(Author's Note: Annnnnnnnd we're back. Merry Christmas everyone! Not very much here to say except I hope you guys enjoy:)

Chapter Thirteen: Christmas Surprise

"Let me tell you Lena…this Christmas is gonna be AWESOME!" I couldn't help but giggle at my best friend's excitement, but it's not like I could blame her. I was just as excited as she was, the only difference being that I was much better at hiding it.

Well…I was at least better then Laura was.

"Yes, I know Laura. You've only told me…thirty-seven times."

She glared at me, "I know, for a fact, that it wasn't that many times."

"You're right," I admitted, waiting for her to smile cheekily, "Thirty-seven is only the number of times when December started. You've been saying that since…the middle of October. At least!" She gasped loudly (and a bit dramatically , if you ask me) and then glared at me, with the kind of intensity that you'd think she was trying to bore a hole into my head. "You can glare all you want, but you can't deny the truth. You can be mad at it, but you can't deny it."

"You know, it's THAT kind of talk that can result in someone getting LESS Christmas presents this year."

I rolled my eyes, "You can feel free to not give me any gifts this Christmas, but I'm not going to give you any money back for them."

Her didn't waver at all. If anything, it only worsened, "I hate you."

"I doubt that."

"Whatever."

"So, are you and your parents doing anything major for Christmas?" I asked, not wanting to frustrate her too much and start an argument between us. Especially during the holidays.

"We aren't doing anything major. My parents just want to relax Christmas Day. So we're just going to eat some breakfast, open some gifts, and my dad said he and my mom are just gonna sit in the living room and watch TV pretty all day. How about you guys?"

"Pretty much the same thing, as far as I know. I personally am not going to be doing anything on Christmas Day, though I wouldn't be surprised if my siblings had their own plans in the afternoon. At least, some of them. I may ask my parents if I could go over to say hi to the Bensons. Do you think you could come over?"

"I could ask my parents. While I doubt my parents would have an issue with dropping me off at your house, I know that they want to relax completely. So, we'll see."

"Alright then. Let me know."

"No problem. Alright now, I gotta go Lena. My parents and I have some last minute stuff to do."

I raised an eyebrow, "The day before Christmas? Cutting it awful close there, don't you think?"

"Come on Lena, you should know me by now. You know that I work better under pressure…where do you think I got it from?" She had a proud smile on her face, holding her head up high.

I chuckled, "Well, good luck."

"Luck ain't got nothing to do with it," she commented, "Alright then Lena, I'll talk to you later."

"Talk to you later Laura." I pushed the "End Call" button and my friend's face disappeared from my screen. I smiled and shook my head, Laura never ceases to back me laugh or smile or anything of the sorts.

I yawned, covering my mouth with my hand as I felt tears beginning to form in my eyes (not from sadness, however). It was getting pretty late, we had all finished dinner not too long ago and now everyone was starting to wind down. Most of my siblings were in their rooms (doing…whatever it is they do. Hey, I'm not in their rooms), with only a few of them being downstairs with mom and dad. My roommates being two of those people. Lana had spent the better half of today trying to create all kind of traps to catch one of Santa's reindeer when he comes by our house.

Which is a horrible idea, if you ask me. You can't just take one of Santa Claus's reindeer! ESPECIALLY not on Christmas Eve, when he's already got so much work to do! If she gets us put on the naughty list because of this, I will never forgive her!

Okay, I probably will forgive her at some point. But I'll certainly be mad at her for a…long time.

As for Lola…she's (arguably) been a bit more of a worry then Lana. She's been…pretty weird throughout the day. She's been all smiles and friendly words and nice acts today. It wasn't how she usually acts, and it's weirding me out quite a bit.

Assumingly seeing my confusion and uncomfortably, Lincoln explained that Lola was acting this way because it was a last-minute attempt for her to get presents for Santa. Basically, trying to use a single day to make up for misbehavior for the rest of the previous year.

Frankly, I really don't think that it's a good idea. I'm pretty sure Santa knows of her plan anyway. After all…he sees you when your sleeping, he knows when you're awake, and he knows when you've been bad or good.

...~So be good for goodness sake~.

I'm sorry, couldn't help myself.

"Alright everybody!" I heard dad's voice, "It's bedtime! Everyone to your rooms now. If we hear any loud noises or if anyone goes downstairs before tomorrow morning, there won't be any gifts tomorrow!" As far as my siblings downstairs…I don't think I've seen them run up the stairs so quickly.

