Here it is! My third and final Christmas special for 2020! And also my second to last story in this collection. I wrote it ages ago and now, finally, I'm posting it.

As you may have guessed, this is Guido's story. Although, much like Sally in hers, Guido doesn't appear in this one all that much, but I figured it didn't matter. He'd want to talk about this particular memory, so everyone else will be contributing to the story. If I had the idea at the time, this probably would've been in Raising Fudge, but I'll think of an idea for next year. (Oh, and I recycled a part of this story in Raising Fudge.)

Enjoy! :)

Merry Christmas, Fudge!

2000

Guido and Luigi opened up the roller door at the entrance of their tyre shop to find a wonderful surprise: Radiator Springs had been covered with a thick blanket of snow overnight.

"E bellissima!" Luigi breathed. He glanced down at the six-month-old in his best friend's arms. "Fudgie, this is snow! It is beautiful, no?"

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Fudge cried excitedly, even though she had no idea what her dad was saying. Her blue eyes widened in curiosity as she reached out to touch the snow. She giggled as she felt a flake fall onto her hand. Both of her fathers beamed and kissed her. She was so cute, especially in her brand new winter clothes that the townsfolk had just bought her a week ago.

"(Oh, it is Fudgie's first Christmas!)" Guido cried excitedly. "(I can't believe it!)"

There were so many things that the two Italians couldn't believe about the last six months. They'd had a sweet, adorable, beautiful little baby come into their world so unexpectedly and now, she was officially all theirs. She'd been with them since birth and legally adopted just under a month earlier. Just two days before, the town had had a small party to celebrate her half-birthday and some of Luigi and Guido's relatives in Italy would be coming in February to meet her. Neither one of them could be happier. Fudge had brought endless joy to their lives. They just loved being with her, taking care of her, looking at her. The only thing was, even though, as they predicted, everyone in town thought that they were both terrific fathers, it wasn't always exactly smooth sailing…


One such example of this was when Fudge was only about two weeks old. She was fast asleep in Guido's room, which he and his daughter now shared. Her dads had just left the room to talk quietly. They'd easily be able to hear her if she woke up. They didn't even remember what they were talking about, but they knew when the conversation ended and they tried to go back and check on Fudge, the door wouldn't open.

If cars could go pale, Luigi would have just then as his eyes widened. "Oh, no!" he gasped.

Guido tried with all his might to get the door open. "(It's jammed!)" he reported hysterically.

"What do we do?!" Luigi wailed. "Our two-week-old baby is stuck in there! We never should have closed the door! We have to get in there, Guido! Break the door down, if you have to!"

"(I don't want to hurt her or scare her!)" Guido countered, still trying to yank the door open.

Too late for that. All the noise had woken Fudge up and she launched into hysterical screaming and crying. Funny thing was she was just fine until her dads got hysterical.

"It is okay, Fudgie!" Luigi cried. "It is going to be okay! I think."

"(I will go and get Doc!)" Guido announced, speeding off. "(I think he has some tools to take the door off!)"

"Good idea!" Luigi replied. "And hurry!"

Doc was suspiciously calm when he came to Fudge's aid.

"Hurry, hurry!" Luigi shrieked.

"Luigi!" Doc understood that they wanted to get to their daughter, but… "Shoutin' at me ain't gonna make this go any faster!"

"Sorry", Luigi apologised, trying and failing to calm down. "But what if she is hurt?"

Doc looked up at him suspiciously. "Hurt how?"

"I don't know..."

The Hudson Hornet gave him an unimpressed look. "Luigi. Fudge is two weeks old. She can't even hold up her own head yet. I highly doubt there's any way she'd be hurt."

After what felt like a lifetime, Doc managed to remove the door from its hinges. Guido moved the door out of the way carefully and the three of them rushed in there.

"See?" Doc gestured to the crying baby. "Fine."

"Then why is she crying?" Luigi countered, rocking the infant.

"Noise probably scared her", Doc explained.

Luigi was only half listening. He just kept rocking his daughter, exclaiming, "Oh, Fudgie! I am so sorry! I am so, so sorry! We should never have closed the door! My poor baby! You must have been so scared!"

