Disclaimer: Don't own Snoddy, Swifty, Pie, or Snoddy's Brothers. I do own Mrs. Jones and Gram. I like Gram. That's about it. Any information on the Jewish religion that is misspelled or interpreted is not my fault. I'll blame shortie.

Holiday Chronicles:

Christmas Tree

Hotshot

A/N: Slash don't like it, don't read it.

Snoddy turned his car onto the street, instinctively putting a hand out to stop the plastic grocery bag from falling onto the floor and spilling its contents. Another corner beaten, he thought to himself, thinking of turning out of his driveway and having dozens of dreidles and gifts falling to the floor of his car. He smirked as he parked the car in front of the little blue house on his right.

This was going to be strange, he knew that. They'd only been dating for two weeks, and Snoddy had yet to meet his boyfriend's parents. He was almost scared to go in there. On the other hand it did keep him out of the house and away from his heckling older brothers. It was now or never. Grabbing the bag out of the front seat he got out and started up the front walk.

He rang the doorbell and hunched his shoulders as if it would keep the cold from getting to him. A small, thin, dark haired woman answered the door. Rich must tower over her, Snoddy thought. Then he saw her face. Her son was the spitting image of his mother, those dark, sad eyes.

"You must be Robert." She grinned warmly.

"Hi, Mrs. Jones. I guess I'm kind of early. Rich told me it would-"

"Oh, don't stay out there in that cold." She opened the screen door, "Come in, come in."

Once he was inside and out of his wet sneakers and coat Mrs. Jones called her son's name up the stairs before excusing herself to the living room. Her son poked his head around the corner of the landing.

"Come on up. I'm just digging the ornaments out of the eves."

"Does your mom know we're dating?"

"Ummm… yeah," He was bent over reaching through the door in his bedroom wall to grab the third and last box of Christmas decorations. He dusted his hands off on his jeans and turned to look over his shoulder. "Why?"

His dark hair had flopped down into his face, "Because, Pie, she didn't act weird about my being here at all." He reached forward and brushed the hair out of Pie Eater's eyes.

Pie handed Snoddy one of the boxes and heaved another over his shoulder. "She's fine with it. Yes, your parents blew up about it but they got over it pretty fast, right?"

"Right." Snoddy agreed.

"My mom's always been fine with it. She had a friend in high school that was gay."

"Oh."

"Besides, you get good grades. She already adores you."

"That's all it takes for her," He smirked, "So what, do you have to act like a goddamn saint to make up for your poor grades?"

"I am a saint, what are you talking about?" He shifted the box on his shoulder and steered Snoddy in the direction of the back of the house.

"If you're a saint, then I'm a fucking Buddhist."

Pie shrugged and walked into the back room where his mother was straightening out the tree. An elderly woman sat on the sofa across the room, carefully unwrapping decorations from a series of shoeboxes.

"Richard, be careful with those," she lectured as Pie Eater all but dropped his box onto the floor.

"Sorry Gram," he mumbled before taking the second and third from Snoddy. Like had on the front stoop Snoddy clammed up. Really, what was he to say to his boyfriend's mother and grandmother? Luckily Pie Eater didn't seem to care. "Gram, this is my boyfriend, Rob. Snoddy, this is my Gram and I guess you already met my mom."

"Afternoon," he said politely.

She enveloped him in a hug. "So good to meet you. We've heard so much about you from Rich."

Snoddy's eyebrows shot up, "what exactly has he told you?"

Pie's mother started laughing, "Nothing horrible, dear, don't worry." She began to untangle coils of red and gold beads and threads of lights to wrap around the tree. "Richard, dear, give me a hand with these. Robert, why don't you help Gram unwrap the old decorations."

He moved to the couch to help the older woman. Several boxes of ceramic banks and plates littered the table. There was a nutcracker, a rocking horse, a drummer boy piggy-bank, and a tree-shaped dish. The older woman took them from him and arranged them on a table. All the while he watched Pie struggling to walk behind the tree with a string or lights and mostly falling on his face.

