How Green Becomes Wood

"They have all sorts of weird stuff because kids come in and like to pick ornaments. It's the exact sort of thing your sister will probably pick for herself once she's old enough to," Cooger said, setting it down and digging through more racks before making a sound sort of like ahurg! and stepping back, "This is the ugliest elf I have ever seen."
 
"I don't know, make it go away!" Alec laughed. "He's like a little curse doll or something!" He turned away and spotted something in the corner. "Ah, here's closer to what we'd like! Here's a collection of Nightmare Before Christmas and things. That's a little better."

"Does Ba even like Nightmare Before Christmas?" Xander commented.

Alec shrugged. "Don't know, but it's at least in the right direction. Oh, there's other more creepy-ish or wannabe creepy ornaments."
 
"With him, it's a toss-up if he likes it or thinks it's cheap," Xander said blandly as he looked them over. "We've never even talked about it. It's never come up. Nothing."

"It is vastly over-commercialized, while being a lovely movie," Alec said, picking up a cute little ornament of the dog.
 
"We did a costume a number of Halloweens ago," Cooger said, smiling at the memory, "He was Jack, Tarot was Sally, I was Oogie Boogie, and we put a sheet over Enkidu to make him Zero."
 
"I bet you made a marvelous Oogie Boogie," Alec told him.

Xander frowned at the selection. "Then if it's one of these, it's gotta be something... not obvious. Not always done. Sally and Jack are great, but how about something... different."
 
"The costume was hot as balls and itchy, but it sure looked cool." Cooger replied, and after a few moments of looking through the ornaments chuckled and held up three, "These ain't to represent him, but look. The three kids from that movie. Two boys and a girl. The one in the Devil Mask even has red hair."
 
"Oooo, that's actually quite tempting," Alec grinned. He looked at Xander hopefully.

Xander hesitated and then shrugged. "Yeah, alright. Let's get those, too. But no more extras! We need to find one for Ba."

"So strict," Alec laughed.
 
"It's a big tree, you've got space for a few extras," Cooger shrugged. "They all go in a box at the end of the year anyway. Oh. Here. What about this one?" He asked, holding up a fairly flat ornament with the iconic spiral hill and moon behind it, complete with the grave stones and pumpkins. "It's all melancholy. He loves that."
 
"That is nice and melancholy," Alec nodded. "I vote that one."

"Deal," Xander agreed. "You know, next year, I think I'll try to find something like a really fancy skull or something for him. Like, that idea."

"I think that's a great idea!" Alec approved. "But for now, we have a lonesome skeleton and a pining... uh... What is Sally?"
 
"We can find you something else," Xander chuckled, highly amused.

Alec smiled. "I actually found one for Xander and for you, Uncle Cooger, if you hate the rubber chicken." He held up a black horse that had tiny, glittery music notes on its sides, elegantly following a silver bar graph. In the other hand, the hand, he held a round ornament with a silver border that looked vaguely like rock (if you squinted), and come out of the frame was a cheery goat with its mouth open in a happy smile.
 
"That's a pretty cool horse," Cooger replied, not having any particular thoughts about the music notes, "That one with the goat is neat too. If we're satisfied with everything, we better check out and see what the damage is."
 
Alec laughed and put the rubber chicken away for Cooger while Xander took a last look through the basket to make sure they didn't have any extras. The only extras they had were the three Nightmare kids, but that seemed appropriate, so he didn't argue that one. The rest looked good, and he told Cooger as much. Alec met them at the checkout, having barely managed to resist picking up a dozen cute things on his way past.
 
"What do people usually eat after picking up a tree?" Xander asked.

"Something hot and filling, I'd imagine," Alec mused. "Burgers and fries? That feels rather summery. Maybe I'm thinking too hard."
 
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