What was Victoria's Secret?

Here's a little something while the editing continues:

Victoria’s Secret

Something seemed out of place in the living room decorated red and green and gold. It didn’t take long to see it was the pale peach bag off to the side of heavily decorated Christmas tree with presents populating the lower reaches.

     It was a pale peach shopping bag, tasteful and eye catching, and even if it did not have the easily identifiable Victoria's Secret script on each broad side it would have stood out among the gifts in shiny lacquered paper with festive bows and ribbons. These gifts dominated the landscape, but once the bag was noticed, it stood out in a decidedly un-Christmas fashion.

     The bag was under the tree in the living room of a predominately female household. Three grown daughters frequently darkened the front door to the hallway and stairway and kitchen of their youth. One, the youngest, may not have even officially left home. But her infrequent presence made her seem more a visitor than a resident. This worked out well for the wayward uncle visiting that particular Christmas. He could stretch out in slumber in her unused room, giving the poor convertible couch in the television room a reasonable retirement.

     In a house with four women it would seem that a pale peach shopping bag from Victoria's Secret would invite some comment.  It didn't. Studiously ignored or embarrassingly avoided, it sat off to the side, on its own.

     In that house, in that year, that particular Christmas was one fashioned for grownups. The presence of the wayward uncle did little to improve the ratio of men to women. Women outnumbered men 4-3. So it can be said: That particular Christmas could be construed as feminine. So a shopping back from Victoria's Secret was not so out of place, even among the holiday decor.

     As it was, the house wasn't quiet, nor still, and the mother and her husband juggled schedules and errands and daughter's schedules and holiday demands. It was how their life was defined.

      The wayward uncle’s payment for renting the space in the house was a cut-glass bowl he filled with wrapped chocolates. His reward was being with family for the holidays. Over the years a lot of his free time was spent at that house, with that sister and her daughters. He felt welcome there. He was close to his sisters and as close to his nieces as most uncles are, or try to be.

     It could be said that the mother and her daughters were close: the upheavals of life certainly had visited them in their lives together in that house. And it's understandable a mother with three daughters wouldn't have the exact same relationship with all three. Even as adults, children don't lose their uniqueness, or their differences, as they are bound to be in different stations and places in their lives. At any moment, a mother keeps in mind these differences, and manages the best she can the needs of those hearts she holds dear.

     This particular Christmas also was unusual not just for the absence of children, but, the ritual of opening gifts in the presence of loved ones was postponed until evening, when all could be together. It made the day calm and steady in a way more typical with adults than with children.

     And so when evening approached, and all the characters assembled, in the usual rush of family and greetings and conversation and food and warm familiar emotions, the Victoria's Secret bag remained anonymous, holding its position, waiting its turn for attention. As everyone assembled, settled, and viewed the scene, its presence was silently noted but uncommented upon. As the unwrapping of gifts came to its conclusion, the Victoria's Secret bag become more noticeable, until, at last, it was the center of attention.

     The oldest daughter reached for it and gave it to her mother, who accepted it with a puzzled but bemused smile.

     "I wonder what's in here?" she asked quietly.

     "It's a surprise," her daughter answered.

     And after lifting a piece of wrapping paper from the top of the items, each one was introduced to the viewers, in silence.

     A baby blanket.

     A rattle.

     A infant's toy.

     A baby book.

     Gasps and murmurs were one.

     Tears fell from the mother's eyes.

     The mother-to-be couldn't contain herself any longer: "We're going to have a baby!"

     Joy and laughter erupted: An entire household, and entire holiday, an entire family was set on its head! The mother-to-be confessed she'd known for months but couldn't, wouldn't say anything until Christmas, and said it was the hardest thing she'd ever done.

     The mother, now a grandmother-to-be, knew that silence, that keeping of a secret, was a gift, for she knew her daughter would tell her anything. Her sacrifice of silence sealed the surprise. The ruse was perfect.

     All eyes fell on those innocent items, and the promise they held.

     And no one every looked at the pale peach Victoria's Secret bag quite the same way afterward.