The Perfect Tree

“Babe, I’m home!”

“Ooo let me see it! Let me see it!” Kari exclaimed, rushing towards the front door, sliding to a stop on the hardwood floor. Brian stood in front of the door smiling proudly and gestured to the box next to him.

“Well?”

“What is that?”

“Our tree,” he said, his smile fading.

“Whose tree?” she asked, kneeling down to read the details on the box. Pre-lit! Realistic looking branches! Easy assemble!

“Ours…” he said as she stood up, crossing her arms.

“Bri, when I said go out and get a tree, I meant that I was trusting you to pick out the perfect Christmas tree for our first Christmas as husband and wife,” she said and he nodded in agreement.

“And I did. These trees are the best kind because you don’t have to water it, you don’t have to vacuum up needles three times a day, plus it holds all kinds of ornaments so you don’t need little delicate ones. And it’s pre-lit so no hassle of untangling strings of lights!”

“I suppose you can’t return it?” she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.

“Nope, it was on sale,” he said and Kari groaned.

“Fine, but next year we’re getting a real tree. Deal?” she asked, holding her pinky out. He laughed and shook his head before hooking his pinky with hers.

“Whatever you say dear.”



“Oh come on! Why don’t you trust me?” Brian asked as Kari pulled her coat on as he laced up his boots.

“After what happened last year there’s no way I’m sending you out there alone. You’d probably come back with a dozen wreaths and say they cost as much as one tree,” she said and Brian shrugged as he thought about it.

“Probably, yeah,” he said with a laugh.

“Okay we’re going to the place my parents took Kati and I all the time as kids in our matching snow gear and everything. It was so much fun, you’ll love it, I promise!”

“It’s trudging through the snow and picking out a tree, what’s so fun about it?” Brian asked as he pulled the car out of the driveway.

“The excitement, first of all. Then there’s the Christmas cookies and the hot cocoa and…”

“You had me at cookies!”



“So… this is that magical place you were talking about?”

“Okay so… it’s a little different than it used to be.”

“Define a little because, no offense to cute little Kari but this place is a shit hole,” he said and Kari grimaced in agreement.

“Do you want to go somewhere else?” Kari asked, scanning the nearly empty lot.

“We drove an hour to get here. We came to get a tree and dammit we’re getting a tree!” Brian said and Kari just blinked at him.

“You realize we’re going to be going home with a Charlie Brown tree, right?”

“Hey, you’re the one that wanted to come here. Deal with the consequences,” he said and Kari sighed.

“Fine,” she said, rolling her eyes and walking through the gate.



“And… there,” Brian grunted as he crawled out from under the tree. Kari stood back and placed her hand on her swollen belly and smiled.

“It looks amazing!” she cried, soon wincing as the baby kicked. “Little no-name likes it too!”

“Please stop calling our unborn child little no-name,” Brian said and Kari shook her head.

“Not until he or she is born. Now, help me do the lights,” she said excitedly.

Together they strung up the lights with only minimal hassle and then came Kari’s favorite part, the decorating. Brian went upstairs to grab another box of ornaments while Kari started in on the one that he had already brought down. She had picked up one of her favorites that her mother had given to her years ago; it had belonged to her grandmother. It was very fragile so she wanted to place it near the top.

“I should wait for Brian,” she mused, knowing he’d prefer to put on the ones that would go higher since it was a fairly tall tree. “Well, it’s only one little ornament,” she said, stretching up on her tiptoes. Just as she was reaching the branch she wanted, the baby kicked a lot harder than usual catching her off-guard and the next thing she knew the tree was toppling over… right into the fireplace. Almost instantly the smoke alarms went off and Brian came running downstairs.

“What hap- KARI GET AWAY FROM THERE!” he shouted, practically jumping over the railing to grab the fire extinguisher. Kari moved onto the staircase and watched as Brian single handedly put out the fire, opened windows to let smoke out, and dragged the half burnt tree out of the house.

“Jesus, Kari, are you okay?” he asked, closing the door behind him and sitting next to her on the stairs as she continued to cry.

“I’m fine… we’re fine,” she said, placing her hands on her stomach.

“What happened?”

“I was putting an ornament near the top and the baby kicked and caught me off-guard and next thing I knew…”

“Should I bring up the fake tree?” he asked and Kari sighed, wiped away her tears, and nodded.
“A fake tree is better than no tree at all,” she said.



Five years in a row they had put up the fake tree. What with the fire and then the baby the next year and a surprise vacation to her parents house the next and then another pregnancy and last Christmas with two little kids it was just too much to go out and get a real tree. That evening they were going to put it up again, while Kari dreamed of having a real tree, but first she was taking the kids to see Santa.

“Mommy, look!” Dylan cried, pointing towards the big display in the mall.

“Yeah you see the snow?” she asked as he nodded excitedly. She looked next to him at Adam who was just staring wide-eyed at everything, as a 1-1/2 year old would do. “Ready to see Santa?”

“Santa!” Dylan exclaimed, clapping his hands together. Kari smiled as she walked around the display and instantly frowned when she saw the line.

“Great,” she muttered, pulling out her phone to call Brian.

“Hey babe,” he said. “You on your way home?”

“We just got in line to see Santa. And we’re going to be awhile,” she sighed. “Could your get the tree up and lights on and then we can decorate later? I’ll be too exhausted to do it all at once.”

“How long is the line?”

“Well we’re standing outside of Hollister,” she said and Brian let out a low whistle.

“Okay then. I’ll see you and the kids later,” he chuckled.

