There was a bark of a laugh, then, "I'd managed to forget that until just now," His impression of Allison wasn't exact, but close enough, emphatic arm gestures and everything: "We just saved you all and we're the ones getting banned and he's the one getting his job back?" He shook his head, "How could I have forgotten that. Three week ban right in the middle of prime Christmas Shopping time."

Not that they'd ever really had a Christmas, not the way most families did, but Mom usually made a gingerbread house or two, and made sure they had a seasonally appropriate snack during their half hour of frivolity closest to the actual holiday date. But they also, somehow, almost always managed to get each other something, and unsurprisingly Allison had usually been the best at gifts.