2/15/10 - 2/16/10

I wrote this one right after I wrote the Valentine's Day one. (: I hope you like it. D: Ugh. It was super long ... and apparently I had read that part in The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer a while ago! The whale part .. (you'll know when you read it, what I'm talking about .. ) ENJOY! R&R?

----

"Christmas!" I said, squealing happily. "The snow's falling down, Christmas ... we're watching it fall ... " I began to hum the tune to the popular song. My good friend, Brianna, was humming her own little tune of O, Christmas Tree, whilst attempting to thread popcorn onto a red string.

Oh, popcorn balls, oh, popcorn balls. How crunchy are your fillings. Oh, popcorn balls, oh, popcorn balls. How dare you break in my hands? You really are .... a pain to make. You really are ... a great big mistake. Oh, popcorn balls, oh, popcorn balls. How am I to finish?

I snorted at my assortment of lyrics that Brianna had put to song. What a pair we made.

"Charlotte," I looked up at the voice. I laughed loudly when I saw Jasper was unhappily wearing a Santa hat. "Please do hurry."

"Oh, don't be so grumpy." I said, "Mr. Curmudgeon, please smile. It's fun! It's Christmas!" I threw up the tinsel I had been holding and it floated gracefully back down to the floor. "Christmas," I began matter-of-factly, "Is a wonderful time, full of song and dance."

"No ... " Brianna began, looking up from her popcorn string, "That's St. Patrick's Day."

I giggled. "Oh, yeah." I looked back at Jasper who was frowning. "Please, Jasper?"

He sighed a reluctant sigh. "Fine." He turned around as I jumped in the air and Brianna pumped her fist, shouting 'Yea!'. He walked out of the room and into the kitchen. Alban appeared in the doorway.

"Hey hey," he said, smiling. "I heard you two needed help with decorations."

"Ah, yes, my interior decorator friend." I waved him in, "Come on, come in." He walked over to the large, and bare, conifer tree setting up near the corner, between the two walls of windows, where Brianna was sitting.

"Nice tree." he commented.

"Yeah! This is the first living tree I've had," I said, smiling at him. "So I'm going to make this a very special Christmas!" I puffed out my cheeks and closed my eyes. "Isn't that right, Baby Brianna?"

She rolled her dark eyes. "Yeah, whatever." She inhaled sharply, "Oww ... " I looked down to see that she had poked her index finger with the needle. "That hurts ... "

"Ooh .. I'm sorry." I knelt down. I began to ask her if she wanted a bandage when a thought passed through my mind. I turned to look at Alban, who was staring at Brianna's finger. "Alban, leave."

"Hmm?" He asked, though his eyes never once left the small appendage. "What?"

"Alban. Leave. Now."

"Yeah ... huh ... funny ... " he said, as if in a trance. I stood up and pressed his face between my hands, jerking his head to the side so he looked at me. He kept trying to look over.

"Noooooo, Albaaannn." I turned his head to the side. "Leave her alone."

"I -- "

"Charlotte." I looked over at Jasper.

"Huh?"

"Come here, please."

"Yeah, .... " I paused to look at Alban, whom was grinning at me. I walked over to Jasper. I noticed he had removed his Santa hat. Fun spoiler. "What?"

"Once you finish decorations, we're all going to the department store for gift shopping. Are you going?"

Department store? Pricey. "Um, sure. I have no money though." I stuck my hands in my denim jean pockets, "So you're going to have to vouch for me." I smiled sweetly. He sighed.

"Please just finish. It's getting late." I looked over at the round clock hanging on the wall.

"It's only 2."

"Yes, well ... " He turned and walked off, not finishing his sentence.

"Rude." I said. I walked back to the bare tree, sitting down next to Brianna and Alban. The German fellow had taken refuge from me under the tree, lying on his side, with his legs stretched out. He obviously didn't get the concept of hiding. Brianna had finished one popcorn string and was now starting on star shaped ornaments.

I handed Alban a black magic marker and a piece of blank paper, telling him, "Go crazy."

Bad choice of words because he stared at me then began to nibble on the cap of the marker and fold the paper into odd shapes.

