The sun wasn’t up yet when Marah knocked on Kapri’s door. She knocked many times, trying to make it sound merry.

Kapri opened the door, a huge smile on her face. "Happy Christmas Eve!"

Marah’s expression matched Kapri’s instantly. "Merry Christmas Eve!" They giggled and hugged and then giggled some more. "This is so exciting, Kapri."

Kapri nodded several times as she closed the door to her room and joined her sister in the hallway. "I know. I can’t believe today’s finally here!"

They quickly and quietly made their way to the main door of the building and then high-fived once outside. "Our first ever Earth Christmas!" they squealed in delighted unison.

The girls scrambled off to the cover of the trees. They quickly ducked behind a large pine for cover. Kapri made a quick gesture with her hands and they disappeared in a flash of light.

They reappeared in their pre-scouted location, behind the giant superstore on the far side of Blue Bay Harbor. They had picked a place between a large dumpster and the back wall of the building for the best cover possible. They quickly skedaddled into the first main doors they came to, entering on the grocery side.

"This is gonna be so much fun," Marah said, looking around as they entered the huge store.

"Ninja’s gonna be okay by himself for awhile, right?" Kapri asked as she headed toward the fresh produce.

"Uh, Kapri," Marah said sharply, rolling her eyes. "He stays by himself all the time now. Like, hello? Where have you been?"

"Studying," Kapri replied absently as she picked up an apple and looked at it. "I want to impress Cousin during the monster alerts."

"You want to impress everybody, all the time." Marah picked up a similar apple and examined it as best she could. "I thought Cousin was going to take care of the food?"

Kapri took her attention from the fruit to her sister. "Sh-yeah! But we’re shopping for decorations!"

Marah blinked. "And that has something to do with apples, how?"

Kapri showed Marah the apple she was holding. "Red." She reached around the display and held up another apple. "Green. See?"

Marah smiled. "Now I do!" She grabbed several red apples of her own. "Christmas is all about red and green."

"And a fat man." Kapri added. "Who, strangely, wears red and white, but no green."

"And cute, flying deer," Marah said gleefully.

"And short men." Kapri added. "Who work for the fat man and yet, strangely, seem to wear red and green, but no white."

Marah glanced over to her sister. "Why is that?"

Kapri shrugged as she finished putting her apples into bags. "Heck if I know. This isn’t our messed up planet."

Marah came over to Kapri. "It is, now."

Looking up at the wistful sound in her sister’s voice, Kapri nodded. "Yeah, it is, now." She waited for Marah to dump her apples into the bags and then squeezed her hand. She waited until Marah looked into her eyes. "But, if we could’ve made the rules on this messed up planet, our holiday icons would totally match."

"Totally," Marah nodded in agreement. "And it wouldn’t be red and green. It would be pink and orange."

She critically eyed the two bags of apples. "We need more decorations."

"What else comes in red and green?"

"I see some berries. Let’s get some of those and then head into the non-food sections and see what we can find."

It took them less than five minutes to head into the other areas of the store and that included a quick stop back at the very front to pick up a cart. Kapri had gone down the fabric aisle and lost track of Marah for a few. She had noticed that the store was piping Christmas songs through the sound system. She and Marah were endlessly fascinated with all the holiday songs and Kapri was humming along to "I’ll Be Home for Christmas" while looking at pretty pink paisley.

Until her sister came running up with excitement radiating from her. She nimbly dodged around an elderly woman who was looking at some red and black flannel next to Kapri. "Look what I found!"

Kapri looked in her sister’s arms. There, nestled together like they had all just hatched, was some of the cutest water foul she had ever seen. Four red, four green, all sporting adorable little horns and black, arched eyebrows. They looked ready to take on the world as only eight little plastic ducks could.

"They’re soooo cute," Kapri cooed. She began taking them one at time from Marah’s arms and setting them carefully into the cart. She took the third one too quick and a different duck started to tumble. Kapri reached out and caught it quickly and was rewarded with a high, squeaking noise from the rescued duck.

Marah looked at the ones in her arms with renewed interest. "They can talk?"

"Well, that only makes them cuter!" Kapri exclaimed.

The older woman had been watching the scene even as she had moved her attention to gray and green flannel. "They have horns, dears."

Marah looked to her, a brilliant smile in place. "I know! Aren’t they precious?" Just then, Kapri placed the last duck safely in the basket and wheeled off toward the stuffed animals. Marah hurried after, but stopped and looked back to the other woman. "They’re in aisle five if you want some," she said helpfully and then scooted off to catch up with Kapri.

Many a plush entered their cart as the sisters went up and down, looking at all the toys. Then they headed into other areas and found red and green candles, bows and in-line skates. Each and every item happily got a bye into their cart.

"I think we’re about done," Marah said, eyeing the packed basket.

"Yeah," Kapri agreed. She put on the brakes, spun the shopping cart up on two wheels and did an abrupt about-face. "To the registers!"

It was early enough in the morning that the girls were able to get the cart up to a good speed before they had to slow down. They couldn’t believe the long lines that greeted them.

"Ohhhh," Kapri said, frustration in her voice and her hand gesture toward the offense. "That’s just great! We’ve got way too much to go through the self-check out."

Marah began counting the items in their possession out loud while Kapri scanned up and down the register lanes, trying to determine their best bet.

"Fifty-three." Marah finished. Then she groaned, "We’re so screwed."

"It’s times like these that I miss having kelzaks to order around," Kapri sighed. She picked line nine and pushed their green and red haul to the end of the line.

They waited there for a few minutes, looking at anything pretty or shiny they could see. Marah’s eyes drifted back to the cart and she smiled. "You know what? I can’t wait to get back and decorate."

Kapri nodded. "Yeah. That’ll be lots of fun." She wrinkled her nose. "This has got to be better than the reunion party."

"Yeah," Marah said quickly. A sweet smile slowly crossed her face as she glanced to all the sleepy people standing in long lines with carts full of Christmas supplies. Then she looked to Kapri. "After all, this is our messed up planet now."

Kapri groaned loudly. "You are such a sap, Marah." But Marah saw that she was smiling, too.

"We’re really home for Christmas, Kapri."

Kapri cocked her head to the right as she pushed the cart up a little ways. "Don’t you mean we’re finally home for Christmas?"

"That’s what I said."