Chapter 81: Christmas Chapter Part 2

The next day was hectic. Lea, Fritz, and Paula cooked for dinner, Cleo and Lea disappeared to wrap presents and Peter had invited himself over to the neighbors.  Not with the three families. No. With the rainbow party people.  He had been there for two hours now.

"We live in the wrong house!", Cleo had said to Charlotte laughing at breakfast when they could see from the terrace window how six young men with Christmas hats, and loud music, drank sparkling wine from colorful cans. They were celebrating on the beach.  One of them had wrapped himself in a battery-powered string of lights and another was sitting on an inflated unicorn that was actually intended for a pool.  Probably the same unicorn they had seen the night before.

Slowly it became afternoon. Soon Ingried and Adam would arrive. Peter wasn't back yet and Cleo and Charlotte were on their way to a small church to attend the Christmas service. Fritz had been given the task by Peter to go for a walk with Hercules, which he had little desire to do. Paula decorated a plastic Christmas tree, which she and Fritz had brought.

"Julia? Will you please get Peter back?", she begged. "He wanted to be back a long time ago and there is still a lot to do. The table needs to be decorated and set and we still have some fairy lights to put in the windows!

Julia sighed. "All right." She put on her warm jacket and went to her neighbors.  Loud music could already be heard outside.

After she rang the doorbell, the door was opened by a Christmas elf. Strictly speaking, it was a man in an elf costume.

"Hello, princess!", the elf greeted her. "How can I help you? Did you get lost?"

"I'm here to pick up my brother. Peter!"

"Ah! Then come in!" He held the door open for her.

"Thank you." Julia accompanied the elf into the house. Here the music was even louder and there were streamers everywhere.  Besides, it seemed like there had been a glitter battle. The entire floor glittered. I wouldn't want to pay for the cleaning...

"We're all in the living room right now." The elf grinned and she noticed that some glitter was sticking to his costume.

The living room was in the same place as in her holiday home and looked almost identical. However, leaning against the wall was the inflatable unicorn, which was now decorated with fairy lights. Three young men dressed as reindeer danced to the loud music. Peter wore a black, glittering shirt with red leather pants and sat on the sofa with a drunken Santa Claus and another Christmas elf, eating cookies.  Glitter also clung to his trousers.

"Julia! What are you doing here?", he asked against the booming music.

"Lea told me to get you back."

"Now? Well then! It was wonderful with your friends!" Peter got up from the sofa and bowed.

"What a pity!", regretted Santa Claus. "But you can come by anytime! Would your sister like a cookie?" He held out a bowl of homemade cookies that looked suspiciously like a certain male body part to Julia. The cookies were decorated with colorful frosting.  "They were supposed to be snowmen, but the cookies lost their form during baking..."

Julia giggled. "No thanks."

Peter said goodbye to his new friends, which insisted that he should come over the next day with the whole family, including Julia, of course, and then went back with Julia. In the meantime, Ingried and Adam had arrived. The two had also brought a Christmas tree, which they set up in the hallway, where it stood shortly afterward colorfully decorated, and discreetly in the way.

In the evening, when Cleo and Charlotte were back, they enjoyed a peaceful, festive dinner before coming to the long-awaited part of Christmas Eve: the gifts!

Like children, they sat on the floor, where they handed each other the colorfully wrapped packages and unpacked them. Julia got a few novels from Ingried and Adam, probably from Adam's bookstore, from Cleo and Charlotte chocolate, from Fritz a very large stuffed bear in a Santa Claus costume, and from Peter a bee costume.

"Because Mom wants you to be a busy bee!", he explained laughing. Julia shook her head amused. Lea gave her a pretty necklace with a bee pendant hanging from it.  She and Peter had colluded.  She had to promise everyone to put on the costume later.

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Cleo and Charlotte had given everyone the same chocolate. In a fancy package stood Santa Claus with his sleigh and his reindeer. And although the chocolate looked far too fine to eat, Peter had already bitten off Santa's head.

Ingried and Adam gave Fritz and Paula a few cookbooks and Peter gave them printed T-shirts.  Fritz  ́s shirt said  'Sexy Doc' and Paula's 'Grumpy nurse'.  Lea handed the two tickets for a concert of a band they liked.

Cleo and Charlotte got children's hair clips with rainbows from Fritz and Paula, expensive chocolates and a restaurant voucher from Ingried and Adam, and two small fabric unicorns from Peter.  Lea gave them cinema vouchers because they both liked going to the cinema.

For Lea, there was a T-shirt from Peter with a printed singing reindeer, and from Ingried and Adam a few novels. Fritz and Paula gave her a voucher for a bookstore.

Julia's siblings had thrown together for Ingried and Adam. They gave them a voucher for a short river cruise.

Julia's gifts made everyone laugh the most. She had given Cleo and Charlotte unicorn slippers. Fritz got frog slippers with a crown and Paula pink slippers on which 'princess' stood.  And for Lea, there were penguin slippers. She loved penguins. Ingried got a silly notebook on which 'Explosion danger: This lawyer is the blast!' was written, with a matching ballpoint pen, and Fritz got a cup on which 'Being a bookworm is my job' was written.

After eating his chocolate Santa, Peter also opened the rest of his presents.  From Ingried and Adam, he got a glittering scarf, which he immediately put on. Lea gave him a duck cap and Julia gave him matching duck slippers. The two had also colluded. Fritz and Paula gave him new paint for his paintings.

Finally, they devoted themselves to the Christmas greetings that their parents had sent them. Their mother had sent everyone a postcard with Christmas greetings, which she had decorated with silly stickers. Their father gave everyone a voucher from a well-known Swedish furniture store.

"Our parents were extraordinarily creative!" Peter rolled his eyes.

"Do you need new furniture?", Julia asked laughing. "That's ten euros. Maybe you'll get a sofa from it?"

Peter rolled his eyes. "I bet our wonderful father forgot about us... And then bought these benevolent, generous vouchers at the last moment!"

"Still better than a postcard", Cleo grumbled. "She wrote me that she met a young man I might like."

Charlotte laughed softly. "She never gives up!"

"Do you smell that?" Cleo frowned.

"It smells like pee", Fritz murmured. "Where does that come from?" Irritated, he went in search of the cause. He found it quickly.  In the hallway.  "Peter? Your dog peed on the Christmas tree!"

"What?" Peter jumped up and ran to the hallway. Julia followed him amused.

Under the tree was a very large, yellow pool. Hercules sat next to it and looked at them proudly. He barked as if expecting recognition for his masterpiece.

"Merry Christmas!" Peter sighed.