(Wednesday December 19)

The next day, Steve set out on a journey to find the perfect Christmas tree. He found several Christmas tree lots, but there weren't many trees left at any of them. The ones that were left were small and some were turning brown, but finally, at the sixth tree lot, he found the perfect tree. It was as tall as he was, a balsam fir, just like he remembered from his childhood. It was a bit sparse, but it was green, and it was his. He carried it easily all the way back to his apartment over his shoulder, an easy ten mile walk. He was amused by all the shocked looks on people's faces when he walked by them. Apparently people didn't often walk ten miles with a Christmas tree on one shoulder.

When he'd gotten about half way back with the tree, a young boy out walking with his mother noticed him and pointed. "Mom, it's Captain America!" he shouted as he tugged on her arm and began pulling her over towards him. "I wanna meet him!"

Steve sighed and set the tree down next to him, propping it up against the edge of a mailbox. He wiped his hands off as best as he could and tried to make himself look presentable before the boy and his mother arrived. He didn't mind children approaching him as much as the adults. "Hello, young man, what's your name?" he asked with a smile.

The boy, who looked to be no older than five, suddenly turned shy and clung to his mother's leg. "Don't you want to answer him?" his mother asked, reaching down to brush her fingers through her son's hair. When the boy popped a thumb in his mouth in response, the mom smiled and looked at Steve. "His name is Billy," she said. "He's been talking about you for months now. He even dressed up like you for Halloween this year."

Steve knelt down to try to be less intimidating to the boy. "Hello Billy, it's wonderful to meet you," he said, holding out his hand to shake Billy's. Billy slowly extended a small hand out and shook Steve's. "I bet you'll be going to school next year, won't you?" When the boy nodded, Steve continued. "Well, make sure to work very hard, and be a good friend to your classmates, and get lots of exercise and eat healthy food and maybe one day the Avengers will be able to call on you for help. Would you like that?" Billy grinned and nodded his head.

Steve stood up and picked up his Christmas tree again. "Well, I'd best be getting on home now," he said with a smile. "You have a wonderful Christmas, Billy."

As he began to walk away, he heard Billy call out to him, "Merry Christmas, Captain America!" It warmed his heart and made the rest of his walk home feel much more enjoyable.

Once he returned home, it took nearly an hour to figure out how to set up the tree stand and find just the right place to put it. He decided that right in front of his living room window was best, that way he would be able to see it from almost anywhere.

He was in the kitchen making lunch when he heard a huge crash from the living room. He ran into the room and saw that the tree had fallen over onto the floor. It took twenty minutes to get the metal screws of the tree holder in tightly enough to keep the tree upright. Several branches had broken and he was forced to turn that to the back to hide them as best as possible. His hands were covered in sap and he had needles stuck in his hair when was finished. It required a shower before he could return to the kitchen to finish preparing his meal.

Once lunch was over, he filled the tree holder with water, and got to work decorating the tree. The occasion demanded music, and he managed to find a station on his television that played all music, and this time of year it was only Christmas music. Most of the music was entirely new to him, though some songs were familiar. Bing Crosby crooning about dreaming of a White Christmas brought him back to the past so abruptly that he had to sit down until the song was over. He'd seen Holiday Inn when it had come out back in '42, and that song had stayed in his mind on long, hard nights during the war when home was so far away. It was always strange to him how an old song could do that to him.

Once he recovered, he started to decorate with the lights. After plugging them in and seeing the warm, cheery glow of the many colors, he smiled. The baubles went on after the lights, and then the gold stars. It was truly a work of art, in his opinion.

He gazed at his tree for a minute before realizing he'd forgotten to buy a star for the top. He quickly decided not to go buy one, but to make one instead. He cut up the box Nick Fury had sent his list and movies in, and made a large Star of David out of it. In his kitchen was a new box of aluminum foil, so he retrieved it and wrapped the star in it. He placed it on the top, stood back to look again and realized that it was tilted. It took at least five minutes to get it right, and by the time he was convinced that it was straight, he wished he had somebody there to help him. He and his mother had always decorated their tree together, and after she had died, he and the other orphans had. Now he was all alone. To get his mind off his sudden, profound sense of loneliness, he went back into the kitchen and made popcorn on the stove before getting to work making a strand of popcorn to finish off the tree.

Later that night, Steve turned off the lights in the living room and sat in the darkness, enjoying the light emanating from his Christmas tree. He looked at the popcorn chain and felt connected to his mother once again.