Are you ready to meditate with Cori?
Climb up into your bed and get super,
Super comfortable.
Make sure that everything is just right in your room,
The lights are just right,
You're wearing your cozy,
Comfy pajamas,
And all is well in the world.
So that you can relax your body and let go of your busy,
Busy day.
Tucker had a hankering.
He had a hankering for something really good.
He'd been thinking about it since the weather had changed and it got colder and closer to the holidays.
Tucker liked Christmas and the holidays very,
Very much and he wanted to start to celebrate early.
He had a plan.
He asked if Heidi and Cherry wanted to come over.
He asked if Mr Kitty,
Po,
Sasha wanted to come over.
Everybody came over to hang out,
Thinking they were going to have a game of Monopoly at Tucker's house.
Leo had even set up the Monopoly game at the kitchen table.
That way they could all sit around and play Monopoly and catch up.
Sasha was back in town and Leo was very,
Very happy.
He was so excited.
His mouth had been dry all day.
He drank so much water.
He peed so often.
Every time he went out onto the back garden,
He was looking for her on the neighbour's back garden.
And all those times he'd peed,
He never bumped into her once.
So he was so excited to know that she was coming over in about ten minutes.
He only gets to see Sasha every so many months because she lives in Mexico.
But when she comes over with her family to stay next door with the neighbours,
That's when he gets to see her.
He was frantically trying to put all the pieces of the Monopoly game together.
His little paws were shaking a bit.
He kept sipping on his water.
Bless him.
When everybody got there,
Leo could feel the heat in his cheeks.
He gave Sasha a hug.
She said hi.
He said hi.
They stared at each other for a while and then Leo blushed again and looked away.
Cherry interrupted the vibe by shouting,
OMG!
OMG!
I love Monopoly!
Tucker and Cherry were laughing and pushing each other down at the other end of the corridor.
Heidi said hello to Po.
They both cracked out laughing when they realised they'd got matching glasses on.
Both of them were wearing green glasses.
Green framed glasses.
What's the odds?
But those two,
They're like two peas out of a pod,
So.
.
.
But they thought it was great.
And then Veya instantly held up Mr Kitty's paw and they walked into the kitchen to go play Monopoly.
Tucker,
Very shortly into everybody getting comfortable,
Announced that he had a plan and he'd like everybody to become human,
Please.
Everybody clapped because they all love being human.
Tucker went outside and dug up his stone that he always hid underneath the Buddha statue.
He held it up to the light and the sun shined through the stone and the golden flecks all got super bright.
The white stone became opal and there on the stone,
Flying in the sky was his angel.
You get one wish,
She said.
Just one wish.
Tucker said,
I'd like us all to be human,
Please,
The whole gang.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much,
My angel.
You're so pretty and precious.
Tucker looked down.
He was wearing a big,
Chunky cable sweater and black jeans with his black Vans.
He walked into the house and everybody sat at the kitchen table were all in their human form.
Mr Kitty,
D'Angelo,
Was wearing a baseball cap and a big,
Chunky looking sweatshirt with some baggy pants.
Veya was wearing a knitted,
Crocheted beret that was pink with a matching scarf and then she had on a really cute pink bubble coat and some pink ski pants with little boots.
Heidi and Po both had on flat caps,
Which both again made them laugh so much.
Flat caps are like these type of hats that you wear in England.
They both were wearing silky scarves and then winter clothes.
Dark.
Po was all grey.
Heidi was wearing all deep purple,
Which looked very striking with her green glasses.
Tucker was wearing a black sweater and dark jeans.
He'd got all black converse on and a black cap that he was wearing backwards.
Cherry was wearing a bright red,
Chunky knit sweater with blue jeans and red sneakers.
Everybody was dressed for the cold.
Everybody was ready.
Tucker said,
OK,
Let's go.
Cherry said,
OMG,
I'm really excited.
Where are we going?
Tucker said,
It's a secret.
Everybody piled in the van that Tucker's mum was driving.
He needed a lot of seats,
Obviously.
