A/N: Woohoo, I finished a multiple-chapter story! Also I just realized I never did a 'Question of the Day' for the previous chapter, whoops! Ran out of ideas there.

Special thanks to upwiththebirds33 and Clio1792, who have read and reviewed everything I've written since I started writing again. You guys make my day!

Chapter 12

December 25, 1851

It's the twelfth day of Christmas, and what did Barnum see, but twelve curtain calls…

"Mama! Daddy! Wake up, it's Christmas!" Two excited girls bounced into P.T. and Charity's room Christmas morning. P.T. stifled a groan. Apparently, Caroline wasn't yet 'too old' for jumping on their bed.

"Ooof!"

"Come on, come on!"

"Get up right now!" P.T. frowned at the still-dark windows, but then, he had an idea.

"Ok, we'll get up. But you should wake everyone else up first." While the entire circus troupe wasn't staying over (though they probably could have), the Wheelers, Phillip, Jenny, Charles, and Lettie had all stayed the night.

"I call waking up Phillip!"

"Nooo, Caroline!" Two pairs of feet raced out of the room. P.T. smiled in satisfaction to himself as he snuggled up against Charity again for ten more minutes of sleep.

"You're evil, dear." Charity murmured sleepily.

"Mmm-hmm."

Eventually, everyone was awake with minimal conflict and nursing tea or coffee as gifts were exchanged. As the morning went on, the rest of the troupe that hadn't stayed the night arrived to celebrate and exchange gifts. Soon enough, the festivities were put on hold as everyone prepared for the day's performances.

First was the Nutcracker, and it was spectacular. Helen was a soldier, and Caroline was a flower fairy, and P.T. noted with satisfaction that whatever had been been getting Caroline down these past few days had seemed to have been resolved. Thank you, Jenny.

After the ballet, there was barely time to congratulate the girls before the two ringmasters needed to get ready for the Greatest Christmas Show. Phillip and P.T. had debated at length the best day to hold the show. The 23rd was too early, given that they had so little time to prepare, and besides, so many people were traveling that day that the turnout would suffer. The 24th could have worked, but with people attending long Christmas masses all at different times and preparing elaborate dinners for family, they weren't sure people would be all that motivated to add yet another thing to an already packed day.

While P.T. hadn't initially wanted to hold the circus on the same day as the girls' performance, Phillip explained the advantages that the Nutcracker people had undoubtedly thought of as well: Since everyone had stopped preparing for Christmas and were now enjoying Christmas, and because Christmas Day wasn't quite as reserved for family as Christmas Eve, people probably wouldn't mind taking an hour or three out of the day to see some performances. And, Phillip had pointed out as gently as possible, the overlap between the audience viewing the Nutcracker and the people enjoying their circus was probably not overly large.

So, the show was held Christmas Day, and in P.T.'s (biased) opinion, it really was the Greatest Show, even more magical than their normal ones. Charity, the girls, and the overall audience certainly seemed to think so. The Flying Wheelers stunned the crowd with their terrifying new tricks (Phillip somehow managed not to pass out), Lettie and the troupe sang their hearts out (P.T. beamed when he noticed Jenny singing along in the audience) and the festively painted zebras, courtesy of Helen, didn't trample him.

He was pretty sure that their top hats were going to be permanently pink, though.

...eleven family squabbles,

ten plates of cookies,

nine Christmas carols,

eight pints of eggnog,

seven hours of shopping,

six snow angels,

FIVE WOODEN SLEDS!

Four painted zebras,

three new daring acts,

two dancing daughters,

and a beautiful Christ-ist-mas treeeeeee!

A/N: Merry Christmas to all of you, and a very happy new year!

~ Leia