When you're young, Christmas is the greatest time of year.
The presents, the time with family, and the treats you wouldn't be allowed to have any other time. When you're young, Christmas is magical. Well, until you grew up at least. It was the same for Dick as for any other person.
When he was young, it was his favorite holiday. Getting up early, before dawn, usually, and jumping onto his parent's bed giving them a rude awakening, then going to that tiny tree and opening the small gifts that lay under them.
When they died, Christmas lost a little of it's magic.
Christmases at the manor were much different. It was a large affair, with a large tree, a tree that nearly overwhelmed him as a small child by it's sheer size, the decorations were expensive, nothing at all like the hand-made ones he and his parents had used. And there were the Christmas parties. Those were boring, but afterwards, the time he, Bruce, and Alfred spent together were times he would treasure forever.
As he grew older, he still looked forward to the holiday. Not for the presents as much anymore, but it was the one day that Bruce wouldn't leave the manor. The only time that Batman wouldn't make an appearance. Well, at least until he went to Hudson. After that, it was begun to get tense at home.
Christmas lost a little more of it's magic.
Before he left Hudson, things were going downhill from there. It was just tense, it wasn't suffocating. So much so, he made excuses about why he couldn't come home that year. After they were estranged, he didn't need to make excuses, and in a way, it was relieving, but deep down, it hurt.
Bit by bit, more of the magic was fading.
The year Jason came along, the first year he was Nightwing, he spent Christmas at the tower. They had a grand time that year, Kory especially, decorating the tree, exchanging presents, and drinking too much of Roy's spiked eggnog. As much as he loved it, there was a part of him that missed the manor.
That year, even though surrounded by loved ones, the magic was next to nothing.
The next few years felt like a rollercoaster. Jason's death, Barbara's paralysis, Bruce becoming more and more jaded, his and Kory's disastrous wedding, Tim coming into the picture, going to Bludhaven, No Man's Land, Cassandra joining them, his and Barbara's on-again/off-again relationship, Jason's return, Damian, just being Damian, Blockbuster and Tarantula, Bludhaven's destruction…
At this point, he didn't have it in him to feel the magic.
His younger brother and sister seemingly wanted nothing to do with him, or Gotham, Jason had finally gone over the edge, and the man who had been a father to him from age eight was dead.
This year, there was no magic. December 25th seemed like any other day of the year.
Looking at the beautiful decorations that surrounded him in his new home, he missed it more than ever. But now, he couldn't dwell on the loss. He was Gotham's protector now. He would carry on Bruce's mantle and do everything in his power to watch over his father's beloved city.
And maybe, just maybe, the magic would come back next year. But somehow, he doubted it.
THE END