Christmas is a miracle

Christmas... June's favorite holiday upon all. Exciting holiday with your family and friends. A lot of presents and laughter. But someone is pulling June's mood down... What is it?

Christmas is a miracle.

“Give me that angel ornament, would you?” Said Hermione and stretched out her hand to get the ornament I was giving to her. She stopped for a second,  looked me in the eyes and said,

“You know that you can talk to him?” She always tries to distract me before she strikes me with the hardest question. And I’m kind of prepared for that kind of questions. But this time I wasn’t prepared. Not when it came to him. I zoned out for a moment, all the memories came up. But I shook them away. I don’t want those memories that happened in the past, manipulate me in my present.

“There’s nothing to talk about. I won’t let this break up ruin my favorite holiday.” I smiled and passed her another ornament with a bear on it. I feel much more confident and calmer since it all happened. The Christmas atmosphere is helping. And I am super thankful for this holiday. It gives you so many things you could possibly ask for. And think about all the happiness it brings to you! Christmas gives everybody an opportunity to get closer with your family, friends, maybe make new friends, even fall in love, and forgive all the people that hurt you.  As I was thinking it all in my head, I heard someone step into the room,

“He was not all that cool after all.” Said, Jake, as he stepped into the room. It was a very big surprise to me. We haven’t seen each other since last year. I ran to him and hugged him very tightly.

“I missed you so much, big brother,” I said as I buried my head into his neck. He smelled like “Downy” detergent, just like always.

“I missed you too little Ju.” He smiled at me with his perfectly white and straight teeth.

He wasn’t my real brother, but we’ve been best friends ever since I can remember. And he became my brother. I could share anything with him. And so could he. There were no secrets between the two of us. As soon as something new came up, I would run to him and spill all the beans to him. And same did Jake. We even looked alike. Some people who we didn’t know were always saying that we look like we are tweens, but act like we are a couple.

“What’s up my little twin?” He asked me as he broke off the hug.

“Nothing, can’t wait till Christmas,” I said and walked towards the plastic bin with ornaments for the Christmas tree.

“How ‘bout you? How’s college going so far?”

“Everything is good. Found a lot of people like me there.” He said, proud.

“Oh, computer heads like you?” I said and started laughing.

“Exactly like me.” He came up to me and started tickling. I can’t stand ticklings, but not in a bad way, more in a crazy way. As he was tickling me, we fell on the floor and for some reason, I was laying on top of him. As soon as I got up, my mom stepped into the room.

“Sorry,” I murmured, but Jake heard me. We are best buddies and all, but laying on him, wasn’t the part of our friendship goals.

“It’s okay, Ju.” He said with his cute smile.

“Hey, mom didn’t know you were going to be home earlier,” I said and felt myself blushing.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, we are having guests coming over tonight, so we have to prepare some dinner. And boss released us earlier.” She said with a smile.

“But I don’t think you really want to be here during dinner.” She said a little sad smile came across her face. A person can have so many emotions in such a short period of time.

“The people are..” She hesitated.

“It’s Max’s parents,” I said before she finished her sentence.

“Yes, and he will be here too.” Said, mom, as she came up to hug me and my sister.

“You don’t have to come, dear. I know how you feel. I don’t want anything or anyone to get you upset before your favorite holiday.” She said this as she hugged me.

My mom always covers up for me. Even when it can damage her reputation. Even if it can get her in trouble. She would do anything to protect my feelings and me.

“It's okay, mom. He won’t hurt me anymore as he already did.” I said with a smile and turned to Jake.

“You have to stay with me for that dinner.” I looked at him pleading.

“Of course I will. You know that I will never leave you all alone with those monsters.” He said with a wink and went to help my mom.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” My sister asked as she got off the ladder.

“It’ll bring all the memories back.” She said and came up to me.

“It won’t. I have all of you guys and this beautifully decorated Christmas tree that looks gorgeous.” I said with a smile and hugged my sister. And together we looked at our masterpiece we were working on the whole morning.

“And how can you not smile at that?” I asked her. The Christmas tree had a big angel on the top that was as white as snow, we bought it in Germany on the Christmas market with a bunch of little angels that were scattered around the tree, lights that were making it look magical like it was glowing because of some kind of spell. The lights we bought this year when we went to get our Christmas tree. They had all the rainbow colors and were glowing very bright. And we put all the ornaments on, collected over the years from different countries.

