Dear reader, welcome back to the Bookacy Family Alphabet Adventures, to its chapter 28! This is, as you might guess from the name, a Christmas Special, but you'll have to wait for the Christmassy part until the end. First, we have a regular Legacy update to take care of.

Last time when we left off, an old contact of Salahuddin Chamcha, mr. Tellerman, promised to help Salahuddin in his plans of resurrecting his late lover, the Legacy foundress Author Bookacy. Now it seems as if Salahuddin never left the shady pub, doesn't it? Well, let's get right on with the story and find out, shall we?

Salahuddin Chamcha was back at the small pub in Alphabetia Downtown. Thanks to his new look, he hadn't, again, drawn any attention to himself when getting there. He was in deep thoughts, but this time, he was only drinking enough not to be thrown out of the pub.

His contact was late. Salahuddin was pretty sure he would show up eventually, so he did not worry. Instead, he was lost deep in contemplation.

He had been so hopeless lately. He had lost both his son and his daughter, due to a plan that had backfired on him. He couldn't blame either of them of their decisions, that was the honest truth. But if he could only explain...

Salahuddin stretched his neck. Perhaps mr. Tellerman would be able to help. If only he came.

It was a short while later that he heard a familiar voice behind him: "Oh, already here, mr. Smith. Sorry we're late, got a slight delay."

Salahuddin stood up, smiled and shook hands with mr. Tellerman. "You came."

"Of course I came. Was there any question about that? Now, I'm happy to tell you that I was able to reach my contact as planned."

"Excellent, mr. Tellerman. I am very curious to see what you have in mind."

Mr. Tellerman smiled. "That's just what I'm going to tell you next", he said, as Salahuddin saw someone step forward from the shady corner of the pub, "but first, let me introduce to you..."

"... miss Lauren Ajjanagadde. She prefers to be called just Lauren."

"Nice to meet you, mr. Smith. Komei here has been talking a lot about you."

"It is my pleasure entirely, miss Lauren."

"Now that we all know each other", said Komei Tellerman, "should we maybe take a table so we can talk properly?"

Soon the three of them were sitting comfortably in a corner table, where Salahuddin had, as a gentleman, rushed to pull an extra chair for miss Lauren.

"So, maybe I should explain?" asked mr. Tellerman, smiling.

"Please do", said Salahuddin politely.

"Well, as you know, we've known each other for a while, ever since your days as a Mad Scientist. I'd never known the full story about you, but I suspected that it was another case of mistreatment of us townies and playables. And well, it turned out I was right."

"And it turned out you needed to get a Resurrect-o-Nomitron. Well, naturally I'd heard some rumors in my Science career days. And my first thought was, of course, that you could get one with your scientific skills if only you got in the Paranormal career. But the lack of an college educated associate was an obstacle."

Salahuddin nodded.

"So I thought to myself, 'There's got to be another way!' And well, then I remembered the other rumors I had heard. Those much less known, those I heard only once a long time expert in the Crime field."

Salahuddin stayed quiet. Apparently he didn't know these rumors.

"Well, this is where", Komei nodded towards the lady of the party, "our friend Lauren here steps in."

"Yes, that's where I step in", said Lauren with a smile directed towards Salahuddin. "You see, Komei here was telling me that he knows someone who'd need a Resurrect-o-Nomitron and couldn't get it through the Paranormal career. He'd heard rumors that one could be created through magic, and wanted to know if I could confirm them." An understanding dawned on Salahuddin's face. "As you may have, well, noticed, I happen to be a witch."

"Could you?" asked Salahuddin, unable to stay quiet any longer. "Could you confirm the rumors?"

"Well, I don't know anyone personally who would have done it", said Lauren, "but I have heard the rumors myself, and knowing the nature of magic as thoroughly as I do, I think a spell like that can be cast."

"But there are complications", she went on before Salahuddin started looking too hopeful. "Not everyone has the mental power to become such a poweful witch or warlock. It's nowadays believed that almost anyone could learn the basic skills if they knew to try and had a proper instructor. But the magic required for spells of that level are entirely different. I suspect that not even all of my colleagues, who are very skilled magicians, could handle the power of such magic. I would surely have a skilled assistant by my side before I tried anything like that."

Salahuddin looked slightly worried. Lauren noticed that and smiled again.

