Tabitha woke up with a pounding headache and an incredible thirst. She rolled over onto her side, groaning in misery.

So this was a hangover, she realized. She remembered very little from the night before, although she did recall saying, "Take me drunk, I am home!"

Mrs. St. Peter burst into the room. "Quick, Tabitha, come downstairs! Santa came!"

"Rrr," she growled. As she sauntered into the bathroom and saw her unpleasant reflection in the mirror, she cursed whoever came up with the bright idea to spike eggnog with rum.

After her family opened presents and they had the usual Christmas breakfast, Andie said to her dad, "I'm going to go for a walk, okay? I won't be long."

"Take your new toque, honey," Mr. Weiss. "Don't want your ears to fall off."

"Nope, that would look quite funny." Andie pulled the toque over her head, threw her jacket on and opened the door to the biting December air.

Chris hung up the phone and said, "Gordie and me are going tobogganing. If anyone wants to come they'd better hurry their asses up."

"Chris!" Aunt Marian scolded.

Abby looked up from her pancakes. "Where are you getting the toboggans from?"

"Uh, we'll use cardboard boxes or something."

Delia poured syrup over Todd's pancakes for him. "Garbage can lids work better."

"Since when do you know how to have fun?" Abby exclaimed.

"Oh I don't, Abby, but if you take into consideration aerodynamics and ductility, it only makes sense," she replied sarcastically.

Chris was already dressed. "I'm leaving now," he called from the landing.

"Chris, wait!" Abby shouted.

"I told you to hurry!"

Abby ran to put her dishes in the sink and dropped her fork on her foot. "Jesus Christ!"

"Abigail Chambers!" Aunt Marian barked.

"Since when is saying Jesus Christ on Christmas a sin?" she shot back.

Delia fluttered her eyelashes at her younger sister. "Swearing hurts baby Jesus."

"GoodBYE," Chris yelled.

"Nooo!" Abby cried. She ran to the landing to put on her jacket and other wintry clothing items. "Delia, you're not coming?"

"Hell no."

"What is with you potty mouths this morning?" Aunt Marian asked.

"We could see if Dexter wants to come," Abby sang teasingly.

"You want to take a blind man tobogganing?" Delia asked.

"Good point. Bye!"

"Hi Mrs. St. Peter," Chris said. "Is Libby home?"

Mrs. St. Peter put a hand self-consciously on the curlers in her hair. "Yeah, I'll go get her." She disappeared into the house, and a few moments later Libby zoomed into view, sliding across the hardwood floor. She didn't seem to know how to stop so she crashed into a hat rack. "Hi!" she chirped. "I got new socks. I've already skinned my knee doing that."

"That's great," Chris told her, grinning. "Me and Abby just want to know if you want to come tobogganing with us and Gordie. Tabitha too if she's not too hung over."

"Ohh, she's too hung over, believe me," she laughed. "And I'd love to, but I'm helping my little brother set up this stupid train set piece of crap thingy and it would be very un-Christmassy to abandon him."

"Dammit. I hate your conscience." He looked at his sister. "Okay kid, let's go get Gordie."

"Woooh!" Abby squealed.

After Teddy's mother let her in, Andie tromped downstairs and knocked on his door.

Inside his room, she heard a loud crash and muttered curses.

"Teddy, are you all right?" she called.

Teddy pulled open his door. "Andie! I'm great! Never been better. I like your hat."

"Cut the shit. You're drunk."

He giggled. "'Tis the season to be jolly."

"It's not even noon yet!" she exclaimed.

"Just getting a head start."

"For what?" Andie glared at him and took a cheap shot. "You want to end up like your old man?"

"Hey, my father--"

"Stormed the beach in Normandy, I know," she said. "But he was also a drunk who nearly killed you a couple of times and now he's up in Togus. Why can't you see what drinking can do to people?"

"I don't need a Just Say No talk from the holy virgin slut."

"Shut up!" Andie yelled. Teddy had never seen her so angry before. "You totally change when you're drunk and it scares me!"

"Like hell you even give a shit, Andrea," he snapped.

Andie stared at him fiercely. Then she snatched him up by the arm and pulled him into the bathroom. "Look at yourself. You think it doesn't hurt me to see you like this?"

Teddy looked into his bloodshot eyes. His white shirt was splattered with something and a shiny layer of sweat glistened on his forehead. The fluorescent lights weren't helping matters much either.

Suddenly he couldn't struggle anymore. It was too hard. He collapsed into Andie's arms, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. "I tried to stop, Andie."

Andie hugged him close. "I know you did."

"I don't want to be this way."

