Pua Pics 2017

Moana wanted this to be a secret, but alas, secrets cannot last for long around here. These are Pua Pics, monthly pictures Moana has taken of her adorable little piglet as a late Christmas present to all of our readers. For a domestic pig, he sure loves the outdoors! And they're perfect to make a mini-calendar with for 2018, don't you think?

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Finding Christmas

Ah, Christmas. I missed this day. It's like nostalgia, beauty, and joy all wrapped into one with a neat little bow on top. This holiday always seemed to get my desire to blog ramped up to a ten. And this year I wasn't the only one. Moana, too, has some things to say. Aside from the day she was found, this is Moana's first Christmas. And she had a lot of questions to ask. I would have answered all of them, but didn't, as this was a journey I had been on myself a long time ago. In 2014, I had found the meaning of Christmas, and now, in 2017, it was Moana's turn, while I stayed to celebrate the multiple finding days we had. Because of that, this post is going to require two authors. And get ready, folks, it's going to be a long one.

***

At this rate, I was probably going to be the first one of us to break the Code of Dolls.

And you know what? I didn't care.

But to spare the others who did care, I would just have to be very careful.

"Now", my instinct told me, and I dashed from doorframe to doorframe, the faux straw in my skirt brushing silently around my hips. Silence was a skill my character had taught me, and, like my character, I had rebelliously ditched my headdress for an adventure. It was easier to move in, and I was doing a lot of that today.

With my back against the wall, I turned on my heel so that only part of my face was visible past it if you were looking. Luckily, nobody was. One human was in the kitchen, facing away from me, and the three others were upstairs. I would have a chance to reach my target.

The target, unfortunately, was six feet above the floor, and five feet, two inches above my head. The Christmas star, the one that sat atop the humans' larger tree. Magneto told me that following the star would help me find the meaning of Christmas Being a doll who had never before experienced a Christmas Eve, I trusted his word. And I trusted my ability to seize the star off the tree and bring it back to him.

Now, I could easily climb the tree from the inside, but I couldn't risk making a mess of what the humans had already so beautifully decorated. Instead, I tied some of that plastic sparkly ribbon to my oar- I wasn't sure what it was called- to use it as a lasso and launch the point of the oar through the center of the hollow star. If all went well, it would catch and I would bring the star down.
Silently, I swung the ribbon around like a lasso and tossed the end of the oar into the air. It sailed high above my head, right towards the tree-
Clink.
It caught on a bulb and fell back into my arms.
I froze, hoping the human in the kitchen hadn't heard.
The human never turned around. Maybe the Christmas music was drowning me out?
Relieved, I tried again.
Clink.
And again.
Clink.
One more time should do it.
Clink.

I clenched my teeth, thinking of all the Hawaiian curses I knew at once. Getting this stupid star was fruitless toil.
Maybe... maybe fifth time's the charm?
Clink.
I nearly threw my oar to the ground in frustration. Looks like I would be climbing the tree after all.

I grabbed onto one of the lower branches and put my feet up onto the false trunk, getting ready to go until I heard a quiet chuckle behind me.
"Any luck?"
I threw my head backwards, and I saw an upside-down Magneto, looking highly amused. "What?" I muttered.
"You're not going to find the meaning of Christmas that way, Moana."
I hopped from the tree, grabbing my oar again in case I needed to slap him with it. "But you told me I had to follow the star!"
Magneto laughed again, making me angrier. "Not that one!"
"Then which one do you mean?" I picked him up by the key-chain clasp and carried him back to the staircase, away from the human and my failure.
Magneto told me that I was wrong, which I had already figured out. According to him, there was another Christmas star that the humans had, one that didn't live at the tip-top of the Christmas tree.
"Haven't you noticed that glow coming from outside She's window at nighttime?"
"Yes, but I thought it was the moon."
We had reached the Room She Lives In, and I plopped Magneto down in his box-bed on the dresser. Elsa and Loki seemed deep in conversation, but they stopped when we entered.
"It's never good to see you two together. What have you done?" Loki asked.
"We didn't get into trouble, if that's what you mean." I said quickly.
Loki titled his head skeptically. "I doubt that. But as long as you didn't break the Code..." He shrugged to finish his sentence.
"You might be the ones in trouble by the way you're acting," I said smugly. "What have you done?"
"Nothing, Moana. Nothing." Elsa sang.
I doubted, that, too. But we all had our own secrets to keep. And now I had a new star to find.
Magneto came to sit with me on the end of the dresser. "So it's not the moon?"
"No. It's a star. They've told me about it."
"They?"

