Disclaimer: I do not own Gravity Falls. If I did, we'd probably have a spin-off about Stan, Soos, and the trials of owning a tourist trap in Oregon.

Tis the Season

"Happy Holidays!" Mr. Pines said with false cheer and a wave. Soos watched with fascination as the conman smile was dropped with a sigh.

Having only been working at the Mystery Shack for about six months, Soos wasn't sure what the usual winter crowd was. He'd been surprised that even after November and the snow had really hit, there were still the occasional straggler tourist. Even now, only about a week before Christmas, they were still getting maybe one to five tourists every few days. Of course, several of these people were some of the locals coming up for some Christmas shopping. Tyler Cutebiker had been in three times already since the start of the month!

Of course, regardless of whoever it was that showed up, Mr. Pines seemed to delight in hiking up the prices and putting labels that said it was a Christmas deal. He was selling quite a bit of merchandise, and Soos was glad to see him so happy.

Still, as the special day loomed closer and closer, that question his abuelita had approved of tickled at the back of his mind. He hadn't worked up the courage to ask it yet.

"Kid?" Soos snapped out of his thoughts and blinked up at Mr. Pines, who had raised an eyebrow at his handyman's delayed reaction. "You okay? I told you, you didn't have to sweep the snow off the porch." He guided Soos back inside into the Shack.

"A-okay, Mr. Pines! I was happy to do it!" Soos grinned up at him. As he entered the warm Shack, he shed his coat, gloves, and hat. Really, despite Mr. Pines's words, he had wanted to do it. It gave him an excuse to keep coming to the Shack despite there not really being any reason to have a handyman there at the moment. Even with how rundown the Shack was, fewer tourists meant lesser potential for damage. And Mr. Pines could handle the small number of tourists that did manage to make their way there. Plus, Mr. Pines wouldn't let Soos help with gathering firewood or splitting logs, so sweeping the porch was the least he could do.

As he finished hanging up his things, Soos watched as Mr. Pines rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, want some… hot chocolate?" Mr. Pines hesitantly offered.

Soos gasped in delight and that seemed answer enough as Mr. Pines lead the way into the kitchen. He settled in one of the chairs at the table as his boss prepared the drinks. As Mr. Pines set the steamy mug of chocolatey goodness in front of him, Soos realized this was the perfect opportunity.

Soos took a sip of his drink first though. You had to drink while the chocolate was hot.

"So, Mr. Pines," Soos began, aiming for a nonchalant tone, "what are your plans for the holidays?"

"Oh, right," Mr. Pines blinked. "Been meaning to talk to you about that."

Soos tilted his head a tiny bit. Mr. Pines had wanted to talk to him about this? His imagination ran wild at the possibilities. He prepared himself to hear about huge holiday plans or going on a whirlwind wintery road trip. Or maybe Mr. Pines wanted to invite him along to one of these plans? But they didn't know each other well enough to do that. Oh! What if it was like that one movie and Mr. Pines was gonna make him work on –

"You can have Christmas Eve, Christmas, and the day after off." Mr. Pines said, taking a sip of his hot chocolate.

Soos's whirling mind stumbled to a halt. "Huh?" He eloquently replied.

"You celebrate it, right? I've noticed you've had decorations up when I drop you off since Thanksgiving. Not completely blind." Mr. Pines fiddled with his mug, seeming a bit nervous. "Besides, it's not like we get many people in winter, and on those days, we're guaranteed to have no one."

"What about you?" Soos asked eagerly. It seemed his plan was back on track. After all, Mr. Pines hadn't mentioned anything for himself yet. "What are you going to be doing?"

Mr. Pines blinked at him in surprise. "I don't celebrate Christmas."

It was Soos's turn to be shocked. After all, even with him and his abuelita celebrating the holiday a bit differently than most as she tried to keep or adapt some of the traditions of her homeland, everyone he knew celebrated it in some way. They even talked about it in school!

"How…" Soos began to ask before shutting his mouth. Asking might be a bit rude. Plus, it could just be Mr. Pines's excessive need to save money at play here.

"I mean, I'm – " Mr. Pines's face screwed up as he obviously stumbled over his words. "My family's Jewish." He finally said.

