Author's Note: this story is set in my Christmas Past and Present and Summer at Downton 1907 universe. It is really a missing scene from Christmas Past and Present that has been taking shape in my head over the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately I haven't had time to write it down until now. (btw, it's un-betaed) Even though this year's Christmas is over, I hope that you enjoy this little story.
The events take place during the first Christmas that Matthew spends at Downton Abbey. I don't know if the Crawley girls made cookies in the Downton kitchen at Christmas time, but it's a tradition of the Royal Family in Sweden (my home country). I thought that if it's okay for the Queen of Sweden to make cookies with the prince and princesses, then Lady Cora could certainly make cookies with the young ladies of Downton.
~ O ~
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Gingerbread Men and Sweet Angels
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Matthew leisurely strolled downstairs. His eyes darted around as he listened for any signs of the others being around. After breakfast that morning the girls had been whisked off to Ripon with Cora and Nanny for one last fitting on their Christmas frocks. Robert and Patrick were off on a ride to visit some of the tenants. Finding himself alone in the house, Matthew had hunkered down by the fireplace in his room with a book from Lord Grantham's library.
A quick peek into the empty library steered him in the direction of the drawing room. To his surprise he found Cora there. She looked up and smiled at him.
"Matthew, what can I do for you?"
"Cousin Cora, I didn't know you were back."
She smiled and nodded. "Everything was ready and no more alterations needed."
Matthew nodded, a slight frown still between his eyes. "Where is everyone?"
"The girls are down in the kitchen."
"In the kitchen?" Matthew's eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"It's an annual tradition for them to make cookies with Cook. I was just about to go downstairs to join them."
"You…" Matthew quickly closed his mouth, his face turning pink in embarrassment at having blurted out his surprise at the Countess of Grantham setting foot in the kitchen.
"It's great fun, Matthew." Cora said with a wide grin. "Why don't you come with me?"
Matthew smiled and nodded, relieved that she was not upset with him.
~ O ~
The first thing Matthew heard as he followed Cora down the servants' stairs to the kitchen, was Mary's laughter. He strained his neck trying to get a glimpse of her.
"Hello my darlings."
"Mama!" Sybil squealed excitedly.
"My lady." The elderly cook bobbed her head, acknowledging Cora's presence. "Will you be joining us?"
"I believe that I will." She turned and gently pushed Matthew forward. "Would you have an apron for me and one for Master Matthew?"
"Certainly, my lady." She turned and gave a sharp order to one of the kitchen maids who quickly scurried off to get the aprons.
"Mary!"
Matthew turned around at Edith's outburst. He chuckled as he noticed the flour on his cousin's head.
"You put too much flour on your cookies. They'll be too hard to eat," Mary said haughtily.
"You put flour on me!"
Edith grabbed a handful of flour and threw it in Mary's direction. Mary easily ducked out of the way and made a face at her sister.
"Mary! Edith! Stop it."
"Yes, Mama."
"Master Matthew?" The young kitchen maid was holding out an apron for him. "Do you know how to put it on?"
"I believe that I do. Thank you."
She bobbed once before returning to her previous task.
Matthew quickly put on his apron and joined the girls, for a split second wondering if it was safe to stand between Mary and Edith.
"Look, Mama, I made an angel." Sybil grinned at her mother as she pointed out her masterpiece on the baking sheet.
"It's beautiful, darling."
"My lady."
Cora accepted the cookie dough from the cook and put it down next to Sybil's. The two chatted happily as Cora rolled out the dark gingerbread dough.
~ O ~
Mary glanced at Matthew and he grinned at her. She had flour on her cheek and it was surprisingly sweet. He almost reached out to wipe it off, but the thought of Cora watching made him stop.
"You have flour on your face," he whispered.
"Where?" Mary touched her cheek, only managing to get more flour on her face.
"Other side."
"Here?" she wiped her cheek, trying to brush it off. He nodded. "Gone?" He shook his head. More wiping. "Now?"