Doc fought the urge to roll his eyes. Yes, he understood why they were worried, but this was a little ridiculous. "Don't beat yourselves up over this! These things happen! And she's hardly scarred for life! She ain't even gonna remember this!"

Luigi sighed. "I suppose you are right", he realised. "Luigi was just so worried about his little angel! Yes, yes!" He smothered her tiny forehead in kisses.

Doc just sighed and took that as his cue to leave.


"We are going to make sure you have the best Christmas ever!" Luigi declared as he, Guido and Fudge made their way over to Flo's.

Christmas! The day was December eighteenth already! Of course, they'd bought Fudge a few presents, but they hadn't done anything else. If they were going to make it the best Christmas ever, they didn't have much time! They'd talk to the others at Flo's and get right on it.

"Mornin'!" everyone greeted the trio upon their arrival. Well, more like they greeted Luigi and Guido. Fudge was greeted with, "Hi, Fudge! How are you today?"

Fudge babbled a little for a while before she just continued to stare at the snow in amazement. She seemed to be completely enthralled.

Flo laughed as she took a turn at holding her. "Are we boring to you now, honey? Is the snow much more fascinatin'?"

Fudge just gurgled in delight as another snowflake touched her skin. Not much of it was exposed in the cold weather; just a small space between her tiny glove and her slightly rolled-up snow jacket. Luigi just smiled and pulled the sleeve of her jacket down, so nowhere except for her face was exposed to the cold weather.

"You know, it is only a week until Christmas", the Fiat pointed out, taking his daughter back. Then he repeated his earlier thoughts. "We are going to make sure this is the best Christmas ever!"

"Why?" Sarge wondered sceptically. "We never do anything for Christmas."

"We did when there were children in town", Luigi reminded him. "And guess what." He bounced Fudge a little. "We have a child in town."

"You're right!" Flo agreed. "Celebrations need to get a little livelier around here anyway."

This was true. In the last few years, nobody made that much of an effort to celebrate Christmas, except for Mater. They were all just feeling kind of down with a lack of business in their town and didn't feel much like celebrating. So, they didn't really do much more than get together and maybe exchange gifts every two or three years.

"Yeah!" everyone agreed.

Everyone, except for one, that is.

"I don't see much point", Sarge muttered. "She's not even gonna remember it."

Fillmore rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a wet blanket, man."

"I'm not being a wet blanket", Sarge countered. "I'm just thinking realistically."

"What do you think, Fudgie?" Luigi quizzed her. "Do you want a wonderful Christmas with your family?"

Fudge made some more babbling noises and smiled. Even though everyone knew she had no idea what they were talking about, they all took that as a yes.

"You're outvoted, man!" Fillmore informed Sarge with a grin.

Sarge rolled his eyes, but he didn't exactly seem disappointed.

"Well, if we're gonna have a big Christmas this year, that's a lot of work to do and not much time!" Flo announced. She sped off into the café and returned with a notepad and pen. She didn't really use them anymore since they had no new customers and she knew the residents' usual orders by now, but she kept them on tyre just in case. "Who's gonna be in charge of what?"

Most of them stuck to their strengths. Flo, Guido and Luigi would get the food ready for a delicious Christmas feast. Luckily, Ramone and Fillmore had wanted to do the decorating, but unfortunately, Mater wanted to help them. The others just hoped that Fillmore and Ramone's talent for decorating would overpower Mater's lack thereof. Red and Sarge would buy all the presents (and despite his initial scepticism, Sarge didn't seem too unhappy with the new plans; he cared about Fudge just as much as everyone else did, even if he didn't always show it). Sheriff still had to keep an eye on the town- again, just in case customers showed up- but he and Lizzie offered to lend a helping wheel to anybody who needed it. Lizzie also announced that she had some old Christmas records in her shop, which would be perfect for a Christmas party. Doc, who didn't really care for holidays or social gatherings, said he'd just watch Fudge while everyone else was busy. They were all satisfied with that.

"All right, everybody!" Flo shouted. "Let's get started!"

"We kin do it!" Mater hollered excitedly. He seemed to be caught up in the moment.

So, the townsfolk broke off into their respective committees and began planning.


