This was such a complete joy to write! :)! Thank you to Mr. Blender for the marvelous idea, as usual.
I hope everyone has a great holiday, no matter what you may celebrate (if anything at all)!
As the sun disappeared under the horizon, winter announced its presence by sending a chill into the nighttime air. The wind kicked up, nipping harshly at the exposed faces of those who dared to venture out into the cold. Underneath the yellow light of the streetlamps, small flurries were beginning to dust the ground in a pure white hue - just enough powder to cause the ground to become slippery when walked upon.
Of course, the two little girls inside the Rose-Xiao Long household noticed nothing of the happenings outside – being far too engrossed in their current project.
In their living room, situated in one corner right beside the roaring fireplace, stood a pristine evergreen tree, just delivered that evening to their home. Almost eight feet tall and nearly just as wide, it dwarfed the small girls working diligently in front of it.
The cheerful brunette, clearly the younger of the two in both appearance and behavior, was sitting on her knees in front of several stacked boxes of ornaments. A smooth process had been established by now, whereby she would pull one colorful, glass orb from a box, carefully thread a wire hook through the top, then place the finished product atop the growing pile of empty boxes beside her.
Her sister, a charming girl with wavy blonde hair, would collect a finished ornament and rush over to the tree. Circling around its perimeter several times, she would eventually find the perfect place for the prize held within her grasp. Reaching forward, she would delicately hang the end of the wire over her selected branch, giving a soft hum of appreciation when she stood back to admire her work.
Since the blonde could only reach midway up the tree, the top half was currently conspicuously bare of ornaments, but she didn't seem to care.
"Yanggg," the brunette suddenly whined when she spared a moment to glance up at the work her older sister had been doing. "There's too many clumped together right there!"
The blonde's eyes followed the direction her sister pointed in, spotting the three ornaments spaced too closely together. Obediently walking over to that section of the tree, she removed one of the ornaments and moved it several inches away before setting it on another branch.
"How's that?" she asked, turning a pair of caring lilac eyes towards the brunette to gauge her response.
"It's too close to that one over there!"
Yang sighed, but didn't argue, for she knew better than to argue with her little sister's whims. Dutifully removing the defiant ornament, she scanned the branches carefully, searching for a spot that would not be too close to any other ornaments. Several seconds later, she finally found the perfect spot and rehung the decoration.
Dusting her hands off in satisfaction, she turned towards her sister only to find the brunette firmly shaking her head.
"Now there's two of the same color side-by-side!" the smaller girl whined.
"Ruby!" the blonde exclaimed in exasperation, finally reaching the end of her patience. "It's fine. They don't have to be perfectly spaced."
To prove her point, Yang picked up another ornament and placed it onto the tree – creating a grouping of three glass orbs of the same color in immediate proximity to each other.
"See?" she said, taking a step backwards to admire her masterpiece. "It looks great!"
But when Yang picked up another ornament, Ruby rushed over and grabbed the decoration from her sister's hands, earning herself a disgruntled yelp of surprise. The brunette then rushed over to the tree, removing several other offending ornaments and re-distributing them to better places.
However, she soon realized that even the new spots she had chosen conflicted in some way with the decorations surrounding them, being either improperly spaced or resulting in poor color combinations.
Quickly giving up, she grasped the glass orbs in her hands, lower lip sticking out in a pout while she watched her older sister place another ornament on the tree.
"If it doesn't look nice, Santa's not going to leave us any presents!" Ruby wailed, voice on the edge of tears in her distress.
Yang let out a little laugh while she continued decorating.
"I think we'll be fine," she replied casually.
But Ruby wasn't ready to have her present count cut in half just because of her older sister's severe lack of decorating skills. When Yang was reaching for another ornament, Ruby yanked the box away from her, holding them hostage behind her while she faced Yang down.
"No!" she said with as much force as a small, tearful child could muster. "I want Santa to like our tree!"
"Who cares what Santa thinks? He's not even real!" Yang shouted back at her, irritated at her little sister's incessant fussing over the decorations.
When the fateful sentence made its appearance, the world around the two girls suddenly ground to a halt. If they had bothered to look outside, they would have even caught a slight pause in the snowflakes drifting steadily towards the ground.
Ruby digested the words slowly, her lower lip beginning to quiver as they began to fully sink in.
"W-what do you mean he doesn't exist?" the brunette whined, silver eyes wide and quickly filling with unshed tears.
She didn't give her older sister the opportunity to respond before she rushed towards the exit, knocking over the remaining boxes of ornaments when she tried to run past them.
"Hey girls, how's the…Ruby? What's wrong?"
The tall, lean woman who had just walked into the room looked down in surprise when Ruby nearly ran into her in her haste to leave.
"Santa's not real?!" the brunette cried tearfully before tearing out of the room and running up the stairs. The sound of a bedroom door slamming moments later caused Yang to noticeably wince.
Focusing her attention on the tree, Yang tried to look anywhere but at her mom, not even glancing over when two steaming cups of hot chocolate were carefully placed on the coffee table beside her.
"Yang…"
The tone made Yang cringe, telling her that she was on the verge of getting into trouble.
"She would have found out eventually!" she sputtered out in her defense while crossing her arms stubbornly over her chest, turning to face her mother with a defiant pout.
Her mother let out a big sigh and crouched down in front of her, lightly grabbing Yang's small hands in order to direct the young girl's attention down to her.