Lana and Lola burst through the door of our room (which, of course, made me jump), both of them slamming the door and (literally) jumping into their beds. Both of them had large and bright smiles on their faces, each of them practically vibrating in place with their happiness.

"You guys seem excited," I commented, though I couldn't exactly blame them. I was just as excited as they were, I was just better at hiding it then they were.

"Of course!" Lana exclaimed, almost seeming confused/irritated by my statement (as if it were totally obvious. Which, in all fairness, it kind of was), "Tomorrow is CHRISTM-," Lola (moving quicker then I've ever seen her move. Quicker then I even thought was possible for her) suddenly leaped forward and covered her twin's mouth.

"Keep it down you idiot!" Lola hissed/whispered to Lana, "Didn't you hear what daddy said? If we're loud, we won't get any presents tomorrow! I did not spend the entire day being good and kind just so you can mess it all up at the last second!" Lola so did not get it.

Lola suddenly yelped and jumped back in a uniquely perfect blend of anger and disgust. Lana holding her tongue out and Lola frantically shaking her head which seemed to be wet…it wasn't very difficult for me to tell what Lana did.

"Calm down Lola," Lana waved off, "Nothing is gonna be messed up, or ruined, or…whatever."

"It better not be," Lola grumbled to herself, removing her gloves and desperately rubbing down the hand that Lana licked (I'm pretty sure I heard her mutter, "Never clean again").

"Alright, we should probably head to bed you guys," I told them, I myself had already changed into my pajamas and had gotten (at least partially) under the covers. Both of them seemed to agree with me, shrugging their shoulders and heading over to the dresser in order to change into their pajamas. I lied down in my bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

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(A Few Hours Later)

My eyes shot open, startled, as I heard a loud noise that woke me up. Instinctively, I put my blanket over my head. After a few seconds, I, slowly and hesitantly, peeked my eyes out from my blanket. My eyes darted around quickly throughout my room, feeling too scared to move from my position. I moved a bit more of my covers down, now leaving my entire head uncovered.

"Guys?" I quietly called out to the twins after a few more moments of silence, "Are you guys awake?" I don't think they heard me at all…which really wasn't surprising, giving the fact that they were both snoring right now. Together they sounded like a grizzly bear (as much as I hate to be rude, even I can only deny the truth for so long), making me wonder (to this day) how I'm able to sleep through the both of them. I flinched as a heard more thumping, and also a low noise this time.

That's it. I'm waking one of these two up. I got out of bed and immediately went over to Lana's bed. There's no way that I'm going to Lola right now. I'm already freaked out, and waking Lola up in the middle of the night (during her "beauty sleep") would only make that worse.

I headed over to my tomboy sister's bed and gently rocked her shoulder, "Lana. Lana. Wake up."

Lana groaned before she lifted herself up on her hand, rubbing her eyes tiredly, "Lena? What's going on?"

"I heard some noises outside."

She sat up completely now, her eyes now open, "I'm sure it was nothing. Maybe it was just someone's car or some animal moving around?" Just then, that noise happened again…but louder. A louder thumping noise and a louder groaning sound.

"Will. You. Both. Shut up?!" Pillows hit the both of us in the face, knocking Lana on her back and knocking my head to the bed. We both turned around to see Lola sitting up, her hair messed up and that weird blue face cream on her face as add he glared at us with the intensity of the sun. "If Santa finds us all awake, we won't get any presents tomorrow! And if I was completely good to everyone all of the time for nothing, I'm gonna be coming for the two of you."

"Didn't you hear that noise outside?"

"I didn't hear anything Lena. It's probably just your imagination." Just then, there was another thumping sound and more groaning.

Lana crossed her arms and stared at Lola with a deadpan expression, "All in her imagination, huh?"

Lola's eyes darted quickly side-to-side just before she scratched her head and coughed into her hand, "Well…what's your bright idea then, smart girl?"

"Well, we've obviously got to tell someone," Lana stated.

"Who?" I asked.

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"Lincoln! Lincoln! Wake up!" All three of us were frantically shaking Lincoln, trying to get our brother to wake up.