"The nativity, " Magneto easily read my blank expression. "You haven't met the dolls at the nativity."
"No. But I haven't yet been here a full year."
"Tomorrow you will be. Come on, you've got to see them. And then we'll recruit somebody to lead us to the star."
"You're sure this will help me find the meaning of Christmas?"
"If you want to find it, then you will," Magneto raised his arms to me like a child begging to be held. "We need to leave for the nativity now. The daylight is fading quickly."
I got the message to hook his key-chain clasp onto the handle of my oar. He got a free ride, and I got a GPS. It always worked out well between us.
He directed me down to the front room, or parlor, whatever it was called. The humans didn't use it much. All it had inside was an old couch with pillows, and heirloom sewing machine, and a portrait of a gray-haired woman surrounded by candles and angel statuettes. The statues didn't come to life.
But on the sewing machine, there was a tiny stable, made of bare wood and hay. But in the stable was a party. A set of porcelain dolls were gathered around a feeding trough and watched as a doll baby slept peacefully inside. A woman in blue guarded him the most closely, and a bearded man stood happily on the other side of the little one. Other kinds of dolls, like shepherds, kings, and an angel floated around in set positions.
"Moana, meet the dolls of the nativity. That's Mary there in blue; Joseph in brown; Midgal and Edar, the shepherds; Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, the magi; and most importantly, Jesus. He's the baby. Everyone, this is Moana. She's from the Room She Lives In." I mustered an awkward smile and a wave. They waved back, speechless so the baby wouldn't be disturbed. "I should have introduced you sooner," Magneto sounded guilty. "But the humans only bring the nativity out this time of year. I don't agree with that, but that's the way things are done."
One of the sheep bleated loudly in agreement. Everyone "shushed" it at the same time.

Magneto continued in a low whisper. "Moana's searching for the meaning of Christmas. I told her to follow to star, and I hoped one of you could help us find the star outside."
Gaspar, the king with the shorter brown beard, felt it safe to speak.
"The rest of us are all tired," Gaspar explained. "But Balthasar will go with you. There's always some energy to be found in him."
"Great." I said with a smile. Balthasar stepped forward, and I lifted him from the sewing machine onto the wood floor with Magneto and I. I liked Balthasar immediately. There was a strange mix about him- old, yet full of energy? A silent, steady step, yet mischief in his eyes?
"So you're following the Christmas star," Balthasar said. He had a low, honeyed voice. "I know all about that. After all, I am the one who told the others we should make a pilgrimage to Bethlehem."
It was almost like he was speaking another language. I didn't know half of the story he was telling.
He understood by incompetence. "Don't worry, you'll learn all about that soon enough. But first, we must wait until dusk. That's the best time to see the star's shine. Why don't you come and see the Christ child while we wait?"
"Is it safe?" I asked, thinking about how Loki would react if we were caught down here with humans around.
"Moana, it is perfectly safe."
I found Balthasar a trustworthy doll. It was time to meet the one the humans called Jesus.

***

"HECK."

Steve's head slowly rotates my way. "Language, Elsa." He reminds me.

But I'm in no mood for reminders. Especially not from him. Right now, he was a problem to me. He wasn't supposed to see what I had been doing for the past hour, yet it was hard to get some space with all four humans in the house.

"Last I checked, Steve, 'heck' wasn't a swear word." I grumbled, my tongue resorting to poking thoughtfully from my lips in concentration. I had been working on ice sculptures as presents for all the dolls who had finding days this month, and believe me, it was a lot of dolls. We had Magneto on the 11th; Anna on the 17th; Steve on the 18th; Elphaba, Nessa, and Idina on the 25th; and Benny and Napoleon had to be somewhere in the month of December, being nutcrackers and all. It was overwhelming how many sculptures I had to make, and my powers knew it. They were starting to malfunction after being used so much, spraying ice everywhere and distorting the features on a few of the sculptures. Idina's bunny sculpture didn't even have any feet. Why did I ever think I could do this? Needless to say, I wasn't pleased.

"Yeah, I know it's not, but it could be if you switch out the last two letters."

"Well, I'm not going to do that. Okay, Captain?"

Steve paused. "You sound like you're mad."

"I am mad."

"Does it have something to do with how you've been hiding behind She's bed for like, a millennia?"

I sighed, stepping out to meet Steve, who I found waiting a respectable distance from the things I was trying to cover up. "It sure feels like a millennia."

"What are you doing back there?" Steve cocked his head to try and see over my shoulder, but I had the advantage of about four inches. I was able to move in front of him to block his view.

"Nothing you need to see."

Steve smiled. "Will it be a surprise?"

"If you're lucky, yeah."

"Is it not going well?"

I grabbed his shoulders gently and turned him around, sending him walking on his way away from me and my failing sculptures. "Goodbye, Steve." I said in a sing-song voice as not to worry him. One person worrying was enough at the moment.

When he was safely out of earshot, I wrung my hands and sighed a sigh that did nothing to relieve me. Loki overheard it. I hardly realized he was in the room, but then again, I was shutting everything else out in favor of crafting the sculptures.

"Okay, Steve is right. You've been over there a millennia, Elsa. What on earth are you up to?"

"Is anyone else around?" I asked.

Loki looked around. Steve, Anelle, and Kristoff were all distracted, and the other dolls that belonged in here were sure to be sneaking around the house. "Not at the moment."

"Then come here. I could use your help."

Loki dutifully hopped from the dresser and joined me over in my secluded corner. When he saw the mess of ice, a smile pricked the corner of his lips, and he had to look away for a second to work on not laughing out loud. "Wow. Interesting thing you've got over here."

