It was rather a silent afternoon for being Christmas eve, with only the hum of a single car on the road breaking the stillness of the night. On route to the Blake's winter cabin, Norville Rogers and his parents had found themselves taking the scenic way to reach their destination.

"Are we like' there yet?" A whine came from the back seat. A scruffy head poked up struggling to see over the dash at the scenery beyond. Trying to get a glimpse of where they were and how soon they could get to somewhere with food.

"Norville!" A slightly miffed sound of exasperation came from his mother in the front passenger seat. "What is all this Like' business that you have been saying recently? Can't you talk like a normal child?" She sighed, and from the driver's seat her husband laughed at her remark.

"Oh come on honey, it's only a harmless word. It's not like he's going around and adding 'Sausage' to every sentence. At least his choice… like' makes sense." Samuel Rogers joked with his wife who made a sour face back at him. "Plus, he probably talks like a 'normal' kid anyway. I bet all the kids are doing it. So Like' lighten up a bit, dear." This earned the man a whap from his wife, who rolled her eyes as well. He was asking for it anyway. But he did have a point, it wasn't something uncommon for kids to make up words or do silly things along those lines. But her husband didn't need to emphasis it so much. Sighing, she smiled softly and found her son still peering ahead trying to see if they had arrived yet and he just missed it.

"We are almost there dear. Just be a bit more patient. Plus you ate something right before we left, and that was only a few hours ago."

"But… But…" Stammered the young child from the back seat, his eyes growing wide with a look of desperation. "… but that was hoooouuuuurs ago." He whined, holding out the word to add emphasis to his pathetic state.

"He is a growing boy Marjorie, he needs to eat." The Cheshire cat grinned, sitting beside his wife in the driver seat. With a tight lipped mouth, she looked at her husband sternly.

"Now don't be a wise patooty, you'll be setting a bad example for our so…."

"We're here!" Cut in distracting comment from Sam, eager to get away from his wife's evil eye even though it was his fault for instigating it. The light flickering in the distance grew dramatically as they got closer to the Blake's Winter Cabin. Someone might think it more a villa then a dinky little cabin, due to its imposing or pretentious looking outer appearance against the contrary to the inside. It was fully decked out for the season, with lights and plastic figures littering the property. An odd sight to see out in the middle of no where, but at least with all the lights, Santa would know where he had to stop. The only thing that was missing from the whole thing was like a Bat signal version for Santa mounted on the roof, and a landing strip for the reindeer's.

Getting out, Shaggy was impatient to get inside where it was warmer, but then again he also had to rescue Scooby. Locked in a small carrier in the back of the car, Scooby had been too much trouble to let run around freely in the back seat with Shaggy. He would have to learn eventually, but the back had been the only answer at the time. With the back door of Shaggy parent's station wagon opened, Shaggy freed the impatient puppy from the caged.

"Phew… Ranks Raggy."

He jumped down from the car and gave a stretch. Excusing himself, he disappeared into the woods for a short bit before returning looking relieved. With the whole family there now, they moved to the cabin.

The door was open for the most part, as if they were only waiting for the Rogers to arrive. Though there seemed to be a few sets of cars there. At further inspection Sam realized that Fred's family had still not gotten there, so they were not last. Pushing the door open, there was a round of warm greetings from all that were already there. It seemed some board games had been opened up to bid time while they waited for everyone to show up. Looking about, they saw that George Blake seemed locked in combat against the tag team of the Dinkleys in Monopoly. While their parent's were locked in Mortal Commercialism, Daphne and Velma were playing operation to free poor Sam from his ailing Butterflies in his stomach and Broken Heart. Though it appeared that the Writers Cramp was being a bit of a problem as the buzzer went off a few times as the girls traded the tweezers to get at the runaway pencil.

Leaving his parent's side, Shaggy and Scooby padded over to where the girls were. Since they were locked in concentration, they didn't want to interrupt less they break Daphne's focus. The round shape of the small plastic pencil in the game guys arm, did not want to come out. It was 200 points that would be double since Daphne had gotten the Specialist card on it. Which is why she really wanted the get it out.

BTTZZZ

Went the machine as Daphne hit the metal ring that lined the ailment and made 'Sams' nose light up red signaling Daphne's turn was over.

