Ornaments
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine.
Author’s Notes- This is day 6 of the advent fic challenge, “angel”. This is a short fic featuring Amelia and Hana, this fits into my timeline not the one established in The Royal Heir, so it is the first year of Drake and Amelia’s marriage.
Rating- PG
Summary- Amelia and Hana discuss holiday traditions.
“What about this box?” Hana asked, taking off the lid and peering inside. She took out a tacky ornament of a snowman wearing a cowboy hat and held it up.
Amelia made a face. “Bianca sent those. We can misplace them.”
It was her first Christmas at Valtoria and several people, friends and relatives, had sent Christmas ornaments to decorate the tree and mark the occasion and Hana had offered to help Amelia go through all of them. Including the several boxes Drake’s mother had “thoughtfully” sent. The only joy Amelia had from that, was the knowledge that her mother-in-law had divided the ornaments between Drake and Savannah, which meant Bertrand was also having the pleasure of receiving cowboy chic ornaments.
“Seriously?” Hana asked, looking shocked.
Amelia laughed. “No. But if some get broken, I won’t care, so maybe we’ll save those for the bottom of the tree or let Maxwell place them.”
Hana laughed and reached for the next box and then stopped. “This one came from Lythikos. Olivia must have sent it.”
“Meaning it is probably a box of ornament-sized weapons,” Amelia joked and then opens the box. She took out a tiny sword. “Oh wow. It really is. Ok, these go on the top and we don’t let Maxwell anywhere near them. Actually, maybe we should lose this box too.”
Hana laughed and took the box from Amelia.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, reaching for another box, “thank you for asking me to help you, this is fun.”
“Sorting through boxes and boxes of old ornaments is fun?” Amelia asked, wrinkling her nose, “Hana, I love you, but you need more hobbies.”
Hana sent her a look, “that’s not what I meant. It’s nice looking at the ornaments, figuring out where they came from, besides I’ve never decorated a Christmas tree before.”
“Well I am honoured to have your help,” Amelia assured her, “and with you assisting me, this will probably be the first Christmas tree that I have ever put up that doesn’t look like it was decorated by drunk elves.”
Hana giggled and then lifted a delicate glass angel out of the box. “Oh these are beautiful!”
Amelia reaches into the box and carefully picked up another ornament. “These came from my Nonna. She brought them with her when she came to America and she sent them to me. She said that her first Christmas in America, it helped to have a piece of home on her tree and she wanted me to have that too, since this is my first Christmas in my new home.”
“Oh Amelia, that is beautiful,” Hana commented, gazing at the delicate angel.
“Is there anything of yours we could send for?” Amelia asked suddenly, “something from home we could add to this tree? Since this is your first Christmas here, as well.”
Hana shook her head. “Not that I can think of. There isn’t anything…” She trailed off, “except maybe…” She shook her head, “it’s silly.”
“If it means something to you, it isn’t silly,” Amelia encouraged, “and whatever it is it has to be better than the cowboy snowman or Olivia’s attempts to arm my tree in case of reindeer attack.”
“Well…” Hana began, “maybe I could make some ornaments? I could design some, I still have some fabric that my grandmother used, maybe I could use some of that…”
“Hana, that would be amazing,” Amelia told her sincerely, “beautiful and meaningful. I love it. Please, please do that.”
Hana smiled, “ok, then tonight, I will get started.” She reached for the next box, “oh Penelope sent this one as a gift…”
“Oh god,” Amelia groaned, “I am not ready for Christmas poodles.”
“I don’t know,” Hana joked, “with all the contributions from your friends, your tree still might look like it was decorated by drunken elves despite my best efforts.”
“Always a plus,” Amelia agreed, before opening the box, which did indeed contain a box of poodles wearing Santa hats causing both women to burst out laughing, filling the room with the happy sound as they continued to chat and dig through boxes, making jokes and creating new memories.
End
