Ballet Shoes is an awesome book. So how is there no fic for it?

All the characters belong to the wonderful person that is Noel Streatfeild, and ergo are not mine. Sigh.

"It was Christmas when you came to us."

As a little girl, Pauline Fossil loved the month of December. Not only was there the magical Christmas festivities but sixteen days prior to Christmas was her birthday! Sometimes, it even snowed on her birthday too, which she would often boast about to the others when they were little – with Petrova's birthday in August and Posy's in September, she was the only one who could feel as though the world had turned itself white as an extra present for her.

The year she turned two, there was not one, but three extra presents.

Six days after her birthday, Pauline was sitting in the nursery with Clara, playing quietly with the teddy Garnie had given her as a birthday gift. She had been a little disappointed that it hadn't snowed on the day, remembering how the Cromwell Road has taken on a fairylike quality last year but this morning, six inches had fallen overnight and Pauline was itching for Nana to take her out later that afternoon. Clara had joked that morning over breakfast how it was a late birthday present for her.

Without warning, there was the biggest commotion from down the stairs. Clara jumped up from her chair and hurried out into the hall. Pauline smiled. She knew the tone of that shout – it meant Gum had come back! She remembered snatches of conversation between Nana and Garnie about how he might not make it back home for Christmas. It appeared he had done just that. Gum's return was like a present too! And maybe he had brought her back something! Garnie had often showed her the pretty things that he had brought her back from when she was a little girl.

Intrigued by this thought, Pauline left her teddy on the floor and pulled herself up unsteadily. She was just about to totter over to the door when Garnie came into the nursery.

"Oh, there you are, darling!" she smiled, taking her hand and leading her down the stairs. "Come and see what Gum's brought us from Russia!"

So he had brought her something! The little blonde girl grew very excited as they approached the hall. Nana was holding something – maybe that was it? Judging by the size of the box on the floor, it must be a big present.

"Show her, Nana," she heard Garnie say.

As Nana turned round, Pauline gasped. She was holding a baby! She looked younger than Pauline, and not a bit like her, with brown eyes instead of blue and dark hair instead of blonde. But she looked very, very sweet. Pauline wrenched her hand away from Garnie's and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her to Nana, who sighed and crouched down to her, so she could see the baby. Pauline took her tiny little hand and the baby squeezed her fingers tight.

She heard Garnie say that she was called Petrova, but she wasn't really listening too hard. After all, she wanted to admire her wonderful birthday present.

A/N:

1 – In the 2007 BBC adaption, Sylvia says to Petrova that when she arrived it was Christmas time.

2 – In the 1980 Penguin edition of the book, there is a copy of Pauline's application for a licence which gives her birth date as approximately December 9th 1920.

3 – This was partially inspired by a story my dad told me about when my sister was born. Her birthday is December 17th and I was convinced that she was an early Christmas present. Hey, I was only three.

R&R, pretty please?