“It was something at least.”
“True, and we did remember to grab holiday teas and rolls of sugar cookies, but there have also been years when we haven’t even celebrated together. He was working, and I went to my folks' place to hang out with my dad since Mom was working too. Mr. Pepsi is almost always over there, since he never got married and the rest of his family is stateside, so we just make a day of it playing spades and rummy and foraging from the fridge until we’re so stuffed we could barely get out of our seats to go to the bathroom. It was fun and all, and I enjoy spending time with them, but I’m ready to start new traditions with you.”
“I love Christmas,” Kekoa admitted. “I love any holiday with bright, festive lights. In fact, I’m firmly convinced that it’s the lights that make it a holiday and have been known to leave them up year-round.”
“Then I will have fun leaving the stringing to you while I fetch and carry.”
“It’s a shame the only place in the living room to sit is the killer couch from outer space, or we could have fun sitting out there with just the twinkle lights and carols playing.”
“True, that couch is proving to be a major inconvenience,” I said.
I could see their point, though. Decorating the living room would be fun as well as brighten up the house, but we’d have a hard-ass time enjoying it while sitting on that couch.
“More like just hard, painful asses if we stay out there too long.”
“True, so why don’t we decorate the bedroom too?” I suggested. “There’s a smart speaker in there, so we’d have lights and carols.”
“True. Ohh, this one was already a favorite.”
“I think Jungle Bells is a favorite of all island children,” I said.
We sang along as they picked out a few more strands of lights and several sample packages of Christmas treats ranging from fudge to cookies. It was never quite cool enough to fully enjoy cocoa beyond one or two cups, but gingerbread and peppermint tea were good cold, and they’d even found eggnog and sugar cookie flavors, along with a copy of Jingle All the Way in the bargain bin.
“Now I’ve gotta see what else is in there,” Kekoa insisted, leaning over the side to dig further and treating me to one hell of a view of their rear. “Yes!”
They emerged clutching Trading Places, Krampus, and Deck the Halls to their chest, passed them to me, and dove right back in the bin.
“Oh my god, it’s a treasure trove in here,” they declared when they emerged a second time. “I found Office Christmas Party, Edward Scissorhands, and A Nightmare Before Christmas.”
They even did a little dance as they stood there clutching their treasures. I couldn’t help joining them; I was so happy to see that their choices weren’t all sweetness and fluff.
“I take it you approve?” They said as they grinned before taking one more look in the bin to see what else they could discover. At $2.99 a pop and brand new to boot, they were too good of a deal to pass up.
“The only things missing from that pile are Bad Santa, The Ref, and Silent Night, Deadly Night,” I said.
“Do not forget Lethal Weapon, Die Hard, Gremlins, and The Last Kiss Goodbye.”
“Okay, I’ve never seen that last one.”
“Well,” they grunted as they started gently raking the movies they’d pawed through back into the bin before they could move around to the other side. “Let’s see if we get lucky.”
Honestly, I could have watched them dig around in the bin all day with the way their rear flexed and wiggled around in those board shorts, rocking each time they attempted to dig further into the pile.
“Ohh, score,” they said, “Found Gremlins and Silent Night, Deadly Night.”
They passed them back to me and dug a while longer before finally emerging with Lethal Weapon.
“No go on the others, but at least this will give us a hell of a place to start,” they said, grinning as they passed it to me. “And I found Christmas Vacation.”
Their tank top was rucked up a bit when they emerged from the bin, showing off a tan strip of abs before they straightened it.
“Nyx, Kekoa, well, I see you’ve been doing a bit of shopping.”
I turned to see Aunty Ina smiling at us.
“We sure have.”
“Oh, and now I get to see your mate up close and in much better lighting,” she said, stepping around me to reach Kekoa. “We were introduced at the fiesta. I’m…”
