School was out and there were two days left until Christmas. Toby had been playing videogames all week and Dave was still injured, so they were only just going to the mall to buy presents. The Chipmunks and Chipettes piled into the backseat of the car in eager anticipation.
Alvin sat by Brittany, both of them too excited to argue. Alvin felt a little nervous with sitting by Brittany, after she had shot him down in the school cafeteria, and wasn't sure what to do, because girls usually found him irresistible. Perhaps that was why he liked her. She was a challenge, something to be figured out and worked at carefully.
Brittany glanced sideways at Alvin. He looked so handsome today, somehow. Then again, she always thought he looked handsome, even though she'd never actually admit it to herself – because that would mean admitting she was secretly in love with him. That was why she argued with him at every opportunity. She thought that if they got along too well, they might fall in love. Not that she minded, really, but she would never admit it to herself.
Theodore sat down next to Eleanor. They were good friends, which he was happy about, because he liked having friends. Friends were always a good thing, someone to play with when you were bored, or to turn to when you were upset. And Eleanor was definitely his best friend in the whole world; they got along so well it was impossible for her not to be. But what Theodore didn't understand was why he got butterflies if their paws accidentally touched, or when she giggled. He sometimes wondered if it was for the same reason Alvin got a funny, soppy look on his face when he looked at Brittany and she wasn't looking at him, or why Simon didn't seem to be able to talk to Jeanette properly.
Eleanor smiled at Theodore, her best friend ever – not counting her sisters, anyway. He was so cute sometimes, like if he got that completely miffed expression when something confused him. She liked that about him – how funny and cute he was. And she was pleased they got along so well, because Eleanor liked Theodore and she knew she'd be devastated if they argued like Alvin and Brittany.
Simon slid in next to Jeanette, and looked down awkwardly. He couldn't understand why he struggled to talk to her: he was perfectly confident the rest of the time. He could talk to other girls just fine, and it confused him a bit, which was very strange considering Simon was the 'smart one' in his family. He sometimes thought about asking Alvin for help, but the humility of the very idea overtook him. In the end, he supposed, he'd have to. His paw accidentally brushed Jeanette's and he pulled it back quickly, heart hammering as if determined to explode.
Jeanette pulled her paw away quickly, too, feeling awkward again, but happy at the same time. She had butterflies in her stomach and she felt her skin tingling where she'd touched Simon. She'd had a crush on him for years – since she'd first seen him, in a picture on the front of a newspaper, to be exact. She wished he'd at least speak to her, because his silence made her feel a bit over-nervous. Brittany and Eleanor said Simon liked her, but she felt uncertain and anxious, thinking her sisters were trying to cheer her up.
They met up with Claire, who Dave had asked along to help the girls shop, and split up, agreeing to meet in three hours for lunch before going home.
Back at home, everybody was now faced with the difficult task of decorating the house for Christmas. This mostly included preventing Brittany and Alvin from killing each other over whether or not they should use red or pink, and Dave ended up saying they had to use gold.
Very late that night, it started snowing.
Alvin woke up early on Christmas Eve and looked through the window. Everything was covered in a think, beautiful, glittering white blanket of snow, which was still falling from the sky. Alvin dashed over his brothers, hopping up and down in excitement.
"It's snowing!" he kept yelling. "It's snowing! Wake up guys, it's snowing!"
Simon and Theodore hopped over to the window as well.
"It's snowing!" Theodore squealed, excited. "Can you believe it, Simon? It's snowing!"
"It snows every year, Theodore," Simon said, struggling to not start jumping up and down as well.
"Do you think Eleanor will like it?" Theodore asked hopefully.
"I don't know," Simon answered. "In fact, I doubt the girls have actually seen the snow before. I just hope it doesn't snow too much."
"Alvin, will you shut up?" Brittany demanded. "I am trying to sleep here!"
Jeanette and Eleanor woke up with a start and sat bolt upright at their sister's yelling.
"Shout a little louder, Britt, I think I've still got hearing in one ear," Eleanor said sleepily. "What's going on?"
"It's snowing!" Alvin carried on shouting, grabbing Brittany's paws and dancing round the room. "It's snowing! It's snowing!"
"Snowing?" Eleanor and Jeanette asked. They ran over the window, brushing past the boys as they went. Simon and Theodore got butterflies and distant gazes.
Until Alvin crashed into them.
"Oops… sorry, guys," Alvin said, getting to his feet and helping Brittany up. After which, he continued dancing and yelling.
Eleanor helped Theodore get up and felt her skin tingle. She smiled at him. Jeanette moved cautiously over to where Simon was still on the floor and pulled him up by the arm. Then she turned away, nervous again. Simon felt his skin tingle where Jeanette had touched him.
"Can you believe it? It's snowing!" Alvin said, finally finishing his little song-and-dance routine. Then he hugged Brittany. "Erm… oops…"
"Is the snow really that good?" Brittany teased, patting Alvin on the back.
"It's great!" Alvin exclaimed, hopping back onto the windowsill. "It's the best thing in the universe! C'mon guys, let's go!"
