*Varna walks by and sees Bob struggling with the Christmas decorations*

Bob? Oh dear, that Christmas tree is far too tall for you, isn't it?
What you need, is a tall Elf like me.

Here, give me those glass bells, and I can reach up and hang them wherever you want them.

One on this branch, and then one on the opposite branch, right? And some more - of a different color - on the branches between them.
And what's next?

*She waits, ready to reach up with the next item of decoration, listening for Bob's instructions, thinking how convenient it is that she has no trouble understanding his language*

"Control, this is Jackalope. The first guard is down. Over" I said, whispering into my headset. "Acquiring next target," my scope moved seemingly of its own accord, to focus in on my next objective. There, in my cross-hairs stood my enemy.

"Nobody move! I've got my grandma's Fruitcake and I'm not afraid to use it! Also, random talking Platypus. Perhaps I could get you a step-ladder?"

So, now that I'm finished with that rather extensive entrance, I have a question. Who the heck actually eats fruitcake? I mean, other than me of course. Because I love it.

"If you're not going to stop by and say hi to everyone in Ditto Town at Christmas, when are you going to do it?" I think to myself.

Ditto Town is the same as it always is, except even more dreams and stories and fantasies have been built on top of each other with each new wave of dreamers, players, and writers. Yet it still feels like a town, not a city. Its crooked piles of world-building aren't skyscrapers, they're taverns, apothecaries and occasionally space ships. And today ever one of them are decked for Christmas.

I head straight for the Ditto Mansion. That where the best parties always are... with the most eclectic characters. I'm bringing only myself for now. Maybe I don't want any of my Ditto Story characters with me. Erica and Val are too young and energetic for my mood today, Alex hardly has his own personality yet, and Lucid is too quiet. Maybe this time next year I'll have another pair I can arrive with. For now, it's just me

There's the Mansion. It looks so festive this year! Live garland and fairy lights look and smell like a mid-winter's night dream. And it's started snowing again. It's the quiet snow that doesn't blow in your face, instead it settles silently on the ground, the buildings, even the trees. It also muffles what sounds like a helicopter in the distance.

I open the door and there's music and the smell of apple cider. I see Varna right away and head for her to help decorate the tree. "Merry Christmas Varna! The tree looks great! Although even you're going to need a ladder to put the star on that big thing! Oh hi Bob! I didn't see you down...."

I don't get the chance to finish my sentence. The skylight shatters and some dude I've never met drops through on a chain of Christmas lights. As if my jaw isn't already on the ground, he declares he likes fruitcake.

"Dude! Don't put that in your mouth, you don't know where it came from!" I yell across the room, not really expecting him to take my advice.

A bright flash of light occurs on next to the path to the Mansion. As it fades away, it reveals Lady A, or me, myself and I. I smile, glad that universe jumping hurt less this year than it did last year. There's a bit of a commotion inside the Mansion...best to head in there.

"Good mortereve, most lovely Denizens of Ditto Town! And a Merry Christmas to you all! Hullo Varna, Bob, Ara, and my little Jackalope, too! How you've grown!"

And how I've missed you all!

A pair of winged creatures makes its way toward the Ditto Mansion. Perhaps, under different circumstances, they might be walking hand-in-hand, but at the moment this would be inconvenient since one is occupied with an infant carrier from which giggling is heard, while the other is struggling with a large bag of unknown contents.

"Hard to believe it's been a year since the last Christmas party," Erik says. "It seems just like yesterday, doesn't it?"

"It sure does, except for how much bigger and heavier Molly's gotten," the other figure replies, smiling down at the baby she's carrying.

"She's going to be walking soon at this rate," he agrees. "I wonder if the Baxters and Norwoods will make it this year?"

"I hope so; I can't wait to see how big the girls have gotten."

They enter to find the room already humming with guests and a large tree already decorated. "Guess they won't need these," Erik says, happily placing his burden near the entrance yet out of the way. "I can take her for a while."

Abby hands the baby over as she recognizes more than one familar face. "Varnafinde! Lady Arwen! Aravanna! How nice to see you all again!"

They make their way toward their friends, careful to dodge the shards of glass littering the floor. (They are barefoot, after all )

I, Lady Z, tumble through time and space, landing with a crash in a huge snowdrift. A pile of snow rests atop my head, and I shake it off, blinking profusely.

"Why do I always make such a grand entrance?" I ask myself with a slight smile, climbing out of the snowdrift. I brush the snow off of my dark purple tunic, glancing around me. There's a mansion a few feet away, the lights glittering in the distance.

I pull out my gold antique pocketwatch, glance at it, and smile. "Right on time."

I enter the mansion, shaking the snow from my boots, glass crunching slightly beneath my heels. The room is filled with a pleasant yellow light, and everything is aglow with thousands of little twinkling lights. I smile. Oh, how this feels like home.

I walk over to the refreshments table and survey my surroundings. Several people fill the room. Erik. Abby. Molly. Lady A, my sister. Aravanna. Jackalope. Varna. I recognize them all.

I help myself to some hot cocoa, letting the steam rise in my face. Leaning against the refreshments table, I take a sip from my hot mug. "Hey everyone," I say. I pull a box casually out of my loose, flowing garments and place it on the table next to me. "I brought doughnuts."

Lady A was just grabbing a mug of something warm when she saw something fly by and into a snowbank, a plume of purple smoke following. Lady Z needed to learn how to use her time-traveling corset properly.... Before Lady A could go out and help, however, Erik and Abby, her longtime friends, entered. And who was this little cutie with them!

