The Twelve Days of Christmas By Tiffany B. Quinn Tradition has it that the magi took twelve days to find the Christ child after the new star first appeared at the time of the child’s birth. This is a magical time, which ends the day before Epiphany. Unlike the eighteenth-century English Christmas carol which details an increasing number of gifts with the twelve days of Christmas, Karl’s gifts do not increase in number daily. Instead, their cumulative effect has a profound impact on his life view.

Sunday Dec 25, Day 0

Snuggling deep into my warm bed, I look out my second-floor window to see fresh snow on the barren branches of the Maple tree outside my window.

Well, Karl, I say to myself, it looks like a magical white Christmas after all. I remember hearing that new snow on Christmas day has magical properties. I sigh thinking that magic could never grant my greatest wish.

I burrow a little deeper under the comforter remembering Christmases past while trying to not feel melancholy. In many ways, I miss the carefree days of my youth when I would enjoy being indulged by loving parents. I remember, fondly, finding a treat filled red stocking from Santa at the foot of my bed each Christmas morning. I was given strict instructions from my parents each Christmas Eve to enjoy the wonders of the stocking without waking them up too early.

I fondly remember sneaking to the top of the stairs to get a glimpse of what other wonders Santa had left behind. I’d have to go down a few steps to peek into the living room where the Christmas tree was. I still recall my excitement one year, as a young child, to see a shiny new bicycle by the tree. Other years brought other exciting gifts.

As an only child, my parents lavished me with more gifts than they probably should have.

I never complained!

I fondly recall how my father was always there for me throughout my life while he attempted to raise me in his own image. Being the majority owner and co-founder of the engineering firm that he had built from the ground up, he had visions of me joining him in the business and made sure that I was groomed for that position. I would spend my summers and occasional holidays hanging around his firm as it grew into the going concern that it is today. I loved every minute of it.

Regardless of my father's attention, my mother was my real strength. She guided me in so many ways to become a man worthy of respect. She taught me, with support from my father, about honesty and integrity. She also taught me the practical skills that I would need when I would eventually leave home.

We were a very closely knit family and how I miss them! If the magic of Christmas snow were real, I’d ask to have them magically restored to life.

With a sigh, tears come to my eyes knowing that all the Christmas traditions of my youth are forever in my past.

When I graduated from high school seven years ago I left home for college to become an engineer like my father. After completing my degrees, we agreed that I should go into the world to gain experience and possibly bring that back to enrich my father’s firm at some point. So, with my new degree in hand, I had gone on to start my own engineering career in a big city, working for a major international engineering firm. The work was exciting but involved long hours and little time for my personal life. I was able to get time off to come home once or twice a year, especially for the Christmas holiday. At home, the gifts changed, but the love and anticipation had never left.

That all came to an end last New Years when my parents died. Their car was annihilated by a drunk driver on their way home from a party. The police and paramedics told me that they, and the other driver, probably died instantly. My world turned completely upside down when I got the news from an appropriately compassionate police officer at six in the morning, not long after returning home from a party myself.

My parents left me financially very well off and now the majority owner of his engineering firm, so I quit my high-pressure big city job and moved back to my hometown. I don’t have quite enough time in practice to sit for my professional engineering licensing exam, so I find myself owning majority interest in my father’s prosperous firm but working under the technical direction of his senior engineer and minority partner, Jim Sanderson. An odd arrangement at best.

Because of the loss of my parents, this is my first Christmas alone.

Most of the last year, after moving back into my childhood home, has been spent settling their affairs and considering my future involvement in my father’s firm. I ended up working part time for the first six months of the year while I emptied out the house of most of my parent's personal possessions. All their clothes and other personal items were quickly disposed of. I sold my mom’s jewelry, dad’s watch collection, and most of the artwork. I decided to keep the house, but I cleaned out closets filled with stuff/junk that had accumulated over the decades that my parents had lived here. I even cleaned out the garage of my old, long unused, Christmas toys from years past. With the help of old friends, I had a huge garage/estate sale last summer and managed to get rid of most everything that I did not need or want. The rest went either to charity or the landfill.

