Flashbacks

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go.

Take a look in the five-and-ten, glistening once again

with candy canes and silver lanes aglow.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Toys in every store.

But the prettiest sight to see is the holly that will be

on your own front door.

A pair of Hop-a-long boots and a pistol that shoots is the wish of Barney and Ben.

Dolls that will talk and will go for a walk is the hope of Janice and Jen.

And mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again!

Perry Como

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It had been decided the following weekend was the weekend to put up the Christmas tree. It had also been decided that since Audrey's place had more room and a fireplace all the holiday festivities would take place there. When Shawn found out that Audrey had a spare bedroom and a sofa bed, he tried to convince Jon that they should just move in for the month. When Jon said no, Shawn wished him well and told him he hoped he wouldn't get lonely at night.

In order to give Shawn the full Christmas tree experience, rather than go to a tree lot like he thought they were going to go to, Jon and Audrey surprised him with a trip out of town to Arasapha Farms in Glen Mills. For Audrey, this was a normal Christmas experience; she grew up going to the tree farms in New Jersey every year after Thanksgiving to cut down a tree with her father. But it was a new experience for Shawn and Jon.

Shawn had never picked out a Christmas tree that looked like a Christmas tree rather than one that even Charlie Brown wouldn't want. Jon had never picked out a tree of any kind nor had he had ever cut one down.

"This is so cool," Shawn commented, grinning widely as they stood at the edge of the farm where the trees began. "You know," he said, when the adults finally caught up to him, "Audrey is all I really wanted for Christmas, but this," he gestured to the trees, "this is just icin' on the gingerbread cookies."

Jon regarded him with mild concern. "Cake," he corrected. "The sayin' is 'icin' on the cake'."

Shawn looked at him in confusion. "But I don't want cake for Christmas, I want gingerbread cookies."

Jon looked to Audrey for help.

"He wants cookies for Christmas," she teased him. "What are you even talking about?"

He laughed. "I have no idea."

The tree farm was crawling with people and Shawn worried that someone else would get their tree before them. Yet he insisted on going to the ends of the farm and back and from one side to the next inspecting every tree before choosing one. The weather was chilly and growing colder as the day went on but trekking back and forth made them sweaty. Jon found himself carrying the jacket Shawn had shed as the teen ran ahead of them once again. Every dad carrying an article of their child's clothing or something else they'd brought with them gave Jon a nod of acknowledgment as if to say, "we always end up doing this don't we?"

At one point, Audrey stumbled on a low-cut stump. Jon caught her and pulled her close to him to keep her on her feet. Instinct told him to let go of her right away. As he started to pull back, he realized that absolutely no one knew them in Glen Mills. Not a single person knew that Audrey was his student teacher or that Shawn was his student; they were just one more family in the crowd. Impulsively, he hugged her closely and she looked up in surprise. A pleased look and a shy smile blushed her face and she wrapped her arm around his waist. Shawn, standing by a tree he liked, saw this and grinned.