***
"Do you think She will get any new dolls this year?" Olaf asked, almost too fast for anyone to understand.
The dolls on She's dresser had been awake since 5:00 am, chattering in hushed voices and silently urging She to come back. Our human hadn't stirred until seven, when her little sister shook her awake and pulled her out of bed, calling her downstairs to the big tree, exaggerating just how many presents were under the tree that year. The older humans followed closely behind, camera in tow and smiles on their faces. It was already a wonderful day, and it was barely sunrise yet.
But I didn't have the same questions Olaf did. She rarely ever received many dolls compared to other collections that some people have. Besides, we already had Anna for December. I couldn't imagine getting any new additions to the family.
"I don't know, Olaf. We'll have to wait and see." I replied.
That's when I felt a hand tug on my skirt. "Come on, Elsa! Elphaba found a way to get She's iPod to play Christmas music! Come and join us for karaoke on the floor!" Nessa then darted away, leaping to the floor and joining a small circle that surrounded Elphie and the iPod. I thought that was a good idea to pass the time, so I took Anna and Olaf down with me and we whisper-shouted tunes like "Santa Baby" and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."
And that was pretty much our whole morning while the humans were downstairs, drifting from the party on the floor to talking together on the dresser. I hadn't really expected anything to happen.
But this morning, Nessa was restless for some reason. During a break from the singing, she and Elphie came were up on the dresser, not saying much but moving constantly, their attention always on the door, as if they were waiting for something important to arrive.
"Is something wrong, Nessa?" Anna had to ask.
"Something's not right," the ornament muttered. "These are not all of She's presents. We're missing a few more."
"Well, of course we are. But She's not going to bring them all up right human-sized tree is downstairs, so that's where everything else should be." I replied.
"Downstairs, you say?" said Elphaba, perking up at my words. "I have to agree with my sister. Something is not right about She's presents. We have to go find out, don't we, Nessa?"
Nessarose nearly jumped at the opportunity, and as did I. Since when did Elphie like to leave the Room She Lives In? For as long as I've known her she never really liked to travel far. This had to be something really important for her to react that way. "That's exactly what I was thinking, Elphie! Can we go, Elsa?"
Anna and I, exchanging glances, only shrugged. They didn't need my permission to explore. And why not let them go downstairs for a little while? They were small and the humans were distracted. And it didn't hurt to take a peek at presents on Christmas Day.
"Go ahead, girls," said Anna, shooing them away with her hands. "Just be back up here before this afternoon, okay?"
"Yay!" Nessa jumped down from the dresser, skirts flying and legs splaying once she hit the ground, but she didn't seem to care about either. "Loki, can we borrow Sven for a few minutes? Or maybe a few hours?"
Elphie climbed down slowly after her, and they boarded Sven, who was just happy to be getting out for a walk. The rest of us left in the Room She Lives In waved goodbye and wished them luck, then Anna and I turned to look at each other and shrugged again. Let Nessa and Elphaba have their fun.
We were content to stay upstairs and hum along to Christmas carols with everyone else. Besides, one of the few presents She had brought up that morning was a container of sea salt chocolate caramels. And we weren't about to pass up the chance to feast on a few of those ourselves.
When the girls left, the rest of us settled into a comfortable routine. The group had dwindled to Olaf, Idina, Steve, Magneto, Anna and I. The nutcracker brothers were guarding their Christmas trees with Dorothy and Bell somewhere downstairs. Someone, I think it was Loki, broke out a pack of cards, and those who weren't interested in the game chatted excitedly about Christmas and waited for Nessa and Elphie to come back- so we could do more of what we were already doing. Sven returned a while later, but he wasn't panicked, so we didn't worry about the state of our friends downstairs. I think he just wanted to see what other kinds of foods we had upstairs.
Suddenly, Nessa burst into the room, making all of us jump.
"Guys-" she was breathless. "We found her. The person we've all been waiting for!" Nessa blew her bangs away from her face.
"Who's her?" Magneto wanted to know, happy to look up from a poor hand of cards.
"She's, uh... she's here outside the... oh forget it! I'll just bring her in!" Nessa stomped out the door again and we heard her little footsteps jog away.
Each of our eyes wandered around the room, connecting with a friend and making sure the other was just as confused.
"Wonder what dat was about." Idina murmured.
