The Holly and the Ivy

Good Old Santa Claus

"So how was working with Adam?" Holly asked Mistletoe as they followed the Scott family to their living room.

"It was great!" Mistletoe whispered excitedly. "He's so funny. You're a lucky girl."

It was at that point that Holly realized Mistletoe's hair looked damp. The elf had tied it back, so she hadn't noticed right away. Holly brushed her hand against it, and sure enough, it was wet.

"Why is your hair wet?" she whispered back to Mistletoe.

The elf cringed. "Umm...so...there was an... incident with some powdered sugar."

Holly stifled a smile. She knew that Mistletoe's baking couldn't have actually gone as smoothly as it appeared. Cujo's dog tent wouldn't be a masterpiece by anyone else's standards, but for Mistletoe, it was somewhat of a miracle.

"What happened?"

The elf fidgeted slightly. "I may have accidentally caused a powdered sugar explosion..."

"It was everywhere," Adam chimed in. Apparently, Holly and Mistletoe hadn't been quite discrete enough and he had been able to eavesdrop in on their conversation. "You shoulda seen it, babe. Misty's face was absolutely covered in the stuff."

Mistletoe's cheeks flushed as brightly as Holly's hair.

"Anyways, I washed my face and hair in the sink before you came," Mistletoe explained. "But I couldn't do it before the competition was over because we were behind schedule and rushing, so I basically did the entire competition with my head covered in powdered sugar."

"You looked ridiculous," Adam laughed.

"Not as ridiculous as you looked when you took away the supports too early and the house completely fell apart," Mistletoe shot back with a smile. She lowered her voice in an attempt to impersonate Adam. "Oh no. Oh man. Oh God. Oh no."

"I do not sound like that," Adam protested, though he seemed to be unable to stop himself from grinning.

"You're right, you were way more dramatic," Mistletoe teased. "Oh NO!" she exclaimed in her artificially deep voice, her arms flailing dramatically. "Oh MAN! OH!"

The elf clutched her heart and fell against the wall.

"What are you doing?" Ivy said coolly, turning around abruptly.

Adam, Mistletoe, and Holly collapsed into giggles, causing Ivy to roll her eyes.

"I'll order us the take-out," Alvita said, smiling at the obvious shenanigans going on. "You all pick a movie."

"So what are we watching?" Darius asked, grabbing the TV remote as Alvita headed to the kitchen. The rest of the group settled into the living room - Holly, Adam, and Mistletoe on the couch, and Ivy sitting on a recliner.

"Die Hard," Ivy suggested.

"A Christmas movie, Ivy," Darius clarified.

"That is a Christmas movie," she muttered.

"I like Elf," Adam chimed in.

Holly looked over to Mistletoe to see the actual elf's reaction. Her friend had mixed feelings about the movie. On one hand, like most Santa movies, it had a lot of inaccuracies. On the other, there was enough truth to it, and the lies were cute enough that Mistletoe didn't hate it. Not to mention that she always complained about the lack of elf representation in Christmas media.

Mistletoe was smiling, which Holly took as a sign she'd be happy to watch it. Ivy, on the other, let out an exasperated sigh.

"Can we watch something that's not Santa-related?" Ivy complained.