Thanksgiving passed, with everyone very thankful. It was now Christmas season, and everyone was looking forward to the joys the holiday brought. One person however was also thinking of spring: Crumbelina. She had created a new spring style and was planning to show it to this famous fashion company, Vogo, that was going to visit Sugar Rush in February.

One day she brought Graham over to see them.

"Merveilleux! Exquis!" Graham beamed. "Oh Crumbelina these outfits are très excellente."

"Thank you." Crumbelina smiled but then sat on her bed looking worried. "I just hope the company will like them."

"But of course they will!" Graham said before seeing her worried look; he softened and sat down next to her. "But even if they don't it does not mean that your style isn't good. I happen to think it's the meilleur."

He put his arm around her and she snuggled against him.

A bit later in December, some couples planned to go Christmas shopping together. Adorabeezle went to Bodhivian's house to pick him up...

"Hello Stormberry, is Bodhi ready?" Adorabeezle smiled.

"Sorry, but he got sick this morning." Stormberry sighed. "And since mom and dad had to go to work I have to stay home to take care of him. Stinks too, Reneult and I had made plans to go play in the park one last time before it gets too cold for things you can usually only enjoy during spring and summer. I mean I do love my brother and want him to get well, but I'd hate to disappoint Reneult."

Sugar Rush did get hot and cold weather, but weather that would be more noticeable to the players - like rain and snow - were saved for when the arcade was closed. Rain happened now and then at night and snow only begun the night of December 23rd and then went away January 3rd. This was because Mr. Litwak had the arcade closed during that time while he spent the holidays with his daughter and grandchildren. The Sugar Rushians didn't mind having snow for a relatively short time because at least they got to have snow. The players never enjoyed snow at all unless they took a vacation to a ski resort or something like that.

"Go ahead, I'll stay here and take care of Bodhi." Adorabeezle smiled.

"Really?" Stormberry smiled.

"Of course. It won't be much fun shopping without him anyway. Just tell Nougetsia where I am before you and Reneult head to the park okay?"

"No problem, and thank you Adora!" Stormberry hugged her. "This means a lot to me."

"What are friends for? Besides Bodhi is my boyfriend so as his girlfriend I'm allowed to take care of him when he's feeling bad."

"True that." Stormberry grinned. "I'll just get my stuff and then head out."

She grabbed her stuff and left.

"Thanks again!" She called.

"Anytime!" Adorabeezle called back, waving.

She then went upstairs to check on Bodhivian. When she got into his bedroom she could see that he really was sick.

"Hey Bodhi." She said gently.

"Adora..." He croaked weakly. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking Stormberry's place as your caretaker so that she can play with Reneult." Adorabeezle smiled.

"You didn't have to do that..."

"Hey what are does for? Especially does who are fambo for their stags." Adorabeezle petted Bodhivian's head gently. "Cold weather got to you huh?"

"Yeah...not used to it so when it came I tried to stay indoors as much as possible." Bodhivian smiled weakly. "Obviously backfired... Real bummer too, I really wanted to hang out with you."

"We still can, we just can't do as much. Now you just rest, I'll get you something to eat or drink."

"Both...I'd like some pineapple soup and mango juice please."

"Coming right up." Adorabeezle left.

She spent almost the rest of the day taking care of Bodhivian. She gave him food and liquids, and at one point read a surfing story to him, but mostly let him sleep and read quietly to herself. Bodhivian did tell her that he didn't want her to get sick, but she shrugged it off. She had a good immune system anyway, so even if she did get sick it wouldn't affect her too badly.

Back at the mall, one of the couples doing shopping was Applelo and Madison. Applelo wasn't used to shopping in malls, especially since his family mostly gave each other homemade presents before, so it obviously didn't take long for him to get overwhelmed.

"Look apple pie, another bookstore!" Madison said excitedly before running into the store.

Applelo followed her inside and hefted the bags he was holding for her onto the ground.

"You're 'bout as excitable wit' shoppin' as ah jackalope wit' his tail on fire." He remarked.