"You never can tell with Nessa." I responded, as if that let to any clarification at all. I had to make my face look calm like a good leader would, but I felt my hands start to glow blue with worry.
"You're not nervous, are you, Elsa?" Anna teased beside me.
"Maybe a little. I get fearful really easy," I started to wring my hands to keep the shine away. "What do you think it could be? Nessa said she was the person we'd all been waiting for. But I can't remember looking forward to anyone's arrival. Anyone but you, I mean."
"True," said Anna. "But I think Nessa's just a little confused."
"I hope so. Have you heard anything about a special someone everyone's been waiting for? Any clues from your previous home?"
Anna just shook her head. She didn't know any more than I did. I'm not sure if that made me feel better or just increase my nerves.
What felt like a sudden eternity of waiting, Nessa marched back through the door to She's room, looking very proud of herself.
"Elphie and I found her. Though it was mostly me," then she looked around at our bored expressions. "Do you not who I'm talking about?"
"We would if you would have told us what was going on!" Magneto snapped.
Nessa prepared herself for a rambling moment. "Elphie and I knew something was off about Christmas this year so we both went downstairs to see what was going on and we spied on the humans from the stairs as She was unwrapping presents that were under the tree and then we saw her face light up when she got to one of them that looked really special and She took the paper off completely and then we saw her! The one we've been waiting for!"
"Can you bring her in now?" Steve asked.
"Um, yeah. Yeah. I can get her." Nessa vanished into the hallway for the third round, but this time she actually brought something- or rather someone- back for proof.
"Everyone- meet Moana!" the ornament announced, as a new doll stepped confidently, yet warily, into the room, and stood obliviously right on She's iPod, which we had been using to stream Christmas music. At least Moana wasn't alone. Nessa stood on She's tin of colored pencils, which had actually been a present from earlier that morning.
The first thing I noticed about Moana, that was her name, is how she looked. Moana had a unique appearance to me, especially among all the rest of us, who were mostly blonde and Caucasian. She was shorter than an average Disney store doll, eleven inches if I had to guess, and she was a little stockier, too, but not at all in a bad way. Her skin was a medium tan color and she had dark curly hair that traveled down to her waist and looked soft to the touch. Moana's outfit (which I was later told were called pandana and tapa) consisted of a crimson red tube top with white v-shaped sleeves. Her midriff separated the top from the skirt, which was red and detailed to match, with a printed dry grass overlay. Something I had never seen before, cuffs crafted from feathers and shells, looped themselves around Moana's arms before the bend at her elbow. She was certainly different, but it dawned on me what Nessa had meant by "the one we'd been waiting for".
Moana was the next Disney princess.
Anna took action first and hurried to close the door behind Nessa and the new princess. Steve had known something was going on and appeared somewhat magically at my side for help, had I needed it. But I didn't think I would. Flocks of dolls from all around the room came over, and sat on top of She's bed to get a better view of our friend.
"She's here, she's here!" Nessa squealed, dancing about on She's pencil tin. "Welcome to the ohana, Moana!"
When I chortle, Nessa frowns my way. "What? I love Lilo and Stitch! At least the few parts of it that I've seen when they advertise the DVD... oh whatever. You're no fun."
Moana finished waving at each of us and decided to speak. "Um, hello. My name is Moana of Motunui. Nessarose here told me that most of you may not know who I am?"
"That's correct," said Steve. "Please, tell us who you are."
"I will. I promise. As soon as I figure that out."
"Why do you carry a paddle with you?" Nessa interrupted.
Nessa held up a brown painted oar, something I hadn't even noticed before, was taken into Moana's arms. "I don't know. I came with this in my feature set, and I carry it with me because you never know when you might need it." she replied. She brandished it over a shoulder like a trusty sword.
"But we live no where near the sea."
Moana looked saddened by this news. "We don't?" The paddle sank off her arm and fell to the floor.
"Nope. We're pretty much landlocked as far I know. Sorry." I admitted.
"That's okay, I expected as much." Moana looked over to the far side of the room, towards the only one of She's four walls with a window. Her gaze was both wistful and disappointed and her eyes were met with flat, expansive lands and no large bodies of water in sight.
"Where's your box?" I asked, just out of curiosity.
"I left it downstairs. Your human, She, wanted to open us immediately."