Right from the start, it was clear that the present and food committees had some shopping to do. So, they headed into Ashgrove to see what they could find. The decorating committee headed over to the courthouse.

"If I remember rightly, we should still have old decorations over there", Ramone announced.

Sheriff nodded. "We agreed that would be the best place to keep 'em all. Just be careful. We ain't used them in years, so they're probably collectin' dust."

"All right!" Ramone began, pulling out a box of Christmas decorations. "I kinda wanna save this for Christmas Eve and surprise everyone, but we can start thinkin' about what we wanna do." He pulled open a flimsy cardboard box and began pulling out delicate bits of tinsel and wreaths that were almost falling apart; only about five or six tree ornaments and extremely faded decorations. "Not much here."

"I think the Donovans took most of it when they left", Fillmore added. "And then they cleared the place out again when they returned for William and Alice's funeral."

"And it's a little older than I was expecting", Ramone went on as parts of a wreath crumbled in his grasp, "but I guess I can make it work."

"Yeah, man. We can make somethin' pretty groovy outta this", Fillmore agreed.

Ramone's artist instincts began to kick in. "We can cover the worst of the wreaths in tinsel and stuff!" He wound some round the wreath he was holding.

"Kin I help?" Mater asked, picking up the box of decorations.

Unfortunately, the box couldn't take it anymore. The bottom of it gave way, sending an assortment of ancient Christmas decorations tumbling to the ground. What few ornaments they had shattered into a million pieces.

All three gasped in horror.

Ramone spat out a string of words in Spanish. Neither Fillmore nor Mater understood what he said, but fury was a universal language. "Well, that's just great!"

"I'm sorry!" Mater apologised, sounding hurt. "I didn't mean to-"

"I know you didn't", Ramone cut him off, calming down. "With how old that box was, it was bound to happen. But now, all we got is a half-broken wreath and about ten inches of tinsel!" He looked sadly at the unsalvageable broken pieces on the ground. "Luigi and Guido want everything to be perfect." He and Flo could understand it better than anybody. They'd had three daughters themselves; they, too, wanted their first Christmases to be perfect.

Luckily, Fillmore was pretty calm about the whole thing. "No worries, man. We'll just go to Ashgrove and get some new decorations."

Ramone frowned. "Well, we ain't exactly made of money, but I guess we have no choice." He thought about it. "I think the most I can part with right now is ten bucks."

"I think I got fifteen bucks", Fillmore added. "Maybe sixteen."

They both looked at Mater.

"Five", he replied sheepishly. "I spent it all last week."

"Thirty bucks", Ramone mused. "That's not so bad."

"Well, what are we waitin' for, man?" Fillmore asked. "Let's go!"

So, they did.


In order to save time, Luigi, Guido and Flo decided to create their shopping list on the ride to Ashgrove. They recited it to each other, so they wouldn't forget and, whenever they could, stopped to write it down.

"Here we are!" Flo announced as they pulled into the grocery store in Ashgrove.

"Let's split up!" Luigi suggested. "We don't have much time." He took the shopping list and, carefully and neatly, tore it into three pieces. Without looking at who got what, he gave one to Flo, one to Guido and kept one to himself. He glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Meet at the checkout counter in ten minutes."

The other two agreed and they headed off in three different directions. Unfortunately, it became very clear that there wasn't much to buy. Ashgrove was a pretty small town (not as small as Radiator Springs; a population of about three hundred), so their one and only grocery store wasn't exactly chock-full of supplies. Now, only a week away from Christmas, you'd have to have lightning fast reflexes to grab whatever few items they had left on the shelves.

Luigi sighed as an elderly human woman swiped the last fruit cake like a ninja. Ten minutes had gone by now; he had to go and tell the others that he didn't have anything. However, one look at them made him feel a little better. Flo and Guido hadn't had better luck than he'd had. All they had between them was one measly jar of cranberry sauce.

"What are we going to do now?" the Fiat wondered sadly. "We can't just have cranberry sauce for Christmas lunch!" He stared at the tiny jar. "This wouldn't be enough for all of us anyway."