"Ah-ha!" the old woman next to him crowed. "I knew these were in here somewhere, Judy." She held up several window candles. "I'm going to go set them up in the windows upstairs."

"Alright Mom," Mrs. Jones agreed as she turned on the lights, which surprisingly still worked. "Well, why don't you boys start decorating the tree?"

Snoddy thought back upon the previous years when he'd be at Swifty's while they decorated the tree, and did homework. No matter how late it was they always waited for Mr. Li to get home.

"What about Mr. Jones? Don't you want to wait for him to get home?"

Mrs. Jones stared at him for a moment before excusing herself, saying that she'd be back with something for them to eat. She shot a glance at her son as she left. Snoddy caught it and turned to look at his boyfriend. Pie was biting his lip, something that has become a rather nervous habit over the years.

"What'd I say?" he asked.

Pie took a seat in a chair across the room, a plush, overstuffed thing. "You mentioned my dad." He brushed hair out of his eyes and scratched the back of his head wondering exactly what to say. "He uh… he left when I was… seven. Haven't seen him since. I think he called a year ago, maybe more. He wanted to talk to me but I couldn't talk to him after what he did to my mom. He lives in Connecticut now; mom says he's got a huge house, a new wife, and a couple of kids. She went to visit him a few months ago."

"I'm sorry I brought that up."

"One of us would have had to sooner or later. Just don't mention it when she comes back, especially not in front of Gram."

"I won't," Snoddy promised. He pulled himself across the floor to sit in front of Pie. "Does he know about you and me?"

"Mom told him last winter. I don't know how he took it." He kissed Snoddy quickly on the mouth, "Don't much care either."

Snoddy grinned and pulled Pie out of the chair and down on top of him. They both laughed, and Snoddy took the opportunity to kiss Pie again. It was only after they'd fallen silent for several minutes that Pie's mother reappeared, a plate of Christmas cookies in her hand.

"Honestly boys," she muttered with a slight grin, "Could you be any more tactless?"

"Why bother?" Pie asked his mother. "You and Gram don't care."

"Well I don't but your grandmother hasn't exactly seen you and Robert on top of each other. I can only imagine how she'll react when it finally sinks in."

"Real comforting, Ma."

"At least if it's before she gets to know Rob."

"Snoddy."

"Excuse me."

"Call him Snoddy. That's what he prefers, and you can go ahead and call me Pie."

The woman shrugged, "I swear it's like one of those damn puzzles. I never know what you want to hear. One day it's Pie, the next Rich." She threw up her hands in frustration.

Pie's grandmother entered the room and looked at the undecorated tree. "What's wrong with you two; there isn't a single ornament on that tree yet. She pulled the lid off of one of the boxes and shoved it in their direction.

Snoddy reached in and took hold of an ornament, lifting it out carefully. It was a tiny cartoon dinosaur with a saddle, antlers, and a red, Rudolph nose. He let out a laugh. He followed Pie to the tree where his boyfriend hung a small, Kiss-Me-I'm-Irish bell on one of the high branches. Mrs. Jones and Pie's Gram were also picking more delicate pieces out of smaller boxes.

After several quick trips between the box and the tree Snoddy took a seat on the floor and began to look through the family ornaments. Upon inspection he pulled a small paper ball out of the box. The front of it was decorated with the school picture of a boy who could not have been any older than six. Snoddy let out a laugh.

"Pie, is that you!"

"Give me that," Pie snatched it away embarrassed. His mother and grandmother only laughed at his helpless situation. But then, that was the reason first grade classes made ornaments, so parents could embarrass their children later in life.

"Oh, but Pie, you're so cute…" Snoddy kissed him on the cheek, snatching the ornament back and hanging it on the very front of the tree.

"Bitch," Pie muttered, "OW!"

His grandmother hit him upside the head. "Watch your mouth young man."

"Sorry Gram."

"Of course you are; you got caught."

Snoddy couldn't help but laugh to himself as he dug back into the box full of ornaments. Pie's family was great; his grandmother was hilarious.

