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It was only four in the afternoon, but the Joestar-Zeppeli household was already almost full to bursting this Christmas Eve. Every single relative, family friend, neighbor and coworker had flooded in as they did every year. The next three days would be utterly deafening, but that’s how they liked it; Surrounded by the people they loved, with lots of good food and bright decorations. It was just what they did.
Holly was eight years old this year, and was very accustomed to the hustle and bustle of the holidays by now. Her first Christmas was spent being passed around and cooed over by everyone she knew, just like the day she was born, and the following Christmases weren’t much different. Always going on about how big she was getting, or how long her hair was. She got to meet so many fun, new people each year, she could hardly contain her excitement sometimes. It was almost as fun as actually getting to open gifts!
“Holly, are you dressed yet? Your Nonno wants to say hello!” Suzie called from where she was stood by the tree, desperately trying to fix some of the garland that Caesar’s cats had knocked off.
“Yes mamma!”
Rapid footsteps punctuated Holly’s sentence as she careened down the stairs from her room, the bow in her hair hardly tied. She got to pick out her dress this year, and was particularly excited to show it off to everyone, but Nonno came first. Thankfully, Messina stood taller than most of the people in the room, so it was easy for her to pick him out. With as much energy as she could muster, she jumped at him.
“Oh, there she is!” He crowed, not so gently shoving someone over so he could catch her in his arms, “Hello, sweetheart!”
“Hello Nonno!” She was just beaming as he spun her around, clinging to his shoulders.
“Goodness gracious, you need to stop getting so big! I might not be able to carry you come next year.” Messina was laughing as he set her down, “And my, what a pretty dress you have. Did your mom pick that out for you?”
Holly, proud as ever, shook her head, “No, I picked it out myself! Mamma took me to the store and said I could get whatever dress I wanted, so I picked this one. A-And I picked the little bits for the skirt too.”
It was a cute little white long sleeve, with red suspenders and felt skirt. The decals were all Christmas related iron-on’s that she had her mother put on for her, and she seemed very pleased with them in specific.
“Look, this one’s a holly leaf, just like me!”
“That’s wonderful, sweetheart! You did a very good job on your outfit.” Ruffling her hair, Messina noticed one of his friends across the room, “I’ve already got your gift under the tree, and I’ve got to go talk to some other folks for right now, Holly, so why don’t you go see if your mamma needs any help with the tree, alright? Go on.”
Suzie had been watching from where she was, and smiled down at Holly as she nodded at her adoptive grandfather and toddled over. The tree was massive, per Joseph’s insistence, and Suzie needed a step ladder to even get the star on. She’d gone on to become a designer, as well as a florist, so her flare for color and plant life made her the best option for this job every year. The whole thing was covered in what seemed like miles of lights, garland, pearls and tinsel, and was just begging to be knocked over by two unruly cats. Every year it felt like a stand off between Suzie and their pets over if the tree stays in one piece or not.
“Thank you for talking to your Nonno, sweetheart.” She cooed, setting an ornament down to come over and fix the bow in her hair, “Are you excited for tomorrow?”
“Uh huh! I’m gonna catch Santa this year, I know it.” There was a particular determination in her voice, even as her mother was fawning over her and tugging on her hair, “Do you think I’ll catch Santa this year, mamma?”
“Hmm, I don’t know, piccola. Santa’s pretty good at knowing when little girls are awake on Christmas.” Satisfied, Suzie stepped back and started putting things on the tree again, “But you can do anything you put your mind to. So it’s worth a try.”
Holly took this wisdom with a nod, and moved to dig through one of their many ornament boxes. Every year, there were three big traditions she took part in. With so much going on, it was really important to her that she do at least one big thing with each of her parents, so it wouldn’t all get lost among everything else. She took these little traditions very seriously. One such tradition was helping her mother decorate the tree. Suzie always insisted on doing the dangerous parts that took a lot of balance, but Holly was always there to help with the ornaments. She even had a few that she considered the best and sat in a specific box. Rummaging around, she found her true favorite; A little glass reindeer with glittery gold hooves and antlers.
“Mamma, where can I put the reindeer?” She asked, holding it to her chest.
“Oh, um-- Let’s see…” Suzie scanned the tree from where she was perched on the stepping stool, before finding a nice hefty branch smack in the middle, “Right here, honey! Do you want me to put it up there?”
“No, I got it!”
