A couple hours later, tired rabbits surrounded a roaring fire in the Savory Den. Everyone was cold and drenched in snow. Almost everyone had joined in the snowball fight, even Lord Rake. It had been a blast.

Caleb walked over to the fire, holding two steaming cups of hot chocolate, one filled to the brim with marshmallows. This one he handed to Bailey, who had curled up in one of the chairs with one of the warm quilts that some of the older does were handing out to the cold rabbits.

“Ooh! Marshmallows!” Bailey exclaimed, accepting the drink. “Thanks!” The mug warmed her hands and she tried to drink a little of the hot chocolate. It was a bit too hot, so she settled for eating some of the marshmallows off the top while waiting for it to cool.

“Ooh! Someone brought his girlfriend a hot chocolate!” Picket teased, sitting with his back to the fire. He had probably gotten the most soaked out of all of them and was trying to dry out some.

Bailey blushed and stared at the marshmallows, which had greatly diminished, floating in her hot chocolate. “I’m just being a gentleman, thank you very much,” Caleb replied, his face not revealing any emotion. “Why don’t you get your sister and her friend some?”

“Yeah,” Jo said, lightly punching Picket in the arm. “Be a gentleman.”

“It’s the polite thing to do,” Cole agreed, a small smile on his face.

“And can you grab me one as well?” Perk asked, polishing off his second cup of hot chocolate. “Unless, of course, you can’t handle it.” He smirked.

“I can carry three just fine,” Picket retorted, standing up to grab the hot chocolate.

“Can you grab me one too?” Jo asked.

“And if you don’t mind, could you get me a cider?” Cole added.

“Anyone else?” Picket asked, pausing for only a second. “Good. So that’s four hot chocolates and a cider.” He walked over to the kitchen window and grabbed the mugs. In order to be able to hold them all at once, he had to balance them rather precariously. He almost made it back without incident, but then he tripped on a bump in the rug.

The mugs went flying, spilling hot chocolate and cider everywhere. Unfortunately, one rabbit was standing right in the path of the spill, and he didn’t notice until he felt it splat against his back. The mugs shattered and everyone turned to see what the noise was.

“When I said everything is a weapon, Ladybug, I didn’t expect to be attacked with an odd mix of hot chocolate and cider,” Helmer said, turning to face Picket. His back had gotten pretty well soaked from the drinks.

“Sorry,” Picket said, moving to pick up the shards of ceramics from the broken mugs. Caleb quickly got up and got him a broom and dustpan.

“Don’t worry,” Helmer said, “I won’t attack you during the holidays, maybe…” He paused. “Anyway, I don’t think that would work on the wolves.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Besides, I believe you still have hot chocolate to get the ladies.” He gestured towards Heather and Emma, as well as Jo.

“Hey!” Jo exclaimed while Cole and the girls chuckled. Helmer smiled and then walked to his room to dry off and change into a dry pair of clothes.

By the time Picket got back from his last trip running drinks, everyone was back to their own conversations.

“Nice going,” Perk said as Picket sat down to drink his own hot chocolate.

Picket sighed. “You know this is partially your fault, right?”

Perk shrugged. “At least I wasn’t the one that tripped.”

Picket chuckled. There was too much going on to stay mad. “I’m probably never going to live that down.”

“Helmer will probably be telling the littles every Christmas all about the time his apprentice attacked him with hot chocolate,” Bailey said, laughing.

“And cider,” Cole added, drinking his own.

Picket just shook his head.

“Does anyone have Christmas traditions from home?” Caleb asked, leaning against the wall.

“Mother and Father used to put Christmas stockings outside our rooms on Christmas morning so we wouldn’t wake them up so early,” Bailey recounted, smiling at the memory. She turned to Picket and Heather. “When did they start doing it?”

“I think it was after Picket woke them up at 4 in the morning by jumping on their bed and shouting “It’s Christmas!” over and over,” Heather replied, chuckling.

“Aren’t we glad he doesn’t do that anymore,” Jo whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

“It was Christmas,” Picket countered, “and besides, I had been up since 3, so I let them sleep in a little bit.”

“I would never have guessed that Picket was ever an early riser,” Perk said, finishing another cup of hot chocolate.

“He wasn’t, which is why it surprised my parents so much,” Heather replied.

“What can I say?” Picket said, shrugging. “After midnight, it’s Christmas, so there is no reason to wait.”

“Well,” Caleb said, “when I was younger, my sisters and I would all draw names out of a hat. Whoever’s name you got, you had to get a present for, but they couldn’t know you were. Then, when we all opened our presents on Christmas morning, everyone would guess who their gift was from.”

“That sounds like fun!” Jo said, jumping up and spilling what was left of his hot chocolate on the ground. “We should do that!”

“But Christmas is the day after tomorrow,” Cole said, “We wouldn’t have time.”

“Sure we do,” Jo said, waving his hand. “Where’s a hat?”

“I have one up in my room,” Caleb offered. “I’ll go grab it while you guys write the names down.” He turned and ran to the secret passage.

“Okay!” Jo called, before turning to the rest of them. Now, who has a pen and paper?”

I had finished most of this chapter last night, along with the first chapter, but it was too late to post, so I decided to wait until morning. I just kept writing. This has been fun. Hopefully, I can post chapter 3 soon. I hope you like it! Merry Christmas!