Jack & Elsa ✓

Snowflakes, Christmas, & Mistletoe

My first Christmas as queen – it was hard to believe! What was even harder was trying to concentrate on managing everything when most of me wanted to sit somewhere and reminisce dreamily about that one stolen moment with Jack. After the pulse-pounding, breathless kiss that broke the friendship we’d always had, turning it into something deeper, I really didn’t know where to continue.

The only person who knew about Jack was me, and if the whole kingdom knew, what would they say? A queen was supposed to align herself with neighboring kingdoms…not fall in love with a myth.

“Elsa!” Anna called, snapping my attention back to the present. She bounced up to me, Kristoff trailing behind her, his arms full of garlands. Kristoff and Anna were officially engaged now, their wedding set for the Spring, and no one was happier about that than I. One look at the two of them, bumbling about adorably, stealing kisses and cookies at the same time, and there was no doubt about their love for each other.

“Yes?” I said, eyeing the garlands warily.

In my opinion, there were too many decorations, but Anna had insisted on being the manager of that. So the palace was almost literally covered in wreaths, boughs of holly, glittered strands of beads, strings of popped corn and fruits, and Christmas trees in nearly every corner.

The strings of popped corn constantly had to be replaced as Sven, Kristoff’s reindeer, trotted merrily through the palace eating them, and the many various sprigs of mistletoe that Anna had placed so generously always caused yet even more distractions for her and Kristoff.

“I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything from the bakeries, have you?” Anna asked, while directing Kristoff and his armful towards the stair railings. “I ordered from them a week ago, and the ball is tonight and I still haven’t heard anything! Do you think they forgot?”

I laughed at her enthusiasm and also at the, while flustered, wonderful job she was doing of arranging most of the details of the party. The political invitations and arrangements were my task, and while that had been taken care of months in advance, the actual greetings and discussions were yet to come. I knew it was my duty, but if I could forget that and simply string fruit and corn, I’d be happy.

“I’m sure they’re working very hard to get all that deliciousness ready for tonight,” I assured Anna, who nodded, then bounced off.

“I made sure to order plenty of chocolates, too!” she called over her shoulder, and my mouth watered at the thought of all those chocolates waiting to be eaten. It was one of my few, thoughtless pleasures that I allowed myself.

                                                                      

Just before the ball, I stood in my room, smoothing out the skirt of my traditional colored dress, a soft, woolen concoction of red and green and purple. I’d left my hair down though in a loose braid, as had become my habit. Fussing with the pale blue, crystal snowflake earrings Anna had given me this morning, I glanced out the window half-consciously, hoping to see a familiar figure drift down onto the windowsill.

Jack had said that I probably wouldn’t be seeing him for some time, as it was now winter and he had things that needed doing. Windows to frost, lakes to ice, and snowballs to throw, he had said. But, as he’d returned me to my room and pressed one final kiss against my mouth, he promised that he would be back.

As I turned to go down to the already, guest-filled ballroom, not for the first time did I wish that somehow, someway…they’d be able to accept Jack as well as they accepted me, and that we could truly be together.

The night turned out splendidly. Anna had outdone herself with the decorations, earning thousands of compliments upon her job. She nodded and thanked each person, while subtly competing with Kristoff and Olaf as to how many chocolates they could fit in their mouths at one time. I would choose Kristoff as the winner, if he wasn’t so busy laughing at Anna’s having to turn around quickly and mumble a thank you through a barely concealed mouthful of chocolate.