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Even though it’s Jack’s first Christmas, it’s really only Puck’s own eighth Christmas, the same as Beth’s, and no traditions have quite as the same importance to Puck as they do for Finn. Puck loves watching Finn start to decorate for Christmas though, and it definitely means he needs to find the 2017 set of matching Hanukkah sweaters in a day or two, so they’ll arrive by the start of Hanukkah.
It’s probably going to take them awhile just to find the right boxes with the holiday decorations, even though they’ve been in the house for over three months, because the couple of months in the apartment with half of their stuff in storage after they moved from Terra Haute mean that nothing is exactly where they’d anticipate. While Finn goes looking through boxes, Puck bounces Jack and stands at the counter, laptop in front of him. They each have a desk for their laptops, but at any given point in time, it’s more likely to find one of them standing up and bouncing Jack at the same time, and usually the other one of them is with Beth or working at the same counter, waiting to trade off the bouncing.
Puck finds two good candidates—and four that are too awful even for Puck—for their Hanukkah sweaters, then waits until Finn and Beth are back with a few of the boxes. “Dancing dreidels or a ton of Star of Davids?” he calls out to them, then whispers “Say dreidels,” to Jack.
“Da!” Jack says.
“Jack votes for dreidels!” Puck adds.
“He would!” Finn calls back. “Traitor!”
“I think he just wants the gelt, Fada,” Beth says. “This box wasn’t heavy!”
“I’ll let you carry the heavy ones when we put them away again,” Finn says.
“O0-kay,” Beth sing-songs, like she doesn’t quite believe him.
Puck stifles a laugh and shakes his head. “You still haven’t voted, Finn.”
“I want Star of Davids, but it sounds like I’m out-voted,” Finn says. “There’s not one with both?”
“They’re happy dreidels, and they’re holding Star of Davids?” Puck offers. “They’re also holding a menorah.”
“That sounds like a compromise I can live with,” Finn says.
“You know you can’t wait to add this year’s picture to the line-up,” Puck says, turning away from the laptop and walking towards Finn and Beth, still bouncing Jack. “I think the sweaters are almost as good as the ones three years ago.”
“Wait a minute. This one doesn’t have tinsel, does it?” Finn asks. “I thought we agreed no more tinsel.”
“No tinsel,” Puck admits. “That’s why they’re not quite as good. But I bet if there were, Jack and I could talk you into it.” He turns Jack around to face Finn, lifting him so Jack’s cheek is touching his. “Say ‘I love you, Fada’,” he stage-whispers to Jack.
“Da!” Jack says, patting Finn. “Fada!”
“I love you, too, Jack,” Finn says, taking Jack from Puck. “We’ll bounce a little while and let Dada’s legs have a rest.”
“I’d better sit by these boxes before Beth has all of them emptied and nothing put where it goes,” Puck says, plopping down in the middle of the boxes and next to Beth. “Remember, Bethie-girl, the faster we get everything put up, the sooner we can all pile in the floor with hot chocolate.”
“Even Jack?” Beth asks.
Puck starts to shake his head, then looks over at Finn. “He is almost nine months?”
“Maybe just sort-of-warm chocolate for Jack,” Finn says.
“Does he get a candy cane, Fada?”
“Probably not this Christmas,” Finn say. “Maybe next year.”
Beth stands up with lights draped over her arms. “That’s too bad, Jack.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll sneak him some gelt when Fada isn’t looking,” Puck says, grinning at Finn. “Or when Fada’s pretending not to look. Right?”
Finn grins back at Puck, shifting Jack to his hip. “Gelt? What gelt?”
Puck laughs. “That’s exactly what I’m going to tell you when I sneak my own gelt into bed.”