"Hey, guys." said Mr. Schue as he walked into the choir room as the New Directions were decorating their tree, singing and enjoying each other's company.. "What's this?"

"We're trying to get into the Christmas spirit, Mr. Schue. Christmas is totally my favorite holiday. And check out this awesome tree. I found it on the side of the road. It must have fell off some guy's car." Finn said.

"And the ornaments?" asked Mr. Schue.

"The guy who lives next door finally killed off his elderly mother. When they carted him off, they left the house wide open." Santana explained. "I think she was a holiday hoarder."

"You could say that again." Haley added, smiling at the Latina who winked in return.

"And the presents?"

"I lifted them from a display at the mall." Puck said. "But don't worry. They're empty."

"What he means is that he basically shoplifted the fake gifts. Still isn't morally correct, even though it's a holiday." Haley clarified.

"Guys, I appreciate the effort, but this isn't what Christmas is supposed to be like." Mr. Schue said as the group frowned.

"For us it is." Mercedes added. "This tree is like a mascot for Glee Club. We won sectionals two years in a row and according to everyone at this school, we still suck."

"Yeah, and it's my first Christmas with a family that actually cares about the holidays, and acknowledges my presence." She gestured to Finn who nodded. " It's good to not be alone. Still we manage to get slushied very often." Haley added.

"I'm pretty sure they just added food coloring to real slush from the parking lot." Tina added, referring to her and Haley being slushied earlier that morning.

"No. I am not gonna let you guys throw yourselves a pity party." Mr. Schue said. "Look, I'm the first one to say that things haven't turned out exactly how I would have liked them to this year. But Christmas is all about being grateful for the things that did."

"I thought that was Thanksgiving." Finn said, very confused. Haley giggled at his comment.

"And this year Glee Club is gonna lend a hand to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Children and Youth Program right here in Lima." Mr. Schue said.

"Wait. Classrooms in this school with students in them?" Tina asked, basically the question everyone was wanting to ask.

"Well if there are no students in them there will be no one to put money in the collection box while we sing." Mr. Schue clarified.

"We're gonna be killed." Quinn said quietly.

"Plus we are risking our dignity by public humiliation." Haley added.

"And One Tree Hill is still on air." Santana added to Haley and Quinn's concerns. They giggled.

"No, guys, it's Christmas, a time for miracles." Finn spoke up. "We gotta try this."

"Finn's right." Mr. Schue said. :So let's start rehearsing. This year, Glee Club's going full Santa."

----

It wasn't a surprise when their caroling went awry. It resulted in the New Directions making a run for the door, in order to avoid being hit by things.

"I can't believe that that teacher let those students speak to us like that." Rachel said annoyed.

"I can't believe she threw her shoe at us." Puck added.

"It was very disrespectful. Frankly, one part of me was surprised and the other part of me knew something was going to go wrong.." Haley said aloud.

"We almost died." Brittany commented.

"I guess we're done caroling." Tina sighed.

"No, we're not. Guys, we can't let what just happened ruin our Christmas spirit. Mr. Schue got us this beautiful tree to inspire us. We're gonna practice now and gear up for round two tomorrow." Finn announced.

"Pretty soon, no will bully us." Brittany commented. "Santa Claus can do anything and this year I asked for the Glee Club to stop getting picked on."

"She's kidding right?" Lauren asked, cleary as shocked as everyone else.

Artie wheeled away from Brittany, motioning for the others to group around.

"Guys, this is serious. Listen up, Brittany still believes in Santa Claus."

"You cannot be serious." Mercedes said, surprised

"Last week, Brittany believed a comb had magic powers. This is a kind of pattern." Sam pointed out.

"She believes dinosaurs are existent in the clouds. She also said that she thinks they are working to kick their ecstasy problem." Haley added.

"She's gonna find out sooner or later." Quinn said.

"Okay. Somebody needs to break the news to her." Lauren said, as everyone turned to look at Puck who shook his head.

"Don't look at me. I'm cruel and all, but that's just hard-core."

"Right? That's my point. Hear me out. Remember when you were a kid, how excited you would get when you would think about Santa Clause, how awesome it was? Christmas was the highlight of the year. Why wouldn't you wanna keep someone's world magical for a little while longer?" Artie asked.

"How?" Mike asked.

"I've got it all figured it out." Artie assured the group.

----

"Don't get me wrong. I love Brittany, but I'm not keen on doing this." Haley admitted to the group as they were waiting in line, watching Brittany converse with one of the elf's.

"I'm not sitting on that guy's lap. Santas' laps are always really warm, and it's creepy." Quinn agreed.

"We all have to sit on Santa's lap. If Brittany sees that we all still believe it'll make her strong enough to withstand all the Santa naysayers in the world." Artie insisted.

"Which is everyone over the age of six." Sam pointed out. "I mean, not even my brother believes in it anymore."

"I never believed in him, just like I never believed in fairytale creatures or tooth fairies." Haley said, exaggerating to make her point.

"I'm pretty sure this isn't gonna work." Tina said. "That guy doesn't even look like Santa."

"I mean, it is good that they have diverse racial knowledge." Haley added.

"Trust me. All Brittany's gonna see is the suit. She wants to believe in him." Artie insisted. "Mercedes, get up there." He gave her a shove to move her forward.

"Go, Mercedes! Go, Mercedes. Go." Brittany cheered.

"I've been a very good girl, Santa. I want a pony and a doll that laughs and cries and...One of us smells like McDonald's. Mercedes said disgusted.

One by one, the group began to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what they want in hopes to please Brittany.

"I would like Puckerman to love me. He's a fox." Lauren said. "I would also like sweet potato fries." she added.

"I want bling. I can't be anymore specific." Santana said, about to get up, but then she saw Haley in her peripheral vision. "See that girl?" She pointed at Haley. "I want her to be able to be with Sam." she gestured to Sam as well. "She deserves to be loved, she's been through a lot of unnecessary bull crap her whole life." "Anyways, that's my true wish. Okay, wait. Hold up. Please tell me that is a roll of Certs in your pocket."

"Honestly, to sum this up short, I'm not asking for much. I've endured bull crap my whole life, what I really want is love. True love...Oh and if that isn't retrievable, chocolate and pure happiness would be enough." Haley said, gently.

"Do you have anything for stretch marks?" asked Quinn.

"Chapstick. Lot's of Chapstick." Sam said.

"I want Channing Tatum to stop being in stuff." Mike said.

"When does Asian Santa arrive?" asked Tina.

Finally it was Brittany's turn, and she to say she was excited, was a genuine understatement.

"Ho, ho, ho. What's your name? Santa asked, as Brittany settled down on his lap.

"Brittany." she sent him a smile. "You've gotten really tan." she made an observation.

"That's because at the North Pole, there's a hole in the ozone." Santa responded. Haley turned around to giggle.

"You're amazing." I know you're really busy, so I only want one thing for Christmas. Do you see my boyfriend over there? For Christmas, I want him to be able to walk. You can do that, can't you, Santa?" She asked?

When everyone heard her wish, they gasped. Artie looked at Santa and shook his head.

"Sure, I'm on it." Santa replied.

"Thank you so much, Santa." Brittany squealed.

"Now we're screwed." Artie sighed.

----

As Haley was going through her locker, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and looked up at Sam who smiled at her. Unbeknownst to the both of them, Santana had hung a branch of mistletoe above the lockers. She smirked as she watched the whole thing go down.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey." She replied.

"I know it's a little early, but I kind of overheard what you asked Santa for...So here's your gift." He handed her a box filled with chocolates. "Merry Christmas Haley."

"Thank you so much, Sam. That's really kind of you." she laughed happily, before popping a piece of chocolate in her mouth. She offered one to Sam, which he declined.

In unison, they both looked up above the lockers and saw mistletoe hanging.

"Huh, that's weird, I could have sworn it wasn't there before." Haley coughed awkwardly, knowing very well who to go find after their chat.

"Uh, yeah." He replied not knowing what to do, he quickly leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on her cheek. At this gesture, they both laughed and turned red.

To break up the silence, Haley then remembered that she got him something for Christmas.

"Oh, that reminds me...I bought you a gift too. Overheard you talking to Santa as well. Merry Christmas Sam" she handed him her wrapped gift.

He grinned down at her as he unwrapped it pulling out the chapsticks. "Thanks Hay, I have to go, but Merry Christmas again." he said, before walking off to find Quinn, ignoring the same weird feelings in his stomach.

"Merry Christmas." She responded before turning to walk the other direction. Even though she was grateful for his gift, it wasn't what she really wanted. As she walked down the empty hallway, she began to sing.

{I'D LIKE YOU FOR CHRISTMAS-SUNG BY HALEY ALDRIN}

----

Later on, the New Directions stood in the choir room. Each of them was shocked as they saw that the decorations had either been stolen or damaged.

"They took everything." Mercedes said, sadness evident in her voice.

Haley wore an upset expression as she crouched down to pick up some broken ornaments.

"Including all of Sue's Secret Santa gifts we were gonna give to the homeless kids." Tina added.

"Only further proof that everyone in this school hates us no matter what we do."

"Don't be so negative Rachel." Haley muttered.

"It's not the school." Mr. Schue announced. "It's Sue. She did this."

"It wasn't Sue." Brittany argued. "How wasn't this coach Sylvester's fault? It was Santa. A light was out in the tree. He'd fix everything. We need to let him do this thing." she added.

"O-kay." Mr. Schue said, unsure of what to add. "Are you sure Santa was a boy and not a girl, Brittany?"

"I swear on my life. Santa's a boy. Everybody knows that." Brittany clarified.

"It could've been one of the boys from the football team." Haley suggested.

"So our tree is gone. So our presents are missing." Finn said.

"Santa's probably fixing any dents or chips as we speak." Brittany pointed out.

"All around the world today way worse things have happened to people than this." Finn continued, ignoring Brittany's previous comment. "Sorry, but I'm not gonna let this get us down. Tis the season." He finished.

