Mika found herself following a very stern looking guard into Alfie's home. She had never lived anywhere so posh but she found that she could definitely see Alfie living here. As they entered the living room, Mika noticed the tree in the corner and the boxes of ornaments and smiled. She'd never had a real tree before or real ornaments, for that matter. One year, they had put pine air fresheners in their fake tree to make it seem more real, but it hardly seemed to be worth the effort so they hadn't tried it again since. As for ornaments, they were mostly of the home-made variety from when Mika and her brothers were kids and it was cool to make your own ornaments.
The music started playing through the stereo system and Mika's smile widened. Feeling cheesy, she the grocery bags down on the ground and walked over to the pile of boxes. Picking one up gently, she sang along quietly to the song, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."