Editor’s note: This is the seventh chapter of a 12-part fictional holiday tale that is running daily until Christmas. Parents are encouraged to read aloud with their children.

After returning home, the twins’ day didn’t get any less bizarre. More so, if possible.

Juniper was like a little whirlwind full of excitement and energy; it made Katie tired just watching her, and she had a sneaking suspicion that Juniper had been right about them not being able to keep up with her.

She explored every nook and cranny of their house, exclaiming over things Katie had never thought twice about.

“Oh my gosh, real apples!” she said, picking up a shiny red apple from the bowl on the table and taking a huge bite. “All we have in the North Pole are caramel apples and candy apples.”

The plush carpet in the living room made her gasp, and she lay on the floor and swished her arms and legs like she was making a snow angel.

“Carpet! I love carpet! We hardly have any at the North Pole since we’re always tracking in snow and slush.”

She went completely nuts over the assortment of beauty products Katie owned, insisting on taking the lid off each container to sniff them.

“Everything at the North Pole smells like candy canes and gumdrops,” she whined, inhaling the fresh scent of a fruity-floral lotion and slathering a blob on herself. Then she flopped onto Katie’s bed with a satisfied sigh.

“This is amazing. I don’t care what Jasper says, I’m never leaving.”

Katie and Kellan exchanged a look, and he raised his eyebrows and gestured to the elf as if to tell Katie that it was her problem she had created.

“Well, let’s just take this one day at a time,” she said carefully, and Juniper seemed satisfied with that answer. She bounced back up to her feet and headed to the TV.

“Can we watch something? Something that has nothing to do with Christmas?” Juniper’s eyes widened and she lowered her voice slightly. “Can we watch … a scary movie?”

Kellan barked out a laugh. “Absolutely not. I refuse to be responsible for traumatizing you for the rest of your life.”

“I’d be fine!”

“Maybe, but still…let’s start with something easy,” Katie said, turning on the TV and scrolling through all the streaming options. Juniper’s eyes were glued to the TV in wide-eyed wonder, but then she got distracted when she noticed the open door to Katie’s bathroom.

“A shower? You have a shower?” she exclaimed, forgetting all about the TV as she made a mad dash for the bathroom. “All we have at the North Pole are whirlpool baths that make you smell like cotton candy. I’ve never had a shower before!”

Katie thought cotton candy whirlpool baths actually sounded amazing, but she obliged Juniper and showed her how to use the shower. She left a pile of her old clothes that she hoped would fit the elf and shut the door, the sound of Juniper singing Christmas carols mixing with the running water.

“What in the world have we gotten ourselves into?” Kellan groaned, shaking his head with his face in his hands and Katie laughed.

“Don’t be so dramatic. It’ll be fine. She’s just excited, that’s all. Think how excited you’d be if you visited the North Pole for the first time.”

Kellan shook his head but didn’t argue. He did argue, however, the next morning when Juniper woke up at the crack of dawn and ran up and down the hallway yelling for them to wake up.

“It’s the middle of the night,” he grumbled, burying his face in his pillow.

“Come on guys, I made my special chocolate chip sprinkle whipped frosting pancakes!”

It took a lot of persuasion, but Juniper managed to get the twins out of bed and to the kitchen table, where they sat down to an enormous stack of fluffy pancakes dripping with sweet, gooey frosting.

“Wow,” Katie said, taking her first bite, “these are delicious, Juniper. Thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do, after all you guys are doing so much for me!” Juniper beamed. She wiggled her fingers and two steaming mugs of hot cocoa appeared in front of the twins, and Katie almost choked at the blatant display of magic.

“No sense in hiding it anymore,” Juniper said, her eyes twinkling mischievously. She waved her arm, and a small flurry of snowflakes fell out of the air, drifting down to land on the table.

“Uh-oh,” Juniper muttered, staring up at the snowflakes that were suddenly coming down faster. She waved her arm again, and the snowflakes suddenly swirled around the kitchen like they were part of a blizzard.

Snow was quickly piling up on the floor, and Katie and Kellan could only watch in horror as Juniper tried in vain to control the snowflakes.

Read Thursday’s newspaper for chapter 8 of this Christmas tale.