It took Pam about thirty seconds to figure out that the Halpert family was almost nothing like the Beesly family.  The house was full of people and brightly lit, there were about eight women cooking things in the kitchen and an equal number of fifty-something men crowded around a big wooden table with cards spread out among them, and every once in a while one of the women would scold them on their language or on the amount of money they claimed to be betting, even though Pam was sure they probably never paid up.  There was a navy blue colored den that was full of teenagers and twenty-something’s playing board games, and a cream colored living room currently housing Jim’s oldest brother Jonathon, who was playing the piano with a practiced kind of fervor, as a group of about five younger children basically yelled out Christmas carols.  Thinking back on it, she was surprised anyone had heard the doorbell ring.                 

But, in fact, Jim’s youngest brother, Adam, answered the door in jeans and a thermal shirt, a wide smile on his face and his cheeks rosy with the warmth of the house.  He held out his arms and laughed.                

“You’re late, asshole!  Hi, Pam,” Adam greeted, and Jim chuckled and shook his head stepping forward to give his brother a warm embrace, patting him on the back enthusiastically.                  

“Look at you! Jesus!  What are you, working for J. Crew now or something?” Jim wondered, stepping back to take in the way his brother had grown into his gangly limbs and elfish features and cut his hair short to make him look older, handsome, definitely worth a second glance in Pam’s humble opinion. 

“Our little boy’s growing up,” Jim joked.  Adam blushed further and glanced at Pam uncomfortably.                  

“Dude, I’m 23...you people act like I just turned 16...” he murmured, closing the door soundly behind Jim and Pam as they moved into the foyer and pulled off their coats, unloading bags and packages, having promised each other they’d go back for whatever was left in the car.                  

They all turned when a fourth and noticeably female voice entered the conversation, yelling out to Adam with a little tint of Halpert-humor laced through her words: “It’s just cause we never thought you’d cut off that cute little string you called a ponytail.”                  

Pam smiled broadly as the second youngest Halpert, Larissa, rushed down the stairs on excited feet and practically knocked Pam over with her long arms and her thrilled embrace.  Adam rolled his eyes.                

“Whatever,” he mumbled and retreated into the den, dragging socked feet against the plush carpet.  Larissa chuckled, pulling out of the hug and patting Pam’s cheeks affectionately.                 

“Hello, hello, Pam Beesly! Ugh look how cute you are! It’s like seven degrees outside, you must be freezing,” she assessed, linking arms with Pam and dismissing Jim with a wave of her hand.  “Hi Jim,” she mumbled, and Pam winked over her shoulder at him as he followed close behind her, still visibly anxious about introducing her to his parents.                  

She’d met all of his siblings at one point or another, but had never had the pleasure of making it to Dickson City to meet his mom and dad.  She was actually excited now that she’d arrived at the house and now that she knew how wonderfully spirited his family seemed about the holiday.  Christmas at her house had usually consisted of her, Roy, her mother, and her father, eating turkey, watching Rudolph, and passing the phone around as her sisters called to say Merry Christmas.  Then she and her mother would go to midnight mass while her father and Roy went to bed.  She had to admit it was nothing too exciting.  It was definitely nothing like this.   They rounded the corner into the kitchen and Larissa clapped her hands.                

“Excuse me, adults, hello!” Larissa called out and the poker game hushed, as well as the chatter coming from around the oven, stove, and refrigerator, “I would like to introduce you all to my very special guest,” she continued.  Pam glanced at Jim with a twinkle in her eye and he sighed and rolled his eyes.  “This is Pamela Beesly and she is full of holiday cheer and she has come to share with you the spirit of Christmas,” Larissa announced and Pam turned back to her with laughter on her lips, as the men and women all shook their heads, a few returning to whatever they’d been doing, having grown accustomed to Larissa’s infamous antics.  “And also to play many board games,” she added happily.  Finally, unable to stay quiet, Jim stepped forward.                

“Uh, she’s actually here to be my girlfriend, Larissa, but thank you for that wonderful introduction,” he mumbled, giving Larissa a gentle shove and taking Pam’s hand warmly as he pushed through the activity and made his way toward the stove where his mom was leaning with her arms crossed and a familiar looking smile on her face.  As they weaved through the pie-making and the batter-stirring Jim paused to lean down over one woman’s shoulder, bending to plant a kiss on her cheek.  “Hi Aunt Carol,” he greeted warmly.                

“Jim, I’m so glad you finally got here!” she responded.  He shrugged in a Jim kind of way and smiled.                

“Yeah well, work and stuff you know…I’m pretending to be a grown up.  That looks great, by the way,” he told her pointing down at the cherry pie in front of her that she was just finishing with a coat of sugar.  She winked.                

“My godson likes these,” she told him.  He chuckled, and patted her affectionately on the arm as he moved past.                

“He sounds like a cool guy,” he told her and she laughed heartily, returning to the pie, but not before grinning at Pam.                

“Hi, Pam,” Aunt Carol greeted quietly and Pam felt something inside of her warming up in a way that it had never done at the thought that she might become a part of whatever this family was…all of these people…the way that they had a routine and relationships and traditions…she wanted to be a part of it.  Finally they reached the stove and Jim wrapped his arms solidly around his mother.                  

“Mom, Merry Christmas.  Everything looks great,” he assured her, and she smiled happily into his shoulder, her chin-length brown bob brushing against the white of his oxford shirt.                  

“I didn’t buy you any presents this year, I hope that’s ok,” she told him jokingly, and he laughed and rolled his eyes at her obvious lie.                

