It was finally Friday. The week had dragged, as it always seemed to after a 4-day weekend but beyond the slowness it was an unusual week too, at least it seemed so to Pam. Something seemed a little off all week with Jim, sometimes he was his regular affectionate self but at random times seemed oddly distant, like he was keeping secrets and even to some degree avoiding her.

A forensic deconstruction of the week brought her thoughts back to the trip home from her parents, when the strangeness first began. Jim had kept her from dropping by his place, which was not expected. At the time, she chalked up to his having a lazy Saturday, but now with everything else, it was undeniably the first thing that week the wasn’t quite right.

But she soon forgot about it when they pushed up their plans to buy a tree and head out that very same afternoon to buy it. They found the perfect one, at least for this year because the price was right and with the smaller size they wouldn’t need to break the bank to adorn it properly. There was the weird incident with the guy who helped them, how he remembered seeing Jim, but Pam let herself be convinced the tree man saw hundreds of people and probably had him confused with someone else. Even so, there was a side of her that still wondered.

Once the tree was securely tied to Jim’s car, they made their way to Target and the weirdness of the encounter strayed completely from her mind as they got lost in the winter wonderland of holiday décor set up in the back of the shop. Target’s Christmas section filled 12 aisles and one large open display area, and they spent over an hour looking through it all before deciding what they liked and could afford on their limited budget.

Pam found a box of maroon, oblong shaped ornaments that were unique and yet classic. The contour had a bulbous center and pointed bottom while the design had a glitter-like surface that alternated with a smooth line in a swirled pattern. Jim objected, saying the shape was too much like a beet and reminded him of Dwight, but acquiesced when Pam remarked how pretty she thought they were and noticed they were on sale.

“Yeah, because nobody wants beets on their tree.”

Pam nudged him playfully but put them in the cart anyway.

They both chose one keepsake-type ornament for each other at Pam’s suggestion. Jim found an artist's palate for Pam and she found a fish that looked enough like a tuna but Jim made her put it back saying it was bad enough he’d be reminded of Dwight when he looked at the tree, he didn’t want to be thinking of Andy too. In the end, she found a Phillies ball but planned to go back and get the tuna one for him before Christmas.

They picked up a few other inexpensive decorative items, including some garland and a box of little red bows. They splurged on a sparkly tree blanket and Pam found a reasonably priced stand that could adjust to any size tree with visions of using it for a full-sized fir next year. When she went off to grab two boxes of candy canes in the next aisle, one for the tree and a box of minis to stir in with her cocoa, Jim grabbed another string of lights, hoping she wouldn't notice it at checkout.

The hour they spent at Target was an hour filled with giggles and playful teasing and fun that made her glad to have to buy all new Christmas decorations. But being with Jim always made simple tasks like shopping a good time. As they loaded items into the cart, including the laundry detergent and fabric softener Jim grabbed when they were done picking out Christmas stuff, she thought back to one of their earliest shopping trips and she giggled again as she recited, “Jim Halpert, price check on fabric softener.”

And just as he had back when she first learned he used fabric softener, he lovingly called her a dork and she jumped onto the front bar of the cart while Jim wheeled it to the checkout area, straddling her between his body and the handle, her head still not quite reaching his height, even with him bent over to make room for her petite frame underneath him.

“Did we mean to get two sets of lights?” Pam asked as they unloaded the cart and she noticed the second set.

“Oops, I must have grabbed two by mistake.” Jim took the second set out and placed it atop of the beverage cooler at the start of the aisle, waiting for the opportunity to slip it back into the line of purchases when she wasn’t paying attention. When he thought the coast was clear, he placed it back on the belt.

Pam did notice but said nothing. Still, she wondered why he felt they needed the extra lights. One was enough for the size tree they got.

After Jim insisted on paying for the purchases, they decided to skip the pizza and head back to her place, saving a little on dinner by having the leftovers from Thanksgiving that Pam’s mom provided.

Nothing was so off in their trip to Target, aside from maybe his weird need to secretly buy a second set of lights, in fact they had more fun shopping and even joked about going back there for their next date. And certainly nothing was off that evening when they got home.

