Andrew Walsh and the Christmas gift his girlfriend still talks about

His heart was two sizes too small.

The Grinch’s heart, that is. Not KIRO Radio host Andrew Walsh’s heart. Although it could be said that Andrew sometimes displays some grinch-y holiday behavior.

“I hadn’t been in the Christmas spirit a lot in my life as a young adult,” said Andrew.

The grumbles start as Thanksgiving passes by.

‘Why do I have to get a tree? Come on it’s just a symbol. Blah, blah, blah.’

He’s said there have been moments where he said worse, but he probably shouldn’t admit to it.

So the year that he and his girlfriend of 12 years moved to Seattle, he should have been ecstatic. As they got ready for the holiday, fresh off the move and starting at new jobs she said not to worry.

“You know what?” she said to Andrew. “I don’t even care about the tree this year.”

But the words just felt so wrong.

It was then that Andrew realized even though he was off the hook for the ‘symbol’ he grumbled about year after year, he wasn’t a curmudgeon. It was more than him not getting to have his tantrum either: It wasn’t that his girlfriend didn’t care. In the midst of transition she just didn’t have the energy for the tradition.

It wasn’t meant to be a Christmas present. It was just a random I-was-thinking-of-you-on-Thursday gesture. Andrew went out and got a tree while she was at work that day, set it up and decorated it.

“She still talks about it.”

Still grumbling about Christmas each year, the time that Andrew brought a tree still means something special to both of them. “When I think ‘I don’t have any redeeming qualities …’ I think of that one time I got her a Christmas tree when she didn’t expect one.”