“Davy? Are you awake?” Peter whispered in his ear, Davy grunted and turned over but Peter shook him again “Davy, can we go downstairs yet?” He asked. Davy unwillingly opened his eyes and tried to focus on the clock.

“What time is it?” He asked when his sleep filled eyes refused to co-operate.

“Six fifty five AM” Peter told him.

“You know the rules Pete, you can’t go yet” Davy told him turning back over and rubbing his eyes with his fists.

“I know, I have to wait ‘til seven AM,” Peter said rather disappointedly “But it’s only five more minutes please Davy, please!” Peter begged.

“No Peter not yet and if you keep on I’ll make you wait ‘til half seven” Davy told him closing his eyes again and Peter stuck his tongue out at him “I saw that!” Davy said. Peter stared at him, wondering how Davy could’ve seen when he had his eyes closed. Peter decided to pass the time by looking out the window. It had snowed again that night and the ground was covered in a fresh white blanket. Peter was dying to get out there and build a snowman and maybe make some snow angels. He hated waiting, this was the only day of the year he got impatient. He couldn’t open the presents in his stocking because he’d already done that an hour and a half ago. He was usually a morning person anyway and if they were at home and it was a normal day he’d already by up by now preparing breakfast, but today was different. It was Christmas day and Mike had set firm rules for this day. Peter was not allowed out of his room until seven AM, if he came out any earlier Mike would not let him open any presents until the evening. So there Peter sat, by the window staring out as the sun appeared over the horizon and begun washing everything with daylight. He thought about Mr Schneider and hoped he was ok, he thought about Mr Babbitt and realised that he didn’t know if Mr Babbitt had someone to share the holidays with, he even realised that he didn’t even know Mr Babbitt’s first name *I wonder if he’s even got a first name* he mused *Maybe everyone has always just called him Mr Babbitt*. He looked at the clock again that now read six fifty nine and watched it intensely and held his breath. Finally, almost in slow motion, the numbers flicked and changed to seven AM and Peter jumped up from his seat.

“Davy look, It says seven see” Peter said picking up the clock and waving it in front of Davy’s face. Davy grunted again and didn’t even try and open his eyes this time.

“Ok you can go” The Englishman said.

“Yippeee!” Peter yelled and flung open the bedroom and rushed out of it. Davy sighed and tried to get up but he felt much to sleepy so decided to stay in bed a little while longer. Peter rushed downstairs and was greeted by the sight of Mike and Micky standing in front of the tree.

“Merry Christmas!” they both yelled then stepped aside to reveal a pile of presents under the tree. Peter gasped and ran over to them.

“Wow! There’s so many!” He said in utter delight.

“They’re yours over there,” Mike told him pointing, he had a big grin on his face. One of Mike’s most favourite things about Christmas was seeing the complete joy on Peter’s face in the morning.

“Well go on then” Micky told Peter, he was bouncing up and down with excitement, he could hardly wait for Peter to get started.

Davy came down stairs a few moments later. He watched Peter, who was sitting by the tree, happily ripping paper off anything with his name on. Then he walked over to Mike and Micky, who were sitting on the sofa watching the bassist.

“Next year one of you guys can share with him” Davy said jabbing a thumb in Peter’s direction “The way he wakes you up in the morning gets more violent every year!"

“Ok” Micky agreed “One of us will share with him next year, but you’ll have to be the one of us getting up in the middle of the night to lay out the presents” He added quietly so Peter wouldn’t hear. Davy thought about that.

“Yeah good point, I’ll share with him still” He said and Mike rolled his eyes.

“Hay aren’t you guys gonna open your presents?” Peter called to them.

