A Not-So Merry Christmas This Year on Teppenpaw Commons

Jessica Applerose

August 07, 2011 4:07 AM

A Not-So Merry Christmas This Year by Jessica Applerose

Jessica loved the Christmas holiday. What made it even better was the fact that she got to go home and stop studying for a little while. But now...now she had to stay because her parents were going on vacation without her. That was absolutely ridiculous. Those sort of things happened to her older siblings, not her! She was the baby of the family for goodness sake! Didn't anyone care about her?

Wallowing, Jess entered the common room in hopes for some food to comfort her and maybe a friend or a fellow Teppenpaw. Staying at school alone over the holiday sucked. She still had the letter in hand and read it over again, hoping that she had imagined the whole thing.

Dearest Jessica,
How are you doing at school? Wonderfully, I hope? I hope you're making lots of new friends and studying hard! From your last letter it sounded like you were studying quite a lot. Your father and I are so proud of you. Unfortunately, dear, this Christmas holiday your father and I are going to New York for a potions convention. Your father is thinking of opening up a new apothecary over there. Yes, that does mean we'll be gone for the holidays. I'm so sorry, love, but we'll make sure you receive your Christmas presents, of course! I love you, dear, and Daddy sends his love too. The apothecary is doing well also, thank you for asking! New potions all the time. I love you and we miss you so, so much!

Love,
Mum

Where was the heartfelt apologies? The desperate pleas for forgiveness? The gift to accompany this note? Jess huffed loudly and flopped onto the couch. She threw the note down and frowned angrily at nothing. What in the world was she going to do for so long alone in this place with nothing to do? Jess sniffed, feeling the sudden urge to cry. Her parents were leaving her at school by herself, her siblings didn't even talk to her anymore...Jess suddenly felt very lonely. She brought her knees up to her chest and continued to stare angrily at nothing. She hated being alone more than anything.

0 Jessica Applerose A Not-So Merry Christmas This Year 0 Jessica Applerose 1 5

Regina Parker

August 09, 2011 7:34 PM

Why so blue, Panda Bear? by Regina Parker

Reggie couldn’t wait for Christmas. Not even Christmas. She just couldn’t wait to go home and see her dad and grandparents. She had a hard time being away from them for so long even though she tried not to show it. After spending eleven years with them always being there, having family dinners together. Spending months away from that connection had been harder on Reggie than she had anticipated. So, every holiday home and vacations during the summer meant more to her than they had in the past.

She didn’t think her mother would find time this holiday to see her, not after having taken two weeks off in the summer to spent time with her, but Reggie was actually okay with that. After spending the time with her, Reggie had learned how much her mother sacrificed just to keep her safe. Any anger she may have formally had for her mother was vanishing, but she knew there would always be some still lingering.

There were still a few days left before she was on the wagons and off to her Christmas holiday, but Reggie had pretty much packed her trunk completely full of her belongings that she planned to take home with her. Unfortunately, it meant that she had packed away her crystal ball this morning and she would need to locate it before she went to bed tonight. She had discovered her misshape halfway through eating dinner when she had been mentally ticking off her list of items.

After finishing her meal, Reggie had danced her way back into the common room with all intents and purposes of finding her crystal ball. If she didn’t have it, she wasn’t going to be able to sleep and then she would be cranky pants and never would never fair well for anyone. But, she stopped halfway to the stairs when she noticed Jessica curled up onto the couch looking rather miserable.

“Hi Jess!” Reggie said, grinning at her in hopes that a smile would make her feel better. “How come you’re sitting here all by yourself looking all blue? It’s Christmas time! You’re supposed to be all merry and excited about going home!” Reggie exclaimed, sitting on the couch that was still free. “Are you not happy?” Reggie hated to see her friend so down, especially when they were so close to freedom. It was just so unnatural.

6 Regina Parker Why so blue, Panda Bear? 187 Regina Parker 0 5

Jess

August 09, 2011 11:56 PM

Panda Bears usually make me happy, but... by Jess

Jess was happy, more than happy, actually, to see Reggie's friendly face. "Hi Reggie," she said, her voice still sounding down. "I would be happy, but my parents decided to leave me here by myself." She reached down to pick up the crumpled note and handed it to her. She sniffed. "They're going on vacation without me. That's so..." She didn't know what word to use to express her sadness, anger, and hurt at being left. Too many emotions. She sighed.

