Alice woke up at 6 AM on Christmas morning, who had barely slept that night. It was Christmas. She was eleven. And that meant that Father Christmas had come. She leapt out of bed, running out of her room, and on to the bridge, where she could clearly see gifts littering the ground around the Christmas tree. She ran back into her room, where she launched herself at Jane. "Jane! It's Christmas! Christmas! Did you hear me? It's Christmas!" Jane rolled over unhappily and pulled her sheets over her head.

Alice realized that that was a lost cause, so she ran into her parent's room. "Mum! Dad! It's Christmas!" She said excitedly, running and jumping on their bed. Christmas was one of the few holidays that she loved. It meant togetherness. It meant love. And those were two things that Oulton Broad needed these days.

"Are there presents under the tree darling?" Alice's father said, pulling himself up, and putting on his glasses. She nodded excitedly. "Okay, well, why don't you go wake everyone up, and we'll meet them all downstairs. Does that sound good?" Alice nodded once more, as she climbed off her parent's bed, and ran to her two brother's rooms. First, she helped Colin out of his bed, who seemed more excited about the snow rather than the idea of Christmas.

She also walked over to Mark's room, where he slept happily. She stood on his side of the bed, and shook him awake. The first thing he saw that morning was a bright and cheery smile on his sister's face. "Is it Christmas?" He asked with a laugh. She nodded. Mark turned over, and looked at Julie. "Honey, it's Christmas. And Alice is asking us to wake up. Means it's present time." He explained, as Alice ducked out of the room, and ran up the stairs to that top floor, where the guests stayed.

She walked to Shade's bed, and shook him slightly. "Hi. It's Christmas morning. Mum said you didn't have to wake up if you didn't want to, but Father Christmas came. So, if you want to, there are presents!" She said excitedly, and going over to Jack. "Jack, it's Christmas. Wake up!" She said to him, as she shook his shoulder. Alice then happily skipped downstairs, knowing that she had officially woke up everyone in the house.

"Mark, it's not even six thirty yet." Julie said into her pillow. Typically she loved Alice, but waking up at six in the morning to open presents was borderline insane. She rolled over to face Mark, "When we have kids, they're not waking me up at six in the morning on Christmas. Six thirty maybe, but I'm not waking up at six."

She snuggled back under the covers, figuring she could get another five minutes or so of sleep before Alice would come in and physically drag her downstairs. She seemed like the type of girl to do that; seeing as she was making a racket upstairs, waking everyone up for Christmas morning. Julie couldn't have been the only person who wasn't ready to get up.

Actually, she probably was. Cynthia was probably already awake and doing something motherly-like, because that's just what she did. Franklin was probably trying to get Alice to calm down and wait for everyone to come downstairs before she tore into the presents under the tree. Julie couldn't even imagine having a daughter as excitable and loud as Alice. "Give me five minutes," she said to Mark, "I swear I'll get up then."

Mark turned over to look at Julie. "Honey, I don't want to get up either. I think for Christmas, I'd like another hour of sleep more than anything else." He joked. He cuddled closer to her, and closed his eyes. "Five more minutes, then we'll get up. Then we'll put on happy faces, sit on the couch, watch the kids open presents, drink some tea, and curl up in a blanket. Sound good?" He asked.

"And also," He added. Mark kissed her on the forehead. "Happy christmas, Darling."

Shade rolled over when he felt a small hand pushing him.  He saw Alice standing there and heard her quietly tell him it was Christmas morning.  He rubbed his eyes and said to no one in particular, "I'm up, I'm up." He pushed the covers back and sat up slowly, wondering if he'd ever woken his parents up this early and vowed to apologize the next time he saw them.  He got up and stretched as he slipped his shoes on and headed to where everyone else was, if they'd even got up yet.

Shade knew his sister was probably already awake, her excitement about Christmas could probably rival Alice's.  Sure enough, as he reached the staircase his sister punched him on the shoulder and asked, "What took you so long?" Shade just smiled, "Sis, you know that I am never as excited as you on holidays."  Sky just shook her head and they both headed downstairs.

Julie smiled as she kissed Mark back, "Oh what are we doing in bed? Let's go open presents," she rolled over and swung her feet off the bed, grabbing a sweatshirt and throwing it on. She checked to make sure she was somewhat presentable; but figured no one would care if she spent Christmas morning in her sweatpants. It was Christmas! Julie used to absolutely adore the holiday.

She would never wake her parents up, no way. Marie and John-Marc valued their precious sleep, and so it was Julie's tutor, Christine, who would arrive early on the wonderful holiday to spend it with the enthusiastic child. She was spoiled by Christine, typically with new books to study and a pair of pointe shoes. She always loved spending the morning with Christine, because after they opened presents, they would make chocolate cupcakes and decorate them with pink frosting. It was an odd tradition, but one of the few Julie used to have.

She gave Mark a look, "Don't make me come over there and drag you out by your ears. I'm coming to get you if you aren't downstairs in five minutes." She grinned and skipped down the stairs, feeling much happier now that the feeling of Christmas was setting in. She went to look out the window to see if there was snow, but it was only a thin layer with a light fluffy amount falling from the sky. An owl was perched outside the window, a note in its beak. Curious, Julie opened the window and took the note from the owl, who flew off the moment it's message had been delivered.


Julie collapsed into the chair beside her, her heart pounding, and not in a good way. Who was this person chasing her and Mark? What the hell did they want? She tried to slow her breathing, but was frozen in the chair, clutching the note in her hand. What a great way to start her Christmas.

Mark finally dragged himself out of bed, putting on a bathrobe and slipping on his slippers. He shuffled out of the bedroom, seeing Julie sitting in an armchair, stunned. "Hey, babe, you okay?" He said, coming closer to her slowly. As he came closer, he saw the note in her hand, and took a deep breath. Great, another threat letter. "What did this one say?" He asked, sitting on the arm of the chair, looking over at her, with a tilt of his head.

His hand went to hers, comfortingly, and tried to open her fingers gently, wanting to see the note. "We're safe here. Okay? We're so safe, you don't even know." He tried to smile reassuringly.