Steve and I exchanged a knowing glance. When we were first found, She left us to fend for ourselves by abandoning us, in box, on her bed. Even Anna, who was a recent addition on December 11th and a rescue doll, hadn't been given that much care.
"Us?" Steve inquired. I had the same question, too. Was Moana not alone?
"Just me and my animal friends," Moana lifted an adorable pink and gray piglet off the ground. "This is Pua,"
"As are you?"
Moana sighed, stroking Pua's bristly head as she spoke. "I try to be. But I made it out of the way of the humans and got myself up here with Nessa's help, so that's a start."
"Just Nessa?" Anna stepped in.
Moana's light brown eyes squinted as she tried to remember. "No. There was someone else there, too."
"Nessa, where's Elphie?" said Steve.
"Elphaba?" Nessa rubbed her neck and looked behind her shoulder, only to see a closed door. "She was right behind Moana and I on the way up the stairs again. But her cape is too long, so she's pretty slow."
"Could she still be out there?" Anna asked.
Nessa's face drained of color. "Uh-oh. I think she is."
"I'll go rescue her!" Moana volunteered, her out-of-the-blue enthusiasm taking me aback. "That's why you always carry a paddle."
Then she fixes me with her eyes, now fierce and ready for action, as if she knew I was the real leader around here, despite not being around for more than a few minutes at most. "Please let me go save her. I might be able to find myself if I do."
"But Moana- you do realize-" I began, but she was already gone with taking anything but yes for an answer. Moana didn't care at all that the humans were able to be heard right outside, she opened She's bedroom door anyways. as us other dolls darted out of the way just in time.
I remembered being that reckless once, and I could still feel the urge to do the same inside me, but I guess since I've grown older, I've learned to ignore those urges. Right now I only had enough energy in me to peer around the corner of the doorframe.
From outside, I could plainly see our damsel in distress. Elphaba appeared to have flung herself into Benny's tree, her ornament string catching on one of the lower branches. From there, she had stopped into her found position, but her ice blue eyes pleaded helplessness in our direction.
Moana took this as her cue to move. Fearless and careless, or probably both, Moana gripped her paddle and charged forward, her steps trained for silence and stealth on the well-worn carpet as she sneaked past the humans and dove into a convenient shadow under the Christmas tree. She sat there, crouched in darkness with baited breath, and I could almost see various plans flashing by on her determined face. Finally, when she heard a door closed, Moana flashed those of us watching a smile, then crawled out from under the tree and stood so that her head was level with Elphaba's frozen body.
"My name is Moana," I heard the doll whisper to Elphie from her bough. "I'm new here, and I'm also here to rescue you."
Elphaba does not care much for socialization all of the time, but at the moment, she found that being saved was more important than her introvert time. Moana held her paddle outstretched and flat towards Elphie. With the other hand, Moana reached up and loosened the ornament string from the tree. Elphaba fell like a cat onto Moana's paddle, then held fastly to the handle as Moana checked both ways before running back into the room.
Once they were both safely inside and the door was closed again, Moana lowered her paddle to the ground and let Elphie jump off, almost into Nessa's arms as her sister embraced her in one of Nessa's famous warm hugs.
"Elphaba! Thank goodness you're okay!"
"I'm fine. Or I will be when you stop hurting me."
Nessa quickly pulled away. "Oops, sorry," then she looked up at Elphie's hero. "Thank you, Moana."
"You're a true hero." Elphaba added.
Moana looked happily surprised. "I am?" then, she said quietly to herself, "Maybe that's what I am."
But her moment of self-actualization was ruined as the dolls on the bed began jumping off to get the first chance at meeting our heroine.
Lucky Olaf was the first. And of course he had to have a hug. Moana didn't mind at all. In fact, her smile broadened, if that was even possible after the praise she'd received from Nessa and Elphie. After Olaf, some dolls hugged, others just shook her hand and commented on her bravery, but everyone wanted to know everything about her. Nessa was really the only one who knew anything about a new Disney princess movie, also titled Moana, after the main character, who was now a part of our home.
Moana decided the best option would be to wait until She brought her box upstairs, and that why all of our questions would be answered at once. Until then, she sat with us on the floor and told us the Hawaiian versions of our names, or names very close to our own. (For example, Nessarose had to become Rose instead.) I wrote them down here in my notebook, then took a picture for this blog.
