"You'd probably like my sister, then. She's a bit of a, a," Kaelin paused. "A watchmacallit. The people who think tech is annoying. She uses it all the time though. But she really likes snow without it."

Mel whuffed in amusement. "You can't beat plain old fashioned snow. Comes in all kinds of varieties. Why, the type outside is Christmas postcard!"

Dan had finished cleaning up the cookies - they were in a round tin but the lid had popped off, spilling a couple on the floor - when out of the corner of his eye he spotted what looked, for all the world, like a blue lobster make a dash for them and then vanish.

He shook his head in disbelief and turned his attention to the reindeer still running loose. Fortunately, there seemed to be fewer of them than before.

Grace, meanwhile, had watched in amazement as Kaelin made her way through the room, eventually landing very close to her and the big dog. This was new to her and she tried to hide behind a chair, at least until she heard the dog bark her name.

She bounced out from her hiding place, holding out a hand for the dog to sniff (having a dog of her own she was fairly conversant of the protocols of meeting one). "You know my name?" she asked. Before getting an answer she looked shyly at the two sisters whose names she'd just heard. "Hi, I'm Grace," she said to them.

Mel was certain she'd already been introduced to Grace--or heard the name flying around in the buzz of conversation--but since she sometimes forgot people's names after they'd been introduced, perhaps the opposite could happen as well.

"Hi Grace!" Kaelin waved from her seat. "I'm Kaelin."

She paused here, uncertain how she might inquire after the St. Bernard's name. Being familiar with Ditto Town, she was fairly sure that the talking dog was, in fact, a regular citizen, thus inquiring as to Grace's dog's name would be inappropriate (and confusing, if Grace happened to have an ordinary, boring dog). On the other hand, all of the talking animals she had known were bipedal or winged, and she was thus unsure as to the proprieties of talking to quadrupeds.

"What's your name?" she finally asked, deciding that being straightforward was the best policy (and hoping that Grace didn't think she was so short-memoried as to have already forgotten the younger girl's name).

Ainsley unslung her rucksack and began rummaging through it, searching hard and long for a non-descript silver bell. Upon finding it, she examined it for a moment and tossed it to Jeff.

"What this for?"

"Dunno, big man in the redsuit said it would help corral them."

"So what am I supposed to do with this?"

"Didn't think to ask, try tying it to an antler or something."

Jeff proceeded to do as he was told, to his and everyone else's surprise, all the deer within earshot lined side by side with the first one.

"Huh, that worked."

"So, it's like a portable red nose. Great. Now you can ship them back to from whenst they came?" Maeve asked hopefully. She would be quite happy if the reindeer all magically disappeared, preferably before Kaelin noticed and asked if she could keep one. Again.

"This is spectacular! I've never seen animals behave this way. I've got to take a picture!" Risto said, pulling out a cell phone and taking a selfie. Unfortunately, the flash from the camera seemed to rouse all of the reindeer from their bell-imposed hypnosis.

The calves went crazy! -Jumping all over, on top of furniture, breaking decorative pottery with a crash, spilling the potluck goodies onto the floor (which seemed to please a particularly shy blue lobster which snatched bits of food and disappeared, only to reappear moments later to squirrel away more morsels).

The adults in the room clung to their wards to keep them safe from the cariboutic chaos. After a minute, one of the larger calves crashed through a window that was now exposed after another calf pulled down the curtains. Soon, another followed. Suddenly, all of the reindeer were seen jumping through the window and out into the wintery landscape.

A moment of silence, peace, and shock followed. The wind whistled outside and slight breeze invaded through the hole in the glass. Stot was fairly certain defenestration was in his future.

"Oops. S..Sorry about that."

