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“Welcome, doods!” cried Soos as Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, and Pacifica entered the house.
Stan came over to dole out avuncular hugs and kisses as soon as he heard them come in. “Hey there, kids! Gut Yontif, and all that!” he boomed.
“Gut Yontif!” Dipper answered back.
“A guten moyed,” Grunkle Ford greeted them. “A Good Holiday Season!”
“Happy Chanukah, Grunkle Stan ‘n’ Ford!” Mabel cried, returning his hugs with equal enthusiasm.
“Merry Christmas, Girls. And Dipper,” Greeted Soos’ grandmother.
“Feliz Navidad, Abuelita,” Wendy said, receiving a hug.
“Merry Christmas, Melody!”
“Merry Christmas, Pacifica!”
The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, and while Dipper and Mabel simply accepted the customary good cheer and fellowship of the day, Wendy and Pacifica were quietly ecstatic. Neither of them had ever had quite this kind of experience.
Not that the Corduroy household had any less love for their Wendy than the Pines and the Ramirez families displayed. But the sheer ebullience of their hosts, the sheer joy they had for simply having her as a guest was simply amazing. She felt a little bit of this over Thanksgiving. But the Christmas (and Chanukah) spirit was far more intense.
For Pacifica, who had never seen anyone this genuinely delighted at her mere presence, it was overwhelming. She blushed and fell silent at all the attention and affection being lavished upon her.
Wendy noticed, and made sure to stay close to her side, holding her hand, and keeping her close with constant surreptitious shoulder hugs. The two exchanged glances, understanding one another.
And while as loving and considerate of their partners as always, neither Dipper nor Mabel noticed their discomfiture, nor the resultant camaraderie developing between the lumberjill and the heiress.
“Oh, I see you bring back Waddles,” Abuelita noticed. “Is good today I make turkey instead of ham,” she lilted.
They all went to sit in the living room. Dipper and Mabel sat next to each other. Wendy sat on the end by Mabel, with Pacifica in her lap.
“Dinner will be ready soon,” Abuelita announced. “I will call you.” She returned to the kitchen where she and Melody were putting the final touches to Christmas dinner.
“So,” Ford asked as they all settled in. “How has your holiday been so far?”
“Well, I’ve been learning a lot,” Wendy said, smiling.
“And it’s been fun teaching her,” Mabel said.
“And you, Miss Northwest?” Ford asked.
“Well, I’ve been doing my best to--”
“Never mind all that,” Stan interrupted. “Didja get any good loot? How’d you make out?”
Laughter all around.
“Well, Wendy and Dipper got us books and a puzzle on Christmas Eve--”
“First night of Chanukah,” Wendy corrected, smiling with some amusement.
“Mom and Dad sent Dipper religious stuff,” Mabel said. “They’re afraid he’s being corrupted up here.”
Dipper snorted in derision.
“Mabel made me the most beautiful doll of my mother,” Wendy said, looking over at her. “You should see it…it’s gorgeous!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Stan said impatiently. “Did you guys get any big-ticket items?”
Dipper shrugged. “We introduced everyone to latkes, sufganyot, and gelt,” Dipper said.
“And they introduced us to mistletoe, Panettone, and Abuelita’s Christmas fruitcake,” Mabel added.
Stan shook his head in mock annoyance. “Ugh. Kids today, am I right Ford? No hope for ‘em!”
“Sounds like they’ve been having a good time, though,” Soos pointed out.
“We gotta have a good time,” said Mabel. “We have to make sure we have as much holiday cheer as possible, cos we all have to go back to school in another week.”
“Yeah,” Pacifica said softly. “Who knows when we’ll be able to get back together again?”
“Don’t be silly,” Mabel said. “Next summer vacation!” She did a double take. “Hey, why are you sitting on Wendy, anyway?”
“Actually,” Dipper said, “Wendy and I were discussing my maybe staying at Miskatonic for the summer semester, to make up for my late start.”
Ford’s face lit up. “Commendable!” he said. “That’s very studious of you.”
“Awww, we’re gonna miss you next summer,” said Soos.
“Wait, what?” Mabel said, apparently broadsided with this news. “When were you going to tell me about this?”
“We’re still discussing it,” Wendy said. “I mean, it would mean another year apart--” She looked over at Dipper affectionately. “But then, he’d be eighteen by next Christmas when he comes home to visit….”
“So…?” Stan asked, his eyes narrowing.
