#if i get banned it’s the goddamn playwright’s fault

[askwdwheeler]

What presents did you get for Christmas?

I was not the only one celebrating Christmas this year. This was the first Christmas I spent with Luna, and Barnum made sure she was well and spoiled by old Saint Nicholas. He managed to gather up an abundance of Ellie’s old puppy toys — Luna has taken a particular liking to the squeaky elephant — and even went so far as to get Luna a custom collar and jacket, both sparkly red, and a top hat. His hintings at wanting her to become part of the circus act are gradually becoming more and more obvious.

As for me, I received a... rather remarkable pair of glittery red trousers. Yes... I told Barnum that I could not possibly wear them at the circus, for they would surely overshadow the ringmaster, and we can’t have that, can we? Don’t speak a word of this to him, but they are currently stuffed in the deepest corner of my bedroom closet.

Carlyle was insistent on giving everyone handmade gifts this year. I admire his efforts, and received a... unique... wooden statue. He says it’s a dog. I... well, I shall let you be the judge of that.

Sometimes I wonder if he does this on purpose or if he truly does not realize what many of his ‘crafts’ end up resembling.

Lettie knitted me a wonderfully soft scarf, deep blue and gray in color. She has taken my dear sister under her wing, and Anne promises to have made me a matching snow cap and mittens to go with it by next Christmas. This year, she baked me a wonderful plate of chocolate chip and snickerdoodle cookies using the exact recipes our mother used to make. I don’t have the slightest idea where she managed to find the formulas, but I took one bite and immediately found myself back in our mother’s kitchen. I could almost see her there at the stove, fussing over her recipe and having Anne and I taste-test to make sure it was just right. It was a wonderful treat.

Charles... thought it brilliant to gift me a pink wig and hair dye, “to match my sister.” He still finds it humorous that he managed to dye my hair while I was aslee— what? No, that never happened. You have no proof.

Overall, it was a wonderful holiday despite the sickness that hit most of the troupe — somehow I managed to avoid most of it, save for a slight sniffle. Luna enjoyed her first Christmas, as did I, and it was a fun time filled, as cliché as it may be, with joy and laughter. The troupe is as much my family as anybody related by blood, and I could not ask for a better group of people to spend my time with.

—WD