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“Sachio, bring those ornaments here!” His sister said when he picked up one of the boxes off the floor. They were finally taking the tree down, and apparently, it was up to the two of them to put all of the ornaments away. Sachio hadn’t cared so much about the tree, and hadn’t helped while putting it up, so apparently it was now his time to help by putting it away. He sighed, taking the box over to his older sister, who seemed to be quite happy. Sachio just found it as unnecessary work. His sister looked at him and smiled, like she knew what he was thinking. “Sachio, don’t you at least try to get a little happy during Christmas?” He grimaced at her. “I like the gifts, and the gift-giving, but putting up a huge tree like this is such a pain. I’m not sure why you like it so much. I mean maybe if it were a smaller tree, sure. But I don’t see why we have to use such a huge one. Especially since we have to use a step-ladder!” That was part of the problem with being such a small family. In America, things were made for taller people mostly, even if the average height was quite small. But American’s like to have everything “big”.

His sister sighed. “Sachio, it’s supposed to remind us of nice things and warm memories.” He raised his eyebrow in return. “If it’s supposed to do that, I’m pretty sure we would have a lot different ornaments than the ones we use now. But since they’re all moms, we have to use them.” His sister had to agree. If there was one thing they could change about the tree, it would be getting some of their own ornaments rather than just using their mother’s all the time. Their father rarely had anything to do with Holiday decorations, and considered them a waste of time for the most part, but he let his wife and kids indulge in all of it. He would only be there for the parties so he didn’t look like a bad host or guest.

And since they were mom’s ornaments, the kids really didn’t get a choice in what they looked like. For the most part they weren’t bad, but were very, very old. And they had to be extra careful with them, as just a small fall, even on carpet, could make them break. Even worse if it was one of their mother’s extra special ornaments. If it was just one of the regular ball ones, then that was sad, but not too bad.

His sister got up, ready to take more ornaments off the tree, as Sachio started to put them in all of their little boxes. If there was one skill he gained while working on miniature gardens, it was how to be careful with his hands. He was just putting another boxed ornament away, when he heard a gasp coming from his sister, and the sound of an ornament breaking. He looked at where she was, and she was covering her mouth. He looked to the ornament that was now on the ground, thankfully just one of the plain round ones, but noticed that there was… something coming from it. There seemed to be… dust coming from it? Well that was a surprise, it was so old…

What was surprising though was the next moment, he could have sworn he was teleported to the past or something! Now he was here, in their house, except he was 5 years old again, and he was with his sister and their mother, trying to hang up ornaments on the tree. However, since they were both so little, they weren’t allowed to try and hang the more breakable ornaments. He could see his sister, she was practically jumping up and down saying, “Mom pleeeaaase can I hang up one of your ornaments? Plllllleeeeeeaaaaseeeee?” Sachio had wandered over to the two of them, interested in the shiny and colorful things, but he still wasn’t exactly sure what they did with them. Their mother giggled at his older sister’s pleas. “Not yet. You’re still not old enough. We have to be very, very careful with these ornaments. They’ve been passed down from your grandmother who is still living in Japan.” Sachio, still reliving the memory, remembered that this was when his paternal grandmother was still alive. She seemed to be a lot nicer than their father was, but still, it had been instilled in him to be more of a traditional Japanese man, even though they were now all in America, Sachio and his sister having been born there. And so, like most working Japanese men, he stayed out all hours of the night, working two jobs, since he wasn’t allowed so much overtime at his company.

However, he was brought out of his thoughts, thoughts he really shouldn’t be having at five years old, by his mother who grabbed him and hugged him. “Sachio, what do you think about helping me put the star on the top of the Christmas tree?” Suddenly he felt his chest swell with excitement. He would get to put the best part of the tree up?! His sister gasped and said, “Wow Sachio! You’re so lucky!” She said as their mother put him down and opened up the package with the star inside of it. She handed it to Sachio, telling him to be careful, and she lifted him all the way up to the top of the tree! Luckily the star wasn’t too hard to put on, it had a large base so that it wouldn’t fall off easily, and Sachio carefully put the star on the tree. His mother and sister cheered, and he was put down so that their mother could adjust it, and his sister went and hugged him.

As suddenly as it came though, the moment was gone, and Sachio could only blink in confusion for a bit, before looking at his sister, who was currently cleaning up the now-broken ornament. He blushed a bit at the memory, wondering why he had remembered such a thing suddenly, and it made him feel a bit guilty about not being so happy about the holidays. He sighed, looking at his sister. “Look sis, I… I’m sorry for not helping you put the tree up this year. I promise I’ll do it next year.” She looked at him, with a surprised face, and quickly threw away the pieces of ornament, before going over to her little brother and hugging him. “It’s all right Sachio, sometimes we just aren’t up for it and that’s okay. But if you’re going to help me next year, then we need to get some new ornaments!” He sighed, but gave her a smile. He would later apologize to his mother, but the memory had made him realize what he had forgotten about, the holiday spirit.