Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was a beautiful, crisp winter day in Danville. The sun was shining brightly in the blue sky— despite the chill in the air, there was no sign of snow yet.

Which, when the last part for his flying snow machine arrived, Phineas Flynn-Fletcher hoped to change. But for now, he was content to follow his sister Candace around the mall with Ferb. At least until he spotted a familiar face in the crowd.

“Hey, look! It’s Isabella,” he told his siblings. “We should say hi.”

“What? No,” Candace protested. “I’m supposed to be meeting Stacy in ten minutes and I can’t be late with whatever scheme you two start cooking up the minute you start talking to each other—”

“Hey, Isabella!” Phineas called, waving. He saw her look up and wave back, the smile crossing her face clear as she started towards them.

“Ugh, fine,” Candace said with a sigh. “But if this takes too long, you’re on your own.”

Isabella approached them, hands in the pockets of her pink snow coat. “Hey, Phineas,” she said. “Whatcha doin’?”

“Well, Candace is Christmas shopping with Stacy,” Phineas told her. “Ferb and I decided to tag along and see what happened! What are you doing here?”

“I had to pick up a few last minute party supplies,” Isabella told him. “The Fireside Girls and I are having a Chrismukkah party at the lodge tonight.”

Frowning, Phineas said, “Chrismukkah?”

“It’s a combination of Christmas and Hanukkah,” Isabella explained. “Since it’s the second to last night of Hanukkah tonight, it seemed like the perfect time to celebrate. You guys should come!”

“That sounds awesome,” Phineas told her. “I’ve never been to a Chrismukkah party before. Ferb, Candace, what do you guys think?”

Ferb gave a wordless thumbs up, although Phineas could see his brother was just as excited as he was. Turning to look at Isabella again, Phineas said, “Yup, we’re in!”

“Actually, that does sound kinda fun,” Candace admitted. “Is it okay if I bring some friends? Stacy and Jeremy would probably like this.”

“The more, the merrier,” Isabella told her. “The party starts after five, when everyone’s had dinner— can’t wait to see you guys there! Phineas, Ferb, if you guys wanted to come early to help set up, that would be awesome.”

She headed off into the crowd, and Phineas grinned as he watched her go. “This is gonna be super fun!” Then he frowned. “Hey, where’s Perry?”

Their semi aquatic friend didn’t show himself for the rest of the shopping trip, but that didn’t worry Phineas too much. Perry was a free range platypus, and he’d be back soon. He always was.

The rest of the day passed by with remarkable ease, and soon Phineas and Ferb were on their way to the Fireside Girl lodge in downtown Danville. The outside was bedecked in golden-white and blue Christmas lights that shimmered welcomingly in the darkening sky as they approached.

Ferb knocked, and Isabella answered a few seconds later. Instead of her usual pink, she was wearing a blue sweater. “Hi, Phineas, Ferb! Glad you made it.”

“Glad to be here,” Phineas said, following her into the lodge. Gold and silver tinsel were strung along the walls, along with paper chains. Music was playing somewhere in the background, and two Fireside Girls were sitting at a table, busily cutting out snowflakes. “What can we do to help? This is your party, you’re in charge.”

Tapping at her chin in thought, Isabella said, “Hmm, let’s see. Ginger and Gretchen are taking care of decorations— be careful by the kitchen doorway, Ginger put up some mistletoe there. Addyson is bringing what we need for games— but we could use you for snack making! There’s a lot of cookies that still need cutting out.”

“Sounds perfect,” Phineas said.

Isabella directed them into the kitchen, where they found Holly and a girl with dark hair and a black outfit Phineas didn’t know working on rolling out cookie dough. “Phineas, Ferb, this is Vanessa,” Isabella explained. “She’s an honorary Fireside Girl, ever since the incident with the rhino last week.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember that!” Phineas said. “You were the one who caught him?”

Shrugging, Vanessa said, “I just did what anyone would have done. Nice to meet you, Phineas— and good to see you again, Ferb.”

“I didn’t know you’d met before,” Isabella said, looking surprised.

“A couple times, yeah.”

“I didn’t know either,” Phineas said, glancing at his brother. He couldn’t be sure, but… “Well, why don’t you and Vanessa work together?”

“That’s a great plan!” Isabella agreed. “Phineas and I can cut out cookies, and you guys can put frosting on the ones that are already baked.”

Vanessa shot a smile at Ferb. “Sounds good to me.”

The four of them got to work immediately— Ferb and Vanessa piping frosting onto the cookies that were cooling on the racks, and Phineas and Isabella cutting out shapes in the last few sheets of dough. Some of the cookie cutters were traditional shapes— snowmen, trees, and Christmas lights— but there were also dreidels and menorahs.

“Where did Hanukkah come from, anyway?” Phineas asked as he put a dreidel shaped cookie on the sheet next to them. “Why is it celebrated?”

