As the afternoon continued to pass, there was still plenty of activities to be had in the Loud House before the eating of the Christmas dinner later that evening – the preparations of which were handled in the kitchen by Lynn, Sr., who was also assisted Leni, Luan, and Lincoln… while Lana kept her eyes opened for any mistakes that may have been made so that she could eat them.
Elsewhere throughout the house, other siblings enjoyed their Christmas day in one way or another. Excited over the gift certificate that entitled her to a full day of pampering at the Royal Woods Spa, Lori retreated to the bedroom that she shared with Leni, and began to text her best friend, Carol, to playfully rub it in her face and stick it to her in a good-natured ribbing. With nobody occupying the living room at the present time, Luna took advantage of having some TV time for herself, and began to watch the DVD that she had received of the biographical documentary of her biggest idol, but she also could not wait to listen to the bonus CD's that came with the set – namely, the one which featured the previously unreleased demo tracks from Mick Swagger's earliest attempts to break into the music industry; such rare treasures would certainly be music to the rocker's ear, in a manner of speaking. Lynn, Jr. had cleared off a space on the shelf that was mounted on the wall next to her bed to proudly display the original sneakers that had been worn by one of her own biggest idols, Shorty McGillicuddy, during his rookie season with the Great Lakes City Lakesters basketball team, while she also wanted to frame the note of authenticity that was enclosed with the rare memorabilia, and set out to scrounge around in the attic and the garage to see if the family had any spare picture frames that would be of adequate measurements for her to use.
Meanwhile, Lola sat before her vanity, where she still admired the fiber optic jewelry that emanated a bright pink glow that her genius sister, Lisa, had created for her, as the Brainiac further enlightened her immediate older sister about the maintenance and care of such.
"Thanks to advancements made in modern technology, these items are rechargeable; you may connect them to any available USB cable whenever they are in need of a charge," explained Lisa. "It is highly recommended that you recharge them on a regular basis to ensure their longevity… might I recommend, perhaps, once a day, at least?"
"Yeah, yeah, sure; got it…" said Lola, as she paid little attention to what Lisa had said, as she was far too distracted by the bright, glowing, pink jewelry she wore; she could just visualize all eyes falling onto her with glowing jewelry like this while she would strut her stuff up on a cat walk.
"Enjoy your new decorative bodily ornaments, Lola. Now, if you will excuse me, I have yet another sister with whom I wish to converse..." Lisa bade her princess sister a farewell with a smirk and an eye-roll before she stepped back out into the hallway.
Lucy sat all alone in the next bedroom, positioned atop her bed, while she still admired the new, personalized lock journal that she had received as her Christmas present; captivated by how much the blood red, metallic letters really popped on the front of the black cover. In as much as she was thrilled to receive such an astonishing gift from her Secret Santa Sibling, she also now felt as though that she was not deserving of any such gift since she had not upheld her end of the deal to give a gift to her Secret Santa Sibling… who just happened to invite herself into the room.
"Greetings, spooky sis," Lisa addressed her big sister, as she walked into the room, and approached the dull-colored bed with the canopy.
"Oh, hey, Lisa…" croaked the little Goth girl who looked up from her new journal.
"With your consent, I wish to engage in a conversation with you based out of a desire to satisfy my own inquisitiveness," explained Lisa.
"Oh?" Lucy responded. "Um, okay, I guess…"
"Please do not misconstrue my inquiry as a confrontation, as I assure you this is not anything of the sort," continued Lisa. "Although, I must confess that I am legitimately curious to learn of your reasoning for not procuring for me a celebratory materialistic item of giving for this December holiday."
"Gasp!" Lucy gasped in surprise; in spite of the Brainiac's expansive vocabulary which provided her with rather advanced sentence structuring and diction, the Goth knew exactly what she questioned her about. "How did you know I was your Secret Santa Sibling?"
"It really was not at all hard to figure out for anybody who had been paying attention to the events that were unfolding within our living quarters earlier in the day," explained Lisa. "In addition to the fact that I was the only sibling within our familial unit to not receive such an item of giving, you were also the only sibling who did not claim responsibility or accolade for the giving of such an item to another sibling. Process of elimination."
Lucy lowered her head, and stroked her arm nervously as she considered her Brainiac sister's logic: "Yeah… I guess you have a point…"
"So, would you care to elucidate so that my curiosity and inquisition may be satisfied?" Lisa asked.
"Sigh," sighed Lucy, as she began her explanation to her sister. "Well, you've actually already figured it out…"
Lisa looked a little puzzled as her brow furrowed at this response from her spooky sister; she further questioned, "Excuse me? I'm afraid I am not quite grasping what it is you mean by that."