Nessa was pleased to know how close her Hawaiian name was to Loki's real one. Steve was less than pleased to know that his name was after a furry green fruit.
It's hard to tell time on Christmas Day, but we know that mid-afternoon, a mostly empty box was delivered to She's room and placed on the bed.
"Perfect!" Moana exclaimed, once She had left again to help prepare for a human party that night. "My box is here! Now all of our questions will be answered!"
She carried Pua and HeiHei over, and was actually the first to arrive over. She held Pua carefully over the box as HeiHei tried fecklessly to crawl inside again and again through a hole in the front.
"What's that for?" I asked once everyone else had formed a circle around the toppled box, pointing to text underneath the hole, "try me".
"Oh yes. I almost forgot to mention that I'm a singing doll."
"Anna and I are, too," I beamed. "Could you show us?"
Moana rolled her eyes, but she didn't mean it in the way Magneto sometimes does. "She owns the soundtrack. Do I have to?"
"Well, no, I guess not, but it would help us learn more about you."
"In that case, I'll do it." Moana's hand moved to the side of her hip and flicked downwards, a familiar gesture for both Anna and I. But instead of being motion-activated by the wave of a human's hand like we were, Moana had to press a flesh-colored button on her left palm to trigger the singing.
Her main song, titled "How Far I'll Go" certainly rang true with warm chords and slight Polynesian flair as Moana told her tale of how much she wanted to see the ocean. And all in a thirty-second soundbite. Her audience loved it so much that we requested to hear it again and then one more time. Nessa vowed to find the Moana movie soundtrack later so we all could listen to it, but Elphie was more hesitant to leave the room again, and rightfully so.
"Let's move on," Moana suggested after her third time. "I barely got to get used to what was in my own box myself!"
Even without the plastic filler piece, everything was organized very neatly inside the teal tattooed box, thanks to She. Moana's feature doll boxed set had come with a red celebration outfit (which she was currently wearing) and arm bands (which she had placed back into the box). Then there was her main outfit in the movie, which featured salmon colors and shiny grass underneath an off-white wraparound skirt and tie belt. Moana said that the blue abalone necklace with the brown cord had a very sentimental meaning in her movie, but seeing as none of us had ever viewed the film, we didn't quite understand. However, there was a life-size version of the necklace, sans the white pearl beads, for humans to wear. But the very elaborate, beautifully painted headdress was my favorite part. It could make any other Disney princess have crown envy. And, of course, there was her loyal paddle and Pua and HeiHei to accompany Moana's set.
After getting to see what was in Moana's box, most everyone's questions had been put to rest. All except one.
"Who is dat?" Idina asked, pointing to a burly Polynesian man on the bottom right corner of her box. "Do you 'ave a boyfriend?"
To our surprise, Moana started laughing. "No, no. That's Maui. He's the demigod that stole the heart of Te Fiti. It's that green stone inside my necklace. We're just friends in the movie. I can't imagine ever falling for someone, but much less him!"
"Oh well," Idina shrugged, feeling disappointed that she didn't yet have Moana figured out. "Ef you insist."
"I think we should bring Dorothy, Bell, Benny, and Napoleon upstairs if we're done with this box," said Loki. "I think they would like to meet our new member of the family."
"I'm family?" Moana whispered, a hand flying to her heart.
"Of course, silly! Why do you think Nessa said 'welcome to the ohana' earlier?" Olaf cried.
"I didn't think you meant it." said Moana with a shrug and a brush of her long black hair.
"Trust me, I meant it," Nessa promised. "But yeah. Let's go fetch everyone else."
"That would be perfect. Then I can get a family picture of all us of around the tree like I wanted."
"Why?"
"My sister Elsa has this blog that keeps people updated with all that happens in our lives. I hope you don't mind that you're going to be a big star, now, Moana."
"A star and a hero all in the same day?" Moana breathed. "I'll take it."
When the humans were distracted, we were able to get Dorothy, Bell, Benny and Napoleon up to She's room to get them introduced to Moana, who later put on her headdress for the picture. Then, after our tree was brought down to the floor for more space, we finally got our family picture. Right now She's collection is at eighteen dolls, counting animals, and fourteen dolls without. Can you believe that?
I liked this photograph so much that I decided to use it as my December header later on. (Though it came a bit late since She was on vacation and I insisted on waiting until after Christmas to make sure we weren't going to be forgetting any new dolls. Luckily, Moana arrived just in time and we didn't.)
Afterwards, it was about time to head back to our regular places. Moana sat herself next her box and waited excitedly until She came back. Once our human came back upstairs, Moana was immediately stood up and was put onto a good spot that was conveniently already empty on She's dresser, between Anna and Idina, with Pua and HeiHei in front of her.
When the humans were having their Christmas party later in the night, I decided that then was the best time to return to my blog and tell everyone about Moana's arrival. Moana, being as curious as I was, came to check on what I was doing and I asked if she wanted to have a go at writing something.
"Me?" Moana asked incredulously.
"Yeah, go ahead. Who knows? Maybe you'll find something you like doing."
"Um... okay."
So she sat down, I gave her the laptop, and she starting typing.
Anna and I, exchanging glances, only shrugged. They didn't need my permission to explore. And why not let them go downstairs for a little while? They were small and the humans were distracted. And it didn't hurt to take a peek at presents on Christmas Day.
"Go ahead, girls," said Anna, shooing them away with her hands. "Just be back up here before this afternoon, okay?"
"Yay!" Nessa jumped down from the dresser, skirts flying and legs splaying once she hit the ground, but she didn't seem to care about either. "Loki, can we borrow Sven for a few minutes? Or maybe a few hours?"
Elphie climbed down slowly after her, and they boarded Sven, who was just happy to be getting out for a walk. The rest of us left in the Room She Lives In waved goodbye and wished them luck, then Anna and I turned to look at each other and shrugged again. Let Nessa and Elphaba have their fun.
We were content to stay upstairs and hum along to Christmas carols with everyone else. Besides, one of the few presents She had brought up that morning was a container of sea salt chocolate caramels. And we weren't about to pass up the chance to feast on a few of those ourselves.
When the girls left, the rest of us settled into a comfortable routine. The group had dwindled to Olaf, Idina, Steve, Magneto, Anna and I. The nutcracker brothers were guarding their Christmas trees with Dorothy and Bell somewhere downstairs. Someone, I think it was Loki, broke out a pack of cards, and those who weren't interested in the game chatted excitedly about Christmas and waited for Nessa and Elphie to come back- so we could do more of what we were already doing. Sven returned a while later, but he wasn't panicked, so we didn't worry about the state of our friends downstairs. I think he just wanted to see what other kinds of foods we had upstairs.
Suddenly, Nessa burst into the room, making all of us jump.
"Guys-" she was breathless. "We found her. The person we've all been waiting for!" Nessa blew her bangs away from her face.
"Who's her?" Magneto wanted to know, happy to look up from a poor hand of cards.
"She's, uh... she's here outside the... oh forget it! I'll just bring her in!" Nessa stomped out the door again and we heard her little footsteps jog away.
Each of our eyes wandered around the room, connecting with a friend and making sure the other was just as confused.
"Wonder what dat was about." Idina murmured.
"You never can tell with Nessa." I responded, as if that let to any clarification at all. I had to make my face look calm like a good leader would, but I felt my hands start to glow blue with worry.
"You're not nervous, are you, Elsa?" Anna teased beside me.
"Maybe a little. I get fearful really easy," I started to wring my hands to keep the shine away. "What do you think it could be? Nessa said she was the person we'd all been waiting for. But I can't remember looking forward to anyone's arrival. Anyone but you, I mean."
"True," said Anna. "But I think Nessa's just a little confused."
"I hope so. Have you heard anything about a special someone everyone's been waiting for? Any clues from your previous home?"
What felt like a sudden eternity of waiting, Nessa marched back through the door to She's room, looking very proud of herself.
"Elphie and I found her. Though it was mostly me," then she looked around at our bored expressions. "Do you not who I'm talking about?"
"We would if you would have told us what was going on!" Magneto snapped.
Nessa prepared herself for a rambling moment. "Elphie and I knew something was off about Christmas this year so we both went downstairs to see what was going on and we spied on the humans from the stairs as She was unwrapping presents that were under the tree and then we saw her face light up when she got to one of them that looked really special and She took the paper off completely and then we saw her! The one we've been waiting for!"
"Can you bring her in now?" Steve asked.
"Um, yeah. Yeah. I can get her." Nessa vanished into the hallway for the third round, but this time she actually brought something- or rather someone- back for proof.
"Everyone- meet Moana!" the ornament announced, as a new doll stepped confidently, yet warily, into the room, and stood obliviously right on She's iPod, which we had been using to stream Christmas music. At least Moana wasn't alone. Nessa stood on She's tin of colored pencils, which had actually been a present from earlier that morning.
The first thing I noticed about Moana, that was her name, is how she looked. Moana had a unique appearance to me, especially among all the rest of us, who were mostly blonde and Caucasian. She was shorter than an average Disney store doll, eleven inches if I had to guess, and she was a little stockier, too, but not at all in a bad way. Her skin was a medium tan color and she had dark curly hair that traveled down to her waist and looked soft to the touch. Moana's outfit (which I was later told were called pandana and tapa) consisted of a crimson red tube top with white v-shaped sleeves. Her midriff separated the top from the skirt, which was red and detailed to match, with a printed dry grass overlay. Something I had never seen before, cuffs crafted from feathers and shells, looped themselves around Moana's arms before the bend at her elbow. She was certainly different, but it dawned on me what Nessa had meant by "the one we'd been waiting for".
Moana was the next Disney princess.
"She's here, she's here!" Nessa squealed, dancing about on She's pencil tin. "Welcome to the ohana, Moana!"
When I chortle, Nessa frowns my way. "What? I love Lilo and Stitch! At least the few parts of it that I've seen when they advertise the DVD... oh whatever. You're no fun."
Moana finished waving at each of us and decided to speak. "Um, hello. My name is Moana of Motunui. Nessarose here told me that most of you may not know who I am?"
"That's correct," said Steve. "Please, tell us who you are."
"I will. I promise. As soon as I figure that out."
"Why do you carry a paddle with you?" Nessa interrupted.
Nessa held up a brown painted oar, something I hadn't even noticed before, was taken into Moana's arms. "I don't know. I came with this in my feature set, and I carry it with me because you never know when you might need it." she replied. She brandished it over a shoulder like a trusty sword.
"But we live no where near the sea."
Moana looked saddened by this news. "We don't?" The paddle sank off her arm and fell to the floor.
"Nope. We're pretty much landlocked as far I know. Sorry." I admitted.
"That's okay, I expected as much." Moana looked over to the far side of the room, towards the only one of She's four walls with a window. Her gaze was both wistful and disappointed and her eyes were met with flat, expansive lands and no large bodies of water in sight.
"Where's your box?" I asked, just out of curiosity.
"I left it downstairs. Your human, She, wanted to open us immediately."
Steve and I exchanged a knowing glance. When we were first found, She left us to fend for ourselves by abandoning us, in box, on her bed. Even Anna, who was a recent addition on December 11th and a rescue doll, hadn't been given that much care.
"Us?" Steve inquired. I had the same question, too. Was Moana not alone?
"Just me and my animal friends," Moana lifted an adorable pink and gray piglet off the ground. "This is Pua,"
Then she pointed to the crazy-eyed rooster who was scratching about on the carpet by her bare feet. "And that's HeiHei," then, noticing our grimaces as HeiHei started pecking at the dresser, Moana quickly rushed out, "Don't worry about him. He's perfectly capable of fending for himself."
Moana sighed, stroking Pua's bristly head as she spoke. "I try to be. But I made it out of the way of the humans and got myself up here with Nessa's help, so that's a start."
"Just Nessa?" Anna stepped in.
Moana's light brown eyes squinted as she tried to remember. "No. There was someone else there, too."
"Nessa, where's Elphie?" said Steve.
"Elphaba?" Nessa rubbed her neck and looked behind her shoulder, only to see a closed door. "She was right behind Moana and I on the way up the stairs again. But her cape is too long, so she's pretty slow."
"Could she still be out there?" Anna asked.
Nessa's face drained of color. "Uh-oh. I think she is."
"I'll go rescue her!" Moana volunteered, her out-of-the-blue enthusiasm taking me aback. "That's why you always carry a paddle."
Then she fixes me with her eyes, now fierce and ready for action, as if she knew I was the real leader around here, despite not being around for more than a few minutes at most. "Please let me go save her. I might be able to find myself if I do."
"But Moana- you do realize-" I began, but she was already gone with taking anything but yes for an answer. Moana didn't care at all that the humans were able to be heard right outside, she opened She's bedroom door anyways. as us other dolls darted out of the way just in time.
I remembered being that reckless once, and I could still feel the urge to do the same inside me, but I guess since I've grown older, I've learned to ignore those urges. Right now I only had enough energy in me to peer around the corner of the doorframe.
From outside, I could plainly see our damsel in distress. Elphaba appeared to have flung herself into Benny's tree, her ornament string catching on one of the lower branches. From there, she had stopped into her found position, but her ice blue eyes pleaded helplessness in our direction.
Moana took this as her cue to move. Fearless and careless, or probably both, Moana gripped her paddle and charged forward, her steps trained for silence and stealth on the well-worn carpet as she sneaked past the humans and dove into a convenient shadow under the Christmas tree. She sat there, crouched in darkness with baited breath, and I could almost see various plans flashing by on her determined face. Finally, when she heard a door closed, Moana flashed those of us watching a smile, then crawled out from under the tree and stood so that her head was level with Elphaba's frozen body.
"My name is Moana," I heard the doll whisper to Elphie from her bough. "I'm new here, and I'm also here to rescue you."
Elphaba does not care much for socialization all of the time, but at the moment, she found that being saved was more important than her introvert time. Moana held her paddle outstretched and flat towards Elphie. With the other hand, Moana reached up and loosened the ornament string from the tree. Elphaba fell like a cat onto Moana's paddle, then held fastly to the handle as Moana checked both ways before running back into the room.
Once they were both safely inside and the door was closed again, Moana lowered her paddle to the ground and let Elphie jump off, almost into Nessa's arms as her sister embraced her in one of Nessa's famous warm hugs.
"Elphaba! Thank goodness you're okay!"
"I'm fine. Or I will be when you stop hurting me."
Nessa quickly pulled away. "Oops, sorry," then she looked up at Elphie's hero. "Thank you, Moana."
"You're a true hero." Elphaba added.
But her moment of self-actualization was ruined as the dolls on the bed began jumping off to get the first chance at meeting our heroine.
Lucky Olaf was the first. And of course he had to have a hug. Moana didn't mind at all. In fact, her smile broadened, if that was even possible after the praise she'd received from Nessa and Elphie. After Olaf, some dolls hugged, others just shook her hand and commented on her bravery, but everyone wanted to know everything about her. Nessa was really the only one who knew anything about a new Disney princess movie, also titled Moana, after the main character, who was now a part of our home.
Moana decided the best option would be to wait until She brought her box upstairs, and that why all of our questions would be answered at once. Until then, she sat with us on the floor and told us the Hawaiian versions of our names, or names very close to our own. (For example, Nessarose had to become Rose instead.) I wrote them down here in my notebook, then took a picture for this blog.
Nessa was pleased to know how close her Hawaiian name was to Loki's real one. Steve was less than pleased to know that his name was after a furry green fruit.
It's hard to tell time on Christmas Day, but we know that mid-afternoon, a mostly empty box was delivered to She's room and placed on the bed.
"Perfect!" Moana exclaimed, once She had left again to help prepare for a human party that night. "My box is here! Now all of our questions will be answered!"
She carried Pua and HeiHei over, and was actually the first to arrive over. She held Pua carefully over the box as HeiHei tried fecklessly to crawl inside again and again through a hole in the front.
"What's that for?" I asked once everyone else had formed a circle around the toppled box, pointing to text underneath the hole, "try me".
"Oh yes. I almost forgot to mention that I'm a singing doll."
"Anna and I are, too," I beamed. "Could you show us?"
Moana rolled her eyes, but she didn't mean it in the way Magneto sometimes does. "She owns the soundtrack. Do I have to?"
"Well, no, I guess not, but it would help us learn more about you."
"In that case, I'll do it." Moana's hand moved to the side of her hip and flicked downwards, a familiar gesture for both Anna and I. But instead of being motion-activated by the wave of a human's hand like we were, Moana had to press a flesh-colored button on her left palm to trigger the singing.
Her main song, titled "How Far I'll Go" certainly rang true with warm chords and slight Polynesian flair as Moana told her tale of how much she wanted to see the ocean. And all in a thirty-second soundbite. Her audience loved it so much that we requested to hear it again and then one more time. Nessa vowed to find the Moana movie soundtrack later so we all could listen to it, but Elphie was more hesitant to leave the room again, and rightfully so.
"Let's move on," Moana suggested after her third time. "I barely got to get used to what was in my own box myself!"
Even without the plastic filler piece, everything was organized very neatly inside the teal tattooed box, thanks to She. Moana's feature doll boxed set had come with a red celebration outfit (which she was currently wearing) and arm bands (which she had placed back into the box). Then there was her main outfit in the movie, which featured salmon colors and shiny grass underneath an off-white wraparound skirt and tie belt. Moana said that the blue abalone necklace with the brown cord had a very sentimental meaning in her movie, but seeing as none of us had ever viewed the film, we didn't quite understand. However, there was a life-size version of the necklace, sans the white pearl beads, for humans to wear. But the very elaborate, beautifully painted headdress was my favorite part. It could make any other Disney princess have crown envy. And, of course, there was her loyal paddle and Pua and HeiHei to accompany Moana's set.
After getting to see what was in Moana's box, most everyone's questions had been put to rest. All except one.
"Who is dat?" Idina asked, pointing to a burly Polynesian man on the bottom right corner of her box. "Do you 'ave a boyfriend?"
To our surprise, Moana started laughing. "No, no. That's Maui. He's the demigod that stole the heart of Te Fiti. It's that green stone inside my necklace. We're just friends in the movie. I can't imagine ever falling for someone, but much less him!"
"Oh well," Idina shrugged, feeling disappointed that she didn't yet have Moana figured out. "Ef you insist."
"I think we should bring Dorothy, Bell, Benny, and Napoleon upstairs if we're done with this box," said Loki. "I think they would like to meet our new member of the family."
"I'm family?" Moana whispered, a hand flying to her heart.
"Of course, silly! Why do you think Nessa said 'welcome to the ohana' earlier?" Olaf cried.
"I didn't think you meant it." said Moana with a shrug and a brush of her long black hair.
"Trust me, I meant it," Nessa promised. "But yeah. Let's go fetch everyone else."
"That would be perfect. Then I can get a family picture of all us of around the tree like I wanted."
"Why?"
"My sister Elsa has this blog that keeps people updated with all that happens in our lives. I hope you don't mind that you're going to be a big star, now, Moana."
"A star and a hero all in the same day?" Moana breathed. "I'll take it."
When the humans were distracted, we were able to get Dorothy, Bell, Benny and Napoleon up to She's room to get them introduced to Moana, who later put on her headdress for the picture. Then, after our tree was brought down to the floor for more space, we finally got our family picture. Right now She's collection is at eighteen dolls, counting animals, and fourteen dolls without. Can you believe that?
I liked this photograph so much that I decided to use it as my December header later on. (Though it came a bit late since She was on vacation and I insisted on waiting until after Christmas to make sure we weren't going to be forgetting any new dolls. Luckily, Moana arrived just in time and we didn't.)
Afterwards, it was about time to head back to our regular places. Moana sat herself next her box and waited excitedly until She came back. Once our human came back upstairs, Moana was immediately stood up and was put onto a good spot that was conveniently already empty on She's dresser, between Anna and Idina, with Pua and HeiHei in front of her.
When the humans were having their Christmas party later in the night, I decided that then was the best time to return to my blog and tell everyone about Moana's arrival. Moana, being as curious as I was, came to check on what I was doing and I asked if she wanted to have a go at writing something.
"Me?" Moana asked incredulously.
"Yeah, go ahead. Who knows? Maybe you'll find something you like doing."
"Um... okay."
So she sat down, I gave her the laptop, and she starting typing.
***
Aloha, makamaka! (Hello, friends.) Elsa wanted me to write a few words here, and although I am slow at typing, I think I will get better if I practice. Maybe she was right in saying that this would be something I enjoy. In the meantime, I am settling in nicely and getting to know my new family better each minute. Merry Christmas to everyone!
***
After observing that Moana wrote, I realized that she'd need a sign-out picture like the one I always do. So I snatched up She's camera, commanded "smile" and snapped a photo of Moana that the both of us are very proud of. I will enclose it below to replace my usual sign-out pic. Until next time, this has been a new and wonderful Christmas Day for all of us at A Doll's Life for Me.
Wishing you a happy holiday,
Queen Elsa and Moana of Motunui
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