Jingle Bells Rock - Advent Calendar

23rd ~ Family

Baby, It's Cold Outside

"I'm quite sure Luka and Beldon will escape into the shadows at the party, never to be seen again – or at least for the rest of the night."

Angelique reshuffled her hand of cards as Izzaro snorted with laughter.

"I think we'll be lucky to see them for more than the first half hour. They can be so antisocial when left to their own devices," he replied as he set a card down.

"I know, it's shocking!" Angelique said, "Less so for Luka but Beldon! Your boy is so social until he's within fifty feet of Luka."

"See it as they're most comfortable in each other's company and are satisfied with that," Izzaro chuckled.

"Which is all well and good until Luka abandons Bray to fix everything."

"Braydon's been handling things fine," Davion said, pulling out the chair beside Angelique and sitting down, looking over her shoulder to her cards.

"Fine, because he handed things off to Jem," Angelique pointed out with a frown.

"So he handled it well," Davion said with a grin and Angelique rolled her eyes.

The trio glanced up as the doors to the parlour opened. Mari walked in carrying a tray of freshly baked treats, smiling.

"I bought refreshments," she said.

"Mari May! You're supposed to be relaxing," Antoine cried, following her in a moment later, holding the doors open for Icadora.

"Hush, I relax via baking. You don't run a successful bakery by stressing out over the process," Mari shot back, setting the treats down as Angelique rang for drinks.

"I see no one is winning," Icadora said, sweeping her skirts aside and sitting beside Izzaro – Mari and Antoine taking the seats at the head and foot of the games table.

"Shall we start a new hand and deal them in?" Izzaro suggested.

"Lets. We're going around in circles. I don't know why I let Bel talk me into playing this game," Angelique said.

"Bel could talk people off a bridge if he chose to, you're best to tune him out when he's after something," Izzaro said smiling slightly as he regathered the cards and shuffled with the speed of a casino dealer before handing them back out, setting the remaining deck in the centre and turning the first card, Icadora playing first.

"He's been spending too much time around you, Antoine," Mari said as she served the baking onto little plates and passed them out, Davion hitting a button so a new set of tracks began to play.

"Oh now! That's not fair," Antoine laughed, "I can only be guilty of influencing my own children into causing chaos."

"Mai is far too proper to do anything so untoward as imitate her father," Icadora said as she picked up her cards.

"Thank god for that," Antoine chuckled, "Now remember we must decide where we want to go for the new year."

"Did we decide whether we were inviting the kids?" Davion asked.

"Let them enjoy New Year at their own pace," Icadora said, waving it off, "We'll never decide on one location if we try to incorporate all of them."

"You make a good point," Izzaro agreed, "And they won't all be free. Lorelie will probably be working and Kazimir will have to be forcibly dragged from the house."

"Exactly," Icadora said, "Now how shall we decide."

"Why not whoever wins this game gets to decide?" Antoine suggested.

"Perfect, let's do that," Icadora said, setting down another card, "Also, Uno."

~~~~

Music By: Bing Crosby and Doris Day

Yes, get the parents all in together to see how they behave in the modern world. Lol, chilled out and happy to leave the chaos of Christmas to the kids.

Tomorrow will be the last update, that went so fast!

So what other stories would you have liked to have seen for these shorts? Or what stories, or couples, would you like to have seen more of?