Christmas Full Throttle
Part 1: Totally Lost in Advent
“Dude, this year was like a whole movie,” Jonas muttered as he dropped himself onto the way-too-soft tram seat. His backpack slammed against the metal pole, a few people turned around annoyed, and somewhere in the back someone played quiet Christmas music through cheap phone speakers.
It was December and already pitch dark outside, even though it was barely past four. The city was covered in lights, mulled wine stalls, and people pretending they weren’t stressed — even though everyone was secretly doing the math of how broke they would be after buying presents. Long story short: Christmas season was officially on.
Jonas took out his phone, unlocked it with a smooth swipe, and reflexively checked his messages. In the group chat “Chaos Crew,” there were like a hundred unread texts.
Lea: EVERYONE AT MY PLACE TONIGHT, 6 PM! IMPORTANT!!!
Mehmet: Bro what’s important? Food?
Lea: YES ALSO, BUT HOLD ON, I HAVE AN IDEA
Sofia: Oh wow, if Lea says “idea,” something’s gonna catch fire again lol
Jonas smirked. Lea was his younger sister, one year below him but at least three levels more organized. If she called something “important,” it usually meant: half genius, half chaos.
He typed back with half-frozen fingers:
Jonas: I’m in. If something explodes again, warn me first.
As he hit send, he saw his reflection in the tram window — messy brown hair, hoodie he’d worn for like three days, and eye bags that looked like they needed their own Wi-Fi password. School, assignments, random presentations — plus his secret side mission only Lea really knew about.
Jonas wasn’t just some tenth-grader. He was the unofficial meme king of his school. Under the anonymous name @ChristmasFailz he posted clips that roasted the drama of December — Christmas market fails, gift disasters, the whole mess. Nobody knew it was him. And it needed to stay that way.
The tram screeched to a halt and Jonas stepped out. Cold air hit his face. “Ugh,” he muttered, pulling his hoodie tighter as he walked to the apartment he shared with Lea and their parents.
Outside the building, he paused. Third-floor lights were flickering — typical Lea, probably already dragging half the decorations out of the basement. Which meant one thing: he would end up untangling fairy lights again, the ones that looked like an octopus braided them.
“Okay, Jonas,” he whispered. “You got this. It’s only Christmas.”
The moment he unlocked the door, someone shouted: “JONAS! FINALLY! We almost started without you!”
He kicked off his shoes, threw his jacket somewhere “near” the hook and walked into the living room — and instantly knew tonight was not going to be chill.
The coffee table was covered in pens, notes, a laptop, a giant bowl of nachos — and Lea, Mehmet, and Sofia grinning like they just planned a heist.
“Uh… hi?” Jonas said. “What is this? Why does our table look like math tutoring meets Netflix binge?”
Lea crossed her arms dramatically. “Sit, brother. We have a master plan. Christmas will be not just nice — it will be legendary.”
Mehmet nodded seriously while stuffing nachos in his mouth. “On honor, Jonas. This is bigger than any math test.” A crumb fell on his shirt, but as usual, he didn’t notice.
Sofia raised a brow. “Well… bigger than your math grade isn’t that hard,” she teased. Everyone laughed while Mehmet clutched his chest dramatically. “No offense,” she added, smirking.
Jonas sat down. “Alright. Convince me. What’s the plan? And if this involves sneaking a real donkey into school again, I’m out.”
Lea stepped forward like she was pitching on Shark Tank. “So, you all know the Christmas market, right?”
“Sure,” Jonas said. “Small town, small market, huge line at the crêpe stand. Standard.”
“Exactly,” Lea replied. “Every year it’s the same: mulled wine for adults, overpriced candy, someone singing off-key on stage, Santa showing up for five minutes… It’s okay, but also kind of…”
“Cringe,” Sofia said.
“Thank you. Cringe. And this year — we turn cringe into content.”
Mehmet stared. “What, like a Christmas market vlog?”
Lea shook her head. “Not just a vlog. I mean a Christmas Challenge. Every day a little mission, something festive. And we record everything — video, photos, stories. And at the end…” — dramatic pause — “we drop the ultimate Christmas movie. Our chaos. Our perspective.”
Jonas blinked. “Okay… that’s wild. But what’s the catch?”
Lea smirked. “We need the Christmas market Santa. And not like ‘excuse me, sir.’ We need to find out who he is… and convince him to join.”
Silence. Then Mehmet: “Bro, it’s totally the school janitor. Looks exactly like him.”
Sofia shook her head. “Nope. Last year Santa was shorter. I saw when the hat slipped.”
Jonas leaned back. A mission a day, chaos, content— perfect for @ChristmasFailz. If this worked, his account could go viral.
Lea looked him dead in the eyes. “So… are you in, or are you lost?”
Jonas looked around — nacho crumbs, expectant faces, Lea buzzing with excitement. That weird December feeling hit him — a mix of hope, sugar rush, and total overload.
“Fine,” he grinned. “I’m in. But we do this properly. Lists, planning, hashtags, everything. If we go Christmas chaos, we go pro.”
Lea beamed. “Legend! Then tomorrow — Challenge One: Find Santa!”
Jonas felt his phone buzz. A new notification: @ChristmasFailz — you were tagged in a story.
A blurry photo of Santa appeared — tilted hat, cheap beard — captioned:
“Something’s off with Santa this year… #sus”
Jonas smiled. He had no idea how crazy things were about to get. But one thing was certain: This Christmas wouldn’t be boring.