Here I am again! Chapter 4 already, wow. Didn't think it would go so well. But still. Today our boys finally get to let the kid out, which I think they are excited about. So, have fun reading.
Greetings Petit Erik
25.12.2021
9:30: A blood-curdling scream echoed through the house. Jenny immediately sat upright in her bed. The scream came from her floor. Hastily she got up, went to the door and opened it. Outside stood a grinning Jack, looking far too innocent for her experience. However, he was shivering slightly, which was certainly not because it was too cold in her house. It was always well heated, so he must have been outside. Jenny put one and one together.
"Let me see your hands, please," she said to him. Jack then held out his hands to her. She looked at them and touched them. As she had suspected, ice cold. So he was indeed out.
"Tell me, what did you do anyway?" she asked him.
"Oh, nothing. Just bugged Dad a little."
"And how, pray tell?"
"I put snow under the collar of his nightgown and then he laid on it," he explained proudly.
"That's what the scream was about."
"Hmm."
At that moment the door was yanked open and Jack's father stood in the middle of the doorway. He had a very angry expression on his unmasked face. But Jack was still calm and grinning at his father. Soon after, his father's expression also gave way to a playful smile.
"I'm afraid our night's rest is officially over."
"Don't worry about it, Dad. It was already over when you yelled because I think the whole house heard it," Jack explained still with a grin.
"I screamed for a reason, too, because it was a little cold."
"Has snow, so dad."
"Well, wait, you'll get that back today!"
"We'll see, Papa!" With that statement, the boy had run back downstairs.
"I guess we might as well make breakfast now. Everyone's awake anyway," Jenny said. Lewis nodded to her and went back to his room. Jenny also went back to her room and quickly freshened up. Then she went downstairs and made breakfast.
10:15 Then everyone sat down to breakfast. The latest topic of conversation was, of course, Jack's action in the morning. Thereupon all the phantoms made a plan to return the favor to the boys. For Jake and Charles were in cahoots with Jack and had hatched the plan together with the snow. After everyone was done, they went to their rooms and put on their thickest coats. Jenny, meanwhile, quickly cleaned up in the kitchen and then put on her clothes as well. Then they were all outside and went in search of the boys.
Suddenly a snowball shot around the corner and hit Murphy in the head. He spun around and saw his son quickly hiding behind a tree. He gestured to Meghan to be quiet, and then they both walked toward the tree, behind which quiet giggling emerged. Unfortunately, the boys didn't notice through their laughter that Murphy and Meghan were walking towards the tree from one side and Lewis and Anna from the other. They were also joined by Kerik and Kristine, the respective parents of each boy. Meanwhile, Jenny, the rest of the OG's with their Christines anxiously watched the scene at the tree.
At the same time, three screams echoed from the tree to the front entrance. The three fathers had thrown their boys into the snow and soaped them up after a fun little scuffle. Jenny knew it was unbearably cold and uncomfortable. But the three fathers had now returned the favor for their sons and came out from behind the tree with a satisfied grin. They were followed by happy-looking Christines and behind them, with a little more distance, came out three red-faced boys. Jenny and the rest at the front entrance had to laugh so hard they had to hold onto their bellies.
Somehow it was noticeable that Erik wasn't there at all. Just as it was noticeable, something hit Jenny in the back and she turned around. Behind her stood a broadly grinning Erik with snowballs in each hand.
"Well wait," she said, and ran after him.
At first everyone else looked at each other a little funny, but then the Christines were throwing snowballs at their phantoms too, who of course didn't take it lying down. The three boys had recovered and happily joined in. This lasted for several hours. In the end, everyone returned to the house at 5:00 pm, sweaty, wet from the snow, but happy. It was decided that everyone would relax and refresh first and dinner would be a little later. Jenny went to her room herself to take a bath. After relaxing, she went back downstairs where a couple of Christines were already working around in the kitchen. She helped them and then at 7:00 they had dinner. Today there would be something from her homeland again: bratwurst with sauerkraut and potatoes. And as always expected, it all tasted good.
Meanwhile, Sierra quietly asked Jenny, "Say, do you actually have any mulled wine here?"
What even Kari didn't know: Sierra was keen on the alcoholic Christmas drink from the Ore Mountains. Ever since she drank it for the first time, she couldn't get away from it. That's why there always had to be some at Christmas, otherwise there was a risk she wouldn't come.
"Sure," Jenny replied, "there's mulled wine and children's punch in the cupboards somewhere. But I'd say we'll drink that later." Sierra nodded in response, satisfied and visibly pleased, and dinner continued. Suddenly the question was thrown into the room as to whether one could somehow have a slumber party in the evening. Of course, one would need a suitable room for it.
"Well, the living room is big enough for that," Jenny replied, "then we'll just push the furniture out and have enough room for everyone." This was then decided upon. The opera spirits could never deny their ladies a wish anyway.
So after dinner they all set to work on the furniture in the living room. When everything was cleared out, they all ran around the house and into their rooms to get mattresses and blankets. Then they all sat down on their mattresses and talked happily about the day. Erik especially raved about the snowball fight he had with Jenny. As the battle progressed, more and more had joined in, so in the end everyone was involved. The gentlemen, of course, took heed of their ladies, but then they shot back with double the force. They were a bit taken aback at first, but then put their worries aside and joined in with just as much enthusiasm. Sierra and Karimloo proudly told how they had built a snowman with Carlotta's appearance. Then, when Sierra disguised her voice to sound exactly like Carlotta, they couldn't help but burst out laughing. When the two told the others in the room, everyone laughed just as loud. Gerry and Emmy told how they made snow angels together.