Lincoln began moaning in discomfort/annoyance, turning away from us and covering his head with his pillow. Lola growled with clenched fists and gritted teeth before she suddenly leaped onto Lincoln's bed (I have no idea how this did that in a single jump), grabbed Lincoln's pillow, and threw it to the wall before grabbing our brother by his pajama shirt collar, "Lincoln Loud!" She whispered/yelled (doing both at the same time), "You had better wake up and get out of that bed now!"

Lincoln let out a loud yawn and rubbed both of his eyes with his arms. Slowly, he opened his eyes up and looked at us, "Lola? Lena? Lana? What's up? Bad dream?"

"No," I answered, "We heard a noise outside."

"What kind of noise?" He asked us, before (literally three seconds later) the thumping and groaning noise came back for all four of us to hear.

"That kind," Lana said, pointing to the roof above us.

Lincoln was now fully awake and sitting up straight, staring up at the roof. "Maybe it was nothing?" Lincoln's voice didn't sound very certain, and the sentence sounded more like a question then a statement.

Suddenly, we heard a knocking sound and all of us jumped (I rushed over and grabbed onto Lana). It took us a few seconds to realize that it was someone knocking on Lincoln's bedroom door.

Staring at the door, Lincoln got out of bed and motioned for us all to get behind him. We didn't have to be told twice, as all of us quickly maneuvered behind our brother. Lincoln slowly stepped to the door, all of us beginning to sweat nervously as the knocking continued. In fact, I think it became more frantic.

Keeping one hand barely on his bed, Lincoln (with some effort and frustrated grunts) reached over and grabbed the doorknob. Turning the knob just a little bit, the door flew open and our brother fell face-first to the ground (causing the three of us to wince). "Ow," Lincoln muttered, his voice being muffled by him being…well, on the floor.

"Dude, what you doing on the floor?" We all looked up to our older sister Luna standing there in her purple nightgown, her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

"Luna?" Lincoln questioned as he picked himself off of the floor, wiping off his shirt, "What are you doing here?"

"I got up to use the bathroom, and heard some noises coming from your rooms. Why are you guys still awake?"

"We heard a strange noise outside," Lana answered before any of us could.

"What noise?" And then, like clockwork, the thumping and groaning noise came back. We all looked to the roof and I saw Luna's widen a bit, "I assume that's the noise?"

Lana nodded, "Yeah. Talk about convenience."

I looked up to Luna, "What do we do?"

Luna looked to the wall with a frown and a hand to her chin, "Well…I'm gonna go take a peek as to what's going on out there. Riiiiiight after I use the bathroom. Nature's callin' brah," she said quickly before racing to the bathroom.

TMI Luna. TMI.

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Luna was slowing walking down the stairs and into the living room, the rest of us not very far behind. She had snuck into Lynn and Lucy's room and "borrowed" one of Lynn's bats and held it up defensively as she made her way to the door.

She a hand out to the three of us, signaling us to stop, before turning her head and holding a single finger up to her lips. Tightened her grip on the bat (at least, that's what it looked like to me), Luna quickly moved herself to the side of the window behind the TV. She reached up and moved the curtain ever so slightly, peeking to try and catch a glimpse of…whatever was making that noise.

Luna's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as the bat fell from her hands in shock. "Luna? What's wrong?" I asked, worried. The twins raced over to the window, despite Lincoln telling them to stay still. The two of them stood on their tiptoes in order to look through the window and see what Luna had seen through the window. I heard the two of the gasp in shock, before hearing Lana mutter, "No way."

Lincoln looked like he was starting to get frustrated, "Alright…for Pete's sake, what is it?" He whispered/yelled. He stomped over to the window and I quickly followed behind him, wanting to see what all of the commotion was about.

I had to stand on my tiptoes as we reached the window, and let me say this…what I saw? Complete and utter shock and surprise spread through every inch of my body.

Why you may ask? It was because there was a man standing on our lawn. But it wasn't the mere fact that there was a man in our yard, but rather it was because I knew who this man was. The man in question wore a dark red coat that extended a bit past his waist with a strand of white fur going down the middle of the coat, along the edges of the coat, and around his wrists at the end of his sleeves. He wore dark red pants with white fur around his ankles, along with pitch black boots and a black belt. He had a large white beard on his face, slightly-tanned skin, and bright blue eyes, holding a red hat with a white furball at the end in one of his hands. There were also a few deer-like creatures with brown fur and antlers standing near him as he looked upwards, a frown etched on his face as he scratched his beard with his free hand.

