Ok, so this is a day late! It's a rushed chapter as I had the creative juices flowing for some chapters later on in the story, for when we get to Vulcan. I hope you enjoy it anyway. I will wish you a Happy Christmas in the next chapter :-)

Chapter 77 - Christmas Eve

24th December 2230 - Rose Cottage

The next morning Mimi and the children took their time to get started, well it was more Mimi who took her time. The children were both dressed by 8am, a bit later than usual, a knock on effect of calling Sordd the previous evening.

While waiting for Mimi to get herself organised the children played in the family room. They continued their game of Kal-toh, which they had set up when they first arrived, as well as playing 3D chess and Jenga. T'Shahel solved some fiendish sudoku puzzles while Avarak completed some drawings on his holographic art padd. Avarak also topped up the seed and fat balls in the bird feeders, as well as putting out some fresh water. He then was quite content spending some time cataloguing the arrivals and departures at the bird table.

Mid morning the small family walked to Orchard Farm, wrapped in their warmest clothes as there was a small dusting of snow on the ground, where they were going to have lunch with Hugh and Abigail. Hugh met them at the porch door, giving Mimi another big bear hug, and ruffling the children's hair. They hung up their coats, gloves, scarves, and hats, and took off their winter boots. They slipped their feet into some slippers, that Hugh had warmed in front of the fire, and then they stepped through into the hallway. As soon as they got through the door of the house they were hit with warmth, and the smell of cinnamon and cloves wafting from the kitchen.

Mimi's Mum gave them all as warm a welcome as Hugh did, pleased to see Mimi again, and also pleased to see her Vulcan grandchildren. She had mellowed a bit over the months after seeing the way that Sordd treated her daughter and seeing how happy she was, so on the whole Abigail was now a lot more accepting of the situation, not that she could change it. She still had concerns regarding Mimi having children though.

They gathered round the kitchen table, which was decorated with holly, and candles in jam jars. Abigail served them all hearty bowls of Scotch broth and fresh crusty bread, followed by cups of tea and cinnamon buns. Avarak's eyes nearly popped out when he tasted the cinnamon buns, he thought they were nearly as good as krei'la biscuits, which is really saying something.

In the afternoon they all took a short ride in Hugh's flitter to the plantation where the Christmas trees were grown. After parking up they then took a ride on an automated tractor out to the tree fields. There were lanes and lanes of trees, organised by type, Balsam Fir, Nordmann fir, Fraser Fir, Douglas Fir, Noble Fir, White Pine, Scotch Pine, Norway Spruce, and Canadian Spruce. They all scoured the fields hunting for the perfect tree for Rose Cottage.

The Vulcans in the party took a very analytical approach to picking the perfect tree, it needed to be 1.8288m tall to fit agreeably into the corner of the family room, they had brought a tape measure just to be sure. They also evaluated each of the trees, Mimi drew a line when T'Shahel suggested they could use a spreadsheet to help them choose, giving marks out of ten for height, shape, fullness, branch and needle coverage.

Because it was getting so cold Mimi was at the point where she was just going to go for the one that was in front of her, for some reason the children didn't seem to be feeling the cold, which was a surprise due to their species coming from a desert climate, maybe it was because they were so excited... About 20 minutes later they decided on a tree, a Noble fir which had whorls of blue-tinged needles and nicely spaced foliage which would provide the perfect place for baubles, light and other decorations.

Before cutting down the tree they needed to plant a tree to replace it, they decided to plant one each, Avarak opted for a Norway Spruce, T'Shahel chose a Douglas Fir, Mimi chose a Noble fir, and they also decided to plant a tree for Sordd, they picked a Balsam fir.

They chopped the tree down the old fashioned way, using an axe and hand saw. Hugh took the first strike, then under his very close supervision they all took turns, the smell of pine filled the cold air. After felling the tree Hugh trimmed off some of the lower branches, sawed it to exactly 1.8288m, much to Avarak's satisfaction, carried out a needle shake and then lifted it into the trailer. They then made their way back to Rose Cottage, for some hot drinks and mince pies to warm themselves up.

