"What do you like best about Christmas?" Jack asked. He stood in the doorway, looking away from the kitchen and into the living room.
"Is this a trick question?" Eric asked. He lifted his head up from the paperwork at the kitchen table and looked at Jack. Something wasn't quite right. Jack stood very rigidly.
Eric suspected something was not right in the living room. Between the four cats, three children, and two dogs, there was a whole lot of not-right that could happen in the living room. Eric hoped it wasn't the tree. They'd gone the extra distance and gotten a real fir tree this year instead of putting up the old standby fake one.
"No. I mean it. What do you like best about Christmas?" Jack turned his back to the living room and a tight, toothless smile stretched across his face.
"Okay." Eric put his pen down. "The food. And no guilt until after New Years. All the cookies. The pies. Gingerbread. Peppermint everything. Peppermint mocha coffee. Peppermint hot chocolate. Peppermint marshmallows. Chocolate everywhere. I can't leave my desk for five minutes without coming back to find someone has left a candy cane or a nougat or golden coins for me to find." He gathered the papers into a pile. "What is it you like best about Christmas?"
"I like a lot of things. The music. The gifts. The effort people make to catch up with friends and family they don't usually see through the year. But what I like best. What is the absolute best thing about Christmas?" Jack walked away from the entrance to the living room and spent a moment to assist Eric in cleaning up the small pile of papers and pens. Once the small mess was tidied up and stowed in the correct drawer, he gave Eric a hug and kissed him on the cheek. "Being able to close your eyes." He put one hand gently over Eric's eyes and tugged him forward using the other, guiding him safely forward. "And walk straight past the living room to the bedroom."
"Deal with it tomorrow?" Eric asked.
"Definitely."
No comments:
Post a Comment