Oh By Gosh By Golly

“I have a fun suggestion for the holiday season, but I need you to keep an open mind,” Holly instructed.

It was the Sunday before Christmas.  It had been snowing one and off since Friday afternoon, so the best friends had to battle the elements to make it to their favorite bench next to the river.

“When have I not been open-minded?” Aaron challenged.

They both had a good laugh at that one.

“Seriously, though, hear me out,” she insisted.  “From now on, every Christmas season, I think you should go by the name Mistletoe whenever we’re together.”

She looked at him hopefully as she took a sip of her coffee.

He drank his Snapple and kept waiting for her to burst into laughter.  When she didn’t he finally replied.

“You’re actually serious about this?”

She shook her head adamantly.  “Of course.  I’m not like you.  I don’t ramble on simply because I love the sound of my own voice.  When I say something, I mean it.”

“And you use your words wisely,” he agreed.  “For example, you expertly managed to slip an insult into your answer to my question.”

She smiled and took another sip of her coffee, if only to prove her point that she didn’t waste her words.

“You think it would be fun if we went around as Mistletoe and Holly during the Christmas season?”

“Don’t you?” she replied with a mischievous grin.

“Don’t you think Mistletoe sounds a bit feminine?” he asked.

“Are you not confident in your sexuality?” she teased.

Aaron rolled his eyes and took a long drink of Snapple.

“This idea sounds like something more for your own amusement than any other purpose,” he observed.

“What if it is?” was her comeback.  “Isn’t Christmas the season of giving?  Shouldn’t you be willing to give this to me without putting up such a fuss?”

“And what are you giving me?” he countered.  “A month of mockery and giggling behind my back?  If I walk around introducing myself as Mistletoe, people are going to wonder if I’m some sort of Christmas themed reject from professional wrestling!”

She snickered.  “Do you really think you have the physique of a professional wrestler?”

“That isn’t the point,” he insisted.  “What I’m getting at is that there’s no upside for me in this scenario.”

“Where’s your Christmas spirit?” Holly wondered.  “You know Santa Claus is watching and you’re always hovering right on the border of the Naughty and Nice lists this time of year.  Why not do something selfless that will bring joy to others and land you firmly on the Nice list?”

While Aaron didn’t like saying no to Holly, he had not problem saying it when her request was going to make him look like an idiot.  Not that she did that often.  Or at all.

“Would our becoming the living embodiment of the lyrics of a moderately popular Christmas carol really mean that much to you?”

“Moderately popular?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.  “Frank Sinatra would beg to differ.”

“Well, he’s not exactly alive to debate that fact with me,” Aaron shot back.

“You’ve never heard of a Christmas ghost?” she pointed out.  “You keep pissing off Old Blue Eyes, and you’re going to wake up one morning with a severed reindeer head in your bed.”

“Oh by gosh, by golly.  That was dark, especially for you,” Aaron said in astonishment.

“That’s what you get, Mistletoe, when you piss off Holly this close to Christmas…”