"I hope it'll be fun here, anyway." But it wasn't the same! Jess sniffed again. "I'll be so lonely here! All by myself!" Oh dear. She was going to start crying in front of her friend. Any minute now. It was going to be her first Christmas alone! She should be sad about it for goodness sake! But she had to stop wallowing in front of Reggie.

"But," she sniffed, "how are you Reggie? I feel like I haven't seen you in," she sniffed again, "so long!" She'd been studying most of her first year and had neglected to be more social, as was her nature, at her mother's request. And now they were leaving her at school! Alone on her favorite holiday! Jess took a deep breath to control her emotions.

0 Jess Panda Bears usually make me happy, but... 0 Jess 0 5

Reggie

August 10, 2011 9:26 PM

Panda Bears make everyone happy! No buts. by Reggie

Reggie’s face fell when Jessica told her of her parents’ plans on leaving her here. “Oh…” She said quietly, taking the crumpled letter from Jessica and looking it over. From the way the letter sounded, it seemed more like a job thing than a vacation, but then, her dad always said that conventions were a drag which is why he rarely went to them. The only time he really had to was when the hospital wanted him to check out some new potions on the market. Even then, he didn’t have time to do anything he wanted. He just went to the conferences and then came back home again to tell Reggie how boring it all was.

This was clearly a different situation for Jessica and her parents. Plus, Reggie’s dad had never left her during a holiday, not ever. What a sad and lonely time for Jess. Reggie sat beside her, giving her friend a shoulder to lean on while she talked it out. It was clear that Jess was completely overwhelmed with sadness over the fact that she would be spending Christmas at school.

Reggie blinked when Jessica suddenly turned the conversation onto her. Jessica was slightly right with the two of them not seeing much of one another. Reggie spent most of her free time with Maddie. She wasn’t really sure where Jess had wandered off to over the last few months, but she was here now, so that was something. “I’m okay.” She said rather lamely, not wanting to upset Jessica further by telling her how excited she was about going home to see her dad. And then, an idea clicked almost instantly. “That’s it! You’re coming home with me for Christmas!” Reggie declared. She knew her father wouldn’t mind, they always said ‘the more the merrier’ and Gramma liked to cook for lots of people, so another mouth at the Christmas feast would make her happy.

“There’s plenty of room at the house and you can watch Christmas movies with me and Dad and you’ll get to eat my Gram’s delicious food. It’ll be fun. A two week slumber party!” Reggie exclaimed.

6 Reggie Panda Bears make everyone happy! No buts. 187 Reggie 0 5

Jess

August 11, 2011 3:09 AM

Regina Bears make me happier! by Jess

Jessica could hardly believe her ears as Reggie invited her to her house. The way she described it sounded even like the way she celebrated Christmas at home. Well, except for her Mum's moment where she locked herself in her room saying that she needed to get changed for dinner for an hour (as if Jess didn't know that Mum was still sad about Tom and Darla leaving them). This was where Jess wished that her family was still intact. But that was just a brief sad part in the whole holiday. The rest of it was happy and...maybe spending it with Reggie was just a way to get closer to her friend. She had been off in her own world for an awfully long time.

Jess sniffed and swiped a hand under her nose. "Really?" she asked. No one had ever really asked her to spend Christmas with them. It was usually a family holiday. "You're sure I won't intrude? That sounds so lovely!" She sniffed loudly again and threw her arms around Reggie. "You're such a great friend," she cried, and pulled back and beamed at her despite her watery blue eyes. "Thank you Reggie." She didn't know how else to express her thanks. It really meant a lot that she wouldn't be alone on her favorite holiday. Probably more than Jess even realized herself. She'd be on her best behavior with Reggie's family and that was that. She'd show her just how well-behaved an Applerose could be.

"Now you're gonna make me excited," she giggled. She rubbed her eye and smiled at her friend. "What should I bring?" she asked, privately thinking about what a suitable present for Reggie was. She didn't want to ask, but she did want Reggie to like it...it was going to take some extensive thinking. Later on.

Jess still felt strange about spending the holiday without her parents, but she supposed that she'd be growing up anyway. She didn't doubt that she'd be left at school more often now. She was so grateful for friends like Regina. And she'd get to meet her family!

"I can't wait to meet your dad and your grandma! Tell me about them," Jess said, bouncing in her seat, her cheerfulness slowly coming back to her. The more excited she got about this trip, the more she was looking forward to it. "Where do you live again?" she added. Maybe she'd even get to travel more too! Things were certainly turning up. Maybe her parents going on a trip without her was a blessing in disguise. Well, a really really small blessing in disguise.

