Felix

After much fussing and a little arguing, they had got the tree upright and secure in its stand just as his mom came back downstairs to check on them. Her mouth dropped open when she saw the new addition to her living room.

"What... is... this?" she sputtered.

"A Christmas tree, Ma," Felix teased, dusting the needles off his hands. "Haven't you ever seen one before?"

Georgia gave him a little elbow. He just laughed.

His mom looked between the tree and them with wide eyes. "But, it's not the end of season. We've still got customers to sell to—"

"I bought it," Georgia said, standing up straighter. "So, that makes me a customer."

His mother tilted her head at her like she hadn't heard of such a thing. "But if you bought it, why is it up in my living room?"

"Because it's a gift," Georgia replied. "Think of it as a thank you for all you've done for me."

"Oh no," his mother replied, her eyes going even wider. She looked almost horrified as if there was nothing worse than getting a gift in return. "I can't—it's too much! I can't take your money!"

"Too late," Georgia said. She dug into her pockets and produced a small bundle of bills—much more than the usual price of a tree—and held it out to his mother. "The tree has already been cut, so I guess you have to take it."

Guess she wasn't joking about triple the price, Felix thought as he eyed the wad of bills.

"Oh, please, dear, don't worry about it..."

"Please, Sue."

"No, I won't take it—"

"Sue," Georgia said, her voice firm. "You will take this money or I will hide it somewhere in this big beautiful house of yours and you'll have it whether you can find it or not."

Felix looked down at Georgia. No one had ever played his mother's game like this before. Once again, he had to admit, he was kind of impressed.

His mother stared Georgia down as she reached out and reluctantly accepted the bills. "Fine. But you're getting change."

Felix leaned in, whispering into Georgia's ear. "Told you so. Guard your socks."

Georgia glanced at him and giggled. "Fine," she said to answer Sue. "But I can't promise I won't hide that, too."

His mother eyed them both before turning to put the money away.

"I think that went well," Georgia said, turning to Felix. "Thank you for your assistance."

"Not a problem," Felix said, brushing off her thanks again. "I was going to do this for mom anyway, but it was nice to have some help."

"Yeah, I don't think you would've been able to do this without me," Georgia joked back. She flexed her arms.

Felix laughed. "Maybe not."

They laughed and smiled at each other before they realized what they were doing. They quickly looked away.

Georgia gave a show about doing a great big yawn, stretching her arms over her head. Felix noticed she was looking anywhere but him. "Well, now that's all done, I should get upstairs to bed. And also to make sure Sue isn't hiding my change in my toiletries or something—"

"You'd be too late," Sue said, appearing again, "if I did, of course. But you can't go just yet!"

"Why not?" Georgia asked, one of her eyebrows raising.

His mother gave Georgia a strange look like the older woman thought the young lady was off her rocker. "We have to decorate the tree, of course. It's tradition to decorate the tree as soon as it's up!"

Felix smirked at Georgia. "Told you so."

Georgia wasn't so easily convinced. "Oh, Sue, that's very nice, but I've got to get some rest. Besides, you don't have to include me in your family tradition. I'm a complete stranger—"

"Not a complete stranger," Felix butted in.

Georgia shot him a look.

He just smiled back. He was enjoying this.

"Exactly!" his mother agreed. "Besides, a tree without decoration is simply a job half done. You must stay to decorate with us!"

"Yes," Felix echoed. "Stay." If he had to get roped into this, he wasn't going to be the only one. Besides, it'd be kind of nice to have more people join in. Almost like the old times...

With another quick glare at Felix, Georgia let out a big breath. "Well, if that's what you really want, Sue..."

"Oh, I do," his mother said, capturing Georgia by the wrist and pulling her over to the boxes Felix had stacked under the window. "Decorating is the fun part! You don't want to miss the fun part, do you?"

"O-Of course not," Georgia said, but Felix caught the hesitance in her voice.

"That's right!" his mom said, clapping her hands, happy to get her way. "Oh, it's been too long. I can't wait to get started."

His mother set upon the boxes, sifting and digging through them, taking inventory of what they had. She handed over one of the boxes to Georgia as she began to look through another.

