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Liesl von Kettel

Kat family house, St. George, UT

The Kats didn't make a lot of fancy preparations for their holiday. Toby said that mostly it involved food, but Harper did like to hang snowflakes in the windows, and she put some small icicle lights in the larger indoor plants. She asked me to help her pin snowflakes in front of the living room picture window. Craig and Toby were working on a laptop in there, and my Teagan was searching for something downstairs.

"What is the solstice like in Germany, Liesl?" Harper inquired as she took another snowflake from me.

That wasn't a simple question. I tried to keep it short, but even a short answer was quite long. "We call it Weihnacht, or Holy Night," I explained. "Much else differs depending on where you are in Germany. In the south, close to the mountains, they light a lot of tiny candles and put them all over the house. Winters in the alps are cold and dark, so they sometimes call it the festival of lights, the goal being to warm up and drive away the darkness. Sometimes it's called the snow festival, and there are a lot of winter games, like curling and eishockey, and everyone will throw snowballs. People like to ski a lot, downhill or cross country. In the middle of the country, from München to the Rühr, it's similar to what you see in Italy because of the Roman influence over a thousand years. But further north, around the Nordsee and the Ostsee - the Baltic Sea, sorry - we are heavily affected by winter gales. So we call it the ice festival. We also light candles, but usually put them inside protective lanterns and set them on tables, the better that they don't blow away. Of course, everyone exchanges gifts and wishes others a good year, and there are many delicious foods from every city."

"Where's Münster in all of that, then," Craig asked me.

"It's a little bit north of the Rühr. Sometimes we do Roman things, and sometimes we do Nordlich things. In the castle, they decide based on a complex calendar that celebrates various events in history. But my family in Berlin mostly celebrates northern style."

Craig winced. I wasn't trying to embarass him about forgetting that I don't live near my noble cousins. I felt a little bad about it, even so, so I tried a distraction. "But we all love to drink Glühwein, no matter where we are in Germany. I think it's something that I miss most, because Americans don't really like it."

"There are some German communities nearby," Harper said. "I bet we can find something."

"It's easy to find the ingredients, actually," I laughed. "I just find it hard to drink a whole batch by myself, so I don't make it."

"Oh, so it's not sold in bottles?"

"No, it wouldn't taste right if it were bottled. But you can buy spice kits to add to the wine. Sometimes, my mother would also make it flame with rum, but that requires some special tools to hang the sugar hat over the bowl. It was fun to watch the flames dance over the wine, though."

I saw harper looking thoughtful. Maybe she was working on how to get it. But just then, Teagan came into the room."

"Anna's asleep," he reported, setting down the baby monitor. "And I finally found this. The way it was hidden, I'd think Harper didn't want it around." He set a strange green plush on the table. "Ia, ia, fthagn!"

"Oh, no," said Harper, looking at me from her step-ladder with a look of horror.

"Oh, you found him!" cheered Toby. "I've been wondering where he got to, the last couple winters. I thought you'd taken him with you!"

"If I had known he wasn't wanted here, I would have," Teagan said. I think he was teasing Harper, though.

"He's definitely wanted," defended Toby. "It just wouldn't be a scary soltisce without Cthulhu."

"Actually, it's your father who hates it," Harper cautioned. "And he makes it known to me whenever you all get it out, with lots of behind-doors complaining."

"What's he got against Cthulhu," Toby demanded.

"And for that matter, who is Cutooloo," Craig asked. I'm glad he did. I wasn't sure of this little green fuzzball, either.

"You don't know? Toby, what have you been teaching him?" Teagan demanded.

"He's from a horror writer named Lovecraft," Toby explained. "The story goes that Cthulhu is one of the elder gods, an unspeakable horror, who was imprisoned under the sea for thousands of years."

Teagan interrupted, "And the bonds that keep him imprisoned are weakest on the solstice, so his cult followers could possibly break his bonds and awaken him at this time."

"Of course the real Cthulhu is so ugly that just looking at him will drive a fur totally insane," Toby continued.

"Yep, a gibbering moron," Teagan agreed. I could see why Harper was looking very ganged up on. I'd never seen my Teagan like this.

"Kind of like two boys demanding presents on Solstice morning," Harper teased. "At least, if you must set it out, put it downstairs, where your father doesn't hang out much. Please."

"I could go for that," Teagan said. "He can reign from the mantlepiece, this year."

"I'm cool with that," said Toby.

Craig picked the little plush up and inspected it. "Doesn't look that horrible to me."

"Well, this is just a plush. The real thing is unspeakably horrible," Toby insisted, searching for images on the laptop. "Here, see?"

Craig handed the thing to me as he looked. "Oh, yes, that's pretty ugly, alright."

"Seems pretty tame to me, too. I'm not very scared." I tossed the thing to Teagan.

"Oh, you will be. You will be," Teagan whispered in his best Yoda impression as he took it from me. I just rolled my eyes.

* * *

Three days later we all sat in the living room again around a pile of brightly wrapped packages. Jaime reigned over the pile, distributing packages to their owners, and making sure that everyone got a turn before the same person opened another package. "And here's two that need to be opened at the same time, for my boys," he said, handing two boxes of the same shape and size to Teagan and Toby. Craig swung the video camera around to point it at them.

"Shall we race," grinned Teagan.

Toby didn't feel too competitive this morning. "Nah, let's just do it together. Can you give us a three-count, Liesl?"

"Eins, zwei, THREE!" I declared, feeling a bit silly with nothing so far for breakfast but reheated Glühwein from the night before.

They ripped into their packages with gusto and found inside, plain brown boxes. A simple claw swipe opened the boxes at the same time and, as they pulled back the flaps on the box top, eached breathed out identical gasps, and then began to laugh.

"Harper, you aren't going to believe this," Toby gasped.

"Why, what is it?" She asked.

"Guess," said Toby.

"I couldn't possibly!" She raised her shoulders.

They both reached into the boxes, and with great triumph, drew out two brand new Chthulhu plushes. Harper let out a shriek, and Craig fell over, laughing. I managed to catch the tripod before the camera hit the table.

"You're kidding! Jamie??" Harper's jaw was hanging open.

"You get these on one condition," said Jaime.

"What's that?" asked Teagan.

"You have to take them back to your other homes, and don't bring them back here! I knew you felt bad when the old one disappeared, but I had no idea that it was going to reappear this year. I found these before that happened. It was all I could do to pretend I didn't see it's horible face hanging off the mantle downstairs."

"Dad, you truly are amazing," said Toby.

"Totally," agreed Teagan.

"What will you do with the old one?" I asked, as Craig took the camera back from me and stood it back up between us.

"Well, it seems hiding it in the darkest corner of the storage room didn't work. Maybe there's some unfortunate kid out there whose parents couldn't afford a Cthulhu new. I'll give it to the deacons' box at church. As long as nobody minds?"

A chorus of nos circled the room, and the boys laughed again over their stuffed dolls. Craig and I exchanged bewildered looks, until we were interrupted with another gift for each of us. How they managed to sneak all of these gifts into the house was beyond me. Especially gifts from Teagan to me. They weren't in the car when we drove over from California, and he never went out without me while we were here. But both Craig and I were joyful to be fully integrated into the family.

* * *

"Schatz," I asked that night as we lay in his bed. "How did you do it?"

"Do what, Liebchen?"

"How did you get those presents here without me knowing about them?"

"Harper helped. I ordered them online and had them delivered here. She wrapped them. Except for the ones for her. Dad intercepted those at his office."

"Kluges Mensch," I conceded.

"Was there ever a doubt?" he asked. I could hear the grin, as he leaned in and kissed me.

"Nein," I said. "After all, you found me."

He laughed, softly, careful not to wake the baby or be heard upstairs. Is it any wonder why I love this man?

"But," I said, "I really could do without that thing and its glowing eyes staring at us all night. It gives me the-- what do you call them?-- The willies!"

This time he did laugh out loud, before slapping his paw over his mouth and I desperately shushed him. Once he was sure that Anna didn't wake, he whispered. "I told ya, you'd be afraid!"

"Ach, du liebe..."