It was Christmas day 2014 and James, Albus, and Lily were outside engaged in a snowball fight.
As it was only twenty degrees out, twelve degrees below freezing, James, Albus and Lily were all bundled up from head to toe including scarves and earmuffs and thick winter boots. Lily normally wore flip flops, but Harry and Ginny told her that she couldn't participate in the snowball fight with her brothers unless she put on her winter boots. James was dressed in scarlet, Albus in black, and Lily in hot pink and Harry and Ginny were watching James, Albus, and Lily have their snowball fight from inside the house via a window.
James, Albus, and Lily were having fun, but also taking the competition seriously because Harry had told them that whoever won the snowball fight would get to pick where they went for their Christmas dinner.
Early on Albus was clearly the worst as he could rarely hit James and Lily and he could rarely dodge their snowballs.
Meanwhile, it was incredibly competitive from early on between James and Lily and they seemed to hit each other half the time and dodge each other half the time.
"I got you good, " James yelled after one of his snowballs hit Lily in the back.
"Take that!" Lily replied back after hitting James in the chest.
After awhile Albus voluntarily removed himself from the competition to allow James and Lily to resolve a winner by themselves.
"I've got the lead, " smiled James as he hit Lily on the left knee.
"Not for long!" retorted Lily after hitting James on his right elbow.
"One of you has to get the upper hand sooner or later, " reasoned Albus.
All the same, James and Lily seemed to remain tied forever.
Eventually, Harry came out of the house and said, "It's still a tie, whoever gets the next hit gets the3 choice."
Next nanosecond, Lily aimed a snowball at James that hit him squarely on the right shoulder.
"YES!" exclaimed Lily, "I finally won one of these! James usually blows me out in these, but somehow, someway, I was on my game today!"
"Congratulations, sis, " said James with a genuine smile, "After having made the choice myself each of the past four years, I'm legitimately happy for you that you have the opportunity to make the choice today."
"Thank you, James, " said Lily sincerely, " Since you'll be away at Hogwarts next year, this was my last chance to beat you, at least on Christmas, though I suppose we could have a few more snowball fights this winter."
"Don't worry, Lily, " said James reassuringly, "I'll come home for Christmas break while I am a Hogwarts student, just like I'll come home for summer vacation."
"But now, " said Harry kindly, "It is time for Lily to make her decision. '
"Well, " said Lily thoughtfully, "Mom told us last week that there's a new spaghetti restaurant in town called Sally's Special Spaghetti. As we've never been there, I select Sally's Special Spaghetti as our restaurant for this year's Christmas dinner. "
"That sounds good, " chroused Harry, James, Albus, and Ginny.
"Isn't Sally's Special Spaghetti owned by Sally Anne Perks?" James asked his parents, "I know Sally Anne Perks is a Hogwarts dropout."
"Yes, it is, " answered Harry, "She was in my year but dropped out after third year due to bad grades. She's one hell of an entrepreneur though and she has a reputation as a great cook. I'm honestly glad Lily made this choice."
So, Harry, James, Albus, Ginny, and Lily all went to Sally's Special Spaghetti where they saw the words Sally's Special Spaghetti in neon green lighting across the top of the building.
As it happened to be busy at the time, Sally had actually left the door set open to allow people to come in and out and not have the door opening and closing every nanosecond.
"Hi, " Sally greeted Harry, James, Albus, Ginny, and Lily, "Let me find you a table."
Fortunately, Sally quickly found seats for Harry, James, Albus, Ginny, and Lily at a table that could hold six and gave them menus.
After quickly looking it through, Harry, James, Albus, Ginny, and Lily all ordered the same thing. The Sally's Special Spaghetti Combo.
"Might as well order the meal that bears the restaurant's name, " reasoned Lily.
"Yep!" agreed Harry, James, Albus, and Ginny.
The Sally's Special Spaghetti Combo was a plate full of spaghetti smothered in tomato sauce with hamburger meat mixed in and sides of two breadsticks each and large Budweisers to wash it down with.
"You have chosen wisely, " grinned Sally, "I'm obviously biased towards my own favorite item, but as it's our most popular item, I keep them cooking constantly. There's a batch that's almost done now so it'll only be a few minutes."
And indeed, it was only two minutes later when Sally returned and set large plates of spaghetti and breadsticks and large glasses of Budweiser in front of Harry, James, Albus, Ginny, and Lily.
"YUM! chroused Harry, James, Albus, Ginny, and Lily the nanosecond they had each taken their first bite of Sally's Special Spaghetti.
"It's perfect!" exclaimed Lily, "Piping hot and all."
"Just the right of sauce too, " added James, "You don't feel like it's drowning in sauce but there's enough sauce to get the flavor and experience exactly right.'
"And the meat, " smiled Albus, "Totally high quality bits of hamburger mixed in and the bits are reasonably sized too."
"Yeah, Sally's Special Spaghetti threw an eighty yard touchdown pass with this meal, " grinned Ginny.
"And Lily hit a sixty yard field goal by selecting Sally's Special Spaghetti as the location for our Christmas dinner, " smiled Harry.
"Yeah, great pick, sis, " said James glowingly.
"And the breadsticks, " added Albus, "Hit the spot perfectly."
"And the Budweiser is the coldest Budweiser I've ever tasted. The King of Beers is having a King moment here!" piped up Lily.
"And Sally herself is very sweet and kind, " added James.
"Plus, " said Harry respectfully, "I applaud Sally for finding her place in the world even she was academically challenged."
"The place seems well organized too, " said Ginny matter of factly.
"There are nothing but positive things to say about Sally's Special Spaghetti, " beamed Lily.
Lily just smiled. Her choice had been a success.