Welcome back to Familiar Faces!

Chapter Twenty: Season's Greetings

Dear Family and Friends,

I can't believe that it's time again for a holiday letter! During this Season last year Emma was just toddling around the tree and now she's almost an adult.

It's amazing how time flies isn't it?

When last we were in contact we were sad to report the deaths of David's parents Cary and Cass. It's still a bit difficult for all of us. There's defiantly a presence missing in the household these days.

On the upside we were happy to report that David was successful in the spawning of plant spore baby that we have named Eva. Eva has many of David's, Familiar features. Like him she is a Sagittarius messy and mean while at the same time being outgoing, active and playful. She also looks very much like him. I believe that if she were to deplant she would look remarkably like Emma did at the same age minus of course the pointy ears that both Emma and Elle inherited from me.

Elle of course has become a teen. Since she has chosen to be a popularity sim, we rarely see her without a phone attached to her ear. Popularity suits her to a tee, she's always been my little chatterbox.

When she's not on the phone to her friends those friends are hanging out around the house. Every time I move I seem to fall over a teen these days. Elle wants to have at least twenty best friends and it's looking as if she'll accomplish that goal before she even leaves for university.

Of course the friend we are most likely to find at the dinner table is Elle's best buddy since childhood, her first cousin Denise Nova. Like her sister Delphine; Denise has striking looks having inherited the best mix of genes possible from both her Familiar and Nova ancestors. She and Elle have much in common and have always gotten along swimmingly.

As for Emma she's met a delightful young man named Komei and the two of them have been spending time together going to parties at the various houses around the neighborhood. Most of us adults want our kids to have connections to their extended family so that when they all get together at university they'll always have a friendly face around; and so there seems to be a teen gathering someplace almost every evening.

Emma and Elliot have become quite close friends. Juliet hasn't seemed too keen to let Elliot socialize much with the extended Familiar family, in part I'm sure because many of them seemed to turn their backs on her after she and David were no longer together. She has however been welcoming of Emma and through Emma, Elliot is being allowed to spread his wings a bit more.

Emma seems to enjoy spending time at their house, she reports that Juliet and Robert are always very nice to her. I'm not sure that I appreciate some of the things she picks up in their company though, Juliet seems to have a different view of what is fun and appropriate for kids than I do.

As for Elliot we haven't seen him around here much lately he's been spending much of his time in the company of Deanna Indie. Between her and his studies he's been rather busy. I don't wish it to sound as if he's ignored us, he hasn't done so at all. He and his father have managed to build a solid relationship that I can only see getting better as the years go by and Elliot is less under his mother's control.

As for Juliet she doesn't seem to happy about Elliot's relationship with young Deanna, and she's made her objections known to Deanna's parents Caleb and Pamela. Part of her aversion is the memory of her own teen relationship with my husband and how badly that turned out in the end. She doesn't want Elliot to experience the disappointment that can come if young love doesn't prove to be true.

But she seems to be honing in on Caleb's mental problems as the reason for her dislike of a possible alliance. I really think that Juliet has very little to worry over there. True Caleb took the death's of his parents hard, but Juliet didn't seem to have any concern over his mental facilities when she was jumping in the hot tub with him back in their own university days.

Bottom has reported in from University to let us know that everything is going well for her. She's been studying hard, maintaining an A+ average and has joined the family Greek house. The kids have decided that they will each spend a year in the dorms before heading to the Greek house.

She's also still spending a lot of time with David's Uncle Alexander Goth. Interesting isn't it that David's Uncle is now the same age as our children?

At first we were a little concerned that some might frown at Bottom and Alex's relationship believing that the two of them were related in some manner, if one wanted to get technical Alex is Bottom's Step-Great-Uncle. But since their relationship is due only to David and my marriage we can't see how any would have true objections. It's not as if they are blood relations.

Of course Bottom and Delphy Nova are still best friends. I've never had much to object about their friendship though I do feel that Delphy is a bit wild and not always the best influence on Bottom. Delphy seems to bring a different young man home with her for every family gathering and it doesn't look like she'll be settling herself on any single one any time soon.

Puck doesn't have much time to call home, and when he does it's always full of apologizes for not calling sooner. He seems to be swamped in his studies now that he's chosen to major in philosophy. He says that his professors are really piling on the work these days.

I don't like the sound of him being overwhelmed in schoolwork and can only hope that he's been able to take some time to relax and have fun. While I expect all of the children to do well in school I don't want them to miss out on the excitement of their university experience.