And he scampered from the room, leaving a slightly stunned silence in his wake. The others quickly joined him in the living room, where he had on a red hat and scarf, and was now pulling on a pair of tiny red boots. Then he shrugged on a jacket and began attempting to jump high enough to reach the handle. It was like watching a kid on a trampoline.
Toby stumbled into the room. "What's going on, guys?" he asked.
"It's snowing!" Alvin called, landing on the floor and jumping up again almost immediately. Toby paused for a second.
"Okay," he shrugged, returning to his room.
Simon and Theodore grabbed their hats, jackets, scarves and boots, too.
The girls stood in the middle of the room, looking nervous. They had never seen snow before, like Simon had suggested, and they felt a little unsure. Simon and Theodore helped Alvin to unlock the door and they left to play in the snow.
Brittany, Jeanette and Eleanor watched through the window for a little while as the Chipmunks started building a three Snow Chipmunks. They were good likenesses. Alvin hit Simon with a snowball and the guys started randomly throwing balls of snow at each other.
Eleanor grabbed a pair of boots, a hat, a jacket and a scarf.
Brittany and Jeanette watched as Eleanor joined the boys outside. Alvin seemed to be explaining to her how a snowball fight worked, showing off. Brittany said he was probably telling her it'd take loads of practise. And then Eleanor cut Alvin off mid-speech by hitting him in the face with a snowball. After another snowball fight the four chipmunks lay down in the snow and began making snow angels.
Brittany grabbed a pair of boots, a hat, a jacket and a scarf.
Jeanette watched the others for a little while; then switched on the television to watch a documentary on space.
Thud. Something hit the window. Jeanette ignored it.
Thud. Something hit the window again. This time, Jeanette got up to see what was going on.
All five of the others were facing the window. Alvin had an arm around Brittany's shoulders, which she was not bothering to shrug off. Theodore and Eleanor were holding paws. Eleanor had another snowball in her free paw. Simon was waving, motioning for Jeanette to join them outside.
Jeanette grabbed a pair of boots, a hat, a jacket and a scarf.
Brittany was pretty cold. But she wasn't going to shrug off Alvin's arm – it was keeping her warm. She moved closer to him in the snow, shivering.
"Now I know why we hibernate," she said.
Eleanor shivered slightly and Theodore turned to her.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Just a bit cold," Eleanor replied.
"Snow is cold. Simon says its frozen rain."
"It's frozen rain," Alvin repeated.
"Alvin, we're not playing," Brittany said.
Simon was still watching the house. Jeanette had disappeared from the window again but she hadn't come outside just yet.
"Should you throw another snowball?" he asked Eleanor.
"No. She'll come," Brittany said, breaking off from an argument with Alvin that was slowly melting the snow around them.
"How do you know that?" Simon asked. Eleanor and Brittany didn't answer, but giggled.
Simon rolled his eyes. Girls were extremely difficult to understand. Alvin seemed to know all about them – he should write a book. It'd sell loads of copies. For someone who liked attempting get-rich-and-famous-quick-schemes, Alvin really hadn't thought of the easiest, actually foolproof idea yet.
Brittany was right, though. Of course she was. Jeanette was her sister – of course she'd know. Jeanette did come out the house, just like Brittany had said.
Dave watched from the window as the kids played in the snow. He chuckled to himself a bit; it was quite like watching an old black-and-white Christmas movie. They came back inside for lunch and dinner; then the boys decided they'd had enough of the snow and watched as the Chipettes went back out to play in the sparkling glow of the lights outside.
When Dave called the Chipettes back in, they were soaked through, nearly frozen, and shivering. He made some hot cocoa and told them to get changed into some warmer clothes. It was just like when the Chipmunks had first seen the snow – except that nobody had tried to hit Dave with a snowball just yet.
Dave put on It's a Wonderful Life and they all settled down for the night.
On Christmas morning, the first thing Alvin did was look out the window. It was all white. He woke up the others and they ran straight to the window in the living room, ignoring the presents. The snow way about an inch under the bottom of the window – and still falling.
"Great!" Brittany exclaimed, annoyed. "Just brilliant! We're snowed in over Christmas!"
Dave came into the room, asking what was happening. He stopped short when he saw how high the snow was.
"Well, let's not worry about that just now," he said. "You guys wanna open your presents?"
"Are you kidding?" Alvin and Brittany asked simultaneously. They dashed over to the huge piles of presents. Theodore helped Eleanor off the sill. Simon watched them and extended his paw to Jeanette to help her down, as well. She took it and Simon helped her down.
Toby stumbled into the room, yawning and stretching, and flopped straight down on the couch. Claire and Dave had put all the presents from each person in separate bags, because they hadn't been able to afford a ton of Christmas cards. Claire had stayed overnight, luckily, and she entered the room presently.
"Morning," she said sleepily.
Toby passed Dave a small box. "Happy Christmas."
"What the heck is this?" Dave asked. Then he opened the box. "Mistletoe?"
Brittany gave a cough that sounded a lot like "cheap". Toby mock-glared at her, but she turned out to be right, because the only present he'd brought that wasn't mistletoe was a pair of earrings for Claire. Brittany and Alvin threw the wrapping paper at him.