"Like you said when we were opening presents this morning," continued Lucy. "You have no need for any kind of present…"
"This is true," nodded Lisa in agreement. "Although the rest of you, my siblings, may experience some form of emotional elation over such meaningless items of frivolity, I, myself, have no need for such short-term sentimentality attached to any such item that may be presented to me."
"Exactly," said Lucy as she almost threw her hands into the air. "What would be the point in giving you a present, anyway?"
"None whatsoever," confirmed Lisa, as she held her hands behind her back. "If I may be so bold, regardless of the big hoo-hah that our parental units were turning this scenario into earlier, I at least express my gratitude to you for the understanding and respect of my personal boundaries, spooky sis."
"Yeah, you're welcome…" said Lucy in a tone of voice that was far more forlorn and sorrowful than usual, as she lowered her head once more.
Lisa had actually picked up on this tone, and decided to further inquire into what else may have gone on within her sister's mind.
"I am not exactly a mind reader, but I can sense that there may be something more that is vexing you that you may be withholding from our conversation… would I be correct?" She probed.
Lucy merely responded with something of a defeated shrug, and asked, "Why would you care?"
"How am I to know unless you were to enlighten me?" Lisa asked with a shrug of her own.
"Because you wouldn't… I know you wouldn't…" continued Lucy. "I know I generally maintain a gloomy disposition, and usually prefer to distance myself from the rest of the normie world, but… well…"
Lucy hesitated a little, though Lisa still wanted to illicit some answers; she further prodded of her, "But what?"
"I don't normally admit this… but, even I occasionally like to experience the feeling of having my spirit lifted in a little joy and happiness…" explained Lucy.
"Hmm, I see…" replied Lisa.
"I was very much pleased with this absolutely beautiful journal I have received as a Christmas gift from Luan," Lucy further continued to open up to her little sister. "But, it's more than that… as we were opening our presents this morning, I witnessed the pure, unadulterated bliss our other siblings were experiencing in bringing happiness to one another in the true spirit of giving…"
Lisa nodded, "Yes, I must agree that even I experienced an insignificant little burst of positive energy in seeing that Lola was thoroughly satisfied with that which I had created for her…"
"I wouldn't know…" confessed Lucy with a shake of her head. "As soon as I saw I picked your name as my Secret Santa Sibling, I was already at a loss… what could you possibly want or even need? You've got a freaking laboratory in your bedroom, and you're always able to acquire anything you need to conduct your experiments, whether or not Mom and Dad say you can…"
Lisa was unable to resist the urge to reveal a rather devilish little grin over that particular remark.
"You're a genius, Lisa…. what could I possibly give you that would even serve any purpose for you?" Lucy continued. "I know Mom and Dad said if we couldn't think of anything to buy for our Secret Santa Sibling, we could make them a homemade gift, like you, Luna, and Lana did… what could I make you? A poem? A batch of fake blood? Some useless trinket made from whatever I happen to dig up from my graves? I know you don't acknowledge human emotions, Lisa… so, I knew no matter what I gave to you, be it something I bought from the store or something I made myself, it would just go unappreciated, and I wouldn't be able to bring you any happiness… which, according to Mom and Dad, was still selfish of me on my part…"
Lisa stood in silence for a moment while Lucy lowered her face into the palms in her hands, and rested her elbows onto her knees. While it was true that, ordinarily, Lisa preferred to maintain a sense of emotional detachment from most forms of human contact, she had recently begun to discover that even she was not as immune to nurturing a need for companionship as she would have liked others to assume otherwise. Whether it was her blossoming friendship with Darcy Helmandollar from her kindergarten class, her not-so-secret crush on fellow whiz-kid, David, or her more recent efforts to prolong her Pop-Pop, Albert's, mortality in that hope that he will be able to live on this planet long enough to witness the future accomplishments that she would, no doubt, achieve later in her own lifetime, the little bespectacled genius was, indeed, allowing herself to open up to the concept of human emotions more than she ever would have before. Heck, last Christmas, she was actually a blubbering mess in regards to their elderly next-door neighbor, Bud Grouse, upon the discovery that one of the main reasons as to why he was always such a curmudgeon was because he had a rather large family of his own that he hardly ever got to see anymore, and to see another large family like the Louds remain so close with one another, especially around the holidays, only made him feel even worse about living alone. She and the rest of her family had chipped in to bring their not-so grumpy neighbor some merriment by gifting him a bus ticket to visit his family for the holidays.
As she listened to Lucy share her thoughts, she came to realize that even her gloomy Goth sister had emotional needs of her own that were in need of nourishment and fulfilment, as she finally spoke up once again: "Lucy… I owe you my deepest and most sincere apologies."