Soos's heart sank a bit. Not because he was upset about his boss's religion – far from it – but now he couldn't help but think about the brightly wrapped package sitting in his room for next week. Would it still be appropriate to give it? He'd spent quite a bit of time thinking over what to get and he'd hate for it to go to waste. Maybe he could just wait for the days of Hanukkah, but when did that start?

"Of course, Hanukkah's already passed this year. Not like I've participated in it for years anyway." Mr. Pines's eyes held a faraway look, though Soos didn't notice as his heart sank a bit further. "Haven't practiced at all in years." Mr. Pines muttered, mostly to himself but Soos picked up on it. Still, he shook himself out of it and returned his attention to Soos. "Any reason for asking?"

"Nope. Not at all. No, sirree. Nope." Soos quickly said before turning back to his hot chocolate.

Mr. Pines frowned at him, obviously sensing the lie, but Soos was glad when he let it slide and changed the subject.

It didn't do anything for Soos's heavy heart though, as he realized he could never ask him now.

Stan came to a careful stop in front of Soos's house. The kid had been bummed out the last few days, so when Stan had found Soos curled up and asleep at the table in his living room, he had decided to just pick the boy up and take him home despite it being a little after noon.

He frowned as he unbuckled Soos and carried him to the front door. He couldn't figure out what was bothering the kid. Soos had had his last day of school the day before, and he was letting the kid have three guaranteed days of no work. Heck, most days when Soos came over it just ended up being the two of them hanging out and watching Stan's old movies. Personally, Stan couldn't see what was wrong.

And he didn't know why not knowing was bugging him.

Shifting Soos in his arms, Stan rang the doorbell. Abuelita opened the door and, upon seeing her grandson, she quickly moved aside. Stan started a bit at the sight of the bright red flowers – poinsettias he believed – all throughout the house as he made his way in. Now that he thought about it, he did remember the flowers all over that one time he had been over the border during the holiday season.

"Thank you, Mr. Pines." Abuelita said, as he set Soos down on the couch. She threw a blanket over him and smiled a bit as Soos snuggled down into it.

"No problem." Stan said, taking the time to look over the various decorations within the house. Besides the poinsettias, it seemed to be fairly standard to his understanding. There was a Christmas tree, some stockings, and even a manger. He frowned slightly at that piece, because his knowledge of the holiday may have come from school and the specials on TV, but he was pretty sure there were a few principle characters missing from it.

"Ah, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus are not there yet. After all, it is not yet Christmas." Abuelita's soft voice startled Stan from his musings. He looked over at her and she smiled up at him. "It's La Posada. Back home, children would take the statues of Mary and Joseph from house to house to seek shelter, but Soos and I just hide it around the house."

"Huh." Stan hadn't heard of that tradition before, but it seemed to be cool enough. "Well, I'll be seeing you." He made his way towards the door.

"Ah, Mr. Pines." Abuelita stopped him just as he reached the exit. "Has Soos asked you yet?"

He paused. "Asked me what?" He frowned, trying to think of anything significant Soos might have asked him, but nothing came to mind.

She smiled. "Would you like to join us for Christmas dinner? Soos would love it if you have no other plans."

Stan's mind blanked for a moment. So, that's why he… The pieces quickly came together, and he silently cursed. This was probably why the kid had been so mopey.

"Uh, sure." Stan said. He wasn't sure what exactly his response should be. After all, Soos was just his… employee. Yeah. That was alright. After all, what sort of boss would he be if he didn't cheer up his best employee. "As long as you don't mind a Jew joining you. I've never celebrated before." Well, there was that one time he'd come close, but that really didn't count.

Abuelita's face lit up a bit, reminding him of her grandson for a moment. "That's perfectly fine, Mr. Pines."

"Do I, uh, need to bring anything?" Stan's face scrunched up. He was pretty sure you were supposed to do that for things like this. At the very least, you had to bring –

Presents.

Belgian waffles, where was he going to find a present for Soos when Christmas was less than four days away?

"No, no, no. I take care of it. Just come at 2. Soos will be so surprised."

