Annie had a ritual that she did on Christmas. Every Christmas day she would take a walk through town and admire the Christmas decorations. It was something she had been doing since she was 14, and she did it every year no matter what. She did it if it was snowing. She did it if it was sleeting. She even did it that one year she was strung out on Adderall. It was a tradition she greatly looked forward to no matter what.
She always did it in the late afternoon. Partially so it didn't interfere with things during the day (like going to the movies with her bubbe this year). But mostly it was so she could see the decorations and lights when it was both light and dark out. That way she got the best of both worlds.
As far as she knew all of her Greendale friends were busy doing something or other today. Even Abed had plans. When she came home from the movies he had left a note saying his mother called and she wanted to see him. This meant she didn't have to lie about what she was doing or feel guilty about not inviting anyone along with her. She loved her Greendale family very deeply. But this was something that was just hers. It was very personal to her and she didn't want to share it with anyone. Maybe someday, but not yet.
She tied a scarf around her neck as she set off on her journey. It was perfect winter walking weather. Sunny with just enough cloud cover so it wasn't too bright. And the ground had enough snow to really make it seem wintery, but not too much to make walking treacherous.
She took the same route she always took, first seeing the red and green wreathes on the post office and then stopping to admire the elaborate Santa's workshop display in front of Mori's steakhouse. She passed by the plastic horse in front of the grocery store which had bows and ribbon tied to it, taking a moment to stroke it's snout. It didn't matter that she saw the same sights every year. Annie still enjoyed them like it she was seeing them for the first time.
But as she came up past Stanley's bakery she saw a sight she hadn't seen before. A tall figure was walking towards her. At the person came closer she was sure her mind was playing tricks on her. She was just imagining it. The person wasn't-.
"Annie?"
"Oh, hi Jeff." She quickly smiled, hoping he wouldn't want to talk for long.
"What are you doing out? I thought you were spending the day with your grandmother?"
"I was. I mean, I did. We went to the movies and saw The Muppets. I'm just out for a walk now." She said nonchalantly.
"Ok." They stood there for a few moments before Jeff pointed towards a nearby bench. "Do you want to sit down for a few minutes?"
"Um, sure." Annie said as they went over to the bench. You're just sitting with Jeff for a few minutes, she thought. You'll talk for a bit and then you'll be on your way.
They brushed the snow off the bench and sat down on the bench. "So, what are you doing out?" Annie asked.
"If you must know I had to get away from my mom. Every Christmas I try to play the good son and spend the day with her, and every year I'm reminded why I usually avoid her. This year she was in rare form. She practically drank two bottles of wine by herself and then asked if I was going to settle down with anyone soon. She wanted to know if, and I quote, "are you still seeing that angry blond woman?"
"Britta's met your mom?" Annie said in surprise.
"Thankfully no. I once accidently sent a picture of Britta to her. I was trying to make this woman who was obsessed with me jealous by sending her a picture of Britta and me. Her name's Mary and I accidently sent it to the name under hers, which happened to be my mom. And now all my mother talks about is me marrying Britta in a nice church wedding."
Annie laughed a little, unable to picture Britta getting married. At least in a traditional ceremony (if she did get married Annie figured it would be the most untraditional wedding reception ever concocted.) "Can I see this elusive picture that's so intrigued your mother?"
Jeff took out his phone and fiddled with it for a minute before handing it to Annie. The picture was of Jeff and Britta from the camping trip they went on last year. She was holding a stick with a flaming marshmallow at the end while he was smiling at her disgruntled face. Annie grinned as she remembered that trip. Although they had all argued about how to pronounce S'mores for twenty minutes she still had a good time.
Jeff reached over to take his phone back, but Annie slapped his hand away. "I want to see what other pictures you have on here." He tried to take it back but she simply slapped his hand again.
"Hey! I could bring you up on assault charges for that."
"Oh please, like you'd ever have me arrested Jeff." Annie smiled as she scrolled through Jeff's pictures. The first couple were of him with some random woman. The rest seemed to be of the group; either them separately or of someone and Jeff. She smiled brightly at one particular one of the two of them; her perched on his shoulders while he held her up so she could reach the top shelf at the gift shop of the train museum they all went to. She guessed Abed had taken the picture, since he had borrowed Jeff's phone earlier to make a call.
As she went through the pictures she noticed there were a lot of pictures of her on his phone. While he had pictures of all six of them, there were far more of her than anyone else in the group. There were some of her in the study room, from paintball, several ones from random locations. While she could recall several times Jeff had told her to pause while he snapped a picture she always assumed it was something he did with everyone. "How come there are so many pictures of me here?"
Jeff reached over and took his phone back. "I have pictures of everyone. Shouldn't you be saying 'Oh, how sweet. Jeff has proof that he cares'?"
"I'm just curious why you have so many more pictures of me on your phone then of anyone else." She playfully said. Annie waited while Jeff tried to avoid answering her, grinning as he tried to pretend it didn't matter. "I don't know…" He looked over and rolled his eyes at her smile. "Stop that. Don't give me your 'sunshine and rainbows' look."
"You're lucky I'm in a good mood Jeff."
He looked at her as she brushed some snow off of her jeans. "So what are you doing out here Annie?"
Her head snapped up as she looked at him. "I told you. I'm just out for a walk."
"No, there's more to it than just that. I could tell from your face when you first saw me." He sighed as she looked at him questioningly. "Annie, I used to professionally read people's body language for a living. It's not hard for me to tell when someone's hiding something."
"I'm not hiding anything. I really was just out for a walk." She sat in silence for a few moments before sighing deeply. "Ok, fine. It's more than that. It's something I do every year. Every Christmas I take a walk around Greendale and admire the Christmas decorations. I've done it ever since I was fourteen. My dad's Episcopalian and when I was growing up we celebrated both Christmas and Hanukkah. Then my parents divorced when I was thirteen and after that my mom refused to have anything whatsoever to do with anything Christmas. I never knew if it was her way of reasserting her heritage or if she did it to further eradicate anything that was important to dad."
She tried to play off her sudden sniffing as a reaction to the cold air as she continued. "So after that I started walking around Greendale on Christmas to see all the decorations. It's kind of my way of keeping the traditions I grew up with around. I'm sure you think that's stupid or something."
As she wiped her eyes Jeff scooted over and put an arm around her, pulling her into a one armed hug. "I don't think that's stupid. I think that's very…Annie. You've found a way of keeping something happy from your past around. I don't think that's stupid."
She smiled a little at his words. "Thanks." She extracted herself from his arm and got up from the bench. "Well, I should go. It's getting dark and I really like to see the lights on the stores."
"OK. Enjoy the sights Annie."
"Thanks Jeff. I'll talk to you tomorrow." She pulled her knit cap further down and started walking. After a few feet she stopped as she internally debated what she should do. Keep hold of the old traditions or start new ones? After a few moments she made up her mind and turned around. "Jeff. Would you like to join me?"
Jeff smiled as he got up and went over towards her. "I would love to." He held out his arm for her. "Milady."
"Milord." She said as she took hold of his arm.
They spend the next few hours walking around Greendale, with Annie showing Jeff all her favorite sights, following with them stopping to get some hot chocolate to warm up. And while she did this every year, somehow this year it seemed extra special to her.