To say that Jim and Pam entered into their first Christmas together with some zeal would be somewhat of an understatement. Pam had always loved Christmas, and now she was finally with someone who would allow her to indulge her every whim without sarcasm or criticism, she went all in. As for Jim, he was delighted to watch his girlfriend – the same one he’d mooned over for years before the universe finally sorted them out, the same one he was crazy mad in love with - having a whale of a time with every single element of the season. It made her happy and the simple act of enabling that made him happy too. Ridiculously happy.

Over six months into their relationship and they’d settled into a comfortable routine of alternate nights between apartments, with barely a night spent apart. This allowed Pam to take the opportunity to decorate both apartments. This became a huge deal for her, starting during a particularly dull day at work, soon after Thanksgiving. She’d spent the day sketching out interior design decorations, firstly for her place, but then, gazing over at Jim, who was distracted on a sales call, her mind drifted to his place and how she’d decorate his as well in what she thought would the most ‘Jim’ way possible. Not knowing what, if anything, Jim would do himself, she said nothing until they were on the way home that night to broach the subject.

“Do you have Christmas decorations?” Pam asked as they drove through drizzle and a darkness that reflected both the lack of dynamism of the day and ever-shortening days they’d entered into at that point of the year.

“Nope. Not really. I mean, I wasn’t really in the mood for them last year…” he trailed off a little, remembering a time where he’d half-heartedly put up some mistletoe in his apartment, but it had felt fake, even at the time; and really, he’d been miserable even though he was in denial about it at the time. And when the mistletoe had been used that year, all he could think about were Pam’s lips on his rather than the person he was actually kissing. He pushed those negative thoughts out of his mind because that had been a year ago and now, he was here, and so was she and this was a new and different and wonderful world altogether, Thank God. And when had he suddenly turned into Kelly chattering in his own head?! Before he had a chance to consider the direction his brain was heading-

“Jim, we are not going back to your apartment every other night to find it bare and miserable. That would be too sad.” Pam braced herself for a retort from a man who was not usually the most forward in throwing himself into the major holidays.

“OK! Let’s fix it!” He responded brightly.

“Really?! We can decorate it? Because I have all these ideas.” She clapped her hands together. She was elated!

“Yep.” He beamed at her. It was so easy when it was Pam. She could probably ask him to do anything, and he’d say yes. Except marriage. He had that one covered and he was sure as hell doing the asking when the time was right, remembering the small velvet box already tucked away safely in his sock drawer. “One thing though" he was quick to add, because this was the most important,  "I want mistletoe, lots of mistletoe.”

“You are the best!” Pam clapped her hands together excitedly, leaned over as much as her seatbelt would allow and ruffled his hair. Jim positively glowed, as brightly as any Christmas light.

***

A few days later they went Christmas tree shopping. Although the roads were not blocked, snow had been falling steadily in and around Scranton for several days. They had left work that night with Jim dropping her home with a promise to return to her apartment in an hour via a stop at his own to change out of his work clothes. The farm they’d found was advertised to be open to 8pm, so should be enough time to drive over and pick up a tree. As they’d been researching tree farms, when he saw where they’d be heading, Jim planned something else as well.

“Wrap up well, Beesly” he’d warned her, before he’d given her a soft goodbye kiss that held a promise of more.

She was just putting on her thickest coat over her own jeans and boots when he turned up in his own dark blue jeans, a red and black plaid shirt and matching red scarf and hat. Pam’s mouth just about dried up. They nearly didn’t make it to the Christmas Tree farm at all. She took one look at him, ruggedly leaning on her doorframe dressed like a lumberjack with an end of day stubble, snowflakes falling gently behind him; and dragged him by the scarf in through the doorway, grasped her hands firmly on the lapels of his jacket, pressing her lips against his and letting the kiss that developed linger for quite some time into something far more heated than he’d expected for a hey, you’re here moment. When they pulled apart, her eyes were clouded in lust.