I went over to the sculptures and started reforming one of them with my hands. "They're ice sculptures. For Magneto and Anna and Steve and Nessa and Elphie and Idina and Benny and Napoleon. But they're a flop."

"Maybe you should work on not making presents for literally everyone."

"It's not literally everyone! Those dolls have finding days this month. I thought it would be easier to celebrate all on one day," I stepped back to scrutinize my work. "Or maybe it would be easier to create one giant ice sculpture for them all to share."

"Or maybe it would be easier to not use your powers at all," Loki suggested. "We've known these dolls forever, Elsa. They'd be happy with or without a finding day present. Besides, I think the humans would notice this, no matter if it's a dozen little sculptures or one big one."
"I know," I sighed. "I just wanted to make it special for them."
"On Christmas Eve? The busiest day of the year?"
I had almost forgotten what day it was. I realized that I was mentally one week ahead and emotionally two weeks behind. For an entire month.
"Well, yeah. I guess so."
Loki paused, thinking of something. "Do you take constructive criticism?"
"Um... sometimes."
"Your idea is not a good one."

"Oh." How was that at all constructive?
"But don't worry. I can help. I've been doing a little..." Loki toned down his voice even further. "Snooping around."
Ha, that was rich! "You? Snooping around? After all those times you told me not to?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm a hypocrite. I know. But I also know that there's a present in the basement. A big one. One that everyone can enjoy if you know what to do with it."
Intrigued, I bent down to listen closer to Loki's words. "And what can I do with it?"
Suddenly, Moana and Magneto came in through the door. I straightened up quickly and held my hands behind my back, hoping that would cover up the fact that they were glowing blue since my switch had been on.
Loki picked up on the change quickly. "It's never good to see you two together. What have you done?" He asked.
"We didn't get into trouble, if that's what you mean." Moana replied.
"I doubt that. But as long as you didn't break the Code..." His voice trailed off in a warning.
"You might be the ones in trouble by the way you're acting. What have you done?"
"Nothing, Moana. Nothing." I tittered, trying to shoo them away so they wouldn't think to look behind the bed.
Luckily, Moana and Magneto were too distracted with an issue of their own as they went up to the dresser and re-engaged in a serious conversation, one that involved Moana pointing to the window and Magneto shaking his head. I wasn't sure what that meant, but that was none of my business. I knew Moana well enough, so she was probably trying to discover the meaning of Christmas. I smiled, remembering when it was my turn to do the same thing.
Loki broke into my daydream. "Elsa? Elsa? Don't you want to see the present?"
"What? Oh yeah. Lead the way, ghost of Christmas present."
Loki didn't pick up on my Christmas Carol joke. "We'll have to wait a little. The humans are still here, and it's in the basement."
"Isn't everything?" I muttered, using my powers to dissolve the sculptures into ice dust.
"But... I do have a picture. Thanks to Elphaba."
"You do?"

Loki nodded, and brought over She's camera, then pulled up a photo of a large white table with holes and blue markings all over the surface. "It's an air hockey table. Add a little bit of your magic, and we have an ice hockey game that won't slick up the humans' wood floor."
"It's perfect! When can I ice it?"
Loki gave me a parental look before wandering away. "Later."
I was getting impatient. Christmas was tomorrow, and we still had eight finding days to celebrate.

***

At sundown, Balthasar, Magneto, and I set off on our adventure. Balthasar assured me that the Christmas star would be much easier to see in the dark. I knew I was supposed to be wary of leaving the house, especially at night, but I was too excited to care. The night air smelled so wonderful, like oxygen and asphalt and oncoming snow. I also knew that dolls like Olaf and Idina were afraid of the dark, but the towering bushes and bare trees looked less like skeletal monsters and more like a fun place to climb. The world was so big- and only the humans could truly explore it. I felt a flare of jealousy for them, getting to come and go as they pleased, but that was another issue for another time. For now we had to find the star. Find the star, and we find the meaning of Christmas.

And I sure hoped that would be soon. A chilly breeze sent my borrowed cape flying upon, and I tucked it around my arms again and kept my head down. It wasn't Anelle's cape this time, so she got to keep that with her. Instead, I got my own from a bag of homemade doll clothes Elsa and Anna had used for a back-to-school post.
Balthasar looked amused. He seemed immune to the cold under his folds and layers of fabrics. "Cold? Don't worry, our destination is not too far away."
"Let's hope so." Magneto grumbled. He, too, was freezing, and being exposed to the wind didn't help much. I unclipped him from my oar and wrapped him in some of the loose parts of my cape.
"You've never seen the star, lolo?"
"I've heard of it. From my visits to the nativity. But Balthasar never once offered to take me to it." He was sounded a little pointed.
"And I didn't offer this time, either. You asked for a guide, and Gaspar volunteered me. Ask, and you shall receive."
"Um, Balthasar? What's that?"