Suzie stepped down from where she was, letting Holly clamor up in her place. It turned out to be a little high for her, so Suzie held her by her waist to keep her steady. The whole tree wobbled as she fought with the branch, but after a moment, it went on nice and pretty, kinda like it belonged there. Pleased with herself, she hopped down and looked at it in the center of all the glitter and light.
“That looks wonderful, honey. Here, let’s finish up this box.”
Together, the both of them went about putting the last of the decorations up. There were ones that had their names on them, and ones that Holly made in school, and ones that we’re little wooden bison or beaded patterns. There was a bit of a methodical aspect of it; Reach into a box, grab an ornament, put it onto a branch, repeat. It was simple work, but she enjoyed it. Being close to her mother and seeing how happy it all made her made her happy too and made all the work worth it. Slowly, it all came together, and by the end there was enough glitter on Holly’s hands that she’d certainly need a bath later. The both of them stood there, gawking for a bit at their little project.
“I swear, if Ravioli or Rigatoni try and knock this over this year, I’ll be livid.” Suzie giggled, glancing down, “What do you think of it, honey?”
“I think it looks nice. You did a good job!” She looked up at her and smiled, to which her mother moved to pull her into a hug.
“You did good too, you know! You helped! Come here-”
Suzie went and peppered her face in kisses, to which Holly played up a bit of disgust, wiggling in her mother’s grasp. The both of them laughed as she tried to hide her face in her mother’s dress, grinning.
“Mamma! You’re tickling me!”
“I can’t help it, you’re just too cute, I might have to eat you up!”
The both of them eventually plopped down on the floor after standing for so long, Suzie still holding Holly in her lap. She hummed as she started to braid her hair, intending to keep it out of her face for the rest of the night. Holly just sat there, patting her legs and watching all the people walk by. Occasionally, she’d whine about how it hurt having Suzie tug at her head, and her mother would tut at her. Once she was finished, she tied it off with a spare hair tie and turned her to the side.
“There, now you can go help your padre with the cookies and not have to worry about your hair.”
“Okay.” Holly mumbled, rubbing her head where it was a little sore, “I love you mamma.”
“I love you too, sweetie!” Suzie went and kissed her cheek, before nudging her in the direction of the kitchen, “Be sure to wash your hands, your padre will have a fit. You know how he is.”
The second tradition Holly took part in every year was making cookies with her padre. The kitchen was always the loudest part of the house this time of year, filled with talking, laughing and music. Lots of chatter in her mamma and padre’s language that she hadn’t learned yet, but wanted to. Caesar took care of most, if not all, the cooking during the holidays, and as she made her way down the hall towards the kitchen, she could hear him over her aunts and uncles, commanding the place like he was some kind of drill sergeant. Though, the moment she pushed through the door, his demeanor changed entirely.
“Dio mio, look at you!” Holly’s one aunt, Martina, was first to point her out, to which everyone else whipped around to look at her.
“Ah, my little girl! Come here.” Caesar was elbow deep in a bowl of cookie mix, but he still hurried to dust his hands off, “Did your madre do your hair up like that? Let me look at you.”
“Mmhm! She told me to come help you with the cookies.” Smiling, she came over, mentally preparing for what would probably be ten minutes worth of people fretting over her. All four of her aunts and three of her uncles crowded around her as her father, proud as ever, picked her up in his arms.
“Well, she did a wonderful job. And ah, you’re wearing the dress you picked out. Doesn’t she look lovely?”
He was practically showing her off, and a small part of her couldn’t help but get a little embarrassed as kids did in these situations. Not like she’d ever tell him that, though. She just giggled and accepted all of the kisses and cheek pinches and sweet compliments in Italian. That was, until, Caesar noticed all the glitter she hadn’t had a chance to wash off yet.
“Oh my goodness, look at your hands! You must’ve just finished helping Suzie with the tree, I’m guessing.” Shaking his head, he set her down in front of the sink, “I’ll let you help, but you got to wash your hands first. I don’t want glitter or glue in my cookies.”
“Sì, padre.” She mumbled as she went and twisted one of the knobs on the sink.
In the mean time, Caesar went about setting the dough out with a rolling pin, ignoring any tuts from his sister. He’d gone to culinary school after his ‘old job’, something none of them talked about in front of her, and specialized in baking. Suzie always joked that he wanted to make up for a time many years ago where he accidentally put salt instead of sugar into Messina’s birthday cake. Regardless, he was good at it, and took a lot of pride in his work.
