AN: Hi! I know I should do anything new, but don't worry this is a one-shot. This was practically co-written with SparkyIceblaze135, because we were talking and joked about Zeus getting almost no presents and throwing a temper tantrum, and Hades being surprised by a bunch of gifts. Go check her out if you haven't already! Let me know what you think!
I do not own anything from the Percy Jackson verse, sadly.
Giada Draven, out!
Christmas. Not a holiday you would expect pagan gods to celebrate, yet here we are. There was a large pine tree in the middle of the Olympic council room, decorated with all of the Olympians symbols. Even Hades was represented through a small Emerald in the shape of a Cerberus. Underneath the tree was a huge pile of presents, wrapped and bagged with all sorts of patterns and bows. It was relatively easy to tell who had wrapped what, since the presents all had some personal touches. Hera's were simple, yet elegant; Demeter's were earthy; Athena's were all shaped like books, and Ares's mostly resembled weapons.
They had only recently started exchanging presents, mainly because of all the changes that had come about. With Percy Jackson's wish for them to, in general, be better people, they had decided that they would give gifts to each other. Hera had jumped on the idea immediately and forced all of them to get presents for everyone. So, here they were. All of the gods were gathered on Olympus so that they could have a 'family gathering'.
On Christmas morning, everyone woke slowly, waking around ten am at the earliest. When they all entered the council room, they finally remembered that they were exchanging gifts. Some of the less mature gods (AKA Hermes and Apollo) rushed to the tree and started snooping at the nametags, trying to find out where theirs were.
Once Hestia shooed them away from the tree, she made everyone gather around so that she could play at being Santa. She picked up gifts at random, called out the name of who they were for, then passed them over after getting a promise not to open them yet. At some points, she had to borrow Poseidon as her 'elf' because the presents were too big for her to lift by herself.
Finally, all of the presents were divied up, and certain people (*cough*Zeus*cough*) were arguing about who should go first. Finally, Hestia made them stop. "We will go from the youngest to the oldest."
This caused several of them to sigh, including the one who would go first. So Dionysus pulled over his presents and quickly opened them, thanking each person. The only sincere thanks he gave was when Hestia and Poseidon gave him bottles of vintage wine, and Hera oddly enough gave him one of the first Pac Man machines that had ever been made. As time went on, Hephaestus, Hermes, Aphrodite, Apollo, and Artemis all opened their gifts. The favorites were some imperial gold (for Hephaestus), a new email manager (for Hermes), a cheesy romance novel (Aphrodite's), a collection of Edgar A. Poe's poetic works (Apollo), and an elegantly made bow (Artemis).
Athena and Ares, for some reason, received a first person shooter game that had pvp (player vs. player). They enjoyed that immensely, as well as the new spears they got.
Finally, it was time for the eldest six. Zeus, being the youngest, went first and started to throw a small tantrum because he didn't have the most presents. Once Hestia put him into time out, and he started acting like a big boy, he opened his presents and found that his favorite was, hands down, the customized t-shirt that proclaimed 'King of the Gods, Ruler of the Skies'. This was, oddly enough, from Demeter.
Next went Hera, who was just happy that her family had gotten together for a gathering. It was apart of her domain, after all, and made her all the more pleasant. Then was Poseidon, who gave everyone colossal hugs for what he got. It was a photo album of all of his family, which everyone had gotten together to make. There was even a picture of his sons Percy and Tyson on the beach with a big jar of peanut butter.
Demeter went next and while the most common gift was cereal, her favorite was a collection of albums from bands such as The Beatles, The Eagles, Don McLean, and CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival). Hades opened his afterward, and teared up slightly. It was a picture of Maria di Angelo, along with Bianca and Nico when they were young and so full of life. Yet another was of his Roman daughter, Hazel Levesque, standing with her mother in their apartment where her mother had all sorts of baubles hanging about.
Finally, was Hestia. She wasn't expecting to get much, because she was normally pushed aside in favor of the others. She didn't mind, but only wished that her family, her hearth, was stronger. What amazed her was the fact that everyone made her little things. Ares had made a snowglobe that show a fireplace, and Demeter gave her and hand made sweater that was a warm red. It caused her to tear up a small bit, and suddenly she was engulfed in a huge group hug.
In her opinion, this Christmas thing should be kept around. Especially if it meant she got to see her family more often.
