Snowfall in Elinden

The day of first snow was a big one in Elinden. Half of the inhabitants of the tree had come from other parts of the world, and not all of them had had snow. Growing up in mostly the rainforest and desert, it had been a long time since Rebecca had seen snow herself. She watched tolerantly and helped Nicole organize snow chaos. She gathered blankets, made cider and hot chocolate, and had soup simmering on the back of the stove. Gloves and heavy cloaks came out of a big chest and were passed out as people ran outside to play. Rebecca stayed back a little, making sure everyone stayed warm. She was starting to set out decorations and put things in order for the frivolities after everyone came in and dried off when Chris came to the door. He poked his head in and glared at her. Cameron was right behind him.

"What are you doing?" he asked, watching her.

"In or out," she commanded, shivering. "It's cold."

"It's not that cold," he persisted.

"Come on, Rebecca," Cameron came all the way in and threw a cloak at her. "Its snow. It's fun. Let's go."

"But its wet," Rebecca protested reluctantly.

"Let's go," Chris said impatiently. 

"Fine," Rebecca laughed and wrapped herself in the cloak. 

Then she was dragged out the door before she could grab anything else warm. A shout went up when everyone realized she'd come to join the fun. It was chaos around Elinden as people scooped up snow and threw it at each other. Rebecca joined in the fun for awhile, but as she grew a little more tired, she stole away with Chris and Cameron. Her head was bare and snow fell all over it and her face, but she didn't care. It was beautiful as they walked through the forest nearby. The snow fell softly and stuck to the trees and the rest of the world. They turned around before too long, cause Rebecca felt the need to get back before too much water was tracked inside the house. She walked a little ahead with Cameron, not noticing that Chris had lagged behind a little until he stopped. He paused at the edge of the treeline and stared at the sky and the trees, a small smile of awe on his face. Rebecca paused and went back to join him, resigning herself to the state of her kitchen. They stood in silence and watched the snow for awhile, enjoying the stillness. 

"I forgot how beautiful it is," Chris said quietly.

"It really is," Rebecca smiled. 

Little kid giddiness filled her as she watched the snow. She wanted to dance and romp around, kicking snow into the air. Instead, she held herself still and just enjoyed the feeling of snow landing on her face. She looked down finally to find Chris looking at her, a bemused smile on his face. She smiled at him and shrugged.

"You're covered in snow," he said, looking her over.

"So are you," Rebecca pointed out.

"No, you're really covered," he shook his head. "I at least have a hat."

"Fair enough," she laughed and then they started walking back to the tree. 

They entered the living room and were greeted by a scene of pure chaos. People were in wet clothes, wrapped in blankets, standing around the fire, and just generally laughing and trying to warm up.

"Alright!" Rebecca said, working now just to rescue her carpet. "Everyone out of the wet coats. Pile all the wet outdoor coats by the door. Then upstairs with the lot of you and into something warm!"

They all started moving, and she collected all of the wet gear relatively quickly. It would be taken upstairs to the small study where she would dry it all off. In the meantime, it all went into the large cast-iron tub, so at least her floor wouldn't be covered in water. Then as people began to come back downstairs, she poured hot drinks into mugs and handed them around, giving the ones who wanted it warm blankets to wrap in as well. 

Chris watched all of these goings on from where he'd stationed himself in the corner. Rebecca brought him over a warm mug of cider and smiled at him. "Go dry off, Chris."

"You first," he said, taking the drink. "It's all taken care of down here. You're a little more wet than me." 

Rebecca sighed and felt her hair. All of the snow had melted now and was wetting all of her clothes.

"Just get warm please," she sighed. "And keep them out of trouble. I'll be right back."

Rebecca ran upstairs and towel dried her hair, pulling it back and out of her face. She changed into a warmer outfit and then came back downstairs in time to find Hector and Chris bringing in a tree. She joined them to supervise, ordering Nicole and Cameron to move furniture out of the way so that they didn't run into anything. The tree was set up in the corner, and Rebecca put towels under it so that all of the remaining snow and water on it didn't make a complete mess on the floor as it dried. 