In our family, we have a little tradition to put pictures of our friends and family members on the tree. We order Christmas tree ornaments with their pictures on them. And every year you can spot new people and new pictures, some of the pictures go down, because people either died, or they are not as close anymore. All the pictures we take down we give to the people that are on the pictures as a Christmas present. This year I’m taking one picture down. Max’s. Max was my boyfriend for almost two years, and it was the best two years of my life. We met at the Christmas party at my friends' house. That evening we weren’t drinking or anything, because the party was from the church youth group, and that’s the only kind of party I go to. All of my friends from school go to the same youth group as I so it was my favorite kind of party. I don’t like all the loud drinking parties because that is the kind of party that always leads to trouble. But even on our Christian party, I could manage to get in trouble. The first minute I saw him, I knew that I

was falling for him. And that’s even before we talked. I was standing by the bowl of chips and looking around when my best friend came up to me and introduced him to me,

“This is Max, he will be going to our school next semester.” He came up and shook my hand, Rose continued,

“That’s June, she is my best friend and the kindest person you will ever meet. And also she is very smart.”

“Nice to meet you, Max,” I said with a slight smile and looked him in the eyes. He looked at me and also smiled,

“You too, June. I like your name, its unique.” He said but didn’t move.

“Thanks,” I said as I made a sip of my orange juice. Rose mimicked that she is going to the bathroom and I nodded.

“How old are you?” Said Max picking up some chips from the bowl.

“I’m 16. What about you?”

“Me too. You are junior, right?” He asked as he sat on the stool by the table.

“Yes, and I figure you are too?” Which I wasn’t sure at.

“Yeah, I’m a junior.” He replied with a smile.

And we started talking about everything. By our conversation, I discovered a lot of cool things about him. He moved from Chicago, he likes to play guitar and sing, his favorite color is black, just like mine, and he likes history. As we talked, Andrew, our youth leader called us to the singing room for worship, and we had to go. While we were worshipping he took my hand, and I didn’t protest, so we were holding hands for the whole worship, and after the party he said,

“Sorry, I took your hand... I didn’t want to upset you or anything.” He said while looking at his feet. Across my face spread a big smile. Why would he think that he upset me?

“It’s okay. You didn’t upset me.” I said with a smile looking at his hair and how perfectly it was styled.

“Oh, I’m glad I didn’t. June? Can I ask you something?” He said and raised his eyes to look at me.

“Yes, sure.”

“I know it is too soon and we just met, but I already like you. Would you like to go out with me sometimes? If no, that's..”

“Yes!” I replied without letting him finish his sentence.

“I would love to!” And he hugged me as he smiled.

And so began our relationship. Everything was cool and magical. Because when you fall in love, everything seems magical to you. You look through rose-colored glasses on everything. The person you love makes everything look beautiful and mesmerizing. And he was no different. With him, everything seemed possible and beautiful. I saw Max as smart, charming, honest, polite. He was just an exception. Because I thought that he was perfect. He had good grades, never fought with his parents and he was kind to everybody. We spent most of our time together. Hand in hand. We almost never fought. And when we did, it was always my fault because I was very jealous of him, he was every girl's dream indeed. And who wouldn’t be jealous of a guy like Max? As soon as someone mentioned Max Clemonte, girls would scream and smile. It always bothered me because he was mine only, and I was afraid to lose him. I thought that I will die if I

lose him. Wrong.

And just like always for all the good times you pay a very big price, and his true personality was the price I paid. It happened two weeks before our Christmas break. It was a youth night. After the worship, Max left to the bathroom and wasn’t coming back in a long time. I decided to go and get some drinks for me and Rose, and as I was walking through the hallway I heard Max’s voice, and then my classmate’s Rudy.

“What if someone will see us?” I heard Ruby asking.

“Don’t worry babe, nobody ever comes to this closet.” I heard Max replying.

Babe? Did he just call her his baby? I was so confused when I heard Rose coming up behind me,

“What’s up girl? I decided to help you with the drinks.” Rose said and smiled.

“I think there are Max and Rudy in the closet,” I said my voice breaking.

“No, it can’t be.” She protested, but I could hear a little bit of hesitation in her voice.

“I’m going in there,” I said as I stepped forward to open the door into the closet. The most disappointed part of it was that I wasn’t wrong. As I stepped into the closet I saw Ruby sitting on a little desk, her legs wrapped around Max’s waist and her arm stretched around his neck. They were kissing. They didn’t hear me step into the room, but when I dropped the pitcher I was holding, their heads immediately turned my way, Rose was standing beside me.

“I can explain, babe.” Said Max and put his shirt on.

“Wait! Don’t go!” He was yelling as he ran after me.

