Christmas at Royal Woods Spa

It's Christmas vacation

The bus jolted as it rolled over patches of ice in the road. Lincoln watched as they passed by elaborately decorated houses. The bus turned down Franklin Avenue before coming to a complete stop. Lincoln tightened his jacket against the cold before stepping off the bus with Lynn, Lucy, the Twins and Lisa.

They walked up the porch, shook the snow and ice off their boots and stepped inside. Mom and Dad were sitting on the couch with Lily being cradled in Moms arms. Leni, Luna and Luan were standing between the fireplace and the TV.

"Hey, what's going on?" Lynn asked.

"Me and Mom wanted to call a family meeting," Dad answered.

"Is Mommy having another baby?" Lola asked.

"No, not a chance," Dad said. Mom stamped her foot down on Dad's shoe causing him to wince before continuing.

"I got the job as caretaker of the Royal Woods Spa!"

Silence. "So?" Lola asked.

"While Dad looks over the hotel we have the entire place to ourselves," Mom explained.

The kids erupted into excited chatter about this new development. Christmas at the resort? And all to themselves? A dream come true!

"When are we leaving?" Lincoln asked

"Today," Dad answered. "Oh by the way, the inside pool is heated so bring your swim clothes!"

The kids rushed upstairs to their rooms to pack their bags, leaving Mom and Dad alone with Lily.

"I'll go get Lily's things packed," Mom said as she stood up from the couch.

"I'll go get some Christmas decorations for the hotel. We'll meet up in twenty minutes."

Leni pulled her suitcase out of the closet and placed it on the bed. She flipped off the latch and let the other fall over. She then began to fit her dresses, nightwear and swim suit inside. After that she looked around for something else to bring to the resort.

She picked up some holiday themed issues of 16 and ½ off her dresser and slid them into one of the pockets on the side of the suitcase. She also packed her small camera in case there were any stunning shots of the snow capped mountains.

She then got an idea; she could make a new christmas dress at the hotel. She went over to her sewing station, unplugged the machine and placed it in her suitcase. Feeling that she had packed everything she needed she closed the suitcase and reset the latch before rolling it out of her room.

Luan lifted up her pillow and pulled out her Christmas joke book, a masterpiece of humor she had spent the greater part of the year developing just for this season. She placed it on top of her already stacked clothes in her suitcase.

"What's that?" Luna asked as she placed her guitar in its travel case.

"It's my Christmas joke book. I've spent day and night working on it."

"For how long?"

"Since the beginning of the year."

"Shouldn't you have been doing, I don't know, school work with that time?"

"No, it's all good. After all, the chance to use this only comes once a year!"

"Is that why it's so thick?"

"It also doubles as a prank guide book. Now that we've got the whole hotel and the surrounding area to ourselves, the possibilities are endless!"

Luna used the toe of her boot to pull her suitcase closer to her. "You're not going to go on a pranking trip are you?"