"5.. .6. . . 7. . . 8!" Rachel called out.

Finn fumbled through the steps. "Left, right, pivot, left, left. .. " he thought out loud.

"Finn! You're looking at your feet again!" She yelled.

"Both left feet." Regina, the girl playing Mary muttered under her breath.

"okay, okay that's enough everyone. Go home, and rest up. We only have two more weeks until Christmas Eve!"

Finn sat on the edge of the stage, his long legs almost hitting the ground. "Sorry. I'm not the best dancer. You knew that."

"You'll get there Finn." Rachel said, adjusting the tinsel on the stage.

He shrugged. "I don't know. . . "

"You'll make a fine Joseph. Two left feet and all."

He smiled at her.

"I gotta go pick up the kids. See you at home?" Rachel stood on her tip toes, trying to kiss him.

He bent down so their lips met and kissed her softly. "see you at home."

"Are we ever going to get a Christmas tree?" Cadence said as they all sat down for dinner.

"If daddy gets to use his tablet at the table, I want to watch tv. " Jude said. Finn shoveled food into his mouth, pecking away at the tablet's keyboard in between bites. He was struggling with budgeting the stores expenses.

"Finn put it away. You can do that later." Rachel said in a stern voice.

He held up his finger. "Just a minute. We're about 762 dollars short this month."

"Hellooooo? Are you ignoring me. Are we going to get a Christmas tree?"

Rachel glanced at Finn, and scooped some potatoes onto Cadence's plate. Until her birthday, neither of them had really felt the holiday spirit. It was just going through the motions. Since her birthday things had seemed to go back to where it had been, her and Finn closer than ever. "We've just been busy baby. With daddy being at Grandma's and all."

Cadence stabbed a stalk of asparagus with her fork. "We NEED a Christmas tree. How else is the fat man going to bring us presents?"

Jude's fork clattered on his plate. "No presents?"

"Santa will come with or without a tree sweetie." Rachel said kissing him on the forehead.

"Not without a tree!" Cadence squealed. Tears sprang into Jude's eyes.

"See mom!? WE. NEED. A. TREE!"

"CADENCE MELODY!" Rachel snapped. She eyed Finn evilly. "Finn, I could use some help here! Get off your tablet!"

Finn looked up from his tablet. "How about we go get a tree after dinner?"

Jude wiped his eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah. We'll go down to McHannan's lot."

Jude and Cadence cheered.

"Not if you don't eat your dinner!" Rachel called.

"Tell us about the time you and mommy got a Christmas tree for glee club!" Jude said, nestled into the back row of Finn's Ford f-150 pickup truck.

Rachel laughed. "you remember that?" Finn had told Cadence the story one night, when she was about 4, and was refusing to sleep. He had taken a hard memory in their relationship, and spun it into one grand romantic love story.

Cadence stuck her head in between the seats. "Did you really wear those little tree air fresheners in your coat?"

Finn laughed. "Yes, she did! My truck smelled like fake pine until New Year's."

"Mommy, that's just silly." Cadence said giggling.

Rachel stuck her tongue out at her. "Just wait until you like a boy!"

"EWW! No way! Boys are grossssss." The little girl called out.

Finn eased the truck into a parking spot. "Good. Keep thinking like that until you're thirty."

Cadence and Jude ran ahead, oohing and awwwing at all the different trees.

Finn and Rachel strolled through the rows of trees, holding hands.
"Do we even have enough to buy a tree?" Rachel asked timidly.

Finn thought of the piles of overdue bills on his desk at work. "Don't worry about it."

"Daddy! This is it!" Cadence said showcasing a gigantic Douglas Fir like she was on the price is right.
"Cadence that won't even fit into the house, let alone my truck." Finn said, laughing.

He looked at Rachel. "Expensive taste like her mother."

Rachel hit him playfully, "Finn Christopher Hudson I outta. . . "

"Kiss me?" He suggested.

Just then his cell phone began to ring. He looked at Rachel. "This is Cory at the shop. I am so sorry!"

Rachel shrugged him off. "It's fine, go ahead. I'll help scale down Cadence's choices."

He walked over, behind a row of trees. "Hey man what's up?"

"Finn! I have great news!" Cory said, on the other end. "You know how Lea went to Ohio State?"

Finn was confused. He arched his eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Well, turns out she was friends with Maxton Filler! He's going to be in town on Christmas Eve, and said he'd love to come by the shop and sign autographs for customers!"

"Maxton Filler?!" Finn yelped. Maxton Filler was the biggest quarterback to come out of Ohio State in years. He was currently the hottest thing in the NFL.

"Yeah man! If we gave out an autograph with every fifty-dollar purchase, do you know how much money we would make? We could make it a big Christmas Eve sale."

"A big Christmas Eve sale. . . " Finn repeated. Christmas Eve, the same day as Rachel's Christmas pageant. The pageant he was starring as Joseph in.

"What's wrong buddy?" Cory called, bringing Finn back into reality.

"Nothin' man, I'm just at the Christmas tree lot with Rachel and the kids. Tell him for sure we want him, and tomorrow you and I can start advertising."

"Ok, have fun picking out your tree." Cory replied.

"Thanks, will do. See you tomorrow." Finn said, hanging up.

Finn walked down the trail to Rachel and the kids.

"Is everything ok?" Rachel asked.

Finn smiled. "Everything is great. Cory just had an idea for a great sale. Going to make us a lot of money"

Rachel wrapped her arms around Finn's neck. "Oh that's great!"

Finn kissed her. "Yeah, Wonderful."