I had stopped cold in my tracks, and the others did, too. The sharp end of my oar was pointed forward in case it needed used. It was a dull black outline of something else in the dark before us, something else which had a few sharp ends, too.
"Relax, it's another doll," Balthasar grumbled, upset that he had been fooled by the silhouette. "But what's one doing out here?"
"Maybe they're like us?" I suggested, still wary. "They want to see the star, too?"
"I'm not so sure of that." Balthasar bravely trod forward, as if he was made of steel instead of porcelain. He grabbed one of the strings of Christmas lights hanging from the bushes and held it up to the stranger's face.
Balthasar was right, he was a doll, but unlike any that I had ever seen. He had a squat, nimble body, bushy gray eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes. The bold black and red of his clothing offset his peachy skin... and shovel. The doll was wielding a shovel, one that looked similar to my oar, like a weapon next to his head. He looked ready to swing, and the blade looked sharp. We weren't going to risk a fight.
Luckily, he saw what we really were before he had that chance. "You're just dolls, too?"
Baltahsar didn't affirm this. He only said, "I am Balthasar of Arabia, and I have Moana of Motunui and Magneto of... with me."
Err... guess Balthasar blanked out there. Or nobody else knew where Magneto was from.
"I am Master Westley. Of the outside."
"If you don't mind me asking, why are you outside?" I stepped in.
Westley shot me an offended look and gestured to his attire. "Isn't it obvious? I am a garden gnome! We are outdoor dolls."
"Sorry, that wasn't obvious."
"Well, it just so happens that I am also a ninja."
"I see that."
Westley grumbled. "The humans don't. They don't see anything. They all find me creepy."

"Yeah, it's not like you are or anything." Balthasar murmured under his breath. I had to cough to hide a giggle, but Magneto let it loose.
"They all find me creepy," He repeated, frowning harshly at his shovel. I had to imagine he was frowning, because his mouth was covered by more black cloth. "Except for the one they call She. Weird name if you ask me. And I'm the weird one here. Harumph!"
He didn't seem like a very happy garden gnome to me. I've seen pictures of them before. Weren't they supposed to be jolly creatures, or a tacky accessory you put in your garden? Maybe real garden gnomes are different in real life.
Westley was still talking, like he was in his own little world. "Ever since the cookie party earlier this month, I've been outside. Don't get me wrong, I like it fine. But it's lonely out here with the dead trees and zero flowers-"
I probably shouldn't have interrupted, but I did. "Wait- you've been out here for how long?" I asked in disbelief.
"Since December sixteenth. The humans don't notice if I move around. I'm too-" Westley spun around, quick as lightning, back to where he started. "Sneaky."
I cringed. "Great! Now this is going to sound silly, since you're so new, but did you see any Christmas star during your backyard explorations?"
He stares at me dully, making me feel skittish. "What would I do with a Christmas star?"
"Not you, us," Balthasar corrects him, saving me from another awkward tangent. "Moana here is on a journey to find the Christmas star that's been glowing from outside She's window. Have you seen it?"
Westley bristled again. "She's window. The window that humans look out of and never see. They never see anything."
"Wouldn't you like that?" I said carefully. "Being a ninja and all? You don't want to be seen, you want to be secretive?"
He picked up his shovel, and, afraid he might use it this time, I gripped my oar tightly, preparing myself to go into battle with him.

"Yeah, yeah, there's that. It's in the job description to be secretive. But... what's in it for me if I help you?" The rough tone in his voice was gone. He sounded sad now, yet he was still trying to keep up the rough-and-tough guise.
Magneto had been silent until then. "Warmth? Light? Plenty of house plants to socialize with if you get lonely? A human owner who doesn't find you creepy?"
Westley looked desperate, like he might run. "Where?"
Magneto pointed to She's bedroom window. "In that house there. If you help us find the star, we'll take you inside where the rest of us are. And you can stay there until warmer weather brings the outdoor plants back. Okay?"
That sounded good to Westley, but there was still something amiss. Luckily, Magneto was prepared.
"Believe me, I was in the same boat you were long ago. No human wanted me. But can you blame them? I was always stuck in this pose-" To demonstrate, Magneto raised his hands like claws and smiled evilly. "But at a gift exchange, She ended up with me. Or rather, I ended up with She, and since then, I've been taken care of for years. She's a good human. A weird one, I agree, but a little weirdness is better than being out here on a winter night. All you have to do is lead us to the star."
Westley was quiet for a minute, then he said, "There's something I've seen recently. Something that might be your star. Follow me." He hoisted the shovel over his shoulder and started away, nearly blending in with the shadows. We had to follow him quickly.
I carried Magneto there. He looked pleased with himself. "I love making deals." He said.
"I had no idea that you had a tragic past." I remarked, changing the subject.
"Well, it's like Elsa says, the past is in the past, am I right?" Magneto laughs, but it's joyless. "Yeah. I was tossed about quite a lot in my earlier years. But now I'm here, so it doesn't matter how many humans have ditched me before."
"Yeah." I agreed quietly.
Suddenly, Westley stopped. I realized he had taken us across the driveway to the backyard. "Here's your Christmas star. I think. I've only been here a while, but this should be it."

"A thousand thanks," Balthasar said. He beamed, his face being lit up by... something. "Come see, Moana."