My eyes were the size of dinner plates and my jaw would have actually hit the floor, as this been a cartoon (1). My brain virtually stepped, "S-S-S-S-."

"Santa!" The twins yelled, while still (somehow, in their excitement) keeping the yelling to a whisper/yell. Barely a second after that, they were already moving to the door. Admittedly, I wasn't far behind them.

"Guys wait!" Luna and Lincoln tried to grab at us, but they were just a little too slow (2). All five of us ended up outside…and immediately felt regret for doing so. It was COLD!

Santa turned from his above gaze and looked at the five of us, his eyes widened in shock and (what appeared to be)…slight terror? While I was confused, the man's expression seemed to go unnoticed by the twins as their joy-filled expressions remained on their faces.

Lola was the first to make contact (so to speak), "Hi San-."

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. I couldn't move. Like, I couldn't move any part of my body. I was seriously freaking out, and I'd been sweating and hyperventilating…if I was able to move.

"Alright," the man spoke gently to us, putting down the hand that he'd quickly outstretched, "I know you guys are freaked out right now. Essentially, I've frozen the five of you in time," he explained, and I'm sure we'd all be freaking out right now…if we weren't frozen in time. Apparently. "Now…I'm going to unfreeze you all in a moment. When I do, I need to all to be quiet and stay calm. If you don't, I'm going to have to freeze you all again. Okay?" Silence, "Oh. That's right," he scratched his beard sheepishly, "My bad." He raised one of his hands up and snapped his fingers, and suddenly I could move my body again. I would have fallen to the ground in shock had Lincoln not caught me at the last second. "Alright, are we calm?" We all nodded our heads a bit numbly.

"Are you," we all turned to Luna, who was looking on in complete shock, "Santa Claus?"

He chuckled, before holding his arms out, "In the handsome flesh. But," his expression went from smiling to frowning in an instant, "We have something more important to discuss," he put his fists on his hips, "Like why you're all awake and outside of all things."

"It was Lena!" Lola immediately pointed to me, so much for sibling loyalty. Santa's gaze turned to me, and I immediately froze in place. Not frozen as in frozen time again (not a statement I ever thought I'd make), but frozen as in scared.

"Lena," he spoke gently, almost in a fatherly tome, "May I ask for your side of the story?"

"I-I woke up, a-and I h-heard a n-noise coming from the r-roof," although Santa Claus himself was literally standing before me, I couldn't help but feel on edge. Like I did something wrong and was being disciplined by one of my parents.

Santa sighed and took down to one knee, "It's alright little one. I suppose that is my fault."

I looked up, confused, "How?"

Santa sighed and pointed upwards, and I looked up to where he was pointing before my eyes widened in shock.

Why you may ask? Because attached to the roof was because Santa's large red (the same red as his coat and pants) sleigh was dangling on the edge of our roof. The thing that really took me aback was the two reindeer heads I could see moving on the roof. I began walking further out in the yard and saw that these two reindeer were being held down with nets and ropes. There was a single net over each of them, and those nets were being held down by ropes. The two reindeer made low groaning noises before they tried to move, lifting themselves up and falling down…creating, you guessed it, a thumping noise.

"That explains the noise," I commented.

"Yes, I suppose it does," Santa replied with a smirk.

"You know dude, you don't really look like how I would have imagined. And definitely not like how I've seen in TV and stuff," Luna commented.

"You mean because I'm not fat?" Santa commented with a raised eyebrow. Luna's eyes widened and her face turned red in embarrassment as she began stammering. Santa chuckled, "Don't worry sweetie, I know I look different. But yeah, I'm not fat. Admittedly, I do gain a bit of weight around wintertime like everyone else. But I don't stay that way throughout the year. I've been here for a long time, and I plan on staying here for much longer…so, gotta keep myself healthy," he turned to the side and patted his stomach, showing that it didn't really go past his waist. Like at all (3). Suddenly, Santa's smile turned into a frown, "Now, I have an important question for all of you. Who did…that?" He pointed to the nets and ropes that held two of his reindeer down, "I know that I don't live in neighbors like these and don't exactly get most people's choices, but I have never seen someone with that on their house."

I shrugged, "I don't know."