Once she was done, she dried her hands off and trotted over to the counter where her padre was working, peering over it all. Cupcakes, brownies and all sorts of other sweets littered the whole island, and something in her little eight year old mind panged with a need to stuff her face with absolutely all of it. She knew she could never get away with something like that unless her other father helped, as he did sometimes, but she could daydream.
“Since this is the last bit, I’ll let you pick what shape they get to be, cucciola. We have… christmas trees, stars, angels and snowmen.” Caesar looked down at her as he worked, setting them all aside so she could see them. Idly, she pawed over them, staring at the little metal cut outs for awhile.
“Stars… and angels.”
“Stars and angels! Excellent choice.”
The work was repetitive. She would stamp the dough, and he’d put it nice and even onto the right tray. It took awhile, with how shaky her little hands were, but it was fun. The music and laughter that surrounded her was infectious, and even though she couldn’t understand some of it, she still got a lot of enjoyment out if it. She even found herself swaying, albeit not very on tempo, with the beat of the music coming from the radio.
“What do you think you’re doing, little lady?” Her father playfully chided her, smiling.
“I’m dancing!” She requited, bumping him with her hip, “Who’s singing, padre?”
“That’s Teddy Reno. He’s a popular singer in Italy right now.” Nodding, he very gently bumped her back, “Do you like his voice?”
“I think so.” She set her cookie cutter to the side, done with her row of stars, “What’s he singing about? He sounds sad.”
“He’s singing about being homesick for Italy.” Her uncle Guilio piped up from across the room, “The song is called ‘Trieste Mia’.”
“Oh…” She frowned, “Do you ever miss Italy, padre?”
“Sometimes, but it’s okay. I want to be wherever you, and your madre, and papa are. So here is just fine.” Brushing off his hand, he moved to rustle her hair, “Don’t worry about things like that. It’s Christmas, and you’re supposed to be happy.”
The song eventually faded into something happier, and the room filled with energy again. Her aunt took to teaching her more words in Italian, to which she gleefully repeated back to her. By then, they’d both finished the cookies and were cleaning up when Suzie came down the hallway, with one of Caesar’s cats in her arms and looking just a bit perturbed.
“Caesar, Ravioli keeps trying to eat the tinsel on the tree.” To punctuate, the Oriental Shorthair let out a meow, nudging her face, “I love him, but I’m going to have a heart attack if he doesn’t stop.”
“Ah, mia principessa, it’s alright-- Can you put him in our room? I can’t keep him in here, we have food.” He was trying to please her, but she just sighed, shifting the animal in her arms.
“I can try, but he can’t stay there for long. You know why.” She was being intentionally vague, glancing at Holly.
“Sì, sì. I’ll take care of all of it once I’m done in here. And by the way, you look absolutely stunning.” He knew when he could bat his eyelashes and get Suzie to stop being upset, and now was one of those times. He leaned over the counter at her, smiling and motioning for her to kiss him. She did so with an eyeroll, and his smile spread to her. Holly, naturally, scrunched up her face at this display.
“Mamma, padre, that’s yucky!” She groaned, covering her eyes.
“Yeah, that’s yucky, Caesar.” Her uncle added, kicking him. Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to poke the bear so-to-speak. Caesar just turned and chided him while Suzie ducked out into the living room.
Now that the cookies were cooking, and her uncle was instigating a small fight in the kitchen, Holly decided she should take her leave, following her mother out. It was now around five in the afternoon, and people were now starting to calm down for dinner in an hour. There were lots of people that Holly didn’t know, but her parent’s did, so she spent some time moving around the living room and introducing herself. She met some folks that her padre worked with, and some others that her papa worked with, who all seemed very nice. They told her little stories about the things her parents did for work, and that entertained her for awhile. But they also reminded her that strangely, her papa was missing from the whole event. She hadn’t seen him since that morning.
A little seed of worry set in as she sat there in the living room, the minutes ticking by until it was almost six o’clock. The third tradition she always had was building snowmen with her papa on Christmas eve, and normally they did that earlier in the day, but it had been lost in everything else. It was one of her favorite parts of the holiday season, but with her papa missing, there was hardly anything she could do. The table was being set in the dining room, and people were starting to move in anticipation for the meal. Frowning, she went and found her mother, who was helping move things out of the kitchen.
“Mamma--” She squeaked, tugging at her dress.
“What is it, darling? I’ve got my hands full here.” Suzie wasn’t annoyed at all, but she did seem a bit in a hurry.
