A/N: Written for the OLC ficathon. My prompts were: a television reference, a holiday, bubble wrap, Paul Anka, and a teapot.
"Gah! Stupid tape. Stupid wrapping paper." Lorelai looked down at the hopeless mess that used to be a half-wrapped Christmas present. Now it looked more like the gift wrapping massacre of '08. There were very few things that Lorelai didn't love about the Christmas season- the frigid temperatures, icy roads, getting tangled up in wrapping paper and suffocating because no one is home to save you- and she usually repressed the memories of these things when she was counting down to winter. They were, after all, a pretty fair trade off for all the good things like snow and the general magical feeling of Christmas. Remembering things previously repressed is never pleasant and often leads to pouting, which is exactly what Lorelai found herself doing at the moment.
Wrapping presents should be at least a little bit fun. If done right, it could even qualify as "a blast". Play Christmas music or Christmas movies, have tons of snacks nearby, and make sure there's somebody there to save you if the wrapping paper and tape decide to conspire against you. This year, the whole process just felt frustrating.
Paul Anka's barking interrupted Lorelai's thoughts. She groaned when she realized that the dog had found something small and pink that he was carrying in his mouth.
"What do you have there?" Lorelai asked in an overly bright voice. Paul Anka was easily frightened by cranky voices and she didn't want a repeat of the 'Luke yelled at me for chewing on his shoes' fiasco. Paul Anka slowly made his way towards Lorelai and dropped a toy teapot in her lap.
"I knew I shouldn't have let you watch that Beethoven marathon on TV last night." She muttered as she picked up the toy to carefully inspect it. Her sudden squeal sent poor Paul Anka running from the room.
"Mommy!" Rory giggled as she bounced up and down on the bed. "Mommy, it's Christmas!"
"Ugh. Go away." Lorelai groaned before rolling over and covering her head with her pillow. Rory sighed dramatically and snatched the pillow away.
"Mo-om! You have to wake up now. It's the rules!"
"This is a sickness." Lorelai grumbled. She didn't bother to open her eyes, choosing instead to blindly wave her arm around in search of the pillow. "You're five years old. You don't care about rules."
Rory took Lorelai's hand in her own and leaned in closer. "Please, Mommy?" she whispered in her mother's ear. Of course, Lorelai couldn't resist the 'angel voice'. She slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.
"Yay!" Rory squealed when she realized she had won, "Presents time! I got you a present, Mommy. I made it all by myself."
Lorelai laughed at her daughter's excitement. "Hold on, sweets. Mommy needs coffee to function properly. Three cups of coffee should be good, actually. They'll be like the Christmas ghosts to my Scrooge and I'll be transformed in no time." Rory had jumped off of the bed and ran to the 'kitchen' of the potting shed about half way through Lorelai's babbling.
"Come on!" she demanded impatiently when she noticed that Lorelai wasn't behind her.
"I'm coming, I'm coming." Lorelai answered. She reluctantly threw back the warm blankets and climbed out of bed, ignoring the sudden feeling of coldness that swept through her body. Lorelai remained focused on thoughts of warm coffee while she made her way to where Rory was standing. The little girl stood with her arms crossed, tapping her foot and frowning up at her mom. The sight made Lorelai start laughing.
"I'm just sooo sorry, your majesty." She apologized sarcastically. Rory simply hmmphed and waited for Lorelai to make coffee.
Five cups of coffee and three Pop Tarts later, the girls were sitting on the bed again, this time with presents in their hands. Lorelai had put in a CD of Christmas music and they could see snow falling outside through the window.
"You first." Rory insisted with a huge smile on her face.
Lorelai shook her head. "Seriously, kid, I don't know where you got your manners from."
Rory's face scrunched into a pout. "Just open it!"
"And the manners disappear into thin air. That's my baby girl."
"I'm not a baby. I'm five years old." Rory corrected.
"Alright. What did my five year old girl get me for Christmas?" Lorelai asked as she began to unwrap it. "Jeez, it's heavy. Did you get me an anvil?"
Rory shook her head. "Be careful." she warned.
"Whatever, grandma." Lorelai teased. Her tone changed to one of awe when she saw what Rory had made- a stone with the impression of her hand in it. The words 'I love you, Mom' and the date were inscribed into it as well.
"Rory," her voice shook with emotion, "Rory, it's perfect, hon. Thank you."
Rory blushed at the sincerity of Lorelai's words. "Mia told me what to do, but I did the rest by myself. Even the writing. I used this little stick thing because Mia said that I couldn't use a crayon or a pencil."
Lorelai blinked back her tears and smiled at Rory. "Your turn, sweets."
Rory the perfectionist took her time unwrapping the present, trying to rip it as little as possible. Lorelai rolled her eyes but didn't comment. Finally, Rory had managed to slip off the paper.
"It's the tea set I wanted!" she squealed, carefully setting the box aside before throwing herself at Lorelai.
"I'm glad you like it." Lorelai smiled as she hugged Rory. "Now, I don't want you getting the wrong idea here, because coffee is still infinitely better than tea."
"I know." Rory giggled, "Can we have a tea party?"
"We sure can."
Rory bit her lip as she considered something.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Lorelai offered a moment later.
"Do you think….I can make it a coffee tea party? I've never had coffee before. But now I'm five. Is that old enough?"
Lorelai laughed, "I think that's a great idea, hon. Let's have a coffee tea party."
"The coffee teapot." Lorelai muttered in disbelief. How had Paul Anka found it? She thought it had been lost years ago when she and Rory had moved into the Crapshack. Rory had spent a week mourning the loss of such a "life changing" object. A loud crashing sound from the kitchen startled Lorelai.
"What in the world?" she asked the empty house as she jumped up and walked to the kitchen.
"Your idiot dog ran head first into the oven." Luke explained when Lorelai entered the room.
"Well, duh. You startled him, Luke." She scratched Paul Anka's ears to prevent a doggy panic attack. "Poor thing. Maybe we should wrap him up in bubble wrap to protect him."
"Yes," Luke agreed sarcastically, "I don't see any problems at all with that plan."
"Mean." Lorelai pouted. "I suppose we could record him and sent it in to America's Funniest Home Videos. Ooh! We could win money! And then I could buy shoes for me, some more flannel shirts for you, a million cups of coffee for me, and a bunch of…broccoli trees for you. Or is it plants? Broccoli plants?"
"Plants." Luke confirmed. "At least he'd be good for something if he won."
"I wouldn't be so sarcastic if I were you. Paul Anka here saved Christmas. Look what he found!" Lorelai handed Luke the teapot.
"He saved Christmas by finding a teapot?" Luke asked incredulously.
"Not just any teapot! Rory's first coffee teapot."
"Because that makes perfect sense."
"Of course it does. Rory was five years old and we had a coffee tea party." Lorelai stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Luke shook his head. "You're insane."
"And you love it." Lorelai smiled.
(sings) R-E-V-I-E-W! Review, review, I love reviews! (looks around nervously) Oh...I scared everyone away. Darn. I should've known better than to try singing.....