Family Joys

An Annie Holiday Story

Notes: This is set after the events of ERm1333's story Forever and Always at Christmas time. It is set after the 1982 movie so Annie is 11 and Molly is 7. I own no Annie characters. Grace and Oliver's twins David and Maggie & Oliver's sister & her family are Ern1333's original characters Inspired by the song That's Christmas To Me by Pentatonix which I sang in lyrics are directly referenced. Enjoy this!

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Grace Warbucks was in awe at how quickly the year had passed and that it was almost Christmas time. Annie had just turned 11 and the twins were now five months old. She was looking forward to celebrating the Holiday season with her family.

"Mom, can we go Christmas shopping today?" Annie asked one Saturday morning.

Grace looked up from the New York Times. "What a lovely idea Annie! Did you have anything special you want to buy?"

Annie nodded. "I wanted to buy something for Daddy and you and David and Maggie."

"I don't think you'd want to buy my present while I'm with you." Grace pointed out.

Oliver grinned at his daughter. "I'm going to do some shopping of my own tomorrow Annie. You can come with me to pick out something for your mother. How about we buy something for Molly too?"

"That's a swell idea Daddy! Mom, can Cecile and Molly please come shopping with us today?"

"Why don't you run down to the cabin and see what time they want to go once you finish eating?"

Annie nodded. "Ok!"

About one hour later Grace,Cecile Annie and Molly set out on their shopping excursion.

"Where should we go first girls?" Grace asked Annie and Molly.

Annie's eyes lit up. "Can we go to Macy's to see Santa? I want to show him my Christmas list!"

Grace smiled. "Of course!"

Molly's eyes grew wide. "You mean Santa's really real?"

"Who told you otherwise Mon Cher?" Cecile asked

"Pepper." Molly whispered.

Annie rolled her eyes. "That Pepper was always such a Scrooge! Let's go meet Santa Molly! Come on!"

Once Annie got to the front of the line she hopped on to Santa's lap.

"Ho ho ho. What's your name little girl?"

"I'm Annie! Here's my list. One thing I want is a bike. I want to also ask you for some toys for my little sister & brother Maggie and David."

"Ho ho ho. Have you been good this year?"

"Of course Santa!"

Molly was not as excited as Annie.

" Go ahead sweetheart." Grace gently pushed her forward. " This is Molly Santa, she's a little bit shy.."

"Have you been good this year little girl?"

Molly nodded.

"What do you want for Christmas?"

Molly was quiet for a few moments. " A doll." She finally said.

"Ho ho ho!"

"Are you really real Santa?"

"Ho ho ho! Of course I am!"

"See Molly, I told you Pepper was nothing but a Scrooge! Let's take a picture together!"

Annie sat on one side of Santa and Molly sat on the other end.

The shopping excursion lasted about two hours once they got home Oliver met them outside .

"My sister called while you were out. Frank got us all tickets to see the Nutcracker. We'll be going down next Sunday."

"What's the Nutcracker?" Annie asked.

"It's a holiday ballet. I think you'll enjoy it Annie. You liked the play we took you to last year before we adopted you right?"

Annie nodded. " The ballet sounds swell Daddy. I can't wait!

"What time is the show?" Grace asked

" 2pm matinee. We'll take the 9:00 train from Grand Central. We have brunch reservations at 11."

Grace smiled. "Wonderful! It's going to be a great day. Cecile will you and Jack watch David and Maggie?"

Cecile nodded. Not a problem."

The day of the ballet Annie was up at 6:45am. She went to the kitchen where Mrs. Pugh was starting to make breakfast.

"You're up early today Annie, would like to help me make breakfast?"

Annie nodded. " I am so excited cause we're going to the ballet today. I couldn't sleep! It's the first time I am seeing a ballet."

Mrs. Pugh smiled. "The Nutcracker is a holiday classic. You'll enjoy it very much."

Elizabeth met her brother and his family at the train station.

Annie threw herself at her aunt excitedly.

"Aunt Elizabeth!"

"Hello, sweetheart. Are you excited about the ballet today?"