"It's okay, Teddy," she promised, leading him back to his bedroom, where she pushed him gently down into his bed. She sat by his head and stroked his sandy coloured hair. "I won't let you fade. I'm going to help you, okay?"

He nodded. "I love you," he said quietly.

"I love you too, Teddy."

Teddy didn't believe her, but he fell asleep with her hands in his hair.

Garbage can lids did work better. Cardboard boxes got soggy.

Chris, Gordie and Abby were perched at the top of the hill, looking at each other with competition in their eyes and holding on tightly to the rim of their makeshift sleds. "On your mark," Chris announced, "Get set, go!"

Chris had made a mistake agreeing to race against the two smallest lightweight champions of the world. He trailed behind, laughing as Abby pulled into the lead, screaming at the little kids to get out of the way.

"Jesus!" Chris shouted, plowing into a snowman two kids were making on the hill, decimating it. He tumbled for awhile, stopped, and was about to go back to apologize but the kids starting throwing snowballs at him. So he turned around and ran.

He spotted Gordie making out with his baby sister in the snow, probably melting all the snow around them. "Jesus! He yelled again. "Come on, the little monsters are trying to kill me for making heir snowman explode!"

Gordie paused just above Abby's smiling lips. "Who in their right mind builds a snowman on a toboggan hill?" Abby grinned and tilted her head back in the snow to look up at Chris.

Chris got pelted with a snowball. "Hey!" He looked down at Gordie and Abby. "Are you coming or what? Because I'm going."

"Sigh," Abby said dramatically, gently pushing Gordie off of her. "I hate you, Chris."

"You do not," he laughed, another snowball hitting him in the leg. "I need to hide."

The Tessios went over to the St. Peter's house sometime in the afternoon. Jeannie immediately fell in love with Jake's train set and they played upstairs out of everyone's way.

"Feeling any better?" Vern asked, grimacing at Tabitha's haggard appearance.

"Nope," she said. "I'm drugged with Midol though."

"Gross! You take Midol for hangovers?"

"No. But Libby's Christmas joy pisses me off and I thought maybe Midol would help my bad mood." She grinned, with some strain. "But now you're here so I can stop popping pills."

"Yeah, I was kinda worrying that maybe you had a substance abuse problem." He smiled softly, kissed the top of her head and said, "Come on. Allow my fingers to assist you."

"PARDON me?" Libby demanded. Tabitha and Vern noticed that she was still there.

"I do very good head massages."

"PARDON me?"

"Like this!" Vern reached out and massaged Libby's temples, causing her eyes to roll back, a smile crossing over her face.

"Ahhh…" she purred.

"Hey! No purring at my boyfriend!" Tabitha snapped.

"Fine. I'll go find Gage since neither you nor Jake wants to play with poor me." She called, "Gage! The other two hate me! I thought I'd try my luck with you."

Gage flicked her on the forehead, grabbing her jacket. "Sorry kiddo. Billy and me are gonna go meet his friends to play pool.

"On Christmas?" she asked, looking Vern's older brother Billy up and down as he also looked her up and down.

"Well yes," he said, and checked his watch. "Might be there for some of Boxing Day too."

Libby didn't know how much she liked the idea of Gage hanging around Billy Tessio's group of friends.

Delia agreed to meet Dexter Christmas evening to go for a walk.

When she reached the meeting place, he was already there, sitting on a park bench with his collapsible cane folded on his lap. She tried to approach him quietly, but he recognized the sound of her walk and said, "You got perfume for Christmas?"

She grinned to herself. "My odour is that powerful?"

"I like it. Smells like honeydew." He stood up and stretched out a hand in her general direction for her. She took it, loving the feel of his gloves against her bare skin. "Are we walking anywhere in particular?"

"Should we be?" she asked, noticing he wasn't using his cane as he usually did when he was outside. He trusted her.

"I'm with you. It doesn't matter."

Delia resisted the urge to giggle.

"Oh, I forgot to commend you on the mistletoe scheme."

Glad he couldn't see her blush, she said, "I was hoping you would forget that. It would have worked too you know, if it hadn't been for Teddy."

"Ah, Teddy." Dexter smiled. "What a gentleman."

"I can't believe he hit you," she said, a touch of disappointment in her voice.

"Well, I certainly didn't see it coming."

"I know. It's not funny. He kind of took advantage of you. It's like kicking someone when they're down. You couldn't fight back."

"I'm not a cripple, Delia."

"I know that. But you couldn't defend yourself."

"Don't worry about it," he said. "If getting punched in the nose is what I have to put up with to be with you, I'll take it. Until I start to get brain damage or something."

She laughed, leaned over and kissed his cheek.

He blinked in surprise. He hadn't seen that one coming either.