Chapter 4: Gingerbread and Knitting Part I
'Tyrone wonders if learning to knit like Mabel will be an easy task. Just how easy will it be for him to learn so he can surprise her on Christmas morning?'
"Now how easy will it be for me to learn to knit like Mabel so she will be surprised by my gift come Christmas morning?" Tyrone asks himself, eyeing the yarn and needles he swiped.
Kitchen
With the first three sets of gingerbread baked and cooling, the last set for the last gingerbread house is now in the oven baking. While that set is baking, Mabel has begun working on Soos's gift, having already knitted Tyrone's, Dipper's, and Stan's gifts.
"I hope Soos likes his new tool belt." Mabel says, continuing to knit fiercely, her normal pace of knitting. "However, maybe I should tell him that he should keep his hammer in the tool belt he's currently using."
Waddles oinks with a yawn, having curled up on the floor to go to sleep. Continuing to knit, Mabel doesn't notice Dipper enter the kitchen.
"Hey Mabel." Dipper greets his twin in a sad tone.
Looking up to see her brother, Mabel immediately remembers that she has his and the other's gifts in a pile behind her on the table. Quickly grabbing the dish towel, Mabel throws it over the gifts and places them on the chair under the kitchen window. She then turns back to Dipper and smiles.
"Hey Dipper." Mabel replies with a smile as Dipper takes a seat at the table.
Seeing the sad expression on his face changes her smile to a look of concern.
"Hey bro, what's wrong?" Mabel asks, now taking a seat next to him. "You seem upset."
"I am." Dipper replies as he turns to her. "It's about my Christmas gift to Wendy. I'm still at a loss and even with Tyrone here, nothing has come to mind yet. It's driving me crazy!"
"It's alright Dipper, something will come to you." Mabel replies, a small smile appearing. "Just try not to think about it for a while and before you know it, you'll get the best idea to surprise Wendy on Christmas day."
"That's the same thing he said to me." Dipper replies. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you have a better connection with Tyrone than you do with me."
"Well Dipper, we maybe twins, but sometimes we don't always think alike, even with our twin connection." Mabel replies as she rubs her brother's back with comfort. "And Tyrone, well, he maybe that side of you that helps you see things more clearer, like your rational side of thinking. Just relax and don't worry about it. Hey, you could even help me construct my gingerbread houses like we did last Christmas with mom and dad."
"I guess I could." Dipper replies, a small smile appearing. "It beats sulking about this matter all day."
"That's the spirit broseph." Mabel fully smiles. "With the first set of gingerbread done, we can begin working on the first house and I'll even let you design that house anyway you want, just so long as you're happy."
"Thanks Mabel." Dipper smiles. "You always know what to say to cheer me up at times like this."
"Hey, what are sisters for?" Mabel says, now grabbing the cookie sheet containing the first set of gingerbread and placing it in front of Dipper. "The floor's all yours."
Just then, Stan enters the kitchen dressed in his normal attire to give his shack tours, complete with his cane and eye patch.
"Ok kids, look alive." Stan says to the twins, now getting their attention. "I've got four tours booked for today starting at 4pm and the shop will be crowded. So while I'm giving my tours, do your best to stay clear of the area until they end."
Stan now spots the cookie sheets filled with gingerbread and inhales the scent.
"Mabel, these must be the Christmas cookies that Dipper was in my office copying pictures for." Stan comments to his great niece, which gains him a confused look from the girl. "They look a little odd though, but smell great."
"Cookies?" Mabel asks, now turning to Dipper. "What cookies?"
"You know the pictures you asked for me to copy for you when you came into the office earlier asking what I wanted for Christmas." Dipper says with nods, hoping she'll catch on to what he is hinting at. "You said that you'd bake them after baking your gingerbread houses."
Catching on to what her brother is saying, Mabel nods back.
"Oh, THOSE cookies." Mabel replies, now turning back to Stan. "Oh those won't be ready for quite some time now gruncle Stan. I still have another gingerbread house to make and after that, I'll get started on those Christmas cookies."
"Great, make sure that you do." Stan cheers. "While the tourists are spending their money, they will want something to eat and nothing is bad for business like hungry tourists. The more money they spend, the more I can make this a great Christmas for both you kids."
"Even having a Christmas party?" Mabel asks with bubbly excitement.
