Natalie and Sheila met up with the rest of their team at the high school stadium for check-in at the Christmas Tree Stroll. Randy and the couple who lived next door to him, Eli and Amanda, were waiting for them at the Chestnut Ridge High School football stadium gate with a wagon full of decorations in tow. They got in line behind several other teams awaiting their turn to be admitted and given their location assignment.
“The first night of the week-long decorating window is always the busiest,” Amanda said. “Don’t let it freak you out.”
“Natalie said that you’ve done this competition before,” Sheila said.
“In the past I’ve always helped the library decorate their tree, but who can say no to Randy and Natalie?”
“No one.” Sheila knew Natalie’s enthusiasm was contagious. That girl could talk a complete curmudgeon into volunteering.
During Sheila’s divorce, she’d been that cranky party pooper, but Natalie always pulled her into something to get her mind off the bad stuff and invested in the good.
The line was moving along, and finally they were inside the stadium. They were watching the other competitors, and Amanda knew most of the people in line around them.
Finally, the lady with the clipboard walked over to them. “You’re in aisle two, slot fifteen.”
“How many slots and aisles are there?” Sheila rose to her tiptoes to see out across the field as the woman started running down the rules with Natalie. “It looks like they go on forever,” Sheila whispered over her shoulder to Amanda.
“A hundred and twenty trees,” Amanda said. “I’m going to warn you. It’s addictive. You may as well mark your calendar right now for next year.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“You’ll see. They create a town walk using the Christmas trees to create the lanes, and holiday-themed street signs the school workshop classes make. They also make all the benches so folks can stop to rest and enjoy the hot chocolate. The benches are sold and the proceeds added to the scholarship fund for kids entering community college. One year, one of the teams made it snow on the hour every hour on judging night. It’s hard to explain, but once you experience Christmas in Chestnut Ridge, you’ll never forget it.”
Sheila marveled at how Amanda’s eyes danced as she spoke. She had the beauty and grace of a princess, and when she reached for her husband’s arm, Eli looked at her with adoration that made Sheila’s heart pound. How special it must be to have someone look at you like that.
“You can set up your theme sign on the ground or in your tree, but it must not sit out farther than a foot from the tree, to be sure we allow the zoning department’s minimum aisle clearance for compliance. It’s all on this sheet. Good luck.”
Natalie turned to them. “We’re ready! This is going to be so much fun.”
“And a lot of work,” Sheila said as she tugged on the wagon. “You lead the way.”
Amanda swept around to the front. “I know exactly where we are. Come on. Follow me.” She skipped through the trees like a fairy flitting through a familiar cozy forest.
Several groups were already decorating their trees, and the smell of the trees was so inviting that it did seem like Christmas.
Some trees had short needles, some long; some trees were skinny, and some so rotund that they had to be placed on the outer edges. It had to have taken a creative bunch to figure out how to set up the placement chart for all of these trees to fit into the space.
Across the way, in one corner of the field, the tallest tree rose above them all. The fire truck had its ladder extended high in the air. Two men hung over the rungs, dropping decorations along the top section.
I wonder if one of them is Tucker.
“Here we are!” Amanda stretched her arms above her head, the tree still towering a good foot above that. “She’s a beauty!”
“It’s just how I’d pictured it.” Natalie admired the height and fullness of the tree. “Exactly what I requested. Six foot, since that’s the size most people can fit in their home and this tree will be delivered to a family, and I went with the Fraser fir.”
Sheila walked around the tree, pulling some of the tangled branches and fluffing it as she went. “We’ve got one big naked spot on this side.”
“No worries,” Natalie said. “I read a whole article about tree fillers. We’ll work with it. There’s no such thing as a perfect tree. Even the fake ones have some open spots.”
“You’re right, we’ll fill the gap with something adorable. A statement piece.” Sheila pushed her hand in the awkwardly empty hole in the tree, trying to get an idea of the size they’d be working with, and hoping the cool bird’s nest would work.
Natalie had been carrying a big flat Christmas package in gold foil with a red velvet ribbon. “I brought this to kick everything off. Are you all ready?”
“What is it?” Amanda clapped her hands. “What do we do?”
“This is our theme sign. I’ve been working all week on it,” Natalie said.
“She’s telling the truth.” Randy playfully pouted. “I got stood up for our Tuesday and Thursday dates this week.”
“I did not stand you up,” Natalie defended herself. “You knew good and well where I was, and what I was working on.”
“I’m still pouting.”
“Anyway.” She shot him a playful glance. “Are y’all ready?”
“Yes!”
“Each of you get over here and grab hold of one of the wrapping-paper tails,” said Natalie.
“Oh goodness gracious. You’ve been on Pinterest again, haven’t you?” Randy shook his head.
Sheila noticed that Natalie had wrapped the flattish box as pretty as a picture, but she’d left six three-inch tabs around the edges that she’d doctored up with extra tape. “I see what you mean. These paper tails.” Sheila pointed them out.
Each of them grabbed a tab, and then Natalie said, “Three, two, one … pull!”
They pulled their tabs, and the paper pulled away. Natalie dragged the rest away to hold up the theme sign for their team Christmas tree.