Twig’s had 2 more gingerbread reindeer to frost. She had been working on them for days and now the end was in sight. She was started by a loud knock on the cabin door. She didn’t get many visitors since her cabin was located in the middle of the woods and very isolated. She chose it because she could go there to forget about the outside world and also because her squirrel friend lived nearby. He, however, was off visiting relatives and friends for the holidays so she new it couldn’t be him. She set down her frosting bag and went to answer the door. “Merry Christmas, ma’am,” a mailman greeted her and handed her some letters and a package. “Merry Christmas and thanks,” she replied.
Pittersticks, the evil squirrel mod, saw the door to the cabin open and seized the chance to dart into the warm cabin. Twig’s didn’t notice. She closed the door, deposited the mail on a table, and returned to her frosting. “Hmm,” she said, “I didn’t realize that they delivered mail all the way out here.” She frosted her last two reindeer and packaged them up before looking through her mail.
While she was thus occupied, Pittersticks was shamelessly going through her mail. His red eyes grew even brighter when he discovered an invitation to the Ditto Town holiday party. Now if only that lame excuse for a person would go. Then he could follow her to the party. He had no desire for merrymaking but was itching for mischief. The only place people should be right now or any time was the Reading Group. Pittersticks was a very avid reader. Although Twig’s was the official moderator of the Reading Groups, Pittersticks was the squirrel mod of the reading group. At least when he could get through the defenses. Twig’s was not fierce enough to coerce people to post in her forum. She begged and hinted. Pittersticks had more productive ideas in mind.
Twig’s went through her mail. The last item was an invitation that read:
DITTO TOWN HOLIDAY PARTY!
Spend your Christmastide with friends at the event of the year
Games and fun galore!
(Bring treats to share)
Twig’s rarely went to parties. She was shy and was not very sure how to interact people. She spent most of her time with books. Most of what she new about people and social interaction came from books. She didn’t think that was the most reliable source. However, she was a bit lonely and she had dozens of gingerbread reindeer cookies she didn’t know what to with. Games sounded fun. Maybe they would have Whist. And a party might have dancing. Not that Twig’s was a good dancer, but she longed to learn how to dance like the would have in Jane Austen’s day. Maybe she would wear the Regency era dress she had made for another party. It was not very Christmasy since it was a pale lilac, but she had spent days making it and didn’t want to pass up an opportunity to wear it. “I will go,” she said aloud. Pittersticks grinned evilly from where he was hiding behind a chair.
Twig’s carefully packed her dress, the cookies, and some food for the trip. She bundled herself up and strapped on her snowshoes. Grabbing her compass (not being very good with the points of the compass) and a map (she did not have a map in her head), she started the long trek to Ditto Town. Pittersticks stealthily followed her.
Not far from town, Twig’s stopped off in a cave to change. “Hello?” She called. No one answered so she stepped inside and quickly put on her dress. Quickly that is until she tried to do the buttons and snaps. She struggled for several minutes and then paused to rest her arm. She felt something touch her and before she could react the remaining buttons were done. Maybe the cave belonged to someone after all and they had one of those spying elves. Twig’s gathered her gear and bolted out of the cave and ran off down the hill. She was half way down the hill when she remembered that running down the hill in a dress was not a good idea. She didn’t want to fall and sprain her ankle. If a man happened along to rescue her, he would most likely be a scoundrel. Twig’s slowed to a walk and glanced behind her. She did not see Pittersticks up in a tree. “Well, I don’t seem to be being followed,” she thought.
As she approached the mansion, she spotted several contained reindeer and several reindeer flying around like crazy. “Great,” she muttered. “I brought reindeer cookies. Maybe since I decorated my cookies as white reindeer and those are brown reindeer, I won’t offend anyone.” She surveyed the chaos. The guests did not look like they were having fun. At least what she could see through the broken window. She decided to turn around and head home. The crazy reindeer remind her of her students after weeks of being cooped up inside. Her herding instinct kicked in. These reindeer obviously needed to calm down. She mustered her best teacher voice and said, “Calm down and line up.” To her surprise it actually worked! The reindeer landed on the ground and lined up. Twig’s was just about to leave when she felt something run past her. She saw a red eye as the grey squirrel rushed by toward the door.
“Pittersticks,” she groaned. She didn’t know a whole lot about the evil squirrel mod but she was sure he was up to no good. Pittersticks only appeared every once in a while. The last time had had something to do with Ditto Town as well. Twig’s had a vague memory of disappearing into a green mist. Now, Twig’s had to go to the party. She didn’t think she could control Pittersticks, but she should at least apologize that he had followed her here. Twig’s lifted her skirt and ran after him. She regretted not having time to finish her petticoat. Afterall, weren’t petticoats supposed to help keep the skirt clean. That and her legs were a bit cold.
Pittersticks ran toward the Mansion, pondering the best way to ruin Christmas. Should he steal Christmas decorations or go for a more personal approach. Seeing the destruction as he approached, he realized there was no need for him to mess with the decorations. With Twig’s not far behind he darted into the mansion. He selected a spot he believed would have the best echo and said, “Bah, Humbug.” Pittersticks had an unusually low voice for a squirrel, so the statement was quite menacing. Twig’s arrived in the door way just in time to hear Pittersticks’s statement and see him launch himself at a shamefaced young man.

