Author's Note: Hey everyone! Is this the fastest I've ever updated? I think it is… Still, though, I may end up publishing more after Christmas is technically over, because I still have a lot of ideas and not as much time as I'd like to get it all typed up. "Cookies and Letters" takes place not long after "Mistletoe", also attempting to cover Kai's inexplicable fear of Christmas related things. So, hopefully it works out. Also, if anyone wants to play 'Spot the season 7 nods', feel free. There's several. I hope you all enjoy the latest installment in "Operation Christmas Lloyd"!

Replies to Reviews:

Spider-Man Super-Fan: I just couldn't figure out a way to add more Lloyd to "Mistletoe". Glad to hear you still enjoyed reading it! I tried to give him more attention in this chapter to help balance things out. Hope you like it! Thank you so much for taking the time to review! I really appreciate it.

Jbomb217: You knew? Heh. I guess mistletoe is a pretty major thing for couples, huh… With the amount of time Zane has to deal with everyone else's insanity on top of his own emotions, I totally think he'd contemplate hiring them a therapist. I mean, Lloyd already has trauma from school, and then all their adventures probably don't help anyone stay stable. Aw… thanks! I love kids (as might be obvious from the way I've been focusing on tiny Lloyd). I really appreciate your feedback! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Lloydskywalkers: You know the drill, but thanks for the super long review.

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"I know that this might come as a shock to some of you, but raw cookie dough can make you sick, so, maybe have a little self restraint here?" Commented Nya as she placed a large ball of gingerbread on the powdered sugar covered table.

"Christmas, Nya. Christmas." Ignoring her, Cole snagged a small chunk of dough and tossed it into his mouth, "Mmm… This is almost as good as cake! You guys really outdid yourselves this time." As some of the most competent (and patient) chefs in residence, Nya and Zane had spent the afternoon teaching Lloyd how to make gingerbread. Now, they were ready to begin creating shapes with the wide assortment of cookie cutters Ed and Edna had insisted they needed to bring home with them. It had taken awhile to find Kai, who had been avoiding the kitchen like the plague, but they had eventually assembled everyone. This was something they wanted to do as a family. Most of them, anyway.

"Do I really have to be here?" Kai asked. Lloyd rolled his eyes.

"Oh, c'mon Kai. I know making cookies might seem super lame, it it's actually really fun. And Nya says we can even decorate them - after they've finished baking!"

"That's exactly what I was afraid of…"

"What gives? You used to love doing this with me…" Inquired Nya, a little confused. She had lots of fond memories of spending time baking with her brother during the holiday season. They'd always had so much fun together, even though they often didn't have anyone else to share it with. He'd never been this hesitant to participate before…

"I'd… Rather not talk about it, okay?" He mumbled sullenly. Although it had been quite some time since his encounter with the Venomari, the incident had dredged up some memories he'd have preferred stayed lodged firmly in some long forgotten corner of his brain. And he just wasn't sure if he could handle seeing gingerbread men right now. Their creepy eyes? The fact that they were inexplicably always smiling – why had he never seen one with an alternate facial expression? Kai shuddered. He knew they were just food, that they weren't actually alive, but that didn't stop him from being creeped out. He wanted to burn every last one until all that remained was ashes. Okay, maybe that was a little harsh, but he didn't care. Those freakish cookies had it coming. The rest of the group glanced at each other, wondering if it was worth pushing for answers. This was supposed to be family time, after all.

"You know you can tell us anything, right Kai? We're a family, we won't judge you," Jay said. Receiving a skeptical look from Zane, he added, "Much…."

"Wow, Jay! That's so comforting." Came the fire ninja's sarcastic reply.

"If you really feel that strongly about it, you don't have to stay… I just thought it would be fun to-" His sister started, looking slightly disappointed.

"Fine. It's just…. Remember the whole thing with my hallucinations after the Venomari got to me?" a chorus of nodding heads told him they did, "Well… Let's just say that I'm not really the biggest fan of gingerbread right now…. Or elves, come to think of it…" Yeah, elves were pretty darn creepy, too. No one should have that rosy of cheeks. And the nonstop cheerfulness and singing? They were definitely too happy – anyone with that level of happiness was probably plotting to kill someone in their sleep – with the exception of Jay, of course. The ninja of lightning was about as conniving as a butterfly most of the time. Suddenly, Kai's behavior didn't seem quite so obnoxious.

"That actually makes a lot of sense. You're attempting to avoid reminders of that unfortunate event. A completely justified response. " Zane commented in an attempt to validate his brother's attitude. The gesture was appreciated, though Kai knew he'd have to give a more detailed explanation if they didn't find a new topic of discussion soon. "Though, we could call into question why you would hallucinate such things to begin with…" And there it was. The question he'd known was coming…

"That is a good point, Zane. It doesn't make sense for you to just randomly see elves and cookies if you didn't already have something against them." Agreed Jay. It looked like the fire ninja was going to have to share the rest of the story. He sighed and sank into one of the chairs arranged around the table.