"Me neither." (Lincoln)

"Not me dude." (Luna)

"Definitely, not me. I wouldn't be caught dead doing something like that." (Lola)

There was only one person left. We all turned to Lana, who was scratching her head and didn't make eye contact with anyone. "Lana," Luna spoke with crossed arms, in a serious tone of voice that I rarely heard from her. Like…one in every…thirty conversations I've ever had with her, "What did you do?"

"Wait a minute," all of us now turned to Lincoln, who was staring at our tomboy sister with narrowed eyes, "Is that another one of those "reindeer catchers" that you've been doing recently?" Now, the rest of us looked back to her with accused frowns.

"…Maybe?" Lana's face was red, clearly showing how embarrassed she was.

Santa sighed and rubbed his eyelids, "Lana…I was hoping that you dropped this idea after it didn't work the last few times you've tried."

"Wait, you knew that?" Luna asked.

Santa chuckled in response, "Of course, I'm Santa Claus. I see you when you're sleeping, I know when you're awake, I know if you've been bad or good, and so on and so forth. I know things like this."

"I'm really sorry Santa!" Lana had closed the distance between her and Santa in (literally) a second, latching onto his leg, "I didn't mean to mess anything up, I just wanted a reindeer of my own! I wasn't trying to mess up Christmas!" From my placement, it looked like tears were welling in Lana's eyes. That immediately hurt my heart, I hated seeing family members or friends sad and/or cry like that.

Santa looked down at Lana and his expression softened (adding weight to my theory that she was crying, or at least starting to). He picked her up off of his leg, took to one knee, and set Lana on said knee, "There's no need to cry little one," he wiped away the tear that had slipped from Lana's eye, "I know you didn't mean to cause any issues or trouble."

"Maybe there's something we can do to help?" Lincoln offered.

Lana shot up, "Yeah! I-I'm sure I can get those reindeer out of there!"

Santa shook his head, "No, it's fine kids. I can figure this out, you all need to get back to bed. Now."

"No way dude," Luna said with crossed arms and complete conviction in her voice, "We want to help. Besides, it'd no doubt make Lans feel a lot better," Santa and I looked down to Lana, to see her still frowning and looking like she was going to cry. Even though Santa doesn't blame her for her trap, that doesn't mean Lana doesn't blame herself.

Santa sighed and rubbed his face with his hand, "Alright fine then," Lana's face immediately brightened as Santa opened his belt a bit to hold his hat, "Lead the way."

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Probably the most difficult aspect was everyone keeping quiet as we snuck Santa through the house. Well…it was really more difficult for us to remain quiet. Primarily the twins, with Lana talking about what she'd do and frantically apologizing to Santa for her reindeer trap (to which Santa would always say it's fine) and with Lola still being excited about being in the same house with Santa Claus himself (totally understand why).

Despite being the largest of our little "group", Santa didn't make a single sound as we walked through the house. Honestly, that didn't surprise me. After all, moving through areas unseen and unheard is literally his job.

Luna had gone into the downstairs closet and got us each a spare coat from the closet, we were all feeling pretty cold from being outside in our pajamas.

"Alright," Luna turned to the rest of us, "Me and Lans are gonna go up to get the reindeer out. You guys stay here and make sure that no one wakes up." Before any of us could answer, she sped (as quickly as she could while still being quiet) up the stairs with Lana in tow.

"So," I turned to Lincoln and Lola, "What exactly are we supposed to do?"

CRUNCH!

I swear, all three of us literally jumped nearly half a foot in the air at the sudden and loud noise. We all turned to the source of the noise…and saw Santa holding the plate of cookies we'd left out and eating one. Sensing our gazes, he looked at us before swallowing the cookie. "What? This whole "delivering presents to everyone in the world in one night" thing can really work up an appetite."

"Hey Santa, can I ask you a question?" Lincoln asked.

Santa smirked, "I believe you just did." My brother and sister didn't look amused, and even I didn't find it very funny (although I didn't blatantly show it like Lincoln and Lola did). Santa sighed, "No one ever likes that joke, do they? Go ahead Lincoln, ask away."

"Not to sound rude or anything, but…how do you stay in good shape like that when there are probably billions of cookies left for you every Christmas?"

"Well, like I said, I put on some extra weight around wintertime like many others. Primarily due to all of the cookies left for me. However, I don't eat all of them every single year. Do you have any idea how unhealthy that'd be? Or how big I'd be afterwards? No, I end up taking most of them with me to have later on throughout the year," he finished the cookie in his hand before grabbing another one, "Usually though, I ring up my workout a bit immediately after Christmas."

