December 24 10:00pm CST
Nevada, Iowa
Snow started to fall lightly
outside as a young man poked his scruffy blond head through a door into a dark
room. The small occupant of the room seemed to be sound asleep, curled under
her blankets, a stuffed rabbit in her arms. A black and white Dalmatian puppy
lay at the foot of the bed and lifted its head when the door opened. The man
put a finger to his lips and slipped into the room. He walked up to the bed,
looked over his daughter, and made sure she was indeed asleep. Content that
this was the case; he gave the dog a pat, turned, and left. When the door had
closed the dog laid its head back on its paws and went back to sleep.
"Is she asleep?" a woman asked as she tried to pull her curly brown
hair into a couple small ponytails.
"She's either asleep or has become an excellent actress," the man
whispered as they walked down the stairs and into the living room.
"Well then, let's get to work," the woman announced. "You go get
the presents from the shed, and I'll start wrapping the ones in here."
It
was Christmas Eve at the house of Kaden, Emily, and Mercedes Reynolds and Santa
was just about to arrive. The living room had a six-foot Christmas tree in it,
with only a few presents below it. Rolls of silver wrapping paper lay on the
couch; a couple scissors, two rolls of tape and red ribbon sat on the coffee
table. Emily stood up on a small step stool and pulled a couple of bags from
behind the books on the top shelf of a bookshelf. She took the bags to the
coffee table and pulled the first item from them. It was a large box that
contained a round-faced doll with a smile, dimples, and looped yarn for hair.
"I can't believe these are popular again," Emily smiled at the
cabbage patch doll and laid it on the coffee table to begin wrapping it. As she
wrapped the presents from the bags Kaden walked into the living room carrying
two large trash bags. He set them down next to his wife and dusted the snow
from his hair onto her.
"Will you stop that!"
“ It's starting to get heavy out," Kaden laughed as he grabbed a roll of
silver paper and started wrapping presents on the floor. "How many
presents is she getting this year?"
"Well, not counting those she'll from my side of the family, She's getting
fourteen things from us, four from your mother, one from your sister, and two
from your grandma."
"And two thirds of those will end up still in their boxes, shoved into the
closet, never to be seen again."
"Now, why is it we spend all this money, only to have that happen?"
"Because it’s Christmas and the look on her face is worth all the money in
the world," Kaden replied as he inspected the present he had just wrapped
and set beside his wife's work. "Now my question is, even though I wrap
the same number of presents a year that you do, my wrapping still looks like
it'll fall off at any moment?"
"That is a woman's secret," Emily laughed as she pulled out the next
present to wrap. "Oh, don't forget to eat the cookies and drink the coke,
Santa."
"How could I? That's my favorite part," Kaden jumped up and grabbed a
chocolate chip cookie from the plate on the mantle. "I don't know why, but
for some reason, the cookies always taste better on this night than they do
tomorrow."
"Maybe because they're still fresh tonight and tomorrow they'll be a day
old," Emily offered, and giggled a bit.
"Ah, that could be," Kaden nodded as he thought about it; eventually
he took a swig of the coke and sat down to wrap some more presents.
December 25 1:00pm Japan Standard
Time
Sendai, Northern Japan
(December
24, 10 pm CST)
The snow fell lightly outside the
window and the mountains in the distance were covered in clouds. A woman sat on
a small couch, curled up in a blanket, with a space heater at her feet drinking
some hot chocolate. Her thin hair was a mousy brown and cut short, framing her
face, with a few gray hairs doting it here and there. She sat and stared at the
TV before her, watching an old Christmas movie she had bought the last time she
was in America. She was waiting for her family to come home. Her son and
daughter were at school until 2, her husband at work till 3. She was lucky to
have the day off, but it was only because she worked at an international
school. Most, if not all, of the students were from Christian countries. Japan
was definitely not a Christian country. Christmas in Japan was mind-boggling,
even after 20 years. About 1 month before, stores were decorated, Christmas
trees were put up, and Christmas music was heard everywhere. But when the 25th
came, nothing changed. People still worked, students still had school, and
stores were still open. In reality, nobody seemed to realize that the day they
decorated for and had sells for, had even arrived. And then, on the 26th,
the decorations were put away and the music stopped. Christmas in Japan was
nothing more than that.
The woman looked into the corner of
the room, at a small four-foot Christmas tree. It was decorated with red and
white lights, that blinked madly, and gold ribbon. The ornaments were a mixture
of bought ones, handmade ones, and free ones from the top of coca-cola bottles.
Twelve presents sat neatly and organized under the tree, waiting to be opened.
Mornings were always too hectic and early to open them then, so they waited
until evening. She turned her attention back to the TV, sipped some more hot
chocolate, and buried herself deeper in her blanket. Christmas was always so
lonely in Japan.