"My… dislike of them actually started a long time ago. I had mostly forgotten about it until we visited the toxic bogs. But apparently I haven't moved on from it quite as much as I would like… When we were kids, we hung out a lot at our neighbor's house since our parents… weren't around… and she didn't really have any family nearby. It was a win-win situation. We got adult supervision, and she didn't have to be alone all the time. Miss Mai taught me how to cook without burning down the kitchen, how to keep our garden alive – she even helped me potty train Nya…" The aforementioned teen cringed. Was this really a necessary detail to include? Jay nudged her, smiling sympathetically. He'd been the victim of embarrassing stories many times, thanks to his loving, if overly enthusiastic parents.

"She sounds nice." Lloyd commented.

"She is. And she's definitely way cooler than the babysitter the mayor tried to drop on us."

"Mrs. Grumbmiller was the literal worst." Nya nodded.

"But, anyway, back to my story, this one time our very first Christmas after… You know… we decided to watch a Christmas movie right before bed. Except, the only one she could find for us was this super low budget claymation film that had something to do with human sized gingerbread men and elves trying to save the world. Nya was probably too young to remember, but the crappy animation gave me nightmares for weeks…which I guess is why they still give me the heebie jeebies. I know it's stupid, but…" Kai trailed off, somewhat mortified by how much the dumb children's movie had affected him all those years ago. His sister gently placed a hand in his shoulder.

"I wish you would have told me… I feel kinda guilty that I've been making you baking gingerbread men with me for all these years…" There was a surprising lack of judgement coming from his teammates. What a relief. And it did feel good to get it all off his chest after so long.

"It's okay, sis. I did enjoy spending time with you, just maybe not so much the end product sometimes."

"You shouldn't feel bad about it, anyway. Everyone has some sort of traumatizing memory from their childhood." Jay told him brightly. Knowing his parents storytelling abilities, he probably had a point. And more than a few such examples of his own.

"And there's plenty of cookie cutters that aren't gingerbread man shaped. You can just use those - as long as you don't mind if I make a few… please say you'll stay…" Lloyd begged, pulling on Kai's arm. The pleading look he gave him was pitiful, but effective.

"Alright. I'll hang around and help you guys get all of this dough rolled out. But if I end up having nightmares, I'll make sure I scream loud enough to wake all of you up…" the teen relented, resulting in a cheer from both Nya and Lloyd and a soft smile from Zane. Cole and Jay looked pleased with his decision as well. The original chunk of dough was slowly broken off into individual pieces, before being rolled out. As the process of cutting out different shapes began, Kai was very careful to avoid any cookie cutters that even remotely resembled humanoid figures, instead selecting those shaped like snowflakes and reindeer (surprisingly, the creatures held no negative connotation for him). Settling into the complacency of spending time with his siblings in a relatively nonviolent setting – he was choosing to ignore Cole hitting Jay over the head with a rolling pin – he soon recovered from discussing his (at least in his opinion) irrational fears. The one downside to allowing himself to get so invested in this pursuit, Kai thought, was the huge mess they were making. Powdered sugar and bits of dough were starting to end up in places other than the table or the various pans that had been set out to receive cookies.

"Hey, Nya?" The samurai glanced at her boyfriend, still holding her latest cookie cutter, "You got' a little something riiiight about…" He booped her nose, leaving a smear of sugar on her face, "Here." She paused for a moment as if weighing her options. Then, she grabbed a small clump of cookie dough and smashed into his hair.

"There. Now we're even." Nya smirked. Her victim stared at her, mouth open. He hadn't been expecting that.

"Sorry, motormouth, but you walked right into that one." Cole called from across the table, earning himself a cloud of powdered sugar to the face for his trouble.

"This is for that little stunt you pulled with the mistletoe!" Thus marked the end of any semblance of order that might have existed. Chaos exploded. Bits of dough and sugar, followed by a wide array of insults, flew everywhere. Knowing it was all well meant, uproarious laughter soon filled the air. Zane shielded himself with a baking tray, muttering something about how some people have no self restraint, but still managed to contribute heavily to the ongoing battle. The sound of someone clearing their throat brought an end to the fun all too soon.

"It appears you have been having a great deal of fun baking. I assume you plan on cleaning this mess up eventually?" Sensei Wu, who had been attracted by their loudness, inquired. The group burst into a fit of giggles. It took a few minutes for anyone to compose themselves enough to answer.

"Of course, Sensei. We were just finishing up…" Zane said. The old man nodded appreciatively, then stepped over a mound of dough that had somehow ended up on the floor, returning to the hallway.

"He's probably right. We made an awfully big mess…" Nya commented, kissing Jay's cheek.

"We may as well get started. The sooner we clean this up, the sooner we can get these cookies into the oven. We're lucky we made so much extra dough, or we might not have actually had enough gingerbread to actually eat any." Cole stated, wiping the white powder from his face. He had no intention of missing out on something that was almost as good as cake.

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"Staring at the oven is not going to make those cookies finish baking any sooner, Lloyd." Zane told the small boy who was sitting cross legged on the kitchen floor. Lloyd sighed. They'd managed to finish cleaning up the aftermath of their exploits, but he was anxious to get his first taste of gingerbread.

