Disclaimer: I own nothing! I do not own That '70s Show nor any of its characters. I also do not own any other Christmas characters or movies or that are referenced. I own nothing!
Author's Note: Hello everyone! How are you all doing? Hope you're doing well and getting ready for the holidays! Only a few days away can you believe it? Well to help you all once again get into the spirit of things I've decided to start another little holiday collection of oneshots for Christmas this time. Yay! I hope lol. A couple of things though. First off I'm sorry for posting them so late, finals got in the way last week. Secondly, there won't be too many installments, I'm thinking just four or five, I've got four ideas planned out (this one included) but if you guys have ideas for the fifth feel free to share! Thirdly, the installments will probably be short as well this one came out longer than I thought it would though so I guess the lengths may vary. Fourth, A great big thanks to all my readers especially those who are coming from reading my Halloween collection, your encouragement on that collection and to do this one is why this collection has been started in the first place! And finally I hope you all enjoy this first installment and will come back to read more! I'd love to hear what you thought about it so please feel free to leave a review. Long or short, signed in or not signed it, new readers and loyal ones! It is the season of giving isn't it? Thanks again for stopping by! Please review if you can, hope you like, and please, Enjoy!
Jackie Burkhart pushed open the kitchen's swinging door and entered the Forman living room, leaving behind the sweet aroma of newly baked sugar cookies and straight into a wave of fresh pine. Yes, Christmas time was here and had definitely hit the Forman house. The petite brunette smiled at Red but he didn't even see her as he was occupied with reading the paper on the sofa. Jackie then turned to her left and her smile doubled in size when she saw the task Kitty was busy with.
"Oh my gosh, Mrs. Forman those ornaments are gorgeous!" she squealed and stepped closer to examine the tree.
Kitty took a break from hanging up ornaments and moved closer to Jackie so she could get a better look at the ornaments that she had yet to hang up. Jackie quickly turned away from the tree and examined the silver and gold round ornaments that were in the box Kitty held in her hands, 'Ooing' and 'Awing' and each of the decorations, it caused Kitty's own grin to grow.
"Thank you Jackie, that is so sweet of you." Kitty said happily.
Nodding her head, Jackie put a gold ornament back in the box, "No problem. I mean I know you have those other ornaments that you usually put up like those tacky multicolored ones and those weird looking pinecone elves but these are much, much prettier. Good job!"
"Well thank you Jackie…I think." Kitty said her tone sounding a bit uncertain, however her smile remained in place, "They were having a sale on ornaments at the mall so I bought a few boxes….you should go over there and get some for your tree."
"Yeah!" An excited Jackie grinned at the thought of another excuse to go to the mall; her smile suddenly faded though when she remembered a detail that had somehow slipped her mind until now, "Well first I have to get my tree."
A gasp was heard as Kitty's blue eyes went wide, "Jackie, you haven't gotten your Christmas tree yet? Christmas is only two weeks away, when did you plan on getting it? New Years?!"
Jackie hung hear head, focusing her attention on one of the silver ornament hooks she'd been twirling in her fingers, "I know, I know, Mrs. Forman." She said, which was the truth—the past few days she had been telling herself that she needed to go out and buy her tree but she still had yet to actually do it. "But now that I'm living by myself it's not that easy to just go out and buy a great big Christmas tree."
Hearing this, Kitty's heart broke for the poor dear, "Oh Jackie, if it's money you're short on Red and I would be more than happy to give you a couple of dollars, right Red?"
"Right." he replied gruffly behind his paper, "A couple as in two. If you need it, we'll loan you two dollars, Jackie."
"Red!" Kitty scolded with wide eyes.
Red lowered his paper to look at his wife, "Kitty, you said a couple. A couple means two."
"Honestly Red, how can you expect her to get a nice Christmas tree with two dollars?"
Before Red had the chance to answer Kitty's question, Jackie swiftly stepped in the middle of the married couple's conversation, not wanting it to turn into a bigger argument especially since it would all be traced back to her. It was the holidays, there wasn't supposed to be any fights—plus if the fight was traced back to her, that wouldn't result any good gifts for her from the Forman's or Jolly Ol' St. Nick.
"No, no Mrs. Forman, it's not money. Really. I can afford to buy my own tree, that's not the problem." She informed and the small frown indented on Kitty's forehead made Jackie sigh a bit before she continued on, "It's actually getting the tree that I can't do. I mean tying it on the car, lugging it into my apartment…I can't do that! That's lumberjack work! And…the only lumberjack I know is over in stupid Madison."
