"Is that everybody?" Sophie asked, as Ezra walked into the lodge. Peter did a quick head count and nodded.
"So, what exactly are we doing?" Scott asked.
"Yeah, why couldn't it wait until after Christmas?" Juliette asked.
"Why do you want to go home for Christmas? I certainly don't," Shelby said, flopping down on the couch.
"I don't know, I miss my mom and my house and my family..." Juliette trailed off.
"And my dog, and my horse, and my maids, and my money," Shelby said in a high voice, mimicking her. Daisy and Scott tried to supress a smile.
Juliette turned a little pink. "Just because you don't want to go home doesn't mean everyone doesn't," Juliette retorted, sitting on the opposite couch, folding her arms across her chest.
Peter could see a verbal war forming, and wanted this evening to go well. "Okay you guys, unroll your sleeping bags in a circle, girls, go to the upstairs bathroom to change, boys down the hall. You have 15 minutes."
"Fifteen minutes? Thats it?" Juliette muttered under her breath. She wanted to cry. It was Christmas Eve, and Peter wanted all of them to stay at Horizon for Christmas. He said they would improve faster if they stayed at school and not go home. But she missed her mom, even though she was the real reason Juliette was at Horizon. They washed up and met back in the lodge 15 minutes later.
"Okay, so here's what we're doing. You guys are going to decorate the Christmas tree. Then, you're going to sit on your bags and tell each other your favorite and worse Christmas memory."
Most of the group groaned. But they went to the closet and brought out the boxes of decorations. They started to decorate the tree.
"We should put the lights on first, Jules, not last," Auggie said.
"Yeah, that way we won't knock any ornaments off when we put the lights on."
"Whatever," Juliette said, obviously in a bad mood.
"Scott, put the angel on the top of the tree," Juliette said a little later.
"No, put up the star," Shelby said.
"But the angel has more meaning."
"The star is just as important. Its what the wise men followed to Bethlehem."
"But the angel came to Mary first and also to the shepards, and-" Juliette broke off when Daisy interrupted.
"Oh for heaven's sake. Lets not fight over it! Put the star on top of the angel." Daisy said.
"That won't work." Juliette and Shelby both said flatly. "Peter!"
"This is your tree to decorate. You figure it out."
"Fine, the angel. Princess always gets her way, why disappoint her on Christmas," Shelby said. Tears stung Juliette's eyes but she wouldn't give Shelby the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
"You know, sometimes I'm not upset that we don't have TV here. Its more fun watching those two fight," Ezra said to Scott and Auggie.
"Yeah EZ, sometimes," Auggie said.
An hour later, the tree was decorated and the Cliffhangers were sitting on their sleeping bags, wrapped up in blankets in front of the fire.
"Okay, you guys, tell me what that was for?" Peter asked.
"Teamwork. Its what everything around here is," Daisy said.
"Yeah. And working through things," Scott said.
"Okay, I want to hear about your favorite and worse Christmases now. Ezra, I want you to go first." Peter handed him a stuffed bear with a santa hat.
"Okay. My favorite Christmas was when I was seven, and my parents didn't fight that year. We went to my grandmother's house and had a huge Christmas dinner, and my parents got me a yellow lab puppy. My worst Christmas was last year, because my puppy died, and my parents had decided to separate." Ezra passed the bear to Scott.
"My worst Christmas was when my dad married Elaine. My favorite was when I was 11 and we had a foster kid at our house. Little girl named Katie - 7 years old. We tried to adopt her, but it didn't work out. But that Christmas was so happy. It had snowed a few days before and me and Katie got innertubes and slid down the hill in my backyard together," Scott finished, not looking at anyone. He hadn't told anybody about Katie. He would have loved to have a little sister like her. He passed the bear to Auggie.
"My favorite Christmas was when I was 12 and my whole family went snow skiing in Colorado. The place we went to wasn't well known and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. My worst Christmas - I really haven't had one. My mom told me when I was two I tripped and fell and had a bloody nose, but I don't remember that," Auggie said, and everyone laughed. He passed the bear to Juliette.
"My favorite Christmas was when I was 5, before my dad left us. We went outside and made a snowfamily and snow angels, and we went riding that evening. It even snowed. He gave me this bear," she held it up. "My worst Christmas - is probably this one because its the first I've been away from my family and I miss them." She tossed the bear to Daisy.
"Well, quite honestly I don't have a favorite Christmas because my parents would always go to party after party and get drunk. I'd have to stay home alone in the house and open gifts by myself, granted I had any. Oh, wait, one Christmas my parents got me a new bike I wanted, and they only went to one party and were only a little tipsy," Daisy shrugged. "Christmas in my family was never a big thing." She gave the bear to Shelby.
"Well, my favorite Christmas was when I was 10. My dad got tickets for me, him, and Jess to see Swan Lake and Cats. It was amazing. Swan Lake was a few days after Christmas, and Christmas decorations were still up. Cats was a little later, but I remember it all so clearly. My worst Christmas was when my mom married Walt. You know why so I won't go into detail." She handed the bear to Kat.
"The best Christmas was when my parents gave us a trip to New York City. We saw 4 plays and they were amazing. My worst Christmas was the one after Shannon died. The house seemed so empty and my parents never said it wasn't my fault, so things were a little touchy." She tossed the bear to Peter.
"Okay, time for bed you guys. Have a big day ahead of you tomorrow."
"You mean you're not going to tell us about your Christmases?" Shelby asked.
"Thats for another day. Night you guys, sleep tight." Peter said. Sophie turned off the lights and they both settled down on the couches.