[[I haven’t been around so this is hella late, I’m sorry! I wanted to make sure it got sent anyway.]]
The present is a bit lumpy and soft, wrapped in paper decorated in dinosaurs wearing various Christmas hats and a shiny orange bow stuck on top. Tucked within are two gifts: One is a scarf made of soft, orange yarn and just as lumpy as the wrapping would suggest. The other is a much neater pair of black, fingerless gloves, knitted by a far more capable hand than knitted the scarf.
The card set beside the present reads:
Thanks for tolerating me another year!
I hope you like the scarf. Grandma Marie’s
trying to teach me to knit. She hopes you
like the gloves, too. Even if you don’t like
them, let me take a photo of you wearing
them so I can tell her you liked them.
An easy sort of smile when he finds the present tucked against the wall of his work bench. One that brightens in pieces and parts when opened. The scarf is...well not his thing--but he’ll wear it and lie that it is. Because it matters she took the time to make him something. The gloves on the other hand, that produces a bit of a chuckle. The present ones on his hands, pulled off and replaced with the new ones.
They’re nice. There won’t really be a lie there when he says so. But even for as much as he loves them--they are taken back off. Wrapped up in the scarf, that is placed up on a shelf for safe keeping. His old gloves put back on. He doesn’t want to ruin the new ones. No matter the fact he could remove any stain found. They still carry traces of the geeky woman that’s made the cubby hole over his work bench a second (or maybe third) home; and he’d like to keep them that way as long as possible.
And once his hands are covered again, his phone is pulled out. A text sent to his sometimes work bay buddy.
[ Text : Straws ] Mom sent extra fudge
[ Text : Straws ] Loved the presents.
[ Text : Straws ] not lyin ty
[ Text : Straws ] got tickets 2 that band u like, ur free Arpil 10th right?
[ Text : Straws ] Merry Xmas