"Dear Santa:" The letter began.
"I got this wild idea.
Instead of asking for stuff this year, might there be a way my furby friends and our human, Jessica Smith could come to your place and just visit you? That would be one human and sixteen of us furbies. It wouldn't even have to be before or on Christmas day, but any time it might be most convenient for you.
Oh, and please forgive Jet's one evil personality muck-up, he doesn't act that way normally, and can't control when or what change is coming. I'm sure neither he nor Holly will undergo such personality changes around you, and if they did, no doubt you'd know what to do about it.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Yours sincerely,
Sundown Furby"
The furby used his beak to type Santa's letter on Jessica's smartphone.
"Okay, Jessica, all done."
Jessica looked at the screen to read what Sundown had written, but saw it was blank where the writing should've been. "That's some impressive letter you wrote, Sundown." she kidded.
"Huh? It was there a moment ago? I did type in a fair amount of text." He looked baffled at her.
"Hmm, one of us must've touched something to make it disappear by mistake." Jessica finally said, puzzled. "Oh, well, you can always try later."
But Jessica and Sundown did not know that when a letter to Santa is written by a toy, it is not only invisible to the human the toy belongs to, it also disappears and is sent on its way to Santa as soon as the toy signs his or her name to it. Then the letter disappears from the toy's sight as well.
Back at the North Pole, Santa's own smartphone dinged, and he smiled as he read Sundown's message.
Toys were far less frequent writers than children, and their letters usually consisted of requests their owners told them to make, questions about how true it was that there would eventually be a time they were outgrown and forgotten, or requests that their owners not get some other toy they really wanted because that also posed a threat of abandonment.
Sundown's note consisted of none of these.
"I would be glad to honour your request, Sundown Furby," Santa said to himself, smiling at the message.
The elves were busy as ever, not only with their toy-making, but also with putting together a show for Christmas and New Year's. One was scheduled for Christmas Eve shortly before Santa's trip around the world, and of course, everyone would have Christmas Day off.
Things weren't running all that smoothly with the production. The solo singer in the last number was an elf named Eponine, and she was something of a prima dona… in the negative sense. During the rest of the year, she could be bratty and bossy, and rather demanding of others' attention, so when she was picked for the last number of the show, it was not without some apprehension of those in charge. But she knew the number off by heart and out-performed others who had auditioned.
To everyone's surprise, Eponine did not act up during the practices leading up to Christmas Eve's final rehearsal and show. But they all knew that she must have been trying especially hard to avoid getting on the naughty list.
Toward mid December, Jessica got sick with a nasty cold. Once again, Toby stayed by her, trying his best to comfort her, and making sure the other furbies didn't bother her with their noisy games and chatter.
This time, Floyd helped out with Jessica's care, going as far as to throw himself at her back to help her relieve her cough. He couldn't do it quite as rapidly as a human thumping her on the back with a hand, but came as close as he could.
Sundown typed a follow-up letter to Santa concerning Jessica's frequent bouts of being under the weather, asking him for advice.
Again, the note disappeared. However, it was answered a moment later as Santa was online, and Sundown was still the one using Jessica's smartphone.
"Dear Sundown,
I have received both your letters, and would love to have you come to visit me. Christmas Eve, late afternoon to sometime in the evening, will work out fine. Just hang on tight until then, and I'll make the arrangements.
Jessica is run down, months of concerns and then hard work have taken their toll. What she needs is good quality rest, and your continued care. This is also the time of year when people are more likely to get sick, often more than once, and unusual as that would be for Jessica, it happens. Please don't stress out too much, she will be fine. When she gets the chance to rest up, she will be ready and itching to get back to work when the holidays are over, and then provided nothing happens to concern or upset her, she will remain strong and should have no more cold and flu problems for this year, I certainly hope.
Tell Toby to keep his head up and to keep doing what he's doing. Even though Jessica is a grown-up, she needs you as much in her own way as you need her.
Love
Santa"
Although Sundown didn't request any Christmas presents for himself or anyone else, Santa, being Santa, decided to give him and his friends something anyway, since they were such special toys.
As soon as it was most convenient, Santa headed over to the candy and goodies making section of gift production to speak to the elves about it there.
He went to each subsection that was in charge of more specific products and instructed various elves to make custom orders for certain furbies who were coming for a visit and would love these wares as a special Christmas treat.
"We have toys going out, but coming in, that's a new one." one elf quipped.
Work let out for the holidays, so Jessica had a few days at home before Christmas Eve to focus on getting well. She had all her shopping done some time ago, and was looking forward to celebrating with her family on Christmas Eve, and then a beautiful quiet Christmas Day following that.