"Oh shush." She smirked. "You said you wanted to go Christmas shopping with me. Besides, we went to the pasture on our last date."

"Date? This is more like ah boyfrien' version of slavery." Applelo joked.

"Very funny." Madison smirked. "I know you're not into shopping but you have to admit you're grateful that I'm not into fashion, jewelry, or perfume."

"So true." Applelo smiled. "But even if you were it'd be worth it. No matter what you're my chocolate candy."

Madison smiled and kissed Applelo on the cheek. Chocolate Candy became his affectionate nickname for her because her candy theme happened to be M&Ms.

Anyway, most of the other boyfriends took the shopping a little better. Graham loved to see Crumbelina try on new outfits and study jewelry, especially because he hoped it would give him a great idea for her present. Matlow enjoyed himself too because Candlehead mostly looked through arts and crafts stores and cooking stores. He liked to talk about what projects or treats they could make together with her. In return Candlehead enjoyed going into science stores, especially since some of the toys were cool. Ever since they made up after that fight they had gotten more into each other's favorite subjects, and ended up loving to work together on both subjects. But their favorite thing to work on together was cooking.

As for Sourward and Citrusella, Sourward had gotten a few ideas for her present but Citrusella couldn't think of anything perfect for Sourward. Especially since her mind was still on getting his family's recipes out of Sluggum's computer. That's when she decided: she was going to try to find a way to get the recipes out of the computer and bring a copy of the altered versions back to Sourward. That was going to be her present for him. But how was she going to accomplish this?

She spent a few days thinking about it, until Jubileena decided to talk to her.

"Is something wrong? You've been lost in thought about something lately." Jubileena asked after entering Citrusella's room.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry, it's just..." Citrusella sighed, sitting on her bed. "I was thinking about Sourward's present: the recipes Thembara stole and had altered."

"Seriously? You're planning on getting those back for him even though he doesn't want you to?" Jubileena was surprised.

"I have to, those are his family's recipes. No one else should be making a profit off them." Citrusella said. "It's not fair, he never deserved to have them stolen from his family's factory in the first place. Especially not at the expense of his heart."

"You really do love him don't you?" Jubileena smiled.

"Yes..." Citrusella smiled. "I do. When he helped me get back in the kart he showed me his real self. His generosity, kindness, gentleness..." Citrusella lay back lovestruck. "He's so wonderful..."

"Whoa, you got it bad." Jubileena grinned. "So, how are we going to do this?"

"What? What do you mean 'we'?" Citrusella sat up confused.

"Well do you think I'm gonna let you do something this dangerous by yourself?" Jubileena grinned. "No way. No I am definitely helping my sister get the perfect present for her true love."

Citrusella beamed and went over to hug her.

"You're the best sister ever." Citrusella smiled.

"Tell me something I don't know." Jubileena joked. "Nah just kidding, actually I'm second best."

"Oh yeah? After who?"

"You."

Citrusella just smirked.

"Now...I think we'd best talk to Taffyta first." Jubileena decided. "She always has been a great leader. Even if Vanellope is the best, but I don't want to risk putting our president in danger. Especially not after all the grief we used to give her during Turbo's rule."

"Right." Citrusella agreed.

So they left to see Taffyta.

"I'm with you, it isn't fair that the Sluggums still get to make a profit off the Lemonscan recipes after all that Thembara did to Sourward." Taffyta nodded, frowning. "You're also right about not letting Vanellope in on this. She nearly got killed by Turbo twice, not to mention he made us bully her all the time. I'm not going to allow any risk of her being harmed again, not if I can help it. So let's see...well we're going to need someone who can pull a few stunts. I'm thinking Swizzle, Adam's good but he's a little too bold. Too much of a risk of getting caught with him. I'm also thinking we're going to need gadgets. Nothing too fancy, but a few distractions wouldn't hurt..." Taffyta snapped her fingers. "Jubileena, that's where you come in."

"Me?" Jubileena hesitated.