"Still there. And now you have some on your other cheek too."
Mary huffed and made a face at him. "Help me then."
Glancing at Cora, noticing that she was bent over the table helping Sybil cut out gingerbread ladies, he thought it safe enough. Quickly reaching out, he brushed his fingers over Mary's soft cheeks, easily removing the flour.
"There."
"Thank you."
"Mary look! I made three gingerbread ladies and they're holding hands. It's you and me and Edith."
"How sweet," Mary drawled and rolled her eyes.
Sybil looked up and huffed at her sister. "You should be nice, Mary."
"Exactly, Sybil," Cora said in a warning tone to Mary.
"They're beautiful, Sybil, though ginger-Edith seems a bit crooked."
"Stop it!" Edith squealed and tried to pinch Mary behind Matthew's back.
"Edith!"
"They're perfect, Sybil," Matthew said and smiled warmly at his little cousin.
Sybil beamed at him and then giggled. "I'm going to make a gingerbread Matthew too."
Crisis averted, Matthew returned his attention to his perfectly rolled out cookie dough. What to make? Debating his options he reached for star shaped cookie cutter.
"Here, try this one." Mary held out a cookie cutter shaped like a pig.
"You want me to make pigs?"
Mary giggled and nodded. "Why not? Do you have something against pigs?" Matthew gaped as she quickly pressed the pig shaped cookie cutter into his dough. "See?"
He sank his star cookie cutter into the dough next to hers. She looked up at him and grinned, her eyes twinkling as she quickly made a second pig. Matthew was quicker and made two stars after each other. Mary huffed and made another pig, trying to shove him away with her shoulder. He nudged her and she shrieked.
"Mary," Cora reprimanded.
Mary's eyes narrowed at Matthew, but he only grinned cheekily at her. She stepped closer and made another pig. Her head was right below Matthew's and he could smell the slight lavender from her shampoo. The scent took him off guard and while he processed this new sensation, Mary managed to make another two pigs.
"Mary Crawley," he growled playfully.
Mary giggled and he made a face at her. Two more stars. Pig. Star. Star. Only one small area left. They eyed each other, both having their cookie cutter ready.
"Look, a mouse," Matthew gasped and pointed on the floor behind Mary.
She shrieked and whipped around. Matthew quickly made two stars, filling the last part of the cookie dough. Mary turned and glared at him, hands on hips.
"You cheated."
"It's my cookie dough," he pointed out cheekily. "Now help me move all these cookies to a cookie sheet."
Mary rolled her eyes, but pulled his cookie sheet closer, adjusting each cookie perfectly as Matthew scooped them up with a spatula.
"They won't fit," she said with a frown. Quickly looking around she noticed that Edith's cookie sheet still had room. With a cookie in each hand she stepped around Matthew to place them on Edith's cookie sheet. With her back to Edith she seemed to take an awful long time to place the cookies on the sheet. Finally pleased, she returned to her place between Sybil and Matthew.
"Mary!"
Everyone looked up at Edith's shriek. Cora let out a heavy sigh and shot Mary a stern look.
"What is it darling?"
"Mary ruined my cookies."
"I did not!" Mary said, raising her chin. "It's not my fault if you can't make a cookie with two arms and legs."
"It had two arms and legs before you took one off!" Edith glared angrily at Mary. "Now my gingerbread man is ruined," she exclaimed, pointing at her one-legged gingerbread man.
"Nonsense, he just has only one leg."
"Mary, make a new cookie for your sister," Cora snapped before a full-out screaming fight would break out.
"If I must," Mary said with a heavy sigh, rolling her eyes.
"Yes you do."
Mary nodded and rolled out her dough piece. "May I have the cookie cutter, Edith?"
Edith threw the gingerbread man cutter to Mary, managing to hit the cookie dough.
"Edith!"
Cora gave Mary a warning look and she sighed and cut out a cookie, placing it on Edith's sheet. Reaching for another cutter she quickly made another one, placing it close to the first one. Pleased with her work she smiled at her sister.