"We'll have to come back another day", Flo replied. "It's too late to drive all the way to Velo City now."

"But if we come back another day, it is just going to be even worse!" Luigi countered. "The closer it is to Christmas, the more people there will be!"

Luckily, that's when the manager, a dark forest green Ford Focus named Phil, happened to roll by. "Anything I can help you folks with?" he questioned.

"We've been havin' a little trouble findin' what we need", Flo informed him. She showed him the shopping list.

Phil frowned. "I'm afraid you will have trouble finding these things this time of year", he explained sympathetically. "Tell you what. We got more stuff coming in every day this week. What I can do is give you an order form and you can pick it up in Christmas Eve."

Luigi sighed with relief. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"

In under five minutes, Phil had their order form filled out and Flo's name and phone number, so he could tell her when it was ready.

"Thank you so much!" Luigi repeated gratefully. "I thought it was going to be a disaster! Everything has to be perfect this year! It is my daughter's first Christmas!"

Phil smiled. "That's lovely. I remember my daughter's first Christmas." He sighed happily and got a faraway, dreamy look on his face, most likely at the memory. "It all goes so fast."

"It does", Luigi agreed, getting a similar look on his face. "Well, thank you very much for your help. We appreciate it."

"No problem. I'll give you a call when we're ready for you."

"He was very nice", Luigi commented once they were back outside.

"(I do wish we could have gotten our groceries, though)", Guido mused sadly.

"Me too", Luigi admitted, "but at least we know we can get them on Christmas Eve now."

"(I suppose...)" Guido responded halfheartedly.

"Oh, cheer up, honey", Flo tried to comfort him. "It's just a little hiccup. This is still going to be a wonderful Christmas. I can feel it."

Guido managed a small smile. "(You are right)", he admitted.

"Now, come on", Flo instructed. "Let's go home."

So, they did.


Unlike the other committees, Red and Sarge decided to do their shopping in Velo City instead of Ashgrove.

"I was there the other day", Sarge had informed Red. "The crowds were ridiculous. And so were the people, fighting over every last thing."

Red's eyes widened in horror. The shy fire truck wanted to avoid that kind of behaviour at all costs. Unfortunately, he also liked to avoid the big cities at all costs.

Sarge knew this and sighed when he saw the look on Red's face; he wished Red wasn't so scared about everything. "Well, we probably would've needed to go to the city anyway. Ashgrove doesn't have enough stores to buy gifts for everybody."

Red nodded, still a little nervous.

There were more people at the mall in Velo City, so even though it was bigger, things were not quite as chaotic as they had been in Ashgrove. Not by much, though.

"Let's look around the stores and decide what to get everyone", Sarge suggested, "see how much it all costs and then go and buy it all."

The fire truck nodded again, relieved that Sarge was taking charge.

First, they browsed a racing merchandise store to see if there was anything Luigi and Guido might like.

Red pondered over a bunch of Ferrari models. "I think they'd like these."

Sarge nodded and scribbled down the prices in his notepad. "We'll come back. There's a paint store on the second level."

"All right. I think we know what to get here."

The paint store seemed to go well too. They managed to find some paint colours that Ramone didn't have. There was just one problem: just as Sarge was making a note of what to buy and the prices, they heard shouts and obnoxious laughter. Suspicious, Sarge checked the next aisle to find a group of three vehicular teenage boys throwing paint at each other and laughing hysterically.

"Hey!" Sarge barked, making them freeze. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Not one of the teens answered. Instead, they hurled some paint at the two Radiator Springs residents and sped off, snickering.

Sarge rolled his eyes as he and Red tried to clean up the mess. "Who do they think they are?"

"Don't worry about it, Sarge", Red responded calmly.

"Don't worry about it?" Sarge repeated incredulously. "What they did is completely irresponsible and inexcusable!"

"I know", Red assured him, "but it's done now. Getting angry's not going to do anything now."

Unfortunately, at that moment, the owner of the paint store and a security guard of the mall approached them.

"So, you're the ones who have been messing with my paint!" the owner shouted. "You've got no respect for others or their property!"

