This is based on the song "Arbolito" by Tish Hinojosa, because it's a common household song around Christmas time for me. :) Arbolito is spanish for tree. Not exactly but close enough... Oh and I have this headcanon that Rapunzel's mother and Anna and Elsa's mother are sisters. I mean, Rapunzel does show up for Elsa's coronation...
Seven-year-old Anna Arendella looked up hopefully at the dark green fir tree dripping with brightly colored balls and twinkling lights. The Christmas tree was her favorite part of Christmas; or rather, decorating it was. Anna glanced towards where the rest of the ornaments were gathered in boxes, searching through the mass of red, green and gold in hopes of finding a special ornament she might like.
"Christmas tree," she told the green plant solemnly, "I'm seven years old- and I have freckles. I'd let you have them if I could." She glumly looked down at the floor, put perked up again at the prospect of placing a candy cane up on the tree's branches.
Anna loved to talk to the tree, it was a Christmas tradition of her own. Her older sister Elsa was always fussed over by her parents, and Anna was generally left alone since Elsa, two years her senior, kept to herself.
"Anna," her mother came out of the garage, holding yet another box of ornaments. "How about helping me put these up?"
Anna scampered towards her mother eagerly, reaching her little hands out for the ornaments. Her mother smiled and let her youngest daughter clutch the box tentatively.
Her mother began winding more lights around the tree, still smiling as Anna began to place a whole bunch of ornaments on the tree, all in the same place and horribly mismatching. Oh, the joys of being young and oblivious.
From the kitchen wafted smells of chocolate, turkey and ham, smells Anna associated with Christmas. She breathed it in, smiling happily. Elsa and her aunt were most likely working on baking cookies, that was something they enjoyed doing. Anna had attempted to help them a few times, but after messing up at least three batches for the past few years they excluded her from then on. Oh well. Her aunt's daughter and Anna and Elsa's cousin, Rapunzel, was someone Anna always looked forward to seeing whenever she came over as well. At the moment, though, Rapunzel was in the kitchen with the others, most likely baking the cookies. She was a whiz in the kitchen that way.
Anna reached for more ornaments, still piling on the red, green and gold festively over the tree. But when she reached for her mother's pride and joy- a set of glass, clear blue icicles- her mother stopped her.
"No, honey. Not those. There, put those up," her mother handed her a few candy canes. Anna pouted put did as she was told.
Sometimes it sucked to be seven... but it was Christmas, so how was she going to complain?
Fifteen-year old Anna Arendelle sat on a folding chair looked up at the tree, playing with the tips of her auburn braids. Just like she'd lamented since age seven, her freckles stood out prominently on her face, making her blue eyes shrink in comparison.
"Christmas tree," she told it wistfully, swinging her legs, "I've gotten taller, right? I can almost reach your top." She stood up, reaching for the tips of the branches, and almost succeeding. "If only I could put the angel on top- but Elsa's taller so of course she'll do it."
As if she had been summoned by Anna's comment, Elsa popped into view with a sheet of cooling cookies and oven mitts. With braided hair bleached so pale it looked white, pale and delicate skin, and large blue eyes with thick lashes, it made Anna envious of how sophisticated and mature Elsa was. A constant reminder that Anna was weak in comparison to her much cooler older sister.
"Cookies are almost done," Elsa said cheerfully, noting Anna's expression. "Why so glum? Rapunzel's almost done with the pie, too. Afterwards, we'll finish decorating." Handing a warm gingerbread man to Anna, Elsa returned to the kitchen with the tray.
Anna took a bit of her treat and cocked her head at the tree. "You know, I usually tell you what I want for Christmas, but this year it's sort of a secret," she told the tree. "I haven't told anyone this, not even Rapunzel. His name is-" She stopped there, shoving some more of the cookie in her mouth before her lips could betray her and say the name of Kristoff, the boy she liked. Oh, if only Kristoff liked her back! The woes of being fifteen and in love, she supposed.
"Ornament time!" Elsa carried in a few more boxes, and let Anna take a few off of her load. "I'll put up the green."
"Red for me," Anna said, taking out a box full of the red colored orbs. The two sisters began hanging up in silence, save for the rustling of the tree's branches.
"How's Kristoff?" Elsa asked casually, and Anna just about died on the spot.
"Wha-what? No, I don't like him. That would be crazy, Elsa," Anna said quickly, ducking her red face behind a few branches.
