ᎾN ᎢᎻᎬ ᏚᏆXᎢᎻ ᎠᎪY ᎾF ᏟᎻᎡᏆᏚᎢᎷᎪᏚ YᎾᏌᎡ ᎪᏌᎢᎻᎾᎡ ᏚᎪYᏚ ᎢᎾ YᎾᏌ... Ꮖ ᏔᏆᏚᎻ YᎾᏌ Ꭺ ᎷᎬᎡᎡY ᏟᎻᎡᏆᏚᎢᎷᎪᏚ!

***

"Wake up! Wake up!" Sniper exclaimed. "It's Christmas!"

Race groaned and rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head. "It's too early for this." His voice came out muffled, but Sniper could still understand him.

The boy in question chose to ignore Race and continued trying to wake up the older boys. "C'mon Buttons! Get outta bed!"

"Let me sleep!" Buttons exclaimed.

When Sniper tried to wake up Elmer, the boy didn't even move. He was dead to the world.

Sniper huffed and leaned against the wall, then slowly sunk to the floor to begin the wait for the others to wake up.

He didn't have to wait long, he seemed to have woken Jack and all the boys listened to Jack.

Jack rubbed his eyes, then slowly sat up and jumped down from his bunk. "Let's get up, boys."

"What?" Mike complained.

Jack stretched his arms and yawned before pulling a shirt on over his undershirt. "Get up. It's time to celebrate."

He was met with several protests but nearly all of the boys got out of bed, even if some of them were moving slower than slugs in molasses.

A few didn't, Albert being one of them. He was left alone until the last minute. He was grumpy most of the time and it wouldn't hurt to give him an extra twenty minutes of sleep.

After everyone was cleaned up and dressed it was decided that breakfast next would be the best plan. The boys treated themselves to breakfast at Jacobi's that day. Hot oatmeal along with coffee, all of them agreed that despite the rough start, it was turning out to be a pretty great Christmas.

"Boys, hurry up," Jacobi warned. "Soon I'll have paying customers! Shoo!"

"We heard ya the first time!" Finch rolled his eyes.

"Ya can't give us a break on Christmas?" Race complained.

"Customers don't stop coming just because it's a holiday!" Jacobi warned.

Henry's eyes widened and he tried to finish his oatmeal before they were kicked out. He'd been trying to savor it, he'd even added honey and cinnamon to it! Henry had been taking his time, enjoying every bite, and now he was shoveling spoonfuls of the oatmeal into his mouth.

The sounds of spoons scraping the sides of bowls filled the room as the boys tried to get every last bit of the oatmeal they could before heading back out into the cold.

It was almost sad, the way that warm oatmeal could have such an effect on them. Anyone else would have felt pity, but the boys counted themselves lucky. They had food, clothes, and each other. What else was needed? A positive outlook on life was half of what made it worth living.

And so the boys finished their meal and thanked Mr. Jacobi, he was kind enough to put up with all the trouble they gave him. Then they headed out into the streets to find a way to fill their day.

"I say we go see Miss Medda!" Crutchie suggested. "I'm sure they're doin' something to celebrate!"

"Nah," Finch shook his head. "We can Miss Medda anytime we want. I think we should go skating at Central Park! There's only a couple months 'til it melts. Besides, usually we're too busy and the lake is crowded. Today it'll be empty and we can stay as long as we'd like!"

"It's so cold!" Romeo whined.

"Walking will help you warm up," Elmer said.

"I don't want to walk! I wanna relax!" Romeo exclaimed. "Can't we go to the lodge and be warm and play cards or somethin'?"

"But today's Christmas!" Ike argued. "Why would we do what we always do?"

"'Cause it's fun," Romeo stated. "There's a reason we always do it!"

"Yeah," Race grinned. "'Cause we ain't got nothing else to do!"

Romeo groaned. "Everyone here likes cards and not freezing to death."

"Can't argue with that," Specs shrugged.

Romeo had been right, an uncommon occurrence for him. The boys did enjoy themselves after getting over their initial bitter feelings from their idea not being chosen. The morning passed in a blur and before they knew it, afternoon was fading into evening.

