“That’s Big Ben.”

“Big Ben? You’re kidding, right?”

“Well, why not? He’s as tall as I am, ain’t he?”

“Taller, actually.”

“So there ya’ go.”

“Okay…” She paused then scrunched her brow as incredulity crept into her voice. “But you named them?”

“Not all of ‘em. Just some of ‘em.”

“I worry about you sometimes.”

“Yeah, whatever. Look again. I did more’n just move Big Ben,” he said, pointing at the mantle. “I swapped the two on the ends, and moved Sparky…”

“Sparky?”

“The fireman.”

“Oh.”

“So, anyway, then I rearranged all those small guys in the middle too. See?”

“Oh…” she said, a not quite hidden chuckle in her voice. “Well, I hate to say it, but other than the tall… I mean, Big Ben, it all looks the same to me.”

“The same?” he blurted, disbelief underscoring the words. “I’ve been movin’ ‘em for half an hour. You’re not very observant for a Feeb, are ya’?”

“Give me a break. There must be seventy of them for God’s sake. Any more and we wouldn’t even be able to see the Christmas tree.”

His tone turned momentarily boastful as he pointed at the middle of the front row. “Seventy my ass. There’re a hundred and twenty-two countin’ the new guy there.”

“He have a name?”

“Not yet. Still thinkin’ about it.”

“I see. Well, suffice it to say you just made my case for me.”

“But the same?” he groused. “You’re kiddin’ me, right? It doesn’t look the same.”

She shrugged. “Sorry, but it does to me.”

“Dammit…” Ben muttered then huffed out a heavy sigh as he began to point. “Well, okay… So, what if I put Big Ben over there instead, and then put all the…”

Constance cut him off before he could continue. “Ben, relax, will you? They look just fine the way they are… And they looked fine when you started this… And they even looked fine when you set them up three week ago.”