“Right,” he mumbled incredulously, pulling away from her and gesturing to Pam with a shaky breath.  “Mom this is Pam, Pam this is my mom,” he introduced.  Pam smiled broadly and chuckled at the way his mother clapped excitedly and gave her a warm hug.                  

“We finally meet!” she proclaimed happily, and then she pushed Pam away, holding her at arms length and taking in the sight of her with a wide grin. “You are just as beautiful as Larissa said,” she promised in a conspiratorial voice, rubbing her back affectionately as Pam blushed out of self-consciousness.                

“Oh, no I um…” she shook her head and rolled her eyes, “Thank you so much for inviting me, Mrs. Halpert, this is…” she gestured with her hands and chuckled, “How many people are in this house right now?” she wondered in amazement.  Jim’s mom tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and shook her head.                

“Ugh I don’t count because if I did I think I would faint,” she joked.  Pam laughed and nodded, crossing her arms protectively and catching Jim’s eye.                 “Well, everything is amazing.  Your house is beautiful,” she complimented and Mrs. Halpert hummed in agreement.                

“Thank you, we like it.”                

“Alright I’m coming through here, everyone stop talking about me and keep your whisks to yourselves!” a man called out from the other end of the kitchen, causing all of the ladies to chuckle and roll their eyes affectionately.                

“Dad, you’re actually going to venture through the kitchen? Wow…that is…Pam you should feel honored,” Jim announced, watching with an amused expression as his dad held his hands above his head and bobbed and weaved through the many chefs surrounding the countertops and appliances.                  

 “Nobody move,” he called, “and I say that with your own well-being in mind, Carol.  Susan, put down that bowl, I mean it,” he murmured.  Pam joined in the chorus of laughter at the sight of his panicked face and careful footsteps.  She glanced questioningly toward Jim who leaned down toward her ear and whispered an explanation.                

“Like seven years ago dad offered to get beers for the poker table and ended up knocking over an entire casserole, fresh out of the oven,” he told her.  She nodded, her eyes still on his dad as she wondered how she and Jim could be so alike with such very different families.  “Holiday catastrophe,” he explained.  She chuckled.                

“Ok I made it,” his dad proudly proclaimed, and there was an unenthusiastic chorus of applause from some of the women as his wife patted his stomach happily, congratulating him on his brave journey.  “Now, Pam,” he began, his voice getting suddenly serious and his arm wrapping protectively around the shoulders of his wife, who looked at Pam and shook her head in exasperation, “I need to know what your intentions are with my son,”                

“Dad,” Jim interrupted helplessly.                

“No I mean it, this is serious, because I don’t want you taking advantage of his good looks, and charming personality, all of which he got from his father,” he told her with false grandeur, and she smiled up at him.                

“Oh no don’t worry, I don’t find him good looking or charming,” she admitted, “I’m dating him for his money.”  There was a moment of shocked silence in which Jim gazed down at her in blatant amusement and his father stared at her in surprise.  Finally, Mr. Halpert’s face split into a wide, toothy grin and he barked out one quick laugh before sobering and pretending to consider what she‘d told him.                

“Well, then that’s ok,” he decided, his 6’4” frame dwarfing not only Pam, but also Mrs. Halpert who stood at a slight-seeming 5’6”.  “Glad to have you, Pam,” he told her honestly, his tone reminding her of Jim and the way he said things like Thank you, and I’m sorry: all earnestness and sincerity.  She nodded at him.                

“Glad to be here,” she replied, attempting to match his richness of intention, even though that sort of thing didn’t come as easily to her.                

“Have you met all the aunts and uncles and cousins and brothers and sisters and babies yet?” he wondered, looking around with a grimace, “They’ve kind of taken over the place.”  And he was right, they kind of had.                  

But as Jim huffed and rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand and pulled her through all of the rooms, haphazardly introducing her to people and making jokes and tossing out stories that started with things like Remember when…, and ended with things like That’s why nobody let’s you near the tree anymore, Pam felt her cheeks aching from all of the smiling she was accidentally doing, and she felt her nervousness settle into something like comfort.                

She tugged on Jim’s sleeve as they stood on the outskirts of a raucous game of Pictionary and he dipped his head down to hear her better.  She pressed a gentle kiss against his cheek.                

“Thank you for bringing me here,” she told him quietly, and he pulled back a little to look her in the eye, his expression one of mild surprise and confusion.  She grinned up at him and shrugged slightly because she wasn’t sure why she felt like she had to say it, but it didn’t really matter because he nodded a little and kissed her cheek in return.                

“You’re welcome,” he whispered against her skin.  After a moment he stood up tall again and shouted out the answer to the clue his cousin was drawing for what seemed like the twentieth time in complete aggravation.                  

“Garbage disposal,” he announced, and his cousin tossed her marker into the air, throwing her hands above her head.                

“Thank you!” she yelled, as her team mates shouted out arguments and indignant accusations, to which she just nodded and crossed her arms.  Finally she held up her hand in the international sign for stop and they all fell silent.  “Jim is the only person in this room who is even mildly intelligent.  This was obviously a garbage disposal.  Look,  here’s the trash can, and here’s the sink, and then you put them together.  What’s confusing?” she wondered angrily.                

“Nothing,” Jim told her with a twinkle in his eye.  She nodded at him. 

“Thank you, Jim.  Thank you very much.  Do you two want in on this?  I think my team needs a few replacements, so if you and Pam are up for it, you‘re on…” she murmured, and Jim glanced at Pam and they both agreed, crouching down to sit Indian style on the floor among all of the Halperts.