Lady A glanced around the Mansion. With each new arrival, it was becoming more and more festive. The tree stood tall, twinkling with light and little glass ornaments. There was a distinct lack of items beneath it, however. Lady A pulled a small notepad out and began taking some quick notes, counting those present, their age, and her best guess as to how they had arrived. Someone would have to inform the Old Saint of who was staying at the Mansion for Christmas.

She had just slipped her booklet away when Abby and Erik seemed to have gotten settled enough for her to pounce on them with hot chocolate and cider.

"Greetings, Erik, Abby, and is this little Molly? Not quite so little, I guess," Lady A smiled. "Care for some cider? How was your trip through the wormhole?"

The Royal Bloodlines Guru enters in through the seldom-used back entrance, looks around, does his best St. Nicholas impression by giving those who are less fortunate than himself some nice holiday cheer, let's his pet blue lobster scamper about for a while (who til this date is still nameless - or at least it is still unknown to anyone other than the Royal Bloodlines Guru), and then leaves said mansion to go to one of the furthest corners of Ditto-town not to be seen or heard of from again until some undetermined date in the future.

Merry Christmas to all!

I spot Lady A, the Silvermoons, and Lady Z (I have no idea if she's a different person than Mountie, to be perfect honest, so now I have no idea how to address her.)

"Hello everyone! Oh gosh, Molly is getting so cute! Not that she wasn't before. And thank you for the donuts!" I exclaim as I realize I need to load up a plate of awesome Christmas treats before all the greedy people get them.

"I brought a bag of clementines. They're so tasty and healthy (if anyone here's watching their weight.)"

I go load up my plate with very little reserve. I've never had saying no to free food as a vice. "So does anyone want to sing Christmas carols?" I ask while wondering about the curious blue lobster that clicks across the floor with a distinguished looking man before they both vanish through a back door with... wait for it... style.

The gargoyles have trouble keeping up with the flurry of activity - was that the Royal Bloodlines Guru making a whirlwind appearance?

Then Erik hears about food.

"Doughnuts?" he calls out. "Thanks!"

He takes the treat from Lady Z, fully intending to introduce his family to her, but is distracted when Molly manages to grab it out of his hand and stuff it into her mouth, a mischevious look on her face. Most of it misses her mouth, and the powdered sugar makes it look like she has a white beard.

Abby chuckles at these antics and turns to greet her friends Aravanna and Lady A. "Thanks. Yup, this is Molly; she's really growing. We think she's cute too, but we're biased. It's been too long since we've talked. May I have a clementine? You know how hard they are to find out in the middle of Wyoming this time of year?"

Erik finishes cleaning off his baby's face and accepts a cup of cider from Lady A - careful to keep it out of the reach of little hands this time - and tells her that their trip through the portal was uneventful. "Our scientists at home love to study it," he added. "They're actually a bit baffled by how stable and predictable it is."

Abby takes a clementine, then turns again and touches her baby's nose. "But we'll have to make sure you don't get this, at least not before it's peeled."

"We'll be glad to sing carols with you, Aravanna," she says. "But I have to warn you that our daughter likes to sing too - just not to any recognizable tune."

"Oh, if you have any spare peel, mind if I take it? Wouldn't want it to go to waste, you know...." Lady A nodded, glancing at the clementine in question.

((and I'm falling asleep. But I couldn't resist.))

As the Ditto Fountain continues to steadily pour water from its central pillar, a low hum is heard over the gentle rhythm of the water. The hum grows to a steady, low pure and then.... a flash of blue light followed by.... is that a weezing sound??

A blue police box is now parked alongside the Fountain and a tall, scruffy looking gentleman steps out. "Ah! Good! Made it in one piece and didn't land in the Fountain this time."

I, Cor as most know me in these parts, pop back into my TARDIS to retrieve a box of foodle items before heading to the Mansion party. The lights and noise (pleasant noise, mind you) coming from within the large building let me know the party was already in full swing.

"Greetings one and all! You may now officially begin the festivities for Cor, that charming and single Mod/writer, has arrived!" I purposefully act overly smug before pretending to trip on my way to the refreshment table. Finding an empty spot, I set down the large box of homemade donuts and crullers before helping myself to a bottle of ginger beer.

"Spare clementine peel, Lady A? I'm sure that can be arranged." Abby grins as her sharp talon pierces the little fruit's peel and she manages to remove it all in one large piece. "Here you go." She breaks the fruit into several smaller sections and begins feeding them to Molly. "You saw what she did with that doughnut," she adds. "I don't think she's quite ready to stuff one of these into her mouth like that, even if the ads say 'clementines are for kids.'"

Erik's sharp ears, meanwhile, manage to pick up the distinctive sound of a TARDIS arriving outside. "Nah, it can't be," he mutters to himself, but watches as Cor arrives and makes his greetings.

The Mansion rattled violently as something large exploded outside, no doubt causing extensive property damage to the neighborhood surrounding the Ditto Town landmark. An uneasy silence settled onto the room, only to be shattered by a hysterical masculine voice shouting outside about the demise of his rutabaga stand.

The Mansion's front door opened and a tall figure carrying a large bakery box and a blaster appeared silhouetted in the entrance. The man wore a stylish and expensive tuxedo and seemed unaware of the slobbering Xenomorph lunging at his unprotected back. At the last second he spun and fired the blaster directly into the nightmarish creature's gaping maw. This resulted in its head exploding in a mist of acidic blood and body parts which fortunately didn't land on the man. He stepped out of the way of the collapsing corpse and into the Mansion proper.

"So sorry about the mess. Perhaps someone could fetch a mop?" He placed the box with the rest of the holiday goodies and continued speaking, " The name is Wyrm. Bookwyrm. And I swear the cookies aren't poisoned this year."