Anxious as they were to get to setting up the tree, they were more anxious to get to each other, especially after the couple of days apart. Appetites for dinner were soon ignored as he stood behind her again, this time as they tried in vain to heat up turkey and stuffing.  But by now Jim could no more keep himself from reacting to her nearness than she could keep the tingling from coursing through her whole body especially as he put his lips to her neck and ran his hands across her stomach and then under the sweater he soon removed.

Soon they’d abandoned the containers on the counter making it only as far as the couch in the next room where they satisfied a different kind of hunger.

They finally got around to dinner and even a Christmas movie from Pam’s collection but they barely got to see Natalie Wood spy on the department store Santa with the little Dutch girl before they were distracted once again. They soon retreated to the bedroom, both of them feeling a little strange about what they were about to do in front of Kris Kringle, real or not.

The next day was almost as perfect as Saturday had been. After sleeping in and a trip to Steamtown Mall to get personalized stockings, since Pam proclaimed they couldn’t put up a single ornament until after the stockings were hung, they spent the day decorating the tree, both of them sipping minty hot cocoa with whipped cream, and even watched the rest of the movie. 

But a glitch in their perfect day occurred when they got to the lights.

While they had been stringing the first set around the tree— Pam was right the one set was enough—she let him in she knew about the second set.

"So, what should we do with the other lights?” she asked him casually. “Should we put them in the window or around the doorway.”

“What other lights?” Jim played dumb but Pam insisted she knew.

“Jim, I saw you put them back on the checkout belt. I know you bought them.”

“Pam, I don’t know what you think you saw but we only bought the one set. You said we only needed one and you were right. The tree looks amazing, even with the beets.” He pulled her near and kissed her in front of the little tree they spent the last hour dazzling up with lights and the bows and the new ornaments. Not wanting to argue over something so silly, she dropped it, even though she was sure they’d paid for two.

When Jim was in the bathroom later, Pam snuck a look at the receipt that was still in the bag and sure enough there were two sets listed. 

Him lying to her about the lights was bad enough but late in the afternoon things took another peculiar turn.

“Listen Beesly, I think I’m going to head back to my place tonight, ok.”

Pam was putting away the movie when he said it and was sure she knew the reason he wanted to head home.

“It’s okay if you want to watch football. We don't have to watch anymore Christmas Movies today.” She meant it too, she knew he liked to watch the Sunday games and while she only cared to watch the Eagles, she was happy to put on the other games for him.

“Um, well I do want to watch the games, but I also want to get back to my place tonight.”

He seemed tentative as he said it, which was strange since they mostly spend Sundays at his place. For some reason he preferred to watch the Eagles at his apartment while she wore his McNabb Jersey. It was one of the few sports superstitions he had that she knew about, even though he’d never admit he was superstitious. He justified it by saying he just thought she looked so cute in the jersey, especially when she stripped down to nothing but the oversized garment.

“Ok, so we’ll head back to your place. Do you want to go now?”

Jim was quiet for a minute and slowly walked up to where she was, tenderly kissing the top of her head, his lips drawn to her forehead like a moth to a flame.

“I was thinking I’d go back alone tonight. You kinda wore me out yesterday. You were an animal, Miss Beesly,” he joked. “I’m beat and I’ve still got a few things I need to do at home before the game starts.”

She couldn't imagine what he needed to do that he couldn't do with her around. Especially, since he’d had a few days to get stuff done while she was at her parents. But she wasn’t going to make an issue of it.  He’d made the weekend so special, calming her down when she was upset about all the lost Christmas stuff, buying them the little tree and all the ornaments, and starting some brand-new traditions with her. He probably was just really tired after the long weekend or he wanted to watch the game alone. The Eagles weren't having the best season and he was always a little grumpy when they lost. Pam knew it was probably that, no big deal, nothing for her to worry about, but still it gnawed at her a little.

But everything seemed fine again when he picked her up Monday morning. Jim was cheery despite another Eagles loss, a close one too which were always more heartbreaking than the absolute blow-outs. She had watched enough of the game to know what a nail-biter it was, switching off between the Eagles and Desperate Housewives.

Things seemed pretty standard at the office too. After everyone had discussed their Thanksgiving holidays and Michael shared what a wonderful spread Jan put out—a Whole Foods feast that was heated to the perfect temperature and had only set him back $150 for the complete eight course meal the two of them shared—he pulled everyone into another impromptu assembly in the conference room. Jim was lucky enough to get out of it, having a client meeting already booked. Somehow it felt like Jim had purposely timed his meeting in such a way to miss out on Michael’s, though Pam knew that was impossible since he only called it after sharing a printout of the decorative fire extinguisher he planned to get Ryan for his holiday gift. When Jim and Pam both pointed out how not well Ryan would take that, the entire office was called together to think up a gift for Ryan that would blow him away. Michael then added Jan and his mom to the idea brainstorm once everyone was trapped inside the glass-walled confines.

When the meeting adjourned an hour later, Pam shuffled out of the conference room with three stacks of papers that had the suggestions the staff was forced to come up with. Reading through some of the ideas written she couldn’t help but close her eyes and shake her head at the transparency of the anonymous ideas.

For Ryan, Meredith had suggested booze, Kelly suggested the book Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus and Kevin had suggested M&Ms but then crossed that out and put down a beard trimmer instead, which, was actually such a good idea had he not put down M&Ms first, she might have thought it was Oscars’.

In the pile of suggestions for Jan, was a Juicy Couture sweatsuit, Kelly’s, booze again from Meredith with Dwight offering up a romantic weekend trip to Shrute Farms.

Knowing she was going to want to organize the papers in some way when she went over them with Michael, she stopped at Jim’s desk to grab a few paper clips before joining him in his office. It just so happened there was a brand-new box sitting atop his desk. Opening it, she was more than a little surprised to see the colorful paper clips that she liked to use. In the seven years they'd been working at Dunder Mifflin she’d only ever seem Jim using standard silver ones. He even playfully teased her about her colorful clip use, claiming he could tell her mood by the color she chose.

Unsure of why it seemed so strangely out of character, they were paper clips after all, she tried not to think too much of it. It probably meant absolutely nothing. But still she checked the supply shelves later to see if perhaps they’d run out of silver clips but there were plenty of boxes of them piled there.

By that night, it was out of her mind completely when they returned to her apartment and finally watched Frequency. In the end Jim loved it, commenting the whole time how much the Elizabeth Mitchell character looked like she should be a doctor not a nurse, an obvious reference to Lost, whose return they were anxiously waiting for so they could finally watch together. As they got ready for bed, he teasingly gave her a hard time for not wanting to watch such a “great movie” and she mocked him in return saying it she didn’t like it one bit.

On Tuesday, Pam got stuck in a long PPC meeting, that Jim of all people suggested they have over lunch. Which would mean for two days in a row she would not get to eat lunch with her boyfriend. What’s worse, she would have to stomach extra time with Angela and Phyllis going back and forth over the theme and color scheme. Every year it seemed a different color was whorish, this year it was anything metallic.

Pam thought Angela would have learned her lesson after last year but she seemed even more belligerent, shooting down all the committee’s suggestions and making snarky comments that a silver and gold party would just invite wanton behavior and a 1920’s theme even more so.

Exasperated, Pam took a break from the fighting to grab another coke from the vending machine and walked in on Oscar and Jim deep in conversation. On the table in front of them was a mess of papers, blanketing the table like the snow that had fallen the night before.

She stepped in the room just in time to hear Oscar saying something to Jim about making ends meet and started to feel a little guilty wondering how much the tree and stuff had set him back. Could he be so much in debt he needed Oscar’s financial guidance?

When she stepped up to the table to say hello, placing her hand gently on his back, he nearly jumped out of his seat as if she had shuffled through the shag carpet in his parent’s den and her fingers caused an electric shock that pulsed through his entire body.  Quickly recovering he hunched his body over the table and the papers strewn across it.

“Hey, how’s the meeting going? Angela driving you crazy yet? Any word on this year’s theme?” he kept on with questions as he rose from the table and escorted Pam to the vending machine where he purchased her coke. Not even letting her answer, he then walked her out of the room and she let him, not wanting to embarrass him any further about his money situation. But she was a little hurt he hadn’t been upfront with her. She thought they could discuss anything. Didn’t he say as much when they made up after having that fight a few months back? Money, she guessed, was the one topic that anything didn’t fall under.

“My place is a mess, let’s go to yours.”

This was the latest excuse Jim had for keeping Pam away from his apartment. It was Wednesday and she hadn’t seen the inside of his place since before Thanksgiving. He’d been there again last night, this time to swap out some clothes and feed the cat, he’d joked when he said he was heading home for the night. Pam knew Jim’s place was a mess, it was most of the time. That had never kept her away before but now he was keeping her from his apartment with that lame excuse.

What are you hiding James Halpert? It was all she could think of as they ate dinner together but her doubt was gone again that evening as he took her mind off it and put it on other things instead. The feeling that came over her as he murmured how much he loved her, his lips tickling her ears and neck, his hands erasing any doubts as they stroked her inner thighs, made it hard to think of anything else.

“Is there a Jim Halpert here?”

The UPS delivery man had barely finished speaking and Pam didn’t think she’d ever seen Jim get to her desk so fast, not even when she refilled her Jelly Bean container with a fresh bag of Jelly Bellys.

“Yes, that’s me,” and he grabbed the small box from the man in the brown suit.

Pam leaned over her desk to sneak a glance, it was probably something for her after all, but she wondered why he had it sent to the office. The strange part was that it was hand addressed instead of having a printed label like gifts from Amazon or any other mail order package would have. It reminded her of the weird packages that often came for Dwight and she suddenly realized that’s what it was, some element of a prank that he would play on him later but that got her wondering why Jim hadn’t filled her in on it.

As they changed into their matching sweaters, Pam thought how happy she was the strange week was finally over and they would have the whole weekend to spend together starting tonight at her friend’s party.

Yesterday, Jim had yet another out-of-the office meeting late in the day that became drinks and burgers at the bar. He’d warned her that it was a possibility earlier in the day, but still she had hoped he’d be able to get out of it. She’d gotten used to having a dinner date to eat with nearly every night since the first one six months ago. Even when it was just pasta or sandwiches at home, eating with Jim was far better than eating alone so when he called her to say go ahead and eat without him, she felt somewhat deflated. But that was nothing compared to the flat out crash she felt when he called back later and told her he was going to head home, claiming too much paper talk had numbed his mind to a hard-to-shake fatigue. She knew she was being crazy, thinking it was anything more than a busy week and one beer too many at the bar. All the little incidents that were weirding her out all week were minor and trivial. He still told her he loved her at the end of every call when they were apart, still looked at her with his adoring eyes when they were together, still surprised her with little acts of love and still kissed her with unbridled passion when he showed up the next morning holding mistletoe over his head. 

If Pam was concerned he was being distant during the week, she had nothing to worry about at the party. He barely left her side and not just because their sweaters dictated they stay next to each other. They had a blast, laughing with friends, duetting Baby it’s Cold Outside for their turn at Karaoke, and blowing everyone else away at Taboo. With a language all their own and so many “Dwight does this” and other personal clues only they could know, there was little challenge in scoring 6 or 7 or sometimes even 12 points per turn. And when Jim got a little slap happy with the buzzer as Isabel kept saying the taboo words, he cracked everyone up by holding it down for a steady blast while running the rounded device over his chin as if to shave. As Pam laughed along with her adorable boyfriend, she caught his eyes, a smile just for her hidden in them, and knew she had been over-analyzing every thing that week. But it wasn’t until they went home, to his place at last, that she understood just how wrong she’d been to have the slightest of doubt of his devotion and pure love for her.

He made her close her eyes as he walked her in, one arm cradled around her holding her hand, the other on her waist gently guiding her through the dark room. The smell of pine wafted through the air, the fresh aroma of Christmas filling the room and her nostrils. Dancing lights infiltrated her closed lids and when he finally allowed her to open them before her stood a magnificent Balsam.

Pam gasped in delight as she took in the tree. As the lights on the tree flashed, so in her mind, did all the strange occurrences of the week.

The tree wrangler who recognized him.

The missing second set of Christmas lights.

His rummaging through her trash.

The box of colored clips on his desk.

His nights away from her and keeping her from his apartment.

All of it was there on this tree. Instead of glass balls the tree was covered in silver, blue and gold yogurt lids. Instead of garland, a chain of colorful paper clips encircled the branches. Clipped to random boughs were both their yearbook photos, the smiling faces of their youth dotting the tree like tinsel.

