𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 | r. berry

A Very Glee Christmas

"And the ornaments?" Mr. Schue asked.

"The guy who lives next door to me finally killed off his elderly mother," said Santana. "When they carted him off, they left the house wide open. I think she was a holiday hoarder."

"And the presents?"

"I lifted them from the display from the mall," said Puck. "But don't worry. They're empty."

"Guys, I appreciate the effort, but this isn't what Christmas is supposed to be like," said Mr. Schue.

"For us it is," said Mercedes. "This tree is a mascot for Glee Club. We won sectionals two years in a row, and according to everyone at this school, we still suck."

Naomi nodded as she recalled getting hit by a slushie on her way into school with Mike, Tina, and Mercedes that morning.

"My eyes are still burning," the freshman said as Tina gave her a sympathetic smile and rubbed her back.

"I'm pretty sure they just added food coloring to real slush from the parking lot," Mike mumbled.

"You can eat that, you know," said Lauren.

"No," said Mr. Schue. "I am not going to let you guys throw yourselves a pity party. Look, I'm the first one to say that things haven't turned out exactly how I would have liked them to this year. But Christmas is all about being grateful for the things that did."

"I thought that was Thanksgiving?" Naomi mumbled confusedly.

"And this year, Glee Club is gonna lend a hand to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Children and Youth Program right here in Lima."

"How are we gonna do that?" Rachel asked.

"The only way we know how. By singing about it," said Mr. Schue. "We're gonna go classroom to classroom caroling to raise money for McKinney-Vento."

"Classrooms in this school with students in them?" Tina asked, exchanging an uneasy look with Naomi.

"Well, if there are no students in them there will be no one to put money in the collection box."

"We're gonna be killed," Naomi whimpered. "I'm too cute to die."

"No, guys, it's Christmas," said Finn. "A time for miracles. We gotta try this."

"Finn's right," said Mr. Schue. "So, let's start rehearsing. This year, Glee Club's going full Santa."

****

After a failed attempt at caroling, the New Directions were back in the choir room decorating a Christmas tree that Mr. Schue had gotten them.

With Santana's encouragement, Autumn managed to eat some of the popcorn they were using to decorate the tree with.

"What's the deal with decorating Christmas trees with popcorn?" Autumn asked as she took a handful from the bowl. "Wouldn't that attract rats or something?"

"I honestly don't know," Santana shrugged.

"I can't believe that teacher let those students speak to us like that," Rachel scoffed as she recalled the events from earlier.

"I can't believe she threw her shoe at us," Naomi pouted. "Meanie."

"I guess we're done caroling," Tina mumbled as she hung a string of popcorn on the tree.

"No, we're not," Finn spoke up. "Guys, we can't let what just happened ruin our Christmas spirit."

"Finn's right," Autumn said as she ate some popcorn. "Mr. Schue got us this beautiful tree to inspire us. We're gonna practice now and gear up for round two tomorrow."