Catching the saddened—with a hint of anger—tone the young woman spoke in with that last sentence, Kitty could tell Jackie was missing her best friend and placed a comforting arm around her small shoulders, "I'm sure you could find someone else to help you go get your tree, Jackie."
"Like who?" Jackie asked, sounding more like she was challenging Kitty to come up with a name.
"Well like…" she started to struggle when she remembered the first persons she was going to suggest was also off in far away Madison—her poor baby boy!—quickly she switched her attention back to Jackie and finding her a little Christmas tree helper, "I know! Why don't you take Michael or Fez? I'm sure they could be very helpful…well if you took only one of them and not together." She finished with a nervous Kitty laugh.
Jackie wasn't sold and instead shook her head, "I thought about that but I don't think it would work with either one of them. Michael would probably make me get one of those gigantic trees that won't even fit in my apartment and Fez has been a living breathing Christmas radio station since December first and I really don't wanna deal with that."
While Red lightly chuckled at the images Jackie had painted, that could very well become a reality if she did take either of the morons, Kitty continued to try to figure out someone who could go along with Jackie to get her tree…And then it her!
"Oh, oh! I know!" Kitty said excitedly, moving her arm away from Jackie so that she could have both hand free to gesture and move around (as if that would help sell Jackie on her newest idea, "You could take Steven with you!"
The brunette only shook her head at the smiling mother hen, "I don't know, Mrs. Forman. I mean things with me and Steven have gotten better but whenever it's just the two of us it always ends up feeling awkward and weird."
"Oh but Jackie, it's the holidays! It's the time to feel awkward and weird." A giggling Kitty added on, "Besides it'll be so much fun, think about it. You two will be able to talk without any interruptions, you could talk about anything! And because it's so cold out, you might have to cuddle together to keep warm. Doesn't that just sound so romantic? Oh! I can make cocoa!"
Jackie had been shaking her head throughout Kitty's mini monologue, her eyes getting bigger and bigger the more she heard, "Mrs. Forman, Steven and I are not back together."
Kitty laughed, "Well not yet honey, but if you take him with you to buy your Christmas tree…."
"Kitty." Red interrupted in a warning tone, "Stop meddling."
"I am not meddling." She determinedly replied, "I am simply suggesting that Jackie take Steven with her to go get her Christmas tree."
"And she declined your suggestion so drop it." He said, his words sounding more like an order; never noting the small little grateful smile Jackie was sending him. The truth was though, he hadn't done it all for Jackie or even for Steven, he did it for himself too. A meddling Kitty was bad enough to deal with but a meddling Kitty during the holidays—he'd never get any peace! And while many were wishing for peace on earth this time of year, Red Forman would be happy with just a day of peace in hi house.
"The girl can find someone else to go with her to buy her Christmas tree. Someone who isn't part of the Dumbass Duo. And someone who isn't Steven." He went on, making sure to add that last part.
His wife put her hands up in an 'I give up' manner, "Okay fine. But if it's not Steven or Michael or Fez or Donna or Eric, since they're over in Madison, that only leaves one person left. And do you know who that person is?"
"Who?" a confused voice mixed with another voice that sounded less interested.
Kitty grinned, "You."
"See? It all worked…" Red stopped mid sentence when he finally registered what had actually been said; his newspaper was crunched down and he swung his frowning bald head to where the two women stood, "What?"
Happily, Jackie clasped her hands together, "Mrs. Forman, that's a great idea!" she turned to the man on the sofa, "Mr. Forman, will you go with me to help me get my Christmas tree?"
He exhaled a bit heavily, "Look Jackie, I would but I won't." he said flat out causing Jackie's smile to follow a similar action.
"Why not?" she asked in a hurt little voice.
Wearing a frown and putting her hands on her hips, Kitty was also interested to hear his explanation, "Yes, Red why not?"
Red looked at the two women struggling for a reply; their unhappy looks—Jackie with her close to tears expression and the scowl on Kitty's face as giving him flashbacks to the days of her menopause—were not helping at all. He cleared his throat hoping to buy some time, maybe get them to drop the whole thing, but it didn't and they just stood there. Waiting.