I'll need to talk to him and let him know that it's okay to take a break now and then to have fun. These should be the best days of his life.

He did recently move into the Familiar family Greek house and take over the roll of Greek recruiter from the placeholder that had held the responsibility for the past generation. I'm glad that he's done that as I'm sure he'll be able to meet lots of new people while performing his role diligently.

As for Eva she has been a delightful addition to our family. Unlike our other children Eva didn't need any of the normal toddler training, she was born walking and talking. Like her father she needs no sleep in the form she is in and having inherited his fully maxed skills she has no need to do any skiling ever. The only things she seems to need are occasional baths and an endless supply of love that we are all willing to heap upon her.

Adonis has been brooding lately and he seems to be a bit frustrated with his role in the family. He recently topped the athletic career and completed his third lifetime want. The new lifetime want he received is for woohoo with twenty sims. While this would not be difficult for him to obtain he feels that he is being a bit ignored in his wants and needs.

I don't understand how he feels that he is ignored he gets plenty of dates and access to the wishing well whenever it's free. Seeing as how he is already permanently plat several times over in addition to being immortal it's not as if his new lifetime want has any pressing time restraints on it.

But he mumbles about how Eva seems to be demanding of his time and how he wasn't consulted over whether there needed to be another toddler in the house. He also reflects on how when 'Mr. Dwight' rolled the same want he was moved to a free and easy bachelor pad and yet here he, Adonis, remains saddled with family obligations.

In hopes of cheering Adonis up we have gotten a new dog to be Eddie's mate. Effie is a sweet little lady. Apparently the family has been trying for generations to breed in a different color of coat than the tan that's been standard since Tucker first joined the household. An adult dog was purchased rather than getting another puppy in order to ensure proper personality.

Over the past few generations the dogs have gotten more placid and less aggressive. This is seen as a good thing and are traits that we wish to continue to encourage. For now all seems to be going well. Effie and Eddie are hesitantly getting to know each other. We'll wait until after Eddie's father, Scotty has passed before attempting to encourage them to breed.

As for David and myself now that we have now each topped our selected careers we have more free time to be together and enjoy pursuing our favorite past times. While I'm not looking forward to growing older I am looking forward to our elder hood when we will be able to retire and spend long lazy days together.

The traditional heir and spouse paintings have been completed and added to the hall gallery. As is tradition David painted my portrait while I painted his. It's nice seeing our likenesses represented among those of David's ancestors and to know that they will remain for the many generations that will follow us.

We received word that Elliot had completed all of his pre-university requirements and had made the trek to campus. He'd been antsy for the previous few weeks since Deanna had already left and he was missing her dreadfully. I'm sure that Robert and Juliet are missing him now as are we.

Elliot has moved into the family dormitory, Bottom and Delphy have made him welcome and helped him to pick out a university wardrobe. They'll be staying in the dorm for another semester to help get Elliot and Emma settled before they move on to the Greek house.

Emma was chomping at the bit to join her brother but there were a few more things she needed to tie up before heading to University. David decided that it would be a good idea for her to have the business perks before she went to university so that she'll have a leg up with making the necessary contacts once she's there. As the heir to the legacy she'll need to know a wide variety of people, and the perks will save her on travel time that might be necessary without them.

Emma and Komei had one last day together before she left. She was sad to be leaving him behind but it had always been understood between the two of them that their relationship would not continue past high school Emma is well aware that Komei is not legacy legal and that she would need to have the time that she's in University to find herself a legal match without the distraction of an old flame being present.

After saying goodbye to Komei it was time to gather folks together for yet another birthday party. It was time for David to become an elder. While it may seem odd that David is older than I seeing that at the time we married I already had two children, we'll just point to my Sylvan heritage and claim that elves don't age as quickly as humans do.

The entire family gathered for David's eldering. Isn't Bottom's beau Alex adorable? Such a sweet young man to pay notice to an old lady like myself. My daughter better watch it or I might just steal him from her. Haha I'm joking of course, David and I are perfectly matched and I'm not interested in going elsewhere. That doesn't mean I can't look though and approve of my daughters taste in gentlemen.

David aged well, he's as handsome now as he was when I first met him. I must admit that I thank Wright daily for for my husband. We've had our share of bumps over the years but they've only strengthened our relationship and made it better.