"Now listen up, everybody!" Romeo ordered. He climbed on top of his chair to make sure all the boys at the table could hear him, then continued. "I have some great advice for you, and you'd all do well to remember it!"

"Get on with it!" Henry groaned after a moment of silence.

"I was tryin' to make it more exciting!" Romeo pouted.

"Just give us your life-changing advice, O Great One," Elmer mocked.

"My advice to you is to become fabulously! Get so much money that you don't know what to do with it! Be so rich that you've got no choice but to spend money on dumb things, like a mansion with a hundred rooms you'll never use, just so you don't drown in all of the money you have!"

"That's the Christmas spirit!" Race said, rolling his eyes. "Ain't today supposed to be about family and friends and love and all that mushy stuff?"

"Probably. Doesn't mean I don't wanna be rich. Just think! If I had money I could've gotten you all a present!"

"I don't want anything from you," Henry said warily.

Romeo scowled at him, then shrugged it off. "I know, my presence is enough. That's real kind of you Henry."

Crutchie, who was seated next to Jack, grinned when he heard the discussion. Finally the time had come for him to bring his gift! He'd been waiting for the perfect moment and this was as good of a sign as he would get.

"I gotta go upstairs real quick," Crutchie said, excusing himself.

"You okay?" Jack asked, eyebrows furrowed with concern.

"Yeah! I just have to do somethin'!"

Crutchie moved excitedly toward his bunk and lifted up the mattress to reveal the box.

The wood was shiny and smooth, a rich brown color. The golden lettering on the front shone brightly, even in the dim light. Crutchie picked it up carefully, half afraid that he'd drop it and ruin the gift before it was given away. He could feel his stomach drop at just the thought of the wood splintering.

He made it to the bottom of the stairs and over to Jack without incident and let out a breath of relief as he set the box in front of Jack.

"Merry Christmas, Jack!"

"Crutch, what is this?" Jack motioned to the box.

"It's a gift for you!"

Jack stared at the box, unsure of what to do.

"It's yours! You can touch it."

That was enough for Jack. He slowly reached forward and ran his hands over the polished wood. His fingers traced over the beautiful letters and q smile grew on his face.

"This is real nice. Thanks!"

"You haven't even opened it yet!"

"There's more?"

Crutchie nodded, his excitement growing. The boys had gathered around after noticing the present, and they watched with interest too.

Jack's hand moved to the latch that was holding the box shut. He opened it with ease, then lifted the lid of the box up. Jack's breath caught in his throats when he saw what was inside.

"Crutch... You didn't have to do this."

Crutchie grinned as Jack's eyes drank in the sight of all the pencils and sketchbook paper. "I wanted to. Jack, look! See that box? Open it!"

Jack pulled out another, smaller box. He opened it carefully, his face lighting up at its contents. "Are these?"

"Pastels," Crutchie confirmed. "Least that's what the box says! I figure you could try somethin' new!"

Elmer let out a whistle as he scanned the supplies. "Merry Christmas to you!"

Jack set the box down and wrapped his arms around Crutchie. "Thank you so much! I can't believe you did this! It must've been so expensive!"

Crutchie shrugged, though it had been very costly. On the table was several dollars worth of art supplies. Still, Crutchie saw it as several dollars well spent. He'd been saving the money for two and a half years, he'd planned for it.

"This is too much, Crutchie! I don't think I can accept this!" Jack couldn't help but feel guilty. Even the box looked costly.

"You don't have a choice!" Crutchie grinned. "You can't refuse a Christmas present!"

"You remember that next year," Jack warned, giving Crutchie another hug. "Thanks, it's perfect."

"Merry Christmas Jack!" Crutchie said again, beaming as he hugged Jack back.

"Merry Christmas Crutch."

***

Again, I have no excuses. I'm lazy and binge watched Say Yes To the Dress.
Although technically, the 12 days start on Christmas and end on Jan. 5th, so as long as I finish by Friday I'm good. I've got most of the others at least half-written, so that looks do-able.
Happy New Years!