The van was packed with all of his friends and it took them 25 minutes to get to where they were going.
25 minutes later,
They got to Coronado,
The Hotel Del.
Cherry instantly started clapping.
OMG,
I love it here at Christmas.
The Christmas tree inside is so cool.
Vea said,
Oh my.
Yes,
This is perfect,
Tucker.
D'Angelo helped Vea down out of the van and all she could do was look at all the sparkly Christmas lights already.
And with it being cold,
It was perfect.
Tucker said,
Is everybody ready to do some ice skating?
No,
Said Cherry.
No.
So excited.
The Hotel Del in Coronado in California at Christmas has an actual ice skating ring outside.
They make this whole area into a frozen ring so that you can skate on it and they play Christmas music and there's Christmas lights and Christmas trees everywhere and it's so pretty.
Everybody went to the place where they put on the skates and then they all got on the ice and all hell broke loose.
Most of them couldn't skate,
So it was like watching a comedy on TV.
They were doing the banana splits everywhere.
Every second one of them was falling down on the back,
Scream,
Laughing,
Thinking it was so funny.
Cherry almost peed herself.
She fell down so many times and she was bright red at first,
Embarrassed,
But then after like the 10th time,
She got so used to it and she didn't care anymore.
Tucker was actually really good at skating,
But he even fell down a couple of times.
Leo and Sasha went around and around and around,
Holding hands.
Veya and D'Angelo skated around and around,
Chatting away,
Catching up,
Holding hands.
Poe and Heidi were talking about Poe's latest poetry and how he was doing a stand-up poet night once a week that was really helping him be creative and they skated around,
Holding hands.
And because everybody else was holding hands,
Tucker and Cherry finally held hands and skated.
They skated together at the Coronado Hotel Dell.
That night,
All of them,
Even though they were all together,
Were living in their own little worlds.
It was so romantic,
The Christmas music playing,
The sun had gone down so it was starting to get dark.
Sometimes they all switched and they held their friends' hands and they skated for a while,
But most of the time they would find themselves back with their partners,
Skating around and around.
After two hours,
The time was up.
Everybody got off the ice-skating ring.
They handed in their shoes and put their normal,
Regular boots and shoes back on.
They went inside of the Hotel Dell to look at the giant,
Giant Christmas tree that's there in the lobby.
By the way,
It must be at least a hundred foot tall.
And it's covered in the prettiest Christmas ornaments.
Hundreds of people come to see it.
The Hotel Dell has a musty,
Old smell.
In a weird kind of way,
It's very nice.
It smells like an old place,
As if the hotel rooms are haunted or something,
Even though they're probably not.
But it just has that feel like it's been around a long,
Long time.
People were stood around the bottom of the Christmas tree,
Drinking hot chocolate.
Some people were shopping in the stores in there.
Some people were eating candy.
Some crazy people were eating ice cream.
Cherry said,
OMG,
It's freezing.
What are they thinking?
Tucker just started laughing.
So after they all warmed up,
Staring up at the Christmas tree,
It was time for them to get back in the van and go home.
The car ride home was quite quiet.
I think most of them were tired.
Or,
Once again,
They were in their own little worlds.
Leo was wondering when he'd get a chance to see Sasha again.
She was only in town for two days.
Poe and Heidi were talking about maybe that Heidi could go to one of those stand-up poet nights.
She'd like that a lot.
Vea and D'Angelo were talking about living in a house next to a river and what vegetables they would grow when they got older.
How sweet.
And Tucker and Cherry were in the back,
Playing smaxes with their hands.
You know,
The one where you put your hands there and they put their hands there and then you smack it and you have to move them quite fast?
Those two are crazy.
They were both laughing so much every time one of them got smacked.
Cherry jumped every time as if she was shocked or surprised.
And every time she jumped she said,
Tucker,
I'm gonna pee meself!
Which made him laugh even more.
By the time they got home,
25 minutes later,
There was a bunch of cats and dogs in the back of the van.
And that was the end of that night.
The End
