Page 36 of Second Down Scrooge

What have I done?

One minute, we were making out. The next, the tree was crashing to the ground, and both my girls started crying.

I feel like I ruined the peaceful moment.

Deep down, I realize I’m not to blame. No one is, really. But it still feels like this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t come over tonight.

I stare at the total destruction of the tree. It’s darker in here now with the tree on the floor instead of standing up tall, casting a glow over the whole room, so I take the screaming Mia and head toward the nearest lamp and switch it on.

I walk the baby over to her mother and place Mia in Kelly’s arms.

“You take care of her. I’ll take care of this.” I gesture toward the fallen tree as she nods. I lean down and press a gentle kiss to Kelly’s cheek, and I pull back and look her in the eyes as I set my hands on her upper arms. “We’ll fix this. I promise.”

“’Kay,” she sniffles, and she walks the long way around the couch to bounce Mia as she sings to her while I beeline for the giant mess on the floor.

I lift the tree back to a stand, and Kelly takes the still screaming Mia into her bedroom while I work. I flip on more lights and locate a broom in the laundry room, and I sweep all the little shards of broken glass along with about ten million pine needles into a dustpan, emptying it into the trash can beforefilling it up again. I work quickly, and I hear the sounds of screaming start to quiet as Kelly talks soothingly to Mia.

I can’t help but laugh at the entire situation. I just got home from scoring a touchdown in a pro football game, and now I’m in dad mode, taking care of my girls and sweeping the floors. It’s likely not what most fans imagine as they think about what the players on their favorite teams do after a win, but this is the reality of my life.

I pull the broken ornaments off the tree and toss those in the trash, too, and an idea forms in my head as I work. The tree is probably better off as firewood at this point since it likely still has some broken glass in it. A few of the front branches broke, and I think we’ll take care of replacing it tomorrow. I take the good ornaments off and set them on the table, and then I haul the tree outside and set it on the side of the house. I sweep one more time just to be sure I got everything, and I make a bottle for Mia since it’s inching pretty close to bedtime.

I show up in the doorway of Mia’s bedroom with the bottle I just prepared, and Kelly looks grateful. Neither of them is crying anymore, and for that, I’m grateful.

“Where’s the vacuum?” I ask Kelly as she walks over to the rocking chair in the corner of Mia’s room.

“Front closet, but you don’t have to do that.”

I just roll my eyes at her since she can protest all she wants. It’s happening.

I vacuum the whole area around where the tree was and around the entire room just to be sure I got all the glass, and I put the vacuum away when I’m done. I head back to Mia’s room, and she’s just finishing her bottle with that sleepy haze falling over her eyes.

“Thank you,” Kelly mouths to me. I walk over and press my lips to Mia’s head, and I listen as Kelly sings “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Mia’s practically asleep by the time the song ends,and Kelly gently lifts to a stand and sets the baby in her crib. We both bid her sweet dreams before we head out of the room, closing the door behind us.

Once we’re back on the couch in front of the Netflix fireplace with no tree twinkling beside it, I make a promise. “We’ll get a new tree tomorrow. And whatever decorations you want.”

“It’s fine. I’m sure that’s not what you want to do on your day off,” she says.

I reach over and grab her hand, and I pull it up to my lips. “It’s exactly what I want to do on my day off.”

She leans into me and sighs, and I think it’s a sigh of contentment. “I read all these blogs about parents putting up baby gates around the tree or not putting up a tree at all, but I thought it sounded ridiculous. Truthfully, I didn’t think I had to worry about that until next year at the earliest.”

“You want my opinion?”

She glances up at me and nods.

“I think pulling it down once will scare her off from trying it again.”

She chuckles. “I bet you’re right about that.”

“Live and learn. I was the same way. Still am, if I’m being honest.” Sometimes the lessons are good, sometimes they’re a little harder. Someone can tell me a hundred times not to do something, but I won’t believe it’s a bad idea until I do it for myself.

But the same is true in reverse. Sometimes I’m not sure whether something is a good idea until I experience it for myself, and this whole thing with Kelly seems like it has moved to a new level where I’m ready to experience all the highs and lows of a relationship with this person.

We just had a near miss where a Christmas tree could’ve fallen on our daughter, but we reacted as a team. She took care of the baby. I took care of the mess. It’s a simple little example thatfeels representative of what we could have together if we worked together instead of against each other.

“Can you remind me where we were before all the excitement?” I murmur.

“Mm,” she hums, and she turns toward me. “You were kissing me because I just confirmed I’m ready to give this another chance with you.”

---