that couldn’t be. 

Her thumb and index finger came up to pinch and pull the middle of her upper lip. A bad habit that indicated Mrs. Thomas was lost in thought. 

A burst of laughter broke her attention and she turned away from the tree and the small girl dressed in the red coat. 

The sound had come from the other side of the tree, where Mrs. Thomas found Archie standing maniacally over Isla, clearly having just shoved her into the snow. Daisy and Brielle ran to Isla’s side, brushing snow off her hair and helping her up. 

Mrs. Thomas squeezed her eyes shut for a brief moment before jogging over to the scene. Frustration and sadness gripped her chest. I just want today to go right. 

After separating the children and chiding Archie, she decided she needed to organize a group activity with the children. Wasn’t that what the holidays were all about? Togetherness, gratitude, happiness. She was determined to teach her students the true meaning of Christmas today. 

Amelia crept carefully around the evergreen, her drawing of the Christmas tree in one hand and her crayons securely located in her coat pocket. In addition to the purple ornament with the navy blue ribbon, this side of the tree now had gold ornaments with ruby stripes, emerald green ornaments covered with small white dots, and large glass ornaments filled with silver glitter like snow. She took a step back and grinned pleasantly. Picking up her pencil, she sketched twenty-four small stick figures with large smiles and music notes above their heads. A pretty brunette woman conducted them like a professional. Amelia drew a tiny pink heart in the center of the woman’s chest.

Mrs. Thomas was suddenly struck with an idea. “Everyone, come here. Come, come! Who here has seen the movie Elf?” she asked brightly.

“Me, me!” The children chorused. 

“Wonderful! And what does Buddy the Elf say is the best way to spread Christmas cheer?”

Confused faces looked up at her. 

“By singing loud for all to hear! I think Buddy was right about that. What do you say? Let’s sing some Christmas songs together, then we can each share what our favorite Christmas song is.”

Smiles spread slowly across the children’s faces. They were just young enough to love this idea but old enough to actually know the words to Christmas songs. Plus, they loved a reason to sing (yell) loudly.

They followed Mrs. Thomas towards the evergreen tree, where she had a vision of all of the children standing while singing Christmas carols. She would snap a quick photo of them to share with each of their parents. She’d hang the photo proudly in her classroom.

To her delight, she noticed someone had decorated the tree. She stared with amusement at the brightly colored trinkets adorning the snow-covered branches. She wondered how in the world someone had managed this, when the tree had to be at least thirty feet tall. 

Must have been a big ladder.

Mrs. Thomas abruptly recalled the tree had not been decorated when she peeled into the parking lot this morning. Despite being in a rush, she had glanced up at the tree admiring the way the snow looked on it. Maybe there had been ornaments? Was she losing her memory? She quickly shook the disarming thought away.

The students chatted away while getting into a group that resembled something like a semi-circle. 

“Who would like to start? Mateo, what is your favorite Christmas song?” Mrs. Thomas asked. 

“Frosty the Snowman!” he shouted happily in her direction. 

Some of his classmates cheered in agreement and a few even clapped their hands. 

For the first time today, something was going according to plan. 

They all began to sing, following Mrs. Thomas’s lead. Bright smiles stretched across the children’s faces. Mrs. Thomas felt warmth spread in her chest and was reminded why she loved her job. 

After a few more songs, the children were becoming restless. Mrs. Thomas glanced at her wristwatch. 2:33 p.m. She grinned to herself, feeling proud that she managed to fill the afternoon with a fun activity. They would need to head inside in about ten minutes in order to be ready for 3 o’clock pickup. 

Mrs. Thomas instructed the children to face towards the Christmas tree to notice the beautiful ornaments. 

“Which one do you like best?” she asked Eloise who was standing next to her staring upwards. Eloise pointed towards a bright white ornament covered in magenta hearts and other children did the same. They leaned playfully into each other, jabbering about their favorite colors and the ornaments they have at home on their own trees. Mrs. Thomas thought back to earlier today in her classroom, when her student’s excitement had been completely sugar-induced. Now, they were buzzing with pure joy and longing for Christmas morning that only children knew.  Sweet giggles erupted from their tiny smiles and Mrs. Thomas wrapped her arms around herself, taking in this rare moment. 

A gold crayon streaked across the construction paper, starting at the top of the tree. 

“Look, look!” One of the children pointed up at the very top of the evergreen. 

Mrs. Thomas’s gaze drifted upward where a thin band of what looked like metallic yarn began at the evergreen’s point, and seemed to be growing downwards, wrapping in a spiral around the tree. 

“What in the…”

The small girl in the red coat continued to drag her crayon through the tree, embellishing it with its final touch. 

Sparkling tinsel lit up by tiny warm lights wound round and round until it reached the base of the tree, which now illuminated twenty-five awestruck faces. 

The children and their teacher glanced around the playground. There was no one else there. They shared looks of confusion and wonderment at what they had just witnessed. One student began to jump up and down, snow crunching beneath her boots. 

“That was so cool!” she proclaimed. 

“I want to see it again!” another joined in. 

“Mrs. Thomas, this is the best holiday party ever!” one boy said while wrapping his arms around her. 

Mrs. Thomas was just as dumbfounded as the rest of them. Oh, what the hell? She shrugged, then clapped and cheered as if she were a child herself. 

They only had three minutes until the parents would arrive for pickup. Mrs. Thomas began to gather her students together, all of whom were still marveling at the evergreen. 

The children marched dutifully towards the doors and Mrs. Thomas glanced back towards the tree. 

She had the briefest memory of a young girl. Who…

The thought floated away from her as quickly as it had come. She suddenly couldn't remember what had just been on her mind. 

Mrs. Thomas strolled easily towards the school doors. 

A flash of red disappeared behind the tree, followed by a swirl of snow.