"But, I think you might have a chance. I was first doubtful when Komei told me about you. But when he told me that you were a vampire, that was a very good sign. From what Komei told me, you'd not only gotten the bite from a Grand Vampire directly and survived with ease, but also been a vampire for a couple of generations already. That tells me that you have potential."

"So, what you are suggesting", said Salahuddin, "is that I would become a warlock and thereby achieve my goal of obtaining the Resurrect-o-Nomitron?"

"Yes, that's what we've been thinking with Komei", Lauren answered.

"And you would say that this plan has a chance of succeeding?" Salahuddin asked, with his brow furrowed.

"I think so. You seem to have a fair amount of mental capability, and with my support and long experience in magic, we should have a fair chance. Of course, you don't become a warlock just like that. You need a proper training, and that's going to take some time, no matter how smart you might be. But with some time and studying, I think you could make it."

"So what did I tell you?", Komei stepped in, looking at Salahuddin with a hint of a smile, "Didn't I say the situation isn't that bad?" He looked at both Salahuddin and Lauren. "Are we settled then?"

Salahuddin sat quietly for a moment, looking in the distance. "Yes, I believe we are settled." He turned to Lauren. "When would you believe it would be possible to begin my education?"

In the dorm where the Bookacy generation C first circle currently resided, things were quite a lot less ominous and extraordinary. The crew were oblivious to any evil plans being formed in the background, and were living quite in the ordinary Legacy family college manner.

Cho, the heiress, was getting to know some of her fellow students, mostly of the male variety. She quickly became friends with Nicholas Charvat, who was a friendly, funny fellow who had some of the same classes as her. Not to mention cute.

Carl, Cho's cousin, was more interested in the female dormie population. Not that he was always lucky.

"So... You mean you're not really into guys?"

"No, not really. Maybe if you happened to be a gal, I'd consider the offer. I'm sorry", Tara Bertino smiled apologetically.

"Well, actually, we do have a couple of more distant cousins who might be interested in meeting you. Mind if I introduce you to them?"

Well, friends were always good to have, too, he thought.

Of the three romancing first cousins, Claire was having the quietest life at the moment. None of the dormie guys had really struck her as very interesting as of yet, but she wasn't terribly worried. She met new guys almost daily, and surely there'd eventually be someone interesting, and who knows, maybe she'd be more interested after getting to know some of the guys a bit more. So far she was just happy enjoying life's simple pleasures.

Actually, the one of the cousins who had the calmest and quietest life was Cyrus, possibly partly due to his odd waking hours. He'd accustomed to being a vampire quite well, even though his transition had not originally been voluntary, but due to an attack by the Legacy villain, Salahuddin Chamcha. The gypsy matchmaker Sunny Straight had been working on a cure for his condition, but so far hadn't been able to make a potion strong enough. Cyrus wasn't complaining, though. Sometimes he missed the daylight, but otherwise being a vampire wasn't that bad.

The relationship between Cho and Nicholas grew closer by the day. Nicholas was fun to be with, and clearly didn't have any objections to being with Cho.

"So, hey, Nicholas, I was thinking, how about we go, well, let's say on an actual date? That'd be fun, right?"

"Wow, Cho. I feel a bit stupid since I should have been the one to ask but... I mean, sure! It'd be great!"

"Nah, I'm not the kind of girl to wait around. Now let's go!"

The date was nice. Perhaps not the most romantic one could imagine, but Cho and Nicholas had a fun time together. Well, when wouldn't they?

Mostly they just enjoyed a relaxed evening with each other. There was definately a spark between them, and they both just enjoyed the feeling.

Life wasn't all about dating, though. It was also about parties. The kids decided that it was time to invite some friends and relatives over. The sibling's second cousin Chip happily agreed, of course. As did Veronica GilsCarbo, a certain young lady who Carl was a little more interested in than he was willing to admit. Of course he was interested, she was pretty and fun, but, well, he had an image to think of.

There was a lot of catching up to be done and old memories to be shared again.

"Hey, remember that one time? When we made those non-evil snowmen all over our yard? And then Mom caught you jumping on their bed. She claims it still creaks."

"Oh yeah, that was a lot of fun! How about when we were teenagers and..."

There were also new acquaintances to be made. Cyrus had never met his second cousin Corinna before, so it was about time. Charlie had made friends with the younger Custer girls, but the older siblings didn't know the sisters very well, especially Corinna.