“It’s perfect!” Amanda danced, and Eli reached up and took her hand and gave her a twirl.
The sign was painted on canvas, and unlike most holiday decor in bright reds and greens, this one was a soft, glittery neutral background that made the tree branch and berries stand out like they were three-dimensional. Brightly colored birds dipped their beaks in the snow, and one flew toward a birdhouse in the background carrying a ribbon in its beak, trailing like a jet stream behind it, that read HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS.
“Really well done,” Eli said.
Sheila said, “To further excite this little party, I made something, and I was worried it might not work on the tree, but now that I know we have that big gaping hole over there, I think it’s going to be perfect.” She dug through all her bags and then handed the box to Natalie. “Open this one.”
“What is it?” Natalie opened the box and pulled a bird’s nest out. “This is great. How did you even know?”
“When you texted me the pictures of your birdhouses before I went shopping, I remembered hearing somewhere that having a live Christmas tree with a bird’s nest in it is good luck. What do you think?”
“Did you make this?” Natalie asked.
“Well, I bought the bird’s nest, but I added the birds and feathers,” Sheila admitted. “Isn’t it charming?”
“It couldn’t be more perfect. Yes! Tuck it into that spot right now. We’ll work everything else around it to set it off.”
Sheila carefully settled the nest right into the branches. It fit snugly and was just cozy enough that the soft red and white feathers set it off.
“I hope the nest brings us good luck.”
“We don’t need luck.” Amanda started taking birdhouses out of the big red tub. “Look at these. You hand-painted every single one?”
“I did.”
“Here’s the sketch of the whole idea, but we need to let creativity pave the way.”
Everyone leaned in like a team huddle with Natalie as the quarterback. “Thank you all for being on my team. There are so many ideas to choose from, but in the information Orene had in her notebook the past five years I didn’t see anything like this.” Natalie set the sign aside.
“I’ve never seen anyone use birdhouses like this. I’m so glad you included me.”
“I thought we’d divvy up the jobs.”
Sheila raised her hand. “Can I show you my other surprise?”
“Another one? Yes! Bring it on.” Natalie followed Sheila over to the cart.
“I know I’m not an artist like you,” Sheila prefaced. “But I saw these teensy birdhouses, so I tried painting them in the colors that were in the pictures you showed me. You can doctor them up. Do you think they’re cute?”
Amanda was the first to react. “I want to hang those. They are perfect for the top part of the tree and little fillers. I feel like I didn’t bring anything to the table.”
“Don’t be silly,” Natalie said. “We’re all in this together.”
They spent the next hour spreading everything out on the ground to be sure they could space everything out just so and not overdo it.
“I just had the best idea,” Amanda said. “Eli, can you go home and cut off a couple of fresh holly boughs and bring them back? We can tuck them in here and there. The fresh greenery will give us another dimension of color, and the berries will tie in with the cardinals.”
“I’m on it,” Eli said.
“Before you go, Eli, can I get a vote of hands?” Randy looked across at them. “Topper first, like the firemen are doing, or last? I’ll be honest. I’ve always been a last-thing-is-the-topper kind of guy, but I get it that when the trees are out here in the open like this, it might be easier to do it first.”
“I never thought of that. And no wall to lean against when you’re up on the ladder to stretch over.” Eli made a face as if he was leaning toward putting it on first.
“I’m good either way,” Sheila said.
“Who’s in favor of putting the topper on first?” Randy counted hands.”
Randy, Eli, and Natalie raised their hands. “We’ll do it now, before you leave,” Randy said. “Majority rules.”
The team next to them was already decorating their snowman tree. They’d brought a nifty ladder that had handrails at the top so you could really lean in. “Couldn’t help but overhear,” one of them said as he stepped closer. “I’m Bubba. We had a bit of a challenge with the topper this year too. We’re already put ours up. You can use our ladder. My brother welded it for us, just for tonight.”
“Awesome!” Randy high-fived Bubba. The two teams introduced themselves, and then Randy ran out to his truck to fetch the surprise tree topper.
“You don’t have any idea what he made?” Sheila asked Natalie, who looked to Amanda.
Amanda shook her head. “No, but he used Eli’s brad nailer on it.”
“Guess we’re about to find out,” Natalie said with an edge of nervousness in her voice.
For Natalie’s sake, Sheila hoped that Randy read her mind and got it right, because Natalie did not like to lose and the tree topper was a key element. She crossed her fingers, hoping it all worked out.
Randy came back carrying a tall box.
“That looks incredibly tall,” Natalie said.
Sheila could have sworn she saw her visibly swallow just then.
“Let’s see it!” Sheila was determined to make it seem great, but as Randy lifted the brown bags from the top of his creation, she didn’t have to fake it.
It was a double-decker bird condo painted in Christmas red, with shimmery white beads around the edges of the black tin roof like faux snow, and he’d drilled holes into little snowflake patterns in the side panels. A Christmas tree shape was cut out of the front window.
“It’s perfect! Even the red is exactly the right shade,” Natalie said.
“I might have peeked at your colors when I was over there the other day. Just to be sure.”
This was a man who knew his woman, Sheila thought.
