Seasons Of Love

Underneath the Tree

A/N - Thanks to @autumnsw1nter , Wintumn Nation's resident Christmas expert, for listening to me rant about this chapter. Truly would not be writing without you <3. If you somehow haven't read her one-shots you should. She's the OG and her work is amazing. 

Autumn was never the biggest fan of Christmas. She always loved the idea of the holiday. Many nights were spent dreaming about the traditions she'd watch played out in movies or hear about in carols; but her Christmases were never like that. Growing up the holiday was just another excuse her father had to show off his wealth and trot out his "perfect" kids to help maintain his image.

Her feelings started to change when she met Winter. His family accepted her immediately and invited her to join in their traditions, showing her that the Christmas she thought only existed in fiction could be her reality. And when Rose came along and her little family started traditions of their own she  found herself actually looking forward to the holidays. She'd never be the type to start decorating the day after Halloween or wearing a different Christmas jumper everyday for 25 days but when she got to see her daughter's eyes brighten through the season she couldn't help but feel the spirit of the holiday herself.

Though she hated how the only thing people seemed to care about during Christmas was the presents, she couldn't deny that she did really giving gifts. She always had. After years of getting the customary $50 from her father so she could buy her own present, Autumn made sure that any gift she ever gave was extremely thoughtful and would truly mean something to the person that received it. So as Autumn and Winter spent their childfree evening making the final preparations for Christmas, they walked into the shopping center armed with a list of people they wanted to treat this year and a detailed list of ideas.

Neither Winter nor Autumn wanted to spend too much time in the crowded shops so they split the list in half, gave each other a quick kiss, and separated to complete their shop. Less than two hours later they were walking back through their front door, arms loaded down with bags, ready to spend the rest of their night getting all their presents wrapped and under the tree and Rose's gift from Santa hidden.

They up a perfect wrapping station on the dining room table. Autumn put just as much thought into the gift wrap as she did the presents. Every member of the family had their own design so they could easily identify their gifts under the tree. They worked slowly, stopping often as they were excited to see what the other had picked out for each member of the family. 

The first gift Winter pulled out was a toy espresso machine. As Winter pressed the button on top of the toy it let out a high pitched squeal as if it he were steaming milk before playing the "ABC" song very loudly. In the same bag there was a small pink travel mug with buttons to play the ABCs and to teach the numbers. He immediately knew not only that their niece would love it, but Reece and Marjorie would love the nod to the daily coffees that were so important in their relationship.

"Wonderful choices for Carly, my love. Colorful, Educational... "

"Loud." Autumn finished the list with a wicked smirk on her face. "The perfect answer to the drum kit my big brother so graciously bought for Rose last year."

"Right you are, my love. Though I do have to admit...she has started to show some promise. She's finally using the drum sticks on the drums now." 

They quickly worked their way through the rest of the gifts, each one more perfect than the last. Winter couldn't help but laugh at the joke gift he'd bought for his father, just as amused by it now as he was when he saw it in the store. The two men had been swapping hideous pieces of clothing along with their real gifts ever since Winter was young and, much to his mum's dismay, would then wear the outfits in all the pictures they took that day. This year he was very pleased with his find: a lobster themed Christmas jumper. Along with that was his parent's real gift, an all arts & entertainment copy of Trivial Pursuit they knew would be a hit at their next family game night and a necklace with Rose's birthstone for his mum that could be easily added to if the need arose in the future.