The hunt for the Cade family Christmas tree was quite an interesting adventure. It involved a snowball fight, a burdock war and a wrestling match. Very little of it revolved around the actual selection of a tree, at least from Johnny and Dally's perspectives. The two of them had been quiet at first, admiring the scenery and the wildlife that Tom pointed out. A light dusting of snow covered the ground and gave a slightly frosted look to the trees. They saw a deer, a hawk and a pair of rabbits that they watched for a good five minutes without moving. The rabbits stared back at them with big black eyes, frozen, as though their lack of motion made them virtually invisible.

But then Dally found the burdocks. He stuck one on Will's back. Then another. Then Johnny noticed and he stuck one on Will's arm. By the time Will realized what they were doing, he looked like some kind of strange, brown porcuine.

Dally laughed as Will chased him with a stick full of burdocks and finally stuck him with it.

Then the snowballs began to fly and it was all down hill from there. Will threw a snowball at Johnny who thought it had come from Dally and his retaliation lead to a tackling.

Dally and Johnny wrestling around in the snow made Wendy nervous.

"Dally... Dally you're going to hurt him!" she kept saying.

Johnny laughed. Dally had never hurt him. He saw Dally give Steve a bloody lip once, but Steve had pushed him too far. Johnny knew how much he could get away with before he was in danger of getting hurt.

"No I ain't!" Dally argued, pushing Johnny's head into the snow. "It's good for him! It builds his character."

"I'll build you some character," Johnny yelled and kicked Dally off of him and into the branches of a nearby pine tree.

"Relax, dear." Tom patted Wendy's arm as she watched the boys rough-housing.

They finally did find the perfect tree and the guys all took turns carrying it home. They spent the rest of the night hanging the decorations drinking hot cocoa and listening to Tom play Christmas songs on the piano.

Days flew by and Dally showed no signs of going home, so Johnny never asked how long he palnned to stay. Everything felt so perfect. The only thing saddening Johnny now, besides really missing the gang, was that Caroline was going away for a while. She was going to New York to see relatives over the Christmas vacation.

Dally had taken the the two of them Christmas shopping one evening and he wasted no time in telling them how he would enjoy their temporary separation. They were getting "sickening", he had said. But Johnny and Caroline knew he was teasing them.

At one point during the shopping excursion Dally found two angel ornaments. A boy angel with black hair and a girl angel with blonde hair. He picked them up and made little kissing noises and acted out a scene in which the girl angel was flying away and the boy angel was chasing after her.

"Oh, Caroline," he cried in a high pitched voice. "Don't go, don't go!"

Johnny hid his face and shook his head.

Caroline laughed and took the boy angel from Dally. "Don't worry, I'll be back!" she said to it.

Johnny walked away from both of them and pretended to be really interested in some items in the back of the store.

Dally had started to take great pride in finding ways to embarass them both. He had started out carefully, but got progressively worse as he discovered Caroline had a sense of humor about the whole thing. That made it all the more fun because Caroline found it funny and Johnny would get annoyed.

Dally's latest trick was trying to snap a Polaroid picture of Johnny and Caroline kissing so he could send it out as his Christmas card to the gang back home.

He'd taken one from the upstairs window, but it was too dark out and it didn't come out.

Johnny didn't know whether to laugh or kill him in his sleep. He wished that he'd never told anyone about Dally's birthday. The camera had been a gift from Will.

But eventually, Johnny just gave up. The night Caroline was going to leave, he called Dally out to the porch so Dally could say goodbye to her.

"Got your camera ready?" Johnny asked, seeing Dally hiding it behind his back.

"No, what camera?"

Johnny shrugged and wrapped his arms around Caroline, dipped her passionately and kissed her.

A bright flash went off and Dally went running into the house.

Caroline was beet red and laughing. She looked at Johnny surprised. "What was that for?"

Johnny shook his head. "I figure now he'll leave us alone. At least till he comes up with something new."

"Too bad you didn't think of that sooner. Now he'll have two whole weeks to come up with something else!"

Johnny groaned. "We gotta get him a girl. Come on, I'll walk you home."

Christmas vacation was not supposed to start until the 22nd. But a few heavy snow falls had caused school closings, and Johnny got a couple extra days of vacation. This had thrilled Johnny to death, but strangely, Dally had seemed tense and irritable.

Johnny would come downstairs after finding out that school was closed and Dally would already be down there, staring out the window, looking pensively at the falling snow.

One morning, he heard Tom telling Dally to just calm down. Everything would be fine. Johnny had asked what was wrong and he'd gotten vague answers that made no sense to him. And he had been too excited and distracted by the snow days to worry about whatever it was that was going on.

