Page 17 of Mistlefoe
“Well, if you don’t have any meetings this morning we can brainstorm.”
“I’m clear. I’ll book us a meeting room,” I offer.
Sierra nods and it’s silence after that. I decide not to push it and add nothing further until we reach our floor. We take a moment to set up at our desks and, while she chats with Kaylee, I find us an open meeting room one floor below ours.
A few minutes later, we’re armed with hot chocolates and laptops, sitting across each other in the meeting room. Sierra alternates between looking at me and at her screen, but doesn’t open the conversation like she normally would. She’s a take-charge kind of person and this is uncharacteristic. Like maybe she also can’t find her footing in this weird new dynamic.
“Um…” I push off the table and stand up. This room has a smart whiteboard and maybe that’s a better way to go about it. “How about we just start by throwing some keywords about what we each think makes Christmas special?”
“Sure. Let’s start by the basics.” She glances down and says, “Hot chocolate.”
I jot it down on the board, followed by eggnog.
“Mulled wine and gingerbread cookies,” she says next.
“Peppermint anything,” I say and add it to the list.
“Snowmen. Which, by the way, I’ve always wondered why they can’t just be called snowpeople.”
“Good point. It’s not like you can see what’s between their legs.” After a pause, I add, “They don’t even have legs.”
Sierra snorts. I turn over my shoulder and I find an amused smirk on her face. I face the board again and bite my lip. Making her smile for the first time shouldn’t feel momentous and yet, here we are.
“Reindeer,” I say in a thick voice.
“Garlands.”
“Elves that are never on shelves.”
“Gifts.”
“Trees.”
“Lots of lights. I’m pretty sure the space station can see my whole street right now.” Sierra laughs lightly.
“Are you big on Christmas?”
“Oh, yes. We do the religious Christmas and also all the silly stuff too. It’s my favorite time of the year.” She claps her hands. “Oh, music! Can’t forget the classics.”
I lift the corner of my mouth. “Like Mariah Carey?”
“Theclassic.”
Once I’ve included music on the list, I say, “Ice skating. That’s a very Christmas thing for most people. What else?”
We speak in unison. “Santa.”
“Although to be clear, in my house the one who gives us the Christmas gifts is Baby Jesus.”
“Really?” My eyebrows rise.
“Yep, that’s the tradition back in my parents’s home country. Apparently in Spain, it’s the three wise men.”
“Huh.”
“I think this makes it pretty clear that we need to have food, drinks, decorations, and gifts in whatever we do.”
“Right. The question is how to incorporate this into fun,sporty events.” I rub my jaw and realize my beard’s wild enough that I probably look like Sasquatch. “And I think we need to really nail down the events before we even look for venues.”
