Christmas was coming, and Zoey wasn't sure about inviting Max over for Christmas eve dinner.
'Well, why not?' He asked.
'Because you'll get sucked into all my family's silly traditions! And I don't really want to subject you to all of them.' Zoey replied.
'Well, how silly are they?'
'1st off, we wear the most ugly looking Christmas sweaters. Then we play charades and make absolute fools of ourselves. Then we have dinner. Then last but not least: The Clarke family treasure hunt the next morning. Winner gets the freshly baked Christmas cookies, and the loser gets stuck eating the fruitcake.'
'Doesn't sound silly to me.' Max said.
'Yeah, but the treasure hunt is definitely silly, and probably rigged. David and Emily always seem to win every year, and I have no idea how they do it!' Zoey replied.
'Well, maybe this year will be the year you win!'
'Not counting on it.'
Christmas eve night, Max showed up wearing a colorful reindeer sweater that could sing.
'Whoa! That is absolutely awful, and I love it!' David said, amazed. He was wearing a Surfing Santa sweater that could light up.
'Thanks!' Max replied.
When it came time for charades, Max aced most of the questions, and laughed when Zoey tried to sound like a pig.
'Told you this was silly.' She said, slightly embarrassed.
'Not silly at all! I'm having fun!' Max replied, happy.
Then it came time for dinner.
The next day
'How does this treasure hunt work?' Max asked.
'We split into teams, and there are clues hidden throughout the house. They all lead to the bag of Christmas cookies.' Zoey replied.
'Sounds easy enough.'
'Yeah, but it can also be kind of intense, especially when 1 team gets to a clue at the same time as the other. Then it's all bets are off from there.'
They followed the clues as fast as they could. And in the end, they found the bag of Christmas cookies in Zoey's closet.
'We did it!' Zoey exclaimed.
Shocked that he lost. 'Unbelievable! The one place where we thought they would never end up!' David said, disappointed.
Zoey and Max hugged. And enjoyed their cookies.
'Just out of curiosity, does your mom hide the cookies?' Max asked.
'Some years, Dad was usually the one who hid them.' Zoey replied.
'She picked a good hiding place for these cookies!'
'Indeed. Almost like Mom wanted us to win.'
Then they kissed.
