A (Deaf) Christmas to Remember

Chapter 10: December 20th

At three in the afternoon, Henry was sent down the hall to her best friend's house so she could get a jump start on the day. It was nearly Christmas and there were still presents to be bought. Luckily for Emma she had done most of the Christmas shopping before the move and she ordered things here and there from Amazon but now she had two more people to shop for. Emma made sure to give Mary Margaret her gift early when she dropped off Henry. She had bought her friend two cardigans that she just knew the other woman would die for, as well as a few candles. She had also gotten a couple bird toys for Mary Margaret's pet, and for David, who she heard was running for Sheriff, she bought a nice leather holster, a funny cowboy hat, and a cowboy figurine.

Emma was gifted with a new pair of brown boots because "Your boots are literally falling apart" and a new pink leather jacket. Emma thanked Mary Margaret profusely, grateful to have such a supportive and caring friend.

With Henry out of her hair, she was able to do some Christmas shopping for her new friends. Now, she had absolutely no clue what to get Regina. With her wealth, Regina, with the extension of Ruby, could have anything she wanted whenever. Emma racked her brain forever trying to envision the brunette's house, trying to see if there was anything the brunette was without, but she kept blanking.

Emma pulled out her phone to try and pry some information out from Ruby, but when she was greeted with her lock screen of the cute bunch, a lightbulb went off in her head. Just like that, she knew exactly what to get Regina. Emma looked up the nearest location that printed out photos and got the picture developed. It really was a cute picture. So much so that every time Emma looked at it, a wave of undeniable happiness would wash over her. She knew that Regina would feel the same.

Next up was a nice frame. Maine was known for having some of the nicest shopping outlets in New England, so with an Antique store on her phone's GPS, she left the town that was slowly starting to feel like home.

Twenty minutes later, she was walking through the doors of Hathaway Mill Antiques with her new photo. It was a very large building that Emma later found out used to be a textile mill of all things. The size of it intimidated her a little. She could get lost in there forever, just wandering the aisles. But she was not one to dilly dally, so she went and found the first employee she could find and asked them about if they had a section for just frames. When pointed in the right direction, she started on her hunt.

After almost thirty minutes of searching, Emma was beginning to think she should give up and just grab a generic frame from Target or something. Most of the frames had been ugly and just didn't feel like Regina's style. Just when she was about to retire, a blinding light caught her eye. She wandered over to where the light was coming from and noticed a frame sticking out from behind a bookshelf. Emma looked around to see if anyone was watching her, unsure if this was stashed, and carefully pulled the frame out.

This was it. This was what she was looking for. It was like something from a fairytale, the way the medium sized frame had intricate designs carved into the goldish bronze frame. It was beautiful. Emma turned the frame around and set the picture inside to see if it would fit. Luckily for her, it fit almost perfectly. Emma would have to cut down the photo just a bit but other than that, she found exactly what she was looking for. Emma slid the photo into the frame and brought it up to the front of the store, paying extra to have it wrapped up.

One present down, and Emma knew that Ruby's gift would be much easier. Given her friend's bold fashion and ever changing outfits, she felt like she couldn't go wrong. She had hung out with Ruby long enough to have a good idea of the type of clothes Ruby would wear.