Chapter ten

A soft pink and yellow glow ran across the horizon as the sun inched its way up and into the sky. Eight pairs of eyes turned at the same time towards the rising sun. Even though they had all seen the sunrise other times before, this particular sunrise seemed to be much more magical than the other ones they had witnessed. The ocean below began to sparkle as the yellow beams of light hit it. The entire roof-top group was silent as they watched the morning sun slowly greet the land below. The silence was, however, broken by a single, sweet voice as Trixie began to sing.

"Fah-who for-aze! Dah-who dor-aze! Welcome Christmas, Christmas day. Welcome, welcome fah-who rah-moose! Welcome, welcome dah-who dah-moose. Christmas day is in our grasp! So long as we have hands to clasp!"

The guys all looked at her as though she was from Mars, causing her to stop singing.

"What?" She asked

"The hell were you just singing?"

"That, um, song all the little Whos were singing in How the Grinch Stole Christmas." She sank into her scarf and pulled her Santa hat over her eyes." It was a Christmas special on TV last year…"

"You mean you watch those things?" Mike asked

"Doesn't everybody?" She peeked out from under her hat rim

"I watch them!" Peter said, raising his hand

"Thank you! Glad to know that I have someone on my side here."

Micky let out a small cough to clear his throat "I watch them too."

"Well then next Christmas the three of us will watch the Christmas specials together and everyone else will be the Christmas bums."

Micky reached over and gave her a high five, and Peter let out a laugh. The eight of them returned to sitting in silence for a few more minutes as they watched the morning sun.

"Ok well this is great and all. But I'm freezing my nuts off here. Can we go back inside now?"

They all turned their heads to August, who sat at the very end of the row. He only sat there looking forward and rubbing his hands together to warm them.

"Welp." Mike said "We better go back inside before August's nuts fall off. He may need them one day."

Mike scooted forward and then began to climb down through the window. One by one the rest of them followed him back inside the house. Once again Peter was the last to go through the window so he could hand the now empty mugs back to them. Now that they were all inside Mike and Micky's bedroom, and the window was closed, the eight of them headed downstairs.

While everyone was warming up, Trixie decided to cook a nice Christmas breakfast. This was just the thing they all needed after their night long party. As she was cooking, Micky went up behind her and placed an arm around her waist. He leaned in and lightly kissed her on the neck, causing her to smile.

"Micky what are you doing?"

"I, um, I was just seeing what you were making us for breakfast."

"Mmmhmm."

"I was!" He paused before laughing "Ok I wasn't." Another pause "So what are you making us for breakfast?" He asked, while reaching out for some of the food in front of him

She pushed his hand away "Oh Micky. Can't you wait like everyone else?"

"I could. But this is more fun."

He leaned in to kiss her on the neck but she playfully pushed him away. She looked at him and smiled before silently shooing him away from her cooking area.

"Aw you're no fun." He said, hanging his head

"Yeah I know."

Micky walked away and joined the other guys. Not long after that, Trixie announced that breakfast was ready. When they all sat down to eat their meal it seemed as though their celebration from the night before had started all over again. Brownie, upon sitting down at the table, had discovered two last joints in his pocket. Before they began eating they passed the first of the two joints around the table. The second one was to be saved for after breakfast was over.

While the smoke was still lingering in the air, and the dirty dishes had been abandoned on the table, everyone rushed over to the Christmas tree. The presents had been passed around and everyone had a big bright smile on their faces. As they were opening their presents, Micky had quietly pointed out to Trixie that the two of them were seated under the mistletoe. She looked at him and smiled after she saw it. The two of them leaned in close to each other but before their lips had the chance to touch, Trixie had pulled Micky's Santa hat down over his face. She started laughing, causing everyone else to draw their attention over onto her and Micky. Purposely neglecting to pull the hat out of his eyes, Micky blindly reached out for her.

"C'mere you!"

Trixie jumped back with a giggle and took to her feet. When Micky reached out for her again, she took off running. Micky stood up, finally pushing his hat back so he could see, and started chasing Trixie around the room.

"Get back here, Trix!"

"No! You come get me!"

As Micky chased Trixie around the room, the rest of the guys watched and laughed as though they were watching something funny on television. Finally Micky had cornered Trixie and scooped her up into his arms. He then carried her over to where the mistletoe was hung and stood her beneath it. Then, firmly placing his hands on her shoulders to keep her in the spot, he brought her into a kiss. This caused the other guys to applaud them. Ignoring the reactions from the guys, Micky then pulled away from the deep French kiss he had given her.

"There. Now was that so hard?"

Trixie giggled "No. But that was much more fun to make you fight for it."

He grinned "Hey you're right."

Trixie smiled as she walked away from him to join the others on the floor.

"So how was that kiss from Micky?" Asked Mike

"Real good. I think he got me pregnant."

"That good, huh?"

"Don't worry, Mike. I'll give you one later." Micky said with a smirk before puckering his lips

"I want one too!" August exclaimed, putting his hand in the air

"Take a number and wait in line, Mr. Lauer." Micky replied very seriously

This caused everyone to roar in laughter.

"Hey you all think I'm kidding about that but I'm serious. Everybody gets one Christmas kiss from me. Two if I get drunk."

"What 'appens if ye get high? Three kisses?" Davy asked

"If I get high I'll take my clothes off."

"Ok it's settled then!" Peter said with a slight laugh "No one get Micky high today!"

"You're a little late for that, big Peter. I'm still feeling the breakfast joints we smoked." He said before beginning to take his shirt off

They all began to laugh again while someone managed to stop Micky from stripping. Somehow the laughter turned into singing as they all started to sing Christmas carols together. However, a couple of them purposely sang out of tune, one sang completely different songs than what the others were singing, and someone made up some rather naughty lyrics to the songs. This, of course, created another bout of laughter. While they were in the midst of it, the doorbell began to buzz, interrupting their fun.

"Now who could that be?" Mike asked, turning his head towards the door

Peter jumped up with an excited smile. "It must be them!" He hopped a little in his place before practically running over to the door

"Them who?" Replied Micky, confused

Davy smiled and jumped up "Oh! THEM!" He ran over to the door, nearly running into Peter "The girls! Petah how do I look?"

"Very festive."

Peter opened the door, he and Davy smiling beyond their ears. Standing there, smiling just as brightly, were Mary and Sandra. The guys escorted their respected twins inside and introduced them to everyone.

"Boy. If I knew you had girls coming over I would have brought more Santa hats with me." Said August, right before getting pelted by a bunch of Santa hats

With the addition of the twins, the group of eight had become ten. There The Monkees sat on the floor by the Christmas tree with their new friends. They realized that although they never expected to be celebrating Christmas like this or with anyone besides the four of them, they were very happy with how things turned out. The past few years they had been friends they had felt blessed to have each other on Christmas even if that was all that they had. But now this year they felt that they were even more blessed because of their growing group of friends, Trixie especially. The way that this Christmas was going for them, they could not have asked for anything better. Later on that day, the four of them would agree that this had been the perfect end to a year full of craziness. But neither of them had a clue about the year that was yet to come for them. After all that they had been through in 1967, especially the past few weeks, it would not compare to the way their lives were going to turn upside down in the year 1968.