Ainsley's eye twitched as her quarry scatterered all across town. Her hand moved once again to her net gun, this time her target wouldn't be a reindeer. Instead she intended to teach this bumbling tourist a lesson. She would have done it too, only if Jeff handn't grabbed her wrist and stayed her hand.

"Not here, Ainsley."

She huffed, ripped her arm away and stormed out of the mansion after her paycheck.

"Anyone want some hot chocolate?" Asked Jeff in a desperate attempt at changing the subject.

To her complete surprise, she found her reindeer lined up nice and neat just outside. The said a small prayer to whomever was listening and retrieved another gadget which Santa had gifted to her, essentially a portal gun, it was how the fatty managed to get around the world every christmas eve. Ainsley opened a portal to the workshop and quickly shoed the small herd into it. Her bank account just grew by a fifty thousand credits.

"Bah humbug yourself," Maeve replied. "Seems to be the theme of the evening. I've yet to meet more sinister cheer."

She tried not to smile when Ainsley considered restraining the tourist. She often felt similarly, but knew the poor man was probably overly-flustered by all the unusual goings-on. Anyway, Jeff was offering drinks, and she was always down for that.

"Cider for me, and I think I'll see about closing up that window before anything else comes through it," Maeve said. "Kaelin! Stop sitting in the middle of the floor tripping people, and help clean up."

Kaelin jumped up, surprised, and nearly stepped on Grace's foot...and then Mel's tail...and then....

"Oh, bother."

The girl crashed into the drinks table, bringing down the (fortunately plastic) cups and the punch bowl. Maeve sighed and covered her face with her hands.

"I knew this was a bad idea...."

It is never easy to come by yourself to a party. Not knowing anyone can be awkward and leave you feeling lonely. This can be intensified if you crashed the party. Especially if you did it literally.

"Probably best to keep a low profile at this point," Aris thought to himself. "I should be a wallflower for the rest of the evening. I won't draw any attention to myself whatsoever."

At this point a scraggly-looking squirrel bounded into the room and in a booming voice thundered "Bah, Humbug" before launching at Stot and attaching itself to his face. This induced quite a panic for about half a minute or two before Totle came to the realization that this would make quite an interesting profile pic. While placing his phone at arms' distance, he said "smile!" The squirrel had just enough time to look up before being blinded with a sudden flash. The shock was too much for the little squirrel, and it at once went into a faint, falling straight to the floor.

Twig’s started picking her way through the mess toward the battle between man and squirrel. She saw Pittersticks fall into a faint. “That’s odd,” she thought. “I won’t have thought Pittersticks was the fainting type.
Pittersticks revived upon hitting the hard floor. “Great,” Pittersticks thought. “That idiot has exposed my Achillis’s heal.” Then he stood up, shook himself, and planted himself in front of Aristotle. “I know who you are, Aristotle. You do not belong here. You belong in the Reading Group. I expect to see you there by the end of the day or else.” Pittersticks noticed Twig’s approaching and scurried off.
Twig’s approached Aristotle and with a very red face said, “I’m so sorry. Not that it was exactly my fault. He is not my squirrel. He just followed me here. I didn’t know he was following me. If I’d known I never would have come here. Oh, you’re bleeding. I have a first aid kit in my bag. I could help you get cleaned up. I also have cookies if you are hungry.” Twig’s realized that she was rambling and came to an abrupt halt

Rya sighed - apparently, it was literally impossible for them to go more than 5 minutes without some kind of emergency. It looked like the renegade reindeer were in hand, so she decided to go help with the fallen punch bowl. "I'll go look for towels." She called out, trying not to sound as defeated as she felt.

Rya slipped into one of the side rooms, which served as a sort of cleaning supplies closet, despite being twice the size of what most people would call a "closet". There was an entire stack of old towels and rags that sat around for exactly this kind of purpose. She grabbed as many as she could carry, and returned to the main room. She glanced around at the various guests, debating who she should ask to help her clean, but ultimately her social anxiety got the better of her. Instead, she just set the stack down nearby and hoped that someone would take the hint.

Just as she was about to start, though, a squirrel came racing past, raising a spray of punch at her. She wiped the liquid out of her face, muttering to herself, "Punch first, squirrel next. Will try not to punch the squirrel."

Risto was confused but gladly accepted the help. “How odd that the squirrel attacked me for not being in a reading group. I’ve actually been quite active with my reading group lately. I’d be very pleased to have a cookie. You’re too kind. But I wonder if we can be of some use to the others here?”

Stotle immediately went over to the punch bowl and grabbed a towel that Rya had brought into the room and began mopping up. This was the strangest holiday vacation ever. Time for another selfie.