It's New Year's Eve. The Periwinkles are at home, relaxing.
Look at these elegant frames with pictures of the Periwinkle family inside them. They are Christmas presents from their cousins in Plumcake.
It was a wonderful surprise to receive something they could decorate their home with! The Periwinkles from Plumcake also sent a gorgeous card showing a Christmas tree in the snow.
Jemima is riding her pony.
"My dear," says Mrs. Periwinkle, "are Quackie and Hans getting along with the new stuffed doggy Santa Claus brought you?"
"Oh yes, Mommy, I think they are all friends already!"
Upstairs, the three toys are conversing. Quackie is glaring at the doggy. She does not like to get new siblings. She is afraid she might no longer be Jemima's favourite...
"So Jemima hasn't given you a name yet?" she asks. "No," answers the stuffed dog shyly. "Is this important? What do you do with a name?"
"Well you will need one," says Quackie. "Hans and I have one, too."
And to herself she says: "If the dog doesn't have a name yet, mabye there is hope for me after all and I will stay Jemima's nr. 1..."
Downstairs, James has turned on the heater and the lamp in the living room. Julie and him are talking, watching Jemima play, and looking at their cousins' presents.
Julie is happy. She feels happy, because her family is well and also because of the cosy atmosphere in their living room. She is also happy because of something else. Something that she hasn't told James about yet. Now is the perfect moment!
"James, my love, I have a surprise for you." James is a little astonished at this and says, "Didn't we decide to not give each other any presents for Christmas or New Years, so we could save for a special family trip?"
Julie smiles at him. "My surprise is this: I bought a lottery ticket for the Christmas lottery in November. I didn't seriously think we could win anything, James, but we did. We won the grand prize! We are millionaires now, James! This means that next year we can travel anywhere we want to!!"
James is speachless. "You are pulling my leg, my precious willow!" he stammers.
"No," says Julie, "It's true! It's really true. I wanted to wait until I was sure they would send us the money. Because I couldn't believe it myself! Today I saw that the money was put onto our bank account."
"Hooraaaaaaaaay!!!! Julie, you are the best! I cannot believe this! Think of all the nice things we can buy for our family with this money! And all the people we can help!"
Jemima does not understand what has happened, but she sees that her parents are radiant with joy and happily hugging and kissing each other, so she gets off her pony to join in.
"Come here, my little muffin!" cries James and gives his daughter a big hug and a kiss.
The clock strikes midnight as the three rabbits hug and kiss each other and rejoice about their good fortune.
What a thoroughly unexpected and exciting beginning to the new year...!