“So we could get married then,” Wendy answered looking him dead in the eye.
“Ooooo!” Mabel squeaked. “So could me and Paz!” She started bouncing in her seat. She pulled Pacifica to her from Wendy’s lap and hugged her tightly.
“Wow,” said Soos. “Does that mean we should start planning now?”
“Well,” Pacifica said. “What if we wait until the summer after?”
“What?” gasped Mabel.
“You wanna put it off that long?” Wendy asked.
“If we wait until the summer after,” Pacifica said, reasonably, “We’ll have the whole summer to have our honeymoons and relax and stuff.”
“Or,” said Ford, “If you wait until you’re all finished with university, you won’t have to worry about academic calendars at all.”
Wendy shrugged. “This is why we’re still discussing things.”
Presently, Melody and Abuelita called everyone in for dinner.
The food was truly magnificent. Between Abuelita and Melody, dinner was amazing. The hard apple-cider Wendy brought was graciously accepted and went well with the main course and its side dishes. Stan made latkes to go with the rest of the meal, but rather than frying them in olive oil, as Mabel did, he used schmaltz—chicken fat. His latkes came out exceptionally well.
They ate slowly, taking their time, luxuriating in the company and conversation. Every now and then, one family or the other would break into Christmas or Chanukah songs in a friendly holiday rivalry.
For dessert, there was more sufganyot, courtesy of Stan and Ford, more fruitcake, courtesy of Abuelita, and pumpkin pie, courtesy of the local farmer’s market. And as night had fallen, Stan and Ford lit a menorah, for the second night of Chanukah.
It was then that Abuelita brought out plates of home-made cookies and coffee.
“Now we have Christmas cookies,” Abuelita said, setting the plates down.
“Christmas cookies?” Mabel said, slightly tipsy from the cider and fruitcake. “This morning, we had Christmas nookies!”
“Mabel!” Dipper hissed as Stan and Ford nearly choked on their dessert and Soos snorted coffee through his nose.
But to everyone’s surprise, Abuelita was rocking with deep belly laughs.
“A-abuelita…?” Soos asked as he coughed, trying to regain his composure.
Stan and Ford kept their eyes down, but Stanley was clearly suppressing a case of the giggles. “Oy, Mabel,” he muttered under his breath.
“Oh, Soos!” Mabel said. “We’re all adults here, aren’t we?”
“Well, practically,” Soos began, “But, dood! You guys…I mean, your brother was there! And--”
“Soos,” Wendy said, trying not to blush. “We are committed couples.”
“There was no mixing it up,” Pacifica lied.
“We just kinda happened to be in the same room,” Dipper said, turning as red as the cranberry sauce as he spoke.
“There, you see Mijo?” Abuelita said to Soos. “They are good girls!”
She got up to go to the kitchen.
“Hey, wait!” Dipper whined. “Am I—I mean, aren’t I a good boy?”
Abuelita gave him a pinch. “No,” she said, a twinkle in her eye. “Boys are always naughty.” She turned to go, then paused. “Except for Soos.” And then off she waddled to the kitchen.
Melody laid her head on Soos’ shoulder, laughing.
As the evening drew on, Stan and Ford started nodding off on the couch in front of the television. Soos and Melody were busy cleaning up the remains of dinner.
Wendy stood and stretched. “Well, I think it’s time for us to go,” she said. “Gotta get back before we fall asleep, too.”
The four began getting their things together, preparing to leave.
“Come on, Waddles,” Mabel called. “Hey—where are you? Time to go!”
But Waddles was sitting on the floor next to Abuelita. She was in her armchair, watching Telemundo, and idly scratching Waddles’ ears as she sat. Waddles thoroughly approved. He looked over toward Mabel and grunted before settling back down by Soos’ grandmother.
“Waddles?” Mabel repeated. “Come on! Let’s go!”
Abuelita looked up.
“Waddles can stay here for tonight,” she said. “He is a good pig. And he likes Vicente Fernandez.”
“O-oh,” Mabel said, gazing at her pig.
“Hey. It’s okay,” said Pacifica. “We’ll be back in a day or two, right?”
“I guess so,” Mabel said.
“And with Abuelita babysitting Waddles, we’ll be able to play our game….” She smiled and winked.
Mabel glanced sideways at her girlfriend and grinned.
“Good point,” she said to Pacifica. She looked over at Wendy, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Let’s go, Girlfriend.”