Hey guys welcome to my Charming family secret Santa gift. I was chosen to be the secret Santa for Justanoutlaw. Her prompt was: Snow and David get a box of old ornaments from their palace. They're so fancy, Emma feels insecure about showing her the handmade ones she has in her memories box. Little does she know, they've already seen them'.
Justanoutlaw as you already know I am a huge fan of your writing and I hope I can do your prompt justice and that you enjoy. Merry Christmas and enjoy the chapter:)
I do not own OUAT or its characters just my imagination.
A Charming family Christmas
Christmas had found its way to Storybrooke for the first time since the curse broke. Sure technically Christmas had passed before, but before they were fighting bad guys, or in other realms, and one time simply separated. So now they were finally able to celebrate, together; in the piece and quite that fell onto the town since Emma defeated the black fairy.
Emma currently was in her home with Henry, decorating. She never had this before, just when it was the two of them in New York. This was the first time she truly had a home, and the first one she had to decorate. The two of them had headed out of town to buy decorations; they had made a day of it. Emma had lights strung up outside her home, and on her tree, she and Henry had both picked out ornaments they liked for on the tree, so both their tastes where represented. Emma is on the floor looking through her box, her special box of memories, and then Henry walks in.
"Hey mom shouldn't we be going to Grandma and Gramps house now?" Henry asks, as he slipped his phone into his pocket.
Emma closes the lid to the box, not wanting Henry to look inside "Yeah kid we should" she says standing up "you got a couple ornaments from your mom right?"
"Yep" Henry says with a grin "What does Grandma want them for?"
"She wants a bit of each of us on the tree" Emma says with a small smile, she sets the box on the table and puts on her coat, and slips on one of her famous caps to keep her head and ears warm.
On the car ride over, Emma had Christmas music lightly playing as they drove. "You got most of your shopping done?"
"Yeah, just… could you take me to the store in Augusta again… I think I want to get mom that pen set we saw."
"Sure kid, we could go Friday after school ok?" Emma says as they pull into the driveway of the farm.
"Yep" Henry says. "So Grandma is really living up this first Christmas together huh, all of us being here to decorate the tree?"
Emma chuckles "Yeah she is, I can't blame her though. In New York, if I knew that was really our first together, I would of made it more special."
"It was mom, I mean it may not have been what you wished it could have been… but we had a great two days of just us" Henry says truthfully.
When the pair walks into David and Mary Margaret's house, they are met with the sounds of Christmas music playing and the smell of fresh baked cookies.
"Mom… Dad" Emma calls as they walk into the house, her box inside her bag, hidden.
David comes out of the living room "Emma" he says cheerfully, hugging his daughter, his hand cupping the back of her head as usual.
"Hi dad" Emma says giving him a strong hug back.
They let go and David moves to his grandson. As they walk into the living room Mary Margaret walks out into the entry way.
"Emma sweetheart…" Mary Margaret says going straight into a hug with Emma.
"Hey mom" Emma says hugging her back. They pull away "Where's Neal?" she asks noticing she didn't see or hear the one year old.
"He's enthralled with Frosty on the TV" Mary Margaret says with a smile.
Emma chuckles "That's cute actually."
Mary Margaret loves seeing Emma smile when talking about Neal, despite the large age gap, they were quite close. "Come on we have a tree to decorate."
Emma nods as they walk into the living room. Emma spots the good sized tree "Wow guys, are you going to have enough ornaments for that thing?" she asks with a laugh.
David chuckles "Well originally no, but… we managed to go to the enchanted forest a few days ago…"
"And we actually where able to bring some home from there" Mary Margaret says, bringing the box, filled with gorgeous glass ball ornaments.
Emma looks into the box pulling out beautiful glass ornaments. They were colored in gold and silver along with red and green as well. The ornaments she brought in no way would stand up to these, they looked horrible and stupid, they definitely screamed a kid made me. "These are beautiful guys" Emma says sadly.
"They are, and they hold some good memories. But I can't wait to add stuff belonging to you and Henry to the tree, even Neal has stuff" Mary Margaret says proudly.
Henry walks over, taking his moms hand "Wow, you guys went big in the enchanted forest for Christmas."
David chuckles "They royals went big for everything."
Mary Margaret lightly slaps David "We did like to celebrate, it was about being together, with the ones you love" she says with a smile.
"That sounds… amazing" Emma says, but then leaves the room, going upstairs to be alone.
The three look at each other slightly confused.
"I better…" Henry says, he may be a kid, but he had a way of getting through to his mom.