“Wow. Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”

“Jim, you are so hot right now; you have no idea just how well the whole lumberjack look suits you. I could jump you this second.” With a deeply mischievous expression and a blatant flick of her eyes down to his lips, Pam leaned in to kiss him again, but he pulled back, apart from stealing a quick peck on her nose.

“Seriously Pam, I know that look. Hell,” he admitted, “I love that look, but if you start this, then we will never leave, and you had all these great decorating ideas. I am not going to be held responsible for your lack of follow-through.”

“But I’m totally following through…” she winked at him lasciviously and started to lean in again. He put his hand up gently but firmly to her chest.

“Beesly! Bad girl! Enough!” It took all his willpower not to succumb, but he had a plan for something romantic for them and wanted to make sure they reached their destination.

With a pout, reluctantly Pam agreed to keep her hands to herself for the moment, but with “I’m not making any long-term promises, Halpert.”

The Christmas Tree farm was a short drive out to a location near Fleetville. The snow had fallen deeper outside the city, with a picturesque drive out past deep brown woods and laden branches of white. The trees were still plentiful and within minutes they’d found two good sized specimens, one for each apartment. The farm wrapped and labelled up the sold trees to collect on the way out, so after carting the trees to the sales till and given a docket to give to the sales staff as they departed, they took their time and strolled around the rest of the complex. They looked at decorations for sale in an adjacent barn (a few of which they bought, along with several bundles of mistletoe) and took cups of mulled wine to drink as they ambled gloved hand-in-hand through a thickly forested area. They weren’t far from the main farm, but far enough away from the few remaining other shoppers at this time of night that they could enjoy a little privacy on their walk. They stole mostly innocent, wine flavoured kisses from each other, although at one point, Pam had Jim backed up against a pine tree as she attempted to follow-through on her earlier attempt to seduce him, still holding her plastic cup in one hand and stroking the back of his neck with the other. He let her kiss him for a while – it really wasn’t a chore; then realising that time might be a factor in his plans, Jim broke away to stare down at his watch and then up briefly, thankful that the night sky appeared clear and dark above their heads.

“So, I have somewhere else for us to go after this,” declared Jim as he sipped his wine, steam still rising from the hot liquid.

“Really?” Pam’s curiosity was piqued.

“Yep. Finish your wine, Beesly.” He gently pulled her along with a chuckle, only pausing to pop their empty cups into the trash can and pulled her in for a gentle kiss. They picked up their trees and other items and loaded them onto the roof of the car, strapping them on securely.

“So where are we going?” she asked as they pulled out of the farm turning.

“We just have a short drive up the road” he took her hand and held it reassuringly. “I promise, I think this’ll be kinda cool.”

The road soon opened up a little and Pam noticed that the trees were more dispersed that the area immediately around the farm. They drove along the State 107 until Jim turned down a dirt road.

“You’re not going to take me to an isolated spot, kill me and wear my skin like a blouse, are you?”

“Actually it hadn’t crossed my mind until you mentioned it, but I guess since we’re here…” He kept a straight face for just long enough to unsettle her for a moment. “No Beesly, I am not going to do that, especially as we’ve just bought two trees and half the stock of decorations in the farm shop. That would be a waste. Anyway, we’re here.”

They pulled into the car park of the Keystone College Cupillari Observatory.

“Jim?” she looked at him, a happy confused.

“I thought it might be fun to do a bit of star gazing, so I booked a private hour slot for us with the Keystone Astronomy department. We can look through the telescope and see some of the planets and constellations. Just something a little different, seeing as we were out here anyway.”

Once again, Pam felt herself blown away by sheer joy and love by this wonderful man. She couldn’t help but grab his hand as he opened her car door and give him a very grateful kiss as he helped her out of her seat.

