“Why are you making me do this?”

“Because it’s Christmas, and it’s what people do at Christmas.”

“What about me makes you think I celebrate a holiday that’s all about family, friends, and gift-giving?” Ada asked as she held an ornament in her hand. “And, come on… ‘Our first Christmas?’” She held up the red-and-white ornament that said, ‘Our first Christmas’ on it.

“I thought it was cute. And it is our first Christmas together as a couple.”

“You know I’ve never been big on holidays, right? Is this something I should know about you now? That you’re a big Christmas fan or something?”

“Not really. My grandma and I celebrated it together, I guess, but it wasn’t a huge deal. I thought that it could be for us, though.”

Ada hung the ornament on the tree and took a step back to look at it while Dylan hung another ornament she’d bought in a pack at the store the day before.

“Do we get an ornament every year like this one? Second Christmas, third, and all that?” Ada looked over at Dylan, who smiled at her. “Oh, don’t go getting a big head about it like I just proposed or something. It was just a general question.”

“Sure, it was,” Dylan teased. “We can do whatever we want. It would be our tree and our traditions.”

“I’m not doing that popcorn thing where you string it up.”

“Okay,” Dylan replied and hung a gold ornament.

“And we’re getting a star, not an angel, for the top of this thing.”

“I already bought one,” Dylan said. “It’s in that package on the floor.” She pointed to the boxes of Christmas decorations she’d purchased that were sitting by the couch.

“And not, like, fifty gifts or anything; small things. Or, one big thing; but not a lot of big things. We don’t have a ton of money to spend on gifts, Dylan.”

“Small things or one big thing; got it,” Dylan agreed and hung another ornament. “Where do you stand on tinsel?”

“My parents had it on their tree, so - no, thank you.” Ada took an ornament from Dylan’s box and hung it up. “But, if you want it, I can deal with my childhood trauma and just ignore it.”

Dylan smiled at her girlfriend and said, “No tinsel. And the lights are multi-colored. Is that cool?”

“For this year. But can we go with the all-white ones that twinkle or something next year?”

Dylan smiled again and said, “You want twinkle lights?”

Ada gave her a playful glare and replied, “I think they look like snow a little bit, and that’s kind of cool.”

“Do you want that fake snow stuff we can spray on the windows?”

“Are you cleaning it off when it’s January?” Ada asked and slipped a hand into Dylan’s back pocket as Dylan placed the final ornament from the box.

“I will if you take the lights off the tree every year.”

“Deal,” Ada replied. “And do you know how to make eggnog? I’ve never had it, even the store-bought kind, and I was thinking maybe we could try it together one night. It’s got booze in it, right?”

Dylan smiled again as she bent over to pick up another box of ornaments and handed them to Ada.

“Yes, it can have booze in it.”

“Okay. No fireplace, but we can get one of those videos that just has one in it and sit in front of that or something.”

“Sipping eggnog?”

“Sure. Why not?”

Dylan watched as Ada placed more ornaments on their very first Christmas tree and knew they’d be celebrating every Christmas together from now on.