November 5th 2022

Chapter 309
Our Holidays With Trees

The decision required some deep thinking between the members of the 'December Fairies' crew. There had been this idea of driving out to a tree farm to get theirs this year, but then if they did that, they would naturally want to bring all of the girls, and if they did that… then how would they fit this into their magical narrative? It was Aubrey's first Christmas, her first experience of all this, so they didn't concern themselves too much about what she would or wouldn't understand or remember. Then there was Mackenzie, on her second Christmas, and she likely wouldn't remember it either, but she would definitely enjoy it more actively than she'd done the last one, especially the visit from the fairies. Marianne knew everything, and she was part of 'the crew,' so they didn't worry so much over her. It was the ones in between though… Lucy, Kacey, Remy… Tori, too…

Marianne was the one to resolve this for them, remembering the year where she'd left a card for the fairies in a box under the tree in front of the house. She knew now what had really happened with that letter, but she appreciated it enough to think it could work for her sisters and her niece, too. Since Tori was living with her father, right here in Austin, she had been invited and would be there on the night of the thirtieth so she could wake up with them on December 1st and see it all. So… what if they got a letter? What if the fairies wrote to them, saying that if they went to this place together, they would find the best tree for their family, and all they had to do was bring it home with them, and on that night, with the turning of the month, they would visit like always?

"That school is turning you into one smart pumpkin," Maya complimented with a smirk, receiving a big, gapped smile for it. Marianne had lost another tooth just two days ago.

Maya took up the task of creating the letter, pulling out all the stops to make it worthy of the fairies. It was rolled up and tied with a ribbon – with glitter, and a pinecone – and was left to dangle from the hook where they usually stuck a dangling spider at Halloween… and mistletoe over the holidays… There it was found the next morning, the girls all standing underneath it like they had to find a way to grab on to it. Thankfully, their tall, big sister had been assured that she'd be able to jump and pull it down safely, which she did only once their parents were innocently there to see it… and record it for posterity.

It would be one of their favorite videos, watching the pack of them all huddled around Marianne as she unrolled the letter, then Lucy telling her to wait, because Aubrey needed to be with them, too, and then finally, their young reader could recite the fairies' message. Her little sisters were surprised and excited enough that they took no notice of the fact that Marianne wasn't nearly as surprised as they were. All that mattered now was that they were going to this place today, right after breakfast, so they had best go and get that taken care of so they could leave.

As family outings went, this one felt about as easily magical as they came. The girls were giddy on the whole drive over to the tree farm, which led Marianne to start her sisters off on some very early Christmas caroling, right up until they neared their destination, and then there was a whole array of bright, blue eyes fixed on the windows, looking out. They had never seen anything like this, and to watch them in their silent awe, it was as though they couldn't quite believe such a place could exist. But it did! And they were there!

It was a whole adventure, going around and finding The Tree, capital letters pressed into their voices and all, but in time they did. Lucas and Maya both had the same thought of making sure to introduce another story into this day for their younger daughters, so they wouldn't panic over seeing any of the trees being cut down while they were there. Knowing them, they might have become just traumatized enough that they wouldn't be able to look at their trees the same way ever again. As a whole, the entire day was a complete success. With their tree acquired and secured, they returned to the house, where the girls watched very attentively as the tree was brought in and put in its place. They had to make sure it would be taken care of, just like the lady at the farm had told them, and they were satisfied to see that it was.

Now that this was done, they only had to wait out the rest of the day, and go to sleep, and then in the morning… magic. Everyone was very curious and eager, now that they had their tree, and they knew what was coming. They wanted to get to bed as soon as possible, but also, they were so awake that it was unclear if they'd manage to go to sleep anytime soon. Theo and Nika arrived and dropped Tori off, both of them doing a great job of acting like that was the only reason why they were here, and they were totally going to leave very soon.

"You napped with your sisters and everything, huh?" Maya smirked as she caught Marianne up in a hug when Lucas went down to the basement to start bringing up the boxes. Marianne laughed quietly and looked up at her. "Didn't want to fall asleep and not get to be a fairy after this morning?" Maya guessed, and her daughter nodded. "Good thinking," she kissed the top of her head.

"Thought so," Marianne nodded, then hearing sounds from below, she zipped out of the hold and toward the basement door, the better to go help her father. She couldn't manage the bigger things, especially going up the stairs, as they'd never allow it, but she could still do her part, and she would.

"You know what I was thinking about, driving out here?" Cara asked, when she and Teddy arrived, a few minutes later.

"Was it a Tiny Tim joke, because I've been thinking about those all day," Maya spun her finger about her face. Sam might have been here tonight, helping them, if not for his being busy with his days-old son. Going by the looks on her siblings' faces, she'd guess that this was not what Cara had been thinking, but now it would be… for weeks. It would hit its peak with imagining the Calaharts next Halloween showing up as Uncle Sam, Dora the Explorer, Tiny Tim… They had nothing for Francesca, but for knowing where her name had come from, they could just have made her Kermit the Frog…

"So, what do you want to do first?" Lucas asked Marianne as he watched her start up the stairs with her first load. Even if he knew that she was fine, he watched her go up for a while, just to make sure. Sometimes he wondered if he wasn't still thinking about Pappy Joe, about the night when he'd fallen down the stairs, when he'd stress like this over the girls going up and down.

"I want to do the lights with you," Marianne declared, and Lucas paused, surprised.

"Outside?"

"Yeah."

"Pumpkin, you know you can't go up the ladder to the roof," he told her.

"I know," she replied, as though to say 'obviously.' "I can help from the ground," she reasoned, then, seeking confirmation, "Right?" It made Lucas chuckle, moving up beside the stairs, so he could touch her foot.

"You can do that, yeah. I just thought you'd want to decorate the tree, and the living room, or the rooms upstairs…"

"I can do that, too. It doesn't take a lot of time to put the lights. I remember." She'd been a fairy last year, too; she'd taken it all in, hadn't forgotten.

"I see that," he nodded to her, then tipped his head to indicate she could go on.

Up the boxes went, everything they would need to spread the fairies' magic inside and outside, too. When Marianne told her mother and the others about what she wanted to do first, they had the same reaction as Lucas did, Maya especially, but then if she wanted to help with the lights, who were they to stand in her way? Lucas had a feeling that the indoor team was going to do its best to leave out some choice tasks for when the outdoor team would return and come to help them. Until then, they had lights and lawn decorations to see to.

As promised, Marianne's feet remained firmly on the ground, and she helped in what ways she could. Cara teased her niece, nicknaming her Supervisor Annie, and the title was gladly accepted. Lucas would look down from his perch on the roof at times and she would wave up at him, even as she kept watching with that curious eye, figuring out how it all worked. Her favorite part, as it was bound to be, was when they finished and stepped back to take in their work as the switch was flipped and the lights came on. Marianne had her arms over her mouth to muffle her happy squeal, and it made her father laugh… right up until he was shushed by the seven-year-old. Couldn't run the risk of waking up the other girls, could they?

"Mommy, come see, come see!" Marianne whispered when she went and opened the door. "Everyone, come see!" As requested, everyone went out to see what they had done.

"Don't tell your father, but I think this is the best that the lights have looked in all the years we've lived here," Maya whispered at her daughter's ear, and she covered her mouth again as she laughed.

They were going to have to work as quickly but neatly as they could when they made it inside. It was one thing to let Marianne stay up past her bedtime for this, but they couldn't overdo it either, not when she had school in the morning. The tree had yet to be touched, so they did that first. They had more lights here, but these had been strung on before, leaving the placement of ornaments to happen once Marianne was there to help. She was as careful as ever with the more fragile ornaments. They didn't have too many of those, not with all the children and dogs in the house, but then most of their fragility came from a place of sentimentality than the danger of being shattered, so they were added to this branch and that one and they made the tree feel more theirs than ever.

They had rightly figured that with the lights and then the tree and living room, the rooms upstairs would possibly be left to the parents and other helpers anyway, so they'd decided to surprise Marianne with the transformation of her room. Just because she knew about the true identity of the fairies, it didn't mean she couldn't experience some of that magic herself. The result was as perfect as it could ever be, and it was made inadvertently better for the presence of a small Mackerel in Marianne's bed. As she was told, Mackenzie had already come over to the empty bed before they'd done the room, and she'd stayed there, sleeping, the entire time. She was waiting for her big sister, who'd been mysteriously absent. So, Marianne changed into her PJs, got some good goodnight kisses and hugs from her parents, and then she climbed into the bed with her little sister, off to dream of the morning and December magic with her.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners