October Road: Deck the Howls (Episode 10)

It's Christmas in Knightsridge, apparently they are on a different calendar than the rest of us, and a big snow storm is on its way. Physical Phil is hard at work decorating the Christmas tree and the rest of the house. Nick is grabbing a mid-day drink (it's 5 o'clock somewhere) with Ikey when he spots Aubrey at the bar. They get on the subject of Christmas which brings up good and bad memories for Nick. The good being that he loves Christmas, but the bad being that his mom died around Christmas time. Owen and his wife are at home decorating the tree trying to be civil with one another. They decide to try to do Christmas together for the kids sake and next thing you know they're in bed together. It appears these two may get back together afterall. Hannah and Janet have just gotten back from grocery shopping. Hannah is fretting about having to do a big Christmas dinner for her parents and Ray and all the kids. She has always wanted to have a big dinner and wants it to be perfect. Janet tells Hannah that she got Eddie the best Christmas present ever, but refuses to tell her what it is. Nick and Owen bring home a Christmas tree, but Nick's dad is clearly not happy about it. He tells him that his brother has a difficult time with Christmas and wants Nick to get rid of the tree before he sees it.

Pizza girl is helping Physical Phil (seriously, who thought of these character names?) decorate the Christmas tree. Her contribution to the tree is a soda can that she made look like a reindeer. This leads the two on a debate of whether Santa's reindeer are male or female. Do we care? No. Pizza girl questions whether she should cancel her trip back home and stay with Phil to meet his parents, but he encourages her to go home. As soon as she leaves Eddie comes downstairs and he and Phil start ripping the house apart. What for you ask? You have no idea. As Phil is having dinner with his parents there is a knock at the door. Guess who? Surprise, it's pizza girl! Apparently the winter storm was too bad so she decided not to go to her parents afterall. Phil isn't too excited to see her and she is confused at why there are blueprints thrown all over the house. After meeting his parents she connects all the dots and realizes that Phil's parents have no idea that he is a shut in. He's led them to believe this whole time that he's an architect. Over dinner Phil's parents ask pizza girl what her life plans are and she tells them about her hobby of turning garbage into cool little things. When his parents start making cracks about pizza girl's hobby Phil can't take it any more and tells them that he hasn't left the house in six years. They're shocked to say the least. He then explains to them about his inability to leave the house after September 11th. His dad tells him that he's a coward, and Phil agrees with him. His mom doesn't understand why he lied to them, he tells her that she wanted an architect so for the last six years he's given her an architect. After Phil's parents go to sleep he tells pizza girl that he finally told them the truth because he wanted her to be proud of him and they kiss.

Per his dad's request, Nick goes to get rid of the Christmas tree, but just as he's taking it outside he meets his brother. Nick tells him what their dad said, but his brother is confused because he has no issues with Christmas except that ever since their mom died they haven't celebrated it, so he doesn't even really remember what Christmas is all about. After bringing the Christmas tree back in the house, Nick and his brother talk about their mom and memories. Nick's dad comes back from grocery shopping and Nick confronts him about Christmas and their mom. His dad gets really upset and won't talk to Nick. Later after Owen finds a santa outfit at their house he leaves to go spend time with his family, but before he leaves he gives them a cassette tape that he found with the outfit and it just so happens to be the tape with the last song that Nick's mom and dad danced to just before she died. The song sets off a memory in Nick of him filming his mom and dad dancing and his mom saying that at least they'll have that video to remember her. Until now Nick never knew that his mom knew that she was going to die ahead of time. He puts two and two together and realizes that both his mom and dad knew ahead of time that she was sick and going to die. He gets mad at his dad because he doesn't understand why they didn't tell him, he was 16 at the time and could've at least told his mom goodbye. He storms off out into the cold and snow. While aimlessly walking around town Nick runs into Hannah. He tells her about his mom, Hannah tells him how sorry she is. She helps make him feel better by telling him that he actually got to give his mom the best gift ever which was to know that her kids weren't living in fear, and what is better than that. After that some Christmas carolers come around and as they are singing they hold a mistletoe above Nick and Hannah's heads and tell them they have to kiss. They don't end up kissing, but you can tell they were both considering it.

Janet surprises Eddie with a dog that actually turns out to be a wolf, but she didn't know that. Dog, wolf, whatever, Eddie is far from thrilled. Janet is embarrassed and afraid that she's screwed things up with Eddie. I really want these two to stick it out together because it's clear that they make a good couple, but I think Janet has some insecurity issues that she needs to deal with first. It seems like she's always nervous that somehow she's going to mess things up with Eddie because she doesn't think she's good enough. So, she goes back to Hannah's and tells her about the ordeal. Hannah finds it pretty funny and helps calm Janet down. Ray has some slightly bad news for Hannah, apparently the mom of his twins wants to have the kids for the night, so he has to run them to her in the snow storm. Meanwhile, Janet is trying to figure out how she should make things better with Eddie. Hannah advises her to just let things go and tells her that sometimes people screw up, it's better to know now if they can handle these little fights. As Janet is helping Hannah set the table for dinner Eddie calls and asks to meet Janet. After Janet leaves Hannah's parents call and cancel due to the bad weather. This leaves Hannah's big deal down to just her, Sam, and Ray. When Janet meets with Eddie he has a present for her which is a bracelet with her middle name engraved. She surprises him with another present as well which he likes much more than the dog-wolf; it's tomato soup and hot chocolate. He then asks if she'll ride with him to plow roads all night, and she tells him that is exactly what she'd like to do.

Like everyone else in Knightridge, Alison's Christmas Eve isn't going according to plan. After she gets done with some last minute Christmas shopping she finds herself stuck in town, her car is stuck in the snow and her cell phone won't work. The one person in town who Alison really shouldn't be seen with is of course the one who stops to help, and that would be Ikey. He offers a ride home which she stupidly accepts. You know this isn't going anywhere good, and it doesn't. As Owen is walking home in the santa outfit he sees Ikey drop her off which of course makes him wonder if they're having an affair again.

Christmas Eve ends with Hannah going back home and spending time with Ray and Sam around the fireplace. Janet and Eddie spend the night together riding around plowing roads. Nick, his brother and dad sitting around their fireplace talking about memories of their mom. And, as the camera pans out from Nick's house we see Owen sitting by himself in the snow. Clearly he and Alison aren't going to be getting back together anytime soon after this.

For all of you on Knightsridge calendar, Merry Christmas! And, for those of you on the real calendar you've got 12 days till Christmas, so get shopping!