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It was snowing, finally snowing properly. You know, the beautiful way with big snowflakes falling soft and slowly through the air. Winter had always been my favorite season, ever since I was a little girl living with my parents in Denmark. And it still was now that I lived in London, which I had done for three years now. Everything was always so beautiful covered in snow, I could stand and look at it for hours. Especially now that I just had to call and tell my sister, Karen, some very bad news I had gotten from my doctor that day, she told me that since I was eight months pregnant I would not be advised to fly anywhere. So I couldn’t go to Denmark and celebrate Christmas with my family, like I had done every other year. I was really sad and disappointed that I couldn’t go, and I could tell Karen was too.
I was standing by the window in the living room, watching the snow fall over London and trying to cheer myself up as I waited for Tom to come home. My Christmas playlist was playing softly from my computer, playing many Danish songs which reminded me of home. Tom and I had decorated the house weeks ago, and we had even talked about getting a tree. Even though we thought, at the time, that we wouldn’t be home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Tom and I had a tradition that one year we would spend Christmas with his family and then the next year we would spend it with mine. This year we were supposed to go to Denmark and celebrate Christmas with my family, or so we thought. Since we were to be parents soon, we had decided that this would be the last Christmas we would spend away from home. At least for a couple of years. We wanted to make some of our own traditions with our child, a mix of my Danish traditions with a mix of Tom’s British ones. But I had really looked forward to the last Christmas at home with my family, and I felt a great need to see them all and celebrate my favorite holiday with them.
My train of thoughts was stopped by the sound of the front door opening and closing, and I knew that finally Tom was home. I almost felt better already just knowing he was with me, but I would feel even better when I was in his arms. He must have followed the sound of my music, because soon after I heard the door close I felt him wrap his arms around me as he held me from behind, his big hands splayed out on my big swollen belly.
“I missed you.” I told him as I leaned back into his embrace, humming in contentment as he kissed my neck.
“We saw each other this morning, darling, how can you have missed me already?” His tone of voice was teasing and I could tell he was grinning against the skin of my neck.
“I’ve just had a bad day.” I replied as I turned around in his arms and snuggled further into his embrace.
“Do you want to talk about it? Or do you want me to help you forget about it?” I knew I had to tell him that we weren’t going to Denmark anyway at some point, but in that moment I just wanted to be with him and forget everything else.
“Help me forget it, please.” I whispered softly before I pressed my lips against his, trying to be as close to him as I could with my big belly between us. Tom kissed me back softly as he held me close to him, but broke the kiss when the baby suddenly kicked and hit him in the stomach.
“It seems someone else wants my attention as well.” He told me as he knelled down in front of me and pulled up my shirt. “You don’t mind, do you?”
“No, as long as you don’t make him kick my bladder again.” I told him with a smile.
“I would never make her do that.” Tom and I had a bit of a disagreement about what the sex of our baby was going to be. I really wanted to have a boy, because it had been a very long time since anyone in my family had had a boy. I was the youngest in a sister group of three and my oldest sister had only had two girls and decided not to have more. So I really wanted to give my dad his first Grandson, because I knew he would love that.
Tom on the other hand really wanted a girl, a little daughter he could spoil rotten and dote on endlessly. But also that he wanted to have a little copy of me. In the end it really didn’t matter to us what sex the baby had, just as long as he or she was healthy.
“Hello my little darling.” Tom said as he laid his big hands on my belly and he got a little kick in greeting, at which his smile grew even brighter. “Have you been good to mommy today?” He looked up at me and I nodded.
“My bad mood has nothing to do with him.” I told him as I laid one of my hands on top of his. It was a bit of a lie, but I still wasn’t ready to talk about it.
“Good.” He said as he sent me a smile before he turned his attention back to my belly. “You know what, sweetheart? We are going to Denmark soon, to visit mommy’s family. You will get to hear your aunties and mommy sing all the Christmas songs just as beautifully as they always do, and…” He kept on talking about what else was going to happen in Denmark, but I couldn’t listen to it anymore. It hurt too much and with my hormones already out of whack, it really wouldn’t take much to make me cry. So I tuned Tom’s voice out and just listened to the music playing. Which worked fine up until the moment Home For Christmas by Maria Mena began playing, then I just couldn’t take it anymore and tears started running down my cheeks.
“Darling, what’s wrong?” Tom suddenly asked as he stood up to look at me, gently cupping my face in his hands as he wiped away my tears.
“It’s nothing, it’s just that song.” I tried to lie, but he didn’t look like he believed me.
“What about the song? You are going home for Christmas.” He argued, and I knew I would have to tell him now or I wouldn’t hear the end of it until I did.
“My doctor told me that I am too pregnant to fly anywhere, I can’t go home for Christmas this year.” I told him as I tried not to sob, though it was hard because I really missed my family.
“Oh, sweetheart, I’m so sorry.” He gently pulled me into a tight embrace as I began to cry even more. I felt him kiss the top of my head before he pulled away a little bit to look down at me. “Let’s go sit down.” I followed him to the couch and let him pull me down so I sat on his lap.
“I was so looking forward to going home, to being with my family for Christmas. I miss them so much.” I gently rested my head on his shoulder as he wrapped his arms around me and just held me.
“I know, darling, I know how important Christmas is to you and how much you love your family.” As he spoke he moved his hand with his wedding ring on over to take mine before resting them on my belly. “But you know what? We are a family now, aren’t we?”
“Yes, we are.” I nodded as I looked down at our hands with our wedding rings on them, and felt the baby we had made together move inside me. I knew what he was trying to say and I knew he was right.
“I will make sure that we have the most amazing family Christmas together right here in our home.” He told me as he kissed my cheek, so I quickly turned my head to kiss him back.
"Thank you, my love.” I told him when I pulled away and looked into his eyes. I still had to get used to the idea of not going to Denmark for Christmas, but he was right I would still be having a family Christmas at home. “I love you, Tom.”
“I love you too, Anna.” He then kissed me again.
In the end it was the most amazing Christmas of my life, and it was all because of Tom. He made sure that my whole family came to London to celebrate with us, even my dad who doesn’t like traveling. My brother in law and my mom made the food, as they usually did because they were the best cooks. My sisters, my nieces, my dad, Tom and I decorated the tree and sang Christmas songs at the same time. It was a bit hard for Tom to sing along when a Danish song played, but he did his best and when it got too hard he would talk to my nieces instead and help them reach the higher branches on the tree.
Seeing Tom with my nieces was such a wonderful sight, they would make each other laugh even though they didn’t speak the same language. But the two small girls weren’t afraid of just going over and talking to him, and he enjoyed the fact that they did and did his best to respond in a way they would understand.
We got all the food my family usually got at Christmas, and did everything the Danish way even though we were in England. I loved every minute of it, and so did everyone else. I for one loved Tom much more, if that is possible, and I couldn’t stop thanking him for the great gift he had given me.
Later that night my water broke and the next day, after a long and painful labor, I was able to give Tom his gift. It was a little girl, just like Tom had said. He had tears in his eyes the first time he held her, which is a sight I will never forget. She looked like Tom, much to my joy, with his eyes and she already had little blond curls. We named her Laura after my oldest sister, she truly was the best Christmas gift we have ever gotten.