Audibility- A Miss Peregrines Fanfiction #1

A Very Peculiar Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone, it's time for the Christmas special! I decided to put it in third person, because I felt it would be fun to listen to everyone's point of view.

Thanks to @Saphire_Flamed for encouraging the idea of a Christmas special, and to my little sister BopperTopp  who is always the first person to read these before they are published.

Nettalyn woke up, rubbing her eyes. Coming downstairs she was immediately caught up in the hubbub. It was Christmas Eve, and a lot more stuff had to be done. Miss Peregrine was directing everyone for their jobs.

"Miss Apiston, Mr. O'Connor, and Miss Bruntley, you three can get the conifer. Make sure nobody sees you pulling up a pine tree from the ground. Mr. Portman, Mr. Nullings, you can get the turkey."

Millard grumbled at this. "I don't even like turkey."

Miss Peregrine continued.

"And Miss Bloom, Miss Fraunfeld, you can help me in the kitchen. You younger girls can play until lunch." She finished.

We all set out to do our "chores."

~*~
"What does a conifer even look like?" Enoch asked. Bronwyn and Nettalyn turned around in surprise.

"It's the tree they use for Christmas." Bronwyn said.

"We celebrated Hanukkah."

"Okay then. It's green, with spiky leaves. And it's gotta be the perfect height, because otherwise we can't get it in the house." Nettalyn said.

An hours search came up with nothing.

"I'm not sure there are any conifers in all of Cairnholm." Nettalyn said.

"What if we get the next best thing?" Bronwyn suggested.

"Yeah, because as long as it's a tree it won't matter." Enoch finished.

~*~
A sharp cry from Olive sent all her friends upstairs. They found her sitting on her bed sadly.

"What's the matter, Olive?" Asked Claire.

"I didn't get anyone a present."

"To make things easier, what if you gave the whole household a present?" Marcy said.

"What do you give a whole household?" Olive questioned. Marcy thought for a bit.

"What about a sculpture?" Suggested Charlotte. "Just for Netta? I really like her a lot, she adds more to the loop."

"Where do we get the clay from?" Claire asked. "Wait, are we going to steal some off of Enoch?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Snapped Marcy. "He won't even notice." They all walked downstairs to the basement, tripping a couple times and retrieved the clay.

"Now we need something for Miss Peregrine!" Olive said. "What sort of things does she like?"

"I've got an idea. Follow me. We'll need paints." All four of them went back upstairs to the study where Millard kept his painting supplies. He wouldn't miss them. Half an hour later Olive stepped back to admire her work. The landscape was of Cairnholm in winter.

"Before the loop, this was exactly what it looked like." Charlotte said. "You remembered it."

"Of course I did Charlotte. Now let's wrap it up." Olive answered.

~*~
Stupid Christmas, stupid turkey, stupid dense forest. Millard grumbled to himself as he and Abe tromped through the forest looking for a turkey. Abraham noticed his initial dislike.

"You okay? You're pretty quiet." He said.

"I've got to be the one who always does all the stuff that requires sneaking, like trying to kill a turkey. I guess I'm just tired of doing the same old stuff, the fetch and carry boy." Abe nodded in understanding.

"I mean, it was fine when I lived on the streets, stealing to survive. But now it feels wrong. Why me, when Olive, Claire, Charlotte, and Marcy are all smaller?"

"I see what you mean." Abe said. "You know, we can go into town and get a turkey already killed. I don't know why we didn't just do that."

"Excellent idea! Let's go." The two teenage boys walked into Cairnholm, headed for the poulterers. Millard obviously stayed behind some bushes, in case he accidentally bumped into someone.

A few minutes later, Abe walked out of the store carrying a package.

"Got it?" Millard asked, standing up.

"Got it!" They set off back to Miss Peregrine's house.
~*~
It was nearing evening when nearly everyone was back from their jobs. They had all assembled in the parlor which Horace and Hugh had decorated. A crash and scraping was heard in the entranceway. Miss Peregrine dashed out of the kitchen and ran to the noise. All the children came behind her. Bronwyn was carrying a small ash tree, and one of the
branches had caught the edges of the window frame, causing it to break. Nettalyn was standing off to one side, head in her hands, trying to cover up her laughter (this would be me). Enoch stood behind Bronwyn, looking dumbstruck.
After a thorough scolding from The Bird, who realized they might as well keep the tree, as there wasn't a whole lot to be done, the older girls were summoned to the kitchen to finish the turkey. Upon opening the brown butcher paper, however, the turkey was a lot smaller than expected. Abe, not knowing what exactly a turkey looked like, knew it had to be a bird, so he got what had been described.

"It's a chicken!" Miss Peregrine announced. "There will be no turkey this year." Everyone sighed as the girls prepared the "turkey" for Christmas Eve dinner.

After the Christmas dinner, which was spent in silence, the children watched the changeover and went to sleep. Miss Peregrine retired to the back porch to smoke her pipe in blissful silence.

~*~
The stampede of twelve feet tramping down the stairs could be heard throughout the house. Christmas morning in the parlor where the Christmas ash tree was nestled all decorated brought excited screams from the young kids. Even the older ones couldn't help smiling while opening presents. The first was going to Hugh.

"Aw gee, a new cap, thanks Fee!" Fiona smiled at him, glad he liked her gift. He placed the flat cap on his head. Next was a large lumpy package addressed to Nettalyn.

"Oh my!" She exclaimed, ripping off the paper to reveal a bust in the liking of her head.

"It's from me!" Olive shouted from across the room. "Though Marcy sculpted it." She added as an afterthought.
The next one for Netta was from Enoch.

"I had to finish it last night, some of my clay went missing." He said, casting a glance at the sculpture.

Nettalyn undid the string to reveal a doll that looked exactly like her.

"Here, let me see that." Enoch said. She passed it off to him. He pressed his thumb to the dolls chest and it leapt to action.

"Wow." That was all she said.

The next came from Olive to Miss Peregrine.

"Thank you, Olive, you didn't have to get me something."

"It was no trouble miss." Olive said.

She opened the present to reveal a landscape that Olive had thus dubbed; Cairnholm in Winter. It brought tears to her headmistress's eyes.

"How very thoughtful, thank you very much." Miss Peregrine said, tenderly setting the painting down.

"Is that where my paints went?" Millard wondered aloud, but no one seemed to hear him.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying each other's company.

Thanks for reading, once again, Happy Holidays! ❄️⛄️❄️