But he never caught me. After he cheated on me, he was expelled from our youth group, and Ruby was too. I kept seeing them in school. They started dating. But for me… I was devastated. The days were too long, school and grades didn’t matter. I was broken and half alive. It is a

typical breakup story, I know, but for me, it was the end of the world. He was my first boyfriend after all, he was the first guy I ever loved. The first guy I’ve ever kissed. I knew he wasn’t worth it, but still, I couldn’t get over him as fast as I wanted.

But again, after something very bad, comes something light and good. For me it was Christmas. WIth the thought of my favorite holiday and all the fun that it’ll bring with it, there was no time for grief. My whole family was trying to help me get over Max, but I refused anybody’s help but after about a week of cryings, and wiping, I got out of my room and turned into a human being, funny, caring, loving. All those days I was praying about a new start because I knew that it was going to be very difficult and time-consuming project, but I had to try. I had to try for my family who wasn’t sleeping late at night because of my loud cryings and loud music I used to turn on to kill the sounds of my sobbings. I had to try for all of my friends who were texting me constantly asking how I was doing. I had to try for Jake who would try to contact me, but I refused to answer. I had to try for Max too. I had to show him that I can forgive him even for such a bad deed. And most of all, I had to try for myself. I couldn’t let myself drown deep into the ocean of fear and grief, just because someone thought that I wasn’t good enough.

And I did it. With God's help, my family's help, my friends help. We all did it. And I am very proud of it. Of myself.

As we were getting ready for dinner with Clemonte’s me, Hermione, and Jake were more goofing than doing the actual job. We were playing with the silverware, the tablecloth got caught on fire and our fire alarm went off. But besides that nobody yelled at anyone or tried to stop. Even my mom was joking with us.

After about an hour we were done setting the table, and mom was finished with cooking.

“Can I invite Rose too please?” I asked mom as I looked at the table.

“Yes, dear. I would be very glad if she can come. I haven’t seen her in a while. I miss her.” Mom wrapped her arm around my shoulder. And I felt so warm inside, so loved.

“I am so blessed to have you as my mom,” I said as I kissed her on the cheek. A tear ran down her face and I wiped it.

“No, my little Ju, I am so blessed to have all of you.” Jake and Hermione came and joined our hug.

“I love you guys more than anything,” I said and hugged everyone tighter.

“We love you too, Ju,” The three of them said at the same time. We all laughed and broke the hug.

“What about dad? When is he going to be home?” Hermione asked mom as she looked at the clock.

“He just called me about ten minutes ago and said that he is on his way home.” Mom said smiling.

“Okay, sounds good. But we still need to get Rose.” I reminded everyone because the time was running but we were still talking, and not doing anything.

“Yes, dear. You can go head with Jake and get Rose.” Mom said as she went into the kitchen to check up on the rest of the dishes in the oven.

“Ju, I always wondered, how can you be so kind?” Asked Jake as we went outside.

“Because I love people no matter who they are. Or if they are good or bad.” I said with a smile and turned to look at him.

“You are such a rare girl in this world.” He said as he swung his arm around my shoulder.

“So are you, and every one of us.” I smiled at the sun. It was so bright, and the snow was reflecting it so you couldn’t see anything. But I loved it. I loved everything about that day.

As we knocked on the doors of Rose’s house, her mom opened it and welcomed us in.

“It’s so good to see you, June. How are you been?” Mrs. Dimple asked me as I hugged her.

“I’m very good, thank you. How are you? Ready for Christmas? By the way, I brought you some Christmas presents from my mom and from me and Hermione.” I said as I handed her three pretty bags with tags on them.

“Thank you so much, guys.” She said as she hugged me.

“What’s up girly?” I saw Rose coming down the stairs. She was wearing the same light up shirt as me, with kittens on it. I loved how we dressed without even planning. Best friends goals.

“Hey, Rosie!” I ran up to her and hugged her. I was so happy to see her.

“I missed you so much!” She said hugging me tighter. I loved her hugs so much. They were as warm and tight as mom’s but in a different way. In a sisters kind of way.

“I wanted to ask you if you can come to our dinner tonight?” I asked as I looked at her.

“Mom, can I?” Rose looked at mom, making her puppy eyes, which she didn’t need because she was already super cute.

“Of course you can.” Said Mrs. Dimple and excused herself to the kitchen.

“Woohoo! Hurry up! Pack your stuff, we don’t want to be late!” I said and went outside and pulled Jake after me.

On our way home the three of us were crazy. Jake was pushing me and Rose down on the snow, but we were throwing snowballs at him, so he won’t be dry either. We were singing the “Twelve Days of Christmas” as we walked down the street. When we got to our house, I saw dad’s car parked outside of the garage, and I saw Max’s parents car, standing behind.

“Let’s go inside guys!” Rose said as I and Jake hesitated for a moment.

