With Christmas approaching, Demon worries Coach Winfield will decide he does not belong in the house. While Demon and Angus clean clogged gutters on the old, leaky roof, Demon quizzes Angus about Christmas traditions and learns Coach avoids the holiday because it connects to the timing of Angus’s mother’s death. Demon and Angus compare how they carry grief: Demon feels his mother’s death as an everyday burden, while Angus treats her mother’s absence as an abstract, distant fact.

Demon tries to talk Angus into smoking pot to make the work easier, but Angus refuses, explaining her asthma and how strong emotions have sent her to the hospital before. Demon presses the case for celebrating anyway, arguing Christmas is about anticipation and gifts, not religion. Angus hesitates out of loyalty to Coach, but Demon convinces her they can do their own version without involving him.

Demon and Angus secretly cut and steal a cedar tree from Creaky’s place and haul it home with U-Haul’s help. With no proper decorations, they improvise, hanging spoons, candy, CDs, pretzels, and old earrings, turning the tree into a proud, ridiculous symbol of their rebellion and friendship. Unable to wait, they open presents early: Angus gives Demon comics (including a manga about a boy searching for his father), carefully chosen clothes aimed at making Demon look like a “popular kid,” and a ship-in-a-bottle that symbolizes escaping impossible odds.

Demon gives Angus pawnshop finds and, most importantly, a framed portrait he draws of her as a superhero—“Black Leather Angel”—capturing her piercing, truth-seeing presence. With Mattie Kate away visiting her child, the two teenagers spend days eating leftover holiday food, wearing their new gifts, and bingeing TV, and Demon feels he has briefly stepped off his usual path of hardship. Demon also recognizes why stealing the tree mattered so much: returning to Creaky’s property lets Demon feel a rare sense of power over the place and memories that once crushed him.

A few days after Christmas, Coach Winfield calls Demon into his cluttered office. Demon expects punishment, but Coach instead evaluates Demon’s work ethic and attitude, warns him that talent is useless without obedience, and stresses that teams depend on followers who do their assigned jobs. Coach decides Demon can keep living with him and promises to speak with Coach Briggs about bringing Demon into JV practice next fall, opening a concrete future for Demon through football.