Lucy merely looked over at Lisa in confusion and responded, "What?"
"Even in the moment, I felt it was unnecessarily harsh of our parental units to describe the actions, or lack thereof, of my Secret Santa Sibling as being, as they put it, 'Selfish,'" replied Lisa. "However, it has become abundantly clear that it is I who has been selfish."
Lucy was still a little confused, as she shrugged her shoulders, shook her head, and said, "I don't understand, Lisa…"
"It was the selfishness on my part that extended to you the impression that I would be so inconsiderate of your generosity, which, in turn, excluded you from the collective experience of positive and uplifting energy that our other siblings had been participating in with the exchanging of materialistic items of giving, as per the wishes of our parental units," explained Lisa.
Lucy shook her head and said, "No, it wasn't selfish of you… I mean, again, you said so yourself, you have no need for any kind of gift…"
Even in spite of that, Lisa had to admit that she had actually been proven wrong in this respect, as she resumed her conversation: "You know something, spooky sis? At the risk of sounding maudlin, I have come to realize that you actually have bestowed onto me an enduring gift that is far more meaningful that any materialistic item you could have purchased from a shopping facility, or have created with your own tools, that I am truly appreciative of."
Lucy was puzzled once again and asked, "What's that?"
"The mere fact that you, as my sibling, a flesh-and-blood extension of our rather large familial unit, are a significant fixture within my existence on this mortal plane; even in spite of the fact that neither of us see eye-to-eye on certain ideologies that have shaped the very foundations of our being…" Lisa started to trail off, as she could see that Lucy had difficulty in grasping what she tried to explain to her. For her benefit, she decided to simplify things a little: "Or, to put it another way… you're my sister… and even though we may not agree with each other's beliefs, I'm still proud to have you as a part of my life - which really would not be the same without you."
The Christmas spirit seemed to have way of being able to bring out a little more human and empathetic side of Lisa that had rarely been seen eleven other months out of the year, but Lucy was more than a little surprised to hear this particular sister of hers actually say something so heartfelt, and was quite touched by her words – both the big words, and the simpler words; she didn't know what to say, other than, "Th-th-thank you, Lisa…"
"To coin a phrase that has been made popular by a number of our other siblings…" Lisa started to say as she extended her arms, "Bring it in, sis…"
A small smile returned to Lucy's face as she slid off of her bed and stepped over to share an intimate little hug with her little sister.
"Merry Christmas, Lisa…" said Lucy.
"And a happy winter holiday season to you, Lucy…" replied Lisa.
The evening had fallen, but the Christmas spirit still permeated throughout the Loud House, as the residents who lived within this humble abode sat down to the banquet of food that had been served at the dinner table… with a few extra guests who joined them for the massive feast that evening, including Rita's father, Albert – or, as he was more affectionately known to the family as Pop-Pop, who had also brought along with him his main squeeze, Myrtle, whom the Loud children eventually came to regard as their honorary grandmother, now known to them as Gran-Gran. Along with them, other distant relatives were also invited to the Loud family Christmas dinner, including Rita's Aunt Ruth, and Lynn, Sr.'s sister Shirley; the kids were not exactly fond of either of these aunts, but because of the occasion, and the fact that they were invited to Christmas dinner, they agreed to make the best of it; after all, Ruth and Shirley were still part of the family just the same. Everybody at the table enjoyed their feast of turkey, roasted potatoes, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, warm rolls with melted butter, raw crunchy vegetables with dip, cheese and crackers, and yes, even Dad's Figgie pudding; even with the extra number of people who sat down to the table, there was still plenty of loudness and love to go around for everybody.
Sometime later, after all of the dinner had been consumed, the dishes had been cleaned up, and the guests had their containers of left overs to take home with them, things finally began to quiet and settle down in the Loud House, for the most part, as each of the siblings went off in pursuit of their new gift items. The two oldest blondes retired to their bedroom, and while Lori had begun to look through her personal schedule to see what would be a good day in the weeks or even months to come to schedule her appointment at the Royal Woods Spa, Leni could not stop humming the song that Luna had written and performed for her, as she mentally revisited their childhood together. Speaking of whom, across the hall, Luna began to listen to the bonus CD's that came with her DVD boxed set - specifically, the one with Mick Swagger's previously unreleased demo tracks; she was hardly able to contain her excitement at listening to this rare archival material. In the next room, Lynn, Jr. hung the now-framed note of authenticity over Shorty McGillicuddy's original basketball sneakers that she had displayed on the wall-mounted shelf next to her bed. Even in the next room over, Lola still continued to admire herself in her vanity mirror, unable to take her eyes off the bright pink, glowing fiber optic jewelry that she wore, while Lana tried to figure out how she would possibly fit her new giant stuffed llama into bed with her to sleep tonight. In his makeshift bedroom in the old linen closet, Lincoln had borrowed the memory card from his mother's camera, and inserted it into his laptop, so that he could e-mail Sam the pictures of Luna opening the gift that the two of them had chipped in together to get her for Christmas. Little Lily sat in her crib, and continually babbled and cooed to have it repeated back to her in a high-pitched, mechanical manner from her new stuffed parrot; she giggled the entire time. Out in the garage, not only did Luan park her new unicycle into the spot where she had kept her old one, but she had decided that she would give her old one to Lana, so that she could take it apart and salvage whatever parts she may want to keep.
