12 Days of Christmas ━━ James Potter & Lily Evans

o. THE KING AND QUEEN OF CHRISTMAS

                   

🎅🏼🎄🦌🎁⛄

LONG BEFORE they met, James Potter and Lily Evans were the self proclaimed King and Queen of Christmas. The pair each had their respective traditions that took place during the holiday season, and nothing ━━ Well, 'nothing' did, in fact, have a limit, but we'll get into that later ━━ would ever stop them from seeing their traditions through. Suffice to say, Christmas was ( without a shred of a doubt ) James and Lily's favourite holiday, and no one celebrated it better than them.

                    Albeit, they had slightly different ways of celebrating . . .

          Christmas with the Potter's branched out to far more than just the old married couple and their trouble making son. Each year, the Potter and McKinnon families would alternate hosting Christmas at their home. It honestly didn't make that much of a difference, given that they were neighbours and the only thing separating their mansions was a giant meadow that they shared as an adjoining backyard. However, due to the fact that James didn't have any biological siblings, Euphemia and Fleamont Potter thought it was nice that their son could wake up surrounded by other kids on Christmas morning.

          Being the youngest of the bunch, James and his best friend Marlene ━━ Who, unlike James, wasn't typically an early riser ━━ would always be the first to leap out of bed on Christmas morning, yelling Christmas carols at the top of their lungs as they hurriedly ran down the stairs, waking everyone up in the process. Marlene's older brothers, Jason and Finn would follow soon after, while Aiden would grumpily emerge from his room a few minutes later, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. That mix would usually include Marlene's eldest brother, Marcus, who would rise late and in a mood ( much like Aiden ) but after he turned eleven ( James and Marlene were still only five at the time ) he started to stroll in when their parents awoke. He thought that he was a "big boy" now that he went to Hogwarts, which promoted a lot of mockery from his siblings. James' cousin Anastasia was also an early riser, and sometimes she would be waiting for them in the living room on Christmas morning after apparating in with her parents, Edward and Melody Selwyn.

                    Having come from very wealthy, pure blooded families, all of the children would naturally be spoilt with gifts. But perhaps none more so than James, who always somehow seemed to get most presents. Although, as a credit to him, James was also the best at giving gifts. He would excitedly plan the perfect gifts for each of his friends and family members for months, accumulate a list and then personally go out and buy the items. Plus, on top of being an excellent gift giver, James was also a gift wrapping extraordinaire. At the end of the long corridor in Potter Manor, there was a room dedicated specifically to gift wrapping, and come Christmas season, James could often be found busying himself in there. The house elves, Mitsy and Betty, would sit and talk to him, handing him materials as he sung his favourite Christmas songs to them.

                    If the snow wasn't too heavy ━━ though that factor rarely prevented them anyway ━━ the children would typically spend Christmas day outside. The most common activity for them to all participate in was a very competitive match of adjusted quidditch. They didn't have enough people to play the game properly ( except for on the rare occasions when their parents would join in ) so they would play 3 on 4, with every position only having one player. Jason, Aiden and Marcus didn't have a seeker on their team, so the rule was that any single one of them could catch the snitch. Although, that rule was essentially rendered moot, due to the fact that none of them could beat their little sister, who was the elected seeker for the other team.