A/N: Real quick, I want to thank Gary123 for his review of this fanfic. I'm so glad you're loving the story, and yes, I do have many more plans, so I will be continuing!

It was that time of year once again. The air had chilled, all the leaves had fallen, and a cool, white blanket of snow had covered the small town of Derry. December had arrived.

At the Denbrough household, this meant that Zack had the hassling task of rigging up all the Christmas lights around the outside of the house, grumbling and cussing frustratedly all throughout the process. Within the inside of the house, all the decorations had been set up, and the glorious smells of peppermint, eggnog, and gingerbread filled the warm air. And, of course, the unmistakable scent of a fresh pine tree. The two brothers were putting the finishing touches on the Christmas tree in the living room, with Georgie keeping things lively by singing Christmas songs. Bill put a spherical, glass, purple ornament on one of the branches, and Georgie put on the last ornament—a shiny, red one.

"Alright, now o-only one more thing l-left," Bill said.

"The star!" Georgie exclaimed.

"Yep! You wanna p-put it on, Georgie?"

"Yeah!" Georgie picked up the gold star, then Bill lifted him up so he could place it on the top of the tree. "There! It's all done now!"

Bill set Georgie back down on the ground. "You're gettin' too heavy, G-Georgie. I can't keep p-picking you up like that anymore."

"Maybe you're just getting weaker, Billy!"

"Yeah, c-could be that, too," Bill said humorously.

"Wow, the tree looks great, guys!" Sharon said as she came into the living room. "Well, I made some hot cocoa for you both. It's in the kitchen."

"Oooo, yummy!" Georgie said as he dashed to the kitchen and grabbed his mug of hot cocoa. "Thanks for the hot chocolate, Mommy!"

"You're welcome, Georgie!" Sharon went upstairs to go to her bedroom, leaving the brothers alone in the kitchen.

Georgie pulled out the bag of marshmallows from the cupboard, grabbed a handful of marshmallows, and plopped them inside his mug.

"Whoa, easy on the marshmallows there, Georgie," Bill said.

"But they're so delicious!" Georgie responded cheerfully. Bill chuckled at his brother's remark and sat himself at the dining table. Georgie joined him after putting the bag of marshmallows back in the cupboard. "I love Christmas! It's my favorite time of the year!"

"Yeah? What m-makes it your favorite?" Bill asked.

"Well…" Georgie thought for a moment, "I love all the pretty Christmas decorations. And I love Christmas songs. And Christmas movies!"

"Like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?"

"Uh-huh! And The Grinch!"

"Ah, of course. Can't f-f-forget The Grinch."

"And I love getting new toys from Santa, of course!"

"Yeah, new toys are a-always exciting." Bill took a sip from his hot chocolate. "But you know w-what I like about Christmas most of all?"

"What?"

"Enjoying the time we s-spend with each other as a-a-a family."

"Hm. I guess so," Georgie didn't seem to be completely convinced.

"Georgie, I don't think you r-r-realize how lucky you are to have a f-family like ours. We have t-two loving parents who care about us and are k-kind to us."

"But…isn't that what everyone's family is like?"

"Not a-always, unfortunately."

"Do you know anybody like that?"

"Many of my friends, a-actually. Eddie, his parents d-divorced, and he's living with his mom, who's very overprotective o-of him—always telling him he's sick, even when he i-isn't."

"Is that why he's always worried about germs?"

"Uh-huh. Richie, his dad is sorta mean, and his m-m-mom…well…she gets dr-drunk a lot." Georgie giggled. "No, it's not funny, Georgie. His parents, they p-p-pay him no attention. They just ignore him. They don't care about h-how his day went, or why he might be sad."

"That's not fair."

"No, it's n-not. Beverly's parents divorced, and sh-she's living with her dad, who I think…w-well, I have a feeling that her dad is very mean to her, b-but I don't know for sure. And Mike's parents…b-both of his parents d-died."

"No!"

"Yes. He's living with his gr-grandpa now, who's kinda mean to him. And please don't tell them a-any of this stuff I told you. It's kind of a sensitive topic for them. The only reason I'm telling you this is s-s-so you can better appreciate the family we have."

"Okay," Georgie said solemnly. "So does that mean that none of them have as merry of a Christmas as we do?"

"Probably not. Their family lives a-aren't as fortunate as ours is. Which is why y-you should be all the more thankful for what you have."

"What about Ben and Stan? Do they have merry Christmases?"

"Ben? I'm not sure. He's k-kinda quiet, so I don't know a wh-whole lot about his family life. And Stan has a decent enough family. His dad's a l-l-little strict, but his mom's fine. But he doesn't celebrate Christmas."

"He doesn't?"

"No, he's Jewish, so he c-celebrates Hanukkah."

"What's Hanukkah?"

"I don't know a whole lot about it, b-but I know it lasts for eight days, and you get a present on e-each day."

"So, it's like Christmas, but for eight whole days?! I wanna be Jewish!"

Bill snorted in laughter. "Georgie, don't let Mom and Dad hear you s-say that!"

"Sorry!" Georgie whispered.

"Besides, you only get eight presents t-total for Hanukkah, whereas th-there's no limit for Christmas."

"That's true," Georgie pondered.

"Also, Santa doesn't come to k-kids who celebrate Hanukkah."

"No Santa?! Okay, I take back what I said!"

Bill snickered. "Well, there's n-nothing wrong with Stan celebrating Hanukkah. That holiday is j-just as special to him as Christmas i-is to us. We just have to respect each other's differences."

"I do, Billy. It's just that we've celebrated Christmas all our lives, so I'm just kinda used to it. But that's fine if Stan doesn't celebrate it, so long as he likes it that way!"

"Y-yeah, exactly."

Georgie finished the last of his hot chocolate. "But I think you're right, Billy; we really are lucky to have a family as good as ours. I'll be sure to tell that to Santa in my letter to him."

"I'm sure he'll be very happy to read that."

Just in time, Sharon came back down into the kitchen. She asked the boys, "Did you enjoy your hot cocoa?"

"Yeah, it was really good, Mom. Th-thanks," Bill said. Sharon collected their empty mugs and put them in the sink.

Just then, Zack came into the house and entered the kitchen. "Finally got all the Christmas lights up," he said.

"Oh, thank God," Sharon said. "You're always in such a bad mood whenever you do that."

"Yeah, 'cause they're always such a pain to put up! But anyways, it's over now, and the sun's set, so you guys wanna come see the lights?"

"Yeah!" both Georgie and Bill said in unison.

The Denbroughs all put on their winter coats and went outside. Zack plugged in the cords, and the whole house lit up in thousands of tiny, colored lights.

Georgie cheered in victory. "Christmas time is officially here!" And as he stood there in the snow, huddled alongside his mother, his father, and his big brother, with wide smiles on all of their faces, he was reminded of what truly made Christmas the best time of year—it wasn't just the decorations, or the songs, or even the toys. While those parts were great, too, what made it truly special was the warm, cozy feeling he felt with his family. And that was the greatest gift of them all.