A while later, they all sit down outside and enjoy some apple cider.

"Can we get back to getting our gifts now?" Jo asks.

"We are done for now, so yes," Mrs. Weaver responds. Jo jumps up and runs out.

“He must know exactly what he’s getting,” Bailey chuckles. “I’m going to go get to work.”

“Yeah, we don’t have much longer,” Heather agrees, getting up. They all head to different areas to think about what they are getting.

Bailey runs up to the library upstairs. Cole enjoys reading in his free time and she knew she could find a gift for him up there. She breathes in deeply as she enters the room. She loves the smell of all the books. She runs her hand along the spines and spots a Sherlock Holmes book. She opens it, thumbing through the pages. She stops on the first page of one of her favorite stories, The Red-Headed League. She sits down on the floor, starting to read.

…

Emma wanders upstairs to the Guild Hall. “I know Jo loves archery,” Emma says to herself. The back corner of the Guild Hall has been transformed to house all sorts of toys and trinkets for the upcoming holiday. She had come in a couple of days ago to help set up and she had found the perfect thing for Jo. She heads directly to a table filled with toys and picks up a bow and arrow set. The arrows have suction cups on the end so they will stick to whatever they are fired at. Emma smiles, “Jo will love this.” She quickly grabs some wrapping paper off a table, wraps the gift, and heads off to find Aunty Charlotte to pass off the gift.

…

Hyena knows exactly what she wants to get Perk, well, what she wants to put the gift in anyway. The other day she had been looking at gift boxes for Cole and found someone who creates prank boxes. She smiles at the thought.

“Hi Kyle,” Hyena says, walking up to the golden brown buck. “Are you still making the prank boxes?”

“Hey Hyena,” Kyle responds, turning to face her. “Yeap. I have a wider variety now too.” He leads her to a table covered in prank boxes. One has a coffee maker for the shower, a My First Fire for kids, and several others.

Hyena looks through them for a couple of minutes before settling on one that is a solid blue sky puzzle with a small moon in part of it. It has 12,000 pieces. “Perfect,” Hyena says, grinning.

“That’s a good one,” Kyle agrees. “Who’s it for?”

Hyena thinks for a second. “We are doing a gift exchange, so I can’t tell you who it’s for.”

“I promise I won’t tell,” Kyle says. “Please.”

Hyena frowns at him, and he continues to look at her with puppy dog eyes. “Ummm,” she says, pretending to consider, and Kyle grins. “No.” He frowns again.

“That’s too bad,” he says, straightening up. “Well, have fun.” He walks off, seeing another rabbit and trying to convince him to buy a prank box.

Hyena heads to another part of Guild Hall, trying to figure out what to actually give Perk. She spots a small stand that has mugs filled with powder. Intrigued, she walks over and picks one up. “What’s this?” she asks the doe working the stand.

“It’s a mug cake mix,” the doe explains. “You just add water, oil, and milk before putting it into a really hot oven. It is done in just about 2 minutes.”

“Hmm,” Hyena rubs her chin. Perk does like his sweets. “Do you have a hot chocolate-flavored one?”

“Yeah,” the doe smiles, then frowns, “but we just ran out.”

“How long would it take to make another batch?” Hyena asks.

“About 30 minutes,” the doe replies.

“And can I bring my own mug?” Hyena adds, an idea forming.

“Yeap!” the doe answers. “Anything else?”

“I think I’m good,” Hyena replies. “See you in a few.” She waves to the young doe and heads over to the pottery section of the Hall.

…

Heather heads up to the cavern that houses all the trades. “What would Caleb like?” she says to herself, perusing the stalls. She sees all sorts of trinkets that would be fun, but nothing really seems like the type of thing Caleb would like. After looking around for about an hour, she decides to find Bailey. After all, Bailey knows a lot more about Caleb than she does.

Heather walks past a group of rabbits playing some sort of game, two to a table. Intrigued, she stops to see what they are doing. “Hello, may I ask you what you are playing?” she asks.

“Three Dimensional Chess,” a buck says simply, his concentration focused on the board. He finally decides to move a pawn forward.

“What’s that?” Heather asks, examining the board. There are several smaller boards at different levels. How you move between them is beyond her.

“Extremely complicated chess for players who want something more than traditional chess,” a doe explains, moving her queen. “Now, please leave us to it.”

Heather watches for a little longer but soon moves on. “Now to find Bailey,” she says to herself.

It's Christmas time again! I decided to work on this story again... back in October. Inspiration, am I right? Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. The next chapter will have the guys looking for gifts.