"The Very First"

It was dark hiding in the box that she was in. She waited anxiously to be found and brought into the brightened room where th efamily was decorating for Christmas. This time of year was always her favorite and she made believe that she was playing hide and seek until the final moment came when she was able to do her special job. Nobody else could do it, just her.
As time passed she heard carolers singing and friends wishing "Happy Holidays" to the family, but still she remained right where she was. She could smell cookies baking and heard the fire crackling but still she remained inside the box. The time just wasn't right.
She would amuse herself with carols and thoughts of Christmas morning when presents would be opened and love would be shared. This was the best time of year and she would wait as long as it took.
An hour passed, then a day, even a week, but she waited.
Finally, she heard it. The magic words that would open the lid and let her do her job. "Mom, look! It's snowing!" With baited breath she waited until the lid lifted. When it did, the light poured into her box and she smiled, as she always did, as the the hands reached down and gently lifted her up. Smiling with her arms stretched out and her wings glittering, the hands placed her atop a flowing evergreen decorated with lights of red, green and white and ornaments made from noodles and popsickle sticks to glass and porcelin. She kept smiling as the tree was lit. Their light threw tints of green and red out into the falling snow.
The children asleep and the living room quiet, the Angel gazed out the window and almost laughed. "It's the first snow fall of the year!" She smiled, "The very first."