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“Who wants to help me put up the tree?” Schniel walks into the living room, a tacky Santa hat sitting on his head.
“What tree?” Eliza asks, looking up from her seat on the couch. Pippi is in her lap, looking as innocent as ever.
“A Christmas tree!” he exclaims, holding his arms out for emphasis. Everyone else looks at him blankly.
“I’m an atheist,” Ervalen deadpans and turns back to his laptop.
“Don’t you have a company to run?” Romann points out.
Schniel frowns. “Come on guys, this would be a great family bonding activity!”
“But none of us are related to you except Ervalen…” Tywin awkwardly adds from where he’s sitting next to Romann.
Schniel puts his hands together. “Please? It’ll be fun!!”
Romann sighs and Ervalen throws an annoying fit, but eventually, everyone agrees and they help Schniel put together a plastic tree.
Tywin drags the finished tree over and they place it near the corner of the room, eye-catching but still out of the way.
Eliza and Ervalen get into a fight over ornaments, Tywin and Romann argue for tinsel or lights, and all five of them debate over who gets to place the star on the top of the tree. To everyone’s dismay, Pippi ends up attaching the star in the middle of their argument.
In the end, they all step back to look at the tree. It clashes a bit, with different sections of the tree decorated by different people and different styles. Broken lights and ornaments surround the tree from their earlier disagreements.
Even so, Schniel can’t help but grin.
Lefundos hasn’t had a snow day for nearly 10 years. Luckily, this is the year that record broke.
Years ago, back when Schniel was just a kid, he ran into Romann and Tywin in the park on a snowy day. They clicked instantly and played in the snow together for the rest of the day. He and Tywin had met Eliza the day after and Romann introduced them, and the four of them met Ervalen a few years later.
Today, Schniel was going to get them all out in the snow again. He tells Romann, Tywin, Ervalen, and Eliza to bundle up and pushes them all outside into the front yard.
At first, it's not very fun. Ervalen stands on the patio, refusing to get in the snow. Romann and Tywin get distracted with clearing the snow off the driveway, and Eliza ends up being the only one having fun as she and Pippi begin to build a snowman.
And then Tywin shovels a little too hard and a piece of snow hits Ervalen in the face. It only escalates from there.
It turns into a full-blown snowball fight, Ervalen and Schniel on one side, and Romann and Tywin on the other. Schniel starts building a wall to hide behind, laughing as snowballs fly at him. Romann and Tywin are outwardly smirking, their teamwork impeccable. Even Ervalen is fighting a smile as he aims at the other team, ducking behind Schniel’s wall.
Eliza and Pippi start making snow angels in the background as snowballs continue to fly over them.
After, the group goes back inside to dry off, and they sit by the fireplace with hot chocolate. Ervalen tells stories about annoying employees in Schniel’s company and they laugh over workplace incidents.
Schniel wishes he could live in this moment forever.
Schniel had never been good at baking. But Eliza wants to try it, so he drags invites the rest of the gang too, and turns it into a bonding activity.
Tywin ends up having a secret talent for baking. He carefully leads Eliza through making cake batter, and Ervalen and Romann find a cookbook and follow the steps well enough to start baking sugar cookies.
Schniel tries to mix some frosting. It somehow lights on fire, and they have to stop baking for a while to put it out. He’s kicked out of the kitchen.
For a second Schniel’s worried. But he focuses on the words coming from the others, instead of just hearing voices.
“Pass over the blue food dye!” Eliza.
“My hands are getting tired, you mix this.” Ervalen.
“I think we can take the cookies out of the oven now.” Romann.
“Is this enough frosting?” Tywin.
Soon, the sweet smell of freshly baked desserts reaches Schniel and he peeks into the kitchen to see Eliza and Tywin frosting a multi-layered cake, alternating between blue and white. Next to them, Ervalen and Romann decorate a pan of sugar cookies, a rainbow of different colored icing laid out.
Eventually, the four get carried away and start baking an assortment of other baked goods. It gets competitive, and they bring Schniel back into the kitchen to judge a mini-baking contest.
Schniel doesn’t end up picking a winner (but he does notice Ervalen’s dish is the only one without an excessive amount of sugar).
Surprisingly, Schniel has never gotten his driver’s license. Tywin drives them instead, leaving Schniel in the front seat (and in charge of the music).
They were originally going to head straight for the mall, but Romann had mentioned that a skating rink was opening up nearby and they decided to go.
Schniel takes out his phone and connects it to the car speakers, shuffling a bunch of Christmas songs. At first, he’s the only one who sings, everyone else groaning good naturally, but Eliza joins in when she hears Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” and Romann caves at “Twelve Days of Christmas.”
They even manage to drag Ervalen in when “Last Christmas,” comes on. Music continues to play, switching from classics to newer pop songs, Tywin humming along. (Unfortunately, it’s hard to devote your attention to singing when you’re trying not to crash a car.)
When they run out of Christmas songs, they continue singing random songs that play. It’s out of pitch, and really, only Eliza sounds good, but Schniel’s having the time of his life.
Judging by everyone’s smiles, he’s not the only one.
When the car stops in the parking lot of the skating rink, the group climbs out of the car laughing.
Schniel feels like he’ll never stop smiling.
Luckily for them, Schniel is rich and prepared, so none of them have to rent out ice skates. Straight away, Ervalen and Eliza hit the ice, making spins and jumps and trying to outskate each other.
Meanwhile, Tywin and Romann are new to skating, sticking to the edge and holding onto the railings as they inch around the rink. Schniel follows them and tries to lead them best as he can.
A few laps around, and Ervalen and Eliza skate over to the three. Ervalen has a smug smile on his face; obviously, he won their competition.
“Here to lend them a hand?” Schniel asks, gesturing to Romann and Tywin, still too afraid to let go of the wall. Ervalen grumbles out some sort of denial, before grabbing Tywin’s hands and dragging him out to the middle of the rink. Eliza giggles and does the same with Romann, and Schniel skates around the two groups as he watches them learn.
Ervalen is a surprisingly good teacher, and with Tywin following earnestly, he learns fast. Eliza has an easier time teaching because Romann knows a few basics.
After an hour, Schniel deems them all skilled enough to play a two-on-two hockey game. They end up having to borrow equipment from the rink. He referees and they finally end the game when both teams are tied and equally tired.
Schniel finds he had just as much fun as the rest of them did, even though he never actually played.
+1
On Christmas Day, Schniel sleeps in. Or at least, he tries to. With his family’s low enthusiasm for Christmas, he expects none of them to care.
Instead, Ervalen wakes him up at seven in the morning to drag him down to the living room and in front of the Christmas tree.
Tywin, Romann, and Eliza are already there, waiting for him, and when Schniel looks under the tree, he sees more presents other than the ones he put there.
“What’s going on?” Schniel asks, sitting in front of them. Ervalen moves to sit next to them. One by one, they all go to the tree. Each of them takes something out from under it.
“It’s thanks to you I’m the person I am today,“ Romann starts, giving Schniel a decorated gift bag.
“I’m really glad we met,” Eliza smiles, pushing a small box into Schniel’s hand.
“Thank you for everything you’ve given me,” Tywin declares next, handing Schniel his gift.
“Don’t misunderstand this, I just had some extra time. That’s all,“ Ervalen states, and quickly places a wrapped gift box in Schniel’s lap.
“Merry Christmas,” they say together, and Eliza jumps onto Schniel for a hug. Romann and Tywin join after, and when the four send him a smile, Ervalen hesitantly joins in too.
Warmth sinks into his skin, and Schniel finds he’s never felt happier than he does now.