Christmas Time Is Here Again

The lights glistened on the tree.
The clock said 7:00 in the morning.

"CHRISSA! CHRISSA!" Prudence shout-whispered.
I awoke with a start, falling out of a dream where I was the first Woman President.
"What?" I asked groggily.
"Christmas Time Is Here Again!" Prudence started singing Melanie's favorite Christmas song by, who else, but The Beatles.
My eyes snapped open.
"CHRISTMAS!" I yelled.
Everyone seemed to get up and run out of bed.

We all found ourselves huddled around a hole in Melanie's Living Room's ceiling.
"Who made this hole?" Marisol asked sternly.
Callie raised her hand.
"Ah, your punishment will come later, it's CHRISTMAS!" Marisol beamed.
We all quieted down when Melanie sleepily walked into the room.

"Merry Christmas everyone." Melanie yawned.
"Merry Christmas, Mel." Melanie's dad greeted.
"When are Nana and Papa coming?" Melanie's little brother, Andrew, asked.
"Soon, hopefully." Melanie's mom said, peering out the window.

Five minutes later, Melanie's grandparents came through the door.
Melanie's Nana was holding a doll-sized box.

All of us cheered.

"THERE'S FELICITY!" Cindie yelled.

Melanie asked her Nana to bring over any doll stuff she got her, because every year, on top of normal Christmas, Melanie's family goes to her Grandparents' house to celebrate with Mel's mom's side of the family.
With family comes cousins.
Same-age cousins.
Same-age cousins who might think having dolls is stupid or nerdy.

"Merry Christmas Nana and Papa!" Melanie greeted, hugging her Nana then her Papa.

Melanie's Grandmother is her Nana and her Grandfather is her Papa, just so you all know.

After everyone got settled down, Melanie's mom sat down in a chair and Mel's dad got his camera out to take some Christmas Morning Pictures.

"Okay, OPEN!" Mel's mom exclaimed and the room quickly erupted with noises of Paper ripping, boxes opening and 'ooh'-ing and 'ahh'-ing.

Marisol wrote down every present Melanie got.


-20 minutes later-
(Melanie has to sort EVERYTHING she gets.)

"What do you have so far?" Molly asked Marisol.
"3 Beatles shirts,
4 pairs of Jeggings,
5 Beatles posters and/or pictures,
1 rug,
1 light,
1 mirror,
1 Beatles cartoon ornament,
3 pairs of pyjama pants,
1 Beatles CD, 'Please Please Me',
1 Ke$ha CD, 'Animal',
and 2 purses." Marisol sighed.

"Ooh, as long as she got Beatles stuff. We know she's herself." Callie joked.
Cindie chuckled, then quieted down when Melanie started talking.

"Felicity? You In There?" Mel whispered.

Then, she tore apart the wrapping to unveil a brown box.
"BORING!" Julia yelled out, we hushed her.
Melanie opened the box and out came about one million Packing Peanuts.

"OH MY GOSH!" Melanie exclaimed.
We all inched closer.

Melanie reached her hands inside and pulled out 2 little red boxes.
She opened Felicity's accessories and Felicity's Holiday Gown.

Then, she looked inside and pulled out.......

"FELICITY!!!" She exclaimed.

We all started cheering.
"WOOOOOOOO!" We all screamed at once.

"Thank-you Nana and Papa! And thank-you Mom and Dad" Melanie smiled, hugging Felicity.
"She's gorgeous, Mellie Bean." Nana smiled.
"I love her eyes." Melanie cooed.

"MY TURN!" Andrew beamed, then reached for the last present.
He unwrapped the paper to show...........

Another big brown shipping box.

"WAIT WAIT! THAT'S MEL'S!" Mel's mom exclaimed.
"Oh I thought so. I don't get stuff at QVC." Andrew joked.
"Lemme see." Melanie took the box.

Mel's mom and Nana shared a glance.

Melanie opened the box.



"REBECCA!!!!!" She screamed, pulling out a certain curly haired brunette.

"WHAT?!" We all yelled. We all thought Melanie was going to get Becca for her Birthday!
"Let me check." Charity said, grabbing her binoculars.

After a few seconds of silence.

"Rebecca Rayna Rubin has entered the building." Charity beamed.
We all erupted in cheers once again.

Then, Mel and her family talked about random things, which let us dolls go back to Melanie's room.

"Woahh! LOOK!" Molly beamed.
"SANTA CAME!" Jess screamed then ran to our mini Christmas tree.

He indeed had.
Marisol got some new ballet shoes,
Callie got her own Beatles shirt,
Jess got a Mac Laptop,
Julia got 6 big posters of the band, Queen,
Charity got all Taylor Swift's albums, 'Taylor Swift','Fearless', and 'Speak Now',
Sonali got a new sewing machine and 3 new sketch pads,
Molly got a Coach purse,
Cindie got 3 Beatles CD's, 'Help!', 'Rubber Soul', and 'Revolver',
Prudence got a karaoke machine with 4 microphones,
and I got............

