"Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel, I made it out of clay, and when it's dry and ready with Dreidel I shall play!" Mabel Pines loudly sang as she gave the old family Dreidel a good hard spin. It danced across the floor of the mystery shack for several minutes before tilting on its side.

"GIMEL!" she exclaimed happily, "alright suckers, fork over the goods!"

Her family gave playful annoyed groans as they handed over their raisins.

"Here, you take them sis! Lord knows I don't want em….how long have you kept these raisins Stan?"

"Eh…either since '81 or '82…I forget!"

Dipper gagged as Mabel fearlessly plopped a raisin in her mouth.

"Honestly Stanley, I know you're cheap, but surely fresh raisins aren't too much of an inconvenience!" Ford scolded.

"Hey! The kids said they wanted to celebrate an authentic Hanukkah this year. Just like when we were kids. I'm simply following through with their wishes! And besides, you know as well as I do pops was the only man on earth cheaper than me! His raisins had to be at least 100 years old!"

Ford smiled wistfully, "and mom's latkes always filled the house with the smell of…." The blaring of the smoke alarm cut off Ford.

"SHOOT!" Ford shouted as he rushed to the kitchen to try to salvage the pancakes.

It appeared to be a lost cause as Ford came back a few moments later with a bunch of black circles that looked like they once had hopes of becoming pancakes, but those hopes were dead.

Stan took a deep wift, "Wow. I'm impressed sixer! Mom would be so proud that one of her sons took on cooking so well!"

Ford gave a sad smile as Mabel tore a piece off and ate it, totally content.

The three men smiled at the girl. This whole thing had been her idea, and while no one was saying it out loud, they knew it had to do with her cancer scare earlier this year. The whole thing hadn't broken Mabel's spirit, but it had made her a great deal more reflective on life. The fact she almost lost hers gave her a feeling of being given a second chance at life and she wanted to live it to its fullest potential. She had insisted that they celebrate an authentic Hanukkah this year. Despite the fact that Stan and Ford hadn't stepped foot in a Synagogue in years, and Dipper and Mabel weren't even full-blooded Jews. Their father had been one, while their mother was a Protestant.

Speaking of their mother.

The ring of the landline phone interrupted the family.

Everyone knew what that meant.

Stan got up and answered the phone in his kindest and most sincere voice answered.

"Hello Janice, how are you today?"

"Stanley! Glad that you are home, how are my favorite great-niece and nephew?"

"Fantastic Janice,"

"HI GRAUNTY JANICE!" Dipper and Mabel called from the living room.

"You wanna talk to them? I'm sure they would love to talk to you!" Stan said as he motioned for the kids to come and relieve him from the conversation.

"Oh no Stanley, that's not necessary. I actually have a wonderful surprise for all of you! My flight to Hawaii got canceled!"

That didn't sound like great news to Stan.

"I've decided to come down and spend Christmas with all of you!"

"Great," Stan managed through gritted teeth.

"Of course I will be needing a place to stay! None of the hotels in that back-woods town are up to my standards, besides room service will be slow through the holidays!" Janice continued.

Stan was about to quip that the shack was no hotel and that they had better things to do than wait on her hand and foot, but then he caught sight of his daughter.

She was laughing and smiling and had that beautiful natural glow on her face. Her hair had grown into an adorable bob. She looked totally different than she had just a few months ago, when she appeared to be right on death's door. Slowly but surely, the beautiful, strong and brave little girl he had known prior to that ordeal was retuning.

Stan knew that he owed a great deal of his daughter's recovery to Janice. He would never have been able to cover those medical fees on his own. Janice with her deep pockets relived him of that worry which had given him more time to focus on Mabel's recovery.

Sure, she was demanding and her personality clashed with his and Ford's, but she was family. She loved Dipper and Mabel almost as much as they did, and she provided the poor kids a mirror to their mother's side of the family. They deserved to have a relationship with her now.

His eyes also caught sight of the adoption certificates hanging on the mantel. This time there was no way that she could ever take Dipper or Mabel away from he and Ford. Those kids were theirs, and no one could take that away.

Stan took a deep breath before he finally spoke, "we'd love to have you for the holidays Janice,"