Georgia just stared into it with bewilderment. "Where do you start?" she asked.

"With the lights of course," his mother said, poking her head up from a box with a laugh. "Haven't you decorated a tree before?"

"It's kinda... Well, it may have been a while," Georgia said, her cheeks going that pretty shade of pink again.

"Don't worry," Felix said, nudging Georgia with his elbow as he came to stand beside her. "It's like riding a bike. If you've done it once, you'll get the hang of it quick enough."

But the look she gave him showed that she wasn't so sure.

"Don't worry," he added. "I'll show you how."

Georgia smiled at him.

"Here they are," his mom cheered, pulling out a long line of a string of lights from one of the boxes. She handed one end to her son. "Let's get these on the tree!"

Felix helped his mom string the lights around the tree. Due to his height, his job was to make sure they were evenly spaced along the upper branches and that there was a cluster of lights right at the tip of the tree to properly light the star. Between the two of them, the two seasoned Christmas veterans finished the job pretty quickly.

When they were done, Felix squeezed behind the tree to plug it in, and the tree lit up with hundreds of warm sparkling lights.

"Oh, wow!" Georgia cried, the glittering lights reflected in her wide hazel eyes. "That actually looks really nice!"

"You seem surprised," Felix said with a laugh.

"I told you, I-I never had a real Christmas tree, before," Georgia explained, still staring at the glittering tree. "We always had the cheap fake ones... I mean, if we had a tree at all." Something sad seemed to pass across her eyes, but with a blink, it was gone.

"Wait until you see it with ornaments, it will look even better then," his mom said, giving the girl a little push toward the open boxes. "Go on, you pick first."

Following his mother's lead, Georgia picked up one of the bundles of paper inside the box and unwrapped it. It was a clear glass ornament with hand-painted white swirls patterning its surface. Cradling it with care, Georgia hurried back to the tree and reached to hang it on one of the branches...

Felix stopped her. "If you hang that in front of a light," he said, leaning in to guide her hand. "It will reflect off of it and look even better."

Georgia took his advice and let him steer her to the right spot, a branch that hung just overhead of one of the small, delicate lights. He watched the smile spread across her face as she saw what he meant—the clear glass and white paint refracted the light and created a pretty play of light and shadow. She even gave a little giggle.

To Felix's surprise, she seemed to be enjoying herself.

To his even further surprise... so was he.

Just then, the wind outside gave a great howl that shook the windows and sent the great house creaking and groaning. The lights around them gave a flicker before going out—including the tree. The only light that remained was the fire, flaring bright in the darkness.

"Dang it!" his mother cried. "Talk about timing."

"I guess that does it for the tree, then," Georgia said. Felix couldn't quite see her face in the dark, but by the sound of her voice, she was disappointed.

"Not so fast," his mother said. She hurried off into the dark house. She knew the place well enough that she didn't need the light to navigate. Just as quickly, she returned with an armful of something, which she dropped onto the coffee table with a clatter. She fussed with her bounty for a moment, and then, with a crackling and a spark, a match was lit, revealing her plan.

She had dug out a pile of simple white candles and a stack of small gold candleholders. She began to light each one and then offered the lit ones to Felix.

"Put these around the room," she instructed before handing another over to Georgia. "It won't be the same as the electric lights, but it will give us enough light to finish the job. It will be like they did it, back in the olden days."

Felix and Georgia helped Sue strategically place the lit candles around the room, in all the right places, so that the candles provided enough light to see what they were doing and move about. The candles weren't especially bright, but they did the job. In a way, it was almost better this way. The low, flickering light gave everything a soft, warm, cozy glow.

"There," his mother said, standing up and surveying their work. "Now we can finish our tree." She began to dig through the boxes again, pulling out ornaments and handing them over to Felix and Georgia to hang up. Georgia ooh-ed and aw-ed over each new one, something Felix couldn't blame her for. Over the years, his family had amassed quite a selection of ornaments made of every imaginable material—metal, glass, wood, wool. Some forged, some blown, some carved, some knitted. And each one held a memory, a story of a friend or an event.

One made Georgia give a squeal of high laughter. "What is this thing?" she cackled. She held it up for them to see.