"You betcha! Hi Catherine,Hi Mary!" Annie greeted her cousins.

"Merry Christmas Annie. We bought Christmas gifts for you! Daddy has them at the restaurant." Mary gave her cousin a hug.

"Let's head there now." Elizabeth said.

Once they arrived at the restaurant the hostess led them to the table, Frank stood up and wrapped Grace in an embrace. "Merry Christmas! I've got presents for you all in the car. How are the little ones?"

Grace smiled. "They're fine. Jack and Cecile are babysitting them today. They've grown a lot since the last time you saw them."

The family had a nice leisurely brunch and then they walked to the theatre.

"Thank you for the tickets to the ballet Uncle Frank! I'm so excited." Annie said.

Grace gave her brother in law a wry grin. "It's all she's talked about for a week."

Frank patted Annie's head. "You're welcome sweetheart. We're going to have a great time this afternoon."

Later that night as she was getting ready for bed Grace heard a knock on her door.

"Come in."

Cecile poked her head in. "Hello, Mrs. Warbucks m'am the babies have all been fed and changed."

Grace smiled. "Thank you so much for taking care of them today. I think the trip to Boston would have been too much for them."

"It was not a problem. There's something I wanted to talk to you about."

Grace raised her eyebrows. "What is it?"

"It's about what happened at the mall last week with Molly meeting Santa."

"Go on…"

"Well you see M'am I was just wondering.. I hope you don't think it's rude that I ask this but does Annie still believe in Santa?"

"I believe so. Why do you ask?"

"Well it's just Molly doesn't seem to believe or want to believe and I want her to have a wonderful first Christmas with Jack and I. She still so young you know."

Grace softened. "Yes, she kept mentioning that Pepper told her that Santa wasn't real when they were at the orphanage. I think that spoils the joy and intrigue of Christmas for her."

Cecile nodded. "Well, Annie is 11. At what age do children stop believing in Santa?"

Grace shrugged. " I don't know. I am pretty sure Annie still believes in Santa. We've never really asked her."

"I just want Molly to have a good Christmas Mrs. Warbucks."

Grace pulled Cecile into her arms and gave her a hug. "And she will. We"ll be sure of it."

"Thank you Mrs. Warbucks."

"No problem."

Once Cecile left the room Grace decided to go talk to Annie.

She knocked on the door to Annie's room. Annie was sitting up in bed reading a book but put it down immediately when her mother opened the door.

"Mom! The ballet was so fun. Can we go every year please?"

Grace smiled. "I think it would be a wonderful family tradition and once your brother and sister are old enough we'll take them with us. Would you want to take ballet lessons Annie?"

Annie nodded. " I also want to take tap because I want to dance like the lady in the show you took me too before you adopted me."

"Your father and I will look into lessons. Do you think Molly would want to take dance lessons too?"

Annie shrugged. " I don't know. I can always ask her. It would be swell if we could do that together."

"Sweetheart, I wanted to talk to you about what happened at the mall last week."

"You mean with Molly not believing in Santa?"

Grace nodded. "Do you still believe in Santa Annie?"

"I do. Pepper would always tease me about it. As I said at the mall she was a Scrooge. She was a really big bully too. I never let her bother me too much though."

"Did you celebrate Christmas at the orphanage?"

Annie shook her head."We always worked on Christmas. Miss Hannigan never gave us any days off. I wish we had gotten to give each other gifts for Christmas. I guess it was just good that we were all together. Isn't togetherness really what Christmas is all about?"

Grace's heart broke into two pieces. "Yes, but Miss Hannigan should have realized that and let you girls be more like normal children instead of slaves. You should have been able to celebrate Christmas."

There were five minutes of silence.

"Annie, Cecile is worried the Pepper's bullying is causing Molly not to believe in Santa. What can we do to show her what Christmas is all about?"

Annie's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure Mom. Can we talk to Daddy about it? He might have some ideas."

Grace leaned over and kissed Annie's forehead. "We'll talk to your father in the morning. Good night sweetheart. I love you."

Annie snuggled under her covers. "I love you too Mom. Always."