As I lay snuggled under the warm comforter in my childhood room, I wish with all my heart that the past year could have played out differently. I would give anything to hear my mother rustling around in the kitchen preparing a holiday dinner for us and the friends that we’d often invite to join us.

Knowing that sleep is not going to return, I climb out of bed and begin my day. After shaving, showering and dressing, I head downstairs to find a small beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the living room, right where we normally placed one each year. The tree decorations are the same ones that we used to use every year. What is odd is that the tree had not been there when I went to bed last night. Under the tree was a single small, nicely wrapped box sitting on top of a Christmas card.

I am bewildered. How could I have slept through someone moving about decorating a Christmas tree? I am sure I would have heard someone hauling in the decorations from where they are stored in the garage. Also, it always took the three of us an hour or more to setup and decorate the tree, then clean up all the resulting mess. Someone had to have spent hours here last night.

Going to the front window, I gaze out at least a foot of new snow, with more coming down. There is no sign of tracks in the snow on the front walk or driveway. Besides thinking that I have some snow shoveling to do, I figure that my secret Santa either came down the chimney or at least came before the snow got very deep. I check the locks on the door, and they are all secure. I can’t think of anyone who would have a key to the house. There is one man door to the garage that has a keypad, but I recently changed the code and haven’t given the code to anyone.

How did Santa get in?

Curiosity gets the better of me, so I pick up the package and sit on the couch. Opening the card, I read:

Dearest Karl,

How we miss you! Please know that all is well with your father and me, but we both wish that we could have had more time with you. Someday, we will be back together again. In the meantime, you still have much left to do.

Being the technical whiz that you are, there is one aspect of life that you have neglected for far too long as you have immersed yourself in your work. It is important that you develop a meaningful relationship that will bring you the happiness that our marriage has brought to your father and me. Your greatest joy will be found in a loving relationship and the children that it will bring. Forming such a relationship is very important for your, and others, future.

We know that the semester you lived with Judy in college ended badly, but there is someone out there for you. However, there are some changes that will need to be made for you to find your soul mate.

Tomorrow is the first of the twelve days of Christmas. Each of those days, you will experience change that will prepare you to find your one true love. The changes may seem strange each day, but all will come into focus on the day of Epiphany.

Love Forever, Mom

P.S. I strongly recommend that you take a selfie every one of the twelve days of Christmas.

With tears in my eyes, I set the letter down on the end table, I wonder who is playing this cruel joke on me. I also think back on all the times that my mother encouraged me to break out of my techno bubble and look at the world around me. She once told me of the challenge it had been for her to do the same for my father. This card is so very typical of things my mother would say to me.

I admit that I haven’t taken time in the last year to do more than settle my parents’ affairs, prepare for my professional licensing exam, and try to learn how to manage a midsized engineering firm. There have been a few women in the office who have tried to gain my attention but none of them have managed to break through. I just haven’t had the time, or inclination, for a relationship at this point in my career development.

I pick up the package and turn it over in my hands. I give it a soft shake and am rewarded with a small rattle. Opening the box, I find my mother’s favorite necklace. I know that the necklace was sold months ago along with the rest of her jewelry. I distinctly remember the jeweler who purchased the whole collection as one lot. He had asked if I wanted to keep a piece for memories sake. I had the declined but if I had chosen a piece, it would have been this necklace. The blue Topaz gem seems to glow softly.

Lifting the pendant necklace gently out of the box, I hold it up to the morning light coming through the window. I am mesmerized by how it glows and sparkles in the sunlight. As I watch it, the thought enters my mind that I should put it on.

What a strange thought!

But why not? So, I fiddle with the clasp and hang the jewelry around my neck.

Now, I’m not a big guy (5’ 10” and a bit on the pudgy side) but a chain longer than 18” would probably be more appropriate for me. The chain is not tight, but it doesn’t really hang much either.