***

Loki was a big help in my decision for the finding day parties, but I still felt like I was doing this alone. I could really use a good organizer to plan my steps to use the air hockey table as an ice hockey one... but I would need Anna for that. Or I could use a good artist to sketch out the winter scene I would make... but then I would need Nessa. Waiting was rough. I was starting to think the humans would be in for the night.
And I was partially correct...
The sun had gone down at six and the humans were still around. By seven, it was pitch-dark outside, and three of them had popped in a Christmas movie. There would be no chance of a trip to the basement tonight. But it looked like I would be going on a trip somewhere else when She came up to her room, camera in hand, and picked up Olaf, Loki, and I.
I had a sense of where we were going. The clearing in the forest down the street. It was a Christmas Eve tradition to visit that place and take photos.
She sneaked us past the other humans and took us out the front door. I almost thought I saw something move around the corner of the bushes and to the backyard, but it was dark, and I wasn't sure. She checked for movement herself- on the street- and started the walk down the hill, humming carols happily to herself all the while. She didn't bother staying on the left side of the road. After all, it was Christmas Eve. The streets were empty. Everyone was at hopefully at home, relaxing after all the prep they had done for the big day, tomorrow. At least, that's what She thought, or what we thought, until a roaring noise in the distance got louder and louder.

She paused in the middle of the road, her steamy breath trickling from her mouth as She strained to listen. She spotted a large car tearing up the hill, which wouldn't have been a problem if its headlights weren't out. She froze in fear. The car wasn't stopping. It was now fifty feet away. Thirty feet. Fifteen feet. Ten feet. Five feet.

Before I closed my eyes to brace myself for the crash, I saw Loki whirl around, his scepter at the ready. It looked to be charged with a power I'd never seen before.
BOOM.
There was a large blast of blue light that I was still able to see, even with my eyes closed. The vehicle's brakes made a squeaking noise and the car screeched to a stop just before hitting us. She lowered her hand, finding her words and movement now.
"What. The hell. Just happened."
I ought to be asking the same thing myself, but my G rated mouth and the Code of Dolls wouldn't allow it. My eyes found Loki, who looked just as stunned as the rest of us. The scepter was buzzing in his hands. If what I saw was true, then he had come close to breaking the Code already, only mere seconds ago. I couldn't risk that now.
Panting, She raised her face to the light, her eyes panicked and her hair astray. Based on her expression, the driver was a foreigner, a lost soul that went through the wrong neighborhood and was trying to be quick getting out. It was, after all, Christmas Eve. They had things to do, places to go, people to see. They hadn't expected to see a person in front of their car. She hadn't expected them to stop.
"How did you...?" Olaf mouthed to Loki, but his words were lost when She's grip on us tightened, smushing our faces into her coat. She was trying to keep us hidden.
The driver, previously dazed, finally came to their senses. They blinked once, twice. Shook their head. Focused on She. Apologized from behind the windshield. Asked if She was okay.
She nodded, her mouth closing slowly. She was alive and okay, and very happy to be that way. We moved out of the way of the car, standing definitively on the side of the road. The car moved by with a slow, reluctant pace, its headlights now shining brightly ahead.
"Well," She sighed, recovering. She starting backtracking, returning home. There would be no doll pictures tonight. "That wasn't the first time I've almost died, but I would certainly like it to be my last."
On the way back to the house, I was trying to blink the after-effects of the light out of my eyes. A sun outlined in blue and orange was slowly fading away, just in time for me to witness three familiar-looking forms, and one unfamiliar one, concealed by the deck's stairs, staring at the light-up inflatable nativity in the backyard.

Moana? I wondered, bewildered that she, too, was out here, but I shouldn't really be surprised. It was less surprising that Moana had escaped the house than the fact that our lives had just been saved by a doll. A doll without a knowledge of his own power at that! If what I saw had happened was really true, then I wasn't the only one with strange abilities anymore.
She didn't bother entering the house quietly. After all, She had just almost died. She threw us onto a bench in the hallway and ran off into the living room to see her family.
Olaf was the only one of us who could speak, but his sentences came out in unorganized fragments. "Loki, how did you... how did you do that? Do what you just did?"
Loki was nearly trembling. He stared down at his open hands like they held the secrets he didn't know. He carefully picked up his scepter, but the strange energy I had seen was no longer there. "I... I don't know." He looked at me in desperation. Like I had any answers, either!
We could no nothing but sit on the bench and wait to be taken upstairs again, but this time, the waiting was not so bad. We had a a lot to process.
After a few minutes (or hours, it was hard to tell with my nerves), Moana and company somehow found a way to creepy silently back into the house through the front door, popping them out to right where we were. Moana saw us there and immediately launched into a speech.
"Elsa! Aloha! You'll never believe what we just saw. It was amazing," she stopped, noticing how frazzled we were. "But you look like you've seen something, too."
"Um, yeah. She almost died. Kinda. But Loki saved her! He really did. I didn't think he would. I didn't know he could, but he did! It was amazing! There was like this bright blue light, and a blasting noise, and then this car stopped right in front of us!" Olaf started miming everything with his plush stick-hands like it was a shadow puppet show without the shadows.
Magneto raised both of his eyebrows. "Honest?"
"Yeah! It was really cool. We almost died. But we didn't, 'cause Loki has powers now! We didn't know he did. We didn't think he know he did. But he does," the snowman suddenly gasped, his hands flying to his face. "Ooh! Do you think he didn't show his powers before because he needed a strong emotional reaction to trigger it? Like you, Elsa! Get it? And he's never had a reason to show them before because he's not very emotional? Do you think that's why?"

