Bianca and I went shopping the Saturday before Christmas, accumulating presents for our families. Lukas had dropped hints that he planned to get me some sort of “big surprise” for the holiday, so I bought him a variety of gifts in an effort to keep our exchange somewhat even. A bottle of Calvin Klein cologne, a collection of classic novels by Dostoevsky, and four tickets to an FC Nürnberg match, plus a knotted rope for Winston and Nerf guns for Lukas and his nephews. I bought gift cards for my parents and Dennis, concluding it would be best to let them decide how they wished to spend them.
Christmas dawned with a sky layered in heavy clouds, the promise of rain evident in the atmosphere. I clad myself in a pair of basic jeans, a cream sweater, and the garnet pendant, which Lukas seemed to