"That's it!" The security guard pulled up behind the two and drove, forcing them forward. "You two are outta here!" He didn't stop until all three of them were outside. "I don't want to see either one of you here ever again. I've got your licence plate numbers now." Then he went back inside.

The second he was gone, Red burst into tears. The fire truck didn't get into trouble very much and he was upset at the thought of letting his friends down.

Sarge rolled his eyes once again. "Pull yourself together, soldier!" he snapped, disgusted.

"I'm sorry!" Red apologised, trying and failing to calm down. "But what are we going to do now? Luigi and Guido are going to be heartbroken if anything goes wrong."

Sarge checked the time on a nearby clock tower. "Nothing will go wrong. I'll tell you what we're gonna do: We're gonna come back to the city tomorrow and try again somewhere else. It's getting late."

"Okay", Red agreed quietly. "I just hope we can get the presents."

"We will", Sarge promised. "Just not today. Now, let's get something to eat before we go home."

So, they did.


"Dad-gum!" Mater exclaimed when they entered the novelty shop in Ashgrove. It was filled with Christmas decorations: tinsel, wreaths, tree ornaments, giant candy canes. "They got everythin' we need right here!"

"That's right!" Ramone agreed. "Now, we've only got thirty bucks, so we better-"

"Dad-gum!" Mater shouted again. "Kin we get this?!" He'd picked up a box which had an inflatable Santa Car and Santa Claus inside.

"How much is it?" Ramone wanted to know.

"Thirty bucks", Mater replied, checking. "We have just enough!"

"Mater, we're supposed to buy more than just one thing-" Ramone began.

Too late. Mater had charged to the register and was purchasing it.

Ramone groaned. Why did he ever give in to Mater's pleas to hold the money?

"Don't worry, man", Fillmore tried to reassure him. "We can still make it work."

"All we got is ten inches of tinsel; a half-broken wreath and an inflatable pair of Santas!" Ramone almost shouted. "How are we gonna decorate the whole town with just that?"

"We'll make it work", Fillmore repeated calmly.

The Lowrider sighed. "I guess we're gonna have to now, aren't we? We got no money to buy anythin' else."

"You're an artist, man", Fillmore pointed out. "You can do anything."

Ramone grinned. "I guess you're right. It ain't gonna be easy, but I like a challenge."


"So", Luigi began, spooning some food into Fudge's mouth, "how was everyone's day?"

"Great!" everyone chorused, not wanting to let on what they'd really been through.

"The decorations are so great, we can't even decide what to do with them right now!" Ramone lied. "We've all got very different ideas!"

"Well, I am sure it will be fantastico whatever you decide to do!" Luigi proclaimed, beaming.

"Yeah…" Ramone laughed nervously, but Luigi didn't seem to notice; he was busy looking at the present committee.

"Red and I just went to look at what was there and see what the prices were", Sarge reported. "We'll go back tomorrow and buy them. Right, Red?"

Red nodded nervously; he didn't want Luigi to know they were lying and he definitely didn't want to let the new parents- or Fudge- down.

"The grocery store was very busy", Luigi informed his friends as he used the spoon to wipe up the food running down his daughter's chin, "but we managed to order food and we are going to pick it up on Christmas Eve. We are going to have quite a feast!"

"Well, Fudge and I had a great day", Doc added. "We watched It's a Wonderful Life and I think she might be gettin' so close to crawlin'. She could do it any day now, I think."

"Really?!" Luigi was amazed.

"Yep", Doc confirmed.

"Oh, Fudgie!" Luigi exclaimed, smothering his daughter's face in kisses. "You are growing up so fast!"

"Si", Guido agreed wistfully. "(Soon, she will be walking and talking. The manager at the grocery store was right. It does go so fast.)"

"And that is why we must make this Christmas so very special!" Luigi declared.

Well, that comment just made all of the committees nervous.


"This is a disaster!" Ramone shouted. "Have you ever tried to make ten inches of tinsel; a half-broken wreath and two inflatable Santas fill an entire town?! There's just no way, man!"

"I have tried", Fillmore responded, still surprisingly calm. "I've been helping you these last few days, remember? We'll figure it out."

Ramone just stared at him. "You're freakin' me out, man."

"Why?" Fillmore wondered, puzzled.