"I don't know, Olaf." I said, my head spinning.
Moana and Magneto exchanged a look. She placed her hands behind her back. A porcelain magi doll that had gone with them got the hint to leave, and he bid us goodbye and went back to his place in the nativity.
"Well," Moana began. "Now that you're here, I can tell you the news. We've got a new guy."
It was turning out to be a night full of big events. "What? We do? Who?"
"His name's Westley. He's... interesting." Moana said, at a loss for words.
"What do you mean by 'interesting'?"
"He's a ninja garden gnome."
My head shook almost instinctively. I wasn't sure if I was more surprised that She didn't own a garden gnome until now, or that there was now a ninja garden gnome named Westley in the family.
Olaf didn't catch the infectious speechlessness Loki and I both had. "Fun! Let's go meet him!" He cried. Moana told us that since Westley had actually come in the house with the rest of them, but his ninja skills let him sneak right past us. Olaf thought that was cool and he followed Moana upstairs. Loki and I had no choice but to tag along unless we wanted to stay longer and further risk breaking the Code of Dolls. Not that they would notice us at the moment. They were too busy listening to She's tale of life and death in the living room.
All the dolls in the Room She Lives In greeted Westley and he reacted with a mixture of hostility and gratitude. Maybe he hadn't been expecting a family of twenty-counting the animals and our friends downstairs, or twenty-one now, counting Westley. Oh well. I am sure he will get used to things around here. And if he doesn't, spring is in a few months, where he will be comfortable and happy in the garden outside.
Westley had the return to the outdoors as not to raise suspicion from the humans, but only after Olaf made him promise that he would stay awake all night to watch for Santa. Olaf fell asleep quickly after She came to bed. They were both exhausted from such an eventful day.

Loki and I found it a little more difficult to get some rest. He kept pacing around the dresser, and the tap of his boots kept me up.
Finally I asked, "Are you doing okay?"
"I can't believe it. I didn't think I had powers. I didn't think the back of my card said the truth." Loki pulled the cardboard backing to his original box out from under his box-bed.
"You still have that?"
"If She does, I do."
I knew what he was getting at. "That doesn't mean you're not to be trusted."
"I know that now. But I didn't know any of this!" He gestured to the lines that read off his list of abilities. "Generating forcefields! Creating power illusions! Shapeshifting! How is that even possible?"
"Hey, Elphaba is still questioning me on my own powers. You think I know?"
He stared down at the wooden surface of the dresser. It wasn't even real wood, it was more like wood pulp crushed into a flat shape, with a plastic textured layer set over it. It was so shiny, he could see his own reflection. "Do you think Olaf is right?"
"About your powers?" I crossed my arms underneath my head as makeshift pillow. "Maybe. No offense, but you're not exactly a guy who shows his feelings."
"None taken," Loki said. "But surely I've had other outbursts before. Why is this one any different?"
"Maybe..." I began, but then closed my mouth.
"What?"
"No, it's stupid."
"Tell me. I need to know what I can do."
Okay, it had to be worth a try. "You still have a thing for She, right?"
It's a good thing for Loki that it's difficult to see a blush in the dark. "What about it?"
"I'm just saying that maybe you've never done this before because you never had a chance to. I mean, love is a different emotion than anger or sadness or joy."

"It isn't love," Loki insisted, kicking at his reflection like he could change it. "But you could be onto something. I did feel this need to protect She from that car- and you guys, of course."
"Of course." I chuckled.
"That's the first time I ever felt something like that..." His voice trials off. He smiles. "Maybe love is more powerful than I give it credit for," He pauses, and I let him take in the moment. "What do you think?"
"You know what I think?"
"What?" Loki is bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to conquer the day, though it was already over.
"I think you need to go to bed. It's late. And it's Christmas Eve. We've done a lot of thinking today. Save some of that for tomorrow."
"Would if I could," Loki sighs, but he obeys and settles down into his box-bed. "What time is it?"
I glance over at the clock. 11:45. "Just rest," I reply. "Tomorrow's going to be a big day."
"If it's as big a day as this one was, then I'm going to become an insomniac."
I laugh again and turn over on my side so that I can use my cape as a blanket. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," he said. "And Elsa?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
"No problem." I said in a quieter whisper. Those are the last words we say before Christmas Day.

***

It only felt like hours later when the sun came up and shone white through She's window. The dolls on the dresser woke and resumed our places, expecting something big to happen soon.