***

After an entertaining and educational hour of Astronomy guided by a couple of the undergraduates of the Keystone Astrophysics department, looking at Saturn, Jupiter and a few of the more spectacular nebulae, but being careful not to push the public displays of affection too hard they also avoided at work, they returned back to Scranton, firstly stopping at Jim’s apartment to drop his tree off and set it up with some water to keep it fresh and healthy.

That task completed and bidding Tree #1 farewell for the night, they headed back to Pam’s apartment to set up her tree and start decorating.

“Hot Chocolate?” asked Pam.

“Sure? Are you adding anything to it? I mean, I wasn’t planning on driving again tonight.” They shared a look of mutual satisfaction mixed with a hint of desire as they considered their ongoing living arrangements that consisted of them spending most of their time together, whether waking or sleeping, and how utterly brilliant that continued to be even after these few months had passed.

“If you like. Rum OK?”

“That’ll do it.”

“I’m on it.”

They started well enough, but somehow, in attempting to dress the tree with two hundred LED lights, when Pam started walking the lights around the tree, fuelled by at least two very boozy hot chocolates, she ended up accidentally-on-purpose tying Jim to the tree with those same lights. It would be a shame, she pontificated, not to take some advantage of the situation. Realistically, he could probably release himself if he really wanted to, but he’d had a couple of those hot chocolates too and seemed quite happy to be tied to a Christmas tree in his girlfriend’s living room. It didn’t hurt when she reached up with some of the mistletoe they’d bought and grinned at him as her lips were just inches from his.

“You gonna kiss me with those lips, Beesly?”

“That’s the general idea.” And that’s where she started, before plonking the Mistletoe in her hair to ensure she had a more than valid excuse to turn her attentions to his neck, before starting to unbutton the front of his shirt. Once opened, she ran her fingers under his t-shirt and managed to pull the neck over his head, trapping his arms. She kissed down his body, kneeling in front of his button fly, and grinned at him lustfully before popping it open and pulling down his trousers and briefs in one go. After she’d given him a very satisfying (and mildly kinky) blowjob, she helped him untangle himself from the lights, where she ended up on her back, surrounded by the LED string, creating a gentle glow around them as they made love.

Later, after Pam had stolen Jim’s plaid shirt - buttoned at least twice, and Jim covered only by the throw from her sofa, they lay curled up in front of infomercials on the TV. They often liked to create their own back stories for the presenters from early on in their relationship, so across several channels, an entire plot worthy of General Hospital had unfolded over several months. Currently Don the jewellery salesman from Gem Shopping Network was having an illicit affair with Marge the craft lady from QVC, but had also had a dalliance with Mark the electronics presenter from Home Shopping Network in a sexuality-questioning moment. Marge had also slept with Mark, and he may have been the father of her as-yet-unannounced baby.

“You know,” pondered Jim, “We should have a movie marathon. What’s Christmassy?”

“Die Hard.” 

“Not a Christmas movie, Beesly.”

“So is.”

“We’ve been through this sooooo many times, Pam.”

“Well, I think walking across broken glass for your estranged wife whom you still love - on Christmas, is very romantic.” She just about managed to keep a straight face.

“Can I just point out here that I am the Romantic of the two of us…”

“Really?”

“Yes, clearly I am.” He kissed her to prove his point. “And I say that that doesn’t make it a Christmas movie.”

“OK, if that’s not a Christmas movie, what is a Christmas movie, Halpert?”

“Fargo.”

“Fargo?! Really?!”

“Yep. It’s set in winter, in the snow, and Marge Gunderson is heavily pregnant, like the Virgin Mary.”

“But she never gives birth in the movie.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“And she’s not a virgin.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“It’s set in January.”

“Minnesota is further to travel than Bethlehem. I accounted for distance.”

“You’re starting to sound like Dwight.”

“And the Coen Brothers were executive producers of Bad Santa. That is also a Christmas movie.”

“Tenuous at best, especially if you say Die Hard is not a Christmas movie.”

“Coen Brothers marathon so I can prove it?”

“Yep.”

So that is what they did.