"See now you have a gingerbread man and a gingerbread lady."
"Thank you." Edith looked at the cookies and had to admit that they looked nice.
"Can we make some shortbread cookies too?" Sybil asked hopefully asked.
"Of course, my lady." Cook smiled at the little girl who was her favorite. "Let me get the dough from the larder."
Sybil cheered and clapped her hands, looking up at Cora, grinning widely. Cora chuckled at the look of her. Sybil had flour on her nose and a little in her hair. Brushing it off with gentle fingers, Cora kissed Sybil's forehead.
"What kind of cookies do you want to make, darling?"
"Angels. And snowmen."
Cora smiled and nodded. "Perfect."
"And I want to decorate them too," Sybil added cheerfully. "I want to make a snowman for Papa."
"Because he's fat?" Mary asked with a giggle.
"No!" Sybil huffed and stomped her foot. "Because he can't be an angel. My angels are girls."
Mary laughed and winked at Sybil. "I was only teasing. Your cookies are very pretty, Sybil."
"Thank you." Sybil beamed at her big sister, pleased with her praise.
~ O ~
While the cookies baked and cooled down, the four Crawley children were ushered into the servants' hall for some hot chocolate and a small treat. Cora returned upstairs with a promise to come down and help decorate the cookies.
Mary leaned closer to Matthew and whispered something in his ear which made him chuckle. Sybil frowned and her lower lip jutted out in annoyance.
"Mary, it's rude to be whispering."
"It's alright to have secrets before Christmas, Sybil darling."
Mary's eyes twinkled as she met Matthew's blue ones. Sybil huffed and sipped her hot chocolate, happily swinging her feet that did not quite reach the floor.
"So what did you use to do for Christmas, Matthew?"
He smiled at Mary's question, thinking back to when he was little.
"My father and I used to go out and find a tree together. He always let me pick out the perfect one." He chuckled at the memory and the silliness of letting a little boy make such a decision. "Once he had carried it home and put it up, mother would join us and we would decorate it together."
"Which was your favorite ornament?" Sybil asked cheerfully. "Mine is a little bird!"
Smiling fondly at his excited little cousin, Matthew thought for a moment. "I think it might be a little dog that my father bought in Germany. He's brown and has snow on his muzzle and a sprig of holly in his mouth."
"Then what?" Mary asked eagerly.
"We would sit down to a marvelous dinner on Christmas Eve."
"Just the three of you?"
"Usually, but sometimes we had guests."
"We usually do," Edith chimed in.
Matthew nodded and smiled at her. "Downton seems to be made for large Christmas parties."
"It's so pretty," Sybil said with a wide grin. "Christmas is my favorite."
"Mine too," Matthew quickly agreed.
"We usually gather after dinner to sing carols."
Matthew smiled at Mary and nodded. "We didn't have a piano, so we didn't sing any carols, but we did spend time together in our parlor where the tree was set up. Father would read A Visit from St. Nicholas. Mother would let me have sweets and nuts and some hot cider," Matthew sighed and looked down. "I really miss that part. It was exciting to be allowed to stay up late. When I was little I usually fell asleep by the tree and father would carry me to bed."
Mary smiled and gently touched his arm. "If you like, perhaps Carson can read it to us tonight?"
Matthew nodded and patted her hand. "That sounds nice, but you really don't have to bother him. I'm old enough now to not need it."
"Can you read it to me?" Sybil asked in a tiny voice, her eyes wide and eager.
"Why don't you all come to my room tonight, and Matthew can read it then?" Mary said in an excited whisper.
"Patrick too?" Edith whispered.
Mary shrugged. "If he wants to. I doubt it."
"I'll ask him," Edith said stubbornly.
Rustling by the door made them all fall silent. The same kitchen maid who had helped Matthew with the apron was standing there smiling at them.
"M'ladies, Master Matthew, if you're finished with your hot chocolate, the cookies are done and ready to be decorated."
