Mom's Made Fullmetal Day 5: Gift Giving/Tradition
Word Count: 647
Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl
Rating: G/K
Characters: Gracia Hughes
Warning: N/A
Summary: Gracia has to decide if she's going to carry on a tradition on the first Holiday after Maes' death.
Notes: I'm honestly not sure how this one came out. Writing stuff like this is a little weird. My mother passed in June, and these are the first holidays without her. Its not just my grief, but its watching my sister grieve, and watching my dad grieve too. It makes writing stories like this a bit… different. I want to do it, but at the same time I can't emotionally connect to it well at the moment. So I'm honestly not sure how this one turned out. Y'all can let me know.
Gift Giving/Tradition
When Gracia and Maes had first married, they had set up a tradition for the holidays. They would wake up that morning, eat breakfast, and then, before exchanging any gifts, they would set out to do some service work. It might be for the community, it might be for the neighbors, it might just be jobs that they saw needed doing. But they would always do some sort of service work. Then, when they finished and returned home, they would exchange gifts, and enjoy the rest of the day together.
When Elicia came along, they decided to keep up the tradition so that she would see and understand the importance of caring for the people around her. Of course, they were a little choosier with where they served or what they did. Anything with people that might be violent or rancorous was out, as was anything that would expose Elicia to bad weather or the cold. But there were plenty of other things that they could do, and so they did them.
Gracia sat on her couch and stared at the presents set beneath the decorations for the next day. Elicia was already in bed, and all of the lights were out, except those that glowed for decoration. The only one who was awake was her, and it wasn't because she wanted to be. No, she was awake, because she was caught.
After all, this was the first Christmas without him.
Gracia's heart ached at the thought. She had loved him deeply, still loved him deeply. It was a deep, abiding love that she wasn't sure could ever be replaced or even come close to. More than once she had cried when she looked at his favorite decorations or swallowed past a lump in her throat when she heard a favorite song. She had nearly broken down into tears when she had heard Elicia ask for her Daddy for the holiday.
This whole season had been incredibly hard for Gracia, and she had pushed herself to give Elicia the most normal holiday season she could. But it was so, so very difficult when everything around seemed to remind her of him. It tore at her heart and made her ache with longing for him. She did her best to shield Elicia from the worst of it, but she knew that her grief shone through at times. How could it not?
But there was one question she hadn't answered yet, and that was about their tradition. Should she carry it on without him? Or should she not. She had never worried about the places that they would go when Maes was with them. She knew that he could and would protect them no matter what. Not that where they went was ever particularly dangerous, but there was a bit of a lack of safety without him there.
But at the same time, there was something to be said for going and serving others. It was an important lesson for Elicia—and to be honest, for Gracia as well. She knew that Maes despised a lot of what he had to do in the war in Ishval. She knew that he had felt like this was something of a way to give back. She knew that it was important to him that Elicia grow up learning to help others, not judge them.
She really didn't have a choice, did she?
Gracia sighed and got up, turning off lights as she did. Tomorrow was the holiday. Tomorrow was going to be hard. But to honor Maes, she'd uphold their tradition. She and Elicia would go find somewhere to do some service and then, when they came home, they'd exchange gifts. It wouldn't be the same, and it wouldn't be easy, but perhaps that was a valuable lesson in itself.
Yes, for Maes and for their daughter, she'd uphold their traditions.