“Do you know where papa is?”
“Oh, yes, he was going to the airport to pick up y--”
And, like clockwork, the front doors swung open, letting in a huge gust of cold air and snow with it. Summoning her father was, apparently, quite easy. Holly immediately turned on her heel and bolted for the living room, brushing past several people to see if her hunch was correct.
“Bloody hell, I never thought I’d get out of that snow bank.” Yes, that was absolutely her father’s voice.
Turning the corner into the foyer, she met eyes with him and immediately b-lined, jumping into his arms the same way she did with Messina earlier. Joseph was very used to this at that point, and easily hoisted her up, classic grin splayed on his face.
“Well, hello, ma’am. Who might you be?” He chirped, kissing her on the cheek.
“You know who I am, papa!” She giggled, hugging him around the neck, “I missed you!”
“Oh, darling, I missed you too.” Gently, he set her down so he could take off his hat and coat. Behind him, her uncle Speedwagon and Grandma Lisa were in the doorway, toting their luggage. Joseph quickly turned to motion them both in and grab their stuff, shutting the door once everything was inside.
“Hello little Ms. Holly, how are you doing today?” Speedwagon asked, kneeling down despite his knees’ protest.
“I’m doing good uncle Robert. I helped mamma with the tree, and I helped padre make cookies! Do you want me to take your bags upstairs?” She asked, bouncing on her feet.
He smiled, taking her hands in his and shaking his head, “No, no. It’s quite alright, dear. I’m just glad to see you.”
Beside him, her grandmother knelt down as well, taking her sunglasses off and putting them in her pocket. Speedwagon gave her a smile as well before rising to his feet and going about taking off his coat.
“Sorry we kept your father, sweetheart.” Lisa began.
“It’s okay, I was just a little worried. Last year, my friend Macy’s brother got lost in the snow and they couldn’t find him for a few days.” This appeared to weigh on her a bit, so Lisa nodded and put a hand on her shoulder.
“The snow gave us a bit of trouble, but we’re all here now, so don’t worry.” She put on a smile, encouraging her, “It’s Christmas eve, and it’s also dinner time from the smell of it, so no more frowning okay?”
“Yes ma’am.” Holly moved to hug her, before stepping back and staring up at her. There was something else she’d been meaning to ask, “Grandma, do you think I can play with your makeup this year?”
Lisa was getting up in her years, but she still never left the house in anything but full face. Holly always liked how she looked, and had always wanted to play with her big makeup bag that she toted with her. What she did with all of that was a mystery to her, and she wanted to find out all about it. At this, her grandmother crossed her arms.
“Oh, Holly.” She began, “You know you don’t have to wear makeup or anything right? I’ll let you have a look, but I hope no one is telling you you have to be all dolled up all the time. If someone is, I’ll have their butt on a platter.”
“No, no! I wanna learn! You look so nice, and the makeup smells good, and I wanna know how you do it!” Excited, she grabbed onto her dress, grinning up at her, “Please, grandma?”
“Alright, alright, dear.” She resigned, smiling at her sincerity, “We can do that tomorrow after everything is sorted.”
“Okay!” Tomorrow seemed to be getting better and better.
Turning, Holly went to go find where her papa was, happy to see him standing by the banister of the stairwell. She had a lot of questions about where he’d been, and what the airport was like, and how he got stuck in a snowbank, but he seemed to have something on his mind as he moved to step in front of her. That gave her pause.
“Just the girl I wanted to see! Can I talk to you about something, my darling?”
Holly just nodded, coming to stand in front of him. He towered over her, but then again, he towered over everyone it seemed.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about something, Holly. You’ve been such a good girl this year, and you’ve gotten such good grades, and even offered to carry your Uncle’s bags… I think that you deserve a present a day early.”
From the dining room, Caesar and Suzie both overheard and poked their heads out into the living room. Joseph had a certain look on his face, and the both of them knew exactly what that meant; He was going to pull something that he probably shouldn’t.
“Really!?” Holly’s face lit up, and it was too late.
“Yes ma’am. In fact, I know exactly which gift I’m going to give you. I’ll be right back.” And like that, he bolted up the stairs for their bedroom.
“Oh, Joseph! You promised that you’d wait until tomorrow to give that to her!” Suzie protested, trotting over to the stairwell beside her daughter with Caesar right behind her. He was still holding the damn Christmas Eve ham.
“Nope, I’m doing it right now!” His voice echoed, and now a few other people were peering out from the dining room, wondering what the commotion was all about.