*'*

Sordd was sitting on the floor, Christmas wrapping paper and ribbon strewn all around him. He had spent the evening wrapping gifts for Mimi and the children. This was not as straightforward as it should have been. Sordd was not used to wrapping gifts. Although it was a custom on Vulcan to exchange gifts on occasion, they did not tend to wrap them. In his 62 years he had only ever wrapped one gift and that was the necklace he had presented to Mimi earlier on in their courtship. He found the square and rectangular boxed presents to be fairly straightforward. The first difficulty arose with the sphere shaped gift he had purchased for T'Shahel, a glass Christmas bauble. He was unsure of the purpose of the gift but decided to get it for her as it was aesthetically pleasing. The second difficulty arose when he tried to wrap one of Mimi's gifts, Swiss chocolates (yes they had made their way to Rigel, Stellale Tadina) which were packaged in a cone shape, like a Christmas tree. After a number of attempts at wrapping these gifts he decided to take a break and he partook of some Vulcan green tei and then some light meditation. The cup of tea and meditation brought him a moment of clarity, logic finally prevailed. He placed Mimi and T'Shahel's gifts in boxes which were a lot easier to wrap.

*'*

Rose Cottage

When they returned to the cottage Hugh helped Mimi to put the tree in a pot and move it into the family room. He had brought a box of decorations from the attic at Orchard Farm. Mimi sorted through the lights, untangling them all despite having packed them neatly away last year. The children then decorated the tree, twinkly fairy lights, baubles; gold, silver, purple, blue, red, and green, angel hair, tinsel, wooden ornaments, pine cones, and orange slices, which they had made earlier in the day.

Mimi put some Christmas music on, she didn't have an extensive list of Christmas tunes so she had to put the ones she did have on repeat. Sometime later when she was in the kitchen preparing the vegetables for Christmas dinner, she overheard Avarak and T'Shahel singing away happily.

"Just hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring tingle tingling too (ring-a-ling-a ding-dong-ding!)," sang Avarak

"Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you (ring-a-ling-a ding-dong-ding!)" T'Shahel sang next.

Avarak took his turn, "Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling "yoo hoo!" (ring-a-ling-a ding-dong-ding!)"

"Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you (ring-a-ling-a ding-dong-ding!)," T'Shahel sang.

Mimi had no idea how they had managed to memorise the lyrics so fast, she walked into the family room and joined in the fun...

"Giddy yap, giddy yap, giddy yap, let's go,

Let's look at the show, we're riding in a wonderland of snow,

Giddy yap, giddy yap, giddy yap, it's grand just holding your hand,

We're gliding along with a song of a wintery fairyland…" she sang.

They all sang along with a smile on their faces and a twinkle of excitement in their eyes. Mimi hoped that Sordd would not be upset.

When finished decorating the tree they neatly arranged all the gifts under it. The children moved into the kitchen to give Mimi some company while she was preparing dinner. T'Shahel decided to fold some origami stars to make a mobile. Avarak was making some paper chains when he broke into song,

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas,

Just like the ones I used to know,

Where the treetops glisten,

And children listen,

To hear sleigh bells in the snow, oh, the snow…" in his best Bing Crosby voice.

Mimi, who was making custard at the time, bit her lip nervously she really did hope that Sordd wouldn't mind. She turned around to look at T'Shahel and Avarak, both of them relaxed, content and happy. You can't argue with that she thought to herself.

*'*

After their holo call with Sordd they settled down for the evening. Mimi put the log burner on and lit some candles in the family room. After watching "Charlie Brown's Christmas" Mimi sat down to read a book, while the children played contentedly in front of the fire.

She looked up when Avarak stirred, "It's snowing M'aih Mimi!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Suddenly Mimi was really missing Sordd, she wished that he could be here for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, the 26th wasn't really the same. She hoped the snow wouldn't stop him from getting though...