"So I'm not really sure what I should major in. Maybe economics? That sounds like an interesting topic. What about you?"

While Claire was concentrating on her mac and cheese, Bobby, Aurora and Andrew's only child, took the time to get to know Marie Smith.

"So you went to Twikkii then? How old were you? I've never been there myself, I bet it was fun."

The party didn't go entirely without problems for Bobby, though.

"Please, Corinna. I like you and all, you're a really nice, but... Just not that way, okay?"

"Don't worry, Bobby", said Chip later, while they met over at the fridge to get some chips, "she'll be embarassed for a while but she'll get over it."

"Are you sure?" asked Bobby with a hint of guilt. "I didn't want to make her feel bad."

"Nah, she'll be fine. It's just because she's a family sim and doesn't have a boyfriend yet, and you two happen to be such good friends."

"It is?"

"Sure. Hey, if it makes you feel any better, she made a move on me too the other day."

"But you're romance in secondary aspiration. You just liked that, right?"

"Well... It was kind of nice. But that's not the point. I just meant to say that Corinna is worried because she's not seeing anyone yet, so she's acting a bit silly."

"Can't we do anything about it?" asked Bobby, still a bit anguished.

"Don't worry, Bobby", said Chip again, "I already did."

"You did?"

"Yeah. I smoothly introduced Corinna to Weldon Conzaga from our dorm. Okay, okay, I have to admit that the beginning wasn't too promising", Chip hastened to reply to Bobby's cynical look. "I know that looked kinda bad."

"But Corinna felt bad about it afterward and went to apologize Weldon. And found out he's actually a nice guy really."

"Since then things have been improving a lot. I don't think you need to watch out for long."

"Oh, ok. I hope you're right." Bobby looked relieved. "But how about you? I saw you chatting with Sunny Hamilton the other day. Was that just chatting or...?"

"Well, I don't really know yet. We're friends", Chip shrugged, "I like her a lot and she seems to like me too. Who knows what comes out of it. But hey look, there comes Carl. We'd better be talking about something else when he gets here or he'll think we're gossiping or something!"

The rest of the party went by without a hitch. Chip and Carl chatted about school. They always tended to come along well, which was not really very surprising, since they, despite appearances, had a lot in common. Although Carl was a romancer, he had some secondary knowledge tendencies, and while Chip aspired knowledge, his secondary interests lied in romance.

Corinna didn't cause further trouble that night, and while she shot an occasional embarrassed glance in Bobby's direction, she seemed to be in an overall good mood, just like everyone else.

Before anyone knew it, the semester was over, and it was time for Cyrus to move over to the Bookacy Greek House Greek House. The younger kids were all there to wish him a good journey, and to hope he wouldn't fry to death while getting there.

Despite making Creator somewhat worried, Cyrus made it just fine, and blehed on the way.

By the next party, Chip totally had to admit to Bobby that he was seriously crushing on Sunny. Not that he minded really, and Bobby didn't tease. Much.

Chip also didn't mind, because he got to be right about Corinna and Weldon.

In fact, very right indeed.

Bobby was especially relieved. Besides, Corinna was a happy camper.

Meanwhile, in Villain Headquarters.

"Thank you for coming, miss Lauren. I appreciate it."

"My pleasure, mr. Chamcha. Well, as you can see, I've taken the liberty of bringing over some equipment for us."

"Excellent, miss Lauren. I hope the premises are adequate?"

"Oh, this is just great! Plenty of space for equipment and practicing, and good, sturdy furniture. Your lair is very well designed, mr. Chamcha."

"Thank you, miss Lauren. I am happy to hear it pleases you. Now, shall we begin?"

"Alright then, mr. Chamcha. Lesson number one", said Lauren, gesturing Salahuddin towards the table, which had a basket of foreign red substance on it, "Basic magic ingredients and their usage."

Salahuddin said nothing, just listened and nodded.

"These here are dragon scales, one of the most basic ingredients in magical potionmaking and spellcraft. The best quality comes from young dragons who change their skin for the very first time, but also scales of an adult dragon can be used, if one knows how to adjust one's potion recipe. The most important uses of dragon scales are..."

Back in the Bookacy family main house, Charlie was eagerly awaiting going to college, and meanwhile working hard on his scholarships. He was the only one of the three kids in generation C that had the chance to gain the 1/2 point scholarship bonus, and we were determined to get it.