"You work out?" I asked, and then immediately felt bad. I didn't mind for that to sound as rude as it did.

"Of course," Santa chuckled, "Even I can't keep us this physique with doing some kind of exercise."

"I'm kind of surprised that you can't just…"magic" yourself to look thinner," Lola commented.

"That's not really how it works," Santa said, "I can't just do anything and have it just be because of "magical" reasons."

"You don't have magic?" All three of us asked, completely confused by that statement.

"Not in the way that many others think of it. I have power, but it's not like I can just do…whatever I please because of it."

"What kind of powers do you have then?" Lincoln asked.

"Well…I've already demonstrated that I have control over time. In a certain fashion," he muttered that last part while he scratched his beard, "And the actual magic that I do use is pretty much all ice-related/based."

"You mean cryokinesis?" Lincoln asked, his eyes seeming to gleam.

Santa laughed, "Yes. Cryokinesis. Superhero fan?"

"Only immensely so!" Lincoln cheered, "And now I meet Santa Claus, who I find out is one of the best there is!"

Santa waved his hand, "Oh, you flatter me."

"So…you can use ice magic?" Lola asked, seemingly confused by Santa and Lincoln's conversation.

Santa chuckled before he held out his hand. With Lola (and me too if I'm being honest) looking on in confusion, Santa's hand sudden began to turn white as smoke began to come from it. And then, the smoke began to shift and merge together?

At that moment, the smoke began to…condense (I believe is the right word). Just then, in seconds, a snowflake appeared in his hand. Lola gasped in amazement and I felt my own eyes widen in amazement. In an instant, a duplicate snowflake appeared next to the first one. Santa held up two fingers and the snowflakes moved to the top of them. He looked to the two of us, smiled, and tapped both of our noses. The action tickled (which is why we both giggled) and, suddenly, I felt a lot…happier.

"Essentially," he answered after a few moments of silence.

"Yo Santa!" We all looked to see Luna standing at the top of the staircase, "We need your help up here. Lana is certain she can get the reindeer out, but they're a little stressed out…so I figured you could come up here and keep them calm while Lana gets them out."

"Good idea," Santa complimented, "Well, alright then," he stood, "Let's go."

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We all headed up to the roof, with Lincoln waiting with me and Lola nearing the entrance to the roof. The bindings around the reindeer seemed to have been loosened, but they were moving around a bit erratically and making groaning noises that seemed to be a bit frightened.

Santa simply walked up to them, and began petting them both gently as he began whispering to them. I couldn't tell what he was saying to them, but, whatever it was, it seemed to calm them down a great deal.

Lana went back to work with freeing the reindeer, which was now (presumably) much easier with Santa calming them down. In almost no time flat, Lana had broken the reindeer free of the trap's nets and ropes. The reindeer had all but burst upwards when they were finally able to, letting out a loud noise of triumph.

"There we go," Santa said, continuing to pet the reindeer, "All better. You're both alright, no need to get agitated."

"Again Santa, I'm reeeeeeeeeeealllllllllly sorry about the trap. I promise I'll never do it again!" Lana apologized frantically.

"It's fine Lana," Santa waved off before turning to the reindeer, "Dasher…Comet…don't you two think it's fine?" The two reindeer, the now-named Dasher and Comet, shared a glance before they each walked over to Lana and began nuzzling her. "They seem to think it's fine," Santa laughed. "Alright," he turned around and rubbing his hands together, "Let's try this." Santa then took in a deep breath and held out a single hand. We were all wondering what he was doing (well, I know I was and I suppose I just assumed that the others were wondering too) but, before we got the chance to ask, we then saw something incredible.

There was a large pile of snow that was rising into the air, sort of like in the form of a snake. Santa then (without dropping his hand) walked over to his sleigh and (to our astonishment, which seemed to be happening a lot tonight) pushed his sleigh over the edge. Instead of the sleigh falling, the "snow snake" actually caught the vehicle. As Santa lowered his hand, the sleigh and the snow lowered too until it (presumably) touched the ground. Santa breathed out and put his hands on his hips, "Well, there we go."

"Not to sound rude Santa," we turned to Luna, "Buuuuuuut, how come you didn't just do that to begin with? Or do something with time like you did before?"