After David's party, it was time to say goodbye to Emma. I didn't think it'd be so hard to see her leave for University as it was. I had thought that since Puck and Bottom had already left that I would already have been over seeing my babies growing up. But neither Puck nor Bottom had lived with us and Emma no longer being underfoot all the time leaves a hole. I keep telling myself that she'll be back in four years. But four years is a long time and she'll be an adult then she'll no longer be my baby.

When Emma called to check in after getting to the dorms she sounded very excited about the experience. She said she'd already met one of the professors and was sure that with teachers such as he, she was sure she would learn a ton while at school.

With Emma gone Elle was pumped to join her and the rest of her siblings on campus. She would have left at the same time if she could, but we wanted her to stay with us a bit longer. She decided to put her remaining time as a teen to good use and swore to be perma plat before hitting university.

She already had quite a few best friends and most likely would not have had any problems achieving her goal no matter what but she wanted to meet a wider variety of teens and so she put the old wishing well into use in order to meet some townies. She already knew all of the teen 'cousins' that remained in the hood that were still waiting to go to university.

We allowed Elle free reign at planning Eva's birthday party. While I think it's a bit odd how the spore children seem to grow so quickly and mature so rapidly we couldn't allow such an event to pass without a celebration.

Elle did a good job of gathering family and friends together for the event, and everyone cheered expectantly to see how the toddler to adult metamorphosis would occur.

I'm not sure if watching the process allowed anyone to get a full understanding of it. There seemed to be the normal toddler boogie and jump combined with a shimmer of falling leaves as Eva spread and grew to more than twice her previous size into a full grown adult. Eva has chosen to be a fortune sim and wants to earn 100,000 simoleans. Without the benefit of college scholarship supplements she'll need to work hard in order to achieve such.

We were very happy that all of the kids were able to take a break from their studies in order to join us for Eva's treeing as we've taken to calling it. I'm proud of all my children, they've grown into such fine young adults.

Adonis in particular seemed happy to see the kids home again. He revived himself from his usual funk a bit while they were here. He was very complimentary of Emma's new adult presence. Emma was happy to see her old friend as well and has promised to invite him to the first party she throws at the Greek House.

I fear that Adonis and all of us will have some problems with adult Eva. As one of the few adult males in her social sphere she is using him to try out her new found famine whiles.

Adonis didn't seem too sure of how he should react to Eva's attention. He knows that nothing good could come of a relationship with her. But then again he is romance and she's openly inviting to him.

One afternoon Elle had the opportunity to greet a teen walk bye. Since Elle was always greeting everyone that passed by the house we didn't think much about the new boy she dragged in for supper that night.

But Elle sure thought something about him. His name was Jacob Martin and he was the first young man that took her fancy in such a way that she wanted to be more than just best friends with him.

Before you could blink Elle was in the throws of her first full blown crush. They grow up so fast. Jacob is a nice young man, I couldn't ask for more for my daughter, but I doubt anything will come of their relationship once Elle's ready for University.

Speaking of full blown crushes, Eva would not let poor Adonis alone. Short of powering him down there wasn't much any of us could have done to avoid our current situation. If at anytime anyone wants to find Eva they've only need to find Adonis and she'll be two steps behind him.

Eventually she wore him down. I still say nothing good will come of this but I can't really blame the servo, he's not programed to think ahead.

David has tried talking to Eva, we both have but she's her father's daughter stubborn to say the least. In her mind she's seeing herself with Adonis, she claims that he makes her happy and that's all that matters. Sure she's happy now, but how long will that last?

David has also spoken repeatedly to Adonis. We know that Adonis would never hurt anyone in the family on purpose but for all that he is a romance servo, servo's don't really understand human emotions. I now understand why the majority of the families in the neighborhood faced with fully matured spores that are still emotionally children have opted to foster them with Bob and Sierra.

We are saddened to report that Scotty has died of old age. David was home when Grim came to collect him and he swears that Grim whispered to him about how much he hates the pets part of his job.

When it was time for my birthday I asked Elle not to plan a huge gathering, I just wanted my kids there. All of my kids. I consider myself to be the mother of six, whether I gave birth to them or not doesn't matter they're mine.

And true to her promise Elle didn't invite anyone but her siblings. It turned out that just the kids were plenty to raise the roof. Sometimes smaller is better.

I think I aged fairly well, David keeps telling me I'm still beautiful. I'll be throwing an anniversary party soon after the new year to fulfill my lifetime want, we had to put it off until there's a night that David has off work. He's not ready to give up his job yet but personally I'm ready to retire, just give me some grand babies to cuddle.

