Angela and Marcus dragged the tree up the four flights to their tiny apartment at the top of the old building. It was not as odious job as one might expect since the tree was only big enough to sit on the small coffee table they had picked up at the Second hand store on the corner. Marcus suspected, rightly, that the tree salesman had only given them such a great price because it was 8:00 on Christmas Eve and most people had had their tree up for weeks.

The newlyweds had just moved into the one bedroom the day before and were excited to be celebrating their first Christmas together as a married couple. The tree man had kindly nailed a couple of boards to the bottom of the trunk so the scraggly little thing could stand up. It was already dropping needles, but the two of them just laughed and hung it with the cheap string of lights they had picked up at the Dollar Store. It was ugly but it was THEIRS.

“We need something else on it,” Angela said. “We can do better.”

Marcus just laughed. “I agree it’s pretty pathetic but we spent the last of our mad money for the week on this thing. Got any ideas?”

“We’ll have to get creative,” Angela said. “But first let’s go get Chinese since we decided that would be our meal tonight. I stuck the $20 bill from Mom and Dad away for just this.”

They headed down the stairs and next door to the tiny Chinese restaurant that was one of the reasons they had picked this apartment. Their favorite food next door and inexpensive enough to indulge once in a while. How perfect!

They were the only people in the place this late in the evening, and a sweet faced Chinese woman about Marcus’s mother’s age came over carrying menus. She smiled warmly.

“You new here, right? I watched you move in and saw you drag that tree upstairs. What you want? Everything fresh and good here.”

Angela, ever the practical one, told her they were just married, living on a tight budget and what would she suggest? The woman clapped her hands and next thing they knew she was introducing them to her husband who cooked and they insisted this first meal was on them as celebration for their wedding and a welcome to the neighborhood.

As incredible dish after incredible dish was brought to the table and no one else came in, the Lius were invited to join them and soon they were laughing and talking. Finally Angela told them they needed to go figure out some way to decorate their sad little tree and Mrs Liu beamed.

“Wait! Just a minute! “ She whispered in her husband’s ear and they both scurried out, returning in a few minutes with a beautiful red brocade box and laid it on the table.

“Please do us the honor of maybe using these? We have so many that we set up for Chinese New Year and if you like, you may have them for your tree.”

Marcus opened the box and inside were a number of beautiful ornaments decorated with Chinese lettering and ready to be hung. They were exquisite. All Angela could get out was an “Oh. How gorgeous”.

“We will be honored to put these on our first tree and every year from here on out. We are so thankful and humbled. It will be a tradition to spend Christmas Eve here and use these on the tree as a memory of this first Christmas in a new place far from home but with new friends.”

For many years after Angela and Marcus traveled to the city on Christmas Eve to feast with the Lius and for decades those ornaments were the very first they hung on whatever tree they had wherever they happened to be living.