"I couldn't do that before with my ice magic because I couldn't see the snow on the roof to use and couldn't see where it could be properly secured without making too much noise. And as for controlling time, that tends to drain me the most. What I'll usually do is freeze time and take care of numerous houses before unfreezing it. Didn't want to use it too much on this detour because I wanted to converse energy. Not to mention I wasn't sure how long it'd take."

"Now what?" I asked.

"Now me and the reindeer head out to finish our job. And it's time for the rest of you to head on off to bed. Gotta big day of Christmas tomorrow." Lana and Lola immediately shot out in front of us and hugged Santa's legs.

"Do you gotta leave now?" Lana asked.

"I do," Santa replied, "Still got a lot of good boys and girls to deliver presents to, and time's a tickin'," he picked them both up from his legs and set them both down. "Thank you to all of you for your help, I truly appreciate it."

"Not a problem," Lincoln waved off, "Of course we'd help out Santa Claus. I mean…who wouldn't?"

Santa chuckled, "I appreciate the attitude. Oh, and there is something important that I must say before I leave," he bent down to one knee, "Lola?"

"Yes Santa?" Lola asked with a sweet smile, albeit with some confusion.

Santa's expression took on a slightly more serious expression, "Stop trying to use the day before Christmas to make up to all of the bad behavior you did since the year began. That's not how it works, and it completely defeats the whole purpose. I'll give you a pass this year, mainly because you helped out, but I won't be doing that anymore. This needs to be the last year you do this, if you want any presents from me. Okay?"

"Okay," Lola responded, her cheeks actually red in embarrassment (which I found kind of funny, given the type of person Lola usually is).

"Alright then," he ruffled her hair a bit (the first time I've seen someone do tbat and Lola didn't move away or yell at them). "Then I guess that's it. Dasher, Comet, let's go," he clapped his hands and the two reindeer actually leapt off of the roof. Santa put his hat on and his hands behind his back as he walked backwards, smiling at us as he did so, "Well kids, it's be fun to see you this Christmas Eve and thank you all for your help. Until our paths cross again," Santa jumped a few inches into the air, moving backwards a bit that caused him to go right over the roof!

We all raced over to the roof's edge (doing our best to remain steady as we did so. Fortunately it was only snow on the roof as opposed to any real ice) so we could make sure that Santa was alright. Just as we neared the edge, something large suddenly appeared from the ground. I felt my own eyes widen in shock (and I suspected that my siblings were the same) as it was Santa in his sleigh with all of his reindeer floating in the air. Santa saw us, smiled, and threw an arm out, "Surprise!"

"Dude…how'd you do that so fast?"

Lincoln answered Luna, "He has time manipulation," he turned to Santa, "That's what you did, isn't it?"

"Guilty," Santa laughed out, "Heeeyah!" Santa whipped down (4) on the reins, and his reindeer began flying into the air. "Ho ho ho! MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Santa's sleigh rose up further and further into the air until it was barely visible before it shot across the night sky.

"Alright guys," Luna breathed out a few moments after Santa's sleigh was no longer visible, "Come on. We need to head back down to bed." We all followed her, still marveling at the night sky. There seemed to be a trail in the sky that followed from the sleigh, glowing in colors that ranged through red to green to even blue.

If there's one thing that I'm certain about after tonight...it's that Laura is never Laura going to believe this.

(Author's Note: Annnnnnnnd scene! Hoped the Christmas chapter turned out okay. On tbat note, I hope you all had a great Christmas:)

(1): Well…if that's not irony, I don't know what is.

(2):I have relatives who behave like that. They're frustrating, but I love 'em.

(3): A decent amount of this was inspired by part of a movie I saw called "The Christmas Chronicles". That film featured a skinny (well…skinner) Santa, so that's what I decided to do.

(4): I'm not really sure how to describe what I'm trying to describe, but you guys know what I mean.

The abilities that Santa Claus displayed in this chapter were obtained from the Superpower Wiki that I use for other (future) projects of mine. I may post what I used on my profile, if anyone is curious about where I looked to give these kinds of powers to Santa.

I currently don't know if I'll do a New Year's Eve/Day-themed chapter. If any of you have any ideas as how to make a chapter like that work, feel free to let me know.

This is also going to end up being the final update of 2018. So, I hope you guys have a Happy New Year and I'll you next year;)

No flames please, constructive critism only.

Review, favorite, follow, and I'll see you guys next time.