I slid a cardboard box over to myself and pulled the four flaps open, revealing an assortment of decor. I pulled out one long plastic tube with six round ornaments in it, all of them a bright and shiny blue color. I sighed happily. I loved Christmas.

Mr. Breytenbach, who seemed more of a child than an undisclosed age, popped the lid off of the marker and began to color on his creased paper. I pried the plastic covering of the tube off and emptied out the six glass ornaments, handing two to Alban and two to Brianna. I did the same with the red, gold, green and silver ones. We each had ten now. Thirty ornaments. That wasn't enough. Luckily! There were more in the box.

Orange, purple, grey (much less shiny than silver, mind you), maroon, glittery snow white, crimson, burnt caramel and summer grass. (I was reading the labels -- don't blame me!) That was two, four, six, eight ... sixteen more, each. Making it a grand total of ... Ten plus sixteen is ... twenty six ... twenty six times three ... is ... 26 + 26 is ... 52 ... plus twenty six .... 78! Seventy eight ornaments! Hopefully that would work. Although ... it was a tall tree ....

"Brianna."

"Huh?"

"Make more popcorn strings."

"Eh!?"

-----

We had finished decorating half of the tree (the bottom half, which was what we could reach) will globes, toys, fake presents and strings. Tinsel draped from the sharp branches, brushing the ground in graceful silvery and gold moves, reflecting off of the light coming from the setting sun that peered through the large windows. Aside from the rest of the tree (which would include handmade ornaments, pictures, things from childhood and, of course, the star (which was actually an angel)), we needed lights. Lots of lights. Thousands of lights. Okay, maybe not that many. But, still, a lot.

And we only had three strings of them. And it barely finished half of the tree. What were we to do? Shopping, of course!

Once I had written a list containing things such as lights, sugar, caramel (the decorations made me hungry), baking chocolate, candy canes, gifts, eggs, and poinsettias, we were off!

Actually we were stuffed into Jasper's red Volvo (which perfectly matched the season!) and began the hectic journey from the Völkerwanderung Apartment Buildings (previously named Nan's Apartments) to the large department store across town. What a rush! What a ride! What a ... pain.

The entire city was covered in lights. Snow floated down in thin curtains, coating the sidewalk that was overrun with shoppers. Icicles hung from the precipices of roofs of the buildings, and water dripped from the green eaves at small restaurants. The street was packed with drivers, all honking angrily at the traffic jam that was inevitable this time of year. Every store and restaurant was overcrowded, overflowing, over-packed or overbooked, and it wasn't even Christmas Eve! People walked around with ten, twenty shopping bags on their arms, proudly displaying the company or brand names that sold more stock than anyone else. (Or at least claimed to.)

Red bags, white bags, gold and yellow bags. All of them had silver or black script on them, large and small, wide and thin. Emblems were stamped onto boxes and crates that crowded walkways. People shook their fists angrily (among other disgruntled expressions) and screamed at others.

It was just a typical evening here. I sighed and leaned my face against the glass window, breathing out so it fogged up. I pulled back to see my face print where fog hadn't gotten and giggled. I began to use my fingers to draw on the window. Along with smilie faces, peace signs, a funny looking Christmas tree and a present, I wrote: Merry Christmas Chuck! across the top of the window. Jasper glanced back.

"Don't write on my windows."

"Don't write on my windows," I said in a mocking voice. I turned to look at him, "You should lighten up -- it's Christmas!" I smiled and threw my hands up, doing the entire jazz hand routine. I noticed he wasn't smiling. "Right ... " I said, dropping my hands and turning back to the window. "Right .. " I used the sleeve of my red sweater to wipe off the window.

The car crawled along slowly, inching forward. It took nearly an hour and a half to get to the department store, which would have been a twenty minute drive at most on a good day.

We found a "compact" parking spot between a delivery truck and an SUV (which both were most certainly NOT compact) and squeezed out of the car. I think I accidentally brushed the car's door against the side of the delivery truck. Since I was on the passenger's side, I was walking with Liev and Brianna (who had been in the middle). On the other side of the car was Jasper and Alban. We walked through the snow covered parking lot, our shadows made by the bright yellow streetlights danced on the pavement. It took five minutes to get from our spot in the parking lot across to the sliding doors of the front of the building, which opened when we walked up.