"What do you think, Becky?" Hector asked, stepping back and giving her a hug while they both looked the tree over.

"I think that both you and Chris need to go change and dry off," she said, hugging him back. She looked up at him with a laugh. "It looks good though, Hector. Thank you."

"Of course," he nodded and shed his jacket, adding it to the pile in the tub. "You were wanting it today anyway."

"The snow just made it perfect," she nodded. "Go change and dry off, then get a mug of hot cider. Dinner isn't for another hour or so."

"Yes ma'am," he nodded and looked at Chris. "Come on. You heard the lady."

Chris shot Rebecca a rebellious look but followed Hector upstairs. Rebecca laughed as they left and then took her mop and cleaned up the last of the puddles of water that were randomly around the room.

"What's the plan with all of this?" Nicole asked her, coming into the kitchen. "Are we decorating?"

"Yes," Rebecca nodded. "I need to get the wet stuff hung up first though. The laundry room fire should do a good enough job of drying it all, but it's just getting it all hung up."

"It'll be taken care of," Nicole nodded. 

She grabbed one of the heavy tub and she left, taking several boys with her. The noise level dropped a bit as they all left. It was quiet for only about ten minutes however, before the elves came in. Rebecca welcomed them, pointed them to the back to dry off their things, and kept working. She laid out cookies on platters, refilled the pot of hot chocolate, and began laying out the decorations on flat surfaces so they could easily be hung up. She would need the taller ones to do all of that. Her halfling height was unfortunate in some circumstances.

"It smells good in here," Hector commented as he came back in the room. 

"I've got stew cooking, cookies baking, and cider warming," Rebecca shrugged. "If it didn't smell good, I'd be concerned."

"It almost always smells good in here," Chris pointed out. "Becky knows what she's doing."

"Thanks," she nodded, not sure how to take that. "Wanna help me start hanging some of these garlands near the ceiling?"

"So any of these?" Hector waved his hand toward the tables.

"Yep. Just leave the glittery ones for Nicole," Rebecca nodded. 

They all worked together to get decorations up. The hilarity only grew as the evening wore on. The boys decorated Cameron like a tree. Nicole covered the house in glitter. Becky laughed as she watched her, quietly orchestrating the entire thing. Julia decorated the tree, making it look pretty and classic amidst all the rest of the chaos. 

Food slowly disappeared as the evening wore on, and cookies became decorated and laid out to dry. Finally the elves left and the boys went upstairs, probably to hide from the chaos. Julia and Nicole also went upstairs to work on making presents, and Rebecca began cleaning up all of the random shrapnel left over from the hijinks. 

"It looks like Christmas in here," Hector said, looking around the room with a smile. "It's pretty."

"You all did a wonderful job," Rebecca said, putting food away and wiping the tables. "I appreciate all the hard work."

"You know what's missing?" Chris asked, pulling a small green plant out from his pocket.

Rebecca's eyes widened as she realized what he was holding. "No," she shook her head. "Let's not breed chaos."

"It might be funny," he said with a sly smile. 

"Absolutely not," Hector ended the conversation. "Not with this group."

"I'll take it down and burn it if you hang it," Rebecca said firmly. "We are not hanging mistletoe up."

"Fine," Chris nodded and looked defeated for a moment and then shrugged. "It does look good in here though. Good job, Becky."

"You all did the work," she said even as she moved around quietly adjusting things and fixing things so that it was all tidied and neat. Her little touches made it look just that much better.

"Right," he rolled his eyes. 

"I'm going to head to bed I think," Hector said after a moment. "It's been getting colder earlier."

"Yeah, and it's snowed," Rebecca nodded, giving him a hug and some warm bricks. "Be safe big brother."

"Of course," he nodded. "Rest well, all."