"You see…I…there's no…Damn it Kitty!" he suddenly cursed angrily, "I already got you your tree and hung up the damn lights outside. I'm done with my Christmas duties until December twenty fifth. Jackie, just do what Kitty said and take Steven."
"Steven's not gonna want to go, Mr. Forman, you know that." Jackie protested.
"Don't worry about that. If I have to I'll go down there, have a talk with him and let him know that he's taking you to get your Christmas tree and if he doesn't he'll be getting a Christmas foot in the ass from me."
Jackie moved her head from left to right, "I don't want him to be threatened into it either, it'll just make things worse. Can't you just go with me? Please?"
"Jackie…" Red groaned.
Bringing in reinforcements, Jackie clasped her hands together turned bright eyes into sad puppy dog ones and for piece de resistance push out her lower lip, "Pretty please?"
Red had turned away as soon as he saw Jackie getting into place. He'd known what she was up to, Laurie had a similar game plan and as far back as he could remember it had always worked—even once getting him out to the stores on Christmas Eve to buy her some Suzie Talks A Lot Doll she had decided she wanted at the last minute. As Red tried to avoid eye contact with Jackie by focusing on the off TV set, Kitty took one look at her and had become a fallen victim to the sad brown eyes.
"Oh Red, look at the poor dear. You've got to go help her." his wife insisted, "I mean it's not like we let her go off and get the tree by herself. She's so tiny, she might try to load it up onto her car and it could fall on top of her squishing her like a little bug."
Not saying a word about her being compared to a bug, Jackie nodded her head from her spot beside Kitty but Red still hadn't been won over so Kitty went on.
"And," her tone becoming a bit playful, "if you do go with Jackie to get her Christmas tree, when you get back home I'll be waiting for you under the mistletoe with a big mug of hot cocoa."
Slowly Red turned his head to see his wife smiling and raising her eyebrows up at him—another thing he never could say no to.
"Fine." He grumbled.
Though the word had barely been audible both Jackie and Kitty had heard it, and so there was no going back now. Jackie once again merrily clapped her hands together not seeming to mind the old people kiss she had to witness between the couple she saw as her second set of parents. However, not wanting to take the risk of them forgetting she was hear and turning their kiss into something else, she quickly spoke up causing the pair to break apart.
"So when can we go?"
Red looked at his watch, "It's still early, we can take off now and…"
"Now? As in now, now?" Jackie asked hoping she'd heard wrong, "I can go now. I'm not dressed for it!"
"Jackie, we're just going to pick out a Christmas tree." Red reminded, trying to stay calm.
The brunette gave a strong nod, "Exactly. This dress does not say that I'm going to buy my Christmas tree." She explained and ignored Red's eye roll as she stepped closer to the door she'd come through earlier, "I'll just home and change and I'll be back in about two hours or so…"
"The stores'll all be closed by then."
"Oh." said Jackie before she gave a quick shoulder shrug, "Well then we'll go tomorrow which actually works out much better. Now I can go to the mall and buy these boots that I saw that are perfect for going to get a Christmas tree!"
After that squeal of excitement Jackie bounced out of the room leaving a frowning Red and a smiling Kitty who was trying to hold in a laugh.
"Kitty," Red began, "you better change that hot cocoa to a cold beer."
She rubbed her hand on his arm as she nodded and bit her lip to help keep a straight face, "I'll get the mistletoe ready."
0o0o0o
"Alright Jackie what's your spending limit on this?" Red asked as he sat behind the wheel of the Toyota—Jackie seated beside him in the passenger's seat.
"I don't know. Forty, fifty dollars. However much Christmas tress cost. I brought my checkbook." she happily informed but the shocked, yet still frowning, look on Red's face put a damper her own smile, "Do they not take checks?"
Red frowned still as he continued to drive, "No Jackie, you don't take checks to buy a Christmas tree. You can't pay forty or fifty dollars for a dead tree."
"It's a Christmas tree, Mr. Forman not a dead tree." Jackie reminded.
"It's a dead tree, Jackie." came Red's dry reply, "When it's in the ground it's alive but as soon as it's cut down it's good as dead."
The finely shaped eyebrows knitted closely together as Jackie thought over the words, "Huh. I never thought of it that way."
"When it comes to buying the tree you don't walk in there with your money ready, you walk in there ready to haggle and get that sale price down to the lowest price you can." Red's lesson in Christmas tree buying continued on.