I stepped inside and was blasted by a rush of hot air from the blower set above the door. I giggled as my hair blew around my head and whipping my face and back. I stepped forward into the warm building, across the small area used for carts and pinball machines to another set of sliding doors that opened. We, as a group, walked into the huge building.

I looked up to see the ceiling stretched up, large glass chandeliers hanging down and providing light for the entire first floor. Shopping cart after shopping cart passed us, filled with toys, chocolates and figurines. I inhaled deeply, smelling the aroma of cinnamon and sugar, along with cocoa, peppermint and lemon. It was wonderful.

In the center of the first section of the first floor, which was your basic essentials, was a huge Christmas tree, at least thirty feet tall. Thousands of multi-colored lights twinkled, giving off soft glows. The hues of the first floor revolved around Christmas: red, yellow, blue, green and purple. There were small glass ornaments that reflected everything around them hanging from the long branches, along with a string of red lace striped with white. There was a huge red cotton tree skirt at the base of the tree, wrapping around the first few inches of trunk. Sitting atop of this skirt were hundreds of wrapped gifts. Most of them empty and just for promotional use or for the Christmas feeling and effect. Some had names written on them in calligraphy. Probably employees, employees' children or specially ordered gifts from customers.

I looked around the section to see scented candles, flavored bath soaps and colored salts. Basic essentials, eh? I smiled at the wonder Brianna had in her eyes. She had never seen something so big. And I hadn't either, until I told Jasper I needed another shirt for painting and had brought me here. $28 dollars for a dress shirt I was just going to destroy with acrylics!

Jasper tapped my shoulder, turning me around. "Ja?" I asked in a German accent. Alban giggled.

"You're going upstairs?"

"What? I'm not dead."

Brianna giggled.

"With Brianna," he said, "and Alban."

"Oh, yeah. Okay." I had forgotten why we were here in the first place.

"Well," he dug through his pocket and pulled out a thin black wallet. There couldn't have been that much money in there. Credit cards? Oy. How would I work it? Numbers ... "You needed money." He opened the wallet and pulled out five new bills. He handed them to me. Five dollars? Twenty-five? Fifty? I looked down to see that each and every one was a 100 dollar bill. Did they even accept them here?!

"Holy crud."

"What?"

I looked up at the man. "You're stinkin' rich!"

"I'm not rich. I save my money."

"Dude. I save my money, and I have nothing NEAR this. How did you ... ?" I paused. "Oh, yeah. Work."

"No."

I eyed him. " ..... alright, well." I turned to Brianna. "Wanna go upstairs?"

She nodded.

I turned to Alban. "Ready?"

"Ja," he said, smiling, "Let's go!"

We linked arms and began to walk off. But I soon found it difficult so I shoved Alban off and gently let go of Brianna's arm, running down an aisle. The two followed me. I believe Jasper sighed and Liev shook his head. I wasn't sure. I was running too fast.

-----

"The second floor!" I said loudly, standing at the top of an escalator, "floor, floor, floor, floor .... " I added, pretending to be my own echo. Brianna snorted.

"Let's go see the games." she said, pointing to a large white sign that read "Electronics".

"I wanted to see the clothes .... " I said. "But, we can do both." I felt the bills in my jean pocket, smiling. "And we can buy both."

She giggled, "Yeah we can."

I smiled. Soon my smile fell and was replaced by a concentrating look.

"What's wrong?"

" .... I," I began in a loud voice, puffing out my chest, "realized something."

"What? You're a dork?"

All of the breath in my lungs escaped in a "Phhfffft," and I was left a hunched over lump. "No." I stood up, smiling. "We match."

"Huh?" she looked down at her clothes. "Oh, yeah. We do." she smiled.

We both had on light blue jeans, both with missing belt loops, red knitted sweater-shirts and green painted fingernails. It was as if we had gotten dressed together. Or had gone into a machine and were copies of each other. The only things different were our socks (mine were black and white striped knee high, hers were black knee high socks with a white snowflake pattern), our shoes (mine were light brown Ugg-esque boots, hers were the same design, only black), our hair color (brown, and black) and skin color. (I was an olive-skinned, Mediterranean type of person, and she was African American.)

Her unruly black hair was pulled back in a high pony, and mine was set loosely on my shoulders and along my back.

"What?" I began, "I mean, where is Alban?"

"I don't know ... "

We turned around and began to call out for the man. "Alban ... where -- " I turned around to come face-to-face with a pale-skinned bright-eyed man. I yelped and fell back. He tilted his head to the side and stared down.

"What's wrong, Charlotte?"

I blushed and glared. "Stop doing that Alban!"

"Sorry." He helped me stand. I brushed off my jeans and sighed.

"Let's go look at the games." Before I had finished my sentence, Brianna was already halfway there, running past everyone with carts or children, who in turn yelled at her. I began to sprint after her, muttering apologies for my reckless friend. I finally caught up to her and told her to calm down. We were buying gifts for other people, not ourselves, after all.

But once I saw all of the electronics sitting on the shelves, I also began to scan the games for myself. Brianna and I scoured for hours in the section, giggling and laughing and pointing at pictures and titles of games. We sat in the center of the floor, with games all around us. Holding posters advertising iPhones and iPods and iTouches, we were silent as people passed us and our growing stack of toys. We hid behind the paper as the manager passed by, surveying the aisles. I heard him muttering, "As long as they have fun ... and buy something!"

We giggled again.

Exhausted after just our first stop, I sent Alban to get a shopping cart from one of the miniature dispensers at the end of the section. He returned with an empty cart and a confused look on his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"The lady wouldn't give me one." he began, "I had to ask her again."

"I don't get it."

"She said she couldn't give one to a hobo. What's a hobo?"

Brianna stifled a laugh, holding her mouth with her hand. "Ahem."

I blinked. "Umm ... a homeless person during the 1920s and 1930s who went around the United States looking for work ... "

" ... do I look like one?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Yes. You're dressed too nicely." I stood up. Indeed he was. Green velvet pants along with a matching jacket, a deep violet dress shirt, black shoes and a yellow bowtie. I smiled at him. "I love you."

He blushed. "What?"

"WHAT?" Brianna asked with a gasp.

"I-I meant as a brother! Sheesh. You two read too much into things."

"Whatever." my friend said, standing. She giggled, shaking her head. She picked up a few games, "How about these?"

"Yeah, sure. Two." I said, waving it off.

We got six.

------

The entire second floor could be described in one word: Beautiful. Or, wonderful. Depending upon whom you ask.

A lovely bundle of white, gold and silver. The walls were painted a creamy white color that reminded me of marshmallows. In fact, there was a huge section made of cotton puff marshmallows in the shape of an igloo, with a plastic blow-up penguin inside. Not one of the cartoon types, but a realistic looking one. I was impressed.

The rest of the sections were draped in silver tinsel and gold lace. The huge bay windows that sat on either side of the building had white curtains with gold hems, tied halfway up to the side of the window woodwork up the side. Large snowflakes were painted onto the glass, giving everything a very wonderland like feel.

There was another large tree in the middle of this story, only in the middle of the entire floor instead of one section. The lights on this tree was one color: blinking and angelic gold. It gave a soft look to the room, which was also covered in gold. Large -- no, HUGE -- gold colored glass ornaments were hanging from the branches, evenly spaced apart. I was surprised they hadn't fallen to the white tile floor and shattered into a million gold pieces.

Lace and piping lined the white metal shelves of the aisles, along with silver foil that made everything seem a lot more beautiful and elegant than it really was; and a lot more of a need than a want. Which in turn made it a lot more, well ... expensive.

We followed the yellow baking chocolate square road, (which was actually shiny yellow tile with a baker's logo printed on it every so often) which lead to the large bakery and chocolate shop near the back of the floor. Filled with small figurines and moving mechanics, along with a metal train carrying yellow bags of Nestlé's chocolate chips that circled the store, they had displays of chocolate fountains and cakes. Tall stands of pies, cheesecakes, cookies and tarts were placed strategically around the room. Each of the frosted glass plates had small plastic snowflakes and ribbon dripping from it, giving it a sophisticated yet child-like-wonder look.

I felt at home here.

It was wonderful! Long aisles of chocolate, sugar, powders, spices, fruits and nuts were displayed proudly, the shelves stocked full. Brianna looked around the tall ceiling. A wood and glass structure with snowflakes and small elf figures dangling from the cherry colored rafters, hanging down over our heads. Bright bubblegum pink sconces hung on the walls, along with three tall candy-cane striped lamps in the corners and a sky light that let in the deep blue color of the night sky along with a bit of moon. Stars twinkled just as the lights on the trees had. I could imagine the cold air hitting my face and the snow landing in my hair. The lights on the trees outside and the smell and sound of popping chestnuts.

I had never had one, but they sounded good. And they got good reviews. I mean, come on, they were in a song.

A young woman with curly red hair that seemed almost unnatural stood behind the gold marble counter, smiling at us. Along with her cap-sleeved white shirt and red skirt, she had on a red and white striped apron tied at her waist. She also had on red lipstick and white eye shadow, which made her skin appear pale and her eyes turn bright green, almost like celery. In addition to her Christmas-themed clothes, she had on a green elf hat atop of her red crown. She tilted her head to the side.

"Can I help you two?"

I felt happy that someone was paying attention to us. But a bit disappointed since this wasn't the place where I needed assistance.

"No, thank you." I said quietly. "We're just looking."

"Well go ahead and look." She replied sweetly. "Oh, and we have free samples here," she motioned to the plate of chocolate squares on the counter that I hadn't noticed before, "and we're giving away a free year's supply of chocolate in this contest." She held up a sheet of pink paper to fill out.

"Thank you," I said, looking subtly at her nametag that was clipped to her apron. It was bright red with white script. "Carol." Carol. How appropriate.

She smiled. "You're welcome, dear."

Brianna and I began to walk around, soaking in the scent of oranges and vanilla. It was all so tempting, and lovely. I believe we spent a good two hours in there, sampling treats and debating on whether or not to get this cake mix or the next. Alban had waited outside the door with the cart, reading the back of a game. He was very patient. And well behaved.

At first I didn't understand why he didn't want to come into the room, but seeing how he had such a good sense of smell, it could have been a sensory overload and made his head explode, not to mention a terrible headache.

Gathering our silver and gold shopping bags, (I noticed Carol didn't match the scheme of the second floor at all. She must have been an elf for the first floor department Santa) we left the room and set them in the cart. Alban set the game back it the cart. We had spent at least $70 so far.

We pushed our cart, full of unpaid and paid items, towards the section selling clothes and accessories. Brianna and I took another hour trying on outfits. Both matching them and then complete opposites, such as:

We both tried on a strawberry red dress with white trim and quarter length sleeves. Then I tried on a sweater dress with long sleeves made of knitted green yarn, and dark brown boots, while she tried on a milk white sweater and orange skirt that went just to her knees, along with thigh high black socks and white tennis shoes. We giggled as we tried on dresses, sweaters and costumes. Finally, as a I stepped out of the large dressing room, pushing the dark green curtain aside, wearing a dress with a candy pink skirt and yellow bodice and yellow ankle boots along with white stockings, I noticed that three people were waiting at the shopping cart instead of just one.

Alban, along with Jasper and Liev. I blushed and smiled. Brianna came out wearing a costume that looked like it belonged at a Sci-Fi convention. She blushed, frowning.

"What are they doing here?" she asked quietly.

"Um ... making sure we don't run up a tab more than 500 dollars, I assume." I waved lightly, noticing that Jasper was going through the things we had bought, and hadn't. Maybe he couldn't tell the different. My heart skipped a beat once he looked up at me. I mean, he normally was a bit annoying, but that time ... He grinned.

"Sh-Shut up!" I said, storming back into the dressing room. I changed from the dress into my jeans and sweater. I came out, blushing, and walked over to the cart.

"I didn't say anything," he stated with a smile once I passed him.

I turned to Alban. "Let's go. You too Brianna!"

She nodded, returning to the room. She came out in her clothes and followed me out to the escalators. Once we were downstairs, and headed towards the gift section, I realized that I had left all of my bags -- and money -- with Jasper and Liev.

"Noo!" I exclaimed, getting stares from people around me. I sighed, defeated. "Let's go." I turned around and led the other two back up the escalators, my head hanging in shame.

-----

I sat in front of our half dressed tree, holding ornaments and papers. I smiled over at Liev who nodded back at me. We had almost finished getting everything ready to decorate the top of the tree, and we had bought more lights. Jasper had also strung lights up along all of the windows in the Living room and hung lace and ribbons across the cabinets and counters in the kitchen. I set everything on the ground and began to help Alban hang strings.

Brianna came out holding a sterling silver platter with four mugs with steam rising from them. She walked over to us. I took one and held it in my hands, feeling the warm penetrate my skin. I looked down at the bubbling water, which was a golden brown color. It smelled like apples. Apple cider. I smiled up at Brianna, who smiled back. Alban took one of the cups as well, which was filled with a bubbly red substance that he quickly drank. I didn't have a chance to ask what it was before my friend returned to the kitchen, stopping by Liev and handing him a cup.

She then came out and helped us finish the tree, as far as we could reach. Just the few branches at the top and the very top were bare, awaiting lights, decorations and a bright golden star to adorn it.

Jasper came out from his room, carrying a cardboard box. He set it on the ground in front of the tree. When I reached for it he pulled me back. "Don't."

"What? Why? What is it?"

"Presents."

"Oh!" I said, smiling. "I get it."

"Yes, so don't open it."

I nodded, stepping forward and gently pushing the box forward with my foot. It was quite difficult because it was heavy. What was in this thing?! I knelt down and pushed it against the golden tree skirt Jasper had put up under the tree. I could imagine him crawling under here and pulling the cotton square around the trunk and tugging on it to make it fit. I giggled at the thought.

"What are you laughing at?"

I pulled back out. "Nothing."

"Did you see the gift?"

"No. Why? Is it funny?"

"No."

"Oh ... I guess that's why... you asked?"

"Mhm."

"Well ... " I stood up, wiping off my jeans. I smiled at him. "Let's go have dinner."

"Yeah!" Brianna exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Alban's shoulder. "Let's!"

-----

I ate in silence, feeling a bit self conscious around everyone else. But I was happy to be around them. Which makes it a bit of an awkward part. We had brisket, red potatoes, green beans and stuffing/dressing (except for Alban, who had slices of extremely rare pot roast and blood sausage) along with chitterlings (aka chitlings) for Brianna.

We also had vanilla ice cream and red velvet cake for dessert -- except for Alban, who had blood pudding, that I reluctantly made. I also had key lime pie.

After dinner, which seemed more of a Christmas dinner than just a week-before-Christmas dinner, we sat around the tree. Brianna and I talked about school and driver's education, in which I am terrified to attend. Every time I even thought about it, I nearly passed out.

Alban began to talk about a very LONG story starting from when he was little up to now. We, and in Brianna and I, cut him off by starting to sing a Christmas song.

Jasper and Liev talked to each other as I began to attempt to dance with him. He refused, sitting on the armchair. I finally gave up and walked over to Jasper. I intended to ask Liev, but Jasper stood and took my hands, beginning a foxtrot, taking me along with him.

We danced for a while, Brianna singing a Christmas song while trying to make it fit the movements of the dance. It was quite entertaining.

Finally the dance ended, along with the song, and Jasper let my hands go. He smiled, walking out into the kitchen.

"Yeah, that's right punk!" I said, watching him disappear behind the wall separating the two rooms. "Go do the dishes!"

"I can hear you."

"Yeah." I turned around, bushing. "Whatever."

Brianna laughed out loud. "Burned."

------

It was one week later when I awoke, lying on the couch. I sat up quickly, blinking as the sunlight flooded the room. I stood up, feeling my hair and then fixing my shirt. I walked to the kitchen, finding a plate with three Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes on it setting on the counter. I giggled.

"Good morning." I looked over at Jasper.

