A year ago, Mondays at the office were particularly rough for Pam, and back then the first Monday of the new year, well it was a good thing the office was closed that day.

Aside from suffering with a hangover that rivaled the one she had following the Dundies night where she was banned forever from Chili’s, Pam was feeling particularly sorry for herself that day. Even though Isobel had forced her to attend a lively party the night before and worked to keep her in good spirits through the night, she couldn’t prevent the misery Pam felt having no one to kiss as 2007 started.

Misery because the only person she wanted to kiss, the one who’s lips she still felt on hers, the one who’s full, soft, perfect mouth, when met with hers turned her body and resolve to mush but activated a phantom pain that crept up constantly to remind her of her biggest mistake, he was surely using those lips to melt someone else’s insides at midnight.

But that was a year ago, 365 days, 525,600 minutes. A lot had changed in those 31,540,000 seconds.

The office, it seemed, had not.

It was only 7 days into the new year but any resolutions their officemates made seemed to fade as quickly as the first weekend of the new year did. The excitement of the holidays and the brand-new year had passed. It was back to predictability and regular routines.

Angela back to passing judgement on the clothes the other women wore to work.

Oscar was back to correcting their grammar when his colleagues spoke.

Stanley was back to grumbling about everything.

Even Jim was back to taunting Dwight with his pranks.

But none of it bothered Pam. This was going to be her year. The year of Pam and Jim. It took a long time to come, but now that they were solid, all was good in her world. Let her officemates carry on and act like children. After her New Year’s she knew she was prepared. So much so that when Michael came storming out of his office in a fit over a memo from Toby cancelling all of the first quarter office events he’d been planning, she immediately jumped on her IM to message Jim.

Receptionitis 15: Michael seems a little cranky. I think he might need a piggyback ride.

Jim9334: And what kind of negotiation are you going to try to broker with Toby while I’m off breaking my back?

Receptionitis 15: I’ll promise him an art lesson, if Michael can have one of his office holiday events back. But which one, Grammy Day Karaoke or Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast day…

 Jim9334: I was hoping for Ben Franklin day. I was really looking forward to seeing your other boyfriend again.

Receptionitis 15: Keep up your wisecracks Halpert and I’ll get him to agree to Tolkien Reading Day. I’m sure you’d enjoy sitting next to Dwight on that day.

Jim9334: Truce, ok, that would be no fun for anyone.

Pam signed out of the chat, looking up at Jim instead with a twinkle in her eye and the cute smile that she wore so often now, the smile he looked up from his desk multiple times a day to gaze at, now that he knew it was there because of him.

It was that cute smile he caught on her face again later. They’d just come back from lunch and she was sorting through the mail that arrived while they were in the breakroom.

There wasn’t a lot this Monday. A few letters for accounting. An interoffice envelope for Toby. A few pieces for the salespeople. But there was a package, odd since most of the packages went straight to the warehouse. On closer inspection she noticed the package was addressed to her. Raising it up she displayed it for Jim, her first thought being it was from him, to let him know it arrived and she was about to dive in.

Looking back down she noticed her name was spelled wrong, with an extra e between the l and y so she realized it wasn’t from Jim after all, nor was it a late present from her family, who all knew her home address anyway.  It wasn’t until she saw the New Jersey return address that she knew exactly who it was from.

From back at his desk, Jim watched Pam as she examined the package that arrived with the mail. He needed no invitation to join her, a magnetic pull drawing him to reception sparked from the memory of another time she opened a gift while sitting in that same spot. The coy smile she wore back then was slowly forming again and it yanked him uncontrollably to join her.

The expression on her face was so familiar. The childlike wonder she wore as she guessed at what could be inside while excited fingers tore at the package evoked memories of another time when she first opened the box that contained her teapot, that is before Michael nearly ruined the bigger reveal with his ridiculous Yankee Swap.  

From inside of it, Pam pulled out a note.

Her eyes scanned the pages, reading it silently while Jim looked on.

Pam,

We can’t thank you enough for babysitting for us on New Year’s Eve. I don’t know what kind of magic you have but the kids have not stopped talking about you. We wanted to send you a little something to thank you and they both insisted on adding a little something personal from themselves- and wow you must have made some impression on Snoopy for her to send you this.

A small smile came over Pam’s face as she passed the first page onto Jim. She had an inkling she knew what was sitting in the box, the lump wrapped in white tissue and cushioned in old newspaper. But before she got to it, there was page two of the letter, which wasn’t a letter at all but a picture.

She recognized the artistic style immediately. On the page were 3 giant heads attached to a tangle of haphazard lines. Below the lines were a series of green, yellow, blue and red blobs. Off to the side, was one more giant head with a mess of scribbles atop it. This was attached to a very long stick figure body.

Pam’s heart warmed as she took in the drawing, her cheeks filling out as her lips curled ever so slightly higher, her eyes sparkling as a coat of moisture filled in them.   

She passed this page along to Jim. The confused smile on his face let Pam know he wasn’t clued in to artistic expression of a 4-year old.

“It’s us playing Twister,” she clarified as she took it back, taping it up next to the photo of her and Jim posing in their fun run tees.

“Oh, that’s me, huh – I guess I do need a haircut.”

Moving on to the box, Pam pulled away at the tissue paper, noticing more colors, this time strings tied around the beaded letters of a knotted bracelet. Recognizing it was from the kit she gave Vanessa; her tickled cheeks puffed some more as she admired the colorful new bracelet that read Aunt Pam.

“Where’s mine?” Jim implored, to which Pam just gave him a boastful smile before returning to the box.

As she unwrapped the tissue paper from around the gift that lay inside it, the smile on her face exploded. She was right, it was the mug.

The mug with the Snoopy, her special mug, that she was now gifting to Pam.

Inside the mug was another note, this one also had a child’s drawing, of Snoopy hugging his little bird friend – hearts above their heads. It was still obviously the work of a child, but not bad. It was obvious she’d been practicing what Pam showed her. She opened the folded paper to read what Vanessa had written.

You forgot to take the Snoopy mug. When my heart said you should have it it meant you should have it have it. Come back to visit us soon Aunt Pam.

Love, Snoopy

Passing this note along to Jim, she held up the mug, beaming almost as much as he now was as he spoke.

“What did I tell you Beesly, I told you they’d love you and they did. I mean how could they not, they have Halpert taste and well, that taste is pretty good.”

She turned back to attend to the box, when she noticed one more thing on the bottom.

More, she thought to herself, now what’s this? It was another small envelope, the size of a gift card with writing on the back, in Marcie’s cheerful text.

Since we took you away from your New Year’s dinner, we figured we’d treat you to one.

Pam read it aloud as she opened the small envelope, pulling out the gift card in it. Jim watched with an extraordinary sense of déjà vu as the exuberant mirth that came over her when she discovered her teapot’s bonus gifts emerged once again. Like back then she exploded into a fit of gleeful giggles.

As soon as she held up the gift card, he knew why.

It was for Chili’s.