One night, when the snow finally let up, Johnny saw Dally and Will taking off in Dally's T-Bird.

"Where are they going?" Johnny had asked Wendy, somewhat offended that he had not been invited to come along.

"Oh, I think they're doing some Christmas shopping," she said smiling.

Johnny had accepted that answer, but was concerned when Dally didn't show up well after all the stores would have closed.

"Do you think they're all right?" he had asked.

"Of course. Now go on up to bed. You don't want to get all worn down before Christmas, do you?" Wendy had insisted.

So Johnny went off to bed.

In the morning when he woke up, it was still dark, but he could see the T-Bird in the driveway and he breathed a sigh of relief.

He crept quietly downstairs. He was now officially on Christmas break, so he didn't have to worry that it was only snowing lightly outside. He had created a little routine that he had done the last two mornings since school had been canceled and he would do it again this morning. He went into the kitchen, let Coal out into the backyard, fixed himself some hot cocoa and took a short walk through the livingroom. First, he plugged in the Christmas tree and stared at the colorful bulbs on branches. Then he would study the ornaments. Each time he looked, he would find a new one that he hadn't noticed before. He was starting to wonder if Wendy was putting up new ones every night while he was asleep. But this time he found one that someone else had obviously hung on the tree. He smiled as he studied a little girl angel with blonde hair. It was the one from the gift shop where Dally had taken Johnny and Caroline Christmas shopping. He thought of Caroline and wondered how she was doing.

Then he went to the fireplace and looked at the stockings. Each one had a small name embroidered in silver thread just below the trim- Wendy, Tom, Matt, Grandma, Will, Johnny, Dally and a little one for Coal. Johnny traced the letters of his name with his finger. He'd never had a Christmas stocking before. There was something exciting about it. He knew it wasn't typical greaser behavior to be excited about anything, but it was getting harder and harder for him to contain it.

What would Dally say, he thought almost embarrassed. But maybe Dally was excited too! Johnny almost laughed out loud at that. Dally was acting a little more like Two-Bit lately, but he was still as calm and cool as always. Still, he had caught Dally not once, but twice, looking at the Christmas decorations. The first time, he had been checking out ornaments and was nudging a present with his foot. The second time he had been studying the hand carved manger scene. He had looked so intrigued, but then he caught sight of Johnny out of the corner of his eye and he had just put his hands in his pockets and strolled casually into the kitchen.

Johnny tried hard not to let himself reach out an touch the stocking, other than to trace the letters of his name. But today, like every other morning, his will power eventually gave out. He put down his cocoa and felt the stocking with both hands. It was different from yesterday! There was something new inside! But as much as he wanted to know, he would never allow himself the luxury of looking inside.

Then he made his way over to the Nativity scene where he said a silent prayer of thanks. This was the most important part of his morning. He had started this long before his routine had taken shape. In fact, he had started it the day he and Wendy had set it up, shortly after Thanksgiving. He had found when he started doing this, he began to feel an inner peace replacing much of the turmoil he had been feeling over the events of the past few months. He found himself focusing on the wonderful new family he lived with, the food had had to eat, the clothes he had to wear and all the friends he'd had growing up in Tulsa.

Finally he went over to the advent calender. The advent calender was a large wooden house that Tom had made and hand painted. The house had twenty four windows and tweny four sets of shutters that had to be opened one day at a time, starting on the first of December. On Christmas Day he would get to open the door. Inside each window was a little treat that Wendy had left for him. So far, he had collected a tiny model car, movie tickets, some glass animals, a silver dollar and several pieces of chocolate.

He loved the advent calendar. He looked forward to it everyday. He put down his hot cocoa and knelt down in front of the wooden house. With brewing excitement, he opened up the shutters of the little window. Inside was a folded piece of paper. What would it be? A little note from Wendy? More movie tickets? He pulled it out and opened it carefully. He was surprised to see Dally's handwriting on it.

Hey, kid! I hope you don't mind, but I'm giving you your Christmas present a little early. I couldn't wait anymore. I think you'll really like it. Wendy told me how much you love this calendar thing, so I'm glad I was able to fit it inside one of the windows.
Your buddy,
Dally

Johnny was so surprised that he almost didn't process the idea that there was something else in the window. But as he regained his senses, he looked in the window again. Inside was a small torn piece of paper. He pulled it out and looked at it, confused. It looked like a ticket of some sort. A used ticket. Johnny laughed. It actually looked like Dally's used train ticket. What was this supposed to mean?

