Spoilers: References to information episodes have revealed about Mac's life pre-series.

A/N: Each chapter is named after the person Mac is spending the Christmas with.

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"There is a first time for everything." ~~~~~ Anonymous

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Chapter One: Dad

The first Christmas after his mom died didn't really seem like Christmas at all. In fact, nothing had been the same since she'd died earlier in the year.

Angus knew Christmas was coming due to the calendar, and he'd heard other kids talking about it at school. But where other kids had a tree, stockings, and lights on their houses, his house had none of that. No decorations. No Christmas music. No cookies or other treats being baked. Nothing.

It was as if his dad was trying to pretend the holiday never even existed, and never mentioned anything related to Christmas. While the thought of spending Christmas without his mom only made him miss her all the more, not celebrating the holiday she loved so much and ignoring family traditions made him feel like he was losing her all over again.

When his dad would get the mail, he'd rip in half, and then throw away any Christmas cards that had come that day. At first, Angus had thought his dad had thrown a card away by accident when he threw the junk mail away. He'd fished the envelope out, and had left it on the kitchen table when he sat down to complete the far-too-easy math worksheets his teacher had assigned. The next thing he knew, his father was ripping it in half while scolding him for being too sentimental about a holiday based on something that couldn't be scientifically proven.

After that, he didn't risk mentioning anything related to Christmas – or his mom. When his dad wasn't around, Angus would dare defying his dad to take a look in the trash can just to try and see who any cards were from. Most of the return addresses listed people his mother knew; he would've liked to have seen what the cards said.

The only other card he dared to fish out of the garbage was the one he discovered was from his grandfather. He was thankful the card had come with a bunch of other ones, because he hoped his dad wouldn't notice it was gone.

When he pieced the two halves together, Angus realized the card had been addressed to him alone. His dad had thrown out his mail! Inside the pieces of envelope and card was a $10 bill, which had also been ripped in half. He'd have to find out if he could still spend it when he next went to the library. He taped it together regardless in hopes it would still be accepted. At the time he hadn't known it would be his only gift that Christmas.

The card itself had a picture of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer on it. Angus had loved it the first time he saw it last year. Because of his name and the fact he did well in school, he often felt like a misfit – just like Rudolph. He hoped someday he would find friends, ones who accepted him and didn't shun him for stupid reasons.

Before his dad got home that night, he hid the card and $10 bill in the pockets of the suit he'd worn to his mom's funeral. He knew his dad would never look there because it would remind him of his loss. That suit ended up being where he hid all projects and homework related to Christmas after his dad ripped up the only one he'd put up on the refrigerator. Apparently, even a good grade didn't matter in his dad's campaign to ignore Christmas.

For a while, Angus wondered if his dad might be tricking him, testing him in some way since his father often liked to test him on anything and everything he learned. Last year, when one of the older kids at school had said Santa Claus didn't exist, his mom explained how it might still be possible the man was real if you took certain scientific principles into account. His dad had even joined in on the conversation, which had quickly become too difficult to follow in terms of the science being discussed. He'd decided to remain undecided until he had proof one way or the other. It didn't matter because his dad had asked him questions to see if he had been paying attention.

So, he had honestly believed it was a test of some kind and he would wake up on Christmas day to a house fully decked out for the holiday. There would be Christmas presents around a decorated tree. They would have roasted turkey for dinner. His stocking would be full of hot wheels, fruit, and candy.

On Christmas morning, excited that it was finally here, Angus ran down the stairs expecting his house to have transformed into a place his classmates would be jealous of, but it hadn't happened. The house was exactly as it had been when he'd gone to bed the night before. There was nothing even remotely related to Christmas anywhere in the house – except for the things he'd hidden from his dad.

That year he got no presents other than the $10 his grandfather had sent him. His dad pretty much ignored him the entire day. His eyes filled with tears, but he knew it wouldn't do any good to cry. For him, Christmas was in name only that day.

He ended up spending Christmas in his room all by himself eating PB&J sandwiches and reading book after book, occasionally wiping stray tears off his face and the pages of his books.

Before that day, he thought he'd missed his mom a lot, but that first Christmas without her, Angus realized he missed her more than anything to do with the holiday.

Christmas would never be the same again now that his mom was gone.

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Next time: Chapter Two: Grandfather

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A/N: To those who celebrate: Merry Christmas! To all: I hope you have a blessed day and enjoy the time spent with friends and family.

Many thanks to Celticgal1041 for proofing! Any remaining mistakes are the fault of evil elves. ;o)

Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: MacGyver is not mine. I'm just borrowing the concepts and characters for a little while.