The Dollar Tree Christmas

I laid under the Christmas tree. My six month old daughter was only a few feet from me. We were both gazing up through the branches, needles, and decorations. She was awestruck. It was the most interesting thing in the world to her. All I could do is smile and enjoy the moment. There were no presents under the tree. Christmas was a week away. My wife sat on our couch more beautiful than ever. Her hands were quickly and efficiently knitting a multicolored scarf. I'd watch her as her fingers precisely slipped the needles through the appropriate loops. I could never understand how she did it, but was glad that she could.
    My daughter couldn't crawl yet. The tree was enough to keep her occupied. Her little hands would try to reach, reach, reach for the branches above, but she would always fall short. Not having presents under the tree had begun to bother me. I tried to not let it. I told myself many times that it was a superficial desire. At the same time, I felt bad that I couldn't put anything under it for our first Christmas together as a family.
    I had recently graduated from college. Before and after graduating I struggled hard to try to find a good line of work. It was slow coming. I had to settle for a job at a call center. It wasn't ideal, but it would pay our bills. By this time I was already hating my job. The hours were bad. The pay was worse. The work was frustrating. Christmas wasn't supposed to be this way, I thought. It just reminded me of our terrible situation.
    At the beginning of the month, I came home happy that Christmas had arrived. We went over our finances and the smile went away.
    "We can't buy anything?" I said upset.
    "We don't have the money," my wife responded.
    "What are we going to do?"
    "I can make stuff for our family. We might just have to go without this year"
    "Ok," I said solemnly. "I guess that's our only choice"
    Even though my daughter was still a baby, I wanted her first Christmas to be rich with presents and toys. I wanted to spoil her with all the goodies she could get her hands on. That wasn't going to happen. I kept telling myself that this was life. I had to get over it. For weeks I put it away, but then seeing the tree empty was the ultimate reminder. It all came back.
    I was tempted to take the tree down one night. Tired and sick of having it remind me that we weren't able to put presents under it, I began to wonder what the use of a tree was this year. Why do we need this stupid thing? I thought. I never let my thoughts known to my wife, however. I let it go. I tried to put it out of my mind again.
    When I went to work my boss announced that a limited amount of overtime would be allowed for the next few days. I knew that I could only work a couple of hours of it, but thought that maybe this could help with presents. It was a long shot, but knew I should try. When I went over it, I had only made thirty dollars in overtime. There was no way that that would really do much of anything for presents. As I drove home that day I suddenly had a bright idea that seemed rather silly, but was something rather than nothing. It was worth a shot.
    I came through the door and told my wife to get our daughter ready to go out. She, of course, was wildly curious as to what I was planning. I told her it was a surprise. I could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't pleased, but was open and curious enough for any kind of surprise. Driving in the car I began to slowly explain what I was thinking until we finally arrived to our destination.
    "Listen," I said softly. "This might not be what we want, but it's at least something fun we can do, ok?"
    We parked in front of a Dollar Tree.
    "Why don't we take the thirty dollars and buy simple gifts for each other right now? It won't be much, but at least we can get ourselves something."
    I remember her face. I was expecting disappointment, her to say that we should forget it and go home, but I think that she realized how important this meant to me. She smiled brightly and said that it was a great idea. The store was small. Full of nick knacks, candy, and lots of useless things that no other store could sell, the Dollar Tree was extremely difficult to shop in for presents. She went one way and I went the other. We didn't want each other to know what we were getting for one another. The task of finding something simple made Christmas shopping difficult but challenging. I wanted to find something that she could use, value, and take to heart. This was easier said than done when your options were kitchenware and cleaning supplies. The feeling was exciting, however. I was enjoying myself. It took us both awhile. We zipped up and down the aisles until I had found everything for her, and she everything for me. The full price was much less than I had expected. We were able to save a lot of the thirty dollars.
    When we got home, I went into our room and she stayed out in the living room. We traded supplies back and fourth until all our presents were wrapped. Placing the several little items under the tree wasn't as satisfying as I thought it would be. I had enjoyed myself more spending time with them at the Dollar Tree.
    In my family, we always had the tradition of opening presents on Christmas eve, rather than Christmas morning. That night we sat next to the tree. My daughter sat up in my wife's lap. I read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Then we began to open presents. We went one by one unwrapping several cheesy, useless, and sometimes absolutely horrendous gifts we had gotten each other. It didn't matter. Each gift represented something of our personality. We both would tell each other what we were thinking when buying it. With every gift we laughed. The enjoyment of wondering what was next made that night fun and memorable. It's a Christmas that I will never forget. It reminded me that lots of gifts, spending lots of money, and feeling wealthy is not the true Christmas spirit. When all the presents were opened, and the gifts sat strewn on the floor, my wife and I kissed. Looking under the tree was my little daughter reaching, reaching, reaching for the branches. She caught one that time.