"No sweetheart, I'm going" Mary Margaret says, giving her grandson's arm a pat as she passed.
Mary Margaret climbs the stairs and finds Emma in the spare bedroom "Emma… sweetie?" she says entering the room. She sits down and notices Emma holding her special wooden box, the same one Emma had when she came to town. "What you have there?"
Emma shrugs with a sigh "My memory box, I have some of the ornaments I made as a kid in here. I was nervous about sharing them, then I saw those ornaments. They don't deserve to be on the same tree as yours from home."
Mary Margaret takes Emma's hand "Yes they do Emma, they are yours, one's you made, they deserve to be on the tree too."
Emma rolls her eyes "You haven't seen them…"
Mary Margaret chuckles "Actually I have."
"What?" Emma asks.
"That first Christmas you were in town, I went to look to see if you had anything by some crazy chance. I saw the box" she says glancing at the one in Emma's hands "and saw your homemade ones."
"You didn't take them?" Emma asks.
Mary Margaret shrugs "I didn't want to intrude, they seemed personal… I figured if you wanted them up you would add them…"
"But I didn't" Emma adds.
"No, you didn't" Mary Margaret says looking at Emma "I really liked the tree, with your little finger prints in it."
Emma chuckles "I like that one too; Regina has one like it of Henry's."
"So, can you understand then, why we would love to have these then, just like you would like Henry's?"
"Kinda, but it's different. He's still a kid, and his are at least cute" Emma says back.
"Yours are cute to kid" David says from the doorway.
"You saw them too?" Emma says slightly more embarrassed now.
David nods "Yes, and I agree with your mom. Because you made them, they will always fit on our tree."
"When did you see them?"
"It was still when we were all living at the loft Emma" Mary Margaret starts.
"And I accidently knocked over the box, and they spilled out" David says "your mom said they were yours growing up."
"Oh, still guys you don't need to hang them" Emma says.
"We don't have to" Mary Margaret starts "but we want too."
"Yes, we want them there Emma. You are all grown up, but you are still our baby girl. And we want stuff of yours on the tree too, just like we want stuff of Henry's cause he is our grandson."
"And Neal's, cause he is our son. No matter your age Emma, stuff of yours will always be welcomed" Mary Margaret says, pulling her daughter into a hug.
Emma hugs her back "Thanks mom" she says wrapping her arms around her mom tighter.
Mary Margaret kisses her head "No problem sweetie."
Emma smiles "I love you guys."
David sits on Emma's other side and wraps his arms around his wife and daughter "We love you to Em" he says kissing her head, smiling at his wife.
"Let's go decorate that tree now hmm?" Mary Margaret asks.
Emma nods, and they head downstairs.
Henry goes to her "You alright mom?" he asks giving her a hug.
"Yeah kid" Emma says putting her hand on the sides of his face, kissing his forehead "Just, it's a bit overwhelming is all."
Henry nods "Was it about the ornaments?"
"You've seen them too?" Emma asks faking annoyance.
"In New York remember?" Henry says jokingly.
Emma playfully hits her forehead in a duh like fashion "How could I forget."
Henry chuckles "Let's decorate" he says taking her hand into his.
Emma smiles, his hand was proving of how much he had grown. She remembers the first time she held his hand, walking from his castle, how it slipped so easily into hers. Now they were close to the same size, but he was still her little boy. "Yeah come on."
They walk into the living room, the sight makes her smile. Neal was in her mom's arms, her dad standing next to them, his hand on the small of her back handing Neal a ornament, helping him put it on a branch.
"Look at you Neal" Emma says announcing they were in the room.
"Emmy" Neal cheers from their moms arms.
Emma goes and takes him from their moms arms "Hey baby bro" she says covering his cheeks in kisses.
Neal giggles "Emmy eee?" he asks pointing to the tree.
Emma looks at her mom with a questioning look. Then it clicks tree, "Yeah buddy, tree."
David walks over handing Emma a ornament with Emma's name on it, and the year. "We had these specially made for our first Christmas, we have one for Henry too" he says handing Henry his.
Emma looks at the ball with her name on it, it was red and the writing in a goldish yellow "This is sweet guys."
Emma and Henry walk over adding their ornaments onto the tree, all 5 where close together. Over the next of hour, and a passed out toddler later the tree was done. Emma had to admit, even with the mix of ornaments the tree looked great, all the ornaments told a story of their family, and now they were making new memories, as a family.
Justanoutlaw, I hope you enjoyed this, as much as I always enjoy your stories. Merry Christmas and happy holidays everyone. Thoughts?