"You betcha short stuff." Stan replies. "Well, I'm off to the shop to get ready to sucker in some tourists!"
Stan now leaves the kitchen, leaving the kids to construct their gingerbread houses. With the older man making his way towards the shop, Dipper immediately remembers leaving Tyrone in the shop and snaps his attention away from building the gingerbread house.
"Oh no Tyrone!" Dipper snaps. "Mabel, I'll be right back! I've got to go find Tyrone before gruncle Stan does!"
"Where is he?" Mabel inquires.
"I left him in the shop when I came in here!" Dipper replies in a panic. "If gruncle Stan finds him, who knows what'll happen!"
Darting from the kitchen, Dipper rounds the corner and immediately runs into something and is knocked to the floor with a soft thud. Pulling his hat up from over his vision, he looks to see Tyrone laying a few inches away from him, also adjusting his hat.
"Tyrone!" Dipper cheers as he immediately gets to the feet.
"Next time, it would be better to look ahead of you to see who else is coming in your direction." Tyrone says with slight irritability, now getting to his feet. "I can still feel pain you know."
"I was coming to the shop to get you, remembering that I left you in there after going to help Mabel in the kitchen." Dipper replies, the panic in his tone disappearing. "I was afraid that you were going to get discovered by gruncle Stan as he is heading there right now."
"I know, I sensed your panic and came to find you." Tyrone replies. "Listen, I need for you to keep Mabel busy for a while so I can figure out how to knit. I finally figured out what I am going to get her for Christmas, but need to figure out the tough part first so I can."
"Oh you figured out what to get our sister for Christmas, but yet, we can't brain storm on what to get Wendy for Christmas." Dipper argues.
"Hey, you said it yourself and I'm inclined to agree that you haven't gotten that far into conversation with her as to what she likes." Tyrone replies. "You were acting as if you were still following your plan from the summer. If you just loosened up a bit, then the conversations wouldn't be so awkward and would flow much more easily."
Just as Dipper opens his mouth to argue more on the point, he finds he has no words for Tyrone.
"Ok Tyrone 1, Dipper 0." Dipper says, sighing in defeat. "So you're actually going to go through with learning to knit?"
"If I want to give Mabel a decent Christmas gift from the heart, I'm going to have to." Tyrone replies. "Besides, it's not that hard right?
"You do know that Mabel has been knitting since she was like eight years old." Dipper says. "She has the art down."
"Well I'm up for the challenge." Tyrone nods. "Besides, she deserves something great and I am not putting my name on the gift you plan to give to her on Christmas."
"Actually, I plan to get her something different." Dipper replies. "The talk we had earlier inspired me to rethink my gift idea for Mabel. Again, why is it so easy to think of gifts for your own sister but not for someone else?!"
"You're doing it again, stop thinking about it." Tyrone says. "It's easy to think of gift ideas for your own family because you've known them longer. You've known Mabel all of your life and you've known Wendy for just one summer. So the choice is easy and I know for the longest you've wanted to learn to knit so you can one day help Mabel with one of her knitting projects."
Revealing that part to Dipper, Tyrone slyly smirks, which makes the classic version gain an uneasy feeling knowing that one of his deep secrets have come to light. Dipper's eyes frantically dart to the right and left of him before landing back on his clone.
"That doesn't leave this area." Dipper states.
"Not a problem by me." Tyrone replies. "But whatever you do, just keep her busy until I can figure this out."
"She's building gingerbread houses so trust me, she'll be busy for a while." Dipper says with a nod.
"Great, just let me know when she's done so I can relocate to another area until her gift is finished." Tyrone requests.
"You got it." Dipper agrees.
Both boys go their separate ways, Dipper heading back into the kitchen to help Mabel with the houses and Tyrone to the twins' room.
The Shop
Stan is setting up the shop for the tours that are booked for that day, now placing a poinsettia plant on the shelf behind the female brain.
"Oh this will be the best day yet and with it being the Christmas season, the biggest money making opportunity yet!" Stan cheers. "I am such a genius! Soos!"
The man child now enters the shop, having heard Stanford's call for him.
"Yes Mr. Pines?" Soos replies.
