Part Three
While most of the Muppets hurried into the kitchen for hot chocolate, Casey stood in the living room and tried to collect herself. It wasn’t easy. Looking around, she couldn’t help feeling a little dizzy.
Rather than just the fireplace, an entire wall was hung with stockings—some smaller than her thumb, some big enough to fit a twenty-pound potato sack, and some every size in between, each labeled with a name.
And the tree—oh, goodness, the tree! It was so tall that the star on top touched the ceiling, and the base was so wide that it couldn’t possibly have fit through the door. It was strung with a mix of white and colored lights, both silver and gold garland, and more ornaments than Casey had ever seen in one place: carved wooden ornaments, glass and plastic balls, ornaments made from popsicle sticks and construction paper, ornaments made of fabric and yarn, metal ornaments, ceramic ornaments, edible ornaments, half-eaten ornaments, and ornaments that were broken, burned, or chipped. A model train ran around the base of the tree—or at least it would have, except that it seemed to be stuck at the base of a roller-coaster-style loop-de-loop that no amount of “I think I can” could overcome.
And on both sides of the train tracks, crammed under the branches and all around the tree, were piles and piles of presents. Presents in gift bags, presents neatly wrapped with bright bows and ribbons, presents haphazardly wrapped with the paper falling off, presents with more tape than wrapping paper, presents wrapped in newspaper, presents still in the boxes they’d been shipped in with a stick-on bow slapped on the side. It looked like Santa had already made multiple trips to this house.
And as if all of that weren’t enough, the piano was strung with Christmas lights, too, with a wreath hanging on the back to face the rest of the room and evergreen garland across the top—right next to a Hanukkah menorah, for some reason. The coffee table hadn’t been spared, either: it had been covered with cotton batting for snow and turned into a miniature Christmas village, although this particular Christmas village happened to include several giant remote controls, mugs, and cups, as well as a pair of reading glasses. Every single surface in the room was decorated with small snowmen, Santas, elves, reindeer, nutcrackers, poinsettias, and berries and holly.
Casey stared at it all, took a deep breath, and let out a heavy sigh.
“Hey Casey, don’t you want some hot cocoa?” Floyd called from the kitchen door. “It’s edible, and for the time being, we have enough mugs intact!”
“Oh, um—sure,” Casey said, slipping her hand into her pocket and gripping her phone. “Sure, I… I’ll be right there.”
“Better hurry,” Floyd warned. “Stuff goes quick when it actually tastes good.” He chuckled softly as the kitchen door swung shut.
Casey bit her lip and pulled her phone out. I found a place to stay, she typed into a text for her husband. You’ll never believe where. She tucked her phone back into her pocket and cautiously went into the kitchen.
The kitchen was cramped and crowded and so warm from all the body heat that hot chocolate was hardly necessary, but no one seemed to mind. Everyone was talking and laughing. There were decorations here, too; garland traced the top of the cabinets, and paper snowflakes hung from the ceiling.
“Ooh, like, pass a mug back for Casey, please!” Janice called when she saw Casey. “Like, you’re totally rully lucky, Casey. The hot cocoa is like, even better than it was last year!”
“Oh, um—how was it last year?” Casey asked, not sure if she wanted to know.
“Delicious,” Floyd said. “Once a year, Chef manages to make some food that’s actually good!”
“It’s our annual Christmas miracle,” Rowlf said as he handed Casey a mug. “By the way, I’m Rowlf, Rowlf the Dog.”
“Nice to meet you. And, um—thank you,” Casey said, lifting the mug a little. The hot chocolate did smell good…
“Oh, don’t thank me. Thank Chef,” Rowlf said. “Or Christmas, for the miracle…”
“Or Santa Claus,” Floyd suggested.
“SAN-TA! SAN-TA!”
“Heel, Animal!” Floyd shouted. “He’s comin’ soon!”
“SAN-TA!”
“I’d better check on that. ‘Scuse me, babe.” Floyd kissed Janice on the cheek and slipped away into the crowd. “Animal! Down, Animal!”
“Yeah, keep him away from the eggnog,” Rowlf chuckled. “So, where ya from, Casey?”
“New York.” Casey sipped at her hot chocolate.
“Oh, we know New York!” Rowlf said.
“Love that city,” Clifford said. “You from the city?”
