Hello folks!

This is the fifth part of my series "Something Wonderful". I will post a new chapter every day until Christmas. I haven't finished most of the chapters yet, so I'll be focusing on writing for the next couple of days. I hope to get everything done on time. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine!

Chapter 1

29 November 2007

If there is one thing Bilbo Baggins is not good at, it is finding appropriate Christmas presents. Every year he wracks his brain trying to come up with good ideas. He doesn't even have that many people to give presents to. Usually he ends up in the overcrowded city centre two days before Christmas in a desperate last attempt to gain inspiration.

This year he actually started early. New gardening scissors and a pair of gloves for his father, a new shopping basket for his mum (she has been complaining to him about her old and broken one for months now, and Bilbo knows when to take a hint), a set of wooden farm animals for Fili (Bilbo is a little concerned at the lack of packaging the toy comes with. Fili is at that age where an empty box holds more interest than expensive handmade toys) and he has already started working on a pair of knitted socks for his friend Bofur. Bilbo once told him that if he doesn't ever take off his hat, he should at least wear nice socks. Bofur receives a new pair every Christmas and on his birthday.

Bilbo is a little proud of himself for being so far ahead of schedule this year, having already purchased most of the items or at least knowing what to get. The only person Bilbo has not found a gift for yet, is Thorin. And he is very disgruntled and just a little stressed out about this.

This is going to be their first Christmas together and it has to be absolutely perfect.

They have already agreed to spend Christmas Eve and the next morning with Bilbo's parents before going over to Dis and Vili's for dinner with the entire Durin family. Bilbo has met some members of the Durin family. Fili, Dis and her husband of course. And Dwalin and his brother Balin. Dwalin is not only Thorin's best friend but also his cousin. At least that is what Thorin told Bilbo but the curly-haired man is sure that the relation is a little more complicated than that since Thorin had mentioned once that his father had not had any siblings. The Durin is quite extended actually and Dis mentioned that at least fifteen people will be attending the Christmas dinner. Bilbo has no idea how he is supposed to handle any of them. At least Ori will be there. He and Dwalin just celebrated their two-months anniversary and they even managed to convince Ori's oldest brother Dori of Dwalin's worthiness.

Since the Durin family is such a large bunch and they seem to enjoy food almost enjoy food as much as Bilbo does, although, what he has heard, they are all rubbish at cooking, Bilbo has decided to treat them all with his mother's famous Christmas biscuits. He has scheduled two full days to get the baking done.

It seems like Bilbo has almost everyone covered: His parents, Fili, the entire Durin clan.

But he has absolutely no clue what to give his love as a present. The curly-haired man went out last weekend, telling Thorin that he had some boring errands to run, and drove into town to get inspired. Bilbo browsed the shops for hours, dodging overly welcoming shop assistants and hundreds of other shoppers on his quest to find the perfect gift. But so far he has had no luck.

A scarf and some gloves are way too boring and too cliché. Besides, Thorin already owns at least twenty different scarves and just as many pairs of gloves in matching colours to go with the scarves. Bilbo is one of those people that lose their gloves at least once a week and he considers himself lucky if he can find twogloves in his wardrobe at once, leave alone a pair that matches. And gloves matching his scarf? That is just completely ridiculous, considering that he would have to purchase a new scarf with every pair of gloves he buys. And then wouldn't he have to match his hat as well?

Anyway, gloves and scarves are definitely not items that Thorin "Oakenshield" Durin is in dire need of.

Maybe a book? But Thorin is not the most avid of readers, only sometimes browsing Bilbo's extended collection for some novel or other before abandoning it after three chapters. He just does not possess the patience or passion to finish a book before becoming distracted.

He doesn't even need a new coffee machine. His old one broke very recently and he bought himself a new one on the same day. Bilbo outright refuses to put one of those monstrosities up in his own kitchen so that Thorin can have his perfectly brewed coffee or cappuccino or espresso or whatever it is he likes to drink in the morning whenever he comes over. There just is not enough space for a monster like that in Bilbo's kitchen, thank you very much. Thorin just has to be satisfied with the ten-year-old coffee machine Bilbo dug out of his cellar for Thorin to use.

So, no book and no coffee monster.

New kitchen appliances? There sure is need for those in Thorin's ridiculously small kitchen. But the man does not actually like to cook. So Bilbo would just gift himself since he is the only one that actually uses Thorin's kitchen. Except for the coffee making of course. That is entirely Thorin's area.

This is not getting him anywhere.

Bilbo decides to get some advice.

Note: My experience with deaf people and the Deaf culture is very limited (non-existent to be exact). This entire scenario is based on research, lots and lots of research. So if there is anyone out there that has more experience than me and finds something that doesn't make sense or is complete bollocks, please do not hesitate to contact me. I'm very motivated to learn more about this topic, not only for the sake of these stories, but to broaden my horizons and satisfy my personal curiosity.

As this series goes on, there will be more and more sign language used.
British Sign Language is in no way related to the English language and has its own grammar and sentence structure. Since I am not fluent in BSL and for the sake of the reader, the parts that are meant to be in BSL will be translated into English to not disrupt the flow of reading.