Holly was blissfully unaware over what grand gift she was about to receive, but her little eight year old body could hardly hold the excitement regardless. A thousand different ideas as to what it could be dashed through her head like one horse open sleighs, and she found herself clinging to the banister while her other two parents fussed behind her. She remembered what her mother had mentioned over the counter earlier, and figured that it must be something that could bother any of their three cats, but that didn’t give her much of any clues. Caesar, quick as he could, ducked into the dining room to set the plate down and get his mitts off while Suzie tried to make room on the couch.
“Come sit down over here, sweetheart. Gosh, I wish he would’ve at least told me he planned on this.” Suzie chuffed, motioning for Holly to come sit. She did, still keeping her eyes riveted to the hallway upstairs. Everyone was now in the doorways, giving Caesar quite a wall to push through as he ran into the living room to stand beside his wife.
“Alright, here we are!” Joseph’s voice echoed from upstairs, and Holly was about ready to explode.
He came down with a large box in his arms that was covered by a blanket, obviously trying very hard to keep it steady. Whatever that could be, she still had no idea, but was overjoyed either way. Despite the fact that their whole plan was thrown aside, the energy little Holly was putting out started to effect her other parents as well, and they were both fighting back smiles as Joseph came and set the box down next to his daughter.
“Now, this gift was something we’ve been wanting for awhile, and I think you’ll like it quite a bit, darling. Go ahead and pull the blanket off when you’re ready.”
Holly was on it in an instant, and when she pulled off the blanket, she realized it wasn’t a box but, in fact, a cage. A cage that had a small tan and white puppy inside, all curled up on a little bed inside it.
Needless to say, she almost started crying, erupting in a bunch of oo’s and aw’s over the little life that was just put before her. The puppy immediately picked up on this energy and started to wiggle, pawing at the cage door. Caesar took this as his chance to step in and open it, while Joseph and Suzie watched on with shared joy, his arm wrapped around her nice and tight. Very gently, he reached in and grabbed the dog so he could set it in her lap.
“Padre, is it mine?!” She asked, hands shaking as she went and gently hugged the dog, much to it’s joy.
“Of course it is, darling.” Caesar smiled, stepping back, “That’s an Italian greyhound, and we picked him out just for you. You can name him anything you want.”
Holly turned and looked down at the dog in her lap. It had little folded ears, big brown eyes, and was incredibly soft when she went to pet him. It even yipped at her, to which she giggled and took her hand away for it to smell. She sat there for awhile, looking it over and playing with it’s paws and ears and getting viciously licked, before she looked over at her parents.
“I want his name to be Strawberry.” She nodded, hugging the dog close again.
“Strawberry! How come?” Joseph asked, tilting his head.
“I like strawberries!”
“Fair enough, he will be Strawberry!”
After that, things started to die down. Joseph had gone and let his own dog, a husky aptly named Joey, in from the backyard where he’d been playing for the past few hours. Holly insisted on eating her dinner with Strawberry in the living room, to which her parents gladly allowed, but only if they could eat with her and their new family member.
Holly had had many wonderful Christmases the past eight years, full of a lot of love and joy. But this one was especially nice so far. She knew her parents cared immensely, and though she was too young now to see the full scope of it, she’d understand in time. People would occasionally come over and talk to the four of them, petting Strawberry and complimenting the name. At one point, her fathers took to dancing to some fast paced song on the radio, leaning on each other and giggling. She could see her mother, smiling into her hand as she watched, and something in Holly’s heart lit up. She really did love her mamma, and her padre, and her papa. And they loved her too! That made her really happy.
“Papa--” She piped up, as her fathers separated and Joseph came over to clean up the coffee table they’d been eating at. Suzie gone and ducked into the dining room to clean up there as well, as people started to leave.
“Yes, my dear? Do you want another slice of pie?”
“No, I’m okay. I, um… I wanted to ask if maybe, tomorrow, we could go and build snowmen after we open gifts. We didn’t get to today…"
Joseph blinked, staring for a moment, before realization crashed over him.
“Oh, Holly, I’m so sorry that I forgot. Yes, absolutely. I’ll go out and we’ll build as many snowmen as you want.” He frowned, “Can you forgive me? I know our little routines mean a lot to you.”
“It’s okay, papa! I’m just glad you didn’t forget.” She smiled, and he smiled to as he leaned down to kiss her on the head.
“How could I ever?”