OLIVE
a/n: This is my contribution for the proboards Advent calendar. Just a family scene for those of you who like more children in your fanfic. And some forearms for... well, all of us, really.
Georg welcomed the warmth of the kitchen after the hours he spent in the barn nearly freezing to death trying to figure out the problem with the tractor. He was greeted by the sight of his wife and eldest daughters working hard to finish dinner.
"Something smells wonderful," he said, inhaling deeply as he leaned in to steal a quick kiss from Maria and whispering so only she could hear, "Almost as wonderful as the food." She shot him a warning glare, but her smiling eyes gave her away.
"You smell like a goat," she grumbled as she took his hat and coat and tossed it over a hook.
"The goats helped me work on the tractor," he joked. "And we may have huddled a bit to keep warm."
"I can only imagine what that must have looked like," she chucked. "Liesl, will you please tell the others to wash up for dinner? Louisa, if you would find Gretl, please. Try the linen cupboard." Both girls nodded as they left their parents alone in the kitchen.
"Why is Gretl hiding in the linen cupboard?" Georg asked as he started to roll up his sleeves. Maria observed this for a moment, humming her appreciation of the sight as she poured hot water into the sink basin.
"She's had a rough day. She painted a picture at school today for the display at the Christmas pageant and her teacher told her it was wrong. And you know how she is."
"Stubbornly always right, you mean? I wonder where she gets that."
"Oh, yes. One of the great mysteries of life." Maria mumbled sarcastically. "Anyway, she painted a picture of Santa Claus and his reindeer. All ten of them." Georg reached for the soap and began to wash but paused and frowned.
"Ten? I thought there were only eight."
"Nine," Maria corrected. "Rudolph. He's new but there's a song and everything. Surely you've heard them play it on the radio. The children have been singing it non-stop."
"Ah, yes! Rudolph with the red glowing nose," he recalled. "So there are nine."
"Not according to Gretl," Maria continued wearily. "She's adamant that there is one more. And you know how the others are, the more she insisted the more they teased and..." Maria groaned.
"And that's why she's hiding in the cupboard," Georg laughed as he wiped his hands. "I see. Well, as long as I don't have to feed or milk any of them, there can be a thousand reindeer. Let's eat. I'm starved."
Later, as the family gathered for their meal, Georg observed his youngest push the food around her plate. She pouted whenever one of the others spoke about the pageant.
"Gretl, I understand you painted something for the display," he said loud enough for the entire table to stop talking. "I look forward to seeing it." Gretl shrugged and then glared the others when they started to snicker.
"Father, maybe you can settle the matter," Kurt said with a mouthful of food. "How many reindeer does Santa Claus have?"
"Well, I am not sure," he mused and tried to be diplomatic. "I used to think that there were only eight, but then someone added Rudolph. How can one be sure?"
"Gretl added one," Louisa smirked. "She even named it."
Gretl dropped her fork and crossed her arms over her chest. "I did not add one. There have always been ten!" She held out her hand and began to count them on her fingers. "Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet..." She pulled out her other hand and kept counting. "Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph, and Olive."
"Uh, Olive?"
"Yes," Gretl said with a heavy annoyed sigh. "Olive is the girl reindeer!"
"I see," Georg nodded. "Of course, Olive." He looked at Maria who shook her head helplessly. "I'm not sure if I remember hearing about Olive. Does she have a shiny nose, too? Big ears?
"No," Gretl huffed. "She's just Olive."
"Gretl," Friedrich was trying not to laugh too much. "You just made it up because you can't admit you miscounted. You always have to be right about everything."
"Like the way you insist that in America the youngest always gets the biggest piece of cake," Kurt added.
"Or that you are a lost princess."
"Or my personal favorite, when she believed she was a cat."
"All right, that will do," Georg tried to stem the conversation from piling up on his youngest daughter. "I dare say you all were like that when you were little."
"None of us were as bad as she is," Liesl muttered her breath, ducking under the glare of her father.
"I said enough! If she wants to believe there is a reindeer named Olive, who does it hurt?" Georg pointed to everyone's plates and they began to eat again.
Maria sympathized with the older children's frustration having dealt with Gretl's know-it-all stubbornness on many occasions, but most of the time it was harmless. "I think it shows creativity and imagination," she said, trying to encourage her daughter.
"But I didn't imagine it, I didn't make it up," Gretl cried. "There are ten reindeer!"
Georg sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. He wanted to be on his daughter's side, he was on her side really. But the argument was too silly to allow to go on. He ordered the rest of the meal to be spent talking about anything other than reindeer and then excused the children so he could finally share some peace and quiet with his wife.
"You just dismissed my kitchen help," Maria pointed out as they watched the children scramble from the table. "You can wash. I'll dry."
"Why is it you always make me wash," he asked as he picked up a couple plates and headed toward the kitchen.
"I'm sure I don't know," she replied cheekily. "It certainly has nothing to do with the way you look with your sleeves rolled up." Georg stopped short and looked down at his arms causing his wife to laugh.
They worked in in companionable silence with the only sound of water sloshing over plates and glass filling the kitchen until Maria reached above the icebox and switched on the radio. Christmas music filled the room and she hummed along until one song finished and another began. The particular tune made them both look at each other groan at the same time.
"Rudolph the red nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose," Maria began to sing along, mostly to tease her husband. He flicked water at her but that only made her sing it louder.
"You're incorrigible," he moaned. "I should hide my arms to punish you." Maria laughed but kept singing.
"All of the other reindeer – "
"Wait," he said suddenly. "What are the words?"
"What?"
"The last line that you just sang."
"All of the other reindeer – "
"HA! What do you know?" Georg laughed. "Olive the other reindeer! Gretl was right! There are ten reindeer!" It took Maria a moment to get it, but she was just as amazed and amused. After a minute, her face fell. Georg was puzzled.
"Oh, it's just that I made an apple cake for dessert," Maria explained reluctantly. "And now that she's been proven right about the reindeer, our cat princess will demand the biggest piece."
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!