"How wonderful!" Sybil was off in a flash, racing towards the kitchen. Mary rolled her eyes at her. Dabbing her lips with her napkin one last time she gracefully got up and followed Matthew and the maid to the kitchen.
~ O ~
Cora held the gingerbread heart while watching her youngest daughter concentrate as she piped her name on it. Sybil's brows were furrowed and she was biting her lip, then huffed as she moved her hand a little too fast.
"It's too hard." She made a face at Cora. "Why did you have to give me such a long name, Mama? Why couldn't I have been a 'Mary' instead?"
Cora chuckled and caressed Sybil's pink cheek. "Because you're my darling Sybil, that's why."
"But it's impossible to write!" She pointed at her squiggly 'b'. "Mary doesn't have a 'b' in her name, and no's'. it's not fair."
"At least you don't have an 'e'," Edith muttered.
Cora placed a new cookie in front of her little sister. "Here, you do the 'S' and I'll do the 'y' and the 'b' and you can finish it. We'll do it together. I am, as you said, to blame for your unfortunate name."
"I think Sybil is a very pretty name," Matthew said and winked at Sybil.
Sybil giggled and taking a deep breath she concentrated hard on making a perfect 'S' on her cookie.
Not much later a quite presentable Sybil cookie joined the Mary, Edith, Matthew and Patrick cookies. Per Sybil's insistence, Cora made a Cora gingerbread heart and a Robert one too. Admiring her mother's steady hand and beautiful handwriting, even with icing, Sybil clapped her hands when Cora was done. After a little debating, the two continued decorating Sybil's angels.
Mary had been very quiet, deeply concentrating on her gingerbread men and pigs. To her surprise two of her cookies had spread together and it now looked like the gingerbread man and woman were holding hands. Sybil had objected in a very loud voice when Mary wanted to separate the two, claiming that they were Mary and Matthew holding hands. Matthew blushed furiously, and Mary rolled her eyes while Cora laughed merrily at Sybil's imagination.
"Mary!" Everyone looked up at Edith's exclamation. "You just made a Matthew gingerbread pig! How rude."
Mary rolled her eyes. "It was his cookie dough so I wanted to give him credit." She shot Matthew a quick glance. "Besides I think it's a quite handsome pig."
"Mary," Cora sighed and shook her head.
"What? I don't have anything against pigs."
"Neither do I," Matthew said cheerfully and placed a pig cookie next to Mary's with her name on it.
Edith burst out laughing and Sybil shrieked and clapped her hands over her mouth as she giggled. Mary just rolled her eyes and grabbed another cookie. Feeling Matthew move next to her she dropped it and it broke.
"I'm so sorry," Matthew stuttered, feeling incredibly stupid for having made her drop her cookie.
"No harm done. There are plenty more," Mary said with a smile. "Besides I think this one still has potential."
Matthew frowned in confusion but then his eyes widened as he realized what Mary was doing.
"Mama, can you please do the wings again?"
Cora nodded and Sybil pushed her angel cookie closer to her mother. As Cora piped white icing on the angel's wings Sybil sprinkled sugar on it before it hardened.
"There." Cora sat back admiring their work.
"Edith, here's the missing leg for your gingerbread man. Now he looks like he was injured in the war. Perhaps we can give him a cane to match."
Edith glared at her sister as Mary placed a gingerbread man leg covered in white icing next to her finished cookies. It looked like a cast.
"It was damaged, so I didn't decorate it," Edith said smugly. "You shouldn't have bothered, Mary."
"Girls, no fighting please," Cora warned.
~ O ~
Later that day, before dinner, a footman brought up a large tray with the now finished cookies. Red ribbons had been added to the heart cookies so that they could be hung on the tree. Sybil raced over to look at them and squealed in delight.
"Look! There's mine, and there's Mary's." She turned around and spotted her father. Quickly skipping over to Robert she took his hand and tugged gently. "Papa, please come and see the cookies."
"Of course, darling." Robert cupped Sybil's cheek and let her pull him over to where the tray had been placed on a side table.