Gerry, who never knew what a snow angel was, had Emmy explain, "You just lie down on your back in the snow and then open your arms and legs and close them again," she said. Thereupon she let herself fall into the snow and showed Gerry how it was done. The latter, after watching for a short while, joined in rapturously and after they had finished they stood up, snuggled together and looked at their angels.
"My angel of music," Emmy said dreamily.
"No, you are my angel of music," Gerry told her.
"We are both the angels of music," Emmy replied.
Gerry was more than satisfied with this statement. Then they returned to reality. Jenny, meanwhile, said to Crawford, "Why don't you flip that switch back there?" Crawford looked in the direction Jenny was pointing, reached behind the curtain and flipped the switch. In an instant, the entire living room lit up in a soft glow. Everyone looked around with wide eyes. Yesterday, in all the excitement, Jenny had simply forgotten to turn on the light. But today she had remembered. And when she looked into the shining eyes of the people here, she knew it had really been worth it. Jenny saw that all the hoarding of lights in the attic had been worth it.
"This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Except, of course, my angel's home," Emmy said, looking at Gerry, who smiled lovingly at her. She smiled back and continued, "Where did you get all this?"
"It is the tradition from my home. The lights are to represent the illumination and arrival of Jesus. That's why we always put up lights during Advent," Jenny explained.
"Did you decorate the whole stairwell with them, too?" asked Panaro.
"Yes, I did," Jenny proudly explained. That she was proud of herself was evident: The joyful sparkle in her eyes said it all. Suddenly, a call came from the kitchen:
"Jenny? Where do you have the mulled wine?" Sierra had snuck into the kitchen unnoticed and was now searching the cupboards for her favorite alcoholic Christmas drink.
"In the high cupboard. Hold on, I'm coming." Jenny then stood up and walked into the kitchen to Sierra.
"Did you find the kids' punch, too?"
"It's all there already," Sierra replied. Then they got out two pots and warmed up the mulled wine and the kids' punch. When they were done, they dragged everything into the living room, took out cups and gave one to each.
"Well, Merry Christmas to you all," said Jenny.
"Merry Christmas" came back 43 times. Behind him, Panaro heard a soft sneeze. "Soot," he said, "you're here with us. Come join us." With those words, he lifted his dog and placed him on his lap. Kerik did the same with Ayesha, who had also come up behind him. The Siamese cat looked up at him with her cobalt blue eyes and he couldn't help himself and lifted her up. Soot, meanwhile, sniffed Panaro's mulled wine.
"No! That's not for you," he said. Soot in response simply curled up in his lap. So the evening passed in a boisterous mood. For some, the mulled wine struck a nerve linguistically. Some got a few words out only indistinctly or one got every other word out only with a hiccup. Jenny wasn't drunk, but she already felt she wasn't sober.
"Now for a nice brandy or Armagnac," Murphy said with a wink.
"I suppose you're missing a foot, aren't you?" asked Jenny.
Kristi, who was snuggled up to a slightly dozing Little, then said, "Some of us can't stand on our feet or keep our eyes open. I count myself among them, by the way."
Jenny drew the line at some point and announced that you should go to sleep now. There came some protests at that, but still you could see that sleep would probably be the healthiest. So everyone put their cups away, got ready, and then went back to the living room. When everyone was on their mattresses and Jenny was almost asleep, she suddenly felt something hit her in the face. She sat up and looked around the room. There she saw Gerry grinning like a honey-cake horse. Quickly, the pillow sailed back. That made him sit up too. Jenny just grinned back. The pillow then sailed back. Suddenly, one flew from the other side. Karimloo noticed what they were doing and took his pillow and threw it once across the room at Panaro. The latter immediately sat up. The pillow sailed back again, only it didn't hit "Kari" but Sierra. Sierra sat up, startled. Panaro, on the other hand, looked extremely scared about what would happen now. Sierra, on the other hand, just grinned and threw the pillow back. A short time later, the whole room was involved and everyone threw their pillows at each other.
When Erik was hit, everyone was in shock, waiting to see what would happen. But he just grinned, an expression that was very rarely seen on his face, especially since it was a joyful grin and the pillow was already flying to another place. When everyone saw that Erik was not enraged, they all exhaled the breath they had unknowingly been holding and continued happily. After half an hour, however, and after all the pillows were back with their owners, it was over and everyone lay down in their beds out of breath, for some also had to run to get a pillow. Afterwards, everyone laughed heartily, but then finally lay down to sleep. The children had fallen asleep a long time ago during the pillow sleep. They were the ones who were the most exhausted that day. Of course, anyone could have guessed that based on their interactions.
"What time is breakfast tomorrow morning?" came from somewhere, a voice Jenny couldn't place.
"I don't know. When we're all awake, which hopefully isn't too early," she said.
"Okay," was all that came from across the room. Then Jenny finally closed her eyes and dreamed about the beautiful day today.
