“Good morning, Mr. Yates!” Carolanne, his part-time assistant since he started as city manager seven years ago, looked as though she’d studied 1950s secretary fashion and planned her look accordingly. Her hair, a not-found-in-nature red, was teased into a bouffant that added another three inches to her petite five-feet-one-inch. Today she wore a yellow and black dress with a ribbon around her middle. She resembled a bumble bee, the way she buzzed into his office carting the mail.

“Morning, Carolanne,” Noah said, wincing at the volume of her tone. He rubbed his forehead and wished he’d thought to down an aspirin or seven before leaving the house. Humming some Christmas carol, she set about firing up the ancient coffee pot and opening the envelopes and packages with exuberance.

Noah rubbed his temples and considered throwing up.

There was a knock that had him opening one eye.

“Good morning, Noah!” Rubin Turnbar and Imani Greene, two of the most excitable town council members, practically skipped into Noah’s office.

“Morning. What can I do for you two?” Noah asked, hoping he didn’t look as hungover as he felt.

Rubin and Imani shared a conspiratorial look. They were an odd pairing, a drycleaner owner and a dance instructor with a twenty-year age difference between them. Rubin and his wife were staunch conservatives in every sense of the word, but he’d bonded with Imani and her pottery-making wife. The foursome enjoyed a weekly dinner together in town where they brainstormed ways to make Merry even merrier.

“Well,” Imani began gleefully. “Since the Reno and Realty Network seems to be picking up the tab for a lot of the cleanup and renovations around town, Rubin and I would like to put these back on the table for discussion.”

She handed Noah a printout and he found himself staring at a pole mounted light up reindeer. Rudolph just wouldn’t die.

Noah had yet to break it to the council that the five-foot snowflakes that had adorned Merry’s downtown streetlamps for the last fifteen years had met their bitter end in three feet of mud and icy water.

“These are five hundred dollars apiece,” Noah noted. Doing the math made the dull throb of his headache even worse.

“A bargain,” Rubin nodded enthusiastically. Clearly the man didn’t know what bargain meant.

“They’re LED,” Imani said, tapping the picture with a long purple fingernail.

“And the noses light up red,” Rubin announced.

Oh, well then. That’s worth the fifteen-grand right there, Noah thought miserably.

“They are certainly festive,” Noah agreed, clearing his throat. “How about you leave this with me, and I’ll look into them?” he suggested.

“Sure thing,” Rubin agreed.

“Question,” Imani added. “Do you know if the show plans to do the downtown window competition?”

Noah rubbed his forehead. “I can check on that and get back to you.”

“Great! Because my students came up with the perfect idea for a mural,” Imani chirped.