by Erica Lee
Next it was Adrienne’s turn. “I’m so thankful for you nana Harvey. You helped me get through the hardest time in my life and now I couldn’t be happier. I feel so blessed that you have become family to me.”
Shoot. What a slimy brown noser. She had to go and make my thanks sound ridiculous. I decided it was only right to add on to mine. “I am obviously thankful for you too nana. That just goes without saying. No matter how far I travel or how many people I meet, nothing goes deeper than my own flesh and blood. I love you.”
Nana looked from me to Adrienne, beaming from ear to ear. “Oh, my sweethearts. I’m so thankful to have BOTH of my girls with me this year. You two are the greatest blessings God has ever given me.”
After lunch, everyone pitched in with the cleaning and then packed up the remaining food to go to the soup kitchen. It had been so long since I volunteered that I wasn’t sure what I should bring with me. I decided to grab my duffle bag, which was still packed from traveling in, just incase I needed extra clothes.
When I came downstairs with my bag, Adrienne gave me a curious look. “Planning on moving into the soup kitchen?” She raised an eyebrow in the direction of my bag and if I had to guess, I’d say she probably wished I was.
I shot her my best fake smile, trying to ignore her judgmental stare. “Nope, just wasn’t sure exactly what I would need. I figured since my whole life is being stored in this bag right now, I might as well bring it. You can’t ever be too prepared, right nana?”
My nana laughed and shook her head at me, while opening the door to head outside. “Oh sweetheart, you are a funny one. Let’s go girls! Don’t want to keep everyone waiting!”
Chapter 4: Adrienne
I volunteered at the soup kitchen quite a few times throughout the year, but thanksgiving was by far my favorite day to work there. Seeing those who could be thankful in spite of having so little was very inspiring.
The day ran smoothly and I was surprised, as always, to see just how many families in this small town needed extra help at this time of year. I was reflecting on how lucky they were to have someone as giving as nana Harvey around when I felt a poke at my arm.
I looked over to see Layla standing beside me. She motioned her head toward a little girl sitting by herself in the corner of the room. “Do you know who that is? I don’t see any parents with her and she looks really upset. Do you think she’s lost?”
It took a moment to register and then I remembered that the little girl was Susie Wilson. She lived with her mom and grandma. I remembered nana Harvey telling me that her mom had recently been diagnosed with a muscular disease and her health was deteriorating, so her grandma took care of her for the most part, but the family didn’t have much money due to medical expenses.
I explained this to Layla and she suggested that we should go talk to her. When we got over to her, I put my hand on her shoulder. When she turned to look at me, I noticed that she had tears in her eyes.
“Hey cutie. What’s wrong? Is there anything we can do for you?” Susie wiped her tears as she looked deep into my eyes. It almost seemed like she was searching for something - a sign that said she could trust me.
She must have found it because she took a deep breath and started to explain. “I came to eat and pick up food for my mom and grandma. My mom is too weak to make it and my grandma is feeling sick. Then I heard a few kids talking about Christmas and it made me sad because I'm afraid Santa won't come again this year. My mom said he can't come because she is sick, but I just still wish he would.”
I stood there dumbfounded, not sure what to say to make her feel better. Just then I heard a voice from behind me and realized it was Layla.
“I happen to know just the person you can talk to. She happens to be a close friend of Santa’s. Let me see if I can find her.”
Susie gave me a questioning look and I just shrugged my shoulders. I thought maybe Layla was going to have nana Harvey talk to her, but she had sprinted right past her into the back room. I didn't want to leave Susie's side so I just sat there holding her hand and waiting for Layla to return. When 10 minutes passed, I started to feel anxious. Had Layla just done what she does best and run away from the situation, leaving me to handle it on my own? It did seem like something she would do, from the little I knew about her.
I was about to excuse myself to go look for her when I suddenly heard bells. The sound kept getting closer until I saw Layla walking toward us in a whole elf costume. She had even made her cheeks a rosy red color. I opened my mouth to say something but she put her hand up in a motion to shush me.
“Hello there sweetie! My name is Ellie the elf and I hear you were worried about Santa coming to see you this year.”
Susie looked up at her with wide eyes, completely unaware that this was the same girl who had been standing in front of her just a few minutes ago. It always amazes me how naive kids could be. But I guess that was the beauty of childhood. You could believe in everything because the world hadn't proven otherwise yet. If only life could stay that way. My life would be a whole lot easier if I could just believe in things like a child would.
It quickly became obvious that Susie was too star struck to speak, so Layla continued. “Santa says he is very sorry he didn’t come last year, but he didn’t want to disturb your mom. He also gave me permission to tell you his secret. He will be coming to the soup kitchen this year and I bet if you made a list, he would get you some of the presents on it.”
At this point, she had the attention of most kids in the room. They all started asking if they could give lists for Santa as well. Layla smiled, looking annoyingly satisfied with herself.
“Of course. Just bring your list here in the next few days and leave it with Mrs. Harvey or her adorable granddaughter. Santa and I will be back here the Saturday before Christmas. But I better be off. See you kids soon! Be good! Santa is watching.”