After nearly an hour the tree was almost finished. Mrs. Jones and Pie Eater's grandmother had stopped helping the boys with ornaments and were finishing unwrapping other decorations. Snoddy could not help but stare as Mrs. Jones unwrapped a ceramic Christmas tree. It looked handmade, and he heard his mother rambling on in his head. She would have asked so many questions.

"That's beautiful," he commented, "My mother would love it."

"Does your mother decorate so much for Christmas, Snoddy?"

He blushed, "No ma'am, we're Jewish."

"Really?" Pie's grandmother raised an eyebrow, "Rich didn't say anything about that."

"Does it matter?" Pie asked.

"It would have been nice to have some warning. We haven't offended you, have we dear?"

"No ma'am," he insisted, "Nearly all of my friends celebrate Christmas anyway. I'm used to it." He turned to Pie's mother, "My mom used to do a lot of art stuff when she was in college. She loved ceramics."

"Oh," Mrs. Jones smiled, "My sister made this a few years ago. I think this is the only one that hasn't been broken by someone. The rest of my siblings are quite clumsy."

"They're clumsy," Pie's eyebrow arched.

"You hush. I'd better get dinner started. You are staying aren't you Snoddy?"

"I'd be delighted ma'am."

"Come on Mom, and help me make some dinner."

The old woman pushed herself from the couch with a crystal, teardrop-shaped ornament dangling from her fingers. After hanging it on the tree she gave her grandson a small, sly smile and walked out of the room.

"What was that about?" Snoddy asked.

"Mmmm…" Pie bit his lower lip before knocking Snoddy off the ottoman and onto the floor. He kissed him fiercely and grinned a few moments later as he pushed himself off of his boyfriend. "Gram and I have a special understanding between us."

"I'll say."

"So," Pie played with the strings on Snoddy's sweatshirt. He glanced at the plastic bag, still abandoned on the floor, "What'd you bring me?"

Snoddy shoved his boyfriend off of him and reached for the bag. He drew out the dreidle and a bag of Christmas M&Ms, the only ones the store had stocked.

"Chocolate!" Pie launched himself at Snoddy, who, through experience, knew to move out of the way. Due to this Pie landed face-first in the carpet.

"Not fair," came a muffled protest.

"I'll give you some but you can't eat them."

"Why not?" Pie pouted.

"I thought you wanted to learn how to play?" Snoddy chucked a dreidle at the dark-haired boy.

"This game involves candy?"

"Whenever I play with my cousins it does. Well, except with Josh. Then it's cash."

"Money and chocolate; I think I should convert." Pie joked. He spun the dreidle on the table. It stopped spinning and he looked at it funny for a moment "What's that mean?"

"Nun." Snoddy poured some M&Ms onto the table and began separating them into two groups, pushing one in Pie Eater's general direction. "No eating." He went on to explain the basic rules of the game. And during the game they proceeded to play explained several more times. Sadly on Pie's part, by the time Mrs. Jones came back with some food Snoddy had a considerably larger pile of M&Ms.

"Cheater," he hissed as his mother sat down with them.

As they ate Pie's mother poured herself some M&Ms and joined the game. Before long she was beating both their sorry asses. Even Snoddy was surprised. She rolled gimmel or hay every time.

"It's not fair," Pie complained as he rolled his third straight shin. "You just started playing and you're kicking my ass."

"Rich, watch your moth." Mrs. Jones smiled, "Don't you remember me talking about college. Both of my roommates were Jewish. I'm a professional at playing dreidle."

"Just peachy," Pie muttered as his mother won his last two pieces of candy. He leaned his elbows on the table and sat with his face in his hands like a small child would. His face bobbed back and forth between his mother and boyfriend as they rolled. He rooted for neither and yelled excitedly when either lost.

Eventually Mrs. Jones was victorious. Whether it was because she was a superior player or because Pie was very sly about stealing M&Ms from Snoddy's pile was anyone's guess.