"Like' Tough break Daph." Shaggy remarked as she pouted at the missing the game piece. It should have been nice and come out for her.

"Oh poo!" She snorted before she realized Shaggy and Scooby were there even though he had said something. "Oh hi Shaggy, hi Scooby." Daphne greeted the two of them. Looking up from the game, Velma fluttered her fingers towards the two.

"Greetings." She said cheerily.

"Like' Hiya Velma." Turning to Daphne he had to know one thing. A most important notion. Something that put presents and the holiday on the back burner, and had little importance in the moment.

"… Is there anything to eat?"

"Oh Shaggy…" Daphne sighed, but her mother was on it. Many years of her child being friends with the ever hungry boy, she was used to being prepared. A set of apples and peanut butter was set up for the kids to munch on. Also a few glasses of milk had been added in case they were thirsty with the peanut butter. Shaggy and Scooby's shares were apparent, as they were double the amount left for the two girls. Which took little time for the guys to go straight for.

"Your mom is great!" Shaggy praised, enjoying the snack that Mrs. Blake had offered them.

"Rah rah! Reat rady!" Scooby added, face mashed with bits of apple and peanut butter making it stick to his lips.

"Oh ewww… Wipe off your mouth. Can't you eat like a normal person?" Daphne lectured the messy puppy before her. Though it was odd she was referring to him to eat like a person, instead of the Great Dane that he was. But then how many talking puppies do you really run across to lecture about proper eating etiquette?

"Rorry Raphne…" Scooby hung his head and licked off his fingers since nothing was left from his share but what was left on his chin and lips. A quick wash with his tongue made quick work of what ever was left.

"Ree hee hee…"

With his plate also finished, Shaggy eyed the few that were still left on their plates and spoke his mind.

"Like' Where's Freddie? I thought we were like' last coming. But he's not here yet, is he?"

Looking about the room, he didn't seen Fred's family there either. Even though the cabin was quite big, the large family room is where everyone had come together. Taking up a good chunk of the main floor was the den where everyone sat.

As one would enter the front door, there was a short span of floor, it lead in several directions. To the right was the walk-in closet for the all the coats and shoes to settle into, to the left would eventually lead to the open air kitchen, With no real walls separating it from the main room, the counter was the only border between the main den and it. Which made it alot easier to serve others when people visited. And the counter looked prepared for the holiday, Shaggy was just too short to all of it's splendor. Everything in the room seemed to be wrapped around the den in the middle, descending stairs to reach the bottom where most of the families had occupied it to play the games. A roaring fire sat at the back of the whole area, giving warmth and comfort against the harsh snowy weather that hung just outside the windows. Next to the fireplace was the Christmas Tree's. To not be out done, there was a tree for each family. Of course, it was properly decorated with the likes and tastes of each family it stood to represent, and sat as silent guardians to the presents that sat under each of them. And the population under each were quite impressive.

Shaggy was lost in the grandeur of it all and almost missed the door opening behind them all as Fred and his family came in. The main thing that caught Shaggys attention being the burst of cold air that came sweeping inside.

"Brrr..." Clutching his short sleeves to himself, Shaggy turned around just as it stopped. Standing by the door was the Jones family. Skip, Peggy and young Fred, whose nose seemed buried into his uncles early Christmas present, the newest Exxxagurator that had yet to come out. Filled with pages of holiday myths and extreme stories.

"Have fun with you friends." Skip said as he pushed the boy in the general direction of his friends who waved uselessly to the distracted boy. He barely let out a murmur to his father as he just walked in the direction he was pushed. Skip shook his head, but smile. Boys will be boys. Calling out to the other fathers in the room, he asked for help to get the presents out of his car. Wrestling to get away from the Monopoly board, George was happy to offer his help, since while he was a master of money in real life, he was no match for the combined might of the Dinkleys when they were serious.

With nose still in the magazine, Shaggy and Scooby helped Fred to a stop before he ended up walking straight down the stairs of the den. It was then he looked up out of his daze. His eyes wide with the information he just learned.

"We need to talk gang. Somewhere where the parents can't hear us... We have a mystery on our hands!"