Keeping Spirits Bright
Julie and the Phantoms Advent fills 2024! We're back baby! Another year, another 25 days of holiday joy with our favourite ghost band! I hope you enjoy, and remember, engagement is the best present this holiday season!
Day 1: Adventure + PeterPatter <=AO3
When the Pattersons decided to retreat to a cabin in the woods to give Luke the real old fashioned holiday experience, he only had one request-he wanted to bring Reggie with them.
“Oh honey, won’t his family want to spend Christmas with him?” Emily asked. She didn’t know much about the Peters; Reggie never mentioned them much, but surely they wouldn’t let their only son up and leave for the holidays.
“Reggie doesn’t celebrate Christmas,” Luke replied. “He celebrates…Hanka?”
“Channukah?” she corrected with a smile.
“That’s the one!” Luke stated with a snap and a pointed finger. “So his family won’t mind and I think he’d really like to have Christmas for once. Please ma? I won’t even ask for any presents if Reggie can come!”
“No presents? Really?” she asked with an arched eyebrow.
“Well…not many presents,” Luke amended. “Plus I need to get Reg something.”
Emily melted at that-Luke had taken Reggie under his arm since he moved to LA a few months ago, and she loved how devoted the boys were to each other. It also didn’t hurt that Reggie was always so sweet and thankful for every scrap of affection any of them showed him every time he visited. So if Emily could do this for her son, she would.
Thankfully, Linus and Evelynn Peters seemed more than happy to let Reggie go, and Emily ignored the mumbled comments of him not being underfoot. Luke had let out a whoop of joy at the news, enveloping Emily in a big hug, which she treasured, especially since Luke seemed to shirk every touch since hitting double digits.
So the day after school let out, the Pattersons packed up their station wagon, heading down to Silver Lake, then they would make their way north to the little cabin they had rented until January. Where the forecast was calling for a little snow, giving Emily the white Christmas she wanted without subjecting her California boys to a blizzard. She swore one day she would bring them home to Quebec-maybe for Carnivale, they would like that.
“You excited Luke?” Mitch asked as they neared Reggie’s house.
“Yeah!” Luke exclaimed. “Me an’ Reg are gonna make a snowman, and help you chop down a tree, and sing carols!”
Emily and Mitch shared a grin-Luke may be nearing his teen years, but he was always enthusiastic about the holidays. That’s why they were doing this now before he got too old for it or decided both they and Christmas were too lame to even acknowledge.
Their smiles faded though, when they arrived at the little faded yellow house to find Reggie already outside, sitting on his suitcase. All alone, with no one to see him off or even say goodbye to. Even as he lit up, rushing to the car, tossing his luggage in the trunk before claiming his seat next to Luke. “Thanks again for letting me come Mr. & Mrs. P.”
“Of course Reggie, happy to have you,” Mitch said, reaching over to squeeze Emily’s hand. Now more than ever she was determined to give her boys-and that included Reggie now-a great holiday.
They drove on, the boys happily chatting away in the back seat, the radio playing softly, with Emily knitting as the scenery passed by. She had already made Luke and Mitch new stockings, and she was almost done her own. Thank goodness she had brought lots of yarn though, because she was definitely going to be making one for Reggie. They already had things to fill it with, so she just needed to knit it.
By the time they got to the road for the cabin, the boys were asleep in the back, and Emily was flagging herself. They had stopped for supper at a small diner hours earlier, so they only had to unpack the car when they got in before bed.
Luke of course, was up with the sun, waking Reggie with him in the process since they were sharing a bed. “We should go out, have some adventures before ma and pop get up,” he said quietly.
Reggie gave him a bleary smile, the both of them invigorated by the fresh cool air. “We should look for reindeer!” he exclaimed.
“Why?”
“Well Santa has to store them somewhere with room to run around before Christmas, why not here?”
Luke had to keep his face from moving-since Reggie had never done Christmas, apparently no one had ever told him the truth about Santa either. Luke had known for a year or two, and while he was a little sad the world was a less magical place, he had come to terms with it. His folks had explained it to him, and even offered to still do Santa presents for him, but he figured he was too old for that. Maybe he could change the tags though-just to let Reggie keep the magic alive a little longer. Then he’d tell him the truth once they were home.
But he could erase the joy in Reggie’s heart-not yet anyway. “Yeah, let’s go see if we can find Rudolph!”
So they scurried through the forest, upsetting dirt and the small bit of frost there. Pretending they were explorers, discovering unclaimed land, on the hunt for the fabled North Pole.
Of course there were no reindeer to be found, but they were having too much fun to care, collecting pine cones, spotting the odd bird or creature who hadn’t hidden away to hibernate. Making up songs as they explored, only heading back when they heard Luke’s mom call out for breakfast.
“I guess Santa brought the reindeer back to the North Pole already, Reg,” Luke said.
Reggie deflated for a moment then shrugged. “It was a long shot anyways. I bet they’re in like the Yukon during the off season anyways-less travel time.”
“You’re totally right,” Luke said, then tapped him on the shoulder. “Tag, you’re it!”
“No fair!” Reggie giggled, chasing after him, all thought of reindeer forgotten.
Well until he opened his stocking on Christmas morning and found a messily scrawled song about two explorers finding the North Pole. And even if Luke told him there was no Santa, Reggie still had that song, and all those memories to keep the magic of the holidays alive for the rest of his life. A song he shared with his and Luke’s kids many years later as they went on their own reindeer hunt.