The holiday spirit was alive and well in the hotel, and Charlie was practically glowing as she admired the trays of cookies she and Vaggie had just pulled out of the oven. The air was thick with the sweet smell of sugar, chocolate, and spices, drawing everyone out of their corners of chaos and into the lobby.

"Alright, everyone!" Charlie exclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly. "We've got a special activity tonight!"

"A bake-off?" Blitzø quipped, popping up from behind the couch with flour already smeared on his cheek.

"Close!" Vaggie said, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "It's a cookie-decorating contest! Each pair gets one cookie to decorate however they like. When you're done, we'll vote for the best design!"

"Pairs?" Francis raised an eyebrow, eyeing the room. "What if we're stuck with someone terrible at art?"

"Well, you're just going to have to deal with it!" Charlie said with a grin, pointing out the pairs she had already set up. Everyone started looking at their decorating stations, excited to get started.

Charlie and Vaggie wasted no time in getting to work. They carefully set to decorating their cookie, which was shaped like a perfect little bow. Charlie piped the outline while Vaggie took charge of filling it in, adding delicate touches of icing to make it shine. They worked in perfect harmony, their cookie looking elegant and flawless.

Meanwhile, Niffty, who was decorating on her own, tackled a very unique design: a cookie shaped like a roach. She was absolutely delighted with the result, proudly holding it up for everyone to see. The little roach was covered in chocolate sprinkles for legs, its beady eyes gleaming with sugary pride. "Isn't he adorable?" Niffty chirped, practically bouncing on her heels.

Azrael and Valerie, paired together, took a bold approach. They decided to make a spear. Azrael outlined it in dark, bold icing, while Valerie filled in the handle with intricate swirls of red. Their cookie was sharp and dramatic, just like their personalities, and it caught the eye of everyone nearby.

Cloud and Alastor's cookie creation was a little more whimsical. They decided to make a radio, with Alastor adding the tiniest details for the knobs and buttons, while Cloud insisted on using sparkly icing to create a shiny antenna. Their radio was a masterpiece of both elegance and fun, a real showstopper.

Lucifer and I were, admittedly, a little less sure of our design at first. But as soon as I mentioned the idea, he lit up. "What if we make a duck?" he suggested with a playful smirk. "But give it a hat?" Together, we crafted a goofy little duck with a tiny green top hat perched on its head. It was quirky and cute, just like the two of us.

Vox and Angel worked together on a TV-shaped cookie. Vox carefully piped the screen, while Angel—of course—went overboard, adding a pattern of static-like sprinkles across the entire cookie. It looked just like an old, vintage TV, and though it was a bit chaotic, it had charm.

Francis and Cherri decided to go big and bold with a bomb-shaped cookie. With black icing and a fiery candy flame on top, their design was dramatic, loud, and immediately eye-catching. The whole room couldn't help but laugh as they admired the "explosive" creation.

Stolas and Blitzø, meanwhile, took a more whimsical approach. They decorated a horse cookie, with Stolas adding glittery details to the mane and Blitzø focusing on the horse's legs. "It's a horse, right?" Blitzø asked, squinting at it as if doubting his own creation. Stolas just laughed and added even more sparkle. "Close enough," he said, his laughter infectious.

Finally, Christine and Velvette's heart-shaped cookie was the picture of romance. They worked together to make it a perfect, intricate design, outlining the heart in delicate pink and red icing and finishing it with golden swirls. "It's so cute!" Christine exclaimed, adding some final flourishes to make it shine.

Once everyone had finished their creations, we gathered around the table where the cookies were displayed for all to see. Charlie, clipboard in hand, stood ready to start the voting. "Alright, everyone! Time to vote! You can't vote for your own cookie, though," she added, pointing to each of us as she spoke.

The votes were cast, and as the room grew tense with anticipation, Charlie tallied them up, her eyes gleaming with excitement. She finally stood up, raising her hand for dramatic effect. "And the winner is..." she paused, milking the moment for all it was worth, "Lucifer and Aly with their Duck in a Hat!"

The room erupted into laughter and applause, and Lucifer leaned back in his seat with a wide grin. "What can I say?" he said, looking around at the group. "We're a winning team." His smugness, however, was paired with a sense of genuine surprise, like even he didn't expect our silly little duck to be such a hit.

Angel, crossing his arms with a playful scowl, muttered, "Yeah, yeah, lucky duck." He shot a glance at me and smirked. "Next year, I'm making a duck with two hats."

We all laughed, the friendly banter flowing freely as we gathered around to taste our creations. The room was filled with laughter and the sounds of people sharing cookies, all smiles and crumbs everywhere.

Though the night had been filled with chaos and chaos alone, it was moments like these—surrounded by friends, laughter, and cookies—that truly made it feel like Christmas.