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He peered at me. “I don’t know.”
I smiled a little. “What if all this is to teach you the spirit of Christmas?”
“No. I do not consent,” he said.
I laughed.
“And anyway, isn’t it always the big city woman who needs to learn the spirit of Christmas?” he asked.
“Oh no. You are definitely the spirit of Christmas person, not me.” I walked backward to face him. “What if the spirit of Christmas is just the friends we met along the way?”
“STOP.”
“You know what’s weird?” I said.
“What?”
“There are no flannel stores here.”
“Oh, we don’t buy flannel,” he said. “When you’re born in Little Christmas, a hope chest full of all the flannels you’ll ever need appears suddenly in your room.”
“I find there’s something so sexy and nostalgic about a man in a flannel carrying a Christmas tree,” I said.
“Is the tree just an accessory? Does he get to put it down at some point or…?”
“Yes, but only to chop wood.”
He cracked up and followed me, hands in his pockets.
We walked a few feet before I paused to look through a brightly lit window in the museum across the street. “What’s that?”
“That’s Santa’s Sleigh,” he said, coming up next to me. “They use it for the Sugar Plum Fairy Santa Claus Send-Off Holiday Christmas Extravaganza Parade.”
“Wow. Say that ten times fast.”
“It’s still the same one they used the year the town was founded in 1859. People come up here for Christmas Eve just to watch Santa on his way to deliver presents in that sleigh.”
“Do reindeer pull it?” I asked, looking at him.
“Yup. Highest rated thing to do in town.”
“Do you like it? Seems like something you wouldn’t like,” I said.
“I do like the parade, actually.”
I titled my head. “Really? Why?”
He shrugged. “Just something I liked as a kid. Also they throw candy canes at the crowd. I like peppermint and I’m easily bought.”
“Ha.”
We continued walking.
“The parade only happens once a year,” he said. “Unlike the relentless onslaught of the rest of the holiday season.”
“So it stayed special,” I said.
He nodded slowly. “I guess it did.”