Casey nodded and smiled, half-hiding behind her mug as the Muppets started sharing all sorts of stories and memories from New York City.
“Jou remember de salsa lady?” Pepe said. “She was hot, hokay!”
“Yeah, but da salsa was awful,” Rizzo said.
“Who cares about de salsa? I’m talking about de salsa lady, hokay.”
“Yeah, yeah…”
“You guys remember the time we got thrown out of the hot dog place?” Fozzie said.
“Which one?” Gonzo laughed.
Kermit groaned. “Please don’t remind me.”
“Hey Chief, you’ve got some good New York stories, don’t you?” Scooter asked.
“What, you mean from Sesame Street?”
“Yeah, tell us some Sesame stories!”
Kermit laughed. “Well, I could, but I’m pretty sure you all know how to count to three already…”
“I’m not always convinced of that, Boss,” Scooter said, which got a few more laughs.
Casey’s cell phone rang, and she pressed her back against the wall as she pulled the phone out of her pocket. She grinned at the screen and answered the video call. “Hi honey.”
“Alright, I give up. Where are you staying?”
The Muppets quickly quieted each other and eagerly stared at Casey as they tried their best to eavesdrop, but Casey was too busy giggling to notice. “I’m not telling. You wouldn’t believe me.”
“Come on, Casey. Please, tell me?”
“Nuh-uh.”
“Where ARE you?”
“You wouldn’t believe it.”
“Alright, I wouldn’t. So prove it. Where are you staying?”
Casey giggled and peered over her phone, noticing for the first time that all of the Muppets were watching and listening. “You guys wanna say hi?”
“Yeah, let us say hi!”
“Who is it?”
“It’s my husband, Nick.”
“Let us say hi!”
“Okay. Nick… you should maybe sit down.” Casey giggled as she held the phone up so that everyone in the room could see the screen.
“HI NICK!”
“HI NICK!”
“MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
“MERRY CHRISTMAS, NICK!”
“JOUR WIFE’S HOT!”
“Pepe!”
Casey laughed so hard she nearly spilled her hot chocolate. She brought the phone back down to her own eye level and looked at the screen. “Nick?” She stared at the screen for a moment, and then she giggled again. “Nick? You okay, honey?”
There didn’t seem to be any response, and the Muppets snickered. “Blame Pepe!” someone called out.
But Nick recovered. “Casey… how…”
She started to explain. “Well, I ran into Miss Piggy at the baggage claim, and—” Casey could feel the diva watching her, and she coughed. “And… the next thing I knew, I was here!”
Kermit started laughing again.
“…Well… Next time you get stranded in L.A. on Christmas Eve, can I come with?” Nick asked.
Casey laughed. “I hope so.”
“I was actually calling because Tasha wants to talk to you.”
“Oh, put her on!”
Little Tasha appeared on the screen. “Hi Mommy!”
“Hi Tasha, honey!”
“Mommy, is Santa gonna know to bring your presents THERE if you can’t come home?”
Casey’s breath caught for a moment. “Oh… Well, Tasha, he—Santa—probably knows I’m here, but—he knows I’m coming home soon, so he’ll probably still bring my presents there with yours.”
“But then you won’t have any presents to open tomorrow!” Casey sounded heartbroken at the idea.
The Muppets glanced at each other. Scooter whispered something to Miss Piggy, and more whispers continued to spread.
“That’s okay, honey,” Casey said. “I’ll open my presents with you and Daddy, when I get home… in a couple days.”
“But Santa’s supposed to bring presents on Christmas!” Tasha said. “You’re supposed to get PRESENTS tomorrow!”
“I know, honey, but there’s more to Christmas than presents,” Casey said. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “It’ll be okay. I can wait for presents.”
“But won’t Santa bring them THERE for you?” Tasha asked. “You should put milk and cookies out for him. Maybe then he’ll bring your presents to you.”
“Maybe. We’ll see,” Casey said quietly.
Scooter cleared his throat. “Anyone else have a little more shopping to do?” he said loudly as he made his way towards the door.
“Oh I do, actually!” Kermit said quickly. “Fozzie, you wanna come with?”
“Moi could always use another trip to the mall,” Miss Piggy said easily.
“How do you know none of the gifts I have to get are for you?” Kermit asked.
A few more whispers filtered through the room, but Casey didn’t notice any of them as she slipped back into the living room to talk to her daughter.
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