Dave went a step further, giving Toby and the kids twenty dollars each. Which was nice, because at least it made a change from savings bonds.
Claire was nicer. She gave everybody Christmas sweaters in their favourite colours, which was good because it was really cold.
Of course, Alvin was still in the habit of stealing things from people and then giving them back as presents. He once again returned a very Dave's wallet. He was also giving back Toby's favourite Xbox controller; Claire's favourite necklace; Simon's spare glasses; Theodore's cookbook; Brittany's favourite comb; Jeanette's ribbon and Eleanor's summer jacket.
Simon and Theodore had saved up together to get a good present – the Wii games Just Dance and Dance on Broadway.
The Chipettes had saved up to buy a Karaoke machine and a load of CDs for it, although the younger two sisters expected Alvin and Brittany to share it with anybody else, they had no idea.
The only problem with being snowed in was that there was a big, sold-out Christmas concert they had to get to later. The roads were clear but first they had to get to the road.
"Leave it for a bit," Claire said. "Worry about it later. It's still snowing and it'll only block us back in again."
Closer the time, Dave and Toby grabbed shovels and Claire started melting the snow with a portable hairdryer set on full power.
The drive was hellish, because there was so much ice on the roads. Claire and Dave were in the front seats; meanwhile Toby was in the back with the Chipmunks and Chipettes.
"Just out of interest, Toby," Alvin said. "What's with the mistletoe?"
"Didn't you know?" Claire asked, turning round in her seat. "If you're under the mistletoe with somebody, you and they have to kiss."
"Really?" Alvin asked, a smirk growing on his face. He was going to have a lot of fun at the concert.
Christmas, Christmas time is near,
Time for toys and time for cheer.
We've been good, but we can't last,
Hurry Christmas, Hurry fast.
Want a plane that loops the loop,
Me, I want a Hula-Hoop.
We can hardly stand the wait,
Please Christmas don't be late.
Want a plane that loops the loop,
I still want a Hula-Hoop.
We can hardly stand the wait,
Please Christmas don't be late.
We can hardly stand the wait,
Please Christmas don't be late
The Chipmunks and Chipettes finished the song and left the stage. The Chipettes' cover of All I Want for Christmas is You started playing over the speakers.
"Hey, guys!" Alvin said. "Who's hungry? The dessert table is unguarded!"
They headed over to the table where a good amount of for was set out for them.
"Hey, Brittany!" Alvin called. "Try this!"
Brittany jumped over to him. "What?"
Alvin held up the mistletoe Toby had given him for Christmas. Brittany smiled slightly and pecked him on the mouth.
"What was that?" Alvin demanded. "C'mon, gimme a real kiss!"
Eleanor overheard them and turned round. She started chanting, "Do it! Do it! Do it!"
The others joined in, and Brittany kissed Alvin properly. Eleanor, Jeanette, Simon and Theodore cheered.
"That good enough for you, Alvin?" Brittany asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"I thought it was a bit off," Brittany said, with a sly smile. "Kiss me again, Alvin."
This time, a bunch of kids from the school were crowding round, and they started whooping and cheering.
After that, Alvin proceeded to hang the mistletoe over every girl from the school.
"Two-timer," Brittany grumbled to her sisters. "If Alvin wasn't such a good kisser, I'd slap him so hard he wouldn't be able to feel his face for weeks."
When they got home, all the power was out – including the heating. Clair managed to get into her house but the others were stuck there.
Alvin and Brittany managed to keep each other room by having a snog-fest on the couch. The remaining two humans left to get some throws from a store.
Eleanor cuddled up to Theodore but didn't notice that Alvin had broken away from Brittany. She only realised when she spotted him holding the mistletoe above her and Theodore. She kissed him gently and they fell asleep. Alvin returned to Brittany with a quiet murmur of, "Where were we?"
Simon noticed that Jeanette was still shivering a bit. He tried to do what Alvin did sometimes to flirt with girls. He leaned casually against the arm of the chair in which Jeanette was sitting and took a deep breath to try and steady himself.
"H-hey, baby," Simon tried to say, but it didn't come out well. What the heck was wrong with him?
Jeanette looked at Simon and frowned slightly. What on earth was he doing?
"How's it going?" Simon tried to ask, but that didn't come out well, either.
"Er…" Simon changed his mind. He sat down next to Jeanette and they both looked down anxiously. Jeanette shivered again. Even with her sweater on, it was still very cold without the heating on.
Simon moved closer to Jeanette and put an arm around her shoulder. She closed her eyes. He was so warm. She cuddled up to him, and Simon put his other arm around her.
Jeanette let out an involuntary purr; then looked nervously at Simon. He smiled and held her closer.
Then he noticed the branch of mistletoe.
"Alvin!"
Alvin shrugged.
Simon pressed his lips to Jeanette's and felt happiness shoot through him from where their lips touched.
"You don't know how long I've wanted to do that," he whispered to her.
"Not as long as I have," Jeanette replied.
A/N: I know it's not Christmas yet, but I really couldn't resist writing this. I, like, had to write it.
Please review!