//------------------------------//
// Past 
// Story: Ornament of Love 
// by TheothersideofSunny968 
//------------------------------//

It was exhausting putting up the lights this year. More exhausting then it had been the previous ones. I always insited to be the one to hang them up since I was the taller between my wife and I. But this year… this year I put them up because I was the only one.


It had happened not long after her birthday, without warning. They told me she went peacefully in her sleep. It was the way I had hoped she would go. Only, I wished that we had gone togeather. I had a bad feeling that day. She was out of it. Didn't want to get out of bed. She was so tired. I just assumed it was a cold.


My wife loved Christmas, we both did. It was a wonderful time of year when family gathered, shares stories, and over all celebrate. This year, though, it's boiled down to just me. My wife and I never had children. Both our parents past long ago. Her brother a few years ago. And I had no siblings. No cousins. I never really made friends. I didn't need them when I had my wife. I wasn't anti-social. I got along really well with everyone I worked with. But outside of work, my wife was the only person I interacted with regularly. I was always a little odd, and I came across to some as annoying or obnoxious, but my wife could see me for who I was and knew I was just an odd ball. It was a joy when I could make her laugh with my goofy antics. Life was still worth living after we moved into a senior living community. We still decorated our manufactured home for all the holidays, drank red wine for special occasions, sang to songs that randomly popped into our heads even if we forgot some of the words, and danced in our living room for no reason at all.


Those days ended. 


I didn't bother to watch the fireworks on the 4th of July. My birthday was spent quietly alone. I left a bowl of candy on the porch for any trick-or-treaters who came by. And for Thanksgiving I had a frozen turkey dinner that took about 3 minutes to warm in the microwave. Without anyone to share them with, holidays didn't mean much to me anymore. But one holiday I refuse to let die to me is Christmas. That was one holiday we always insisted on celebrating even when it boiled down to just the two of us. I owe it to my late wife to celebrate it as best as I could, atleast one last time. Every year after this, I don't really care. 


After all the multi color LED lights were strung up, I felt winded. All this exercise in the cold, December air was hard on my old body, but pressed on. If my wife were here, she would have had me take a break sooner then half way through, and I would have told her I was fine but taken the break with her. I'd have wanted to get all the decorating done in a single day, like when we were young, but she knew better and would have me slow down to get it done in a weeks time. No need to rush then. Well, there's reason to rush now. It was Christmas eve and I just started decorating at noon. Christmas snuck up on me this year. Easy to do when you had no gifts to buy, no dinner to plan, no people to invite over. Just me. Alone. In out dimly lit manufactured home in a retirement living area.


After the lights, the wall decor was next, that was easier but I still felt my age catching up to me. I used to go all out, wrapped pictured like Christmas gifts, wreaths, garlin, that DVD from the store of a log burning for three hours, and of course, the tree. This year I skipped the pictures and the garlin. The wreaths, though, was one my wide loved. One from her childhood her mother gave her when we first moved out. It was plush, made of some water proof material, with a Santa face on it who's cheeks glowed red and he said ' Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas' whenever it senced movment. Creepy thing still worked all these years later. This thing was gunna outlast me at this rate. Once the wreath was securely on the front door, I moved to the last part. The tree.


After pulling out the fake tree from the storage unit, as well as the crumbling box of ornaments, I saw a box of things I almost forgot about. Without thinking, I picked the box up and tossed it inside, followed soon by the artificial tree and box of ornaments. The set up was relatively simple. The tree came already lit, all I needed to do was pull out the branches. I was greatful for the easier task. I hated to admit it, but I was finding it harder and harder to catch my breath. But I couldn't stop. Not yet. I put on some christmas music as I started decorating the tree, memories began flooding back of Christmases past. I remembered growing up and helping my own family decorate our tree when I couldn't even reach the top. I remember when I was finally tall enough for my father to let me up the angel on top. Or when I started sharing christmas with the woman who would become my wife, and her family. When we decorated our first little tree in our small one bedroom apt, the first place we shared togeather. Or the first time we decorated in our own house when WE were the ones to host christmas. Those days were gold. Now here I am. Doing it all alone. 


I realized I was crying when I felt something wet fall ontop of my hand. I stopped decorating at some point with some ornament in my hand. I looked up at the tree and realized it was almost done, but I had a dozen or so ornaments left. Special ones I kept from our younger days. And the one in my hand was the first we had gotten togeather. 


It was a pony.


Unclenching my hand, I looked down at the ornament, the tears still streaming from my eyes. It was the first My Little Pony ornament my wife and I ever got togeather. A Twilight Sparkle in a stalking.


My wife and I were big time bronies in our youth. We never really stopped being bronies, but it was harder to keep up with all the flashy new merchandise when you're on a fixed income. But we still enjoyed rewatching the old seasons of Friendship Is Magic on the TV. My wife knew Twilight Sparkle was my favorite. Thats why when we saw that ornament at the store many, many years ago, she insisted we get it, despite how little money we actually had. Times were tough when we first moved out. Neither of us had jobs that gave us much in terms of pay or hours, despite our diligent work ethic. But still, my wife insisted we could spare some some cash for that ornament. As the years went by, we got more my little pony ornaments,  but that one was honestly, the one I was most fond of. Twilight Sparkle was always a beacon of hope to me, and having here there, innocently looking back at me in a Christmas stocking, always filled me with a sence of peace. Like no matter how dark the nights were, there would always be stars to guide me to the dawn.


Looking up at the clock, I saw it was about a quarter past four. I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. The tree was mostly decorated, say for a few ornaments. It was a good time to take a little break. Sitting down in my arm chair, I closed my eyes and desperately pretended the crackling fire on the old plasma screen TV was real, that I could feel the warmth of the flames on my cold, old skin. My eyes felt so much better closed, my head laying back. But I forced my head back up and looked once more at the Twilight Sparkle stalking ornament clenched in my hand. I smiled as I remembered the days of the past fondly.


"Twilight…I wish you and your friends were here… we'd have a really great christmas…" I said to the ornament, feeling more then a little foolish. It must have been my old age, or loneliness, or bot. "Even if my wife isn't here to share it with me…"


I faught back more tears as I looked around at My shabby little artificial home. It was cramped, lacked any real Christmas cheer, hardly anything except for a couch, my arm chair that I sat in, an arm chair that hadn't been sat in since February, a small table big enough for two to sit at, and the TV  with the fake fire. All of it covered in a layer of dust. The only food that I had that was any good were a few cans of soup and some frozen dinners. If Twilight and her friends did show up, they would take one look at the place and run for the hills.


'It's a good thing it's just a TV show' I thought to myself, closing my eyes again. 'There is no such thing as magic… not without her…'