Meanwhile, life for Charlie's parents, Baudolino and Marylena, was calm and comfortable now that they both had reached their respective lifetime wants. Now they could sleep in a bit, and enjoy discussions about fried eggs over breakfast.

George, on the other hand, was as hardworking as ever. After much gardening, he'd finally managed to get the plants in the Legacy family garden thrive, so he called over the garden club.

The garden club members did a very thorough check of the yard, and it lasted and lasted when they apparently had to inspect each and every flowerbed on the yard, and in the most inefficient way possible.

They did, however, get the job done in the end, and the Bookacies were accepted in the garden club with the reward of the wishing well. We were very happy of this achievement and moved our new well to decorate the back yard. As Baudolino said, we could think of a certain someone who may find use for it once she comes back from college.

Other than that, life was the usual in the main household. Charlie continued to date.

And date.

And date. Sometimes in more painful ways. Charlie's first and only date with Clarissa begun with him and Sunny detaching poor Clarissa from the brick wall. Otherwise the date consisted of friendly chatting and a little bit of playing. Although they have nice chemistry (both pleasure sims), my plans for Charlie don't include a second cousin.

Charlie didn't mind, he was all for new friends. Besides, getting a cousin as a date drop was nothing, he'd also gotten Barbara, who was not only a cousin, but also gay.

Charlie was not the only sim in the house doing some dating. Count Pao would like to say "bleh!" to our readers.

He and George recently had their sixth dream date. They are progressing slowly, but fortunately, neither of them is in a hurry.

The grownups of the family enjoyed the fact that they had the house almost to themselves now. Now they could go ahead and act all but grown up.

Not that they didn't do that anyway.

They also enjoyed having their youngest at home while they could. They knew that soon he would pack his bags and head for Sim State University just like his siblings had.

In addition to dating and playing Don't Wake the Llama, George also had other things to attend to. Now that the garden thrived and the garden club had accepted the family as members, it was time to reap the benefits, which this time around came in the form of tomatoes.

Also Marylena didn't just relax after completing her life time want. She had always been interested in music, but had had unfortunately little time to practice her skills, so now that she had the time and opportunity, she went ahead and perfected her creativity skill. She was quite skilled in other areas already, so now she could fully enjoy her wide knowledge. When she set down the guitar, she smiled to herself. She knew Nicole would have been proud.

Not long after that, Charlie reached an important milestone. As he came home from his teen job with a promotion and topped the career, he had finalized the goal of gaining 1/2 points with his scholarships. This could only mean one thing.

It was time to leave for college.

"I can't believe it, my baby is going to college", said Marylena with a grin, pulling Charlie into a fierce hug. "Be a good boy, then. Tell Cyrus and Cho hi from us, and say Mom's making salmon in the weekend, if they're interested. You at least are coming, right?"

"Mom", grinned Charlie back, "I haven't even left yet and you're asking me when I'm coming back? Don't panic, let's talk about it after I get there okay?"

Baudolino was waiting in the hugging line and acting somewhat calmer than his wife. He smiled. "That's alright, I'm sure. But it would be nice if you came. Are you sure you have everything now?"

When Charlie nodded to his father, he added, "And look after Cyrus for us a little bit, will you?"

"I will, Dad."

"One college cab in front of The Bookacy family main, please!" Charlie announced in the phone. When he put down the phone, a smile spread on his face.

"Sim State, I'm on my way!"

The first order of business for Charlie once on campus was, naturally, to go shopping for new clothes. He did a satisfactory job on that, too.

While Charlie was in the changing booth, the rest of the crew concentrated on other matters. Cho found her old buddy Nicholas, who was clearly happy to see her again.

Claire, for her part, was busy getting insulted by the cow mascot, and Carl spent his time out playing his handheld. For each their own.

As for Cyrus, he had some busy times ahead. The first thing for him, after moving in the Bookacy Family Greek House Greek House, was to practically have it rebuilt. Ryker helped with the phone calls that had to be made during daytime, and quite soon the house was so handsome that one couldn't even recognize it.

The outside decorations had to wait, since although Cyrus had received a lot of money from his parents, he wasn't made of it. But the rest of the kids would come soon, and they'd have some greetings from home, too. Out of Marylena's strict order, Cyrus made sure that the alarm system was state of the art.