"I didn't say you liked him, but you did," Elsa grew an impish smile. "Now isn't that funny?" Anna groaned.
"Don't tell him, please," she begged.
"Your secret's safe with me, Anna," Elsa said, meaning it. "But he's always asking about you."
"Really?" Anna's head popped out from her side of the tree.
"It's adorable, really," Elsa chuckled, fixing a green ornament she'd just placed up there. "He might ask you out."
"I wish-" Anna said dreamily, reaching for the set of icicles her mother always kept underneath all the rest. Ah, yes, the glass ornaments that made their Christmas tree so regal and beautiful. She reached inside for them before they were yanked out of her hands.
"No offense Anna, put you're clumsy," Elsa said. "Don't you remember whenever you tried to help us bake cookies?"
"That was one time!" Anna protested.
"No, that was five times. Five years in a row," Elsa smirked. "I'm sorry, but I'm putting these up myself. Just don't get the icicles, Anna."
Anna sulked. Fifteen years old and she still couldn't set up the icicles herself.
Thirty-two year old Anna Arendelle stirred the mug of tea she held in her hands, looking up at her Christmas tree with a fond look on her face.
"Christmas tree," she said, "Our yearly talking is so familiar, and trust me, I need it in this new house."
She and her husband, Kristoff, had moved their daughter into a new home a month before the holidays, leaving plenty of packing boxes and junk that needed to be sorted out in their wake.
Still, a Christmas tree was adamant in Anna's opinion. Their daughter, a cute little girl with Kristoff's blond hair and Anna's blue eyes, bounced up and down eagerly.
"Mommy, can we put ornaments on the tree? Can we can we can we?" she asked. Anna looked over at her husband, who suddenly caught interest in a nearby chair.
"Kristoff, you're not escaping this," Anna laughed at the face her husband made, as he started pulling out boxes of their own Christmas ornaments. They brought back so many pleasant memories from past Christmases, ones spent in the company of her parents and of Elsa. Her parents tragically passed away in a car accident, so they weren't able to attend Anna's wedding when she had turned twenty-four, or when Anna had given birth to her beautiful daughter Kristen at twenty-five. They hadn't even been able to give Kristoff their blessing to marry their daughter.
The only one who had been there had been Elsa. After their parent's death, they only had each other and took solace in each other's company. Elsa had finally opened up. The two sisters were close again, best friends, to say.
"Sweetheart, there's the gold ornaments. the red ones, but we're missing the green ones," Kristoff's words brought Anna back to the present. "I'll go look for them." He ventured into their hallway, going to the garage to find their missing box.
Kristen had started to set the ornaments up on the tree, smiling brilliantly when she was able to latch a gold orb onto the branches. She was seven. Seven was the age in which Anna had the earliest memories of talking to the Christmas tree. Maybe Kristen could get the same ideas.
Crouching next to her daughter, she stroked her blond hair and got her attention. "Kristen, do you know what I love to do?" she asked, not pausing for her daughter to answer. "Talk to the tree. It gives me someone to talk to, and someone who'll always listen." Kristen looked thoughtful at their newfound realization. Anna left her daughter alone, and began to unpack some red ornaments. Looking back at her daughter, she smiled to see that Kristen was whispering softly to the tree as she put up the balls of various colors.
Kristoff came back with the boxes in his arms, and set them down.
"Found the greens, and something else," Kristoff let Anna take a small box. Anna opened it to reveal the clear blue icicles her mother had loved so much. After her mother's death, both she and Elsa had taken them to their homes to leave a little bit of their parents with them during the holidays.
"The icicles," Anna was tearfully, blinking. Kristen peered up, and smiled a large smile.
"Mommy, do you want to help me?" she asked. Anna looked over at the poor job Kristen was doing and half-laughed, half-sobbed.
"Honey, you put them up," she said, wiping at her eyes. "Does it look like Better Homes magazine yet?" Kristen excitedly continued to bounce around, still putting up the ornaments.
"I'll put these up," Kristoff took an icicle out of the box carefully, placing it onto a branch.
"Alright," Anna reached it in for one, but Kristoff gently tugged the box away before she could wrap her fingers around one.
"Anna, I love you, but you can't put these on the tree. You'll break them," Kristoff said.
"Wha-? Oh, come on! They're my icicles!" Anna groaned.