“It comes from way back in the day,” Isabella explained. “When the Maccabees won their freedom back from the Greeks. They weren’t allowed to practice Judaism, and worship how they wanted to— the Greeks had been using the temple to worship their gods. So the Maccabees had to cleanse the temple, and part of that was lighting the lamp in the synagogue that was supposed to burn constantly. They only had enough oil for one day— but when they sent someone to get more oil, the lamp burned for all eight days that it took him to bring more back. It was a miracle.”

“Wow,” Phineas said as Isabella handed their full cookie sheet to Vanessa, who slid it into the oven. “Do you think that really happened? A miracle?”

Shrugging, Isabella said, “I don’t see why it wouldn’t. I mean, we’ve seen crazy things happen! And besides, the stories behind Christmas are just as miraculous, if not more so.”

“Good point,” Phineas agreed.

Working together, they finished work on the cookies, by which time the guests started to arrive. Baljeet and Buford came first, Buford wearing an ugly Christmas sweater and Baljeet carrying a box. “They are jelly filled donuts,” he told Isabella. “I read that they are the traditional food to eat on Hanukkah.”

“I didn’t bring anything,” Buford said with his trademark scowl. “Hey, are those cookies?”

“Help yourself,” Isabella said. “Thanks, Baljeet! Give those to Ginger, okay?”

Obediently, their friend headed over to where Ginger was waiting with a smile that only grew at the sight of him. Buford, on the other hand, made his way to the table where the cookies were and started stacking a plate full of them.

Addyson showed up with a bag of chocolate coins covered in gold foil— “Gelt, for playing dreidel!” Isabella told him— and soon after, Candace, Jeremy, and Stacy arrived.

“Huh,” Candace said, looking around. “Disappointingly normal. Where’s the giant remote control dreidel, or an actual living version of Frosty the Snowman?”

Shaking his head, Phineas said, “Nah. This is Isabella’s party, and we didn’t want to take over! Though a remote control dreidel would be really fun.”

Candace shrugged. “Fair enough.”

They all gathered around one of the tables with a plate of cookies and the donuts. Isabella brought out her dreidel and the gelt, and started teaching them to play. With music playing in the background and laughter surrounding them, Christmas lights sparkling from the windows, it was the perfect evening with friends.

After a few rounds of dreidel, they moved on to a game of high stakes go fish— which was like normal go fish, but with a higher likelihood of winding up in a duel to the kind of death. They were halfway through their first match when Stacy said, “Hey— is it snowing?”

There was an immediate rush to the windows, where it was discovered that massive flakes of snow were drifting down. “Perfect timing,” Isabella said happily from next to Phineas. “Although I guess you can’t make your flying snow machine now.”

Phineas shrugged. “I still get snow— this way we can break out the rocket powered sleds! Hey, we should go for a ride now! There’s already enough snow on the streets for it.”

“That sounds awesome,” Isabella agreed.

Rolling her eyes, Candace said, “Why did I know you couldn’t help yourselves?”

Nudging her, Jeremy said, “Hey, a sleigh ride in the moonlight sounds pretty fun. Could even be romantic.”

“Wellllllll… I guess you’re right,” Candace conceded. “Fine, let’s go.”

They were all starting towards the door when Ginger said, “Wait— Phineas, Isabella, stop!”

Phineas stopped in his tracks, Isabella next to him. “What? Is something wrong?”

Grinning slyly, Ginger said, “Nope. But you two are under the mistletoe. You know what that means.”

Phineas’s eyes widened. “Oh. Uhhhh, I guess it is tradition.”

“Right,” Isabella said, blushing visibly. Moving quickly, she leaned forward and kissed him once, on the lips. Pulling back, she said, “Well, we better get to those sleds!”

For a moment, Phineas was frozen, eyes still wide. Then he shook his head like he was throwing off a haze. “Right! Yeah, let’s go.”

He led the way to the door, with the others following him and chattering excitedly. Vanessa, who was in the back of the crowd with Ferb, quietly asked him, “Is your brother okay?”

“Oh, he probably just realized what all of us have known for years now,” Ferb said matter of factly. “Would you like to share a sled?”

“Sure,” Vanessa said, shooting Phineas a final curious look before she turned her attention back to Ferb with a smile. “That sounds fun.”

Despite the minor distraction, the group made their way back to Phineas and Ferb’s house, where they brought out the sleds they had stored in the garage. They spent a few hours that way, racing around the streets and enjoying the falling snow. It was the perfect ending to a Chrismukkah evening.

After a while, the group finally split up, heading back to their individual homes. Phineas and Ferb used the sleds to drop off most of them, and the last one they dropped off was Isabella.

As she hopped off the sled, Isabella told them, “Thanks for coming to the party— and for the sled rides!”

“Anytime,” Phineas told her, smiling. “Oh, there you are, Perry!”

The teal platypus let out his usual greeting, and Phineas picked him up and settled him in the sled next to him. He looked at Isabella again, and hesitated, like he was looking for words. 

In the end, he went with something simple and a smile. “Happy Hanukkah, Isabella.”

“Merry Christmas, Phineas.”