“I have these metal prongs like they use on the yard signs so that we can push it down from the top and then wire-tie it in a few places so it sits steady.”
“What a great idea.”
“Natalie, I thought you could make those big airy bows like you do so well, to kind of make it look like it’s in a blanket of snow or clouds. I brought ribbon.”
“Definitely. This is amazing. Okay, guys, let’s get this tree topper up and get these nice folks their ladder back.”
They went straight to work, and it took some time, but finally, twenty minutes later, they had the birdhouse perfectly attached to the top of their tree. The height of the topper made for a dramatic and eye-catching display.
While they fussed with that, Natalie and Amanda worked on the ribbons that would tuck in from the four sides, overlapping them just so.
Even the snowman team was cheering. It looked so good.
“Okay. Guys, you have outdone yourself. Eli and Randy, you are excused for holly duty. But before you go, we have all week to get this done. We can do it all tonight, or work on it a little each day,” Natalie said.
Amanda said, “I’m just going to tell you from experience that it’s sometimes best to stick to the plan and get in and out, otherwise you’ll keep tweaking as you see all the other amazing trees come together, and sometimes less is more. You can really get twisted up and make it a chore instead of a joy.” She shrugged. “We have a really awesome idea. I think we will give them a run for their money if we don’t get sidetracked.”
“Great advice,” Sheila said. “I’m with her. I’m fine with getting it done as quickly as possible. I have some other things I’d like to get done this week too. Like help the Jacob family.”
They all nodded in agreement.
“It’ll be an all-nighter then. Here we go.” Natalie turned and hugged Randy.
“I’ll bring snacks,” he said.
Amanda spread out a blanket by the tree, and all three gals sat cross-legged to work on the rest of the ornaments.
“I figured we could start assembling the aromatherapy portion of our tree, and each take turns hanging the birdhouses to get up and stretch.”
“Sounds good. So what do we do?”
Natalie opened a large plastic container. Zesty orange filled the air.
“That smells so good. It makes me want a mimosa,” Sheila teased.
Next, Natalie opened a clear jug of cinnamon sticks and cut lengths of gold cording. “We’ll thread the gold cord through the center of the round orange slice, gently tie it on the cinnamon stick, and then do a simple overhand loop knot.” She demonstrated as she walked through the steps again. “I spray-painted a bunch of green pine needle bunches gold. I figured we could bind them with a cinnamon stick and the gold cording too. Like this.” She laid the natural tassel next to the orange ornament. “Cute, right?”
“It is, and they smell amazing.” Amanda picked up a dried orange slice and completed an ornament, laying it next to Natalie’s. “Identical twins. Very cute, and easy.” Amanda picked up the ornament and reached behind her to hang it on the tree. “Look how pretty the orange looks against the tree.”
“I’ll hang my third of the birdhouses first. You girls go ahead.” Sheila got up and nudged the heavy red tub closer to the tree, then started hanging the colorful birdhouses around the tree—scattering them and making sure they were perfectly not perfect, with just enough asymmetry to make it interesting.
After stepping back, she repositioned two of them, knowing they still had a bunch more to hang. “Thoughts?”
“Incredible,” someone from the snowman team exclaimed. “Where did you buy those birdhouses? I have to get one for my grandmother.”
Sheila pointed toward Natalie. “Talk to that gal. Natalie hand-painted them.”
“You’re kidding. Can I get you to paint one for me?”
“I’ll do you one better. You pick out the one you want and you can take it after the judging is complete.”
“You’ve got a deal.” The woman stepped closer. “This is really innovative. Look at all this stuff you’ve made.”
Amanda and Natalie kept creating the orange ornaments while Sheila pulled the bag of feathers from their heap of supplies and tucked them into the tree one at a time, then paired a gold tassel with each feather. “Okay, I’m done here. Your turn, Amanda.”
Sheila took Amanda’s spot on the blanket and worked on putting the final touches on the gold pine needle bundles. She’d just finished the last one when her phone rang out. Her heart leapt. She reached for it in her back pocket and looked at the message, hitching a breath as she read it again.
“Is it Tucker?” Natalie asked. “I see that look in your eye. It is, isn’t it?”
Sheila’s stomach swirled. “It is. I’ve been summoned to the hot chocolate kiosk.”
“That’s so sweet,” Amanda squealed. “Have fun. He’s such a great guy. Do you know where the kiosk is?”
“No idea.” Sheila was already on her feet, though. “Point me in the right direction.”
“Head up this aisle, then turn left. You’re going to head all the way to the end. The kiosk is on the other side of the goalpost. You can’t miss it.”
“Sure can’t, because the tall good-looking fire chief will be standing there next to it.” Natalie jumped between them and threw her hands in the air. “And then score!”
“Funny,” Sheila said. “Y’all need to stop. It’s just hot chocolate.”
“It’s never just hot chocolate,” said Natalie.
Sheila took off, but she could hear Amanda and Natalie still egging her on from a distance. But as much as she denied it, she couldn’t quit grinning. She took in a big breath, trying to steady her nerves. She was more nervous than the first time she slow-danced with John Rimarski in the eighth grade, and she could feel her knees knocking that night.