“You’re doing this next year,” she said and he laughed louder.

“I love you too honey,” he said before they hung up.



After seeing Santa and getting a picture with Dylan beaming and Adam screaming, Kari was fully exhausted. It took almost two hours to get through the line and then she had just a little more Christmas shopping to do. Traffic on the way home was horrible. By the time she pulled in the driveway the kids were asleep and all she wanted to do was order a pizza and go to bed.

With a sigh she climbed out of the car and gently lifted Dylan out of his car seat and set him on her hip. He buried his face in her coat and let out a yawn. With one hand she unbuckled Adam and lifted him to her chest, using her elbow to nudge the van door to slide shut. Thankfully Brian had also made a path in the snow to the front door so she carefully made her way to it. As she placed her foot on the first step Brian opened the door and took Adam from her.

“Hi,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss her before closing the door.

“Hi, it smells amazing in here,” she said. She turned to look into the living room but for some reason there was a sheet hanging in the doorway. “Brian, what’s going on?”

“Well, I made dinner,” he said and her jaw dropped. “Pot roast.”

“Wow, how did I get so lucky?” she asked. “But what’s with the bed sheet?”

“That’s a surprise. I figured I’d let you get out of your coat and boots and put the kids down first,” he shrugged as he pulled off Adam’s hat.

“Okay…” she said, her suspicions growing. Silently they took the kid’s coats off and then Kari slid hers off. Dylan had woken up and was trying to peek into the living room.

“Hey, it’s a surprise for you too,” Brian said, placing his hand on Dylan’s head and turning him while Dylan laughed.

“Come on Mommy let’s see!” he said, causing Adam to squirm in Brian’s arms. Brian shushed him as his eyes opened.

“Okay, okay, I’m ready,” Kari said, placing her boots by the door.

“Cover your eyes,” Brian said excitedly, rocking back on his heels.

“You’re joking,” Kari said, trying not to laugh as Dylan excitedly put his tiny hands over his eyes.

“No joke about it,” he said and Kari reluctantly covered her eyes. Brian placed his hand on the small of her back and led her forward. “Dylan be careful, wait a second okay?”

“Okay Daddy,” Dylan said. Kari heard rustling and figured it was the sheet being pulled down.

“Okay both of you walk forward carefully. Here Dylan, I’ll help you.”

“Can I look now?” Kari asked.

“On the count of three. One… two… three!” Brian exclaimed and Kari instantly pulled her hands away. Her jaw dropped when she saw what was in front of her. Brian had not only put the tree up, as well as the lights, but he had also put the ornaments on.

“Is that… our tree?” she asked, looking to Brian who had a goofy grin on his face.

“No, it’s real. 100% genuine pine, 6 feet tall, placed just right and decorated to perfection,” he said, his eyes never leaving Kari’s face. She stepped forward in awe to get a better look.

“Wait a second!” she cried, reaching out for a few of the ornaments. “This belongs to my Mom. And so does that one!”

“A few of them do,” he said and Kari turned to him.

“How did you get them?”

“Well… that’s part two,” he said. “Turn around.”

“Mom! Dad!” Kari cried, her eyes widening when she saw her parents, Jim and Lisa, poke their heads through the doorway separating the dining room from the living room.

“Hello sweetheart,” her mother said, walking over with open arms.

“Papa! Gammy!” Dylan said, running over to his grandfather.

“Hey kiddo!”

“What are you two doing here?” Kari asked, wiping tears away from her eyes.

“Well this was your initial present,” Brian explained. “When you called me earlier, they were already here. I took the day off from work to pick them up from the airport and we were going to be waiting when you got home.”

“But when you called Brian and told him what happened he said you sounded exhausted already and that was almost four hours ago,” her mother said.

“And we know you’ve had the fake tree up for a few years now and Brian told us how the farm we used to bring you and Kati to wasn’t quite exactly the same now,” Jim said and Kari nodded.

“So we looked around to find the best tree farm in the area, found a tree like you would have gotten when you were little and your parents had already brought down some ornaments that we were going to put up anyway,” Brian finished.

“And we went and got you a few new ones,” Lisa said with a wink.

“It’s amazing. I can’t believe you all did this,” Kari said, turning to look at the tree again.

“It’s pretty Mama,” Dylan said and Kari bent down to pick him up and kissed him on the cheek before settling him on her hip.

“It really is. Just… why did you go through all this trouble. I would have been fine with the fake tree,” she said and Brian laughed.

“Honey, six out of the seven years we’ve been married we put up that fake tree. And the one real one we had was hardly a tree at all! I thought it was time I got you that perfect Christmas tree you’ve wanted since you lived at home.”

“It has been a long time,” she mused, remembering the little shrubs she and her roommate got for their apartment before she lived with Brian.

“So, is it?” Brian asked and Kari turned to him, tilting her head.

“Is it what?”

“The perfect Christmas tree?”

“It is,” she said with a smile. “It is absolutely picture perfect,” she said, walking forward to kiss him.

“Yuck!” Dylan cried when they pulled away.

“Come on, let’s eat,” Lisa said, taking Dylan away from Kari.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” Kari said, turning back to the tree once more.

“Here, I’ll take him,” Jim said, walking over to Brian to take Adam into the kitchen. Brian turned to Kari and wrapped an arm around her waist. She leaned her head on his shoulder and smiled.

“Thank you,” she said and he kissed her forehead.

“Merry Christmas, Kari,” he said.

“Merry Christmas, Brian.”