There was a scratch at the back door. Johnny got up to let Coal in. Coal trotted into the kitchen and promptly shook off the snowflakes that had fallen on his back. Then he froze. Johnny watched as his ears perked up and he tilted his head in the direction of the front entry hall. He let out a half-woof, Coal talk for "someone's here".

Sure enough, a few seconds later the front door opened.

"Johnny?" Dally's voice called.

Johnny frowned and headed towards the door. What was Dally doing up so early and why had he been outside?

"Dal?" he answered coming down the hall. "What are you doing?"

Dally looked expectantly at Johnny.

Johnny just looked blankly at him.

Dally shoulders sagged and he rolled his eyes. "Didn't you do the calendar yet?"

"Oh! Yeah, what was this all about?" Johnny said holding the ticket up.

Dally stared at him, incredulous. Then he smacked Johnny's head with a snowy mitten. "Didn't you read it?" he yelled.

"Ow! Yeah, I- what? I- you're giving me your old train ticket? " Johnny laughed sheepishly. He felt a little guilty. Dally was obviously very excited about this gift, whatever it was. Johnny realized that his earlier doubts about Dally being excited about Christmas were totally unfounded. That fact alone was making it impossible for Johnny to think much more about how the torn ticket was supposed to be a present. "What? I don't get it!"

There was a giggle from behind him. Johnny turned to see Wendy and Tom standing on the stairs in their pajamas and bathrobes.

Whatever this was, it was big. He turned back to Dally, still grinning sheepishly.

Dally's eyes narrowed. "Geez, Johhny! It's not mine!"

Johnny looked at the ticket again. There were the departure and arrival cities, the departure and arrival times, the train company...

Huh... it looked like the ticket was going to Virginia, but Dally didn't have a ticket then...

And the date. Johnny looked again. December 18 was still readable just before the tear. This ticket had only just been used a few days ago.

He looked up at Dally confused.

Slowly, an idea came him. Was it possible?

Dally, seeing the dawning realization starting to appear in Johnny's eyes, grinned from ear to ear. His excitement returned.

Johnny looked suspiciously at Dally for a moment, not quite daring to get his hopes up. Dally looked like he was going to just die if Johnny didn't guess.

Afraid to be wrong, he just stood there looking at Dally, his dark eyes wide with wonder at the possibility of what this could all mean.

He looks just like one of the rabbits in the forest, Dally thought.

"DAMN IT! I can't take it anymore!" Dally shouted, laughing. He flung open the front door.

And there on the steps... was Ponyboy Curtis.

Johnny couldn't get himself to move. It was almost like he couldn't remember how to breathe. He sucked in air and gasped, "Ponyboy?"

Pony bounded through the door and threw his arms around Johnny. "Hey Johnny!"

Johnny couldn't even speak. They were hugging eachother so hard Johnny was sure someone was going to have a cracked rib or two. When they finally let go of eachother, they both had tears in their eyes.

"All right, all right! Turn off the water works, ladies, this wasn't supposed to get all sappy," Dally snorted, trying to act unmoved. That is, until Johnny turned around and hugged him.

"Thank you," Johnny managed through sniffles.

Dally started to protest, but then gave in, hugging him back and messing up his hair. "Merry Christmas, kid," he said, his voice choked with emotion.

Fortunately for Dally, Will had been right outside the door watching the whole scene. He rescued Dally with a snowball right to Johnny's head.

Johnny looked up and glared playfully at Will. Then he shot a glance towards Ponyboy. "C'mon!" he yelled.

And the two of them took off out the door after Will. Dally watched them rolling around in the snow, Coal nipping at their heels.

He rubbed the tears out of his eyes just in time. Wendy came down the stairs, took his face in both of her hands and kissed him right on the forehead.

He stared at her shocked.

She looked him right in the eyes. "Dallas Winston, that was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. You are an angel."

He looked at her for a second, wanting to protest, wanting to maintain his tough-as-nails image that had just been completely ruined. But all he could do was grin while she hugged him. And then laugh.

Dallas Winston, professional angel. That was funny.

Dally straightened as she let him go. "Well," he said as seriously as he could. "if that's what I am, then I guess I'd better go and rescue your brother before he gets killed out there."

Wendy laughed as Dally turned and fled out into the morning, more likely to join the snowball fight than to stop it.

Tom came to the bottom step and put his hands on her shoulders. "They're good kids."

Wendy nodded, drying her tears and smiling as she watched Johnny and Ponyboy try to tackle Dally. He picked one boy up in each arm and spun them untill all three of them were lying in the snow.

"I don't think I've been this excited for Christmas to come since Matt was a little boy," she said.

"Me neither, " Tom agreed. "And it's just getting started..."