Every time a bird lands at the feeder in Kristin Tracey’s yard, she thinks of her husband.

Paul Tracey never opened the Christmas gift that was the bird feeder with an attached camera two years ago.

A Waltham police officer, he was killed at a traffic detail before the holiday arrived.

The family’s Waltham home was all decorated for Christmas during a recent visit: Lights and ornaments on the tree, presents wrapped and stockings hung on the mantle.

But there in the corner of the living room, ever present, is framed portrait and tribute from the state lawmakers in honor of Paul Tracey, the family’s fallen husband and dad.

“Christmas definitely was Paul’s favorite season as well as ours, as a family. Such a family man,” his wife, Kristin Tracey, told the Herald on Tuesday morning. “We still try to celebrate Christmas. It is hard, for sure.”

Paul Tracey died at the age of 58 on the afternoon of Dec. 6, 2023, from the injuries he suffered at the scene of a chaotic crash on Totten Pond Road, around three miles away from the family’s home.

He was working a construction detail that day when a driver, now charged with a slew of charges  is accused of plowing into the work-zone and killing Tracey and National Grid worker Roderick Jackson, forever altering the course of both family’s lives.

Christmas will never be the same.

A self-described “planner,” Kristin Tracey remembers having all the family’s gifts wrapped weeks ahead of Christmas 2023. Grieving, the family opened Paul’s gift that Christmas morning – the birdfeeder and camera.

Kristin said she constantly thinks about her husband’s presence whenever she sees a bird there.

She and her two children, Danika, 16, and Tyler, 15, will be celebrating Christmas with both sides of the family. Paul was the youngest of eight children. As a police officer herself, Kristin said she realizes that emotions and tensions are heightened during the holidays.

“But we find it really important, especially, to still get together,” she said. “And if you miss a family party or gathering, people have FOMO; they are sad about that.” (FOMO- Millennial slang for Fear of Missing Out)

“It is hard,” she added, “but that’s how we can carry on his legacy. We know that’s what he would want.”

After the holidays, Kristin Tracey will be returning to work at the Waltham Police Department for the first time since her husband was killed.

That’s where she met her husband, who was 13 years older. She recounted a “funny story” of how a Waltham officer pulled her over during her senior year of high school in 1996.

That officer, who had just graduated from the police academy, was Paul Tracey, Kristin said, with a chuckle. Paul remembered the incident when she started working for the department four years later, in 2000. The couple started dating in 2002.

“He’ll never be forgotten,” Kristin said. “The stories will always be told.”

Kristin will be returning to the job as an elderly affairs officer, primarily working at the senior center with the elderly, informing them of scams and elder abuse.

It’s a role that she said is similar to “kind of what Paul did in patrol.”

“I am returning to a job that took my husband’s life,” Kristin said. “I am returning to a location that is now a shrine to my husband. I’m going to be forever wearing a name tag that people will always ask me, ‘Oh, are you related to Paul Tracey?’”

“I’m still young,” she added. “I’ve got a lot to give, so I’m going to go back, I’m going to give it a whirl. … I feel like I’m doing his work.”

The Tracey family is not the only one that lost a loved one in that fatal hit-and-run.

Peter Simon, of Woodsville, N.H., has been indicted on a dozen charges in connection with the rampage that also claimed the life of Jackson, a National Grid worker from Cambridge. Jackson died at the age of 36.

A trial in the case is slated for Feb. 23, 2026.

The Simons and Jacksons have grown close over the past two years as the families continue to grieve and attend court hearings. Kristin Tracey said she regularly communicates with Jackson’s mother, Norma Asprilla.

“We probably would never have had our life-paths crossed before,” she said. “It is amazing: Two different families from different upbringings, but we are now forever connected. I am indebted to that family.”

Earlier this month, Kristin Tracey received a surprise phone call from the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, with a member from the nonprofit alerting her that it would pay off her mortgage in full.

“It is so easy to fall back on the tragic events of that night,” she said. “But now, two years later, when there’s good that’s coming from this, that really pulls on my heartstrings.”

Another framed picture in the family’s living room brings their fallen husband and dad’s legacy alive. Kristin Tracey pointed to a photograph of a yellow rose that she received unexpectedly from a woman at the National Police Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Paul would often give her a single yellow rose, she said, tears forming in her eyes.

“I don’t like red roses, I don’t like pink. I like yellow,” she said. “Yellow signifies the friendship, but that’s how strong our bond was. … I knew he was there with us.”

Before heading out for his team’s hockey game Tuesday afternoon, Tyler Tracey, a freshman at Arlington Catholic, said he remembers how his father taught him about the qualities of life.

“Just being loved, having your family,” Tyler said. “He was very family-oriented, so that’s what I really loved the most.”

A portrait of Waltham police officer Paul Tracey and a citation from state lawmakers hangs on the wall of his family’s Waltham home. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)
Officer Kristin Tracey, the widow of Waltham police officer Paul Tracey, wears a necklace of her husband’s shield and her children’s names. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)