Ornaments
Sam stared at the gigantic tree in Gabriel's living room. "Where did you get this?"
"We grew it!" Sleiphnir answered, carrying a large box into the room, "a little magic goes a long way."
Sam chuckled, "well I'm sorry, but not even I can get the star on that tree."
Sleiphnir laughed, opening the box, "that's not why we invited you." He gestured to the box, which was full of ornaments.
"I better go help downstairs." He got to his feet and raced off, leaving Sam with Dean, Castiel and Gabriel.
Dean looked over at Sam, "where are we? The last thing I remember is being in the hotel room."
"My house." Gabriel gestured around, "it's my humb-" he cut off and smirked, "it' my mansion."
Castiel tilted his head, "and the others here…"
"My kids." Gabriel rolled his eyes, "play along baby bro."
Dean's eyes grew, "what?"
"Fenrir, Jourmugand, Hel, Sleiphnir, and Vali." Sam named them, "that was Sleiphnir."
Dean looked at Gabriel, "what kind of names are those?"
"Norse." Gabriel stated flatly.
Castiel still looked confused, "and they celebrate Christmas?"
"Eh. They're half-pagan, half-angel. Since Christmas is already a combination of both it works."
Dean looked at Gabriel as if he'd lost his mind, "how is it both?"
"It's near the Winter Solstice." Sam answered, "the reason was it made it easier to convert pagans to Christianity since the holidays were at similar times. Easter at the spring equinox, and Halloween is a harvest festival, right?"
Gabriel shrugged, "Halloween is a little iffy, that one's more pagan than I'm sure they'd like. But anyway, you want to help decorate or not. They've already got the lights on."
Sam grinned, and then paused, turning to Dean, "hey."
Dean looked over, Sam shifted his weight, "Vali… just don't stare at his face or ask him about it, okay?"
Dean looked at Gabriel, "huh?"
Gabriel glared at Dean, "don't. It'll kill the mood, so just don't."
Dean held up his hands, Sam grinned, hearing footsteps.
Sleiphnir and Jourmugand carried another box, Hel carried one, and Vali followed, grinning widely.
His grin was marred on his right side, scars lacing his face, over his eye and a few under his mouth, which tugged on his smile. But he looked thrilled, eyes gleaming.
"Hey, Sam!" he called, then his smile faded when he saw Dean and Cas.
"Sorry, these two tagged along, is that okay?"
Vali shrugged, turning his face away, "it's fine."
Hel set her box down, "come on Vali, he's a hunter I'm sure he's seen worse." She poked her brother, who yelped.
Jourmugand and Sleiphnir set their box down, straightening up.
Hel turned to them, "this is Jourmugand, Sleiphnir, I'm Hel, and that's Vali."
"Dean and this is Castiel."
Hel grinned, and pulled her black hair back, "oh we know, Dean."
Sam looked around, "where's Fenrir?"
The four shared a look, Vali seemed to be fighting a grin, Jourmugand lift an eyebrow, Hel smirked, and Sleiphnir grinned.
"Oh, he'll be around." She grinned, "now, let's decorate."
Sam glanced over at Gabriel, who shrugged, and stepped forward.
/
Sam held onto Vali's thighs, "got it?"
Vali, kneeling on his shoulders, stretched his arm, "yes! Got it!" he crouched as Sam stepped back, so he could get down.
"Thanks."
"Ssshame you can't do thisss." Sam looked up and almost started laughing; Jourmugand had turned into a giant snake, and hung an ornament on one of the top branches with his mouth.
Dean fumbled with the ornament he was holding, "what the-"
"Just go with it." Hel told him, from her perch on a step-stool.
Jourmugand shifted back, grinning widely at Dean, "my name means Midgard Serpent. At my full size I can circle the earth and hold my tail my teeth."
"Show off!" Vali called, digging through the newest box.
Sleiphnir reached into another box, there were at least ten empty ones and the tree was only half decorated. Sam was having fun though, and took a sip of his glass of eggnog.
Gabriel appeared next to him, having been on the other side of the tree, "having fun?"
Sam nodded, looking around. He loved Gabriel's family, and Dean had grown comfortable, for the most part, while Castiel stood back, watching. There was just one thing that bothered him.
"Any sign of Fenrir?"
Gabriel looked around as though he'd just noticed his oldest was still missing, "huh. Where is he?"
A dog flap in the front door opened, Sam and Gabriel turned.
It was just Garm though; the black dog shook off, and trotted in.
"It's still snowing out there." He reported, "and is there any eggnog for me?"
"It's in the kitchen, Garm." Hel called, "thanks boy!"
Garm wagged his tail, hitting Sam with it.
He looked up and gave a doggish grin, "what are you doing here?"
"Decorating." Sam rubbed his head, scratching his ears, "why don't you go get your-"
Sam's sentence was cut off as the door to the basement was kicked open, revealing Fenrir.
Sam stared at him and almost burst out laughing.
Fenrir stalked forward, jingling with each step. Sam struggled to hold back his laughter; it appeared the tree wasn't the first thing to be decorated.
Fenrir was wearing a green shirt, wrapped in lights and tinsel, and bells. On his forehead someone had taped a star.
"You four!" he faced his siblings, who all tried to look innocent, "I know you were all behind this!"
Hel smothered a laugh, "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Take a nap in this house and wake up dressed up like a Christmas tree!" Fenrir yelled, pointing at all of them, though the effect was ruined because as he moved he made his bells jingle, "and not only that you didn't wake me to help you decorate the tree!"
"It looks like you didn't need help with that." Vali choked out, struggling to keep a straight face before he busted out laughing.
Jourmugand lost it next, sitting down, clutching his sides.
Sleiphnir snorted, lowering his head and shaking silently.
Hel fought a losing battle, and started laughing too.
Gabriel started chuckling, making Fenrir spin around, jingling as he did. He met Sam's gaze and that's when his resolve broke.
He leaned against Gabriel, setting down his eggnog, laughing so hard his sides hurt.
He regained enough composure to look at Dean who looked around, torn between laughing and running. Sam looked at Fenrir, who looked down at himself, and then met Sam's gaze.
Finally Fenrir broke, joining with his siblings, Sam and Gabriel, his deep laughing ringing slightly. Gabriel was almost crying from laughing, and Sam was starting to worry about breathing.
It took at least ten minutes for them all to pull themselves together, once they stopped looking at each other. It took another five minutes for them to stop chuckling every few seconds.
Sam took a deep breath and let it out, and risked looking at Fenrir.
Fenrir grinned at him, but they managed not to laugh.
"Okay, so can someone hand me an ornament?"
Gabriel looked over at his son, "don't you have enough decorations?"
Everyone almost lost it again but managed not to.
Fenrir rolled his eyes, grabbed an ornament, and wandered over to the tree.
And if he left the outfit on while the decorated; Sam wasn't going to be the one to comment.
/
Me: So that's Christmas at Gabriel's house. By the way, Fenrir isn't plugged into an outlet; he has these lights that are connected to a battery pack wrapped around him. I use them to decorate my room. Also, yes, Christmas is in the winter because of pagan holidays. The rabbit from Easter is pagan, and Halloween is possibly linked to a harvest festival.
PB: * chugs down eggnog *
Me: Hey! Leave some for me!