"Sweetie…do you remember how much you used to love Santa Claus?"
The question seemed to confuse the young girl, who had been expecting much more scolding to be happening by now.
"No…" she answered with a frown, knowing it was a lie but not wanting to get into any trouble.
"Oh yes you do," her mother replied with a chuckle at her daughter's stubbornness. "You were the first one downstairs every Christmas morning. You wouldn't let anyone else set out the cookies for him. You even tried to stay awake all night just to catch a glimpse of him."
"But he's not real," the girl replied, not understanding the point her mother was trying to impress upon her.
"I know he's not real, but Ruby believed that he was. Can you imagine how you would have felt if your father or I had just told you that he didn't exist?"
She paused, waiting patiently for Yang to respond.
"I guess…maybe a little upset…" the young blonde meekly replied after several seconds.
"Yes…maybe just a little bit," her mother replied with a smile. She knew that the poor girl would have been crushed to pieces if they had told her, but that was a conversation for much later in life. "So, how do you think Ruby feels right now?"
"Probably…sad…" Yang answered in a whisper, directing her eyes towards the ground as they filled with tears. She let out several sniffles when she finally understood that she should feel sorry for her little sister.
"Oh, don't cry sweetie! It will be ok!" her mother said hastily, pulling Yang into a firm hug as the tears began to spill over. "She's going to be just fine…just like you are. It's just…important to realize some people are different from you. Either they believe differently or they look differently…but just because something is different, doesn't mean it's wrong."
"B-but…I r-ruined Christmas!" Yang stammered out, small sobs beginning to slip out in her distress.
Her mother pulled slightly away and looked up into Yang's shimmering lilac eyes, using one hand to gently wipe away her daughter's tears.
"You didn't ruin Christmas – you can fix this! If anyone can make Ruby feel better, you can."
She gave Yang an encouraging smile, knowing her eldest daughter was very skillful in cheering up her younger sister, no matter the cause of the brunette's sadness.
"Just go apologize, and everything will be ok. I promise."
Yang believed her mother's words, as not one of her promises had been broken yet. So, when led by the hand to the bottom of the staircase, the young girl dried her eyes and took two deep, shaky breaths before padding up the stairs to the bedroom the two sisters shared.
Unbeknownst to the blonde, her mother watched her trek determinately towards her goal with a proud smile on her face, before she returned to the living room to decorate the top half of the tree for her daughters.
Usually when the bedroom door was closed, Yang would just open it without asking…but this circumstance made her feel uncomfortable enough that she hesitantly knocked upon her own bedroom door.
"Leave me alone!" came the immediate response from the room beyond.
Not discouraged, the young blonde cautiously pushed open the door and peeked into the bedroom. Her eyes quickly found her little sister's form, curled up into a small ball upon her bed with her face pressed into a pillow.
"Ruby?" Yang called out softly, gingerly setting foot inside.
"I said go away!" the brunette yelled back at her, voice coming out slightly muffled.
Yang defiantly crept closer, managing to make it close enough to set herself down at the very end of Ruby's bed.
"I'm sorry I ruined Santa for you."
Her words were sincere and her apology genuine.
"So it's true? He's not real?" the poor girl exclaimed, sitting up in her bed to face Yang. She had still been holding onto some hope that maybe her older sister had just been playing some cruel trick on her.
If Yang hadn't already felt guilty, seeing Ruby's tear stained face would certainly have done the trick.
"Not really…" the blonde replied honestly.
"What's even the point of Christmas then?" Ruby wailed, falling back onto her pillow with more tears beginning to emerge.
Yang was unsure what she should say now, but knew that she just wanted Ruby to feel better. She would do anything for her little sister, and never wanted to see the girl cry.
Scooting closer to Ruby, she reached out one hand to gently pat the crying girl's shoulder.
"You see Ruby…" the blonde began, before embarking upon a string of tales so fantastical only a devoted little sister would believe them.
Two parents turned away from their task of stringing lights around the tree when their small daughters came trotting back down the stairs and skipping into the room – full of their usual cheerful energy.
"Ruby?" the little girls' mother asked, setting down her strand of lights and turning towards the brunette. "Are you ok?"
The girl in question broke into a joyful smile as she picked up an ornament from the box and went to hang it on the tree – this time on the first empty branch she could find.
"Great!" she replied happily, before returning to the box to find her next colorful sphere to hang.
"Really?" her father asked, shocked by how well his youngest daughter was taking the seemingly traumatic news.
"Yup!" the brunette responded with her second ornament now safely dangling from a branch. "Yang told me all about what really happens on Christmas."
Their mother and father glanced quickly at each other, before turning their complete attention back to the brunette.
"And…what exactly did she tell you?" her mother asked hesitantly.
As Ruby continued merrily hanging Christmas ornaments, she told her parents of all the Christmas tales she now knew to be true. Midway through the little girl's rant, their mother gave her husband a stunned expression before she turned in Yang's direction.
The young blonde gave her a radiant smile, beaming with pride over having made her little sister feel better. Their mother couldn't help but give a small laugh when she realized the words currently going through her oldest daughter's head while Ruby continued her enthusiastic chatter.
Just because this is different, doesn't mean it's wrong.
And thus began the traditions of cookie Christmas Eve dinners, wandering stockings, magical tree toppers, and all-powerful Christmas bunnies with tiny, Santa-dressed deliverymen.