I shook my head as she walked away, bells dinging the whole time, but I couldn’t help but giggle. She did look awfully silly wearing that outfit and she was right about the adorable part, even if it had been a conceited statement. Even I had to admit that it was rather endearing watching her interact with the kids. That didn’t take away from how infuriating the whole situation was though. I had to assume the presents she was promising them would be bought with nana Harvey’s money and also that she would expect nana Harvey to hire someone to play Santa.
A few minutes later, Layla emerged back in wearing her original outfit and carrying two bags filled with food.
“Hey Susie! Nana thought it would be a good idea if Adrienne and I walked you home, so we could help carry this food for your mom and grandma.”
She gave me a hopeful smile and I nodded in agreement. On the walk to her house, Susie told Layla all about Ellie the elf. When she was safely home, I turned to Layla and raised an eyebrow.
“So do you always carry an elf costume with you just incase?”
She laughed and shook her head. “I’m not sure why I decided to bring it with me. One of my side jobs last year was Santa’s elf and I saw this outfit laying on the floor of my closet while I was packing my bag. I figured there was a chance it could come in handy and hey, looks like I was right.”
I gave her a questioning look. “And how do you plan on getting all of these presents? You’re just assuming nana Harvey will pay for all of them?”
“Yeah. I mean it was a safe assumption to make. As soon as I went to change back into regular clothes, nana told me how excited she was to do this for the kids. She just wished that she had thought of it.”
I sighed loudly, trying to show my disgust. “And who will be playing Santa? Are you going to make nana Harvey hire someone for that?”
She smiled at me with a mischievous grin that made me nervous since I was unsure what she was up to, but also a little nervous because it was such a nice smile. It’s too bad she is my polar opposite, because looks wise she is exactly my type. But that was just a silly thought and I’m not sure where it even came from.
Initially, I wanted to dispute her comment, but she was absolutely right. My job description wa pretty much to be wherever nana Harvey needed me and if she wanted me dressed up as Santa, she was going to get it.
“I’ll do it, but I’m not sure how you are going to convince the kids that some 5’7” girl is Santa Claus.”
She smiled again. “Leave that to me. I’ll work some Hollywood magic on you.”
I had to laugh at that one. She may live in LA, but nana Harvey had informed me anytime she got a new job and none of them involved working on the set of some Hollywood production.
I was happy to get back to the soup kitchen and see that nana Harvey was packing things up for the night. I was looking forward to spending the rest of the night laying in my bed, alone.
Chapter 5: Layla
I woke up the day after Thanksgiving to the sound of nana pounding on my door. I opened one eye to look at the clock on my nightstand then shot out of bed when I saw it was only 8:00 in the morning. I was worried that something must be wrong for her to be waking me up so early so I rushed to the door. When I opened the door, she was wearing a sweater with a Christmas tree on it and holding a Christmas mug, that I had to assume was filled with hot chocolate because it had a ton of whipped cream on top.
She smiled widely at me as I wiped the sleep from my eyes then shoved the mug into my hand. “Rise and shine my dear! If we want to get the best tree at the Christmas tree farm, we need to leave…” She paused to look down at her watch. “Well, we needed to leave about a half hour ago so hurry up and get ready.”
I knew this wasn’t true. Nana could get any Christmas tree she wanted. Even if someone had already reserved the tree, they would still give it to her. It was the Harvey Christmas Tree Farm for God’s sake. Sure, she had sold the farm off to a family friend about 12 years ago, but the fact that he never changed the name just proved what high respect he has for my nana.
I wasn’t going to fight her though, so I quickly went to my closet and threw on jeans and an old sweatshirt from high school, that read “Harvey High Track and Field.” Yes, even the high school had been renamed after my grandparents about 10 years after they came into town.
I made my way downstairs and found nana and Adrienne sitting in the living room with their coats and shoes already on, clearly waiting for me. I swear this girl just liked showing me up. Jokes on her though. I would always be my nana’s favorite.
I grabbed my coat and made a joke about waiting on them, then the three of us headed out. As soon as we got to the Christmas tree farm, I immediately found the tree that we had to have. It stood about 10 feet tall and every branch seemed to be in place. I circled around it just to make sure there wasn’t any spots that weren’t as full and was happy to see that it was indeed perfect. I stood in front of the tree and posed as though I was Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune.
“No need to look any further,” I announced proudly. “I found the perfect tree.”
Adrienne stared down the tree as if she wasn’t convinced and walked over to inspect it. She felt the branches in her hand then brought them to her nose to sniff them. She turned around with a serious look on her face.
“I think we should keep looking.”
I shook my head in disgust. “What is there to look at? This tree is perfect. All you need to do is take a quick look around and you can tell it’s the most beautiful tree here.”
She walked away and started studying the other, less impressive trees. “That tree might seem perfect at first glance, but it might not be the best one out here. Sometimes you have to look deeper to find the beauty in the trees. Otherwise, you could be missing something spectacular that is right in front of you.”