"See, there's mine and Mary's and Edith's." She gently moved a cookie out of the way to show the one saying Robert. "Mama and I made this one for you," she explained, proudly smiling up at him.
"You did? Thank you. I'm sure it will taste just as wonderful as it looks."
"And we made a heart cookie for Mama too."
Cora who had spotted the two together sidled up next to Robert thus overhearing Sybil.
"Perhaps Cora can hang next to Robert on the tree?" she suggested, smiling at her husband.
"Yes!" Sybil nodded excitedly. "It must." She looked up at Robert. "Can we please hang them up, Papa?"
He stroked her cheek and nodded. "Please go tell your sisters to join us and we will do it now, before dinner."
Sybil was off like a shot, weaving through the small crowd, making a beeline for Mary and Matthew by the fireplace. Robert sighed and shook his head at his daughter's energy.
~ O ~
Mary was sitting up in bed when there was a gentle knock on her door.
"Come."
The door opened, revealing Sybil's smiling face.
"We're not too late," she said excitedly and skipped over to jump onto Mary's bed.
Edith followed at a slightly more dignified pace. Grabbing the blanket at the foot of Mary's bed she sat down and covered her legs with it.
"Sybil, stop squirming."
"I'm cold, Mary!"
"I know, but honestly," Mary huffed and straightened her pillow while Sybil snuggled in next to her in the bed.
Another knock on the door made the three girls fall silent. After a heartbeat, Mary called for whomever it was to enter. The three girls let out a unanimous breath of relief at seeing Matthew's smiling face.
"I thought it might be Nanny," Sybil whispered and sank down a bit deeper next to Mary in the bed.
"Just us," Matthew whispered loudly.
"Us?" Mary's eyebrow inched up in curiosity.
"Patrick and me."
Matthew entered, followed by a regal looking Patrick.
"Come in and close the door," Mary hissed and waved for them to hurry up.
Matthew quickly closed the door behind them and moved forward, then looked around for a chair.
"Come sit here next to me," Sybil piped up and patted the bed next to her. "Then I can see the pictures!"
Matthew chuckled and shot Mary a glance. Upon receiving an approval nod from the owner of the bed, he sat down, leaning against a pillow. Sybil beamed up at him.
While Matthew made himself comfortable, Edith stretched out at the foot of the bed with Mary's blanket and a throw pillow. After having put a couple of logs on the fire, Patrick ended up on the little sofa by the window with another blanket and a couple of throw pillows. Once everyone was comfortable, Matthew opened the book. Snuggled protectively under Matthew's arm, Sybil held one side as she watched the beautiful drawings. Mary leaned a little closer, eventually resting her head on Matthew's shoulder, listening to his steady voice as he read the old poem about Saint Nicholas.
~ O ~
Several hours later, an unsuspecting scullery maid almost yelped in surprise at the scene in Lady Mary's bedroom. The familiar sight of the oldest Crawley girl tucked in up to her chin had been replaced with all three of the Crawley sisters snuggled up in Lady Mary's bed. She covered her mouth when she recognized Master Matthew next to Lady Sybil. He was sleeping with an arm held protectively around the little girl. His legs were covered by Lady Edith's blanket. When he shifted a little and hummed in his sleep, she quickly looked up at his face to see if she had woken him. Noticing Lady Mary's hand now covering his where it rested on top of the covers over the youngest Crawley girl, she smiled at the sweetness of it. A soft snore startled her and she looked in the direction it came from. Master Patrick was asleep on his back on Lady Mary's small sofa, one leg over the end of the sofa, and the other leg stretched out on the floor.
Afraid that she might wake them, she tended to the fire as quietly as possible and then tiptoed out of the room.
"Merry Christmas young Crawleys," she whispered before closing the door behind her.
The End
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A/N: Matthew is reading the 1901 edition of A Visit from St. Nicholas by Clement Clarke Moore. Even the editions that Cora might have had as a child had color pictures in them. At least the 1862 edition did.