Let us have a small tour of the house, shall we? This is the living room, as you may be able to guess. It's so big that it doesn't fit in one picture, but this is the general idea.

The kitchen/dining room.

The downstairs bedroom. Can you spot Cyrus?

Well, yeah, to be honest, I kind of forgot to make a crypt like room for Cyrus' coffin, so I decided to just put it in here for the time being at least. Cyrus doesn't seem to mind not having to live in a crypt. Go figure.

Upstairs, there is a lounge that works as a gaming or hobby room. The old flower station from Adrian's college years is still there in the corner.

There are three bedrooms upstairs, but we're not going to bore the readers to tears with those, are we? No, we're just showing this one, with the nice red colors.

Yes, a certain Creator is quite proud of managing to build a house that doesn't look like a box with horrid, sloppily picked paints that clash with each other. I know, such an achievement. You may praise the Creator and feed her treats.

Well, life in the Greek House Greek House started out as life in Greek Houses generally does. With old and new friends streaming over to say hi, to celebrate the freedom of college life, or simply to play poker. Like cousin Beatrice there does.

The first circle cousins were over more often than not, and no wonder really – at least Carl and Claire had to yet do their pledging time for the senior members. And often some more distant relatives come over, like Mehrissa here. Or actually, Mehrissa isn't related yet, but clearly she is planning to, as she dates our Bobby.

"Why Fortune sims should not influence their romance sim cousins to write their term papers. By Cyrus Bookacy."

But Cyrus didn't worry about his term paper, he had more important things to do. Like making friends with his first cousin once removed, Beatrice.

"Yeah, it's cool to be on campus finally", said Beatrice with a giggle. "Mom and Dad were so nervous about letting us go that it kind of stuck to me too. But it's been fun so far", she smiled.

"Yeah, I know the feeling. I thought my parents wouldn't let me go at all, but then they suddenly expected me to go", Cyrus said. "And especially Mom has been calling me all the time, to make sure I'm okay. Not that I can blame her for worrying", he added.

"Yeah", said Beatrice with a slightly gloomy smile.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" said Cyrus, horrified that he might have been impolite.

"Nah, that's okay. I know you didn't mean anything bad. Besides, my Mom and Dad are worried over Grandfather too. It's sad, but well, that's what it's like."

Cyrus didn't know what to say to that, so he didn't say anything.

Beatrice smiled again. "Hey, you wanna play poker or something?"

They played poker, and after the guests left, Cyrus still had some time to dance some hula and play the guitar before sunrise. Life was good.

Life was also good for Ryker Lillard, our placeholder. The new generation had finally arrived on campus and were moving in the Greek House. This meant that he wouldn't have to sit around alone anymore, but he could start living his life and doing the things he really liked.

For Ryker, one of those things was doing assignments.

But although a bookworm, Ryker did also enjoy spending time with whoever might pass by the house.

Like, for instance our young heiress.

"Hey, Cho, you look good today!"

"Hi, Ryker. I'm not sure whether I should say thanks or ask if I don't always look good", replied Cho with a teasing smile.

"Of course you do. I just felt like I should re-state that every now and then."

"Hey Cho", asked Claire who'd just entered the room, followed by Charlie, "are you sure you should be hitting on our placeholder?"

"I'm not hitting on him", Cho replied to her cousin, "he's hitting on me, aren't you Ryker?"

That earned a laughter from Charlie.

"But yeah, I guess we shouldn't. Sorry, Ryker!"

"Aww, you're no fun!"

"I know, and I'm supposed to be the romance sim here."

It wasn't long until Claire made it into a full member of the Greek House. Carl still had a little bit of term papers and cleaning to do, but we were convinced that he would easily make it before the end of the semester, when the rest of the kids were supposed to move in.

Luckily for Carl, pledging wasn't all about slave work. Whenever he could, Carl would sneak off and play some poker with Cho.

Meanwhile the llama mascot had some more dangerous pastimes.

"The vampire is arising! Voooo Gerbits!"

"Shut up, Colin, will you? I'm cranky right after waking up, and I'm a vampire."

But that was an empty threat, and Colin knew that very well. In all actuality, Cyrus had nice points to spread around.

