Stories and stories
It's Christmas at the Black's! Join Billy, Jacob, Rebecca, Paul, Rachel and their daughter, Lily for a Christmas to remember.
Disclaimer: do not own Twilight or the characters. I only own the storyline and Lily. I also do not own the stories that are told.
'Twas the night before Christmas at the Black residence.
"Uncle Jake!" Little Lily squealed as she climbed up onto Jacob Black's lap, eyes gleaming. Jacob and Paul were the only ones in the living room whilst Rachel, Rebecca and Billy were cleaning up after dinner.
"Hey, Lils!" Jacob exclaimed with a smile. "Has your Mommy let you open a present yet?"
Lily looked down and shook her head. "No," she muttered with disappointment. "Hey, Uncle Jake! Do you think Santa's real?"
Jacob chuckled, "Of course not!" He blurted out, forgetting he was talking to a 4-year-old. "Uh... I-I mean... Well..."
"Jake, you asshole." Paul muttered, rolling his eyes.
"He's not?" Lily looked at Jacob, her eyes watering. She jumped off Jacob's lap and ran into the kitchen. "Mommmmmmy!" Lily wailed, "Jake said Santa isn't real!"
"Jake!" Rachel shouted as she picked Lily up. "Why have you been telling Lily lies?" She frowned as she walked into the living room with a sobbing Lily; followed by Rebecca who wanted to see Jake's reaction.
"I-I just... I didn't... I-I-I..." Jacob stuttered. Rachel could be pretty scary when she was angry.
Billy wheeled into the living room. "Rachel, calm down. Of course Santa's real, Lily. Jake's just annoyed because he's on the naughty list and your not. Why don't you get him to tell you a Christmas story?"
"Yeah, Jake!" Rebecca exclaimed in a sarcastic tone. "Tell Lily a Christmas story!"
"Maybe we should get the whole pack round here." Paul added with a grin.
"I don't know any!" Jacob protested, but Lily was already climbing off Rachel's lap and onto his.
"Sure you do!" Billy grinned. "Your Mother told them to you all the time when you were a child."
Jacob rolled his eyes, "Fine." Paul was trying not to laugh whilst Rebecca and Rachel were smirking at the accomplishment. "Once upon a time, there was an evil witch-"
Jacob was interrupted by Lily, who was giggling. "Jake, witches aren't real!"
"You clearly haven't met Talia, then..." Jacob muttered.
"I know Talia! She's Seth's girlfriend!" Lily exclaimed.
"Alright, alright. No witches. Got it." Jacob said with a slight smile.
"I have an idea." Billy said, with a smile. "Your Mother always told you the same stories. You all had favourites. Jake can tell her the favourite stories."
"My favourite was always 'The Iron Winter and the Raggedy Old Man," Rachel admitted.
"You made Mom tell you that story all the time. You even had a doll called Raggedy Man." Jake chuckled. "Alright. The Russian winter of 1910 was the severest in memory. It was so cold that it was known as the 'Iron Winter.' Because of its location, a prosperous and popular hotel some twenty kilometres from Moscow, suffered particular loss of business. No one stayed there for weeks and the owner had laid off most of his staff. One evening, he was surprised to hear a knock at his front door. Upon opening it, he was confronted by a grey bearded, raggedy old man. The old man said that he had been out in the snow for several days. He was freezing cold and starving hungry. Could the hotelier give him a meal and a bed for the night? "I can certainly do that," said the hotelier. "For one night's accommodation plus a meal, the charge is three roubles. Can you pay?" The old mad confessed that he had no money, but if he was sent away, he would surely die in the cold.
The hotelier felt sorry for him and told him to come inside. He took him to the kitchen where bubbling away on the stove was a pot of beetroot soup. The hotelier ladled out a large portion of the soup, added a twist of sour cream and for good measure, gave his visitor half a loaf of rye bread. The raggedy old mad was obviously very hungry and soon disposed of the bread and soup. The hotelier laughed to see a great beetroot stair along the bottom of the old man's moustache.
The raggedy man thanked the hotelier for the food and said, "You won't see the going of me in the morning, but although I have no money now, I will pay you the three roubles when I have it." The hotelier said nothing but did not expect to see either the three roubles or the old man again.
The snow cleared and business began to pick up. In fact, the hotel became busier than ever. In the spring, being a religious man, the hotelier decided to go to the great cathedral in the city to thank God for the hotel's success. Upon arrival in the capital he made straight for the cathedral. Once inside, he gazed around the interior of the ancient church. His eyes fell on many icons of the walls. He was drawn to one particular image that was in the corner.
It was painted in the likeness of an old man with a grey beard and seemed vaguely familiar. As he drew closer, he noticed a dark, beetroot like stair upon the moustache. He looked at the name inscribed beneath the image. It read, 'Saint Nicholas'.
He reached for a candle to place in front of the icon as he moved the loose earth into which he would fix the candle; his hand touched something small and hard. It was a coin, a rouble. Beside it were two more. He picked them up and looked again at the icon. The beetroot stain was gone and the face was smiling."
