Here's a bit of fun, a Christmas pressie for all my lovely readers.

Holmes for Christmas

A Sherlolly Saga Christmas Special

by

thedragonaunt

Chapter One

'Wiw'yum! Wiw'yum! Wate up! Twismas has started!' Freddie Hooper-Holmes squealed, shaking his brother vigorously by the shoulder.

Startled awake by his younger brother's sudden and rather noisy intrusion into the sanctuary of his bedroom, William Hooper-Holmes was not amused.

'Freddie, go away! It's not Christmas yet. Not for ages – a week, at least,' he grumbled, pushing Freddie's hand off his shoulder and pulling the duvet back over his head, as he curled into a ball and tried to remember where he had been, in his dream. 'Look at your Advent calendar and you'll see. There are lots of windows still to open.'

Freddie stepped back from his brother's bedside, with a confused expression on his face.

'But…' he gasped, turning to point through the bedroom door at the landing, where a large cardboard cut-out Santa grinned at him from the opposite wall and gaily-coloured paper chains, strung from the walls to the central light fitting, made the landing look like a rainbow tent. He and his brother had made those garlands, with the help of Nanny Marie, to decorate their old house last year. And when Christmas ended, the paper chains had just vanished, disappeared.

But now they were back! How had that happened? They didn't just put themselves op, did they? The answer was obvious. Santa's elves had come, in the night, and brought Christmas with them! This was important news and Freddie needed to share it with everyone!

He turned back to look at the hump in the bed, that was his brother, and he frowned. William was missing out on all the fun by turning his back on Christmas. What could Freddie do to fix that? He put on his thinking cap.

William didn't like loud noises. Maybe that was his big mistake. He'd gone about alerting his big brother to the exciting news in completely the wrong way. It was time to try a different tack.

The almost-nearly four year old tiptoed quietly back towards his brother's bed, leaned forward, positioning his lips right next to William's ear, and said, in a rather loud, and very wet, stage whisper,

'Wiw'yum! Wiw'yum! It's weally twue! Twismas has started!'

William, who had only just dozed off again, felt the tickle of Freddie's breath on his cheek and the soft spray of saliva in the recesses of his pinna, as his brother hissed indistinctly right into his ear canal.

'Ugh, stop spitting in my ear, Freddie!' he howled. 'It's NOT Christmas yet! And it's NOT waking up time, either! Go back to bed!' he huffed, petulantly. 'And stay out of my bedroom!'

Freddie knew when he was beaten. William clearly was not ready for Christmas yet. With a sigh of disappointment, he turned and walked out of his brother's room, pulling the door to behind him. But, back on the landing, surrounded by all the bright and jolly decorations, Freddie's spirits lifted and his smile returned. Looking up to the ceiling, he turned round and round, revelling in the kaleidoscopic effect that this created with the canopy of coloured garlands above.

Freddie thought Christmas was wonderful, a magic time, when everyone was happy - well, most of the time. Anyway, he loved Christmas.

'Oh!' he exclaimed, stopping suddenly, and wobbling a little as his head continued to spin. He knew someone who had never seen Christmas. This time last year, she was still hiding inside Mummy's tummy. She must be really looking forward to seeing it for the very first time. Although she had been a bit rude to Santa, the other day, in his Grotto, when she screamed really loud and wouldn't sit in his lap. But Freddie had put her straight, the very next day, and explained that Santa was the Most Important Person when it came to getting presents so she really must be nice to him, in future.

But this was the best news ever! After all the big build up at school, learning carols and rehearsing the Nativity - in which Freddie had been given the starring role of the Donkey - Christmas had started at last. Ada needed to be told right away!

Freddie came down the stairs to the first floor landing, holding tight to the banister and taking one step at a time, his eyes and mouth growing bigger and rounder as more Christmas delights came into view. Those elves had worked very hard. He wondered how they'd managed to reach all the way up to the ceiling, as elves were really small – not as small as fairies, but small, nonetheless.

Oh, it was obvious! They must be able to fly!

Well, if reindeer could fly, why not elves too? They were magic people, after all. And there had been lots of magic going on in the house last night. He could still smell it! It smelt of oranges and cake and biscuits and pine cones. In fact, it smelt of Christmas!

Freddie reached the bottom of the stairs and paused outside his parents' bedroom door, listening hard to see if Mummy or Daddy were awake yet. He couldn't hear anything. William had said it wasn't waking up time yet so he thought he had better not disturb his parents. They might not be happy about that – although neither Mummy nor Daddy was ever as grumpy about being woken up too early as William was. But still, he would leave them alone for now.

Crossing the middle landing to the Nursery door, Freddie reached up to the handle with both hands and pulled the lever down, pushing with his shoulder at the same time so, when the door catch loosed, the door swung inward and he tottered forward on his tiptoes, narrowly avoiding falling over. Doors could be tricky, when you were barely three feet tall.

As the light from the landing flooded into the room beyond, Freddie could see his baby sister, in her cot over by the wall, lying on her back with her face turned towards him, partly hidden by her fist that lay on the mattress beside her head. Her eyes were closed so she must be still asleep. But he had no qualms about waking Ada. She always woke up in a good mood, all smiley and chuckley and ready to play – well, to eat and to play...

Freddie crossed the floor to the cot and, grasping hold of two adjacent bars, pushed his face into the gap between them and whispered – loudly - ,

'Ada! Wate up! Twismas hab started and de house id full ob magic!'

There was a moment's pause while Ada's ears received the message, passed it on to her brain, which recognised the sound of her Very Favourite Person's voice and sent out the instruction that fun was to be had. With a little wriggle and a squirm, Ada curled in on herself and then stretched out again and opened her eyes, to look straight into Freddie's face, mere inches away.

The moment she spied him, a huge smile spread across her features and she rolled on to her front, propped up on her hands, and said,

'Wurp?'

'Yoot, Ada! Yoot what de elbes did do!' Freddie cried, turning to point towards the open door way…to find it filled with the tall, imposing silhouette of Daddy, who had been alerted to Freddie's incursion into the Nursery by the baby monitor, on the night stand, next to his bed.

'Freddie, what are you up to?' asked Daddy.

He didn't sound stern. In fact, he sounded as though he might be trying not to laugh. Freddie, though initially startled by this unexpected occurrence, relaxed. And then Mummy suddenly appeared, slipping under Daddy's arm, holding her dressing gown closed with her hand, and she was definitely smiling.

'Mewwy Twismus, ebwee-body!' crowed Freddie and they all began to laugh.

ooOoo

I hope you enjoyed that. More to follow, this Festive Season!