"I need to you place some garland and lights around the shop, you know to make it look real Christmas-y in here." Stan requests. "I'm holding a huge holiday sale so I want the shop to look the part. Maybe I should have let Mabel decorate in here after all."
Hearing that Stan wants him to put up decorations for a holiday makes Soos smile and wide.
"You got it Mr. Pines!" Soos cheers, darting from the shop and to the den to grab any remaining decorations that weren't used after decorating the tree.
Attic
Tyrone has made it to the twins' room safely, while making sure not to be seen by anyone along the way. Immediately spotting the tv by the entrance of the room, he approaches it and turns it on. Due to not want to keep swapping TV times with the kids, Stan bought the two their own television for their room so he can watch the television in the den uninterrupted.
"With this being the holidays, I know there has got to be some sort of knitting or gift giving program on." Tyrone says to himself as he begins searching through the channels. "If there isn't, then my gift plans will be ruined. With Christmas eve being tomorrow, I'd have to think of something else to get Mabel for Christmas and fast."
Continuing to channel surf, Tyrone now stops on a channel that is playing a program on holiday essentials, including knitting and baking essentials.
"This couldn't have worked out any better." Tyrone says, breathing a sigh of relief. Taking a seat in front of the television, Tyrone removes the needles and yarn from his vest and places them in front of him.
"Here goes nothing." Tyrone says to himself as he begins watching the channel.
Kitchen
The twins have successfully constructed the first gingerbread house with Dipper beginning to place the decorations on it. With the fourth set of gingerbread out and cooling, the last set of gingerbread for the gingerbread mystery shack is now in the oven baking.
"This really does help take my mind off a lot, I must admit." Dipper says to Mabel. "And it's fun."
"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself bro." Mabel smiles, placing a purple gum drop on the roof of the house. "I know you want to do something nice for Wendy, but stressing over it isn't the solution. Buying gifts for girls like Wendy are never easy considering she's a teenager and teenagers love different things. Maybe you should get her Robbie in a box, she'll really love that."
"I would like to put him in a box that's for sure." Dipper mumbles.
"I was just joking Dipper." Mabel giggles. "But don't worry, you'll come up with something. Hey, did you ever find Tyrone?"
"Yea I did." Dipper answers. "When I went to look for him, I ran into him in the hallway. He told me he was heading to the room to lie down for a little bit."
"Is he feeling alright?" Mabel inquires with concern.
"Yea he's fine, just tired." Dipper replies, hating to lie to his twin. "He asked that we stay down here until he wakes up."
"No problem." Mabel replies, handing Dipper a candy cane. "We have a lot of houses to build so we'll be in here for quite a while. Could please you hand me my gingerbread house plans?"
Nodding, Dipper reaches across the table and grabs the plans. Quickly glancing them over, he notices that Mabel plans to make a gingerbread Mystery Shack.
"You plan to make a gingerbread Mystery Shack?" Dipper inquires now turning to Mabel.
"Yep I do." Mabel replies with a smile. "After hearing from Soos that gruncle Stan never celebrated a holiday until we came along, I decided to make that for him since he will not be spending Christmas alone this year. Plus when we head back home in a week, he'll have that to remind him of how we gave him the best Christmas of his life."
"He never celebrated a holiday until we came along?" Dipper wonders with inquiry. "So if we weren't here for Summerween, he wouldn't have celebrated that either?"
"Good chance." Mabel simply replies. "But hey, we're with him now and he will have the best Christmas of his life! His gift is already done and I know he will love it!"
Having learned the sad truth about their uncle's lonely existence in the town, outside of his mystery shack tours and employees Wendy and Soos, hearing how Mabel wants to cheer up their great uncle for the holidays brings a smile to his face.
"You know Mabel, you're one of the most caring and loving people that I've ever known." Dipper smiles to his twin.
"What can I say?" Mabel returns the smile. "That just me being Mabel."
"And that's the Mabel that will always bring cheer and joy to the lives of others." Dipper says, now embracing his twin in a hug.
Smiling, Mabel returns the hug.
Now isn't that sweet? Tyrone is willing to take the challenge to learn to knit for Mabel and Dipper is helping her construct the gingerbread houses! Can't ya just feel the love in the room right now? Lol. Keep reading to find out in chapter 5. Next chapter: Tyrone learns that knitting isn't so easy and the gingerbread Mystery Shack will be built!
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