The Different Christmas

     "Fantasia, where did you put the wrapping paper?!" exclaimed Luna, a mischievous yellow Ixi, who was running around the living room frantically.

     "I thought Flowrey had it!" Fantasia yelled back from her bedroom. The pretty thirteen-year-old-girl was scribbling a little note on the Christmas card that she was going to give to Dane.

     "Nu-uh!" shouted Flowrey, a small rainbow Acara, from the kitchen. "Dane took it away from me!"

     "I think it's under the couch!" said Dane, who was searching in his closet for the present that he had hid there, which was for Flowrey.

     Luna heaved a sigh, and knelt down. Two rolls of gleaming red and green wrapping paper lied still underneath the dark couch.

     "I wonder how this got down here," the yellow Ixi whispered, rolling her eyes.

     She pulled the wrapping paper out, and cleanly ripped some of it off to wrap around her Neopian Times Usuki Set that was meant for Fantasia.

     Luna was the one in the family who was the most excited and enthusiastic for Christmas to arrive. While the others were cheerful about it and were excited as well, the only thing that Luna could think about was Christmas day. Never did she feel happier on any other day then that.

     With her tongue slightly poking out of her mouth, Luna expertly completed the final wrapping on her gifts that she had purchased for the family. She was sure that they would all adore them. Especially Fantasia, who was fanatically obsessed with the Neopian Times (her young owner would find an amazingly rare Neopian Times Coin under the tree on that snowy morning). Luna had even bought a Mootix for Midnight, the family's Weewoo, which had taken her over five months to save up for. She had told no one about it, not even her friends, just so that no one would let it slip.

     Finally, Luna piled up all of her gifts in her arms, dashed to her room so that no one could see them, placed them all under her bed, shut the door, and then jumped on her bed, sighing.

     "Ah, at last I can sleep," the young Ixi yawned, stretching out her arms.

     After hours of running around, trying to make everything perfect for Christmas, Luna certainly did deserve some time to rest. And anyways, the sun was already beginning to set. So, instead of staying up all the way to midnight, and having Fantasia force her to bed, Luna decided to sleep a bit early this time, just to feel energized for tomorrow morning.

     "Hope you like my cookies, Santa Dork," Luna whispered. And soon, the yellow Ixi fell into a dreaming slumber.

     **************

     Rays of sunlight streamed through Luna's window during the early sunrise on the morning of Christmas day. Luna's body shook for a moment and her eyes suddenly fluttered open. She breathed softly and looked around.

     What day is it today? she thought to herself. Today is…OH MY GOSH, TODAY'S CHRISTMAS!

     "AAAAHH, TODAY'S CHRISTMAS!" shrieked Luna, instantly awakening the entire household. "IT'S HERE! IT'S FINALLY COME! CHRISTMAS IS TODAY!"

     Luna bounded off of her bed and raced down the hallway, continually screaming like a mad-Ixi. "OH WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY CHRISTMAS IS! WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY IT CERTAINLY I-"

     Luna suddenly screeched to a halt. Right when she had entered the living room, something felt terrifyingly different. Were the cookies still there? No. Were the presents there? Yes. Were the presents under the tree? No. Wait, where was the tree?

     "HOLY…MOTHER..OF…COLTZAN. THE TREE! IT'S DISAPPEARED!" screeched Luna, her eyes widening in horror. "CHRISTMAS IS RUINED! THE TREE IS GONE!"

     Fantasia suddenly ran in the living room, panting heavily. She looked groggy with her messy hair and a pair of rather unattractive dark circles beneath her eyes.

     "Oh gosh, what is it, Luna? You scared me so much?" she asked wearily.

     Tears rapidly began welling up in Luna's eyes. "T-t-the tree," she stammered, whimpering. "N-n-n-nothing's t-t-there."

     Fantasia cocked her head to where the tree was usually located. She gasped and suddenly fell to the ground in shock.

     "Oh no…oh no, I am the most stupid idiot in the entire universe!" cried Fantasia. "I FORGOT TO GET A CHRISTMAS TREE THIS YEAR!"

     "You WHAT?!" Flowrey and Dane yelled in unison, perceiving the comment just as they had entered the living room.

     Fantasia dug her face in between her knees. "I can't believe I did this! I'm such a huge idiot! You guys are probably furious at me right now."

     Her pets all exchanged glances of sympathy but sadness as well. Luna walked towards Fantasia and titled her owner's head up. Fantasia's cheeks were now dampened with tears of frustration and unhappiness.

     "It's all right Fantasia," she whispered, attempting to make a smile, but bitterly failing. "We can get a tree today. Everything will be fine." But this was far from the truth. Luna already felt like she had lost all hope now, for that usual wondrous feeling of finding the presents below the beautifully decorated tree had now drifted away like a wisp of smoke.

     Fantasia sat still for a moment. The silence that remained in the room felt rather awkward, especially on what was supposed to be such a joyful day like this. The thirteen-year-old girl suddenly bobbed her head up and down, sniffing.

     "You're right," she said. "You're totally right. I can run off now and go to the Shop Wizard w-where I'll easily find a Christmas tree."

     Everyone nodded, their hopes of having a happy Christmas after all gradually rising, except for Luna.

