Topic: First Christmas

Piper Granger

Date: 2011-12-10 11:39 EST
"Thank goodness for all the magic in Rhy'Din," Piper murmured as she unlocked the door to the loft, mostly to herself but partly to the baby girl cuddled close in the brightly coloured sling that was wrapped around mother and child. The nappy - diaper, she reminded herself - diaper bag was clumsy enough, without having to worry about shopping bags as well, but thanks to a little sales assistant ingenuity, all her purchases of the morning were neatly concealed in two surprisingly small paper bags that hung from her hand.

Loki and Poppy were on her as soon as she stepped through the door, squawking and snuffling happily in greeting. "Shh, both of you," she told the dog and parrot firmly. "If you wake Ollie up, I will never feed either of you again." And to her amazement, they both shut up, restraining their greetings to simply touching at her shoulder and hip as she shut the door.

Down went the bags by the door, and off came the coat - Ollie's coat, since Piper didn't own anything that fitted over Lyneth as well when the baby was in her sling. So long as she didn't try to steal the warm wool garment when her husband was going to need it, he'd probably never know, either. She didn't bother taking Lyneth out of the sling, though, simply slipping the warm hat, mittens, and booties from her daughter's extremities so the little girl didn't overheat now they were back inside.

She hadn't actually planned on her outing today to be a surprise for her husband, but given that Lyneth had kept him up most of the night - specifically Ollie, apparently Piper just didn't rock in a satisfactory manner - things had fallen into place rather well, really. With the baby fast asleep still, and what sounded like the unmistakeable cadence of Ollie's breathing in the bedroom, Piper had the loft to herself for a little while longer. Hopefully enough time to make the most of her little shopping spree that morning.

The first of the bags was craftily concealed on the overhead internal balcony, since it wasn't for Ollie's eyes at all until Christmas, and she set to bringing out all the bits and pieces from the second with a warm glow of satisfaction. Evergreens, fairylights, a Christmas tree that stood only two feet high, decorations ....Piper had every intention of making their little home festive before Ollie woke up. Kaylee had popped in yesterday, so the loft was tidy and clean, which meant the young mother could get right to it without having to worry about dirt and dust.

"God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay ..." Singing softly to keep Lyneth from stirring prematurely, Piper set about decorating the living space of the loft she now shared with her husband for the season.

The evergreen garlands - holly, ivy, and conifer - were wound in and out with the fairylights before they were carefully secured to the windowsills and the railing of the little spiral staircase up to that internal balcony and turned on, sending out rippling waves of multi-coloured light. The little Christmas tree ended up beside the fireplace, set on the smallest of a nest of tables to give it a little more height, and decorated with red and gold ....tiny strands of tinsel and little baubles to brighten the dark green branches, set beneath a sparkling silver star.

And finally, Piper set up her own little nativity scene of hand-carved pine in a quiet corner - she didn't like to make issue of her religion in such a polytheistic place, deeming it selfish to do so in her own mind. She considered herself blessed that Ollie had allowed her to have Lyneth baptised, but she did not attempt to take their daughter to Mass with her every Sunday. That was a conversation they could have in the future.

It wasn't much, this simple festive decoration, but when she was done, Piper couldn't help squealing a little in excitement, watching as Loki and Poppy investigated the new bits and pieces that decorated their home. It felt as though Christmas was coming now, and to Piper, that was everything. Her first Christmas with her husband and their daughter; she was going to do everything properly. Provided it didn't stress her out.

Piper Granger

Date: 2011-12-21 15:31 EST
It had been hard work getting a couple of hours to herself today. Piper loved her husband dearly, but he did like to dither about when he was supposed to be making himself scarce as agreed. She'd already tried to wrap his presents, only to be interrupted by the key in the lock and had to scramble to get everything out of sight before he pushed in through the door.

Today, however, Piper had purposely sent him out of the loft with his sketchpad and charcoal, Lyneth, and Loki. Between sketching whatever took his fancy, keeping an eye on the baby, and being walked by the dog - because as much as she loved her Malamute, Piper knew that he was the one in charge of the walk - Ollie should stay away for at least a couple of hours. Plenty of time to get the secretive part of the festivities prepared and hidden away again.

She was all prepared; sat comfortably on the floor of the main room, surrounded by sellotape, wrapping paper, ribbon, rosettes, scissors, and of course, the presents themselves. Tempting though it had been to simply buy anything that presented itself as something Ollie might like, Piper was quite proud to have restrained herself deliberately to three packages for her husband - something he wanted, something he needed, and something unexpected.

The something he wanted, he had been eyeing covetously for months now, and despite Piper repeatedly telling him that they had enough money for him to purchase it, Ollie had refused, a little too proud for his own good sometimes. So here Piper was, wrapping a beautiful pine-wood artists' box, which contained a luxurious professional set of oil paints, palette, and brushes, as well as everything he would need to start creating his own oils in future. She hadn't quite been able to resist getting a new set of acrylic paints, too, as well as a new packet of charcoal pencils, but as far as Piper was concerned, they all counted as the same packet.

The something he needed was, prosaically enough, shirts. He wasn't a t-shirts sort of man, and the shirts he wore day-in, day-out were beginning to look more than a little frayed around the edges. Piper had actually gone looking for a few decent shirts for him, having sneakily checked his size from the shirts he already owned and rechecked that size with a measuring tape while he was in the zone with a painting he was working on. Three would do for now - blue, lavender, and wine in colour; an interesting mixture. She was looking forward to seeing him in the wine-coloured one, that was sure.

And the something unexpected, well ....that lay nestled in satin, contained within a velvet box. On the outside, it could have contained anything from cufflinks to jewellery, another acceptable present from a loved one. What it actually contained, however, was a fob watch and chain. The outer casing had been beautifully crafted in silver with celtic knotwork and a Scots thistle, though Piper doubted Ollie would instantly recognise it as such. As to clock face ....that held numbers in Roman numerals around the outer edge, while the inner circle was clear, showing the gears and cogs inside. She hoped it would appeal to him as she thought it might, having fallen in love with the piece when she spied it in a shop window.

Three packages really didn't seem like enough, not for the man who had so wonderfully rewritten what she expected of her future. Ollie had been there to catch her as she was falling, and though she hadn't yet had the courage to tell him how much she loved him for that, Piper thought that perhaps he knew. Still, their first Christmas together was to be one to remember, she was going to make certain of it.

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