Trees a Crowd
When Jay was little he and his family were always poor. They spent all their money on school books (since he was home-schooled) and food.
"Mom?" ten year old Jay asked.
"What is it sweetie?" Edna asked.
"When are we getting the tree?"
"I don't know if we can Jay."
"Why not?"
"We don't have enough money for a fake tree and getting a real tree is nearly impossible since we live in the desert," she replied.
"What about presents?" Jay asked.
"We don't have any money for presents," Ed said walking in.
"Oh," Jay said disappointed.
"We can still have a special Christmas without those things," Edna added quickly.
"How?" Jay asked.
"We can still have dinner with your grandparents," Ed said.
"Grandpa is crazy, though!" Jay yelled.
"You know what the holidays are about," Edna said, "dealing with horrible family members."
"They give me candy," Jay said.
"That's a holiday tradition," Ed said.
"That's why I love Christmas," Jay replied.
The next day Jay went outside to cut down a cactus instead of a tree so his family could still have something then he went to the junkyard and fixed some old lights up.
"This is going to be the best Christmas Mom and Dad have ever had!" Jay said excitedly.
On Christmas day Jay's parents went downstairs to find a little cactus with Christmas lights on it.
"Where did this come from?" Ed asked.
"I got some stuff from the junkyard for the lights and went outside to cut down a cactus," Jay replied.
"This is the best Christmas I could ever receive," Edna said.
"It is?" Jay asked.
"You using your mind to make the day special for us makes me so proud," Ed said hugging him. Edna joined in the hug and Jay never forgot that one Christmas his parents loved so.