"I agree. Come on, guys. Let's clean this up. Come on." Mr. Schue said.

----

The next day during glee club, the group had made a decision. They were going to try to raise money for kids, but none of them were excited about the cost of the decision.

"This was my dad's." Finn said, holding a watch.

"He'd want you to do it... For those kids." Mike encouraged him.

"This was my uncle's." Puck held up a watch. "It's the first thing I ever stole actually."

Across the room, the girls were complaining about the cost they'd have to pay.

"I'm gonna look terrible." Quinn mumbled, holding her ponytail protectively.

"Shut up." Tina said. "With your bone structure, you could rock Rosemary's Baby look and still look good. I'm gonna look like Jackie Chan."

"I'm going to look like freakin Lily Aldrin from How I Met Your Mother..." Haley muttered. "However, I can pull it off, even though my hair isn't auburn, it's the gesture that matters."

"If Barbara can pull off a bob, so can I." Rachel said to herself.

"Oh my godddd, I don't like this." Haley said, shaking whenever she went to cut her hair.

"Enough complaining, let's do this." Santana urged the girls to finally cut their hair.

However, before they could cut their hair, Mr. Schue walked into the room.

"Whoa! What are you guys doing? He asked, shocked.

"We're going all Gift of the Magi to raise money to buy homeless kids those school supplies." Mercedes explained.

"The guys are gonna sell their watches, and the girls are going to sell off their hair." Sam added.

"You can't do that." Mr. Schue said.

"No, it's cool. Most of this isn't mine anyway." Santana shrugged.

"No, I mean, that's not the answer. There are other ways to raise money at Christmas time." He replied.

"No, but we tried caroling, and it didn't work." Rachel complained.

"Wait. I thought you and Finn were getting us the new tree." Artie said to Rachel.

She rolled her eyes as she responded. "We went, but Finn bailed before we could get one."

"Nice Christmas spirit, Finn." Brittany said annoyed.

"Wait. Guys no more fighting. Have any of you ever actually read Gift of the Magi? None of you?

"You don't have to read Gift of the Magi. Everybody knows what it's about." Quinn commented.

"Well, if you actually read it, you'd know what it's about." Mr. Schue said.

"Yeah, I know what it's about: life freaking sucks." Santana rolled her eyes.

"Actually, you're right. The first Christmas you remember having is the greatest day of your life. Your family's all together. There are loads of presents, cookies. The magic is alive and well. But before you know it, you grow up. Work and school and girlfriends take over and Christmas becomes more of an obligation. A reminder of what's lost instead of what's possible. And all the trees and the presents and even the mistletoe can't change that. And then when you get to my age you're so desperate to get that magic back...You'd do anything to be able to feel how you did that first Christmas." He explained.

"What are we going to do?" Haley asked.

"Put your scissors down. Put your watches back on. We're gonna go out and find some people who really need some Christmas spirit. And we are gonna sing for them."

----

The New Directions stood in the teacher's lounge preparing to sing.

"Hey. Uh, so we're your students. All year long you suffer through dealing with us. I imagine having some of us in your classes would slowly chip away at your hopes and dreams until the whole world just felt like a never-ending nightmare of pain." Finn rambled.

"Get to the point, Finn." Mr. Schue interrupted.

"Right." Uh, anyway, we're here today to help raise money for children that have a lot less than we do. And I know some of us have had a hard Christmas. But what we've come to learn is that no matter how tough things get there isn't anything that more Santa or a couple more jingle bells can't cure." Finn said.

{WELCOME CHRISTMAS-SUNG BY THE NEW DIRECTIONS}

----

After performing for the teachers, the New Directions were making their way back to the choir room.

"So, how much did we raise?" asked Finn.

"210 bucks. And that's after my cut." Puck said. This caused everyone to look at him with glaring facial expressions. "I'm kidding." He raised his hands in surrender.

They were surprised to see Artie Abrams standing and walking. So his legs were attached to some big machine...but he was taking some steps with Brittany by his side.

"Artie" Haley said gently.

"It's called a ReWalk. Some guy in Israel invented it. I can't use it all the time but...Check me out."

"Was it a Christmas gift?" she asked.

"I didn't buy it." Brittany responded. "We went home, and it was sitting under my Christmas tree." Brittany explained with a bright smile.

"How the hell could you afford that thing?" Sam asked as he walked to stand close to Haley, who sent him a small smile.

"I didn't know what it was...I thought it was a Transformer." she ignored his question and continued talking.

"So if no one we know bought it for you, then..."

"Santa brought it." Brittany finished Rachel's sentence. Everyone looked shocked.

"Santa." smiled Mercedes.

"Santa." agreed Artie.

"A real Christmas miracle." Haley whispered, as the group nodded in agreement. Little did they know that Coach Beiste watched them from a distance. Her heart and smile filled with joy, knowing that her gesture had made the group very happy.

••••

Here's another favorite:)

The Sue Sylvester Shuffle, Silly Love Songs, and Comeback are coming later.