A Tiny Christmas
Ron was not feeling it. It was the day before Christmas Eve, and the Christmas Spirit was in full swing. Everyone was wearing Santa hats, drinking, and being merry. Everyone, of course, except him. He hated Christmas, it was just another excuse to goof off and do nothing.
He frowned into his mustache and surfed the internet, trying to get his mind back to working. April leaned up against the doorjamb and knocked softly on his door.
"Hey, I hate Christmas just like you," she said. "But I got you something."
"Put it with the rest of them." He waved to the trash bin where all the brightly wrapped gifts had been dumped inside. April sighed and set hers on top.
"We're all going out and getting more booze and making fun of Jerry," April informed. "You want to come with?"
"Nah," Ron shook his head. "I think I'll call it a day and head home."
April gave him a hard look and then shook her head. "Come on," she rolled her eyes. "Even I can fake it for Andy, you should fake it for the rest of us."
"I'm good." Ron repeated, standing up and grabbing his coat. "You all should go and have fun. Don't worry about me, Christmas is just another excuse to work in my woodshop."
"All right," April said. "But if you change your mind…"
"I do not change my mind." Ron declared. "So go and have fun without me."
April nodded slowly and turned to go. "Merry Christmas."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Ron dismissed her with a wave of his hand. "Have a good night. Drive safe."
April and Andy left, leaving Ron alone in his office. He quickly looked around and made sure everyone had left and, with great care, put each of his gifts into a trash bag. He stepped out of the office into the Indiana cold and quietly drove home in the snow.
He opened the door to his house and set the trash bag down on his cedar coffee table, fixing himself a glass of whiskey. He let himself have a small smile before sitting down on his hand-made couch. A tiny, freshly cut spruce only about a foot tall adorned his coffee table. The lights twinkled merrily and the small ornaments shone their brightest tonight.
Gently, he took out the first present: A gift card to his favorite steakhouse from Leslie. April had knitted him a nice wool blanket, Andy had quickly scribbled his name on the card. Jerry gave him a box of Gail's cookies (even though he swore up and down he hated homemade cookies). Each present a thoughtful and kind act from his coworkers, each one holding a special place deep down in his heart.
Ron cast a glance over to his stack of his own homemade items, each one well-thought out and carefully carved into what his coworkers would have liked. A charging station made out of cedar for April and Andy so he wouldn't lose his gadgets, a beautiful tooled leather binder for Leslie, a leather cuff for Chris's rectangle while he runs, and even Thomas would receive a cedar chest to put in all of his expensive blankets.
They would all be hand-delivered tomorrow, and he hoped he could just drop these things off without getting caught by anyone. As he sat back and sipped his whiskey in the soft Christmas lights, he thought about how thankful he was for each and every one of his coworkers. They mean well, but they annoyed him to no end.
He wouldn't trade a single one of them for the world.