"Yes you, we don't need any fancy pranks and as I recall you already learned a lot from Gloyd."

"Okay..."

"Hold it."

Startled, Jubileena and Citrusella turned and saw Rancis and Gloyd there.

"We were planning on inviting you two out on a date when we overheard." Rancis said. "I'm not letting you go without me Taffyta, what if you get hurt?"

"Same here, I am not letting anything happen to Jubileena." Gloyd nodded.

"Look, we can't let too many people come it could increase the risk of our getting caught." Taffyta pointed out.

"If I may suggest a compromise."

They then saw Matlow to Taffyta's left and Rancis's right respectively.

"Hey Matlow, where's Candlehead?" Citrusella asked.

"We had just finished one of our dates." Matlow explained. "Anyway, how about instead of Gloyd and Rancis going I go in their place? I do happen to know quite a bit about computers..." He smiled knowingly.

"Perfect." Taffyta gave Matlow a nod. "What do you boys say?"

"Well...okay." Gloyd sighed reluctantly.

"With Swizzle and Matlow both going along, plus yourself Taffyta, I think that's a fair compromise." Rancis agreed. "But Matlow, if anything happens to Taffyta you'll have me to answer too. And you can pass that message along to Swizzle."

"Ditto if anything happens to Jubileena." Gloyd added.

"You have my word: I will not let anything happen to them." Matlow put his hand over his heart.

"Very well...but Taffyta please be careful." Rancis said concernedly. "I know you can take of yourself, but...but I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you."

"It'll be okay Rancis, we promise not to take any unnecessary risks." Taffyta smiled, going over to him to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Also I know Vanellope will want to know what happened to us...I'm sure Ralph and Candiel will keep her from following us so it's okay to tell her."

"Okay." Rancis hung his head slightly.

"Jubileena, here." Gloyd gave her a small bag. "It's some stinkbombs I've been working on. They might come in handy."

Jubileena kissed his cheek.

"If I end up using them I'll think of you." She smiled.

"I'll try to see that as a compliment." Gloyd chuckled.

"I think we'd best leave for Limepool now." Taffyta looked at her watch. "We can use the remaining time to get a layout of the factory as well as figure out how to break in. Matlow, we'll definitely need your help there."

"Leave it to me." Matlow nodded. "Oh, and you can tell Candlehead where I've gone but only her and Vanellope."

"Right, this is going to be a Christmas surprise for Sourward." Citrusella blushed a little.

"Dang." Was all Gloyd could say; Rancis and Matlow were too impressed to say anything.

So after going to hire Swizzle into the group they left. Gloyd and Rancis went to Candlehead and Minty (Swizzle's request) to tell them where they went, also telling them to not tell anyone else. They then went to see Vanellope, who was really upset. Ralph and Candiel were there too, but Reneult was in the kitchen with Sour Bill. Reneult wanted to practice his cooking (he kinda took after Ralph in that subject because of his strength and hands) and Sour Bill was helping him.

"What are they thinking?" Vanellope frowned. "Doing a dangerous mission like-I'm going after them."

"Oh no you're not." Ralph gently pulled her back.

"Ralph!" Vanellope protested.

"Ralph is right Vanellope, it's too dangerous." Candiel agreed. "Which...I believe is the reason why they didn't want you to come with them."

"Exactly, if anything ever happened to you..." Ralph hung his head. "I mean...you're my reason for living. My game and friends do mean a lot to me but...but you're the first one I was willing to sacrifice my life for. And without you in my life I- I couldn't go on. I wouldn't even be able to do my job. I'd just spend the rest of my life in the castle with Reneult wishing that I could die too but can't due to not wanting to abandon our son."

Vanellope softened. She just couldn't risk leaving Ralph heartbroken and Reneult motherless. Fatherless too, she knew Ralph would be so broken up that Reneult probably wouldn't even recognize him.

"Okay." She gave in; she then smirked. "Eh, Taffyta's with them anyway. I know she'll get them back safely."

"That she will." Candiel agreed.