Christmas, 1903

It was early Christmas morning, and Trisha Elric was sound asleep curled up under the covers of her queen sized bed. She had been up late the night before making cookies with the boys, then doing some last minute gift wrapping after they went to sleep. The sun was just starting to rise when Trisha woke to the sound of little running feet. The bedroom door opened and Edward and Alphonse ran into the room.

"Mama, wake up!" Ed said, shaking her shoulder.

Al climbed on her bed. "Yeah, it's Christmas!" Trisha tried to hide her smile and pretended to be asleep. She felt the covers pull down a bit as Ed climbed onto the bed next to his brother.

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" the two chanted, giggling and bouncing on the bed.

Trisha finally sat up. "Okay, okay, I'm awake!"

"Yay!" the boys cheered as Ed jumped off the bed and Al climbed down.

"Come on, Mom, we have something to give you!" Ed said and took his mother's hand and started to lead her out of the room. The three made their way downstairs and Al immediately ran to where the plate of cookies had been left for Santa.

"Look, Mama! Santa ate the cookies!" he exclaimed, holding up the plate.

Trisha smiled at her four-year-old, "You're right, he did! And he left you some gifts, too." She watched Al gasp and run over to their Christmas tree, then looked down to her oldest son who was giving her a disbelieving look. Ed thought he was way too old to believe in something like Santa Claus, but he played along for his little brother's sake.

"Mama," Al called, immediately grabbing Trisha's attention. He walked over to her and held up a poorly wrapped present. "For you!"

"For me?" Trisha asked her sons, giving them a surprised look. The boys nodded and eagerly waited for her to open the gift. Trisha tore away the wrapping paper and opened the small box. Inside was purple and red beaded necklace, a small metal rose-shaped pin and a card decorated with kitties in Santa hats.

"Oh boys, they're beautiful!" She told them.

"I maked the necklace and Brother maked the rose with alchemy! And we both did the card but I did the kitty part." Al told her.

"I wrote the words on the card 'cause Al can't spell stuff right." Ed added.

Trisha clasped the necklace around her neck and fastened the pin to her pajama shirt. "Thank you, Ed and Al. I really love them." she said, and hugged her two sons tightly.

After a moment Ed pulled away and ran toward the tree, saying, "I'm gonna open all my presents before you, Al!"

"Nu uh!" Al yelled, running after his brother.

Trisha smiled as she watched wrapping paper fly as the boys began tearing into the gifts.

This was the second year without her husband there. The year before, she had been upset around the holidays when Van didn't return. But this year, the smiles on her boys' faces erased any gloomy thoughts or feelings. As long as her sons were there, she was happy. And as long as their mother was happy, the boys were happy.

Author's Note:

First of all, can ya'll believe it's only 16 days until Christmas?! lol No matter how old I get I will always count the days until Christmas. XD

Anyways,

I finally thought of an idea for a Christmas fic! I was so excited I started right away and in two days I've already got three chapters out of the five written. Each chapter will be in a different year, this one being in 1903 when Edward is 5 and Alphonse is 4.

I'm not sure when I'll be posting the next chapter. I might try to post the second next Saturday, the third the Saturday after that, then the last two on the day before Christmas Eve, then on Christmas Eve/Christmas day if I'm too busy on Christmas Eve. So that's the plan, but it may not happen. If I know I'll be really busy later, I'll probably post them sooner.

So... that's pretty much it. I better go rescue my little nephew from my brother now (We're taking turns watching him while my big sis is out XD). Please tell me what you think!