"I don't know, Mr. Forman." Jackie said sounding a bit uncertain, "I mean I've bought things on sale before and good sales too, but I just take whatever price is listed. I've never haggled before."
A smug smirk started to form onto the older man's lips, though he tried to keep it unseen by keeping his focus on the road, "Well then, I guess it's a good thing I came with you after all. You know the first Christmas tree we had at the house I got for five dollars."
"Really?" she asked, clearly impressed, "Maybe I should take you with me to do my Christmas shopping too."
Red's face quickly flattened at that idea, "Let's concentrate on the Christmas tree first, Jackie."
Jackie nodded her head in agreement and began to settle back against her seat, taking a moment to look out the car windows and gaze at the winter wonderland outside. Everything was covered in the blanket of soft snow, and Jackie wouldn't have it any other way. She smiled at the children playing and throwing snowballs at each other and the bundled up adults scurrying to find warmth, she even noticed the precut Christmas tree lot on the right side of the road but didn't think anything of it until she felt the vehicle pull towards its direction.
"Wait, we're going to a precut Christmas tree lot?" She asked sitting up straighter in her seat, "We're getting a precut Christmas tree?"
"That's usually the kind of Christmas trees they have in a precut Christmas tree lot." Red answered back while pulling into the parking lot and looking for an empty spot.
When the sound of silence followed his remark Red should have been happy that the conversation was over and he'd even gotten the last word; however this was The Loud One who didn't get the nickname by sitting quietly in the corner. She was always not only the one who had most of the words but the one whoalways had the last word too. Frowning some, he turned his head to find the small brunette looking down at her hands folded in her lap.
"Jackie…" he started to say and was relieved when she began to speak on her own, saving him from actually asking what was wrong.
"I guess I just thought we were gonna go get a real one. Cut it down and everything."
This time Red didn't bother to hesitate when he asked, "Why?"
"I don't know." she gave a soft shrug, "That's the way we used to get our Christmas trees when I was little. Daddy would chop it down."
"Jack Burkhart would chop down his own Christmas tree?" Red asked in disbelief.
"Yup. Daddy was always busy even during the holidays but he always made sure that he was the one who got our Christmas tree." Jackie shared, her smile growing as she recalled the fond memory, "We always went to the same Christmas tree farm that was just a few miles outside of down. It would be just the two of us too. I would pick out the tree and Daddy would cut it down. I remember watching him chop down that big tree and thinking he was the strongest, greatest man alive…you think some funny things when you're a kid huh?"
Red knew that remark was referring to Jack Burkhart still being in prison and how she probably no longer thought of him as that strong, great man. The way Jackie thought of her father now was probably closer to the truth of what kind of man Jack Burkhart was, but she was still his daughter and Red couldn't imagine how he would feel if he ever found out that Laurie no longer saw him as strong rock she could turn to when she needed him. Part of him wanted to tell this to Jackie, talk to her more about her father and how sometimes fathers did make mistakes, but then another part of him, the bigger part, hated this mushy feeling crap. Even if it was the holidays.
"It's been awhile since I've talked to him. I don't hate him I just miss being able to see him that way, you know?" she asked looking up just in time to see the Toyota glide past an empty slot, "Mr. Forman, you just drove past a great spot."
"I know." Red replied his eyes staying straight ahead, "I don't want to be driving around for hours so you better remember the name of that damn Christmas tree farm."
Immediately a grin as bright as Christmas lights appeared on Jackie's face and she had to hold back the urge to throw her arms around Red for hug. She knew that Red Forman didn't do hugs and though that usually didn't stop her before she had a good feeling that if she did it this time he'd turn the car around and slide it into that empty parking space.
0o0o0o
And so after Jackie shared the name of the Christmas tree farm that she and her father used to visit years ago, along with route she could recall them taking to get there, Red drove the two of them to the new destination that Jackie thrilled to see was still open and thriving with business. They rented the supplies needed to cut down the tree, both the saw and sled, and then began the hunt for Jackie's Christmas tree.
Kringle's Christmas Tree Farm was a very big farm that went on for not just yards but miles, with hundreds of trees scattered all around. Everywhere you looked there were trees varying in size, shape, and even color. However, as the owner had been kind enough to point out, some of the best trees would be found way further out and for Jackie Burkhart it was either get the best or go home.
It had taken almost an hour for Jackie and Red to slush through the snow and make it to the patch of golden Christmas trees and since getting there another hour had passed as Jackie tried to decided which tree to buy, getting only a bit of help from an impatient looking Red.
