If Thanks­giv­ing was won­der­ful, Christ­mas was par­adise for Mani­ac Magee and Grayson. They had set­tled into a new home at 101 Band Shell Boule­vard after Grayson offi­cial­ly moved out of the Y. Their long-stand­ing rela­tion­ship with the lock­er room atten­dant allowed them to use the Y’s show­er facil­i­ties when­ev­er they pleased, pro­vid­ing a sense of con­ti­nu­ity in their lives.

The out­side of their home was sim­ply adorned; they nailed a wreath to the door, while the soli­tary win­dow lacked a sill for a can­dle, so they cre­ative­ly used spray snow instead. Inside, how­ev­er, was a dif­fer­ent sto­ry filled with hol­i­day spir­it. It was dec­o­rat­ed so fes­tive­ly, it would make even Santa’s elves feel at home. Strings of pop­corn parad­ed across the ceil­ing, and ever­green branch­es infused the space with the delight­ful smell of pine. They filled any avail­able space with Christ­mas cheer— from a match­box crèche to a porce­lain San­ta and even a par­tridge in a pear tree.

Grayson took it a step fur­ther one day by bring­ing in tree limbs and craft­ing a wood­en rein­deer, which was grand enough for Mani­ac to ride. Yet, the high­light of their dec­o­ra­tions was undoubt­ed­ly the Christ­mas tree. Their enthu­si­asm for trim­ming had been dor­mant for many Christ­mases, but once they got start­ed, they lost them­selves in the task. Soon, every inch of the tree was adorned with an abun­dance of tin­sel and orna­ments, leav­ing hard­ly a pine nee­dle vis­i­ble.

Feel­ing the urge to spread their hol­i­day spir­it even fur­ther, they ven­tured out­side after com­plet­ing their tree. They crossed the creek and wan­dered through the woods until they dis­cov­ered a mag­nif­i­cent ever­green. There, ensconced in a blan­ket of pine nee­dles and sur­round­ed by the crisp win­ter air, they dec­o­rat­ed a sec­ond tree. This time, nature’s offer­ings served as ornaments—red and yel­low bit­ter­sweet, aro­mat­ic pinecones, clus­ters of wine-red sumac berries, and del­i­cate milk­weed boats adorned their cre­ation, mak­ing their hol­i­day expe­ri­ence tru­ly mag­i­cal.