We were not wrong.
"Wake up wake up wake up it's Christmas!" She's little sister burst into the room and began bouncing on the bed, while She groaned and tried to swat at her sibling without success. I risked a glance at the alarm clock. It was 7:00am sharp. She's sister was extremely punctual... and excited.
The two older humans stood waiting outside the open door, still in their pajamas like their daughters. They had big goofy smiles on their faces and purple under their eyes. The smell of freshly baked cinnamon rolls wafted up from downstairs, and the smaller tree in the hallway's bulbs flashed in anticipation like, "Look at me! Look what I have!"
It was time to start the day.

She sister's dragged She from her bed and took to her see what was under the smaller tree before going downstairs for the larger one. It was hard not to smile at their excited shrieks and giggles. I was sure that they had found the air hockey table. I hoped that the humans would leave us some time to try it out later to pass for a finding day activity.
Time passed. She brought up some cranberry ginger ale- a holiday favorite- and used it to provide us a doll-sized tea party with the little porcelain tea set. When She had gone, we went back to socializing and enjoying the festive scent of the beverage. Moana was telling us about the nativity and her discovery of the meaning of Christmas, and everyone was in good spirits.
Well, everyone except for Loki. He was acting quiet and impatient. I noticed this and pulled him aside.
"What's up?"
"I don't know. I just feel like something's off..." His blue eyes shifted around, in search of something that wasn't there.
"Is it your powers?"
"I don't think so. This feels different. Somehow."
"Relax. You're probably still frazzled from the rogue car incident."
"Maybe so." Loki agreed, but he didn't look convinced. After all, he had found out that he had powers only yesterday. That had to be a lot to take in to somebody new to the whole "being-a-doll-with-powers" thing. Me, well, I'd been that way my whole life.
"Yeah, that's all that is. Now come on. It's Christmas. You shouldn't be stressed."
Loki nodded, facing the ground, then looked up at me. "Elsa... you wouldn't mind me asking a favor of you, would you?"
"No, I don't mind at all." I said, wondering what this could possibly be about.
"Could you be my coach? I need to learn how to get my new abilities within my control."
I almost laughed. "You're asking me?" Me, reckless Elsa, who feared she had frozen the entire state two Christmases ago?
Loki shrugged. "You're the only other one of us who has powers. That we know of, at least. And mine only seem to work when triggered by a strong emotional response, and well, no offense, but you're good at that."

Emotional responses? Yeah, that was probably true. But Loki and I were different in that department. In my case, it was a struggle to keep my feelings under control, and for Loki, he had to learn how to emote more. It would be difficult to teach. But...
"I'll do it." I said quickly. It was like an honor to me. Loki was always older. Always wiser. Always more responsible than I. To teach him meant that he, for once, needed help.
"Great. We start tomorrow?" It was a question, not a statement. He was asking my permission.
I grinned. "Yeah. Definitely."
The rest of Christmas was calm and relaxing. The humans ate cinnamon rolls, played air hockey, had some friends over, and packed their bags for their trip up north tomorrow. Once they left the house for church, I took the dolls down to the basement and created a snowscape on top of the air hockey table just like I had promised. We had fun throwing snowballs and scoring goals and singing a mainly off-key "Happy Finding Day to You" to all eight of the dolls, but I think the one who got the greatest gift of all was Westley.
She found him outside when they came back and brought him in, telling herself that he would make a great substitute "Elf on the Shelf". I'm not too sure what those are, but by the sounds of it, they are dolls that you hide someplace new every day, even after the Christmas season passed. Today our one and only ninja garden gnome is peeking out from behind the tree. Nobody knows where he will end up tomorrow, but that didn't seem to be a bother. Westley couldn't be happier.
And now that he is a part of the Doll's Life for Me family, we of course had to get a family picture around our Christmas tree. It has tiny blue lights this year! (Definitely not courtesy of me.)

And so, from all of us at A Doll's Life for Me to you, merry Christmas! Hope all of your conflicts were as well resolved as ours were.

Looking forward to tutoring Loki,

Queen Elsa

Christmas Cut-Outs

December is finally here! I remember wishing Christmas would come back in November. But with Thanksgiving break gone and done, anticipation for Christmas came quickly after. Each of the dolls began basking in the delight of the season in their own ways. I decided to abandon She's laptop for a quick minute to get the scoop on what everyone was doing.

Magneto was pleased to see that his tiny town was up and lit.

Moana was taking the animals for one last frolick outside before the weather could get too cold.

Idina was setting up a Christmas-themed spa, complete with peppermint teabags to soothe tired eyes.

Steve and Loki were trying to figure out a way to play ice hockey without my magic. Unsurprisingly, they weren't having any luck.

Dorothy and Bell were out taking a walk around the house, grateful to be away from Toto for a while.

Benny and Napoleon were trying to bring Christmas decorations up from the basement, only to put them back, grumbling, because they realized the humans would notice.

Nessa was planning a Christmas karaoke session, and Elphaba only appeared to be helping because she was the only one of us who was so tech-savvy.

Anelle and Kristoff were using She's iPad to play video games. Apparently Kristoff is a very competitive gamer! I guess he missed all the fun he had at his previous home.