"What about this one?" he asked, his tone dragging and showing how tired he was of asking this question.
Jackie looked at the tree for a few seconds but shook her head, "Too small."
"This one?"
"Too big." She quickly replied with her nose wrinkled with disapproval.
Red exhaled loudly, "Jackie, a tree's a tree. Just pick one."
"Mr. Forman, I can't pick any tree. This is a very important decision." Jackie started and explanation that was safe to bet would be a long one, "See right now my apartment is decorated with the perfect combination of classy, fun, and most of all Jackie. The tree I decide in there has to have that same combination or it'll stick out like Eric at a hardware store. Of course, it can't have too much of those things either or it'll be the main focus of my apartment and I'm always the main focus of my apartment."
"Fine." grumbled Red, although he'd really only been half listening, he pointed hand to a tree in the near distance, "How about that one?"
The brunette's frown grew more and more the longer she looked at it, "Not enough branches."
"That one over there?" he suggested, gesturing to another nearby tree.
"Too many branches."
"I'll trim off the extra branches." Red offered almost too quickly, hoping she'd say yes.
For quite a few seconds Jackie stood there staring at the tree, her head tilting this way and that, trying decide if that was a deal worth taking or not. Then she finally made her choice and she turned from the tree to look back at Red.
"Nah." She declined the offer with another head shake.
With a muffled, 'jeeze' Red ran his left hand over his face, "Now I understand the pain my father felt when we came to get our tree."
"You had a Christmas tree when you were little?" Jackie asked, sounding a little too surprised.
Red scowled, "I'm not that old."
"Oh yeah, I know." she swiftly said, trying to correct herself, "I meant..."
"I know what you meant, Jackie." He interrupted her with his reassurance; he cleared his throat before sharing a Christmas memory of his own, "Back when I was a kid, my family came out and got our Christmas tree this way too." he frowned at the memory, "What a disaster that was. It started off with my mother complaining about how much we had to walk, then it was Marty being a wimp and whining about the cold, and after that my father took over and gripped about everything from the price of the other trees to the way I held the saw."
"Is that why you and Mrs. Forman never cut down your own Christmas tree?" Jackie questioned, with all the old fashioned family traditions she knew the Formans had she always wondered why chopping down their own tree wasn't one of them.
"That's part of the reason." Red replied and added on to make his answer more gruff, "The other part is Kitty never mentioned it before and I wasn't about to be the one to bring it up."
Jackie smiled and giggled a little until she realized something that replaced her amusement with worry, "But you're okay with coming with me to get a tree here, right?"
"Listen Jackie, my old man hated coming out to chop down our tree but he still did it year after year. It was always the same grumbling over the prices and how I still wasn't holding the saw the right way—this was after I'd gone and come back from Korea." He made sure to throw in, "But every year until he died he went out and got our family tree, so I guess he didn't hate as much as I thought he did."
The grin on Jackie's face reappeared as soon as she heard his words that told her that he didn't hate it as much as she thought he did. She was about to reply to his statement when suddenly something a few feet away caught her attention.
"Oh my god!" she said gleefully before hurrying over to one of the snow covered trees, "This is it! This is my tree! Isn't it cute? Just like me!"
Red couldn't help but smirk at the girl's excitement, "Looks like a good choice, Jackie. Now stand back so I can get to work."
"Get to work, on what?" Jackie asked fearfully.
"On cutting down the tree."
In the next second Jackie had gone from standing beside the tree to standing right in front of it, her feet firm on the ground and her arms spread open trying to protect the tree.
"No wait!" came her outburst, "You can't cut it down."
"Jackie, how else are we gonna get it out of here and into your apartment?" Red reasoned, keeping he saw ready in his hands.
She turned her head to the side to look behind her and eye the tree she wanted, "Oh yeah. What if we got a shovel instead? We could dig it out!" seeing the unconvinced expression written on Red's face Jackie knew that digging up the tree by the roots would not be an option, she sighed, "Mr. Forman, we can't cut down this tree. You said the cut trees are dead and we can't kill this tree, it's too perfect!"
"Alright let me get this straight." Red began to say, wanting to make sure he understood the things that were giving him a headache, "You don't want a precut tree you want to cut one down, but you don't want to cut down this one, the only tree you actually like out of this whole damn tree farm?"
