Behind The Mask

Merry Christmas!

     Christmas Day. A sacred religious holiday and a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon. It's a time where families, friends, relatives, anyone come together and celebrate the birth of Christ or come around to spend time and open presents and enjoy the holiday.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

Everyone in Foggy Bottom cheered. Already, early morning, they've woken up and wasted no time celebrating the holidays. Chase grinned as he put on a Santa hat, making the others laugh as they began the celebration by spending time together.

"So, what are we gonna do!?" Maya asked, jumping up and down excitedly as the rest of the animals looked at the two adult humans in the room. Both Humdinger and Helga grinned as they stood aside and let Chase, Maya, Arya and the kittens look ahead to the Christmas tree they decorated and were surprised to see a bunch of presents lying under the tree.

"No way, are those for us?" Arya asked with shock and Humdinger grinned as he nodded, confirming her question.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Open them." Helga insisted with a grin of her own and everyone ran towards the tree and looked around for their gifts.

Maya saw hers and pulled hers out while the kittens found theirs and Arya found hers. While they were opening their gifts, Chase grinned at them, before out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blue and yellow striped box and looked down. There was a black ribbon on the top of it, and there was a paper name-tag attached to it.

CHASE

His eyes widened a little bit. He actually got a gift? When he lived with his parents, he never got anything. No toys, not even a hug or a "Merry Christmas" from his parents. The thing would be, Chase wouldn't usually ask for gifts and even if you don't have to, there was one Christmas where he got a gift but the other years, nothing.

The box was medium sized. He looked back at Humdinger who only grinned at him as confirming that it was his gift.

Chase looked back and noticed that the box had a lid, so he carefully lifted the lid with his teeth and softly placed it down as he stood back up and peeked his head over the box.

Over the box, he saw a unique, designed hoodie. It was a black hoodie but with unique blue designs. He picked it up and it was a long-sleeved black hoodie. On the hood, there was a blue marking that represented sort of a skull while below the hoodie was the blue marking that he had on his hoodie and on his necklace. On the left sleeve represented another blue marking made of swirls, making it out to be a one-sided phoenix and on the back represented a blue outline and some detailed designs of a wolf.

Chase was impressed by the overall design and it was specifically made for him. But it wasn't all as he looked back down at the box and saw some other piece of clothing.

It was a small cloak, specifically made for dogs. It was a black and had blue flames on the bottom. Chase was surprised as he looked back at Humdinger who was staring at the cloak with a warm smile.

"Kamato always used to wear that every time he was called for his police duties. Considering you wear his necklace. I feel like I should pass this down to you." Humdinger admitted and Chase couldn't help but cheerfully smile at him. He felt like he could break down in tears any minute.

"Thank you." Was all Chase could say and Humdinger's warm smile turned into a grin. "Well, it was mostly Helga's idea, I just felt like the cape would be a great addition." Humdinger laughed and Chase looked at Helga who was grinning back at him.

"Oh! That reminds me, I've got a gift for you too!" Chase remembered as he pointed at Humdinger and Helga who looked at him in confusion.

Chase quickly ran towards his room for a quick second before coming back with two Christmas gift bags in his mouth. He specifically placed one in front of Humdinger and Helga. Surprised that a dog actually got them a gift, they reached down towards the bags.

Humdinger reached out his gift and was shocked. There was a clean, modern, three-pieced purple suit. Blazer jacket and pants, including a vest. It also comes in with a black belt and a black wallet chain for Humdinger.

Helga pulled out a beautiful, purple dress with a beautiful black ribbon along with a clean, nicely designed black purse which made Helga's eyes have stars. Both looked up at Chase who grinned at him.

"H-How did you...?" Both of them stuttered a little bit.

"Well, the people were really nice and gave special discounts. So I saved a little bit of my own money and got you two some things. Do you like them?" Chase asked, hoping they would say yes.

"No!" Both of them yelled which made Chase's eyes widen in surprise and his mouth dropped and before he could stutter or say anything else, Humdinger and Helga shouted before he could talk.

"We love them!" They exclaimed as they proceeded to wrap Chase in a hug which surprised him at first, but then grinned as he hugged them back.

As everyone else looked over their gifts for the next few minutes, Helga stood up.

"Alright, let's go eat!" She said and everyone got excited as they loved Helga's cooking and all of them walked towards the kitchen and everyone was shocked, even Humdinger was a little surprised, and he helped his mother out with the cooking and baking.

It was a decoration of bread, salmon, eggs, chicken, oatmeal, apples, blueberries, rice and oatmeal.

The food was organized, so much that it represented a Christmas tree. Everyone walked to their own seats.

"Alright, let's dig in." Humdinger exclaimed and everyone agreed. When they began picking out their food, Helga chuckled as she grabbed a remote near her plate and raised it up as everyone watched as the lights dimmed a little bit, and through the speakers, a song was playing.

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas"

"Just like the ones I used to know"

"Where the treetops glisten and children listen."

"To hear sleigh bells in the snow."

Humdinger smiled when that song came on and looked at his mother.

"I always loved listening to this song on Christmas." He said and Helga warmly smiled back at her son while Chase watched the interaction and listened. This was his first time hearing old fashioned music. And it was calm and a little jazzy. It was the perfect song for Christmas.

As everyone relaxed into the song, they ate their food whilst listening to the song as they went about their holidays.

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas."

"With every Christmas card I write."

"May your days be merry and bright."

"And may all your Christmases be white..."

     MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I can't believe we finally made it this year and I can't wait to update the next two chapters. The greatest Christmas gift that I got this year is...you guys! You've been really supportive of this story and I won't lie, I kind of teared up a couple times as I read some of your comments. It made me smile. It brought me joy. This story is now my most popular story I've written so far and it has been an amazing journey. But even so, today is a special day. If I can be a little selfish and ask one thing out of all of you, just this once, to those who support my story, please spend this day with your family, friends, relatives, anyone you love, even if it's one person and tell them that you love them so much. Love is the greatest Christmas gift and you guys have given me that even before Christmas! Thank you guys so much and happy holidays. Enjoy opening your presents and eating all of the food to your heart's content! MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎄🎋