"I found an old favorite," Varna answered. "I thought it would only be available in the antiques shops, as it has been out of print for a while - but this year they made a new version! And a Norwegian friend of mine tells me that it has finally been translated into Norwegian, too, and is issued there in the same anniversary edition as the English version! But I won't give away any more spoilers - you must come to my shop window and have a look for yourselves ..."

She gave a small wink at her friends. Molly hardly noticed her, what with dragons and cookies attracting her attention from other directions.

"I wouldn't be sure about cookies right now ..." Varna said, "but I guess there is other food as well somewhere?"

Anne tried very hard not to swallow, but the cookie dissolved on her tongue anyway. "I wouldn't be too thure about the cookieth either," she lisped to Varna. "Great, tho thith one maketh my tongue go all athwack. Where ith that Bookie? I haff a pothion with hith name on it."

Trevor meanwhile basked in the attention from the gargoyles and purred under Molly's petting. In his most enchanting manner, he began showing off his artsy side. Using a combination of swishing from his wings and tail and the wisp of smoke from his nostrils, he began making little pictures in the air for Molly. First a rabbit, then a lizard, then some kind of chicken with a snake body. He paused, waiting to be appreciated.

Anne smiled despite her tongue condition at her pet, and spoke to Eric. "Oh, he ith thmart. He underthands a lot of what we are thaying. It'th juth that dragonth' mouth'th are thaped the wong way to thpeak."

"We'll be sure to stop by your shop after the holidays," Abby said to Varna. "There's never enough books to read to her," she added with a nod toward Molly, "and I'm sure Erik will be glad to look for some obscure scientific treatise or something. Anyway, there's plenty of food over there on the buffet."

"Just avoid the cookies, I guess," Erik said, barely suppressing a snicker at Anne's unfortunate turn of speech. Abby poked him in the ribs. "I'm sorry," he added. "I didn't mean to embarrass you."

Molly, meanwhile, giggled and clapped her hands at Trevor's antics. Her parents also applauded the little dragon. "Great job," Abby said to him, once she found out that he could understand her.

Molly continued to watch the fairy dragon's antics but eventually her eyes began to droop and she nodded off to sleep.

"She's not quite up to staying awake all night yet, like the rest of us," Abby explained.

The party continued, however, and in honor of the day some of the attendees called out, "Merry Christmas!"

This was enough to wake the sleeping girl. Erik hoisted her on his shoulders and got the attention of those around him. "Our daughter has a Christmas wish of her own," he said by way of introduction.

Molly blushed but managed to say the words they'd practiced over the past few nights. "And God bless us, every one!" she sang out in her cute little voice.

"And we'll see you all next year!" her mother added.