0 Jess Regina Bears make me happier! 0 Jess 0 5

Reggie

August 15, 2011 7:12 PM

Aw, shucks! by Reggie

Reggie grinned and nodded her head emphatically to Jess when the other girl questioned the truth in Reggie’s invitation. “No intrusion.” Reggie assured her. “This year we’re staying home, so it’s not as if you would be preventing us from doing something. Just a nice cozy stay-cation.” Reggie advised her. Had her dad been planning something like he had last year, Reggie wouldn’t have been so quick to invite her to stay, but their cruise last year had taken her father quite awhile to save, so she knew that it wouldn’t be for another couple of years before another big surprise gift like that. Besides, her grandparents were miserable last Christmas because Reggie and her dad had been gone for so long. “And you’re welcome.” She added with a smile.

She shrugged her small shoulders when Jessica asked what she should bring to Reggie’s home. “Whatever clothes you think you’ll need. We have a laundry room, so if you don’t bring enough, we can wash them. Other than that, my family will handle everything else.” Reggie explained to her. “I’ll send an owl to Daddy to let him know you’ll be coming home with me. He’ll get my room all set up for you and Gram’s will make sure there is plenty of food to go around. You’ll just have to let your parents know so that they send your gifts to the right place.”

Reggie had to think a moment to figure out the best way to describe her family. They were so odd, but amazing at the same time. Her friends from her muggle school loved to hang out because of how laid-back her dad was with everything, but none of them understood the true dynamics of how they worked. They just…did.

“Well, Daddy’s your typical geek. Or nerd… or whichever one fits with a Potions Master.” Reggie giggled. “We like to play games together. Sorry and Life are our favorites. But, we also like to pretend to make new and exciting potions and discover some fantastic serum to cure a horrible disease. He’s the best person ever.” Reggie declared. “When I’m sad, he’ll make me laugh, when I’m scared, he’ll check under my bed, when I’m angry, he gives me my space. He’s just …awesome.” There was no doubt that Reggie was Daddy’s Little Girl.

“My Grams is everything you expect from a Grandma.” Reggie started. “She makes home cooked meals from scratch. She loves baking. She makes the best apple pie. And, she’s crafty! She helps me with scrapbooks all the time.” Reggie had a million scrapbooks from various times in her life. “They are my Popsicle’s parents and they’re Muggles, if that makes a difference.” Reggie commented, not wanting Jessica to feel awkward. She didn’t know her mom’s family at all because they hadn’t been very fond of their daughter marrying a Muggleborn. Reggie was okay with that though. If they didn’t want her than she didn’t want them.

“I live in Nebraska. I know, I know, boring.”

6 Reggie Aw, shucks! 187 Reggie 0 5

Jess

August 17, 2011 3:33 PM

I live to flatter you! by Jess

Jess was enthralled by the fact that Reggie's dad was a muggle-born and that she lived with muggles. It would make her feel almost right at home. She and her parents lived in a muggle community back at home. And Reggie's dad was a Potions Master just like her dad! She remembered the similarity when she and Reggie had first met. "Your family sounds wonderful," she said with a smile. More welcoming than she had anticipated, really. It almost sounded like another family. Wonderful and warm and comforting.

Jess laughed when Reggie said Nebraska was boring. A few of people she'd met seemed to be from there. "You guys have Las Vegas!" she said. Not that she really remembered ever going there, but she'd heard a lot about it. And her parents had once been obsessed with the idea of how muggles gambled. "I'm sure it'll be great," she added. She could definitely make the most of her surroundings. And if Reggie lived anywhere near the mountains, that would add to the awesomeness. "Besides, I've never been there, not that I remember anyway. It'll be like a little adventure for me!" She smiled widely.

Jess wondered if it was very different from California. She hadn't traveled very much at all, so it was going to be exciting, going to another state without her parents! She'd show them she could have a good holiday without them. Hmph. "I'm so excited!" she said suddenly, bouncing in her seat. Just a few minutes ago she was dreading vacation and now she couldn't wait. "Reggie, you always seem to find a way to make me happier," she said with a smile. She remembered the girl's enthusiasm back when they'd first met too. Vacation was going to be fun!

0 Jess I live to flatter you! 0 Jess 0 5