"You don't know that. Maybe it's one of my super awesome Green Ninja powers to make things cook faster." Given that he really had no idea what his powers might be, or how they worked, it was possible. Or maybe he had laser eyes. Laser eyes would sure be cool.

"Somehow, I find that doubtful. Unless your abilities extend to controlling time itself?" The nindroid replied. Lloyd scrunched up his face in concentration, willing the baking process to reach its end, now. Nothing happened. Darn.

"Nah… Guess that's not something I can do. It would be pretty awesome, though."

"Indeed. It would have come on handy, earlier, when we ended up having to deep clean the kitchen…"

"That wasn't my fault." He objected, rolling his eyes. Just because he'd joined in on the fun didn't mean he was responsible for the huge mess they'd made…

"Yeah, Zane. Give credit where credit is due. That was all me. And it was totally worth it." Jay called from the doorway, looking somewhat more sane now that he'd managed to wash the cookie dough out of his hair. Not that he ever looked completely sane. Nya followed him in, saying,

"Don't encourage him, guys. He's already ridiculous enough without you enabling him."

"Your words wound me, madam!" He complained. She jostled him with her arm.

"C'mon, you know we'll still love you, no matter how many marbles you lose. Now, how are the cookies doing?" Lloyd looked forlorn.

"They still have a while to go… isn't there anything you can do?" He complained.

"About the bake time? No – but I did manage to grab some paper and pens after I washed up. Why don't we write some letters to Santa?" Suggested Nya, holding out the materials. A small smile crossed the boy's features as he peeled himself off of the floor.

"Okay. That would be more exciting than what I'm doing right now…" He plopped down on a chair and accepted the necessary items. Then, he paused, unsure.

"Er… What exactly do I say?"

"Start with 'Dear Santa'-" The samurai began, ruffling his hair affectionately.

"And then, you can always throw in some compliments before you get to the good stuff - which is the presents, of course." Continued Jay, enthusiastically. Zane stifled a smile. It was lovely to see his family get so involved with teaching the young Green Ninja's Christmas traditions. He felt it only fair to contribute his own advice.

"I don't think it truly matters what you write. Santa will appreciate receiving a letter from you regardless." Slightly overwhelmed by the input his elders had given him, Lloyd stared blankly at the page for a few more minutes before writing Deer Santa, how are you? Whats it like to live at the North Poll?.

"How do you spell hope?" He inquired. Nya glanced up from her own letter. If Lloyd was gonna write one, she was joining him. No questions asked.

"Oh, uh… H-O-P-E. Does that help?" Lloyd barely acknowledged her, scribbling down I hope you are duing fantastic! I know iv done a lot of bad things in the passed, but iv been trying really hard to be good this yr. He continued writing, occasionally asking for more help with spelling. Nya saiz you can do anything, so, I have a biiig faver to ask you. Can you maybe get my dad to stop attaking my friends til after New Yr's? I just want him to be able to celabrait. No one should be fighting on Xmas… Anyway, if you cant do that, its alrite, but, in that case, can you pleaz send me the latest Starfarers comic? Iv really ben looking foreward to reading it. Have a merry Xmas and tell Rudolph I say hi.

-Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon

Ps. How do you travel so fast?

Pps. What's your favrite kind of cookie? I like the ones with lots of frosting and sprinkles, but gingerbred seems cool, too. By the time he was finished, Zane was pulling the first pan of gingerbread out of the oven.

"When can I have one?" Lloyd immediately demanded, leaving his letter on the table as he rushed to the counter to inspect them.

"Not until they've cooled down a bit," Nya replied, "I'm not letting you burn your taste buds off today, green bean." This resulted in a groan from the small boy, but he knew better than to disobey his big sister.

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"You need to see this." Nya told her brother later, snagging him in the hallway before dinner.

"You sneak. Does Lloyd know you have his letter?" He asked, glancing at the paper she held in her hand. They clearly needed to put more focus on Lloyd's spelling abilities the next time they helped him get up to date on his education.

"Just read it." She insisted. Kai humored her, quickly scanning the content of the note. And then, he frowned.

"I can't believe he wrote this sap… 'No one should be fighting on christmas'?"

"We're totally doing something about this, right?" Kai wrapped an arm around Nya's shoulder and smirked.

"Course we are. This is Lloyd we're talking about. I hope the Mailman can deliver, cause I've got a letter of my own to write…" She raised an eyebrow at his questionable pun, a little confused.

"Who are you…. Oh. You're seriously gonna send Lord Garmadon a letter?"

"Why not? There's a small chance it won't end badly. And we gotta try. I mean, it's the kid's first real Christmas. We won't know unless we go through with it." He explained.

"Point taken. I'm in." However this went down, both of them were willing to go to pretty much any length to make their adoptive brother happy. Christmas had the magic to bring people together. They just had to trust that Garmadon would honor that.

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Thank you for taking the time to read another installment in Operation Christmas Lloyd. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Any feedback or suggestions is always welcome, but you already know that. Have a magical holiday season. Go out there and bake some cookies!

~GwenBrightly