I know I'm super late when I say this, but thank you Alex Hirsch for giving me one of my favorite cartoons of all time! I will really miss it!

A couple things before I begin. One, I'm so sorry this took me so long! I pretty much disappeared from fanfiction for almost a year at one point. Not a single day has gone by in my life then when I didn't have to get something done. I feel bad because I know you guys wanted the next chapter sooner than this. For Pete's sake, I'm not only updating my Christmas story over a year after it came out, but I'm updating it in summer! I hope you guys don't mind.

Another thing; since the show had some differences from this story like Stan and Ford going on their trip around the world (which was AWESOME) and Soos running the shack (which was equally AWESOME) this story will just be a minor AU.

Finally, one of my biggest issues with this chapter was whether or not to include a scene where the gang opens their presents. Eventually I decided to skip it since it wouldn't add much to what I had planned for the story. I'll still be showing a couple of the presents, but the only one I'll show being opened is a specific one from Mabel to her brother, Soos and Wendy that I mentioned in the description.

Well, I've kept you waiting long enough. Here's the next update!

Eventually the dishes were cleared of food and everyone was stuffed. Even Mabel's casserole had a few pieces missing. Soos had tried some for curiosity's sake and Wendy had tried some after Dipper dared her to. Neither had liked it, but they made sure to dispose of it undercover to spare Mabel's feelings. The four friends continued to converse until the adults reminded them of the presents waiting for them in the other room. They were there in less than 5 seconds.

The Christmas tree was big and glowing. It was covered in blinking multi-colored lights and several different ornaments. There were the traditional ones like candy canes, different colored balls and a golden garland, but there were also several different additions like little trinkets that had been left over from the Mystery Shack gift shop. Soos had even put together some mini replicas of the Shack's old exhibits with left over taxidermy parts.

The twins and their parents had each brought a present for everyone in the room. They didn't bring their own presents for each other though since they were saving those for Christmas morning. Everyone else brought presents for the entire group. All of the gifts were torn into once the last person sat down and no one was disappointed.

As the last of the presents were opened, Mabel ended up wearing at least ten bows from the gifts in her hair and had styled them similar to a Mohawk.

"I call it, the Bow-hawk!" she said, striking several poses as if a camera crew was taking pictures of her.

Dipper looked up from his gifts and couldn't resist chuckling. "You and your fashion trends," he said.

Mabel suddenly donned a mischievous smile. "I bet you would look good with one, Bro!"

Dipper's smile disappeared. "No! No! No!"

He immediately sprang from his seat and ran out of the room still screaming 'no' while Mabel ran after him with over twenty more bows.

Wendy laughed. "Don't fight it, Dipper!" she shouted after him.

"I hate you, Wendy!" she heard him shout.

"No you don't!"

She proceeded to look over her gifts, her favorite one being from both Dipper and Mabel. It was a sketchbook with a picture of an axe on the cover and inside there were various drawings done by the two of them of all of their adventures together over the summer. Dipper had mostly drawn pictures of them fighting the Shapeshifter, the ghosts at Dusk2Dawn and their battles during Weirdmageddon. It was easy to tell which pictures were Mabel's doing since she tended to exaggerate most of the details of their adventures. One example of which was a picture of Wendy standing atop the dead Shapeshifter holding a sword like King Arthur after he had pulled it from the stone. Next to that, Dipper and Soos were standing in awe (Dipper's mouth having been drawn so long it hit the ground) and Mabel cheering for her, complete with pompoms and a cheerleader's uniform.

As she was admiring the pictures, Mabel strutted back into the room, her "Bow-hawk" having been slightly messed up from her struggle with her brother.

"Presenting, the BRO Bow-hawk!" she announced gesturing to the doorway.

"I'm not doing this." Dipper said from behind the wall.

"Come on Dip, you look awesome!" Mabel said.

"I look STUPID!"

"Come on dude," Soos encouraged. "You can't look THAT bad!"

"Please don't make me do this." Dipper begged.

"Dipper! Dipper! Dipper!" Wendy began to chant. Everyone else quickly followed suit.

Finally an annoyed groan was heard and Dipper slowly walked into the room, his face basically saying 'kill me now'. Mabel had removed his hat and plastered bows in a long line down his hair and part of his back. Everyone tried to hold in their laughter, but failed after about three seconds, making Dipper feel even more humiliated.

"Oh my goodness; both of you stand next to each other!" Mrs. Pines said, pulling her phone out.

"Mom, PLEASE don't take a picture!" Dipper cried as Mabel put an arm around her twin. Mrs. Pines snapped a few photos against her son's wishes, none of which he smiled for.

Mabel let go of her brother, who walked over to his Grunkle's chair and sank into it, muttering something no one could understand under his breath. Mabel gathered up all of the wrapping paper and fell backwards attempting to make a snow angel out of it. All of the sudden she sat up.