“Jim, this is just…,” at a loss for words Pam turned to him, tears glistening in her crystal green eyes.

“Do you like it?” he asked as she turned back to take in more of the tree.

“Jim, it’s just amazing. But it must have been so expensive, this tree and the little one at my place, all the new ornaments, the stands and tree blankets and extra lights. I can’t believe you did all this for me when you’re having money troubles.”

The expectant look on Jim’s face suddenly turned to one of confusion.

“Money troubles, what makes you think I’m having money troubles?”

“Your lunch with Oscar. The papers you were hiding from me. His talk about making ends meet.”

Laughter suddenly erupted from Jim, fat tears rolling down his dimpled cheeks as his breath stopped momentarily from the hysterics of whatever it was he found so amusing.

“Beesly, you really shouldn’t be so nosy and if you are going to be snoopy, you oughta get better at it. He didn’t say make ends meet, he said you have to make the ends meet. He was teaching me to do the origami he’s always going on about, showing me how to make the stars that are here on the tree, which is not easy I might add. He had to demonstrate a dozen times thus all the paper you saw. But hey, now you’re not the only one who can do origami.”

Pam looked back at the tree and suddenly noticed all the colorful paper stars, cute little pink ones and larger ones in a rainbow of colors and soon she was giggling too, the sweet sounds coming from deep in her chest sounding like a holiday song to Jim’s ears.

“These aren’t just any stars, nosy girl.” He pulled one down and unfolded it holding it out for Pam to read.

“These are copies of Toby’s PDA memo. And the pink ones are phone message slips like the one you snuck into my sales figures for the interview.”

“Oh my God. That is incredible.” Her smile brightened again as she nipped her tongue in joyous delight. Her reaction was just like when he gave her the teapot two Christmases ago, maybe better.

“This is an amazing tree because it comes with bonus ornaments, for when you get hungry.”

He pulled something else from the tree, something else she only just noticed, little bags of jelly beans, tied up with bows. He untied a bow from the bag he grabbed and popped a Jelly Belly into his mouth.

Pam walked around the tree, swept away by what Jim had done, in awe of all the memories Jim had trimmed the tree with. Boggle timers, little pencils, cocktail umbrellas, a time capsule of their friendship and their love hung from the branches and she took in every detail, her eyes finally making their way to the top.

“Is that…,” she started to speak, but got choked up her voice cracking before she could finish.

The hand addressed package. How had she not recognized her own mom’s handwriting?

“Mee-Maw’s Angel?”

She jumped into Jim’s arms nearly knocking him over in the process.

“Thank you, Jim. This is the best Christmas present.”

“I promised you we would have a beautiful tree.”

“You did, didn’t you. Well this is the most beautiful tree I’ve ever had. Thank you, Jim. I love you.”

The one thing not on the tree was mistletoe but that didn’t stop Pam from kissing him all night.

---

“And that is why we always put yogurt lids and old photos of mommy and daddy on our tree.”

Cece giggled happily as Pam finished telling the tale. Phillip bounded around the bottom of the tree deciding on the right spot to hang the beet-shaped ornament he held in his hands. Pam knew their kids were too young to understand even half of the story but she still loved to share it, she and her husband caroling in rounds all of the events that led to their unique tree trimming tradition. They’d been telling it since before Cece was born, the story now just as much a part of the ritual as the yogurt lids were.

She caught Jim’s eye, the mischievous twinkle in it just as vivid as it was the night he first revealed the symbolic tree to her many years ago. They’d been through much tougher times since then, times when her doubts made the little things that had her worried back then seem comical. But once again, Jim had found a way to show her just how much love he had for her and the family they made together, and she knew it was her turn to do the same. As she devised her own Jim gesture, she thought how much she’d miss this house but knew as long as their Christmas tree had bags of jelly beans, metallic discs and yearbook photos it would always be home. Tomorrow she’d call Carol. Today she’d enjoy what would likely be the last tree-decorating day in this home and smiled as Jim lifted their daughter up to place a gold yogurt lid up on a branch near the top right next to Mee-Maw’s angel.