@RUBY UK: Good luck Elle!! If anyone can make a Beefeater smile, my money’s on you xx

Yup—that was challenge number twenty-eight. I gave her a thumbs-up back, even though she was so far away, I wasn’t sure she could see.

Not the best start, though, and I was already tired—my alarm had gone off at six so I could make sure everything was perfect. I’d even put on my favorite red Lady Danger MAC lipstick, so I looked braver than I felt.

Everything depended on today. Thanks to lots of amazing people tagging on my account, I was now up to 9,201 new followers—but Clara had just hit ten thousand. The others were way behind, so one of us two was definitely going to win. The race was really on to be first.

Dove hadn’t made my day any easier by adding Platform 9¾ into the challenge, and I’d woken up to her tagging me into a video asking if I could pick her up a souvenir. And some really hard-to-find candy. I didn’t have time, but I also didn’t have a choice, so I’d said yes.

I’d posted the full list of fifty this morning, so everyone could check them off as I went. The idea was, for each one I did, people would tag in a new friend, and the person who suggested that exact one would tag in ten. I was asking a lot, but I really hoped they’d do it.

I looked back at the list. The long list.

Photo with a Beefeater (or any novelty Londoner)… Ride a double-decker bus… Take the Tube… Zara… A ride at Winter Wonderland… Carnaby Street lights…

Even though I’d never met her, this whole day was making me think of Holly. I couldn’t believe we were going to the Snow Ball AND spending Christmas Day together. I swear I heard Nick humming a Christmas tune when I spoke to Mom last night—and he’d asked me if it would be a good idea if he went to Manhattan with Holly as “we haven’t actually seen the Central Park ice-skating rink in years.” I thought he would hardly hang out with her, but he’d done something with her every day. Interesting. Something Christmassy too. Even more interesting…I dropped Hol a message.

Checking off London >> So so vibed for the London Eye. THANK YOU!! And send me everything about New York!!!

All I had left from her to-do list for me was the Christmas Cracker. And Holly had done almost all of hers too—even if she didn’t get a mistletoe kiss, I was still going to do the extra surprise for our moms. Not that Holly needed to know that—she still had Woody to get over. An extra incentive never hurt.

Fred leaned over the table. “Soooo, tell me. What cunning plan do we have to achieve this ridiculous day?”