Step into Christmas, let's join together.
Later in the day, Perry and Priya were preparing the Christmas lunch while the kids played with their new things. When dinner was ready, they called the children to the table.
Perry and Priya were sitting at the heads of the table. The girls were sitting along one side, and the boys were sitting along the other. The lunch lay in front of them.
"I hope everyone's enjoying Christmas so far," Priya began, standing up. "And I hope you'll join me when I toast to this family. We've had our ups and downs, certainly."
"From where we were born-," Perry added, with a glance at Teddy and Hermes.
"-to what we've accomplished-," Priya added, with a glance at Hazel and Quinn.
"-to the unfair expectations and treatment we've received," Perry finished, both his and Priya's eyes flicking to the twins.
"But we can all agree that we're very glad to be sitting here together, as a family," Priya said. "I personally can't see any other life I would want. Any life without you gorgeous kids in front of us wouldn't be a life worth living, in my opinion."
"Very kind of you to say," Anton said, causing everyone to laugh.
"To this family," Perry said, lifting his glass of cola.
Everyone mirrored his words and movement, clinking glasses with the others.
"Now we can eat," Priya said, sitting back down.
The family began tucking in.
We can watch the snow fall forever and ever.
"Wanna pull a cracker, Anty?" Pippa asked mischievously across the table to her twin.
"Only if you stop calling me Anty," Anton replied.
"Deal." Pippa's eyes twinkled as she offered the other end of the Christmas cracker to her twin brother.
Anton cringed as the cracker exploded, causing a small toy to fly out and land in Pippa's lap. She gave a squeal of delight as she held up the tiniest Rubik's cube anyone had ever seen. Anton quickly snatched it from her and completed it in about ten seconds.
"Read the joke," Pippa urged. "It's in your half."
Anton picked up the tiny slip of paper, read it quickly, and rolled his eyes. "The Past, The Present, and The Future walked into a bar. It was tense."
Perry, Priya, and the three oldest siblings burst into laughter. Hermes faceplanted the table, while Anton hid his head in his hand, and Pippa looked confused. "I don't get it," she said.
Before anyone could explain, Terry and Hazel had pulled a cracker together. While Teddy examined the plastic paperclip he had found inside, Hazel read the joke through and promptly burst into laughter again. She was laughing too much to read it, so Quinn took the slip of paper from her and read it aloud: "What do you call a can opener that doesn't work?"
Only the two adult platypuses knew the answer, but they kept silent.
"What?" Hermes asked, still faceplanting the table.
Quinn was grinning as she said, "A CAN'T opener."
That set Hazel off yet again, but this time, Pippa joined her in laughter and Teddy was the one not laughing. Hermes let out a groan. "No more, please."
Unfortunately for Hermes, Pippa pulled another cracker—this one with Priya—and read out the joke herself: "What do you call a guy with a rubber toe?"
Nobody answered.
"Roberto, of course," Pippa replied, before laughing hysterically.
Teddy was more amused at Hermes's reaction. The poor platypus slid down in his chair until he was almost under the table. "Oh my God," he groaned. "Please stop."
"Why are you so against these jokes?" Perry asked amusedly. "I would have thought Mr Grammar over there-." He jerked his thumb towards Anton. "-would be the one hating the jokes."
"Oh, they're jokes all right," Hermes sighed. "Unfortunately, they even suck at being jokes."
"That makes no sense," Pippa said, tapping her older brother's leg with her foot.
"You make no sense."
Eat, drink and be merry, come along with me
Now it was the very end of the day. Perry and Priya had already gone to bed, tired out. The six kids were sitting on the sofas, all happy with the day they'd had.
"Merry Christmas, guys," Teddy said finally.
The others echoed it back.
"It's been an amazing year, hasn't it?" Quinn said. "So much has happened."
"Mostly crazy OWCA stuff," sighed Hazel. "Sometimes I wish our lives were normal."
"What's normal for a bunch of multi-coloured platypuses?" retorted Anton.
"I don't know," Hazel replied. "Okay, so maybe not normal."
"Less chaotic," suggested Hermes.
Hazel pointed at him. "Yeah, that. I mean, missions are fun and everything, but sometimes we just want a day off that we can enjoy in peace without some villain trying to take over and/or destroy the Tri-State Area."
"OWCA wouldn't be doing their jobs right if there weren't any villains trying to take over and/or destroy stuff," grinned Pippa. "I mean, there wouldn't be any point in OWCA if all the villains decided not to take over or destroy anything today. Right?"
Everyone agreed.
"Well, I'm going to bed now," Teddy said, standing up. "Some people don't like getting up at five every morning." He was looking pointedly at Pippa, who grinned sheepishly.
"I think I'll go too," Quinn agreed, following Teddy out of the room. "Goodnight, all."
"Goodnight," came a chorus.
Hazel and Hermes followed the two of them soon after, and then it was just the twins in the living room. As Anton stood up, preparing to go upstairs too, Pippa bounced across the room and hugged her twin fiercely. Anton blinked in surprised, before hugging her back.
"Merry Christmas, Anton," Pippa whispered.
"Merry Christmas, Pippa."
"I-I love you."
"I love you too."
Pippa let go of Anton, slapped him on the shoulder, and then bounced out of the room. Anton smiled and went to follow, turning out the light as he went.
It had been the perfect Christmas.
Step into Christmas, the admission's free
Merry Christmas everyone! :D