How Green Becomes Wood

"Y'all think too hard." Cooger said simply. Whenever he had to pick something to represent him, he just grabbed whatever he liked the best and called it a day. But then again, them two had been living with Dark and Daizi for the past year, so he supposed they had learned complicated ways of doing things. He paid the cost, bought the twins hot chocolate, and walked back out to pay for the tree, letting the twins carry the bags.

Never was he more grateful for owning a pickup truck than he was when he needed to transport a tree. It was much easier to strap it down to the bed than it was to tie it up to the roof, which was the only thing that saved the twins from their hot chocolate growing cold while they struggled painfully to assist Cooger in getting the tree safe to drive. As soon as he could, he hopped into his truck and said, "Alright, so, when we get there--I've already got a tree stand back there--I need one of y'all to get gallons of water ready, because we gotta fill up one helluva planter. And one of you'll need to crawl under the tree every few days to check if it needs more water."
 
"Yeah, well, we've never been asked questions like this," Xander mumbled to himself as they followed Cooger out. He paused, glancing back toward the wall of ornaments and wondering if he'd chosen badly. Then he shook his head and kept going. It was only a dangly thing to be put on a tree for a couple of weeks every year. It didn't matter if it was perfect; it mattered that he'd tried.

They carried everything out and did what they could to help before climbing into the truck and slumping into their seats. They clutched their hot chocolate shivering and grinning to themselves as they glanced back toward the tree. A Christmas tree! Dark and Daizi were going to be so confused.

"I'll take care of getting the water ready," Alec offered.

"I can help set up the tree and check the water," Xander agreed.
 
"Sounds like a plan." Cooger said, and when they parked, he handed Xander the tree stand, "I think in the back corner of the living room is the best place for it, outta the way so it won't trip up Daizi too badly before she gets used to it, you know?" He looked at Alec, "Start getting the water ready, we're going to need a couple gallons."

He waited until there was some water in the stand before bringing the tree in, which caused a bit of a needle-filled mess as he dragged it in. Setting it up required both of the twins' help, since they picked the taller one (and of course Cooger sawed off a bit more of the stump before setting it up, which he handed to Alec, saying, "Give this to Dark"), and then, once it was up, he stretched, stepped back, and said, "Okay. Hand me some scissors. It's time to cut the netting off."
 
Alec hurried as quickly as he dared to get the water into the stand while Xander helped Cooger with the tree. After a lot of grunting, straining, and a few curses on Xander's part, the tree finally stood tall and straight. The straight part was what had taken the longest. Alec took the piece of wood and set it under the coffee table carefully where it would be out of the way and not scratch the table. Then he went and fetched the scissors.

Once the tree was free and fluffed up, they started decorating. Alec wanted to do the garland first, but Xander argued it should be lights first. It took a bit of squabbling, but finally, they put on the lights, then the garland, then the ball ornaments, and finally the specialty ornaments. As the finale, Xander handed Cooger the star.

"There you go, crown the tree," he told their adopted uncle.
 
For the most part, Cooger sat back and allowed them to decorate however they wanted to, although he did agree with Xander that lights should go on first, because that way most of the wires were obscured. The ornaments, though, he left all up to the twins--with the exception of his own. It was only right he hang that one himself.

"Are you sure you want me to hang the star?" Cooger asked, looking at Xander and then up at the tree, "It's yours, after all."
 
"Absolutely certain," Xander said firmly. "We wouldn't have a tree if not for you."

"Besides, decorating a tree is supposed to be a family affair, I think, and you're family," Alec told him.

"We want you to," Xander concluded, holding the star out again.
 
"Well alright," He replied, taking the smile with a grin. He pulled the step ladder close to the tree again and went up it so he could reach close enough to the top of the tree to place the star. He fiddled with it until it looked straight to him, and he connected it to the string of lights before coming back down and moving the ladder out of the way again.

"How about that?" He asked, looking up at the tree, "That look straight? Alright, turn off the lights, let's turn the tree on."
 
Alec flipped off the lights while Xander closed the curtains just in case Dark and Daizi got home early. He didn't want them - well, Dark - seeing the tree from the driveway. They gathered in front of the tree and waited for Cooger to turn on the tree. As the lights blazed to life, Alec gasped and then gave a little clap.

"Perfect," Xander stated with a nod, his eyes shining. "Just perfect."

"It's beautiful, Cooger!" Alec sighed happily. "This is going to be the best Christmas ever!"

"Poor Christmases to come!" Xander quipped, but he hadn't looked away from the tree yet, secretly agreeing with Alec.
 
"Yep." Cooger said, standing back with his hands on his hips, "That's a real pretty tree. Y'all did a good job decorating." He nodded a few times and then clapped Alec on the back, since Xander didn't like to be touched, "Say it'll be the best Christmas yet. If it's the best Christmas ever, it means it's all downhill from here, and you're too young for that."

It really was a nice tree: less colorful than what he would have done, but Dark would like it. And Ivy would probably be dazzled by all the lights, "I should probably get going, now that it's all up. Keep the mystery from your folks for a little while. I'm sure I'll get an exasperated phone call from Dark later."
 
Alec turned and gave Cooger a quick hug. "Thank you, Cooger. This is so awesome! Thank you!" He stepped back so Cooger could leave. "You'll have to stop by later so I can give you your gift. It's not wrapped yet, and it must be wrapped!"