"Good morning." I walked over to the island, sitting on the bar stool. "Did you make breakfast for everyone else too?"

"They already ate."

"What? Where are they?"

"They left to go shopping again."

"Huh?" I was disappointed. "They did? I didn't hear them."

"You slept in. Late. Again." He walked over to the counter, pulling out the coffee pot and pouring himself a cup.

"How'd I end up on the couch?"

"You fell asleep there." He noted, sipping the coffee. "Decorating."

I looked down at my hands to see bits of lace taped to me, along with pen marks and needle pricks. "Obviously." I inhaled deeply, sighing. I stretched, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Breakfast."

"Mhm. Better hurry up -- we have to go shopping as well."

"Oh, yeah." I said, looking down at my pancakes. "I have to get you a gift ... "

------

Everyone returned home at the same time, or around. We were five minutes earlier, despite our late departure. We gathered around the Living Room, chattering excitedly. I held three black bags in my hand, explaining to Brianna how I'd gotten "the best" gifts for everyone. She replied how she had the best secrets in her bags, which were large and golden colored, white tissue paper sticking out.

Since it was so late, and Christmas Eve, Liev had made dinner BEFORE we had left. We ate partridge, spiced sausage, beef stew with potato dumplings and salad, along with fresh fruit and tarts for dessert. Once dishes had been finished, we sat around the tree again. I felt at home here. It was lovely and beautiful. I sighed, smiling over at my friends. They were my family. And always would be.

"Let's open gifts!"

"Ah," I began, "Only one on Christmas Ev -- "

"No."

I frowned at Jasper.

"Why not?"

"Just because I said so," he stood and walked out of the living room.

I sighed. "I guess that settles that ... "

------

I finished brushing my teeth and laid in bed, pulling the covers over my head. I was restless. I couldn't sleep. I felt like I was wide awake, and couldn't wait. Santa. Christmas. Reindeer. Presents. Lights. Snow. I rolled onto my side, trying to get myself to fall asleep. It was impossible. Finally I closed my eyes and began to imagine the Christmas tree lit up in the living room, currently towering over everyone and twinkling. It lit up the room and the hallway, pouring into my room from the crack under the door between the wood and the carpet. I smiled softly at the thought of lights and snow.

I loved snow. The cold, not so much. I got cold easily. And I was a bit susceptible to colds, fevers and the flu. I rolled onto my back and stared up. One final thought of the Christmas tree in the living room and Baby Jesus in his manger and I fell asleep.

The soft sound of footsteps in the hall and the murmur of talking made my eyes open. I looked over to the window to see snow drifting down gracefully. I sat up quickly. Christmas.

I jumped out of bed, changing from my nightgown into my red and white striped dress and black thigh high socks, running from my room to the living room. It was still a bit dark out, the sky a mix between pale blue and navy black, stars barely visible. The Christmas tree was bright in the early morning, looking beautiful sitting in the corner of the room. Presents filled underneath the tree, all of them wrapped differently. Brianna walked out from my room, still in her pajamas. We had shared a room since there were only two bedrooms in this apartment building.

She looked at the tree and gasped. "It's beautiful." I looked over to see that her normally frizzy hair was sticking out in all directions. I giggled and snorted.

"You look nice," I said whilst trying not to laugh.

She rolled her brown eyes. "Yeah, you too Princess," she said sarcastically.

"Good morning, you two."

We looked over to see Jasper was sitting in one of the armchairs, with coffee and newspaper in hand. He looked up at us. "You opening gifts now or later when Alban's awake?"

We squealed and ran over to the tree. I heard the older man laugh. As soon as I handed Brianna one square gift, and she handed me one, and we began to tear off the paper, there came the sound of footsteps. We looked up to see Alban entering the living room. In an instant, he was beside us, holding his gift. All of us began to open the presents.

Mine, from Brianna, was a silver locket with a rose engraved on the front. On the inside was the inscription: Merry Christmas, Charlotte!

I giggled and smiled at her. "Thank you."

Brianna's, from me, was a gold bracelet that said, "Love, Hope, Faith, Honor" across it. "Thank you, Charlotte," she smiled.

Alban's, from both Brianna and I, was a set of rag dolls. One was a pale faced one with a black cape and slicked back black hair, along with shiny white fangs and a red drop from his mouth. One was a blonde with two small holes in the side of her neck, red thread spilling out. And three were villagers with plastic pitchforks, cloth garlic and both a small wooden stake and a wooden cross. He snorted.

"I love it."

We snickered together as we opened our other gifts from each other, leaving Jasper's and Liev's, both to and from them.

Liev came out from the kitchen, holding a cup of coffee. "Morning," he said.

"Good morning." Alban said.

"Merry Christmas," Brianna and I said together cheerfully.

He laughed softly. "Merry Christmas."

"Okay," my female friend said, "this one is for ... " she pulled out a candy-cane striped present and checked the tag, "Jasper." She handed it to him. "And this one ... " A grey-blue package, "Liev." A purplish-pink one, "Alban."

Liev got a clay pipe. Jasper got a golden pocket watch from the 1920s. Alban got a selection of bright colored bow ties, which he declared to be "the perfect match" to his "unfinished collection" of clothes.

"Okay," I said, "Brianna plays Santa."

"I don't have any gifts."

"Nooo." I began, "You hand out the presents."

"Oh." she laughed, "Yeah, okay. That makes more sense."

"Yeah, well, whales don't have noses."

She stared at me for a short while, then picked up a gift and handed it to me. "Here you go Whale girl." She handed out gifts to the rest of them as well.

Liev's included a set of books about werewolves in circa 1700, which made Alban snicker to himself. I thought it was a nice gift. And a painting of the moon over the water, which also doubled as a hanging mirror.

Alban's were a silver wrist watch that perfectly fit his slim wrist and a CD of classical vampire songs (whatever that meant).

I received a lovely leather bound journal and a gold fountain pen, a small gargoyle figurine and a book based in 1900.

We finished opening our gifts around 10AM, then ate breakfast. I sat in the couch, holding the warm fleece blanket Alban had gotten me. I pressed it against my face. The bat patterned blanket smelled like cinnamon and apples. I snuggled with it, hiding my face any time someone came around.

Finally I felt someone sit next to me. Or, well, across from me, as my back was to the arm so I could stare out the windows. I looked up to see Jasper sitting there. He smiled over at me. I blushed and smiled back.

"Did you enjoy your gifts?"

"Yes."

"Oh, well ... " he pointed to the tree, "There's one more."

I looked over to see a small rectangular red box near the back. "How can you see that?"

"That must be how Brianna missed it ... "

"No. You must have just put it there."

"Why would I?"

I looked over at him, then crawled off of the couch and walked over to the tree. I knelt down and reached back, grabbing the box.

"It's for you."

"What? No it's not."

"Check."

"Pff, whatever ... " I looked down to see that the tag read my name. "What the?!"

He laughed softly. "I told you."

I stood up and walked over to the couch, sitting back down on top of my blanket. I unwrapped the box slowly and slipped off the top. Inside was a small picture frame. I turned the box to the side, looking at the photo. My mom, my dad and me. "Wha ... " I'd never seen this photo. I was small, a baby. My mom was holding me, my dad with his arm over her shoulder. They were both smiling. And I was too.

I picked it up, sliding the picture out and turning it around. In curly script it read: Bethany, Robert and Charlotte, summer of 1992

Below it read: Photo taken by Jasper Green

I looked up at him.

"You were there."

"Since you were born. I told you that."

I sighed, smiling softly. "Thank you, Jasper."

"You like it, yes?"

I nodded, wiping away invisible tears. I set the photo in the box, setting that on the couch. I sat on my knees, leaning over and kissing his forehead. "Merry Christmas, Jasper."

"Merry Christmas, Charlotte."

I smiled and sat back.

"Was this the best Christmas ever?" He asked, half joking.

I giggled. "Yes. It was."

"Hey!" Brianna said, calling us from the kitchen. "Get in here you two!"

Jasper looked at me. We both stood. "Race you," he said, pushing past me.

"He -- No fair!"

I giggled as I ran after him. Best Christmas ever.