Nana put an arm on my shoulder and winked at me. “She’s right, you know. Sometimes we look at things too quickly and miss the beauty that is right in front of us. Just because something isn’t what you expected or thought you wanted, doesn’t mean that it isn’t perfect. If you keep an open mind, I bet you’ll find something that is even better than you ever dreamed. It could be in front of you the whole time and if you don’t give it a chance, you could miss out on something spectacular.”
She squeezed my shoulder and I had a feeling she wasn’t talking about trees anymore. What was she trying to get at though? Was that her way of trying to convince me to move back here? I had to admit that being back hadn’t been as bad as I expected, but I had only been here a few days. I’m sure by Christmas I would be itching to get back to LA, especially after spending a whole month with little miss know it all.
Adrienne kept up her search until she stopped at a tree that was at least a foot and a half shorter than mine. By the smile on her face, I could tell she had found her favorite so I went over to inspect it. There was a patch of missing branches on the one side and even the parts where the branches weren’t missing, it didn’t seem as full as my tree.
I raised an eyebrow at her. “This tree? Really Charlie Brown? What makes this tree the right choice? Look at that spot on the back. It’s missing a bunch of branches!”
She motioned for me to come closer. “First off, you need to ignore that spot. Nana always puts the tree in the corner so that imperfection can easily be hidden. Now take a branch in your hand.”
I reluctantly followed her directions and she continued. “Feel how stiff and tough that is? That will hold the ornaments a lot better than the one you picked out. Now for the best part. Smell it. The pine smell is so much stronger on this tree. It will smell like Christmas as soon as people walk in the house.”
I walked back to the tree that I had chosen and felt the branches, then held them up to my nose to smell them. As much as I hated to admit it, Adrienne was right. The branches on my tree actually didn’t even compare to the branches on her tree.
“Alright, you win. How did you become such a big tree expert anyway?”
A sadness swept over Adrienne’s face as she looked to the ground and kicked around some dirt before answering. “My dad was always really into finding the perfect tree. He taught me about what to look for.”
My heart ached for her at that moment. Nana had told me about what happened with Adrienne’s parents and no one in the world deserved to go through that. Sure, after only a few days, Adrienne already had a way of getting under my skin, but she was definitely the type of person that a parent should be proud of. No parent should shut out their child just because of who they love.
I smiled at Adrienne then looked over at nana. “Well, this tree it is nana. Let’s find someone to cut it down for us!”
Adrienne gave me a small, appreciative smile and I noticed that she was even prettier when she didn’t look so serious. That smile was enough to make a girl’s stomach go into knots. It's too bad she liked to hide it away. Oh well, at least I could be happy knowing I did my good deed for the day, even if it did mean admitting defeat.
When we got back to nana’s house, we put on Christmas music and spent the afternoon decorating the tree, as well as the rest of the house. It was surprisingly more fun than expected, even with Adrienne constantly moving the decorations I had already set out so they could be in the “perfect place.”
She really needed to learn to relax. Maybe I would rub off on her since nana's calendar of events made it seem like we would be spending an awful lot of time together over the next month. Hopefully it wouldn't be too much torture.
Chapter 6: Adrienne
I looked at the December calendar that nana Harvey had just hung on the refrigerator. Under Friday, December 1st, it read “Christmas karaoke kick off at Harvey’s Bar and Grill.” Apparently every Friday night until Christmas, the bar was going to host a karaoke night with an “only Christmas songs” rule. Sinc
e this was the first night, nana wanted Layla and I to go. Nana had said she wanted us there incase we were needed to “get the party started.” I feared that meant she would want us to get up and sing in order to encourage others to join, but there was no way I would be doing that. I would leave that up to Layla and the pints of liquid courage that would certainly be flowing.
I sighed as I looked at the rest of the calendar. Most of my days would be spent doing Christmas activities rather than working at one of nana’s stores. I know most people would be happy about this, but being able to organize the books in the library this past week had been a welcome break from Layla's disorganization. She had only been home a little over a week and the house was an absolute mess. She left stuff wherever she pleased. While her constant Christmas carol singing and dancing around kept the atmosphere light and cheery, it still felt good to get away every so often.
I peeled my eyes off the calendar to force myself to head upstairs and get ready for the big night ahead of us. I made my way downstairs around 6:00 to find that Layla hadn't even gotten in the shower yet. Since karaoke started at 7, I thought it was best to get there early and help nana set up, so I told Layla I would meet her there.
By 7:15, Layla was still nowhere to be found and the karaoke machine sat all alone, with no takers.
When Layla strolled in around 7:30, she made an entrance so everyone knew that she had arrived. She jumped through the doorway with a big smile on her face and shouted, “The star has arrived.”
Without missing a beat, she made her way right over to the karaoke machine. She winked at nana Harvey and instructed, “It's time to get this party started! Play my song.”
At that command, nana Harvey turned on the karaoke version of “All I Want for Christmas.” When Layla started to sing, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that she wasn't too bad. She was no Mariah Carey and I doubt she would be selling a Christmas album anytime soon, but she had a sweet voice and could carry a tune. That's definitely a lot more than I could say for myself.