Everyone told Sam marrying an older woman was going to be tough. He hadn’t figured it would be because of what happened this Christmas. Sam’s life was at an awkward stage. With his stepson now off at college, his wife had rejoined the workforce. It is not that he cared if his wife was working, but the fact was in a short time back in the workforce, she was doing better than he ever had. Even that didn’t bother him. What really bothered him was when his wife was called off on work related travel for Christmas. That seemed funny right from the start.

Her out of town left Sam with the task of dealing with her son, Chris. It’s not that Sam and his stepson don’t get along, it’s just that spending the holidays with the step-son of a woman fifteen years older than you meant, you were closer to his age than hers. They should have gotten along better. They did, but not in a father-son relationship way. Probably because they were so close in age. Now without his mother around for the holidays, his homecoming felt a touch awkward.

Things weren’t getting less awkward when Chris arrived back from college a changed man. Chris has experienced a gender role awakening in college and Sam had no idea it happened. Suddenly being home alone with Chris never felt so uncomfortable.

Things sure weren’t made better due to the fact Chris now looked just like a younger version of Sam’s wife. It’s a version Sam never got a chance to know because they didn’t hook up until long after those teenage years. Not that he’d be attracted to Chris. Nah, he wasn’t that kind of a man, right? But what if his wife was cheating on him, and Chris was interested in comforting him through it?

This holiday season Sam just might get an unexpected trim for his tree to help make his holiday season jolly and gay.