Lily was smiling, "Tell me another, please!"
"I don't know, it's hard to remember them." Jacob complained.
"My favourite was The Tale of the Christmas Tree Fairy!" Rebecca said with a smile. "Do you want me to tell you that, Lils?" Lily nodded, with a huge grin as she ran over to her parents and sat with them. "I'll tell you an old Christmas story, as we sit round the log fire at night. Why each Christmas tree has its fairy on top and why Santa's beard is so white. It happened one winter in England, on a dark Christmas Eve long ago. There was Santa, out doing his rounds and playing on the sledge in the snow. He were taking the presents to the houses and then, when that job were done, he went sound once again with his fairies, putting Christmas trees in every house. Now, just when he thought he might finish, and the last houses were coming in sight, he went to fetch more three of toboggan. And he found that there were just four trees light.
This discovery quite upset Santa, so he gave his reindeer a shout, "Whoa up!" And he sent for his Christmas tree fairy to chastise her for leaving them out. "Eeee by gum, that a daft little fairy! That's daft as a fairy could be. When you loaded the sledge up the evening, you must've missed off some of the trees!"
"Oh sod it!" replied the little fairy, which was really quite un-fairy like. "I'll have to go back to the factory!" And with that, she got on her bike.
"Hold on a minute!" Cried Santa, "There's a way that won't let you forget, fetch one tree back for each finger. On the right and – you'll get it right yet."
Then off like a shot when our fairy. Much faster than the light from the sun. Because Einstein hadn't been invented, she wasn't to know it weren't done. Now if you could have watched the little fairy, there was trouble to come, you could tell. For when she were counting her fingers, she added her thumb as well. Now Santa, he waited hours until his patience were running quite dry. When at last he saw the fairy peddling, for all she was worth through the night sky. But then the fairy got neared, Santa's anger grew more and more. He could tell by the load she was bearing, that she'd fetched him five trees, not four. Then Santa got redder and redder, started roaring with all his might until the glow from his nose outshone Rudolph's and his beard, it begun to turn white.
"Why that's stupid!" He yelled at the fairy. "That's four times as thick as I'd thought. Now go put the trees in the houses and when that's finished, report." So, straightaway off went the fairy, as soon as she'd finished, she'd brought the fifth tree back, and waved it in his face.
"Whatever shall I do with this one?" An innocent fair enquired. So Santa, he upped and told her because by now he were feeling quite tired. The fairy looked up at Santa and her fair it went a mite red, but then being the good fairy she was, she upped and did so.
So now, at the end of my story; you'll see why to this every night, each Christmas tree has a fairy on top, and old Santa's beard is quite white. The moral, should you ever want one, is simple – when doing your sums, if you really must count on your fingers, don't forget to remember your thumbs."
By the time Rebecca has finished, Jacob had fallen asleep and Lily was slowly nodding off in Paul's arms. "I like those stories!" Lily giggled sleepily. "Can you tell me another one?"
"It's time for bed, Lils." Paul said as he picked her up, taking her to bed.
"But I'm not tired." Lily complained with a yawn.
"Yes you are," Paul chuckled. Soon enough, he came back into the living room. "She wants you." He said, gesturing to Rachel.
Rachel went into her old bedroom; Lily was lying in the bed, the lamp on. She was holding a doll and a musical jewellery box which was where the doll was hidden.
"Mommy, I found these," Lily said as Rachel sat on the bed beside her, immediately recognising them. "What are they?"
"That's Raggedy Man and my Mother's musical box," Rachel said with a smile. "My Mom gave me Raggedy Man when I was... Well, it was when I was your age. I couldn't sleep or go anywhere without Raggedy Man. He made me feel safe. When my Mom died, that's when I needed him the most. He was a memory I had of her. She also gave me this jewellery box. She got it when she was 11, gave it me when I was 5. And, you wanna known something? Every night, to help me sleep, she'd tuck me in with Raggedy Man beside me. She'd tell me a bedtime story and kiss my goodnight, leaving on the night light and the music box." Rachel opened up the box and turned the key; the ballerina began to swirl to a sweet melody.
"Why is Raggedy Man here?" Lily asked as she admired the box.
"I don't know," Rachel confessed. "I guess I just sort of grew up."
"What will happen to Raggedy Man now?" Lily asked, looking quite concerned.
"Now," Rachel said with a smile. "Raggedy Man shall make you feel safe and the music box will help you sleep. Just like my mother gave to me, I'm giving them to you."
Lily cuddled Raggedy Man closely to her; Rachel put the box on the side. The toddler snuggled up to Rachel and fell asleep, Raggedy Man tucked safely under her arm.
When morning came, everyone agreed, last night was the best Christmas ever. It wasn't anything special like a huge dinner or party. They didn't rent out a beach house for Christmas. They didn't go over the top with decorations. They just had a family meal, the fire crackling. They had no worries, instead they just told stories.