𝚂𝚄𝙿𝙴𝚁𝚄𝙽𝙺𝙽𝙾𝚆𝙽 ✩ ɢʀᴜɴɢᴇ

𝚡. 𝚛𝚑𝚎𝚊 𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐'𝚜 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛

Christmas was Alex and Charlie's favorite holiday. They loved almost everything about the season: the pretty Christmas lights, the snow, the fact that the good hot chocolate mix (yes, the kind with tons of mini-marshmallows) was cheaper than it usually was...it was a great time of year.

It was a yearly tradition of theirs to steal a Christmas tree from the reject section of the lot--the trees that would otherwise go in the chipper. Charlie always insisted that stealing was wrong, but Alex assured her that they were only saving the trees from a harsh fate. So it became a regular thing. Only that year, Jo came with them to assist in getting the tree home. It was such a hilariously ridiculous scene; they went under the cover of night and tried their best to be stealthy as they searched for the right tree. When they finally found it, Alex took hold of the top, Charlie the middle, and Jo the cross nailed to the bottom of it, and they hoisted it over their heads and ran away. They made it home with a fairly decent tree, its only defect being the fact that it leaned. So what? Alex had said, I think we're all a little crooked anyway--this tree belongs here.

The only element of Christmastime that Alex and Charlie weren't all that fond of was the drama. Something happened every year, no matter how hard they tried to avoid blow-ups. They just couldn't escape what had become known to them as their Christmas Curse. They would've liked to believe that 1990 would be the year with no unfortunate Christmas party incident, but they weren't holding out too much hope.

Christmas Eve seemed to dash up so quickly the friends hardly had a chance to get really ready for it. It was decided that the party would be held at Stone's place, a decision Stone himself didn't exactly approve of but that couldn't be taken back once it was made, as potential guests were immediately informed of the event's location and no one could afford to call everyone back afterwards to tell them about any changes that might've been made to that aspect of it.

The girls spent the first few hours of December 24th milling around their apartment, trying to think of ways to pass the time until they had to leave for the party. Charlie and Jo cleaned and rearranged random things in the apartment while Alex lay on the couch complaining about Christmas parties being the worst.

"Why don't you just...not go?" Jo asked a very moody Alex.

"What?"

"If you dislike them so much, why go?"

"Because I refuse to let Christmas win. I'm gonna enjoy Christmas even if Christmas doesn't wanna enjoy me."

"Alex, that doesn't--" Charlie began, but stopped herself. "Never mind. You do that."

"Right. What time is it, anyway?"

"Time for you to get a watch," Charlie replied. "It's one-fifteen."

Alex nodded, rolling off the couch and standing up. "I'm going for a walk."

"You want company?" Jo asked.

"Nah, it's okay. I'll be back soon."

"Alright, just be safe," Charlie called. Alex nodded and shut the door behind her.

"Why does she not like Christmas parties? I have it understood that neither of you really like them but she seems to actually hate them." Jo turned to Charlie.