"Because you're so calm! It's Christmas Eve and we got nothin' to show for it! Time is runnin' out!"

"Exactly!" Fillmore countered. "It's Christmas Eve. Which means we still got time."

"Not enough of it! Luigi wants everythin' ready by tonight!" The Lowrider sighed. "He's gonna be devastated. He wanted everythin' to be perfect. I remember when my girls were little. Uncle Luigi got them such great presents for Christmas… You know, and he'd turn on some Christmas lights. The girls were so amazed… And now, I can't even do the same for his daughter."

"Hey!" Mater hollered abruptly. "I found a nickel!"

"Not now, Mater!" Fillmore and Ramone chorused.

"Come on, man", Fillmore began, looking at Ramone sympathetically, "I think you're bein' too hard on yourself. It's not your fault. If the Donovans hadn't cleared the place out, we'd have enough decorations."

"I guess", Ramone admitted, "but that doesn't make me feel better."

"Come on, man", Fillmore repeated. "I think I might have a solution."


"The store closes in five minutes!" Red informed Sarge. "We're not going to make it."

"We will!" Sarge promised.

"Why didn't we go there first?" Red wondered.

Sarge sighed. "I've told you! We're going in order of the locations!"

"Yes, but we haven't been able to find anything yet!" Red pointed out. "They're all sold out!"

Sarge rolled his eyes. "We will find all of the presents for everyone! Now, hurry up or we won't make it in time!"

So, the fire truck picked up the pace, driving as fast as the speed limit would allow him and followed Sarge in the direction of a nearby toy shop. "I just hope we don't let them down. Luigi and Guido are really excited about this. And the other groups have done an amazing job, by the sounds of it. We can't be the only ones who mess up."

"We won't be! It's right here-" Sarge began.

He stopped short. Both he and Red gasped as they peered in through the windows.


"Why have they not called yet?!" Luigi demanded, now panicking. He paced the café. "I thought they would call today!"

"They will", Flo assured him calmly. "They're probably just running late."

"But they said they will call you on Christmas Eve!" Luigi shouted. "It is Christmas Eve and they have not called!"

"(Luigi, stop pacing!)" Guido ordered as he bounced Fudge up and down in his arms. "(You are making me dizzy!)"

"Sorry." Luigi tried to stop. He managed to take a very short break to pick up the toy on the floor. That was Fudge's current favourite game: she'd throw her toys on the floor, scream until someone picked it up and throw it on the floor again. "That food needs to be here. It is Fudgie's first Christmas. Everything has to be perfect."

"(It will be here)", Guido promised.

"And you are sure everything will be cooked in time?" Luigi quizzed Flo.

"Absolutely", she assured him. "I'll work all night if I have to. Don't you worry, honey."

"I will try", Luigi answered, taking a deep breath. "I just want everything to be perfect", he added for the millionth time, picking up Fudge's toy from the floor again and then watching as it fell to the floor once again. "And I have been telling everyone how perfect it has to be. It would be very bad if I couldn't make things perfect."

"It will be perfect", Flo insisted one more time.

"(Here.)" Guido handed Fudge over to Luigi. "(You need to relax. Why don't you hold her for a little while?)"

"Okay." Luigi, too, bounced Fudge up and down. "Luigi is just worrying, isn't he, angel? But you are going to have a very wonderful Christmas. I promise you." He kissed her.

"Ahhhhh!" Fudge responded, dropping the toy yet again.

"Yes." He kissed her again.

Ring, ring!

Luigi gasped. "The grocery store!"

Luckily, Flo had already answered it. "Hello?... Yes, this is she… It is?... Thank you... I'll be right there… Thank you." She hung up.

"It is ready?" Luigi asked hopefully.

Flo nodded. "I'm goin' now."

The Fiat sighed with relief. "Grazie! Thank you so much!"


Luigi had asked all of the residents to get together at Flo's at seven-thirty and put everything they'd done together. Flo wasn't there, but Luigi didn't mind. He knew that was the last little thing they needed to do to make Fudge's first Christmas perfect.

Unfortunately, he failed to notice the nervous and disappointed looks on the others' faces.

