"What are you so happy about?" Hailey asked her boyfriend Austin as they trudged through the snow towards the cabin. "You haven't been able to stop smiling since we left this morning."
"I told you," Austin replied, "I'm in college now, which means I don't have to sit at the kids table anymore."
"That can't be it," Hailey said skeptically, "There's gotta be something else going on. You've been so secretive about this whole trip. Why can't you tell me more about what we're doing? Your whole family is going to be here, right? Why did I have to bring my nice clothes? Is there a hot tub? Is that why you told me to bring my swimsuit? Also, why did you have me wrap a pair of my pajamas like a Christmas present?" She added as she shook the present she was holding in front of Austin's face.
"Stop asking so many questions," Austin laughed, holding a wrapped present of his own. "Besides, even I told you what was going on, you'd never believe me."
"Whatever," Hailey said, rolling her eyes.
As they continued towards the cabin, Hailey noticed how big it was. "Wow, you weren't joking when you said the cabin was big." Hailey observed, "Does that mean everybody gets their own room?"
Austin's smile got even bigger, "Yes, there's rooms for everybody."
They reached the cabin door and pushed it open, when they looked inside they saw a large family talking and playing. A few people stood up and welcomed them.
"Hey you made it!" Austin's mom said, giving him a hug. "And Hailey, we're so glad you're here."
"Thanks Mrs. Williams" Hailey said as she hugged her.
They took off their boots and set their backpacks down.
"I'll take those," Mrs. Williams said, grabbing the presents from Austin and Hailey. She took them over to a large Christmas tree and placed them on a pile of similarly sized, wrapped presents.
As Austin and Hailey got settled in, they heard a voice from the kitchen. "Dinner is ready!"
There was a rush of movement around the cabin as everybody hurried to the dinner table. As Hailey followed Austin to her seat, she passed the kids table. She noticed there were more than a dozen kids of all different ages. "These must be Austin's cousins" she thought to herself.
They took their seats at the adult table with Austin's parents, older cousins, and aunts and uncles. As they began to eat, Austin introduced Hailey to some of the relatives that were seated next to him.
"Hailey, this is my Uncle Kent," Austin said gesturing to a middle-aged man, "And this is his wife Natasha,"
"Hello," Natasha said with a thick Russian accent.
"She's from Russia and doesn't speak much English," Austin whispered to Hailey.
Austin continued pointing out other family members. "That woman in the red dress is my Aunt April," he said pointing out a beautiful woman a few years younger than his mom. "And sitting next to her is her husband Josh. Next to them is my parents who of course you already know." Next he gestured to a young woman with long blonde hair, "That's my cousin Rose, she's just a few years older than me. She just got married to her husband Shawn, this is his first time here too. Next to Shawn is Danielle, she's my age and she's not..."
Austin was interrupted by the dinging of a glass. He had only introduced about half the table. An older woman with jet black hair stood up and began to speak.
"I hope everybody is enjoying their meal." She said. "It's almost time to get to the main event. Since we have a few first timers here, I figured I should explain a little bit about what's going to happen."
"Finally I'm going to get some answers," Hailey muttered under her breath. Austin smiled and grabbed her hand.
The woman continued, "Our annual winter tradition is that every year, we spend some time walking in another person's shoes...literally. Over the next week, you'll be swapping bodies with someone else each day."
Everybody smiled and looked around the table. Hailey and Shawn had confused looks on their faces.
"To start things off, you'll pick one of the presents under the tree. As you may have guessed, there is an article of clothing in each present. Once you've picked it, you'll go to the bathroom, unwrap it, and touch the medallion that's hanging on the wall. Your body will then be changed into the owner of the clothing you received."
"You can't be serious," Hailey whispered to Austin. "Is she joking?"
"She's not" Austin smiled, "I know it sounds weird, but trust me, it's a lot of fun being someone else for a little bit."
"Do the kids swap too?" Hailey asked.
"They swap with each other, that's why I was so excited to finally be at the adult table this year. Last year I had to spend a few days as some of my youngest cousins."
Hailey looked around the table. Everyone was talking excitedly amongst themselves. Rose seemed to be explaining things to Shawn just as Austin had to her. She couldn't believe that one of these people was going to be in her body. Even stranger was that she was going to be in one of theirs...
Just as she was about to ask Austin another question, the lady in charge began to speak again...
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