"Uh huh." she answered nervously.
"Jackie, are you sure you even want a Christmas tree?" he asked and she nodded again causing him to close his eyes and sigh, "Believe it or not, I think I might have a solution."
0o0o0o
"Oh come on now it's not that hard, just put one foot in front of the other. It won't be so bad, I promise."
"Mrs. Forman," Hyde groaned as he dragged himself up to more of the stairway's steps, "You said I had to drop you off here, you didn't say I had to get down and actually go up there. Can't I just go back home?"
Kitty nodded from her spot four stair steps away from her adoptive son, "Well I suppose you could go back home but the cookies and cocoa will be staying here."
She was referring to the plate of sugar cookies and large checkerboard patterned thermos of hot cocoa that she held in her hands, Hyde had been smelling the heavenly aromas for the past hour at home and in the car but hadn't even been allowed a quick sample of either because they were for when she went to Jackie's. Now there were plenty of other things that Hyde would rather do than spend an evening in his ex-girlfriend's apartment with his surrogate parents but when cookies and cocoa were added to the mix, Hyde was sure not even Old Ebenezer Scrooge could turn those two things down.
Wordlessly Hyde dropped his shoulders and climbed the remaining steps to meet up with a grinning, giggling Kitty.
"Oh, I am just so excited to see the tree that Jackie got!" she giddily shared, "You know she and Red left to go get it at ten in the morning and it wasn't until an hour ago that they called and told me they got it. That's eight hours shopping for a tree! It's must be something!" she ended with one of her infamous giggles.
While they walked up a few more steps together, Hyde didn't look as thrilled, "I don't know Mrs. Forman, eight hours shopping with Jackie, I'd be more concerned about Red's condition than the tree's."
"Steven." Kitty scolded slightly though after a beat her face showed her true concern as she spoke truthfully. "I am."
Hyde let out a small chuckle but when they soon reached Jackie's apartment door Kitty sent him a pointed look making him stifle his laugh. Using the hand that held the thermos of cocoa, Kitty knocked on the door and seconds later a muffled feminine voice called out 'It's open!' This time Hyde took it upon himself to reach over and open the door for the older woman who had her hands full.
When they entered the apartment that had once been shared by Fez and Kelso and then by Fez and Jackie but was now owned by Jackie herself (she used the spare room as an extra closet for her shoes and clothes) they found Jackie standing by the kitchen bar while Red sat on her sofa watching TV. While Hyde took his time in slipping into the room, Kitty wasted no time in rushing in and looking for the new tree; she practically ran in to the place, her eyes looking all around the living area.
"Oh let me see the tree! Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?" she asked until noticed there was no tree in sight, she frowned and her tone changed to a less excited one, "Where is it?"
Smiling Jackie held her hands together and walked up from behind the counter, "We wanted to wait for you to be here before we put it up."
"Well isn't that sweet?" Kitty asked with another laugh.
Jackie continued to smile and nodded her head before looking over at Red who had at some point had gotten up from the sofa and walked over to the blank wall between the two bedrooms doors, "Okay, Mr. Forman."
Wearing neither a smile nor a frown Red reached down in to the very large cardboard box that was at his feet. It took him a few seconds but soon he pulled out of the box and up into a standing position, a seven foot Christmas tree.
"Tada!" she exclaimed to her guests while keeping her hands open and in presenting form.
Her guests however didn't seem to have the same enthusiasm. Hyde scanned his eyes up and down the 'tree' from behind his shades and Kitty had to blink her eyes several time to get herself to believe that sight she'd just witnessed of her husband pulling out a Christmas tree from a cardboard box.
"You…you bought a fake Christmas tree?" Kitty asked not quite sure what to make of this.
"No, no." the younger woman shook her head as she corrected Kitty, "It's artificial. Burkharts don't buy anything fake."
Hyde smirked, "Yeah, it's fake."
"Artificial." Jackie repeated through gritted teeth.
"Jackie, honey, what made you get a fa…artificial Christmas tree?" Kitty asked before Hyde could get in a word.
"It wasn't what I had planned at first. See, first Mr. Forman drove to one of those precut Christmas tree lots but then I told him how Daddy used to take me to chop down a real Christmas tree when I was little so we went to Kringles Christmas Tree Farm. The same place Daddy and I would go to only it's gotten bigger but shabbier too, it took me forever to find a decent looking tree." Jackie rambled on in her answer to the mother hen's question, "And when I finally found a tree I didn't want it to be cut down because Mr. Forman said that's how you kill Christmas trees. So then Mr. Forman came up with this solution a fak…artificial Christmas tree!"