"Ah! There you all are!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Flo has just gone to get the food! Oh, I am just so excited! I can't wait to see all the presents and the decorations!"

Everyone just froze awkwardly.

Luigi's huge smile completely disappeared from his face. "What?" He glanced at Sarge and Red, who were empty-tyred. "Where are the presents? Did you not get any?"

"No..." Red admitted uncomfortably.

"We got kicked out of the mall because some teenagers were throwing paint and the owner thought it was us", Sarge explained. As an army sergeant, normally, he didn't like hearing or making excuses, but he knew Luigi wanted to know what happened. So, he just had to tell the truth. "We've spent the last few days, running around Velo City, figuring out what to get, how much it costs and then… everything was closed or sold out or both."

Luigi closed his eyes and sighed. He was furious; he couldn't believe that Red and Sarge had been so busy trying to buy presents that they hadn't actually bought any! However, he didn't want to make a scene in front of his six-month-old daughter. "Fine", he announced finally. "We will talk about this later. So, Fudgie, why don't we go and see the decorations Uncle Fillmore, Uncle Ramone and Uncle Mater have done?"

"Uh…"

Luigi and Guido led the way outside, only to be extremely disappointed by what they saw: a small piece of gold tinsel was draped around one lamppost; a short string of coloured lights were wrapped around another; a half-broken wreath hung from the Stanley statue and an inflatable Santa Car and Santa Claus had just taken to the skies, completely blown away by the wind. They seemed to wave as they disappeared. (AN: I actually laughed as I wrote this part! XD)

"No!" Mater shouted, charging forward. "They're gettin' away!"

"I guess we shoulda used somethin' to hold 'em down", Fillmore commented.

"I thought you had more lights than that, man!" Ramone hissed.

"Nah, man. I just said I had some lights."

"This is a week's worth of planning?" Luigi questioned, unimpressed.

"Six days, actually", Fillmore corrected him.

"Well, I would love to see what you would have done with another day!" Luigi snapped sarcastically.

"I can explain, man!" Ramone spoke up. He told Luigi what had happened the last few days with the decorations.

"Thank you", Luigi responded coldly. "Thank you all for ruining my daughter's first Christmas!"

"Come on, Luigi!" Sarge shot back. "Don't you think you're being a little dramatic?!"

"Look around! There are no presents, no decorations…"

"Luigi! I'm afraid I got some bad news!"

Everyone spun around to face Flo.

"What now?" the Fiat demanded.

"There's been some kind of mistake with the orders. We got someone else's order and they got ours!"

She held up the grocery bag she was given and all it held was alcohol.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"I got some music!" Lizzie announced finally. She seemed very proud of herself for remembering.

"What is the point?!" Luigi moaned. "Fudge's first Christmas is ruined!" He burst into tears. "I think I need some of this!" He snatched the alcohol from one of the bags and started drinking.

"This is all your fault!" Ramone hissed at Mater.

"What?" the tow truck questioned, puzzled.

"If you'd have just listened to me and not spent all the money on one thing, this never would have happened!"

"And if Sarge hadn't dragged us to every store in Velo City without buying anything!" Red muttered.

Everyone was astonished by such an un-Red thing to say.

"I only did that so we wouldn't end up like the decorating committee!" Sarge shot back angrily.

"And look how well that turned out for you", Sheriff couldn't help commenting.

"What about you?!" Sarge demanded. "You didn't do anything! You could've helped us, you know!"

"You never asked!" Sheriff countered.

"Oh! So, it's our responsibility to ask for help, is it?!" Ramone snapped.

"You all talked about how well you were doin'!" Sheriff reminded him. "I didn't know you needed help!"

Pretty soon, everyone was shouting at each other, blaming each other for what had happened. Only the two Italians and their daughter were silent, too upset to get involved in the arguments. Fudge's eyes widened in fear as her family yelled at each other. Finally, she let out a shriek that silenced everyone, causing them all to look over at her guiltily.

"Stop it!" Luigi sniffled, holding his daughter close to him. "All of you."

"Come on, Luigi!" everyone cried at once. "We're sorry!"