And Anna was showing off her new screen-accurate cape to Olaf, which was made by MyLittleMegara as an early finding day/Christmas present. I had to say, I was a little jealous. It was warm and beautiful, the best of both worlds for any cape.
When it occurred to me that nobody was spending the day together but with a few other people, I approached Anna and said, "Hey, isn't Christmas supposed to be about spending time together?"
Anna whirled around in her cape. "You tell me, Elsa. This is only my second Christmas here."
"Well, that's what I think it should be," I stated. "Let's gather the others up here. I have an idea."
I remembered the year Napoleon got amnesia, we all had crafted paper snowflakes to mimic the ones on She's ceiling and hopefully jog Napoleon's memory on Christmas. I decided to do something similar, and since we had a larger group this time around, we would do something larger in turn. I had noticed a chain of paper people holding hands when Loki was recently going through She's writings (again), and thought it would be nice if everyone made one, each representing something they liked about Christmas.
Luckily, I wasn't alone in thinking it was a good idea. The dolls were happy to get a break from some alone time to come into She's room and get working.
Making the paper cut-outs were fairly easy for everybody, and I thought I ought to include the directions here just in case you guys want to make it, too.

1. Get a regular 8x11 sheet of computer paper, and accordion-fold it, alternating sides, so that you have four planes and three creases.

2. Create a sketch of whatever shape you'd like to be connected on the front plane of the stack of accordion folds, making sure a little bit of the drawing runs off into each side so that they will stay connected to the others.

3. This step should be pretty obvious. Hence the name, you have to cut out the cut-outs! Be careful not to snip around the edges you drew to, or else you will have four separate shapes instead of one large one. This may take some trial and error.

4. After that, if all went well, you should have your connected cut-out.

First, Anna made a pretty poinsetta flower silhouette. She has an affinity for flowers, and apparently, an affinity for paper cut-outs as well! We were all very impressed with her attention to detail.

Of course, I had to make mine into a snowflake. Are any of you really all that surprised?

Benny made his into a Christmas tree, complete with a star on top. It reminded him both of the humans' smaller tree he guards, as well as the year he mended his relationship with Napoleon. Goodness, it feels like a such a long time ago!

And speaking of Napoleon, he went with a theme similar to his brother's. But instead of a tree, it was a line of presents to protect.

Olaf, unfortunately, struggled with the scissors, so he was only able to make a simple shape, but Nessa knew what he really wanted was to build a snowman, so she built one for him, with a top hat and everything.

Only last year, when Elphaba was first introduced to our family, it was by mistake, as she had saved Nessa from being crushed by the doll-sized Christmas tree before she was actually supposed to be found on Christmas Day. Otherwise, she would have gone in She's stocking, so it made sense that a stocking is what Elphie made her cut-out to be.

Idina is a quiet character, so she never explained to us what her shape was supposed to be when we were making them, but when it time for Idina to pose with her creation, Steve had the guts to ask,
"What have you got there, Idina?"
"Mistletoe!" She tittered. "Pucker up, Olav!"
Olaf was taken by surprise as Idina kissed him on his way to the backdrop.
Moana's lip curled up in disgust. She wasn't the romantic type whatsoever. "Gross." She whispered.
"I agree." Magneto not-whispered.
Idina was brave enough to shoot a glare his way, making the rest of us laugh.

As I said before, Olaf had a simple shape, but a nice one nonetheless. He is very excited for Santa to visit us this year!

Ever since her finding day on July 20th when one of the dogs saved her from the stairs, Anelle has been obsessed with animals. This includes the dove of peace, which she made her Christmas cut-out of.

Kristoff was getting into the holiday spirit by being a reminder to the rest of us that winter was coming. His cut-out was made into the shape of a mitten.

Steve was a little lost on what to make, so I suggested that his be an opening box, capturing the memory of the one Christmas he came down from the attic, and all the other Christmases in which people open boxes to find a present inside. Although, I do have to say that finding Steve was greater than any other present I could imagine a human would ever get from a box.

Loki made a traditional Christmas bulb with his paper. He did enjoy hanging the ornaments with his scepter that first Christmas we had in the Room She Lives In.

Bell, keen on puns involving her name, just had to make hers into a bell. A bell, she claimed, "to ring in the holiday season", but I think we all knew she was making an excuse for her bad joke.

Dorothy has always loved baking, and that certainly showed her in cut-out of gingerbread men cookies.

Magneto was inspired by his daily visits to Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and others in the nativity to make his cut-out into a star that marked the town of Bethlehem.

But Moana's by far was the most creative. She made a Christmas palm tree with coconuts for ornaments, and one had fallen on the surface of a beach.
"Why did you make a... palm tree?" Nessa asked, clearly lost.
"Mele kalikimaka." Moana replied.
"Huh?"
"Mele kalikimaka. It means 'merry christmas' in Hawaiian. Haven't you ever heard that song?"
If we had, we couldn't remember, much to Moana's disappointment. She would be sure we listened to it later. It soon became a part of Nessa's karaoke plan, which worked out well for her. Not so much for the rest of the dolls that didn't want to sing.

Looking forward to Christmas,

Queen Elsa