Pie's grandmother finally turned on some Christmas music after they had all eaten their fill. Pie and Snoddy insisted on singing the 'drunken twelve days of Christmas' as Pie's mother dug through the one of the ornament boxes to find the star.

She returned with a tacky gold thing all strung up with Christmas lights and gold tinsel. It was nothing like the elegant things Snoddy had seen in department stores or the homes of other friends. Perhaps he would get Pie's family a new star for their tree for Christmas.

However, the idea quickly drained from his head as Mrs. Jones handed the star to Pie Eater with the utmost care. He understood immediately that there was some type of story and meaning behind the star that he was missing.

Pie stared at the star for a moment and after a quick glance at his mother and grandmother handed it to Snoddy. "Okay, Snoddy, this is the star. It goes on top of the tree," he joked.

Snoddy had a comeback for the snide remark on the tip of his tongue. Snoddy also realized the delicateness of the situation. Although it didn't seem much like it he was in a sense being welcomed into the family. He took the star carefully from Pie and placed it carefully on top of the tree.

Mrs. Jones turned off the lights while Pie plugged in the tree lights. The effect was one Snoddy had witnessed several times before. The tree lit up the entire room and the star blinked from the top.

The feeling Snoddy got when he looked at the other people in the room was very different. Swifty's family would usually disperse as soon as the tree was lit. Pie's family on the other hand stood in awe. Snoddy stood several steps away and watched them. He knew he was watching something different, and something special. It reminded him of back when he had first learned the story behind Hanukkah and how he had been in complete awe the next time they'd gathered around the menorah. He didn't want to disturb them by being the first one to break the silence. Pie stood behind his mother and grandmother gazing over the tree. Each of them looked somewhere between sad, nostalgic, and joyous.

Finally, after several long moments Mrs. Jones excused herself and Pie and his grandmother both darted off in different directions. Snoddy stood there for a moment before removing half a dozen gifts from the plastic bag he had brought and placing them under the tree. It seemed that was exactly what had been on everyone else's mind as well. They all appeared with several wrapped gifts or bags and slid them under the pine's branches.

Gram and Mrs. Jones disappeared once again, wandering into another room to watch a movie. Snoddy expected Pie to suggest they go upstairs but the other boy simply stretched out on the couch and watched the tree.

Snoddy just stood where he was in the middle of the room for another moment until Pie reached out for his hand. Snoddy walked over to his boyfriend hand laced their fingers together before being pulled down on top of him for a tender kiss.

No words passed between them for several moments. Their time was split between staring at the tree and kissing one another.

"So," Snoddy cleared his throat and whispered, "The star?"

"I got it from my grandpa the year before he died," Pie whispered back, "My first Christmas."

"It's pretty."

"It's tacky."

"Yeah," Snoddy agreed resting his chin on Pie's collarbone, "It is."

"But it wouldn't be Christmas without it."

They stared again for a moment before Snoddy asked, "You're still coming over to light the menorah with us tomorrow night, right?"

"Of course I am." Pie hesitated, "D'you want to come over on Christmas morning. You know, seeing as we are sort of dating and it's just another morning for you."

"Not too early."

"Dude, seven a.m."

Snoddy groaned, "You're still like a little kid about Christmas aren't you?"

"Yep."

"Sure, why not. It's only one day out of my vacation."

Snoddy nuzzled into Pie's neck as the wind continued to howl outside. Pie in turn wrapped his arms tighter around his boyfriend and began to kiss his cheek. He sought out Snoddy's lips and repositioned himself so neither would fall of the couch. It was a comfortable, normal place for him. He dug his fingers into the back of Snoddy's shirt and pulled him tighter.

Snoddy opened his eyes only once. Past his boyfriend's face all he saw was the tree. Somehow that completed the moment for him. It was, after all, too late in the year for fireworks.

A/N: so yes, maybe I'll get some more chapters of this up this year. I have a couple stories vaguely planned out. I don't really like the ending on this one but I really wanted to get this up. More coming and not all of it is slash. If you haven't read the eggnog one yet go back to chapter one.

Hope you enjoyed R/R

Hotshot

11/28/04