The Nutcracker: A Holiday Story

Chapter 1:

A blonde sixteen-year-old girl stood next to the door. She wore a light pink dress and her hair was up in the most unusual style: two buns on either side of her head with pigtails coming out of them. She was waiting to hear the door ring and she would answer it. Tonight was her parents' annual Christmas Eve party. "Serenity!" Her mother called to her. "Come here."

The blonde teenager named Serenity turned away from the door and walked towered her mother's voice. She had to walk through an ocean of people just to find her mother. She avoided conversation by keeping her eyes focused on the ground. "Serenity, there you are." Her mother said once they had found each other. "Now, have you seen your brother?"

Serenity glanced over her shoulder at the buffet table. She smirked as she saw her brother eating all of the food. She placed a hand on her hip and pointed in that direction.

Her mother, Irene, shook her head and walked in the direction of the table. Once her mother was gone Serenity walked over to the couch. She plopped down on the couch and sighed. She took one of her blonde pigtails and started to play with it.

Not to far away from her was a girl around Serenity's age. She to had blonde hair as well but instead of pigtails her hair flowed freely and she a red bow init. She was wearing a red dress with white lace. She sighed as she walked as quietly as she could over to her cousin.

When she was within earshot she took off her heels and tiptoed the rest of the way to her cousin. Once she was behind the couch she got onto her hands and knees. As she did Serenity looked behind her. Nothing. She shrugged and turned back around.

The blonde in the red dress popped up and yelled, "BOO!"

Serenity jumped in surprise and fell off the couch. She looked behind her and saw her cousin, Mina, grinning at her. "Mina!" She said in surprise. "Was that necessary?"

Mina was her cousin from her mother's side of the family. Mina's father was Serenity's mother's brother.

Mina giggled as she nodded. "Yes, it was."

Serenity smiled and shook her head. The two teenagers sat on the couch and began to talk. It had been a month since the two cousins last saw each other so the two of them decided to catch up.

As the party continued the wind outside picked up and snow was moving every witch way. It could be said that no more guests were going to be coming. When the lights began to flicker on and off everyone knew the storm was getting bad outside. Then the lights went out.

Mina turned her head and looked at Serenity. "I wonder if the snow made the power go out." The blonde in the red dress said.

Serenity shrugged as both of them got up and ran over to the window. Her brother, Sammy, was already at the window when they reached it. The three of them looked out the window. "Look!" Sammy said as he pointed into the distance.

"What?" Serenity asked as she tried to look through the snowstorm.

"I see something too." Mina said as she and Sammy kept looking at a dot that was getting closer and closer.

Serenity squinted until she could see the dot as well. She pulled away and looked at her brother and cousin. "I can see it too." She told them. The three of them turned back to the window.

Form across the room Irene saw the three of them pressed up against the window. She sighed as she walked over to them. "Serenity! Mina! Sammy!" She called to them. "Stay away from the window."

The three of them looked at Irene and nodded. The followed her back to where the guests were. As the four of them were walking back into the dining hall the front door swung open. There stood a figure. "Sorry about the lights." The figure said. He snapped his fingers and the lights turned back on.

Serenity giggled as she shook her head. It was her grandfather, Drosselmeyer. Her grandfather was her favorite person in the family. He was so energetic in his old age. He also had the most wonderful stories to tell Serenity and her brother. "Grandfather!" The sixteen-year-old girl cried as she ran over to the elderly man.

He had just placed his hat and clock on the coat rack as Serenity was running over to him. Drosselmeyer smiled as he wrapped his arms around the girl. "How's my little princess?" He asked as he and Serenity parted.

"I'm fine Grandfather." She said as Sammy and Mina joined them.

"Did you bring us anything Grandfather?" Sammy asked eagerly.

"Sammy! That was very rude of you." Irene voice came from behind her son.

Sammy looked at his mother and sighed. He didn't mean to be rude, really. "I'm sorry Grandfather." He apologized.

Drosselmeyer chuckled. "That's quite all right, my boy." He told Sammy as he patted him on the head. "I was like that when I was your age."

The sandy-haired boy smiled as he went and stood next to his sister. Mina was next to give him a hug. Drosselmeyer was both Serenity's mother and Mina's father's father. "How are you Grandfather?" Mina asked as she embraced her grandfather.

"I'm fine my little faerie." He said as he parted with Mina.

Drosselmeyer looked at his three grandchildren in turn. They had all gotten so big since the last time he had seen them. The four of them sat in the parlor and began to catch up. It wasn't until all the guests had left that Drosselmeyer remembered he had something for each of his grandchildren. "I'll be right back." He told them as he got up and walked over to where his clock and hat were. He picked up his bag and went back into the parlor where his grandchildren were.

"Now let's see here." Drosselmeyer said as he began to rummage through his bag. "Ah-hah! I found them."

Drosselmeyer pulled out three beautifully wrapped presents. "Here you go Sammy." He said as he handed the boy a small square shaped present. The wrapping paper had dark green and light green stripes. On top was a bright red bow.

Sammy tore off the wrapping paper and found a white box. He opened the lid and saw small wooden toy soldiers. Some were stained darker than the others. "Wow, thanks Grandfather." He said as he started to line them up on the floor, preparing them for a battle.

Drosselmeyer then pulled another present from his bag and handed it to Mina. This time it was flat and was wrapped in dark blue wrapping paper with snow flakes on it. The bow was white.

Mina carefully opened an end of the paper. Inside was a book. She reached inside and pulled it out. It was a beautiful picture book of all different types of faeries. "Oh Grandfather," Mina said in amazement. "Thank you."

"I knew you would like it my little faerie." Drosselmeyer said as he went back into looking in his bag.

Serenity was too busy looking at the illustrations in Mina's book with her cousin that she didn't notice that her grandfather pulled out a third present. This was wrapped in a candy cane striped wrapping paper with a green bow on top.

"I believe I have one for my little princess as well."

Both blondes looked up from the picture book and Sammy looked up from his toy soldiers. He didn't care about his cousin's picture book, but he was curious about what his sister was getting.

Serenity took the rather large gift from her grandfather and placed it in her lap. She then opened it at one end carefully and took out a white box. She opened the lid and gasped at what she saw in side. Lying in the white tissue paper was a wooden nutcracker.

He had a wooden back hat on top of his head with a feather sticking out. He wore a red suite with a black belt and a plastic sword. His hands had little white gloves and his feet were painted black to look like boots.

Serenity lifted him from the box and placed him in her lap. She ran her fingers over his coat. She then looked up at her grandfather. "He's beautiful." She commented. "Thank you Grandfather."

AN: Hello everyone, this is a holiday story for you all. All my other stories will be continued until after the holidays. I know that in the original version of the nutcracker that Drosselmeyer was the godfather, but I wanted to make a little change and make him a grandfather. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and happy holidays.

Princess Cornelia