"What's this?" I asked after I opened my present.
It was a small box.
I opened it, inside was a necklace with a silver paintbrush on it.
"There's a card." Sonali beamed.
I picked up the card and read to myself;

Chrissa,
Happy Crimble! Or, how you American's say it, Merry Christmas! Either way, I hope today is filled with love, friends, and family. I can't wait to see you on New Year's Eve.

Oh, I see that confused look on your face.
Your sister's didn't tell you?
All of your sisters, the new sister or sisters you might get, all of the kids in Chorus, and Lizzie's sisters, Julie and Rebecca, are going up north to a huge resort for New Years. We got a gig to sing at a New Year's Party! Mrs. Hodge will be there too! I can't wait to see you there, Maxie!

I hope you like your necklace! I found it on Black Friday after you had to leave, and I immediately thought of you.

Merry Christmas Chrissa!

Love,
Matt.

"OH MY GOODNESS!" I screamed. We were going up north! WITH MATT AND LIZZIE AND REBECCA AND JULIE!

Everyone gathered around me and we started talking about what we were going to do there.

We were interrupted by footsteps walking in the room.

"And this is your new home, girls" Melanie smiled, holding Becca and Felicity.
She sat them down on the ground and went back in the Living Room to get the rest of her stuff.

Felicity and Becca looked at each other.
We hid behind Melanie's desk and watched.

"Hi, I'm Felicity Jane Merriman!" Felicity greeted, putting her hand out.
"I'm Becca Rayna Rubin. Remember that name, you're going to be hearing it a lot in the movies." Becca beamed, shaking Felicity's hand.

We all emerged from behind the desk.

"Who are you?" Felcity asked.
Marisol went to the front of the group.
"I'm Marisol Luna, the oldest doll here. We're the Randomly Retro Girls. You two are our newest sisters." She smiled.

Felicity and Becca seemed to consider it, then smiled.
"Hi!" Becca squeaked.
"Hey there!" Felicity smiled.

"I'm Callie Monroe." Callie greeted.
"The name's Jess McConnell." Jess smiled.
"Hi, I'm Chrissa Maxwell!" I said.
"Hey, I'm Charity Eastman." Charity beamed.
"I'm Sonali Matthews, it's nice to meet you!" Sonali greeted.
"I'm Molly McIntire, we've been waiting SO LONG for you two!" Molly smiled.

Becca's eyes widened.
"THE MOLLY MCINTIRE?!" Becca's eyes were about the size of Watermelons.
Molly nodded.
"I LOVE YOU!" Becca yelled.
"Aw thanks." Molly smirked.

"I'm Cindie Boswell! You two are going to LOVE it here." Cindie re-assured.
"I'm Prudence Farrow. I'M NOT THE YOUNGEST!" Prudence exclaimed.
Everyone laughed.
"And I'm the one, the only, Julia Albright!" She smiled.

Becca's eyes widened again.
"Do you have a sister named Julie?" Becca asked.
Julia nodded.
"MY TWIN SISTER IS HER SISTER!" Becca yelled.
"Oh...My..God." Prudence gaped.

Rebecca told us all that she had a twin sister that no one knew about, not even her sisters.

Apparently her sister is now our sister.

"Wait, Rebecca Rubin?" Felicity's green eyes sparkled.
"Yeah" Becca nodded.
"Is her owner named Brittany?" Felicity asked.
"Yup!" Everyone chorused.
"I KNOW HER ELIZABETH! SHE WAS MY BEST FRIEND AT THE AMERICAN GIRL FACTORY!" Felicity exclaimed.
"Really? AWESOME!" Callie beamed.


After a 30 minutes of talking to them, we found out that Felicity's favorite song is "Please Please Me" by The Beatles and she LOVES Ke$ha and is from 1963, but she likes some stuff from 2010 and that she's a true blue Tomboy. Becca's favorite song is Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered. (I'm Yours)" and he's her idol and Becca has a dream of being a famous actress.

"OH!" Marisol got up randomly.
"What?" Felicity asked.
"We got you a gift." Marisol smiled, then gave Felicity her gift.
She opened her gift.
"Ke$ha's new CD. AWESOME! Thanks everyone!" She exclaimed.

"Sorry we couldn't get you a present Becca. To be honest, we didn't know you were coming." Marisol apologized.
"Don't apologize." Becca beamed, then got up and got 11 tape-on bows.
"What are you doing?" Jess asked.
She put a bow on everyone.
"You guys are my Christmas present." She beamed.
"You just quoted a commercial." Julia joked.
We all erupted in laughter.


I've had one year with Melanie.
It seems like so much more than that.
I have gone from having 3 sisters, to having 11.
I've gone from not knowing what school is, to loving nearly everyone in it.
I've gone from being shy, to having a great group of friends.
I've gone from not knowing what family is, to being able to give an exact definition straight out of the 'Chrissa-nairy'

Family;
(noun)
1. A group of people who care for each other.
2. The Randomly Retro Girls and Melanie.


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

<3Chrissa