Page 1 of Playful Kris

1

KAMERON

“Can you believe that Christmas is literally in two months?” My best friend, Cora, says as we walk down Main Street.

We’ve been shopping for the last hour, picking out different Christmas decorations for our house. The two of us have been inseparable since high school, we roomed together in college, then decided to get a house together once we graduated.

“It feels like this year has really flown by,” I tell her. I swear it’s like Easter was last weekend, now Halloween is this weekend. And why the stores put Christmas decor out so soon is beyond me, but I’m not complaining.

It’s my favorite holiday of the year, and I want to go all out in our house since it’s our first year to actually be able to decorate a home.

“That’s because it has.” Cora laughs, pointing at another store. I grab the handle of the door, pulling it open and letting Cora step in first. “These are cute.” She points at a Christmas tree that is already decorated with the cutest country ornaments and buffalo plaid ribbon.

“That is cute.” I step up beside her, thumbing a few of the ornaments. “We should incorporate some of these onto our tree.”

“Yes!” Cora squeals.

We grab a few of the ornaments that we like and a couple rolls of the ribbon. That should be enough to decorate the small tree we have. Our house isn’t big enough for the massive tree we really wanted, actually it isn’t big enough for themultipletrees we wanted.

Once all of our items are rung up at the counter, the woman explains to us how to get the ribbon to look the same way it does on her tree. I watch her loop the ribbon together as if my life depends on it. She makes it look so easy.

Feeling pretty confident, we grab our bags and start the trek to Cora’s car. I don’t actually own my own car, my parents could never afford to buy me one, and when I was in college I didn’t really need one. Now that I have a decent paying job, I’m trying to save up money for a down payment and all the other expenses that come with purchasing a car.

Thankfully, Cora lets me borrow hers whenever I need it, so it’s not too terrible.

We walk along the sidewalk of Birchwood Hills, and I’m immediately reminded of why Cora and I fell in love with this little town.

I grew up only a couple of hours away from here, so I’ve seen it on maps, and I’ve heard of people visiting from time to time, but I’d never actually made the trip until the position at the Chamber of Commerce opened up and was sent to our college.

That’s how I got the job.

Even for such a small town, the streets are busy. Cars slowly pull through the main strip that runs through town, people are running errands since most of the stores are located on the main strip.

The bakery, the bank, the flower shop.

It’s the epitome of a Hallmark movie town.

I’ve never actually seen it at Christmas, but I’m more than excited just by the way the town is decorated for Halloween already.

Birchwood is nestled right next to the Mississippi River, but on the Tennessee side, so you constantly hear the river running along the west side of town. It almost provides a beachy feel because of it, even though the water is not nearly as pretty to look at as the ocean, and you can’t swim in it unless you want to be swept away by the current.

“I love how they’ve decorated the town. The Chamber really does take the holidays seriously here.” Cora smiles, pointing out a few decorated pumpkins as we pass by the bank.

“It’s honestly probably one of my favorite things about the town. I love how the entire community gathers together for the holidays.” I sigh, wishing it was more like this back home.

Unfortunately, my small town is so run down that you have to drive thirty minutes to an hour for everything you need.

Groceries? Long trip.

Doctor? Long trip.

You get the gist.

“We better grab some lunch, and head back to the office. We have that team meeting after lunch, and I don’t want to be late for it again.” She palms her forehead and shakes her head.

Last month, Cora was on coffee duty, and trying to remember things without writing them down. Cora’s brain doesn’t work that way. She needs a checklist to function, and constant reminder alerts in her phone. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be as successful as she is.

Her not remembering coffee orders ended up with her being late to the meeting and still having coffee orders wrong. The only one she got right that day was mine, not even hers was correct.

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