Xander snickered quietly. "I can't wait to see his face. I'll try to get a picture."
 
Cooger hugged him back, not having any of the same qualms about touching that Dark and Xander had, "Anytime, Lil' Sage. They'll probably have me over for Christmas proper, especially after this," he nodded again to the tree, "so you can give it to me then, alright?" He grinned, patting Alec as he pulled away, internally swearing because now he had to find a gift for the twins, "I want to see that picture, even though, let's be honest, it's Dark, he's got, like, three expressions to his name."

He waved and then headed out. Not long after, but long enough after that there wasn't a revolving door, Dark and Daizi came home, bringing Ivy inside with them. She was sleeping from the car ride and her parents seemed tired, exhausted from how hard she screamed from her vaccinations.

Their conversation stopped suddenly, or Dark stopped it. Daizi had just said, "It smells differently in here," when Dark saw the tree.
 
Alec and Xander lounged on the couch trying to act normal. Xander was pulling it off pretty well, but Alec was miserably failing.

"Oh, we just added something for the scent," Alec said innocently.

"And did a bit of redecorating," Xander said. "I didn't have much to do with it."

"Or me either!" Alec piped up.

Xander gave him a look. "If neither of us had anything to do with it, then how did it get done?"

Alec smiled sheepishly, watching Dark a little nervously. "Oh, right."
 
"How did..." He stared at the glowing foliage, trying to figure it out. If he hadn't caught sight of Daizi hanging up her coat from the corner of his eye, he might not have remembered to say, "They put a Christmas tree in the house," since she couldn't see it.

"What?" It took her a few moments to assemble all the new information in her mind, and then she laughed and came cautiously into the living room, since she didn't know where the tree was and didn't want to collide with it, "How did you sneak a tree in here?"
 
"It was pretty easy since you weren't here," Xander said, snapping a few quick pictures with his phone to capture Dark's reaction. He wasn't going to tell them about Cooger. They'd have to guess it for themselves.

Alec hopped up from the couch and went to Daizi, holding out his hand. "Would you like for me to show it to you?"
 
"Oh, sure," Daizi replied, reaching out until she found his hand, "It's not in a place I'm going to risk tripping into it, right? I'm sure you'd tuck it somewhere out of the way, but I'd hate to be wrong and get a pine needle in my eye."

Dark looked again at the tree and then bent to pick up Ivy's carrier to bring it further in the living room, not wanting to wake her or leave her unattended. He approached the tree from the side and looked up at it, proving it was definitely the right call to have chosen the 8ft option rather than the 6ft one, because he had to look up at it rather than down, "Ah," he mused, examining it, "this reeks of Cooger."
 
"Oh, no!" Alec assured her, leading her to the tree in the corner. "It's here as out of the way as you can make a tree, so it's still kind of in the way, but not right in your usual walking paths." He held her hand out so she could touch the tips of the branches. "This is its widest point. Well, the ones at the bottom are a little longer, but only by a couple of inches." He moved her hands to one of the balls and the garlands. "I picked these out. Some of the balls have a little texture, but they are kind of boring. I'm sorry. However! Xander picked out a bunch of these. One for each of us." He moved her hand over to the spider ornament, glad it was close to where they were already standing.

"Weird. I thought it reeked of pine," Xander said, leaning over so he could peer into the carrier. "Or evergreen tree, I guess."
 
She was cautious approaching the tree and gentle touching it, especially when she found the ornaments, because she feared breaking them, but she paid close attention to them, trying to figure out what they all were and what they symbolized. The spider made her smile, "It's a really beautiful tree."

"You have met him," Dark said, looking at Xander, not angry at all, just bewildered, "they smell the same. Did he come in with the tree? How long have you been planning this?" Ivy, meanwhile, slept peacefully in the carrier, unaware anything had changed. Dark had taken the meticulously tucked blanket off of her because it was only there to keep her warm outside, and a tiny Blue's Clues bandaid was on her thigh, covering where she had gotten her shots.
 
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"The ornaments are a thicker plastic, so if they do fall and break, they won't shatter like glass," Alec assured her. "They might still have sharp edges, but no splinters." He guided her around the tree carefully, showing her each ornament that Xander had chosen.

"I had absolutely no part in planning anything," Xander told him, grinning as he sent the best three pictures to Cooger. Two of Dark's reaction and one of Daizi's. "I was just along for the ride. Oh, and he said to give you something, but it might be a while before you can use it if it needs to, like, dry out of cure or whatever." He tucked his phone away and retrieved the hunk of wood from under the table. "Here you go."
 
"Well that's good," Daizi mused, feeling the owl ornament, "when Ivy gets older we can have glass ones... by next year she'll be crawling, and there's no point in getting something nice until we know she won't accidentally break it and hurt herself. I really like them."

"No, I would not have suspected you had," He replied, "but I suspect he did not choose the decorations. They look nice..." Dark hummed, following Xander to the coffee table while still keeping an eye on the tree. But then he saw the stump and a small smile crossed his face, seeing immediately what it could be, "This is a wonderful part of it. Thank you."
 
"I'm glad," Alec smiled. "I went for a black and silver theme for elegance and spookiness. I wanted it to go with the rest of the house."

"Alec did most of the decorations," Xander told him, watching him examine the stump. "So, what's that going to turn into?"
 
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