The Many Adventures of the Avengers and Friends

❤✨🎄Holiday Special 2020

A/N

Based on the above concept :)

***

"I ask this every year, and I'll ask again: why is your Yule tree so big?" Olivia groaned as she helped Tony drag the large cardboard box out from storage into the lounge.

"It's a Christmas tree, and we're a big team." Tony corrected.

"I don't even think the tree back home was this big."

"You had trees on Asgard for the holidays?"

"You'll find that we carried a lot of traditions that you did, just for different reasons." Loki added, coming in the room with a box of baubles and garlands in his arms.

"But I didn't think there was Christmas on Asgard." Tony said, confused.

"As I said, we celebrated Yule. Let me know if this sounds familiar: Make a yule log, decorate a tree, make a wreath, have a dinner, cookies, and passing around presents." Olivia said.

"That's Christmas." Tony said, pulling out the three segments of the plastic tree and spreading them out.

"No, it's not. Yule came first, the Christians just came around here on Midgard and reinvented the holiday to celebrate Jesus. Back home, it was a huge celebration for start of the Winter Solstice. We did basically the same things that you do, we just added our own magical spin to it to celebrate the season. The tree was massive in the main ballroom, decorated with silver and gold garlands and ornaments and always seemed to be lit up through magic means."

"The celebrations would last for days with dances, feasting, and gift exchanges. On the actual day of the solstice, our mother would make it snow inside the ballroom with snow that didn't pile onto the ground, nor was it actually cold." Loki added.

"Bet there was a reason for that." Olivia muttered, untangling a garland that she pulled out of one of the boxes.

"Sometimes, doves would fly through the room in elaborate patterns with branches of mistletoe tied to their talons. That was always my favorite part." Loki grinned at Olivia, who flushed and smiled.

"So you guys still kissed under the mistletoe?" Tony asked, placing the top segment of the tree up.

"Yes? It was sacred to Mother and the berries grew around that time, so the tradition sort of... Stuck. It's sort of our fault, actually." Loki said.

"One night of the celebrations, Loki had kissed me during a dance just as a pair of the doves circled around our heads. Then everyone started to sort of do it. That's when Loki started calling me dove." Olivia explained, blushing.

"Ah, so either way, it's your fault." Tony said.

"My fault?" Loki asked.

"Mistletoe arrow, Baldur, something like that."

"Like most of your versions of events, that's not true. Baldur was just a stableboy that got shot on accident by one of the archers, then I think you Midgardians got the mistletoe mixed up with Cupid's arrow somehow. Either way, all wrong." Olivia said.

"Ah. So what else happened for Yule?" Tony asked.

"Well, gift exchanges. Simple things like books or other artifacts. Otherwise it's just more of the other stuff."

"So no visits from Santa?"

"Santa?" Loki asked.

"A jolly fat man who gives gifts to all the boys and girls of the world on Christmas Eve, provided that they're good. He uses magic to go from house to house in only 24 hours." Tony explained.