The entire downtown area looked like something off of a Christmas card. Brady couldn’t help but smile as he walked toward the large pine tree in the park that they’d decorated earlier in the day. That had been fun, hanging ornaments with Noelle, as well as with children from all over town, their parents and grandparents. It had been a long time since Brady had had so much fun.
Now, a light snow was falling, but he felt all warm and cozy inside, with the scarf his mother had made for him wrapped tightly around his neck.
He was about fifteen minutes early, but there were already a ton of people gathered around the tree. They’d set up a small stage over to one side, along with a microphone. All of the lights on the tree were battery powered, but he had found an electrician, George Rivera, who had been kind enough to rig them all up so that it would appear as if one flip of a large switch was turning the tree on when in fact it would be a remote that would turn them all on at the same time. That was okay as long as they had the magic of all the lights coming on at once. George had also set up the microphone.
He took a quick look around but didn’t see Noelle yet. Doris was there, though, talking to Mayor Jenkins, over by the stage. Neither of them looked particularly happy, but Brady wasn’t about to go over there to find out what was happening, not if he could help it.
Finding a spot near the tree, Brady pulled out his phone and saw that he had a text from Noelle. She had gone back to the shelter to feed and water the animals and clean up before the tree lighting. She said she was on her way over now. He sent her a quick text back to let her know he had a great spot over on the north side of the tree.
“Well, Brady, I suppose you must be proud of yourself,” Mayor Jenkins said, his gritty voice even more annoying since he was ruining the otherwise peaceful ambience of the evening.
“What’s that?” Brady asked, turning to face him.
“All of this,” Jenkins said, holding out his arms. “It’s a big hit. Everyone seems overjoyed. You’ve got to be happy with what you’ve accomplished so far.”
“I’m glad that the people who live here are happy, Mr. Mayor. This is for them, after all. You came by earlier today. You saw how happy the children were. Doesn’t it look more festive around here?” He gestured with his arms. “Doesn’t that make you happy?”
“What makes me happy is knowing the city’s budget is in order, Mr. Rogers,” he said, folding his arms. “I saw the numbers you proposed for next year’s budget, and I’m not happy with most of that, I can tell you that much.”
Brady tried not to roll his eyes. “It’s just a proposal, based on what I’ve put together from the assessments you’ve asked me to make, the board members' reports, and what I see are the immediate needs of the city.”
“And you propose moving the dog shelter to the old slaughter house?”
“It makes a lot of sense. You’ll get the details at our next meeting, but you’ll see it will pay off in the long run.”
Seeing Noelle approaching, Brady gave her a wave, and she waved back. He hoped Jenkins would make himself scarce.
“I think you might be a little too closely involved with the animal shelter,” the mayor mumbled.
“I care a lot about animals,” Brady agreed. “I want what’s best for the cats and dogs that live there. My friendship with Noelle Snow has nothing to do with that.”
“Friendship?” Jenkins scoffed. “Is that what they’re calling it these days?” He shook his head and turned around and stomped away.
“Hi!” Noelle said, her eyes on Jenkins. “What’s the matter with him?”
“Nothing,” Brady assured her, kissing her cheek. “He’s just… a bitter little man.”
Noelle giggled. “This is a nice view. You can definitely see the best part of the tree from here, the part we decorated.”
He smiled, remembering how nice it had been to hang decorations with her. “You look lovely,” he said.
“Thanks.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “I didn’t even powder my nose.”
Shrugging, he said, “You always look lovely.”
Noelle’s dazzling smile was as bright as the Christmas lights in the distance behind her.
The tapping of fingers on the microphone jarred him back to reality. The cord that powered that mic stretched all the way across the park. As Mayor Jenkins began to greet everyone, Brady considered going to pull the plug on one of the many extension cords.
“Welcome, welcome, citizens of Holiday Hills and the surrounding area. I’m Mayor Joe Jenkins, and we’d like to welcome all of you to our tree lighting ceremony. We appreciate the time, effort, and donations so many of you contributed today in your efforts to bring a little more Christmas spirit to our town. And now, I would like to introduce you to the head of our holiday committee, Doris Snow.”
The crowd applauded Noelle’s mother as she went to take the microphone. “Thank you, Mayor Jenkins,” she said with a nervous laugh, trying to adjust the mic down since she was a bit shorter than him. He didn’t help her, and since she couldn’t get it, Doris leaned up on her tiptoes. “We want to thank everyone for all of their hard work today. It was so tremendous seeing everyone come together to bring Christmas back to our beautiful town. And now, I would like to ask our new city manager to do the honors of flipping the switch to turn on the lights to our town Christmas tree. Brady Rogers!”
Brady’s eyes went wide. He had no idea Doris was going to ask him to flip the switch. Noelle gave him a gentle push, and he headed over to the fake switch he’d watched George put together earlier. The crowd cheered and then, altogether, they counted down from ten. When the crowd shouted, “One!” Brady moved the giant switch. All of the lights on the tree came on at the same time, just as they’d planned, the dazzling white glow softly illuminating the park.
Everyone cheered for several seconds before Doris began singing, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” and they all joined in.
Brady went back to Noelle, who was singing with a smile on her face. She took his hand, and he sang along, looking around at the crowd of happy faces. When the song was over, someone started another one, “Deck the Halls.” Brady had the idea they might all stand there and sing Christmas carols for hours to come. That would be fine with him, as long as Noelle’s hand was in his.
“Merry Christmas, Noelle Snow,” he said into her hair near her ear.
She turned to smile at him, “Merry Christmas, Brady Rogers,” she said back. Then, she leaned up on her tiptoes and found his lips, and the rest of the world--the tree, the crowd, the twinkling lights--faded away.