A/N: 12 days, 12 ficlets! They'll cover canon and post-canon, include appearances from other characters, but will definitely all be focused on Anna and Bates (as you might know by now, they're who I'm about :) )
All of the ficlets were prompted by a single Christmas-related word, which you'll see as the title of each chapter.
Christmas had not begun at Downton Abbey until the tree was standing proud and adorned in the hall.
Going back years, Anna had been one of the members of staff who was employed in decorating it and she did her utmost to make it look the best it possibly could, trying each year to outdo the previous year's efforts. There had been a Christmas or two when she had not been involved, for obvious reasons.
Since the children had come along the traditions had changed and it was left to the youngest members of the Crawley family and their parents to dress the tree. She did not mind being usurped, of course, not when Miss Sybbie, Master George and Miss Marigold were so excited about carrying out the very important task.
The trio became a twosome when Miss Marigold left to live at Brancaster, but the nursery was quickly added to, gaining two new additions in quite quick succession, one of whom was Anna's darling boy. She spent nearly as much time in the nursery as she did in the servants' hall or assisting Lady Mary, checking up with her son as often as she could. Nanny confided in her that he was the easiest and most pleasant-natured of the four children, a fact that she couldn't help but be proud of.
She hadn't really thought about the tradition until Christmas Eve came around, and she happened to be in the nursery with Johnny when Mr Branson entered to announce that the tree had arrived, with Miss Sybbie and Master George running towards him eagerly. He smiled at them both and said that they were more than welcome to join in; that it was only right and expected. Johnny had been a little too young to understand what was happening the first year but he very much enjoyed the lights, being mesmerised by them as Anna held him in her arms. Miss Caroline, being younger still, slept in Nanny's arms throughout the whole ceremony.
The next Christmas Johnny had more of a notion of something special taking place. He still preferred to be cradled by his mamma, which Anna did not mind in the slightest (she knew that she would certainly miss having him so close when he got too big and too independent to be carried around). She did pass baubles into his little hands – nothing that was fragile or at risk of breaking easily – guiding him to the branches that were within reach and being full of praise when he fixed them on with careful fingers, and only a little bit of help from her. Miss Sybbie was keen for the girls to take one side of the tree and boys the other, so Johnny and Master George, along with their mothers, were sent to the left, while Miss Sybbie and Miss Caroline stayed on the right accompanied by their fathers. Anna and Lady Mary talked and laughed, beaming bright as their sons made a fine job of decorating 'their' side.
"Mama, there isn't a space for this one," Master George said, looking up at his mother and tugging lightly upon her skirt.
"I'm sure that we can find somewhere, darling."
While Lady Mary hunted for a spare branch, Master George reached the nutcracker figurine that was in his hand up towards where Johnny was hoisted, his head inclined towards Anna.
"You can keep this one, Johnny," Master George uttered, looking and sounding very much like his father. "If you have a tree at your house, you can put it on that."
"That's very kind of you," Anna said to the boy, smiling warmly as Johnny reached his hand down to where Master George had extended his own, holding out the decoration. "It will go very nicely on our tree. What do you say, Johnny?"
"T'ank you, Gorge," he said.
Anna hugged her son a little closer, laughing at the way he clutched onto the nutcracker like a prize.
Miss Sybbie wanted to know which side had 'won', and only sighed for a little bit when Mr Branson declared it a draw.
Their own little tree at the cottage was not quite as grand as the one at the Abbey but all three members of the Bates family considered it just as beautiful – if not more so – and the nutcracker figurine took pride of place upon it, looking as noble as any true soldier.
"Well, I'd say that's just about finished. What do you think, Jack?"
The lad looked rather pensive, walking around to consider the tree from all angles with a hand upon his chin. Archie, the faithful attendant, could not help but smile at the eldest Bates child, who was really quite serious when he wanted to be.
"Yes," he said after a great deal of thought, "I think so."
It was at that moment that Anna and John came through into the reception from different directions, smiling at one another at their sense of timing.
"Ah, here's your mum and dad," Archie said. "How do you say we've done, Mr and Mrs Bates?"
Anna considered the tree with her hands placed on her hips, before clapping her hands together. "I think it looks wonderful. The best yet, I'd go so far as to say."
Jack's eyes went wide at his mother's appraisal. "You really think so, Mum?"
"Most definitely," she answered, going forward to place a hand on his head, giving his hair a loving ruffle.
Jack turned from his mother's look with a proud smile to seek his father's opinion. "What do you think, Dad?"
"I'd say you've done very well indeed," John uttered, wearing his best straight-faced and staid expression, "the both of you. There's one thing missing, though."
Jack's face fell suddenly. "But, the nutcracker…"
"Not the nutcracker," John replied, pulling a gold and shining object from behind his back, "this."
Anna smiled as she looked between father and first-born.
"I think you should do the honours," John said, holding out the star towards Jack.
"But…shouldn't Robbie do that?"
"He's fast asleep at the moment, love," Anna answered, holding his blue-eyed gaze dear, "and I don't think we ought to leave it unfinished."
Before he could say any further, John had both hands secure to Jack's sides and lifted him up in the air. Anna wanted to tell her husband to be careful, but he looked over his shoulder to give her a reassuring smile, saying that he could manage without uttering the words.
Jack put the star in place valiantly, earning a kiss on the cheek from his mother and a "well done, son," from his father as he planted his feet back on the ground.
"It looks magnificent," Anna reaffirmed, admiring the finished tree, her hand resting on her eldest boy's shoulder.
"And don't forget," John said, looking at Anna and then Jack with a knowing smile, "there's still another one to do. Saving the best until last."
Anna replied with a grin of her own. "I'd have to agree."
That evening, the six of them gathered – including Emma, Charlotte and baby Robbie – to decorate their own tree in their home, not quite as grand as the one that stood in the hotel, but which Anna preferred, with its paper chains and pine cones, and snowflakes made from old napkins, as well as the occasional wrapped sweet dangling here and there. It was not the finest but it was a tree full of love, that was for certain.
And front and centre, hanging right in the middle, was the nutcracker, passed to them by the heir of Downton Abbey.
A reminder of where their family had started, making things complete at the most special time of the year.
A/N: I decided that Baby Bates would prefer / want to be called Jack when he is a bit older, because I can't get on board with his name in canon, whoops.