"Hi, umm, I don't think we've met", said a brown-haired girl in their kitchen to Cyrus one evening, "my name is Chris. Ryker there said that there's a vampire living here and that his name is Cyrus. So that must be you, then."

"Hi, Chris, nice to meet you. Yeah, I'm Cyrus alright. Are you a friend of Ryker's or how'd you end up here?"

"Well kinda I guess. I was just passing by today and he came to greet me. Cool place you have here", Chris said, looking around the kitchen.

"Thanks, it's just gotten some work, too, we're pretty proud of it", replied Cyrus with a smile. It seemed that he was making a new friend there. He noticed that Cho looked at them from behind her assignment with an odd expression on her face, but he couldn't make anything out out of it, so he concentrated on the discussion at hand.

Chris soon turned out to be a nice girl, and all the cousins warmly welcomed her to join them in the Greek House whenever she felt like it.

Back in the dorm, there was still a little bit to go before the cousins would leave it behind and join Cyrus and Ryker in the Greek House. They tried to make themselves useful while preparing for that.

Charlie's concept of useful often included chatting to new girls, in the hope of asking them out at some later time. Or well, in the case of Tara Bertino that maybe wasn't a possibility, judging by what Carl had mentioned to him, but hey, she was nice, and might have nice friends, too.

Not that the others were doing very dissimilar things.

While Cho was getting to know Timothy Chalmers, Carl was chatting with Audrey London. True, he was very interested in Veronica, but Audrey seemed like a fun girl, too. One could never know too many of those, right?

Besides, knowing lots of sims had its advantages also when it came to success with school, and Carl knew that.

Claire, for her part, found out that perhaps Trevor Mace wasn't as boring as she'd originally thought. He actually had a sense of humor and all, even if it was a little bit odd.

Out of all the cousins, dating was perhaps the most important for Cho. After all, her lifetime want was to have 20 loves at once, so it would be in her best interest to be as far along in that as possible when she graduated. So, she set to work.

The smooth talking lifetime aspiration reward turned out to be highly useful.

"Oh thank you, Cho. A guy probably shouldn't say things like this, but it's beautiful", said Jimmy Phoenix, clearly dumbstruck and impressed by the rose Cho was handing him.

"Hi there, cousin", said Claire wryly in passing, "I think there's someone inside who'd probably want to see you."

And true enough, there was someone. Now that Nicholas found that he'd been seen, he came outside, smiling.

"Hi there. I hope I'm not interrupting or anything... I just wanted to ask you if you're free on Saturday or so."

Cho was a little bit speechless for a moment, and poor Jimmy even more so.

"Oh, Saturday. Yeah, sure, why not. I'm booked on Friday", she glanced at Jimmy, "but Saturday should be good."

"Sorry about that", said Cho later, while comfortably inside the dorm.

"No problem", said Jimmy, "Who was that anyway, a boyfriend?" he asked, suddenly worried. "I don't want to step on anyone's toes."

"Well, umm", said Cho feeling slightly embarrassed, pondering on what she should say. 'Whatever your intentions, always be honest', had her uncle Bill once said to her when she was a teenager. Uncle Bill was a romance sim too, so Cho appreciated his advice all the more.

"Well, Jimmy, you see, no, Nicholas isn't my boyfriend", she finally said, "Not really. But I am seeing him, and we like each other a lot. But I like you too, and if it doesn't bother you, I'd like to try seeing you too. Yeah, I'm a romance sim", Cho added before Jimmy could ask.

"Does he know?" he just asked.

"Well, I've hinted at it, but you're right, I should really tell him, explicitly."

Jimmy smiled. "I like your honesty. Just for fun is fine by me."

Cho smiled back. "I take it that Friday is still on?"

Charlie was the last to pledge into the Greek House. He managed just fine, Ryker was easy to get along with, and well, Cyrus he knew already.

With girls he wasn't always as lucky, but that never kept him down for long. If someone didn't seem interested, he either just kept trying but more subtly, or moved on. What he asked for wasn't much, just one date was enough if that's what the girl wanted. Life was way too short to worry.

"Hey, Trevor", said Claire. She'd just emerged from her room after sleeping late. "Sorry about the pajamas, I guess I'm the only sleepyhead here at this hour."

"Not at all, I bet lots of people sleep late when they don't have class in the morning. Or when there's been a party." Trevor smiled. "Besides, you look cute in pajamas, you should wear them more often."

