Page 21 of Oh, Christmas Con

Tracy

Our first holiday outing is tonight! Get f’n ready!

F stands for “festive.”

Get festive ‘n ready.

Their plans were for Saturday evening, but Tracy showed up at 3:00 p.m. to help Maye get ready.

“How are you feeling?” Tracy asked as she flipped through the shirts hanging in Maye’s closet. “Are you excited?”

“A little nervous,” Maye admitted from her nearby bed. “But I think whatever it is, it will be fun. So what are we doing, anyway?”

“Our first act of merriment is…” Tracy patted her legs for a drum roll. “Attending the downtown tree lighting!”

“A tree lighting?” Maye whined. “It’s the middle of summer, Tracy. The sun’s out until, like, 8 p.m.”

“I know. That’s why we have to get a move on. We want to have time to visit the Downtown Christmas in July Market.”

“I’m sorry, the what?” Maye said, hoping her ears had deceived her.

“It’s all part of the town’s Christmas in July spectacular, Maye. And then after the tree lighting, we are going to watch Christmas movies in the park. Eek! I can’t wait.”

Maye resisted the overwhelming urge to push back. She had agreed to do this with Tracy, and she only had a limited amount of push back available. She couldn’t use it all on the first activity. Or could she?

“Don’t start,” Tracy said, raising her eyebrows at Maye.

“What?” Maye said innocently, but with a smirk she couldn’t hide.

“I can see that look on your face, and I don’t want to hear it from you.”

“What look? There’s no look,” Maye crossed her arms stoically.

“You need to get into the holiday spirit if you even want a chance at graduating from Frosty First Year to Snowy Sophomore.”

Tracy tossed a red t-shirt at Maye that landed on her head.

The downtown holiday market crowd was much more bustling than Maye had expected for a mid-July holiday-themed event.

“Where did all these people come from?” Maye asked, surprised.

“See?” Tracy said. “I’m not the only person who wants a little holiday celebration in July. It would probably be even bigger but they can only shut down traffic on half the streets. For the winter market they shut down all of the streets,” Tracy explained as they walked under the Downtown Christmas Market arch that marked the official entrance to the market.

“Really? Why? And how do you know that?” Maye asked.

“I subscribe to the newsletter,” Tracy said. “Mayor Mayer wanted to shut down all of the roads, but the Economic Council was concerned about interrupting regular business so they compromised.”

“You got all that in a newsletter?”

“They tend to over share. So where should we start? Egg nog tasting? Roasted chestnuts? Lobster roll? Hot chocolate? Ornament making? Reindeer petting?”

“They got reindeer for a Christmas in July event? Isn’t that dangerous in the heat?”

“They’re actually sheep with antler headbands on them,” Tracy whispered. “The reindeer were already booked by some town in Idaho.”

“Newsletter?”

Tracy nodded. “The mayor was not pleased with that concession.”