"I don't think it's going to fit." Jess giggled, the scent of pine so strong it made her giddy.
"No, it will. Just pull!"
She took a firmer grip on the mesh wrapped around the tree. "Okay, on three. One, two, three!" She pulled and Sam pushed and after a long moment of resistance, the tree came through the door. Jess slipped as it gave way and fell to the floor, laughing.
"You okay?" Sam's worried face peered down at her past the tree.
"Yeah. But I bet I'll never get all these needles out of my hair or off the floor." She laughed again. Prepping for Christmas had never been so much fun.
Sam helped her to her feet.
She smiled again, remembering her surprise that morning at breakfast, when Sam had sheepishly looked up from his eggs and asked how she felt about having a Christmas tree in the apartment. She thought it a great idea. This would be their first one together after all, and though she knew her Mom would go over the top as usual at home, it would be sweet to have their own tree to celebrate the holiday.
She should have known she would be in for more than she bargained for when he pulled out the printed list of places selling them – live ones at that. Her scholar was nothing if not prepared. She was still laughing at the strange yet convincing conversation on how paying extra fare entitled the tree to have a seat or two of its own on the bus, so they could get the thing home.
"I'll go get the stand. Be right back." Sam bounced away grinning from ear to ear.
Jess just shook her head and headed toward their small kitchen to get a pair of scissors and a pitcher of water as well as a couple of aspirin -- an old trick of her father's for stretching the life of a tree. Sam was back about the same time she got there.
"Where should I put it? The bedroom?" His cheeks were flushed, but she knew it wasn't from exertion. He'd been beside himself since the moment she said yes.
"Are you insane? No, no, and no! We're not sleeping with the thing. Off to the living room with you!"
He jumped over the tree and took the stand next door, laughing at her.
They dragged the tree into the living room and she helped him stand it up so he could tighten the rivets into the trunk.
"Uh oh."
"What?" Sam looked up from the floor.
"I had a feeling it was too tall." The last foot of the tree was bent sideways against the ceiling. Though she'd tried, she hadn't had the heart not to let him get the one he wanted. Despite the fact it stretched their budget to the limit.
Sam stood up and stared at it, the tree towering over him, looking suddenly crest fallen. "I guess I could cut it."
"I wouldn't think of it. I mean, how many people have a tree like this?" She poured the water and two aspirin into the stand. "Besides, we haven't seen how it looks yet."
When she was done, Jess handed Sam the scissors and he cut away the mesh. As they pulled it off, the limbs loosened and stretched, a rainfall of needles collecting on the floor. As it unfurled, the two of them were forced to step farther and farther back. When it was done, you couldn't see the other side of the room from where they stood.
"Uhm, I guess I didn't pick one very well?" Sam looked amazed, shocked, pleased, and a little overwhelmed all at once.
Jess couldn't help but laugh. "It is a little on the big side. Still, it's ours." She glanced at him. "Didn't you ever go with your father to pick the tree?"
All the emotion seemed to leave his face, leaving an empty canvas – a blank mask. "He didn't believe in Christmas, not after Mom…" He looked at her, and she could see the effort it cost him as he tried to smile. "Dean would always find a table top tree somewhere. We'd keep it in our room. So, this is the first time, I've ever…"
"Well why didn't you say so in the first place?" Jess tried to ooze cheer though it saddened her to have dampened his spirits. "We have a lot to make up for. So no bought decorations for us, no, sir. We're doing it all from scratch, just like we used to do at grandma's."
"Homemade decorations?" He looked slightly alarmed at the prospect.
"You've not lived until you've made your own popcorn garlands, or streamers from construction paper and Elmer's glue, even an angel from paper and glitter. We'll have us some eggnog, cookies, and pumpkin pie, too, I think. And caroling, we can't leave out caroling. I'll make sure you have Christmas pouring out your ears. I guarantee it."
The pleased, eager puppy look that grew on his face made her want to cry. She had a feeling his life had been a lot harder than she might possibly be able to imagine. But all that was going to change.
"And wait till you see what it'll be like at Mom's. Christmas right out of a magazine."
She would drink in every experience, every detail as her scholar discovered and enjoyed Christmas like never before. A gift she'd be able to give him that no amount of money would have ever been able to afford.
She was pretty sure it would be her best Christmas ever. The first of many many more.