"Uh, okay." Stan rubbed the back of his neck, because that didn't seem like it was enough. Especially as so far Soos was one of the best handymen he'd ever had despite his youth. Plus, this seemed like it was important to him.

Eh. He'd figure it out.

With the arrangements taken care of, Abuelita shooed him out the door which Stan took as his cue.

As he slid into his car though, a frown crossed his face.

What had he gotten himself into?

So far, Christmas had been pretty great. The evening before, Soos and Abuelita had attended Mass and this morning, he'd gotten several great presents from both Santa and his abuelita. He'd probably get some more when he saw the rest of his family during the upcoming weekend, but that was okay.

Still, he felt a twinge of guilt once more for the present that he wouldn't be able to give Mr. Pines. But wouldn't it have been… insensitive for him to ask? Still…

Soos busied himself with setting up the cars on the race track. He could hear Abuelita putting the finishing touches on the food in the kitchen. Overall, it seemed like a normal Christmas Day.

Until the doorbell rang.

Soos frowned at it. He couldn't think of any reason that someone would be coming over.

"Soos. Get the door." Abuelita called, and he quickly complied.

As Soos saw who was at the door, his whole face lit up like it was Santa Claus himself.

"Hey, kid!" Mr. Pines grinned and gave a small wave. In his other hand, he was holding several food containers. "Feliz Navidad!"

"M-Mr. Pines?" Soos was happy, but he couldn't help the feeling of confusion that was creeping in.

"The one and only." The grin widened into the normal conman smile he usually wore for customers. However, at Soos's continued lack of reaction, the smile faltered a bit and his face grew worried. "Now, ya gonna let me in or am I going to have to stand out here all day?"

"Oh, of course." Soos moved aside and let him in.

"Ah, Mr. Pines." Abuelita emerged from the kitchen wiping her hands. "So glad you could make it."

"Uh, thank for inviting me." He replied, and Soos looked over at his abuelita in wonder. She had arranged for this? "Uh," Mr. Pines continued, awkwardly holding out the food containers, "I know you said I didn't have to bring anything, but, I made some latkes with applesauce to top it." Abuelita took the containers and he laughed nervously. "I mean, probably doesn't match whatever else you got, but…"

"Do not worry so much." Abuelita chuckled as she moved back towards the kitchen. "Food ready in a few minutes."

Soos bounced on his feet a bit. Mr. Pines was here! And he was…

"Is this okay?" Mr. Pines looked down at him in confusion, so he clarified. "I mean, you said that you're Jewish."

Mr. Pines chuckled a bit, ruffling Soos's hair. "Kid, there's nothing wrong with me coming to a Christmas celebration." He immediately drew back, coughing a bit and adjusting his suit. "I mean, there's free food and your Abuelita ain't half bad of a cook."

Soos grinned because he knew his boss well enough to see right through his efforts of seeming nonchalant.

Mr. Pines really was the best boss in the world.

Soos couldn't help but keep smiling for the rest of the day. He smiled as Mr. Pines's face brightened at the sight of his abuelita's tamales; he smiled in delight as Mr. Pines presented him with a shoddily wrapped gift which was revealed to be a Mystery Shack mug, keychain, and a bag of candy; and he smiled the widest at the look of surprise on Mr. Pines's face as he presented his gift to him.

The three of them celebrated for hours, eating the food and then settling in front of the TV as Soos played with his toys and Abuelita and Mr. Pines started a conversation in Spanish. For the first time in his life, Soos felt like all of his family was home.

All in all, it was the best Christmas ever.

AN: So I started writing this because I thought it would be cute for Soos to ask Stan to celebrate Christmas, and Stan, despite being Jewish, deciding to go along with it because he loves cares is trying placate his son best employee. I was a bit nervous about writing it after I started because Alex said we could show them celebrating whatever but I've seen people getting up in arms over showing the Pines celebrating Christmas. Luckily, Grauntie Snadger on Tumblr helped with those fears.

Also, in 2002, which would have been Soos's first winter at the Shack, Hanukkah was November 29-December 7, so it's well past it by the time Christmas was coming around. (To my knowledge, this is because when Hanukkah is relies on moon cycles.) Also Christmas was on a Wednesday. This is just to help you know the timeline of events in this.