"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed. "How could I forget?"

"Forget what?" Wendy asked, mildly worried.

"I have something I need to show you guys! I'll be right back!" Mabel replied, dashing out of the room. Ford looked at the mess of paper his niece had left behind.

"We should probably clean all this up," he remarked.

"Way ahead of you, Sixer!" Stan replied. "Soos! Clean this up!"

"You got it, Mr. Pines!" Soos replied, and set to work gathering up the strips of wrapping paper. Ford rolled his eyes at his brother.

Mrs. Pines' phone suddenly buzzed. She picked it up and read the message on it. It almost looked like she was trying not to smile as she showed the message to her husband.

"Stan, Ford, can Alex and I talk to you guys for a minute?" Mrs. Pines asked, pointing to the other room. The older twins nodded and they along with Dipper and Mabel's parents walked out.

Wendy, once again, couldn't help but wonder what was going on. She turned her attention back to Dipper, wondering if he was curious too but found he was too distracted by having trouble removing the bows from his hair.

She smiled. "Hold still; I'll help you," she said.

She sat down next to him and began helping him untangle the multi colored bows. The more she helped him, the less upset Dipper felt, until finally his negative feelings fell away along with the decorations that had been on his head.

It was about that moment that the two realized how close they were to each other. Both of their faces had gone red but neither said a word and continued to remove the bows from Dipper's head. When the last of them had been removed, Wendy moved a little further back and sat down next to her crush.

"I really like that book you and Mabel made me," she said.

Dipper smiled. "It was actually Mabel's idea, though I had to talk her out of using her glitter supply."

Wendy smiled. "What's so bad about a little glitter?"

"Because with Mabel, it's never less than five pounds." They both shared a laugh.

There was silence for a minute as the two watched the lights on the Christmas tree blink on and off. Something about them was just so hypnotizing and beautiful. Finally realizing they were alone once again, Wendy took a quick look at both doors to make sure no one was coming.

"Dipper, I need to tell-"

"Found it!" Mabel cried, skipping into the room.

Wendy bit her lip in frustration. How many times was she going to be interrupted?!

Having no clue she had squashed Wendy's third attempt at a confession, Mabel sat down on the floor, Soos following close behind her. Wendy and Dipper noticed she was carrying four small boxes in her arms and moved down to the floor to sit next to her and Soos.

"I've got one last present for you guys," Mabel said after her brother and friends were situated. She gave each of them one of the boxes, there also being one she held onto herself. Each of the boxes had a tiny bow on top of it and a little tag that stated the owner's names. None of the boxes were wrapped so they could be opened easily.

"On the count of three," Mabel continued, "we'll all open them together ok?"

Everyone nodded in response. "One, two, three!"

They all opened their boxes at once and each of them found the same thing inside. On a small foam cushion were four necklaces, each of them having a gold colored pendant that looked like a puzzle piece. They all had letters on them too, but Dipper, Soos and Wendy quickly realized the letters weren't their initials. Dipper had received a letter A, Soos a letter T and Wendy a letter M.

"They're beautiful Mabel, but why do they have these letters on them?" Wendy asked.

Mabel smiled and took out her own necklace, which had a letter E on it.

"Can I see them real quick?" she asked. They handed her them and she lay them in a row on the ground.

"The pendants are puzzle pieces and they all connect! When they do they form…" She connected the pieces together and her friends smiled when they read the word TEAM.

"That's not even the best part though!" Mabel exclaimed, giving each person their necklace back. "The pendants are also lockets! Open them up!"

The three did as they were told and found a picture of themselves inside their lockets. A closer look revealed that these weren't just any old pictures though. This was the last picture they had taken of themselves together before Dipper and Mabel left Gravity Falls.

"I wanted each of us to have one of these so that way, no matter where we are, our team is still connected," Mabel said, bringing a smile to everyone's face as they all put their individual necklaces on.

Wendy stuck her hand out into the middle of their circle. "To the team!"

Her friends stuck out their hands as well, piling them on top of each other. "To the team!" they all said and raised their hands in unison.

"Hey kids?"

Everyone turned around to see Dipper and Mabel's parents along with Stan and Ford standing in the doorway.

"Can you get your coats on? Your father and I have somewhere we need to take you." Mrs. Pines said.

Dipper and Mabel exchanged a confused look. They looked at their parents' faces as well as their great uncles'. They almost seemed excited.

"Can Soos and Wendy come with us?" Dipper asked.

"If they want to," Mr. Pines replied.

The twins turned to look at Soos and Wendy, who nodded and each gave them a smile. The four of them got up from the floor and went to get their coats, wondering what the four adults had up their sleeves.

To be continued…

The adult's secret will be revealed in the next chapter!

Side not, yes of course I named the Dipper and Mabel's dad Alex. I had to!

Read and review!