When all the presents had been open, Mike grabbed a rubbish sack and began throwing all the discarded wrapping paper into it, wondering whether he should tell his friends about his date with Lucy tomorrow evening. He looked around at each of them. Peter was still sitting by the tree taking time to look at each of his presents, absolutely fascinated by each one. Davy was on the sofa, his head resting in his hand with his eyes closed, trying hard to just doze and not fall asleep completely. Micky, ever the tinkerer, was sitting in a pile of presents pulling things apart then seeing how they fit back together again. Mike smiled as he watched them and decided not to say anything to them just yet, he didn’t like keeping secrets from them but this was too much of a doozy to tell them straight away. They had a small lunch but nothing fancy because a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings was being provided in the dining room that evening.

“Guys?” Peter said, once they had finished eating and were back in the lounge watching television “I just wanna say thanks” He said.

“For what big Peter?” Micky asked, not taking his eyes from the television.

“For everything I guess, I know it’s hard for us to be away from our families on the holidays, especially for you Davy, but if we can’t be home then there’s no place I’d rather be right now then here with you guys. You are my family and I’m thankful for all the things we share together,” He told them. Micky, Mike and Davy had turned to look at him.

“That’s very kind of you to say Peter and I feel the same way” Davy told him “Being with you guys makes being so far from home a lot easier to handle because the pad at Malibu beach is my home now and you guys are the greatest friends I could ever hope for” He added.

“I promised myself I wasn’t gonna cry!” Micky said wiping away a pretend tear “No, but seriously, ditto, I feel the same way. I love you guys like brothers and I’m having such a great time, I couldn’t imagine having all these adventures with anyone else” He told them. Mike had stayed quiet throughout, he wasn’t very good at expressing his feelings, only through his song writing, but as Micky finished his speech he knew he had to say something because he did love those three guys like brothers and was so grateful he could spend Christmas with them. Peter could see the panicked look on Mike’s face and he couldn’t help but giggle a little.

“It’s alright Michael you don’t have to say anything, we know” The bassist told him.

“No it’s ok Pete I do have somethin’ I wanted to say. I know sometimes I’m kinda hard on you all and I do lose my temper quite a lot of the time...”.

“No! You don’t do you! I never noticed!” Micky said pretending to be shocked. Mike smiled and threw a pillow at him.

“Anyway, it’s only because I care about you all so much, so yeah sometimes Micky’s practical jokes irritate me and I wanna kill him” at that point the pillow came sailing back over to Mike “Hay! I said sometimes!” Mike protested with a smile “But I’ve got a good feeling about us and I know if we keep at this thing we can be huge, it’s gonna be one hell of a journey and I couldn’t be happier about the people I’m gonna have along with me for the ride. I love you guys too and I hope you memorise that because it’s the last time you’ll ever hear me say it, well out loud anyway!” Mike added with a grin.

Later that evening Micky was standing by the door practically vibrating with excitement and anticipation. This was his favourite part about Christmas, all the great food he got to eat. He hoped it would be as good as his mums food, he was yet to find anyone who could prepare a turkey quite like his mother.

“Come on guys” He yelled “We’re gonna be late” The dinner was formal so all The Monkees were dressed in suits and ties. Mike came down the stairs, after much deliberation he had decided not to wear his hat.

“Calm down Micky we’ve got plenty of time” The Texan said as he fastened his watch then walked over to the coffee table and picked up the keys to the cabin. They had decided to walk to the dining room rather then take the Monkeemobile “Put your coat on you’ll freeze” Mike ordered putting on his own jacket, that still had a faint sent of Lucy’s perfume from when she had worn it the previous evening. Micky put his on jacket then jogged over to the stairs.

“Peter, Davy get a move on!” He yelled, trying his best to sound like Mike. Mike rolled his eyes.

“Yeah nice try Mick” Davy said as he appeared at the top of the stairs.

“Where’s Peter?” Micky asked.

“Looking for his tie” Davy replied as he reached the bottom of the stairs and grabbed his jacket. Micky huffed loudly.

“Check your suitcase Pete!” He yelled up the stairs.

“Ah got it, Thanks Mick!” Peter yelled back. Micky grabbed Peter’s coat and when Peter came down the stairs, shoved it at him.

“Ok great let’s go” Micky announced and ran out the door. The other three looked at each other, shrugged then headed out.

continued