On Christ­mas morn­ing, Mani­ac awoke in the ear­ly dark­ness, aware that the hol­i­day spir­it would soon fill the air of Two Mills. He gen­tly shook Grayson awake, restrain­ing him from turn­ing on the light as they bun­dled up for an out­ing in the qui­et night. Mani­ac car­ried a paper bag, and they head­ed out into a peace­ful land­scape cov­ered in untouched snow, which still clung to the park, glimpses of wildlife vis­i­ble in the soft glow of moon­light.

The pair vis­it­ed their spe­cial tree, allow­ing the enchant­i­ng sur­round­ings to envel­op them in a moment of silence and mag­ic. Their explo­ration con­tin­ued through the woods along the creek and onto the zoo, where they play­ful­ly greet­ed the ani­mals, notably the ducks that seemed par­tic­u­lar­ly hap­py to see their vis­i­tors. As dawn approached, they reached the buf­fa­lo pen. Mani­ac quick­ly climbed over the fence to reunite with the buf­fa­lo. After a warm exchange with Baby, he pre­sent­ed a thought­ful gift — a scarf made from three tied togeth­er — to prop­er­ly cel­e­brate their friend­ship.

With the town begin­ning to wake, they returned home for a fes­tive break­fast filled with eggnog, hot tea, cook­ies, and car­ols. Under the tree, gifts await­ed, and Mani­ac gift­ed Grayson gloves, a woolen cap, and a hand-made book titled *The Man Who Struck Out Willie Mays,* which held spe­cial mean­ing to them both.

In an excit­ed exchange of presents, Mani­ac received gloves, a box of but­ter­scotch Krimpets, and a pris­tine base­ball, which filled him with joy. Grayson, reveal­ing anoth­er hid­den gift wrapped in news­pa­per, pre­sent­ed Mani­ac with a well-loved, worn-out base­ball glove from his past that seemed like a piece of his­to­ry. As Mani­ac slid his hand into the glove, it trans­formed the tat­tered leather into some­thing alive again, as if it remem­bered its pur­pose.

The room was filled with a con­tem­pla­tive silence as they shared this pro­found moment. Trag­i­cal­ly, just five days lat­er, the old man passed away, leav­ing a pro­found silence in the wake of their poignant Christ­mas hol­i­day togeth­er.