Happy Birthday, Amanda! Sorry this is late and kind of sad!

(Slight Harry Potter reference, but it is something that I imagine is common knowledge at this point).

Enjoy!

"Is it still snowing?"

"It's a complete and total whiteout out there. I've never seen it snow like this for so long."

"I wish it wasn't. I'd do anything to be with you right now."

"I know..." Maddie sighed. She looked back to the window to the unending snowfall outside. It had been snowing almost constantly for almost five whole days. It was so bad, people had been asked to only go out in the case of an emergency. Practically all flights to and from Central Wisconsin Airport had been cancelled. Liv's flight home from LA had been one of them.

"Stupid snow." Liv said with such bitterness in her voice, Maddie had to laugh.

The twins had been on the phone for hours, just talking and missing each other. Liv was supposed to be home over twelve hours ago, but it was impossible now.

"I wish your show hadn't decided it was a good idea to film right up 'til the day before Chritmas Eve so you could've caught a flight last week and been here already."

"Me too. As much as I love Aunt Dena and Ruby, Christmas Eve is way different here. They don't do hot chocolate and Christmas movies under a blanket. There's no snowmen in the yard. I helped Ruby build a sandman and we splashed around in the ocean for a while. It was too hot to even consider a sweater. Ruby was wearing a short-sleeved dress without a jacket or tights today when we went to go look at lights after dinner. It feels wrong." Liv had come home from California every year to spend a few days in Wisconsin for Christmas with her family. She had never experienced a California Christmas.

"Do you hate it?"

"No! I love being here. Ruby's been so cute. We made cookies for her to put out for Santa together and she was so happy that I wanted to help. She told me she didn't think big kids believed in Santa. Aunt Dena and Ruby have different traditions than we do, but it's not that I hate them or don't like spending Christmas here... it's just... so different. I wish I could be home. Or all of us be all together."

"Yeah. That'd be fun." Maddie lay back on her bed and turned her head to look at the empty bed beside her. "I wish Aunt Dena and Ruby and you could just magically poof here, or we could all poof there."

Liv giggled. "Too bad we're just a couple of muggles."

Maddie snickered.

"Did Parker put out cookies for Santa?"

"Yeah. We made chocolate chip cookies. We were gonna try peanut butter this year, but Parker pointed out the fact that we don't know of Santa Claus has a nut allergy and he told us he didn't want to be responsible for sending him into anaphylactic shock."

"That sure sounds like our Parker."

"Doesn't it?" Maddie grinned. "He left him a note with the cookies telling Santa not to leave your presents here because you're stuck in LA because of the snow."

"Awww," Maddie could hear the smile in Liv's voice. "Sweet boy. Ruby did something similar. She asked me all upset if Santa knew I had to stay with them for Christmas because she wanted to make sure I got my presents. Aunt Dena said that of course he knew, because Santa sees all. But Ruby wasn't buying it and left a note with the cookies too."

Maddie smiled. "Cute."

"Seeing Ruby like this... I wish I still saw Christmas like kids do. Parker... never got like this. Not really."

"Mom says you have to try and see it through their eyes." Maddie replied, tugging her blanket up and over herself. "You should be good at that, you're an actress."

"I wish magic was still real to us, Maddie." Liv said after a beat of silence.

"It is." Maddie told her. "The magic is in Ruby now. And Parker. And one day, it'll be in our kids too. It never leaves, it just changes." Maddie's cellphone was hot against her ear. Her eyes stung because she was so tired. But there was no way she was getting off the phone with her sister. Not yet. She usually had a phone curfew, but her parents didn't say a word about her being on the phone with Liv for so long.

"I guess you're right."

Growing up, Maddie and Liv were all about Christmas. They always had matching Christmas dresses even after they grew out of dressing the same. They loved cutting snowflakes ot of paper and singing Christmas songs together, even though Maddie couldn't sing. They loved the snow and curling up under the same blanket while drinking hot chocolate and watching a Christmas movie. They loved wrapping presents. They loved baking cookies and spening entire snowdays in their pajamas. They still did a lot of those things when Liv came home, and even though they adored it, it just didn't feel quite the same now that they were older.

"How many snowdays did you get?" Liv asked suddenly.

"Three." That meant Christmas break was 3 days longer.

"Lucky." Liv sighed.

"Do schools get called off for anything in LA?"

"I don't know. Maybe really hot temperatures? If it snowed like half a centimeter somehow, that would probably shut down schools because no one knows how to deal with snow at all here."

"They'd all pass out if they saw this snow right now."

"Absolutely."

This struck both girls as hilarious and they both cracked up. Half a centimeter of snow in Wisconsin was actually nothing.

"Isn't it midnight?" Liv asked Maddie after they finished laughing.

Maddie looked at her alarm clock. It read 12:07. "Yeah,"

"You should get to bed, Maddie. It's late."

"But-"

"Don't you want Santa to come?"

Maddie giggled. "Alright, I'll go to bed."

"Good."

"Good night, Liv. I miss you. And I love you."

"I miss you and love you too, Maddie. Good night. Just a few more months until I'm home for good."

"I can't wait."

"Merry Christmas." Liv said.

"Merry Christmas," Maddie replied with a sad smile.

After a few seconds of unsure silence, the phone clicked. Liv had hung up.

Maddie put her phone down and twisted her neck to see out the window one last time. The snowflakes were huge and she could hardly see her neighbor's house. The snow made her room light up with a soft white glow. It was beautiful. She set her glasses next to her phone on her nightstand and the snow became a solid blur.

She heaved a sigh and rolled over, tugging her blankets up to her chin and closing her eyes. It was her first ever Christmas without her twin beside her, but it would be okay. Liv would be home forever in just a few months and they'd never have to spend a holiday apart ever again. But for now, separated by miles and a blizzard, knowing that they missed each other was enough.