     "Okay, I'll go quickly get my shower and you guys can start preparing the Christmas supper while I'm gone," explained Fantasia. "We'll open our presents later on tonight. I'll be…something different. Yes, it'll be the different Christmas. Everyone got it?"

     Dane, Luna, and Flowrey all muttered yes and scuttled to the kitchen. Fantasia, however, didn't go to the shower like she had promised. She didn't want her pets to know that she was going to be going out with such a dirty appearance, which is why she had….fibbed, as she liked to call it. Grabbing her coat, Fantasia opened the front door and made her way outside, where even more snowflakes were falling freely from the sky.

     "This is going to be the best Christmas that we'll ever have," whispered Fantasia to herself, zipping up her jacket. "I'm going to make sure of that."

     **************

     What Fantasia had said to herself a few hours ago ended up being a lie. A big, fat, white lie. Not only had the young girl not been able to find any trees at the Shop Wizard since they were all sold out, but she couldn't even cut down a tree from the forest since all of them were either very ugly or were on the property of someone else's.

     Fantasia trudged up her snowy driveway in despair, not wanting to imagine the expression on her pets faces when they found out that she hadn't been able to get a tree.

     "An owner shouldn't have to disappoint her pets like this on Christmas day," Fantasia whispered miserably to herself, upon entering her house.

     "Fantasia's here!" Luna exclaimed delightfully from the kitchen, once hearing the door slam. "Let's go see the tree! I bet she got us a huge one!"

     Fantasia groaned, feeling as if her stomach were being tied up in painful knots. When Luna raced at the front door, Fantasia immediately noticed her expression promptly change from excited to horribly heart-broken.

     "The tree, where is it?" the yellow Ixi whispered, tears already forming in her eyes. Luna wasn't one to usually cry, but when things went wrong on her favorite day of the entire year, she couldn't control her emotions.

     Fantasia's head jerked down to the carpet, not wanting to see those grief-stricken eyes. "I didn't get one," she whispered in an almost inaudible tone.

     Luna stood there in shock for a brief moment and then suddenly burst into tears. She pushed through Flowrey and Dan, and ran all the way to her room. The bang of her door rang all throughout the house.

     "I've broken her heart, haven't I?" asked Fantasia, crying softly.

     Dane half-smiled, and walked up to his depressed owner. "She'll get over it," the Lupe whispered. "With lots of therapy, that is."

     "Dane!" Flowrey exclaimed. "Don't make her feel worse then she already is!" The Acara pushed her obnoxious brother back and stared up at Fantasia. "It's all right," she said. "We can still have Christmas without a tree."

     Fantasia sniffed and sighed. Her eyes were now slightly red and puffy. "I guess it's the only option," she whispered. "But I don't know how Luna is going to be able to come downstairs now to open gifts and eat the Christmas supper."

     "I'll convince her to," said Flowrey, patting Fantasia's back.

     Suddenly, there was an abnormally loud knock at the door and the thud of a large object being dropped as well.

     The trio all exchanged glances of curiosity. Flowrey stepped forward towards the door and twisted the doorknob, allowing the door to slowly open.

     A small bird suddenly burst inside, tweeting madly. It was also screeching WOOOOOOOOOOOOO! repeatedly.

     "It's Midnight!" gasped Dane, pointing at the Weewoo.

     "How did he get outside?" asked Fantasia, startled. "More importantly, why is he acting crazy?"

     A red Chia suddenly appeared at the front entrance as well, with a beautiful, pine-green Christmas tree in his two arms. "This is the Fantasia residence, I presume?" the Chia croaked. He seemed a bit aged, with his warm yet wrinkly features and old-style hat and mittens.

     Fantasia slowly nodded, cautiously stepping forward.

     "Well, your Weewoo has been bothering me since last night about this tree," the Chia laughed. "I wouldn't accept his offer of five-thousand Neopoints at first, but when he wrote down his story to me, which took a mighty long amount of four hours, well, I couldn't reject."

     Everyone's eyes widened in surprise and joy. "You mean Midnight actually bought that Christmas tree?" Fantasia cried in utter surprise. "T-that…what?!"

     The Chia replied, "Yep! Last one we had in stock. Mighty smart and persistent Weewoo you've got there, ma'am."

     Fantasia suddenly broke into tears and grabbed hold of her flying Weewoo. She hugged him as tightly as she could. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she whispered. "You've saved our Christmas."

     Midnight's smiling expression radiated the entire room.

     "Well," the Chia suddenly said, "I'd be best off and leave your family alone. Merry Christmas ma'am."

     Just before he was about to depart from the house, Fantasia stopped him in his tracks. "Wait!" she yelled.

     The Chia slowly turned. "Yes?"

     "D-do you have a place to stay for Christmas?"

     The Chia did nothing for a brief moment and then shook his head. "No, I unfortunately don't," he replied, a very subtle sadness creeping in his voice.

     Fantasia grinned. "Then I'd be really glad to let you stay with us for the day! Especially for having done what you did."

     At that moment, the Chia seemed like the happiest pet in the world. "R-really? Oh, thank you so much, ma'am! That means the world to me!" he exclaimed joyfully.

     Fantasia walked up to him. "No, thank you," she whispered. "This really means so much to me. I can't wait until my little yellow Ixi finds about this."

     The old Chia smiled. "That's what Christmas is all about, ma'am. That's what it's all about."

The End

Thanks for reading my story! Comments are very appreciated! :)