Jackie gazed at her new tree as she went on, "It doesn't look too bad, it kinda looks real if you squint a little. Plus this tree will last me a good few years which means I'll have a little extra money every Christmas to spend on presents for me and the people who are lucky enough to get presents from me. Oh and the store had some of these too, smell!"
Grabbing a few thing little green sticks off the counter, Jackie held them up for Kitty to sniff.
"Oh my! That smells so…piney!" she laughed and Jackie nodded along when suddenly Kitty found another pro for having an artificial tree, "Oh and you know, having this artificial tree means you don't have to deal with those pesky little pine needles. This really was a good idea dear. Red…"
"Don't even think about, Kitty." Red warned as he stepped away from the undecorated tree.
Kitty smiled at Jackie, "Well I guess there's always next year."
Returning the smile Jackie watched as Kitty followed Red into her kitchen. Once Kitty was gone Jackie turned towards the box of new ornaments she had bought while she and Red had been at the store buying her tree. She was trying to decide which ones to start with first the gold or the red, when she suddenly felt she was being watched. Slowly she turned around and found her ex-boyfriend standing less than a foot behind her, he'd been staring at her but when she caught him he moved his attention over towards the tree.
"So an artificial tree?"
"Yes Steven, an artificial tree." She said, sounding very defensive of her tree, "And before you say anything about it being tacky, last Monday you wore a white t-shirt and it's after Labor Day, who's the tacky one now?"
Hyde smirked at her outburst, "Jackie, I wasn't gonna say anything like that. The tree's pretty nice. Could've been worse. I saw a vision of pure pink."
"And fluffy?" she added with a tiny smile.
"Yeah and really fluffy." He agreed still smirking and causing her to laugh a bit, "But I think you staying away from the whole traditional real tree thing and doing your own thing instead…it's pretty cool."
Jackie's grin sprung into place, "Really? I mean…whatever." She said remembering her Zen though couldn't stop the little smile from playing on her lips, "Steven, do you wanna help me hang up some of the ornaments? It's kinda tall and I don't have a stepladder."
"Decorate a tree that's not gonna get sap on my hands?" he asked and seeing her nod made him to the same, "Cool."
A box of red ornaments was handed to him and Hyde gave Jackie a silent thank you with a smile before they both walked over to the tree each with a box of ornaments in their hands and began to contently hang the decorations up on various branches.
"Oh Red, isn't that cute?" Kitty asked as she watched the scene from afar.
"Uh huh." he replied though seemed more interested in the plate of cookies than anything else, "What's Steven doing here anyway?"
Untwisting the top of the thermos so she could pour the cocoa into the mugs she's gathered earlier, Kitty started to explain, "Well since Eric has the Vista Cruiser over in Madison with him and you took the Toyota with you, getting a ride from Steven was the only way I could get here without having to walk in this freezing cold." She abruptly stopped pouring the hot liquid into the third mug, "Which reminds me why did you take the Toyota? You could have easily taken Jackie's car and then Steven wou…Oh Red Forman."
"What?" he asked after taking the first bite of the snowman shaped cookie.
"You little matchmaker you." Kitty said while grinning from ear to ear, "You took the Toyota on purpose. You knew you could have taken Jackie's car but then there would be no reason for Steven to have to give me a ride and he would have stayed at home instead of being here with Jackie."
Red scowled and tried to cut in, "Look Kitty…"
"Oh you're little Grinch heart did grow three times!" Kitty exclaimed before throwing her arms around him in a tight hug.
"Fine. Maybe I did. But just don't go babbling about it to everyone alright?" he made sure she understood, "The last thing I want is the dumbasses forming a circle around me and holding hands while singing that creepy Whatville song."
Not bothering to correct him, Kitty only hugged her husband closer while watching the sweet little scene by the fak…artificial Christmas tree.
Author's Note: And there you go! Your first Stocking Stuffer! What did you think? Hope you liked!
BTW How many Christmas Movie refernces did you spot in this one-Yes, i've been watching quite a few of them this past few weeks...okay since December 1st.
Until next time, thanks of reading hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, have a nice day and remember only nine more days till Christmas!