"And I bet you'd be even cuter in yours. I think we should have a pajama party some time. I hope your jammies are shirtless", Claire said, winked at Trevor and went to have some pancakes for breakfast.

Friday came, and Cho was getting ready to go out with Jimmy. Nicholas peeked his head in the lobby.

"I guess you're leaving soon, right?"

"Yep, I'm almost ready."

"Where are you guys going?"

"Downtown, we're going bowling."

"Oh, that sounds cool. Nervous?"

"Maybe a little bit. The butterflies, you know." Cho smiled a little.

"Well, I think I know what helps with that." Nicholas gestured with his hands, and Cho happily let him give her a shoulder massage.

"Thanks, that really makes me feel more relaxed. You do know how to massage." She turned to face Nicholas. "Are you sure it doesn't bother you?"

"That you're seeing him, too? Not really. I know that you're a romance sim, so it's part of the deal. Besides, if you see others, then I'm allowed to see any other cute redheads that come walking through that door, right?" he teased.

"Sure", Cho said, taking her coat, "but only the redheads, and they gotta be cute."

"Sure thing", Nicholas said, grinning, "Have fun!"

Fun Cho and Jimmy did have. Bowling was something Cho hadn't had the chance to do for a while, since the alley at the Greek House was mostly taken, and of course the atmosphere in a an actual bowling alley was quite different.

Poor Jimmy had apparently never tried the sport, and that had some slightly unfortunate consequences.

But fortunately there was no permanent harm done, or as Jimmy put it "nothing a good hug wouldn't cure". After that the date only got more interesting.

And towards the end, very interesting indeed.

Let's just say that our heiress was very platinum when she finally said goodbye to Jimmy in the sidewalk.

And I'd also say that Jimmy didn't complain either.

Charlie had a goal to reach as well, and he didn't want to waste time. This time the matchmaker had paired him off with a nice girl all the way from Takemizu village. Maybe she wasn't exactly his type, but that was precisely what those 50 first dates were for: if someone wasn't his type, surely there would be someone else who was.

Claire, in turn, didn't have any particular long term plans. Well, she wanted to be a Professional Party Guest some day, but that was far away in adulthood, and besides, college life was pretty good practice for that.

Claire did have a short term plan though, and that plan very much involved Trevor Mace.

Trevor didn't seem to have much of a long term plan either, as it turned out one afternoon in the dorm lounge. Claire had been going to ask if Trevor would have lunch with her, but changed her mind.

Well, she shrugged and quietly smiled to herself, as long as she was still involved in Trevor's short time plan, she'd be content.

As for Carl's short time plans, they involved Audrey. And Veronica. And possibly some yet unknown young ladies, of course.

The letterbox tended to be filled with heart-bubbly letters those days. Nobody knew who all those were for, but whoever picked them up from the mailbox, got to experience the rosy smell.

"Hey, Cho, I hear you're into dating", said Timothy Chalmers one day over lunch, "You know if you're interested, I'm available."

Cho just smiled and took another spoonful of soup.

Nicholas had heard that and smirked. "Everyone's available, when it's about Cho, Timothy."

Although there was a lot of dating and romance going on, that wasn't all life was about. Finals were now quickly approaching, so there was studying to do. Influencing someone to write one's term paper was helpful of course, but that wasn't quite enough, at least if one wanted a good grade, too.

Luckily, there was still time for relaxing over chess and getting to know new sims.

And of course, old sims shouldn't be neglected either.

All the kids agreed that relaxation was important before a big exam.

And apparently that strategy worked, since all the kids passed their finals with flying colors. That meant that there was only one thing to do. To dance.

No, seriously, only one thing to do.

"Alright, bye then, Cho. Here's something you'll maybe remember me by, and hopefully remember to invite me over often."

"Mmmph. Thanks, I think I would remember you anyway, Nicholas. But please, go on, just to be sure."

"Okay, Sandy, it was nice chatting with you. Now I think I should run, the taxi is honking pretty impatiently already. See you later at the Greek House, okay? And I suppose I'll be asking you out later, okay?"

"Hey, Carl, what's up man? Ready to move in the Bookacy Greek House Greek House?"

"Hi Charlie. Yep, as ready as ever. Can we let go now before it starts being too weird?"

"Sure, I was just going to say the same!"