I don't know what we're going to do with Eva and Adonis. Every time you turn around they're all over each other. It's almost like living with my in-laws again and yet it's not because Eva and Adonis aren't a good match.

I'm not the only one concerned with Eva's overt stalking of Adonis. Cary's ghost decided to introduce himself to his newest granddaughter in a rather unpleasant way. It was the first time we had seen him, and while David would have enjoyed Cary's visit it upset Eva greatly.

The fact that Cary's ghost stalked Eva that night much in the same way that Eva normally stalks Adonis makes me believe that he was trying to communicate with her in some way. Then again David did get his mean streak from his father.

Whatever it was that Cary was trying to impart on his granddaughter did not go over well with her and she was soon a blubbering pile of nerves.

I called the shrink to make an emergency house visit, and he was finally able to break through to her and calm her somewhat. He's advised that she focus her energies on something other than Adonis and to get out of the house a bit more. Which is a good recommendation and something that I've been saying since day one!

If David hadn't listened to me he did listen to the doctor and the next day he took both girls with him when he and Adonis went to check in on the Familiar Fruits. Since Eva keeps saying that she'd like to own her own business he felt that having her work there a bit would help her get a leg up on earning some business badges. Elle tagged along in her never ending search to meet new people and make more friends.

The family showed up in full force to support David in his desire to help the girls with their various goals. David was quite proud of the way that Celeste managed to keep a straight face while having Elle recommend all the various possible grilled cheese combinations that could be concocted with fresh fruit and vegetable toppings.

Apparently though Eva will need to work on her people skills quite a bit if she wants to be successful as a business woman. She kept trying to pick fights with customers and bully them into buying. Thankfully most Familiar's enjoy a good argument and very few stars were lost while she was on the sales floor.

When she wasn't picking arguments she was participating in the time honored Familiar practice of cheating at chess or discussing inappropriate subjects with perfect strangers. At times she would combine the two. Eventually David assigned her to the flower bench and had her work on gaining some badges. We'll have to find another way to broaden her social circle that won't cause the family business to be ruined.

David said that Elle's young man stopped by the shop to see her and help boost her motives so that they could stay opened longer. While he was there the two of them concocted a plan for a house party to celebrate Elle's leaving for University that weekend.

And so we found the house over run with teens this past weekend. I should have known that Elle wouldn't want to leave for Uni without one last blowout. I guess I can't complain they really weren't that unruly. While I did have to beat a few couples out of the bushes and the hot tub that's only to be expected.

Most of the evening they just sat around in groups chatting. Remembering high school hijinks and sharing hopes and dreams for university. While the majority of the townie teens that were at the party won't be heading to university any time soon they still have their dreams and they know that it's a possibility for them to be tagged at any time.

How fitting that Elle fulfilled her lifetime want at her own party and with 'cousin' Delilah no less! I for one am glad that their friendship had not been fully sealed before that time. Delilah's a wild one. Emma may think I didn't know about her teen scrape with the police when she snuck out with Delilah, but I did. There are some things your kids do that you hold close and wait till they have kids of their own before you toss it in their faces.

The morning after her party Elle woke slowly. Normally she's one to bound out of bed and face each day with a smile, but that day would bring many changes and she wanted to remember every moment of it. Getting out of bed she looked around her room for the last time and then pulled out her cell phone.

Another of my babies is off to college. The house will seem even bigger and emptier without her here. And unlike her sister Elle won't be returning home to live in the future. We'll be visiting back and forth regularly but it's not the same as having her here, it will never be the same.

I'm sure that Elle will be as successful at university as the rest of her siblings have been. She's got a bright future in front of her and has determined to study the law and follow in her Great Uncle Clint's footsteps.

For now she and Denise are holding down the fort at the family dorm. From her reports thus far she plans to thoroughly enjoy the university experience and to meet as many people as she can while having a fun time all the while. I can only hope that she doesn't allow parties to get too much in the way of her studies.

Very soon now all of the children will be together again at the Greek House. Most of them are already there. Yes I'll admit that I do worry about them, but they are all bright and well grounded. I wonder what they are up to over there?

I'm sure they'll report in soon.

Until then,

Thanks for reading and Happy Simming!

-------------------General shutout to all the wonderful custom content creators that help to make my sims and their homes look so good!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Jenn