The two weeks leading up to Christmas were pretty brutal. Darry had final exams and trying to study while dealing with the three of us was just about making him crazy. I think we were all feeling the strain of the holidays, torn between wanting to continue with tradition and knowing that the absence of our parents would only be that much more apparent during the holiday. Our Mom and Dad had gone all out for Christmas. Decorations, cookies, Christmas carol records, the whole nine yards. It actually snowed a little one night as the four of us were sitting around the living room and I was pretty sure that we were all thinking just about the same thing: Christmas was coming, in five days, whether we liked it or not, and we were gonna have to decide how we wanted to deal with it.
Darry had been half-studying/half-watching TV when suddenly he spoke up.
"I've been thinking," he said.
We all looked up.
"What?" Soda said. He was still looking at the TV, fascinated by some girl on the screen.
"I think we should get a tree."
I was kind of surprised. Darry and my Dad used to always make a big deal out of going to get the tree. It's not even like they went to cut one down – they usually went down to the church a few blocks away and bought one from their fundraiser, but it was something they had always done together. We all had our jobs: Darry and Dad got the tree, Mom and I made the cookies, and Soda and Pony decorated the tree and the house. Soda and Pony were the only team that remained intact, I realized.
"Are you sure?" Pony asked. I knew he was thinking what I was, that having a tree might just be a reminder of what was so notably absent.
"Unless you guys don't want to," Darry said. "I just think that it might be worse for us if we try to ignore it. They always made it so important for us, it just seems like a shame to forget about everything, you know, our traditions."
We all sat, deep in thought.
"What do you guys think?" Darry sounded almost like he regretted having brought it up.
"Can I come with you to get it?" I asked. I didn't want him to have to go alone, missing Dad.
"We can all go," he said. "A new tradition. They would have liked that."
They really would have. Our parents were always trying to get us to do things all together but we were so far apart in age it was hard. It was kind of ironic that they had to die in order to get us all to work as a cohesive team.
"I think we should," Soda agreed.
"Me too," Pony said.
"Lets go tomorrow," Soda said.
"OK," Darry said, and went back to his book, smiling.
______________
The next day I had late practice, and the three of them picked me up. I felt bad – I never got stuck in the back of the truck. This time I tried to get one of them to give up the back but Soda insisted on staying in the back and I climbed into the cab with Darry and Pony.
We pulled into the church parking lot and hopped out. I could see why it had always been just Dad and Darry that went. Four opinions added up to a very heated discussion about what constituted the perfect tree. Eventually I was so cold that I asked Darry for the keys and went to sit in the heat of the truck.
"Don't touch the gears or the pedals," he said. He didn't know that I was practically a licensed driver now, thanks to Two-Bit.
"I won't," I said. "Just the heat is all I care about."
About ten minutes after I left them they finally came back with a tree. Soda held it up for me.
"Whaddaya think?" he asked. He looked so pleased, it was obvious that it had been his choice.
"Perfect," I said. "Let's go home."
__________
The boys dragged the tree in while I worked in the kitchen on some hot chocolate. I was still freezing. I brought some for everyone into the living room and sat on the couch watching Pony and Soda put the decorations on the tree. Darry sat down next to me and jumped back up when he felt my cold feet against his thigh.
"Jesus, Scout! Are you even alive? How can your feet be that cold, through socks?"
"I told you, I'm freezing!" Darry grabbed a blanket from the coat closet and threw it on my feet. Then he reached under the blanket and tickled the crap out of them. After a few seconds I was screaming and breathless, which only motivated the other two to join in. After about five minutes of incessant tickling, they finally took mercy on me and laid off. I lay there holding my side, which hurt from laughing so hard.
"You still cold?" Darry asked.
"No. Thanks," I said. It actually had felt good, getting tormented by my brothers like I always had before Mom and Dad died. Everything with the four of us seemed right. It was just that we were two short of the dozen we had been.
Pony and Soda had finished the tree before pouncing on me and Pony went over and flipped out the lights. We all sat there, bathed in the warm lights from the tree.
It was beginning to feel… a little… like Christmas.
A/N: OK, baby steps here. About 3 more chapters to get through the holidays, then I merge with the book again. Hope you enjoy!