I get up to look in the entry way mirror and decide that it doesn’t look too bad. It would look better if I were a woman but what the heck. I know guys who wear gold chains and other jewelry, so I decide to leave it on for now. Remembering mom’s advice, I take a selfie.

With a shrug, I get on with my quiet morning. After fixing a simple breakfast of cereal and toast, I pull on my winter boots and coat before heading out to do some snow shoveling. I end up doing not only my own driveway and walks, but those of two neighbors that I know will struggle with the chore. It is nice to spread the Christmas cheer.

----<0>----

Later in the afternoon, I head over to the home of my best friend from high school bearing my contribution to the holiday dinner. Jake was a pretty popular guy in high school and ended up going to Law school. He now works for a local corporate law firm which works him to death. His wife, Sarah who had been Jake's high school sweetheart, earned a degree in Finance and works for a local branch of a major investment firm. Jim and Sarah married just after finishing their bachelor’s degrees. No children yet, but I know that they are planning to start soon.

“That’s a beautiful necklace,” Sarah observes when I take my coat off. “I love Topaz and that is quite the specimen.”

Blushing, it seems that I have forgotten that I am wearing the necklace. “It was my mother’s. I found it under the Christmas tree this morning.”

“Dude,” Jake asks with a raised eyebrow, “I thought that you were going to skip the tree this year.”

“That’s the weird thing,” I reply, “I did. When I went downstairs this morning, the tree was there, and all lit up with a single gift and card under it. The necklace was in the package and the card was, this is really weird, from my mother.”

“Why are you wearing the necklace?”, asks Sarah.

“I am not sure,” I reply with a frown, “The idea to do so just entered my mind, so I did. Frankly, I forgot that I had it on. I probably should take it off.”

As I reach around to find the clasp, Sarah says, “Don’t Karl, it actually looks good on you. Plus, I think that Joanna will love it.”

I roll my eyes, “Don’t tell me you invited HER too?”

Sarah frowned at me, “Jake invited his best single friend. I get to invite one of mine. Joanna is a wonderful woman, you could do worse than dating her.”

Joanna and I have never really liked each other. She is a very aggressive person, also an attorney (specializing in divorce), and has always seems to get under my skin in a bad way. She is a very attractive woman, but her aggressive behavior really puts guys off.

“Actually,” I snort, “she is a man hater.”

Wisely, I notice that Jake is staying out of this conversation.

“No, she’s not,” Sarah dismisses my accusation. “She just gets tired of the misogynist jerks that make life difficult for us women. She just hasn’t figured out yet that you are not as bad as most men.”

Now there’s a backhanded compliment if I ever heard one!

Joanna joined us about fifteen minutes later. Throughout the evening Joanna kept giving me strange looks, probably because of the necklace but she didn’t say anything. Sarah must have asked her to keep the negativity down. The dinner and evening turned out to be relatively pleasant.

As I was leaving, Jake asked if we were still on for a Bowl Bash at my house a week from tomorrow, Monday, January 2nd. My parents’ house has a huge big screen TV with surround sound in the family room and a slightly smaller version in the Living Room, so we can have two games on at once. There are four bowl games scheduled for the second. We had planned to get a few guys together for an all-day football bowl game binge with pizza and beer.

“Hey,” Sarah asks indignantly, “Is this a guys only event or can women come too?”

Joanna gives me the evil eye. You can almost see her mind working up some retort about a misogynistic gathering of men. She seems to ignore the fact that women frequently have misandry girl’s nights out without the guys.

“If you want to come Sarah,” I diplomatically reply, “we’d enjoy your company.”

“What about me?” challenged Joanna.

“If you can stand the company of a bunch of rowdy, and likely drunk, guys,” I shrug, “you are welcome to join us.” Man, I hope that she doesn’t take up the challenge! She could be a real damper on the day.

----<0>----

I am very tired when I get back to my lonely home late that evening. After trying unsuccessfully to work the clasp on the necklace in my exhausted state, I decide to just leave it on for the night as I fall into bed.