“Can I stay here for a moment?’ I asked them because for some reason I was afraid to go in.

“Nonsense!” Said Jake and swung me on his back.

“One for all, and all for one!” Said, Rose, as we went inside. That’s was our motto since we were kids.

“Yes! No way we are staying here and freezing our butts.” Said Jake.

“Fine guys, let’s go.” I sad, Jake holding my legs, and me swinging from his shoulder we went inside. When we stepped, technically Jake and Rose stepped into the kitchen, I was still on Jake’s shoulder, Mrs. Clemonte and Mr. Clemonte were talking to mom and dad, and Max was sitting on the couch, looking at his phone.

“Hi, guys!” Said, mom, as she saw us.

“June? What happened?” Asked dad, probably thinking I broke my leg or something.

“She didn’t want to come in, and I got her delivered.” Jake smiled as he carefully put me down on the floor. I looked at my parents, and Clemontes and everyone were watching me.

“Good afternoon Mrs. and Mr. Clemonte. It is very good to see you!” I said and smiled and them.

“Hello, June. We are so happy to see you too.” Said Mrs. Clemonte and came up to hug me. And all the memories came up to me again. Last Christmas. Our dinner with both of our families. Everything was so light, we laughed a lot, and ate a lot too. I quickly brushed the memories off. No need to cling to those memories.

“I’m very happy to see you too,” I said as I hugged Mrs. Clemonte back. I liked her, she was like my friend. One of the good friends.

As our evening was progressing, I could see Max staring at me and Jake. We were laughing and making fun of each other, and Rose and Hermione were having fun with us too. I and Max never spoke. After dinner, we decided to play snowballs outside, and then make hot chocolate with marshmallows and watch Harry Potter. As we were going outside, I was the last one, and somebody grabbed my hand,

“June, please wait. I need to talk to you.” Max said turning me around and letting go of my hand. To my surprise, I was calm and didn’t feel anything when he took my hand.

“I’m listening,” I said and looked him in the eyes. Oh, I love making eye contact with people. For some reason, they feel uncomfortable and look weak, but that’s not why I look people in their eyes. By doing that, I’m letting them know that I’m listening to them and I’m open to their ideas. His eyes were full of regret, they were full of sadness.

“June, I’m so sorry for what I’ve done. You can be mad at me, I know you hate me and don’t want to see me. I know that this dinner wasn’t the best time spending. I know I’ve failed you. I know I don’t deserve you. What I’ve done is shameful and unforgivable. But I just want to let

you know that I am very sorry for what I’ve done. This was the worst decision in my life.” As he finished his little speech, I could tell that it was hard for him. I knew that he was being genuine. I stepped forward and hugged him. His body was tense for a second, but he hugged me back.

“I forgive you, Max. I believe you. Everyone makes mistakes. Nobody is perfect in our world.” I said it as I broke off the hug.

“We can always start over as friends,” I said and smiled at him.

“Thank you, June, thank you so much. I would more than thrilled to be friends with you. I won’t disappoint you anymore.” He said and a little smile came across his face. His dimples showed.

“Let’s go play with us.” I offered him, but he seemed a little hesitant. And that was alright.

“Don’t worry, they won’t say anything. We’ll explain them. Right?” I asked and took his hand.

“Yes. We will.” He squeezed my hand and went outside.

When we came out, we weren’t holding hands anymore, because it was looking weird. I don’t have any hard feelings for him. And I think he doesn’t either. But in our friendship, throughout time, we’ll build a love that friends share. And he will see that there’s more in this world than just relationship kind of love.

“Hey, June, what took you so long?” Asked Rose as she saw me putting my mittens on.

“We have someone new in our little group,” I said as I turned to Max.

I could see shocked faces of Rose and Jake as they looked at Max. I expected that reaction.

“Guys, I forgave him. He was sorry. I believe him. Everyone makes mistakes.” They were still shocked.

“No, we aren’t dating.” I laughed and looked at them. They exhaled and looked at me with a smile.

“I’m proud of you little sis.” Said, Hermione, as she hugged me.

“Thank you, Hermione,” I said and hugged her back. It gives so much motivation when people you love are being proud of you. And I am so thankful for that blessing.

“So, are we going to play?” Asked Rose and winked at me.

“Boys against girls!” Said Jake and swung his arm around Max’s shoulder.

“Deal,” We said as we went to make the snow wall.

“Guys?” I said and looked at them.

“What?” Said Jake and Rose.

“Merry Christmas. I love you all.” As I finished my sentence we fell into a group hug, followed by a fall into the snow.

That’s why Christmas is my favorite holiday. On this day, miracles happen and love is restored.