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Avery walks into the cafe on December first to find boxes of Christmas things out on the floor, and Landry already up on a ladder working on taking the Thanksgiving decorations down. It’s a good thing it’s their day off, Avery decides, and comes to hold the bottom of the ladder. “Hey, Avery,” Landry greets. “You want to help out, or just hang out?”“I can help,” they decide, offering a smile. “I mean, the cafe did belong to me for a few minutes.”“Ha. That’s true,” Landry agrees with a smile of his own. “Want to grab the other ladder, or do something closer to your height? I think Reese is downstairs grabbing the last couple boxes, if you wanted to help him.”“I can do that!” Avery declares. “You going to be okay with nobody spotting you?”“I’ll be fine,” Landry promises, and so Avery scampers off, passing Mason in the midst of cooking something delicious-smelling in the kitchen as they head down to the basement. Reese is indeed there, and they sneak up behind him. He had to have heard their footsteps, but he still doesn’t seem to realize they’re there as he struggles to open a box labelled ???. “Just like Graves, not even labelling his dumb boxes and-- Ack!” Reese yelps as Avery scampers over top of the box in their cat form. “Avery! C’mon, get out of there.”Avery lifts one paw, showing off their claws, and then carefully does their best to rip through the tape holding the box shut. “Yeah, yeah, I got it. Scoot,” Reese orders.Avery does, switching back into their human form as they jump off the box and land on their now-human feet. “Show-off,” Reese grumbles, though he sounds more fond than anything, and he uses the cut Avery had managed to make to pull the box open, revealing…“More Halloween stuff?” Avery asks. “I know, it’s never-ending,” Reese sighs, replacing the tape as best he can and sliding the box back into place. “This one’s the last box, then, and it actually says Christmas on it.”“I’ll take it up,” Avery decides, and scoops it up before Reese can try to stop them. “I don’t need help, Avery!” Reese protests, though Avery’s already halfway up the stairs by then. “Back already?” Mason asks, still working on the great-smelling meal. “Yep! Got the last box of Christmas stuff,” Avery announces even as they’re heading out the door to the main area of the cafe.“And Chanukkah,” Finley yells from the top floor. “And Yule,” Landry adds. “And Festivus, for the rest of us,” Reese says grumpily, apparently having followed them upstairs. “Yes!” Avery agrees, beaming. “Wait, do we actually have stuff for all the holidays?”“Of course,” Reese replies, hands on his hips now that he’s found something good to lecture about. “Since all our employees celebrate the holidays differently, we make an effort to include all the holidays we can. Which reminds me… Avery, what do you celebrate?”“Uh, Christmas I guess, but more for the presents than the religious parts,” Avery explains. “My parents are pretty agnostic.”“That’s fair,” Landry agrees with a smile, descending from his ladder. “Mine are, too. And I think Hayes’ parents are the same.”Hayes just nods his agreement, curled up by the fireplace with a couple other cats. “Good! So we can put up all kinds of decorations,” Avery decides, bounding over to the box and opening it up. “Oooh, this one isn’t actually Christmas stuff.”“Dammit, is it more Halloween?” Reese asks. “No, it’s Chanukkah,” Avery explains, digging through. “Is the menorah in there?” Finley wants to know, leaning over the railing to try and see. “Yes,” Landry calls back, apparently able to see better from his height than Avery can. Or he just recognizes the menorah from last year, which is more probable. “Good,” she replies, apparently satisfied, and goes back to whatever she’d been doing up there. Probably social media stuff, if Avery had to guess. Or Jelly Donut stuff, which is sometimes the same thing.Either way, if Finley’s upstairs, she’s usually busy.“You’re coming to the holiday party, right, Avery?” Reese wonders while Landry and Avery dig through the box. “We’re having a holiday party?” Avery wonders. “Of course!” the older boy says. “We always have it a week before Christmas, so that everyone can come and then still go see their family while we’re closed.”“We close over Christmas - the day before and the day after,” Landry adds. Avery’s not sure they’re going back home over Christmas, but it’ll be nice to have the days off, they suppose. “Cool,” they decide. “So, we gonna put up these decorations or what?”“Put ‘em up!” Finley calls down.“Do we set the menorah up now, or wait until we’re supposed to be lighting it?” Landry wonders, looking up at her. “Tonight’s fine,” she says firmly. “I’ll do it.”“And I found the candles for the Yule log,” Reese declares, holding up three candles. “Dunno where the log is.”“I already grabbed it,” Landry assures him. “Hayes, did you--”Hayes just nods. “Alright, good. Is Graves bringing it?” he guesses. “Yes.”“Cool, so we’ll decorate the tree tomorrow,” Reese decides, passing the candles over to Landry as he continues to dig through the box. “The rest of this is all Christmas, I think. Garland, ornaments, the spider-star…”“Spider-star?” Avery wonders, unable to help themselves. Mason snorts; Landry just shakes his head. “It’s Graves’ contribution to Christmas,” Reese explains. “Gotta have some Halloween in every holiday, you know?”“And this year we get to put some Chanukkah in Christmas!” Finley announces. “We’ll celebrate everything as usual,” Landry assures her. “Now, Avery, can you help me find the rest of the lights? We still have to decorate the outside of the cafe, after all.”Avery’s only too glad to start digging through the rest of the boxes, determined to do what they can to help out. After all, that’s part of the holiday spirit, isn’t it?