At first, it just looked like an errant old-fashioned clothespin, but Felix soon realized that there was something else attached...

"Hey!" he cried. He was glad that the low candlelight wouldn't reveal the blush that he could feel spreading across his cheeks. He tried to grab for it, but Georgia danced out of reach. She was quick.

"I think that's supposed to be a reindeer," his mother answered with a giggle. "Felix made that in school one year, when he was very little."

"It looks more like a hammerhead shark," Georgia replied with a giggle of her own, holding it up. "What did you do to it?"

Felix vividly remembered making that abomination. It was indeed a clothespin that, as a child, he had been instructed to attach googly eyes and a pipe cleaner to make it into a crude reindeer. Only, instead of gluing the eyes to the front of the clothespin, Felix had, for some reason he couldn't remember, glued them to the side, giving the poor reindeer a definitively wonky appearance.

"I was a kid," he said defensively. "I don't know why mom kept it... Certainly not my finest work."

"I kept it because it was cute," his mom replied. "And funny."

Felix just grumbled in response and turned his attention to putting up his own ornament.

"If it makes you feel any better," Georgia said. "I made my own demented reindeer ornament as a kid. We made these paper reindeer heads and I for some reason decided that my reindeer needed a full set of teeth." She laughed at the memory. "It came out pretty sinister-looking."

His mom laughed along. "That sounds adorable. Did your parents keep it, too?"

Georgia's demeanour changed, her shoulders sinking. "I-I don't think so. I don't know what happened to it." She shook off whatever had clouded her mind and went forward to the tree, hanging Felix's hammerhead reindeer at the very front of the tree in a place of prominence.

Once she was done, Georgia held her hand to his mom out for another ornament.

"That was the last one," his mom said, but she had another paper bundle in her hands—this one much larger, longer than the other ornaments. "It's time to put up the star."

Felix reached out to take the bundle. The job usually fell to him—another job for the tallest in the family.

His mom held it away from him. "No, I think Georgia should do it."

"Me?" Georgia said.

His mom handed over the bundle to Georgia. She cradled it like a baby, pulling back the wrappings like they were swaddling. Inside was the same tree topper that the Nissens had used for at least as long as Felix had been alive—a hand-blown mercury glass bauble with thin spindly arms that radiated out of it like rays of starlight.

"It's beautiful," Georgia remarked.

"Isn't it?" his mom said. "It's even more beautiful when it is on the tree."

Georgia looked nervous now, handling something so precious. "But I can't reach... Should I go get a chair?"

"No, I'll help you," Felix said. In front of the tree, he knelt down on one knee and offered Georgia his hand. "Take my hand and stand on my knee."

For a moment, Georgia just blinked at him... but then she swallowed and did as he said. Holding the star securely to her chest, she took his hand and climbed onto his knee, raising herself up until she was eye level with the top of the tree. Squeezing his hand for stability, she took the star from against her body and placed it, ever so gently, on the very topmost branch. She pulled her hand back to see if it was secure—

Just then, the power flickered back on and the tree burst into sparkling light.

Georgia squealed with surprise and then fell back. Fortunately, Felix had a good hold of her hand and was able to scoop her up before she landed with a crash on the coffee table. With her hand in his, he spun her around and to her feet again.

"T-Thank you," Georgia sputtered, taking a step back from him. In the new light, he could see that she was blushing furiously.

"Well, look at that," his mother said, admiring the lights. "Just in time to show off our work."

Felix and Georgia tore their eyes away from each other to finally give the tree a proper look. It was beautiful. The small warm white lights illuminated every carefully placed ornament, making the whole tree shimmer and shine like it had been touched by magic.

"It sure came out lovely," Sue said with a happy sigh.

"It really did," Georgia said softly.

"Thank you, Georgia," Sue said, turning to the girl. She gave her a warm smile. "And for your gift—and your help. Aren't we lucky you stumbled into our lives?"

Felix noticed that word, again—luck—made Georgia perk up. She frowned for a moment before her gaze was drawn to the tree. Her look softened as she took it in. Felix wondered if maybe she was starting to believe in luck after all.

🎄

Do you have a favourite Christmas tree ornament?