The Perfect Christmas Present

On December 12th at precisely 1:13 p.m.,

snow falls on Chicago.

A single snowflake is birthed from a cumulonimbus cloud

10,000 feet above Lincoln Park.

It doesn't reach the ground for 45 minutes.

At 1:58, the snowflake lands on the cheek of Edith Struit.

For their 50th anniversary,

her husband, Irv, brings to life

Edith's most prized treasure.

The music box her mother gave them

on the night of their wedding.

Five miles away, Martin Hamilton awaits a visit

from his sister, Clara,

with whom he's been estranged for the past ten years.

She gives him a black Labrador Retriever.

The same dog Martin lost eight months prior.

Returned to his master

as if not a single day had passed.

Along the Gold Coast, Louis and Christina Selter

lead their 12-year-old son, Matthew,

on what he believes is a moonlight stroll.

Too sick to go to Space Camp,

Matthew has spent the past week holed up in his room

reading Air And Space Magazine.

He's filled with joy when he discovers

a gleaming new telescope aimed directly at the star

that's been named after him.

A small piece of the universe that belongs to him,

but is shared with everyone in the universe.

And in a smart-and-tastefully-done house

in the desirable West Chicago,

Tom Jacobs checks his phone and smiles,

who is the architect of these dreams come true.

If he does his job well, they'll never know.

And for Tom, that's all it is, a job,

one he happens to be very good at.

I should know because I'm him.

I'm always able to find the perfect gift

no matter the occasion,

but Christmas is my specialty.

That's how I earned my nickname, Mr. Christmas.

Oh, I forgot how much I love Chicago.

You know, there's so much character here,

so much history.

You know, there's a lot of history at home, too, so...

Okay, what LA considers historic

is an 80-year-old hotdog stand.

Hey, uh, I'm really glad you're here.

I know it was a, a big ask,

you missing holidays with your family.

Okay, I told you a million times.

-Don't worry about it. -All right.

-Seriously, I want to be here. -All right, all right.

Besides, I get to experience snow during Christmas again.

-That's true. That's true. - Oh, pizza.

We should do a walking pizza tour.

Come on, tonight, after the movie?

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I just, I gotta, I gotta swing by home.

-Before the movie, okay? -Okay.

'Cause I have that conference call in... 25 minutes.

-I gotta go. -Oh, okay.

-I gotta go. Bye. -All right, bye.

Okay, I'll pick you up at 2:00!

I'll get the tickets!

Soy cappuccino for Mr. Christmas.

Have you moved on to New Year's yet?

Yeah, Christmas is all wrapped up.

Lovely to see you, Victoria.

I knew I'd find you here.

Why a man of your acumen would choose to work

in such a quaint place, I will never understand.

-Yes, I'm sure that's true. -

Have a seat. To what do I owe the pleasure?

Oh, I just wanted to let you know

that the gift you got for mother was a raving success.

I haven't seen her happy like that in ages.

And getting her out of the country

for an entire season?

I didn't realize I would be getting a gift

out of this deal, as well.

I can't thank you enough.

I'm glad you're happy, but a simple phone call

would have been sufficient.

And how would I have seen that handsome face?

Besides, social graces compel me

to invite you over for dinner in person.

Dinner?

I told you I'm very appreciative.

-I wanna thank you. -

Your ample fee was payment enough.

Oh, nonsense. Let a lady treat you to a proper meal.

You'll come, won't you?

You didn't make me come all the way down here

just to be shot down?

How can I miss it?

Wonderful. How's Saturday?

We can eat at mother's, and with her being gone,

it'll just be the two of us in that great, big house.

And the staff.

Oh, Tom. They don't count.

Well, I'm off. No rest for the divine.

I will see you Saturday.

-Enjoy your coffee. -Thank you. I will.

- Paul? Hello? -

Are you in there?

Paul? Hello? Hm.

Paul.

Hey, what's the deal?

I've been upstairs ringing the doorbell for ten minutes.

-Sorry. Five minutes. Tops. -Oh. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, we'll get it done. We'll get it done.

End day. Yeah, yeah.

Sure. Sure, sure, whatever you need.

-Whatever you need. -Oh.

Yeah, well, he's not the center of the universe

and he needs to understand that.

Jimbo. Obviously.

No, no, no, I love you. You're beautiful.

You're beautiful.

Yeah, end of day?

I'm sorry, this is nowhere near done.

No, it's fine. Handle your business.

Yeah. You should...

You should go to the movie without me

and I'll catch up with you after.

Okay, and we can do the,

the, uh, pizza thing.

No, you know what, it's...

Hey, it's not even a problem.

I should be at home packing, anyway.

Okay, yeah, no, no, no, Jim, I'm right here.

Yeah, yeah, Jim. Yeah, Jim.

I'm right here with you.

-Love you. -Love you.

Yeah.

Look, we're making lemonade. Okay?

Yeah, yeah, if you need to move that deadline up, we got it.

Hundo percento.

- - Yeah, obviously.

Max, take a deep breath.

We still have a couple of months before Valentine's Day.

That is plenty of time. Trust me.

I do this for a living.

I've been working on the questions, Tom.

Great, all right, well, you just worry about

filling out a profile and I'll handle the rest.

-I'm relying on you. -Okay.

-Talk to you later. Bye. -Okay. Bye.

No way. Who is it?

- Hey, it's Paul. -Paul?

-Tom Jacobs. -Paul?

Tau Sig.

-Sure. Uh, Tau Sig. -Nice. Can I come in?

-So you wanna hire me? -Yes.

How did you find out about me?

Tau Sig, man. You should really think about advertising.

I never would've found you otherwise.

You know the old saying, "It's the thought that counts"?

Well, now, the perfect gift becomes a lot less perfect

when the recipient finds out

that the gift actually came from the guy

whose face is on a bus stop.

So your clients get the perfect gift and all the credit?

-That's the idea. -Good.

Paul, I kinda have a rule about not taking on people as clients

who I have a relationship with.

It-it can get personal. It can get messy.

Look, man, I really need your help.

Okay, just look at her.

Her name is Jenny.

-Wow! -I know, right?

I'm crazy about her.

And i-it's only been a year

and-and she moved out to Chicago a little after me.

And, yeah, we're not living together.

And that's fine, I get it.

Space, independent lives, et cetera, et cetera,

but things have been...

Things have been a little tense recently.

And w-we're kind of in, uh...

-Some sort of rut? -Okay.

And I'm looking for that grand gesture,

you know, t-to get things back on track

'cause I don't think I'm gonna do better than this.

I need a gift, man.

I'm looking for the Christmas gift.

That is less than three weeks away.

That is not enough time, man.

-Sorry. -Please?

-I'll think about it. -Thank you.

But I'm not making any promises.

Heard.

All right, well, before I decide to take you on...

you need to fill out one of these.

-What is it? -This is Jenny in a nutshell.

That's step one.

And if I decide it's a good fit, then we go on from there.

People are remarkably simple.