"I know you are", he admitted sadly. "I just wish it wasn't like this. This was supposed to be a special occasion, but look at it. I just wanted Fudge's first Christmas to be special. And we have ruined it. My poor baby."

"Well, newsflash: Life ain't perfect!" Doc informed him bluntly.

"I know that!" Luigi sobbed. "Even Fudge knows that after what her mother did to her! I just want her to know she is loved, even though her mother..." More sobs escaped from the Fiat.

"Luigi, she's not gonna remember this", Sarge pointed out.

"But I will", Luigi informed him. He sighed dejectedly. "I am such a terrible father."

"(Me too)", Guido added, just as depressed.

"What are you talkin' about?" Doc voiced what everyone was thinking. "You two are great fathers!"

Luigi shook his hood. "No. I am a terrible father", he insisted. "I let Fudge get stuck in a room all by herself when she was two weeks old; the other week, I banged her head against the wall-"

"Come on, honey!" Flo interrupted him. "Those were just accidents! We did that to our girls all the time, right, Ramone?"

"Yeah", the Lowrider spoke up. "I remember thinkin' I was a bad father and you were tellin' me what a great father I am… Remember?"

"Well, you were much better at it than I am", Luigi muttered.

"Come on, man! How can you say that? You're a natural! It took me about two years to pick it up."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Luigi", Doc added. "The best parents are the ones who worry they're doin' it wrong."

The Fiat didn't look convinced. "Really?"

"Absolutely", everyone chorused.

"Look at her!" Flo gestured to the baby he was holding. "Look how much she loves you."

It was true. Fudge was giving Luigi a big smile. Somehow, she seemed to sense that he was upset and wanted to make him feel better. Luigi just smiled back and gave her a kiss.

"I love you, Fudgie!" he whispered.

"I know this ain't the Christmas you wanted", Flo went on, "but we're all together and isn't that what Christmas is all about?"

Luigi didn't say anything, but his smile told everyone exactly how he felt about that.


"They look delicious, Flo!" Luigi exclaimed as the former show car brought out the food for the Radiator Springs Christmas lunch for 2000.

"You must've slaved away for hours on these!" Ramone added.

"Yeah, I don't think I can make grilled cheese sandwiches as good as that!" Sheriff chimed in.

Flo rolled her eyes good-naturedly at the comments. "All right, everybody! Eat up!"

Nobody needed to tell the residents of Radiator Springs twice. Everyone was quick to dive into the grilled cheese sandwiches (except for Fillmore, who had made himself a tofu salad). Mater, who was holding Fudge, was so quick and eager to get in there, he let go of Fudge and just left her on the floor.

"Mater!" Doc gasped. "Put her back in her playpen! She can't just stay there!"

Doc was right about one thing: Fudge couldn't just stay there, so she didn't. That's when she started doing something she had never done before.

"She is doing it!" Luigi breathed in amazement. "She is crawling!"

Everyone let out quiet cheers, as not to disturb or scare her. They also reversed back, giving her plenty of room to crawl around. Guido was quick to grab the video camera he'd left on the counter. Now that he and Luigi had a daughter, they always made sure they never had their camera too far away.

For about half an hour, Fudge was the star of yet another home video. They had made plenty since she came into their lives.

Finally, when Fudge was bored with crawling, Luigi scooped his daughter up and gave her a big kiss. "My angel!" he exclaimed. "I am so, so proud of you! You are growing up so fast! It is a Christmas miracle!"

Doc couldn't help smiling. "That, it is."


2009

"Aww! I don't think I've ever heard that story before!" Sally exclaimed. "That's so sweet!"

Eight-year-old Fudge gave each of her dads a big hug. "I love you, guys! You're the best dads ever!"

"We love you too, Fudge", they each responded in both English and Italian.

"Wait a second!" Lightning jumped in. He glanced at Sarge and Red, confused. "If you two got kicked out of the mall and you're not allowed back… How come I went with you last week?"

Sarge couldn't help grinning as he explained. "Three words: Under new management."

Merry Christmas, happy holidays and happy new year, everyone! I hope 2021 is much better (even aside from the pandemic, 2020 has been a really tough year for me personally)!

Reviews would make a wonderful Christmas present. :)