PHOENIX

Chapter Fifty One: Holiday

Waking up at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning was always a tradition for me. Since Wilbur complained that Christmas was a holiday for people to spend a bunch of money only to be bored of their presents a week later, and Tommy was the spoiled child he was, it was normally up to me to put in actual effort to make Christmas happen. Tubbo and Fundy would normally join us too, and later along the line, Eret ended up showing up for the day.

Now I have a completely different set of people to work with, besides Tommy, who is still a spoiled child.

The only other person up at the same time as me was Phil, which didn't surprise me at all. It was funny how alike we were, always being the ones to put in effort and scold Tommy when he acts like he's five.

"Do you normally get up early for Christmas?" I ask Phil, while coming down the stairs of our cottage.

"No," He shakes his head, "I haven't had the chance to properly celebrate it in a long time".

I stop on the last step, and a part of me deflates. I was the reason why he hadn't celebrated.

I guess I'll just have to make this the best Christmas ever to make up for it!

"Well, I'll show you how Tommy and I celebrate it!" I declare, and Phil smiles warmly.

We sneak into the other cabin, and I place all of my presents for everyone under the small Christmas tree that Techno had brought in yesterday. Techno claims he felt pressured to, but the slight blush of embarrassment on his cheeks told me that he was more excited than he let on. I always wait to put my presents under the tree until the day of, because I know Tommy will sit there shaking the box until he figures out what each gift is.

Next Phil and I begin to make food for the day ahead, which goes a lot more smoothly with an extra person. We prepare chicken, stew, mashed potatoes, and I start on my traditional angel food cake for dessert.

Of course we try to stay quiet, but cooking is loud.

Dream is up first, and I get to witness his morning voice for the first time.

"What smells so good?" He says gruffly, sitting up from his bed.

Damn, his morning voice is cute too.

"Your lunch," I answer, looking back at him. "I can't believe that you sleep with that thing on".

Dream laughs, readjusting his mask slightly.

"I don't normally," He responds. "And thank you both for getting up early to make food".

"No problem, mate," Phil replies with his usual joyful tone.

"You're welcome," I beam.

Tommy's a heavy sleeper, so it takes him another hour to wake up. By that time, Dream is already up and taste testing everything I ask him to.

"I smell chicken!" Tommy says excitedly while sniffing the air like a bloodhound.

"You woke up later than usual, so I had to use Dream as a taste tester instead of you," I taunt, giving Dream a spoon with cake batter on it.

Tommy zips out of bed in record speed, knocking Dream off the chair he was sitting on and shoving the spoonful in his mouth.

"Hey!" Dream cries out from the ground.

"Don't ever take my place again, bitch," Tommy warns, licking the spoon clean.

I pat Tommy's head affectionately, glad to be spending Christmas with him. At least I still get to spend Christmas with one of my siblings.