A/N: This is my favourite one :) I hope you enjoy it, too.

7: Tradition

PigPen was always a very traditional person. Or at least, he liked to think so.

Of course, with Christmas being one of the most traditional holidays of the year, there never went a tradition that he didn't follow. He made sure he wrapped all the gifts in traditional red and green paper. His tree was topped with the traditional six-tiered star. His nativity scene was traditional, right down to the very last sheep.

But there was one tradition that happened to be PigPen's favourite. And this year, he was bound and determined to make it work—some way or another.

"Doesn't PigPen look ridiculous! What a stupid looking hat! He looks like he came right out of the forest!" Frieda was shrieking to anybody who would listen, fluffing her 'naturally curly hair' out like a peacock. And it didn't seem that anyone was doing that—except PigPen himself.

The young man waggled an eyebrow at the woman. "Actually, that's not very accurate," he corrected her smartly, "for this particular plant doesn't grow in just any old forest."

"And why is that?" she asked, partly in disgust, partly in legitimate curiosity.

"Because, this is a special kind of plant. It's a holiday tradition to have it around, you know."

"It is sort of pretty," Frieda had to admit. "And festive, too."

"Have you heard the tradition of the mistletoe?" PigPen asked her, slyly inching his way closer to her. The girl looked at him wide eyed.

"Mistletoe?" she repeated. "That's mistletoe?"

"I take it you've heard the tradition," he countered.

The wide-eyed look never left Frieda's face as she discovered how close he was to her. She didn't respond.

"I hate to break tradition," he said softly now, almost in her ear. "Don't you?"

Frieda just nodded, noticing that his familiar 'pig-pennish' scent was replaced by a musky, daringly bold one that tingled her senses. He leaned in close, pressing his lips to hers with such gentleness that she sighed and returned the gesture.

Needless to say, the next time Frieda heard about any tradition, she was the first to enforce its practice.