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Lio picked up one of their many boardgames and placed it in the middle of the kitchen table where his family was seated. Having a family game night had been Kipo's idea, as she and Song had bought a new Christmas-themed boardgame on their way home from grocery shopping. Kipo had been so excited to try it, and Lio didn't have the strength to say no.
The game was simple: They had to use a dice and jump on the ornaments that created a road towards the Santa statue at the end of the board. The ornaments were colored in green, white and red. If they landed on a red ornament, they had to start all over again. The green and yellow ornaments were safe, but if they landed on yellow three times in a row, they also had to start over. The Oak's had their own little statues, like a snowglobe or a reindeer, that they would use to get to their goal. Wolf had suggested that whoever won would get candy, but really she had suggested it for herself, as she kept glancing at the chocolate bar mixed with a bunch of other candies.
Lio got to start the game. He placed out his little present statue on the board, rolling the die and watching it land on a five. He moved five steps ahead, landing on a green ornament, which meant that he was safe. He handed the die over to his wife, who rolled it and sighed when it only landed on a three. Lio giggled at her in a teasing manner, glad to be leading.
"Just wait until you land on a red ornament!" Song warned with a grin before handing Kipo the die.
Kipo stuck her tongue out in concentration before she rolled the die, closing her eyes to beg for a six. She had spent her entire childhood playing boardgames. It was one of her favorite things to do. She opened her eyes and cheered when the die landed on a six, just as she had hoped. Lio whispered 'dang it' under his breath, not being able to do anything as Kipo's gingerbread man moved past his statue and took the spot in front of him. Kipo looked at her father and stuck her tongue out at him, watching him pout just like she used to do when she was little.
Kipo rolled her eyes at him before giving the die to Wolf. Wolf rolled the die and groaned when it landed on a one. She had hoped to get six just like Kipo so she could be in the lead. She really wanted a chocolate bar. She gave the die to Benson with a sigh, watching him roll a five.
"Hey, Benson? Wanna switch?" Wolf asked but Benson just rolled his eyes at her and gave the die to Dave. "Not fair."
Dave moved to roll the die, but accidentally threw it across the table, causing it to hit all of the statues and throwing them off balance. As the die landed on the ground, he looked up at his family only to be met with their angry faces.
"DAVE!" they shouted and he chuckled nervously, climbing underneath the table to grab the die.
His family went to put their statues back in their original spots. Wolf tried to sneak her statue to the spot in front of Kipo, but Lio saw her just in time and forced her to put it back at the first spot - much to Wolf's disapproval. Dave got to roll his die again, and it landed on a four. Wolf grumbled under her breath as he skipped her. The game had only just started and she was already last.
Mandu couldn't join the game, as she didn't have any hands. Instead, the blue pig settled on Wolf's lap to watch the game with enthusiastic eyes. The family kept rolling the die, moving forward. They also moved backward several times each, but it just made the game even more fun. In the end, Kipo was the one to make it to Santa first.
She cheered happily, doing a little dance in front of the family as they watched her with jokeful disappointment. Kipo grabbed her well-achieved candy, deciding to share some of it with her family since they had worked so hard for the prize. Wolf got a small piece of the chocolate bar that she wanted, and she decided to eat it slowly to not waste it. Dave tried to eat his sour gummies, but dropped them on the floor where Mandu immediately snatched them up. He ended up fighting her for his share of the candy.
Kipo picked out a new game for them too play, and the Oak family settled down around the kitchen table once again to play. They would never get tired of each other, especially not when they had candy to fight for.