Sundown had hoped they could wait until Jessica returned home before the trip to the North Pole, otherwise she would miss out, and become very worried if she returned home while the furbies were still out at Santa's.
When Sundown communicated this concern, Santa had said the furbies would have to make the trip without Jessica, since she was definitely not up to making a visit to the North Pole this Christmas. But he added that they could make up for it by giving her a gift of some kind from Santa's workshop or the bakery or whatever they found on their visit that Jessica was sure to appreciate.
Sundown passed on Santa's reassurances about Jessica to Toby, but he said nothing else about the possible visit to Santa's, since he wasn't sure it would really come to anything.
Peekaboo, Tina, Jet and Holly were a bit too excited about Christmas and didn't know what to do with their energy. Adding to this was their concern for Jessica, whom none of them except Peekaboo had seen suffering this much for this long.
They got into little scraps over the silliest things.
Jessica overheard one such argument between Peekaboo and Jet over tail-pulling.
Then Kitri cut in firmly, reminding them that Jessica needed her rest.
"But Peekaboo pulled my tail." Jet protested.
"He pulled mine first." Peekaboo answered back.
Then both of them cried out suddenly.
This was followed immediately by Kitri saying, "There, now I've pulled both your tails, so you should be even. Now quiet down, and don't make me say it again!"
"Aw, Kitri!"
"Is that clear?"
Jessica didn't hear what Peekaboo or Jet said to that, but one of them must've muttered something about what Sybil would or wouldn't say or do.
"Well it's too bad for you I'm not Sybil." Kitri replied. "If you want to play rough and tumble games, that's what the basement is for."
"But everyone else flies around up here all the time." Jet observed.
"And we try our best to be quiet about it when Jessica isn't feeling well." said Kitri.
Jet turned serious. "Will she ever get better? I miss her you know."
"Me too." said Peekaboo.
Jessica heard that, and she looked back tenderly at Sundown, Sybil and Toby, who were all with her. "Aww."
They smiled warmly back.
Kitri moved closer to give Jet and Peekaboo each a reassuring nudge. "I know, loves, we all miss having her up and about. But she will get better. She may or may not be a hundred percent by Christmas, this is an especially bad cold, but she'll rest when she can, and then start being up much more during the day. Just you wait and see."
Kitri's prediction was right. The next day, Jessica was feeling good enough to do more around the house, and moved around with stronger, quicker steps.
Christmas Eve finally came, and Jessica was to go over to her parents' in the afternoon and she planned to stay late into the evening along with the rest of her siblings, and their families for a big Christmas dinner and gift-opening.
But as it turned out, Jessica ended up taking Holly with her, who was a Christmas furby after all, and Jessica said she would look very cute under the tree among the presents.
The furbies were just fine with that, besides, they would get to celebrate on Christmas Day itself with Jessica and Holly.
Sundown still hadn't said a word to any of them about the possibility of actually visiting Santa.
Sure enough, Holly had a wonderful time at the gathering. Everyone was so merry, she entertained at least one school-aged boy and anyone else who took notice and some time to play with her. There were plenty of good things to eat as well, and Christmas music played gently throughout the party.
Back at Jessica's, Only Sundown seemed a bit distracted, off in a world of his own, pondering. He would startle with "Huh?" or similar at realizing some other furby wanted his input on something and he hadn't heard a thing they said.
"Sundown, Sundown, Sundown," Kitri gave him a playful nudge after such an incident, "What is with you today?"
"Well, apparently it isn't my mind." Sundown said sheepishly.
"How come?"
"I'm just thinking of something I wrote to Santa about, but now I'm not sure it is really going to happen."
"Like what?"” Kitri asked.
“Visiting him.” Sundown replied. “How can we manage that?"
“Just wait for him to come tonight and hitch a ride in his bag up the chimney. Or climb out on the roof via chimney ourselves and just wait and watch for him there." Kitri casually suggested.
"Yeah,” Sundown sighed, “but I was sort of hoping to visit him before then." And suddenly, Sundown's eyes lit up. "Kitri, you're a genius! Why not go up on the roof, now?"
"What are you on about?" Kitri looked at Sundown as if he had lobsters crawling out of his ears.
“If we wait for him now,” Sundown explained, “maybe Santa will come get us for a tour of his place, now, instead of later!"
"It's worth a try. We just have to be back before Jessica is, though, or she'll worry." said Kitri.
Sundown smiled. "I know Santa said something about making the arrangements. But he and I never discussed the time it might happen beyond him saying we could come in late afternoon.”
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Kitri exulted. "Let's go!" And with that, she scurried for the fireplace, called out to the others, and disappeared up the chimney.
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