"Hey, Claire, welcome to the Bookacy Greek House Greek House!"

"Thanks, cousin! It's great to be here. Where are the guys?"

"Well, Cyrus is in the coffin of course, and Charlie and Carl should be right outside, probably all awkward about the obligatory move-in hug."

"Heh, I bet. So, is this where the party is, then?"

"Yeah, this is where. But not tonight."

"No?"

"Well, there's a party alright but not here. You seriously haven't forgotten, Claire?"

"Forgotten what? Oh, wait, it isn't..."

"Yep, it's tonight. We're invited for Christmas dinner over at my parents'. All of us, as soon as Cyrus wakes up."

"I seriously can't understand. Isn't it in the middle of the summer at least in your parents' house?"

"Well yeah, but this is C's game you know. She has a whim, she gets what she wants. Besides, in some places Christmas is always in the summer."

And indeed, Creator had gotten a whim, and it was Christmas time for the Bookacies. In the middle of the summer.

Marylena and George set about spreading around some Christmas decorations, most importantly the two Christmas trees. Two, because there were two different to choose from, and Creator couldn't. So a pretty white one for the kitchen and a bigger red one for the living room it was.

Baudolino's duty was to cook – and what else would they eat than turkey? Well, they could eat ham like we do here. But no Christmas ham in the game, so turkey it was.

"Marylena, have you heard from the kids yet?"

"Yeah, Cho called me ten minutes ago, they are on their way. Cyrus has had to come back from his final exam in sunlight, and Carl eats like a young athlete, so I think we'd better make cookies too. We've got some hungry children coming over."

And indeed, the college crew did come, and they were hungry. The turkey was delicious, and luckily also extra nutritious, thanks to the home grown vegetables by George. How one makes turkey out of tomatoes no one quite knew, but all seemed to agree that Baudolino's recipe was a success nevertheless.

Discussion mostly had to do with college.

"So now the semester is over then. Do you know your grades already?"

"Sure, mrs. B.", replied Claire, "The professors are always super speedy about their exam corrections. And apparently I made the Dean's list again. In fact, it seems that the Dean's list this semester consists mostly of us sitting around this table."

After dinner there was time for some leisurely activities. Cyrus was done with his turkey and cookies the fastest, and he insisted on using the sauna. What was Christmas without a Christmas sauna?

Carl and Marylena enjoyed the dinner the longest with a discussion about justice. After all, it wasn't every day one could have such a delicious turkey dinner. They were still at it when they found that George was getting ready to wash the dishes.

After the dishes, George joined the kids upstairs, where they were playing pool and just generally relaxing and hanging out. Nobody felt like doing anything heavy right after all the turkey.

Baudolino and Marylena met in the hallway, both stuffed with turkey. Suddenly Marylena's face lit up in a slightly mischievous smile.

"Watch where you're standing!"

"Huh?"

And indeed, Baudolino was standing under a mistletoe. Christmas kisses ensued.

At just about that time, there was loud "HO HO HO" coming out of the living room. Excited smiles rose up on all faces. Could it be?

It could. There he was, Santa Claus himself, in the middle of summer, shaking snowflakes from his coat when the family came to see him. The reindeer had had it a bit hard without snow, said Santa Claus, so he had had to make some to get there. The reindeers were parked downtown, though, and he'd made the rest of the trip with a cab. Cyrus reported that the radio news were reporting that there was a pack of reindeer seen standing in a small spot of snow in a street corner downtown in Alphabetia.

Apparently the Bookacies had been nice, since Santa brought them a new stereo. Perhaps he'd also heard that they all enjoyed dancing.

So all in all, the Christmas dinner was a success. The turkey was tasty, no one knocked over the Christmas trees, and there were even presents. What more could one possibly hope for?

Dear reader, this has been the 28th chapter of the Bookacy Family Alphabet Adventures, otherwise known as The Officially Most Christmassy Bookacy Chapter Ever. Why the name? Well, you see, because I'm always lagging behind in my writing, I generally always miss the chance to make holiday specials. So, this time I made myself that chance, and whatever Christmassiness I manage to add, that can't possibly be less than before.

So, dear reader, this is where I and the Bookacies leave you this time. I wish you a happy, safe and relaxing holiday season, whatever the holiday you may be celebrating. I will see you next year, with more Bookacies, more Legacy living and more plot. Until then, happy simming!