'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring - except for George. Never mind that it was 2 AM on Christmas Day - he was too busy making certain a few things were, shall we say, functional. It wasn't working, which was probably good for everyone else, as these things were meant to be Christmas presents. Everyone got lucky that year - George did not end up giving any presents.
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Fast-forward about eight hours. The house was, unsurprisingly, in a state of total panic. As is customary in some places, presents are usually opened when things hit a level of chaos unheard of in most circles. This was certainly the case at the Burrow.
It isn't nessecary to see most of the reactions, so let us just say that most items were accepted with enthusiasm - until it was time to open the parcels from Hermione and Ginny, that is. When everyone realized that was what was left, they didn't expect much. They didn't expect what they got, either.
"What the heck IS this?" Luna asked. It figured - the box she opened from Ginny contained a lacy, silky... thing. She hadn't seen it purchased, but after the department store, she'd decided it was better not to know.
"It's a shawl," Ginny explained, "to wear over that dress you got."
"There's something you're not telling me," Luna reasoned. "I know you're planning something totally crazy for which I might need to wear this thing - you know I'd never touch it otherwise."
"Wait and see," Hermione said. "That's all we can say for the moment."
Other parcels from the girls were opened to similar reactions, although no one seemed quite as outraged as Luna had been. Then it was down to two boxes - a smallish one for Fleur from both of the girls combined, and a much larger one, the suitcase for Molly. Both of them expected the worst.
"What is zis ... thing?" Fleur asked, pulling out the oddest-looking item she had seen in her life. It was some sort of clothing, and it looked like what would happen if one ran a ball gown through a paper shredder.
"It's a dress," Ginny tried to explain, but the meaning was lost. The girls had gone into the trendiest of shops and decided that they were buying Fleur the priciest dress there, regardless of style. The olive-green THING Fleur had just unwrapped was the result.
"What in the name of all good things am I supposed to do with this?" Molly had unwrapped the suitcase and was staring at it in a way that never meant well.
"It's a suitcase, Mum," Ginny said. "Something to put your things in when you go on holiday."
Luckily for Ginny, the smell of a burning object caught everyone's attention at that very moment...
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A/N: A short list of what I'm doing with the rest of this:
Chapter 12 - Christmas dinner (the final line of this chapter is a teaser)
Chapter 13 - skipping over the next week, a New Year's Eve Party
After that, IT IS FINISHED! Yeah, I know it's odd that I'm still posting this in the middle of January, but I'm weird like that.