Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 72nd cycle. Now cycle 73!


"Christmas Present"
(Second of three four-part Christmas Stories)

1. Our First Christmas
Will/Emma

It wasn't their first Christmas together as a couple, but it was the first one they would spend together as husband and wife, and they had both agreed that it should be special in some way. Before they could do anything else however, they needed a tree. Will had wanted a real one, but he remembered the year before and, calling it 'a wise family investment,' they had gotten a fake but very majestic looking tree, which he set in the living room for them both to decorate.

"What are you doing?" Emma had called to him, spotting him standing there with his camera aimed at her. "I mean I know what you're doing, obviously, but…"

"We're making memories, aren't we?" he gave her a smile, and she returned it, getting a kiss for it.

"You know what will happen if I start doing this on my own. I will literally do it on my own and won't let you help. Not that I mind…"

"Alright," Will conceded, putting the camera down and reaching for a box of ornaments. "You can't tell me I'm doing it wrong," he warned, and she laughed.

All it had taken for Will to be allowed to use his camera again had been for him to get caught up in garlands and trip. Emma had first asked if he was alright and, when he had assured her that he was, she had gotten hold of the camera and taken a picture. After this, they had alternated taking snapshots so that, by the time they had finished decorating the tree, they had more than a dozen photos documenting their 'first married tree.'

"What do you think?" Will asked, taking a deep breath and letting it out again. He thought it couldn't have been more perfect. Emma observed the tree for a few seconds, nodding to herself. "Emma?"

"I think… I think it looks great," she told him with a smile.

"You want to change something, don't you?" he guessed, smirking.

"No, of course not," she frowned. "It's our tree, and we made it together, and…"

"Go ahead," he told her, and as much as she tried to keep herself from giving in, she ended up starting to pick at one ornament here and another there, until she had made several alterations. Will couldn't have argued with the result if he wanted to. The tree did look better, and she hadn't changed it so much that he couldn't see what he'd contributed to it.

"How's…" she started to ask, breathless.

"Perfect," he told her with a smile. "Stand there," he went and set the camera down, putting a timer so that he could hurry over to her side. Posed with smiles, one arm around the other, they had waited until the flash had gone before he went and took a look, while Emma blinked and rubbed at her eyes.

"I didn't close my eyes, did I? I always do that," she complained.

"You didn't. Look," he brought the camera back so she could see. When she did, she got her smile back, tapping his arm: she loved it, too. "What if we put that on a card? You know, 'Merry Christmas from Will and Emma,'" he suggested. "Or is that too…"

"I don't know, do you think we should?"

"Beautiful tree, beautiful you," Will looked at the picture. "Of course I think we should. You could even design it. It can't be too different from making a pamphlet, can it?"

"Oh, well…" she started getting into creative mode. "Can you send that to the computer?" she asked, already abandoning the emptied boxes of ornaments.

"Sure," he smiled to himself.

After he'd sent her the photo, he had watched her take a seat in front of the laptop and start to work on the card. While she did this, Will busied himself at gathering the empty boxes and putting them away, back where they had been stored. He had barely finished that Emma was calling for him to join her.

"What do you think?" she asked. He came around to look at the screen, and he realized he was almost crying but didn't care. What she had managed to put together in such little time was everything he could have pictured for their first Christmas card.

"I love it. I really do," he kissed the top of her head.

"I can send it to the store and they'll print the cards out for us," she showed him.

"Go for it."

"You know, it's not even Christmas yet and it already feels pretty special to me."

"I already have you, how much more special can things get?" he gave her a smile and she returned it.

When the cards had been printed and received, they already had a list ready, with the names and addresses of those they would be sending the cards to. Emma would write the messages inside the cards and sign her name, while Will wrote the addresses on the envelopes. When he would be handed a card, he would sign his name, too, before sticking the card in the envelope. Emma was very proud of their efficient little system, and when they were done, Will had taken the envelopes to be mailed.

They still had several days to go before the holiday itself, and in the meantime they still had plenty to do, between job things, Christmas dinner planning things, and of course, the shopping things. This would prove more than anything to have the potential for stress. As much as they had told themselves that they were enough, the two of them together, to make this special, the 's' word would be swirling over their heads, making them both try to figure out the best way to make this first Christmas together, first as husband and wife, be exactly that: special.

TO BE CONTINUED (SATURDAY)