The next morning the Cliffhangers awoke to smells of bacon, eggs, and cinnamon rolls. They groggily sat up, momentarilly forgetting where they were.
"Hey, you guys, its Christmas!" Juliette exclaimed.
"Merry Christmas everybody," Peter said as he came into the room. "How about some breakfast?"
They got up and sat around a table in the middle of the empty cafeteria.
"Wow, this food is great. Who made it?" Scott said.
"We both did," Sophie said.
"Well, maybe you should cook more often and we can actually be truthful when our parents ask us if the food is good."
"Or when they ask us if we're getting proper nourishment," Auggie added.
"Come on, the food isn't that bad," Peter said.
"Then you haven't had it much, have you?" Daisy said.
Peter didn't answer. "So, did you guys look under the tree when you got up?" Peter asked after they were don't eating.
"You're kidding, you got us presents?" Shelby asked.
"Well, yeah. We did. Go on, look while we clean up. No opening till we get there, though."
The group went back in the room and sure enough, there were presents under the tree. They got their gifts, two each, and sat down on their sleeping bags, waiting for Peter and Sophie. Finally they came in.
"All right, open up."
The Cliffhangers opened their gifts.
Auggie got a sketch pad and a pack of cool paints and paintbrushes. Daisy got a new set of Tarot cards and a framed copy of Amazing Grace. Ezra got a calendar of labs and picture of him and his parents when he was little.
"Your parents gave that to us when they were here on parents weekend," Peter explained.
Juliette got a diary and a horse calendar. Kat got a diary too, as well as a framed picture of her whole family. She guessed her parents gave it to Peter during parents weekend as well. Scott got a piano book and a football. Shelby got one of Degas' dancers poster and a picture cube with pictures of her, Scott, and the group.
"Wow, Peter, Sophie, this is great," Auggie said. The others nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, you didn't have to do this," Ezra said, looking through his calendar.
"Well, whats Christmas without it?"
"But we weren't all good this year," Juliette said.
"He's not Santa, Prin - Juliette," Shelby said, trying to be nice to everyone.
"So what are we going to do the rest of the day?" Scott asked.
"Well, we're going to stay in the lodge all day, but you can do whatever you want. We'll watch a Christmas movie tonight if you want."
"You mean you have a TV here?" Kat asked. "How could I miss that?"
"Well, we brought it over from my place. We don't like keeping a TV here because people like different shows, and it takes focus away from the purpose of this school, which is really the main reason. Some shows promote violence or drugs, and we don't want you to watch it. Besides, TV isn't the most important thing in the world. Which brings me to something I want you to think about. Where do you think you would be right now if some of the shows you watched flopped, or never ran, or you never owned a TV. I don't want an answer, just for you to think about it. Now you are free to do whatever you want."
Later that evening, Peter gathered them back in the front room, where a TV was hooked up. Sophie brought out hot chocolate ("Be glad you're getting this," she said) and they all gathered around the TV and fire and watched Miracle on 34th Street.
"Aw, come on Peter. This is a girly kiddie movie," Auggie complained.
"Well I don't see anything wrong with it. Its happy and the worst thing it promotes is believing in Santa," Sophie said, clear there wasn't to be anymore discussion.
"See Auggie, that movie wasn't so bad!" Juliette said when it was over.
"Ah, nah," Auggie said, turning a little pink.
"Come on, man, you know you were rooting for Santa," Scott said.
"Well, I saw you diggin' the little girl!"
"The girl? I was 'diggin' the mom!" Scott said, and dodged Auggie's punch. Juliette smiled. This wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. It was nice to have everyone get along, and Shelby was actually being nice to her.
"Hey you guys! Its snowing!" Kat exclaimed.
They all ran to the windows and watched the snow falling.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Its snowing!" Ezra said. They looked at Peter and he nodded. They ran out the door, still in their pjs, to their dorms and threw on some warm clothes. They ran back, pulling on their gloves and hats and scarves along the way. They ran back inside, waiting for instructions from Peter.
"You know the boundaries, and don't hurt each other. Go out and have fun, we'll be watching you from in here."
They ran outside. The snow was starting to get thick already, adding to what was already there. Scott wadded some snow together and threw it at his closest target, which was Ezra. Ezra threw some back at him, and Scott threw some at Shelby, and then a full-fledged snow ball fight was on. Shelby snuck up on Scott and hit him on the head with a snowball, while jumping on his back. Unprepared Scott fell to the ground and Shelby fell on top of him. She rolled off his back and Scott got her on the head with a snowball. Then he kissed her gently. They laid on their backs and made snow angels. Juliette and Auggie came over and helped them up so they wouldn't get messed up. Shelby drew a halo above hers. Kat, Ezra, and Daisy joined them and they decided to make a snow man. But they didn't get far on that because after they made the base, they started another snowball fight. Peter and Sophie watched from the window, holding each other close.
"This wasn't a bad idea at all, Peter. Maybe we should do this with all the kids next year. They kind of learn to bond with each other," Sophie said.
"I know. Hopefully this will change them and they'll treat each other better from now on."
A little later, they all came back inside, cold, wet, and tired. They changed into other, dryer clothes, and huddled next to each other in front of the fire. Sophie brought them more hot chocolate and she and Peter hung up their wet clothes. After they were dry, they hugged Peter and Sophie, thanking them for a pretty good Christmas, and went to bed. They chose to keep their sleeping bags in a circle. They fell asleep, content and happy with how the day turned out.