It was during such time that Lisa had requested a brief meeting with her parents, and also requested that Lucy be present. Once seated in the living room, the two young sisters shared their conversation from earlier in the day with their parents, as they explained their thoughts and feelings on their Secret Santa Siblings program, Lucy's reasons for not giving Lisa a gift for Christmas, and the fact that Lisa bore no ill feelings about the situation. It was not an easy conversation to have with their parents –especially not after they had made such a big fuss over the fact that Lisa had not received a present as her siblings had- however, Lynn, Sr. and Rita took their daughters' points of view into consideration, and decided that, perhaps, Lucy respecting Lisa's wishes to not give her a Christmas present was, in its own way, more of a true gift than if she were to give her little sister some material object. Upon learning all of this from their daughters, the parents even went so far as to apologize to Lucy for saying that Lisa's Secret Santa Sibling not giving her a Christmas present was an act of selfishness, and for suggesting that she had learned nothing about the true spirit of giving; Lucy even pointed out that she would have made an honest effort to procure some kind of materialistic gift for any other sibling whom she knew would have enjoyed receiving such for Christmas, had she picked someone else's name. With a change of heart, Lynn, Sr. and Rita agreed to forgive and forget the matter, much to the contentment of Lucy and Lisa, both of whom knew that having a sister like one another was a far more precious gift than anything that could be found under a Christmas tree: a gift that keeps on giving; neither of them could ask for anything more.
For all of those involved, this would still be a Christmas to remember.
Twas the bedtime of Christmas, and of the entire Loud clan, not a sibling was stirring… except for Luan.
After Luna had sealed herself into the envelope of her purple bed sheets in her upper bunk for a night of shut-eye, she heard a most peculiar sound as it made its way towards the bedroom that she shared with her immediate little sister – a clatter of some sort. As she looked toward the door, she soon discovered the strange sound she had heard was a number of empty cardboard boxes that were tumbled into the room, with her ponytailed sister responsible for the racket, as she had evidently collected all of these empty boxes from the presents that were opened earlier that day – for what sort of purpose was beyond her roommate's comprehension.
"Uh, dude?" Luna asked. "What's the dealio with all the boxes?"
"Just preparing for tomorrow!" Luan exclaimed, as she looked up at her sister.
"Tomorrow? What's tomorrow?" The rocker asked in confusion.
"What else? Boxing Day! Hohohohohoho! Get it?"
And with that, Luan pulled the Christmas pun counter from the front pocket of her pajamas, and clicked it one last time to bring her to her Twelfth Pun of Christmas… while Luna merely rolled her eyes and pulled the covers over her head; the top of her wish list for next Christmas was for her roommate to give up this inane tradition of hers... or, perhaps, even give up puns altogether for Lent.
There we have it. The initial shock has worn off a while ago, but I still find it a most bizarre coincidence that what started out as nothing more than a plot bunny that was hopping around in my cranium ended up being very, very similar to an actual episode of the show... what are the odds? I still haven't watched "Season's Cheatings" yet, but reading about the plot online, I can see that aside from the concept of the Loud siblings picking a name of another sibling to get a present for, my story ended up going into a completely different direction (namely, none of that Chandler brat that nobody even likes, and Lincoln not being a conniving dick).
This was fun to work on, but as you can see, I don't really write well off-the-cuff as I do when I plan everything in advance - especially in a multi-chapter story; but, I hope you still enjoyed it either way.
Even though it's now the day after, I'd still like to wish a merry Christmas and a happy holiday season to our Loud House fanfiction community, as well as those of you who have read and reviewed this plot bunny of mine. With special shout-outs and mentions to my regular readers/reviewers of the past year, including DreadedCandiru2, SupremeOverlord19, and boygenius2001; as well as my frequent Beta clients, PlasticPencils and Quiet Waters.
Looking forward to seeing you again in 2021!