Who is Julie McDuck?!

First Christmas

Scrooge felt a slight tug on his coat and looked up from his newspaper. Julie was using the edge of his coat for balance to stand. However, as she attempted to get to her feet, she fell backwards onto her bottom. 

Instead of crying, though, the baby girl just giggled and tried again, this time using the couch to support her.

Scrooge smiled, amazed by his great-niece's determination at such a young age as Julie managed to pull herself onto the couch next to him to which her uncle picked her up and sat her on his lap.

She was definitely a McDuck. 

Donald was out in the yard putting up Christmas decorations and he didn't know where Della was. Just as that question entered his mind, Scrooge saw his niece come into the TV room with a box full of bear traps. Fear spiked through him when she began to set them out.

"Uh, lass, what're ya doin'?" 

"Setting out the traps for Santa, duh," Della answered, prying one of them open.

Scrooge looked down at Julie, and then back at Della. "Um, Della? How about ye set the traps up outside? Yer cousin's crawling and I-"

"Oh, yeah!" Della said, putting the traps back into the box before walking over to Scrooge and sitting down next to him. "It's her first Christmas, isn't it?" she cooed, rubbing her baby cousin's cheek with her thumb.

Julie giggled and grabbed Della's finger. 

Suddenly, the doorbell rang and Scrooge walked over to answer it with Julie on his hip. When he opened the door, he saw Gladstone and Fethry standing there.

"Merry Christmas, Uncle Scrooge!" Fethry said, slamming Scrooge into a hug. Julie made her presence known with a loud whine, and he stepped back to see the tiny duckling his uncle was carrying.

Gladstone was flabbergasted and Fethry's eyes widened. Scrooge chuckled as he brought the little girl into his arms so she could see her family.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, Matilda left her granddaughter with me a few months ago. Her name's Julianna, but I call her Julie," Scrooge explained.

"Sam's kid..." Gladstone muttered under his breath, gazing in wonder at the little girl in his uncle's arms. 

Fethry knelt down to his baby cousin's level and Julie cocked her head at him. "Hi there, Lil' Della!" he greeted cheerfully. Julie's confusion quickly turned into fascination, and she pulled at the brim of his hat.

Gladstone hesitantly walked up to his uncle and eyed his newfound niece. Scrooge smiled at his nephew.

"Do ye want to hold her?" he asked. 

"S-sure," Gladstone stammered, taking Julie in his arms. She gazed up at her uncle with big eyes but then her eyes drifted to the side and she pointed to the left. 

"Donal'!" she cheered, still holding onto her uncle as her first-cousin walked in. Unfortunately, Donald didn't seem that happy to see Gladstone and was low-key glaring at him.

"Hey, sweetheart," he said, tussling the duckling's short hair before turning to Gladstone. "What're you doing here?"

"Just came to say Merry Christmas, that's all," Gladstone replied, somewhat shocked that his cousin had asked.

"Okay, and now you have. Goodbye!" Donald quipped, taking Julie from Gladstone's hold and holding her close as he pushed Gladstone towards the door.

"Donald," Scrooge lightly scolded. "Let your cousins stay. Besides," he gestured to Julie, "the wee bairn deserves the right to know the family she has."

Julie reached out for Gladstone, crying, "Unca! Unca!"

Donald groaned. "Fine," he relented, putting Julie on the floor so she could crawl over to her uncle.

To everyone's surprise, the duckling pulled herself onto her little webbed feet and toddled over to Gladstone. She grabbed his leg and looked up at him.

"Unca Gwadstone?" she babbled, patting his foot. Everyone in the room was awestruck that Julie had just taken her first steps, but Gladstone scooped up the little girl and nuzzled her cheek feathers with his beak.

"Yep, that's me, kiddo," he replied. 

Scrooge chuckled. "Looks like the lass knows who her uncle is," he joked.

Donald felt his heart break a little as he forced himself to laugh along. "Yeah, she does."