Disclaimer: I do not own Tangled or Disney
"Rapunzel, you're slouching. Back straight, shoulders back and keep your head held high" her etiquette teacher, Madame Ferroni instructs, "You cannot possibly lead a kingdom with grace if you cannot even stand with grace"
"I'm so sorry Madame, I'm just really distracted today" Rapunzel blushes. She's pretty sure that Madame hates her. Though she has come a long way since she first returned home, Rapunzel still hates wearing shoes and does not understand why you need so many forks for one meal. Madame Ferroni places a book on Rapunzel's head.
"Now curtsey" she instructs. Rapunzel curtseys but of course it is not up to the teacher's standards.
"No, no no. You must bend down lower and straighten your back and you keep tilting your head to the side"
"I'm sorry but the book is very heavy" Rapunzel says. Though she used to have 70 feet of hair attached to her head part of it's magic was that it felt weightless to her. A large book being placed on her head was too much weight for her tiny head and neck to handle.
"Fine, you're dismissed for the day, but you must practice before your next lesson"
"Oh I will, thank you Madame" Rapunzel gives a quick curtsey before she runs out of the room. She sees Eugene down the hall and she is running so fast that she can't stop and slides right into him.
"Hello there Blondie, a little excited are you?" Eugene asks.
"Yes, come on" Rapunzel pulls Eugene to the parlour where the tree is standing in all its glory.
Rapunzel immediately rushes to the boxes of decorations and starts rummaging through them.
Rapunzel grabs some purple ribbon and starts wrapping it around Eugene.
"Excuse me. What are you doing?" Eugene asks.
"Practicing how I'm going to decorate the tree. You look good in purple ribbon" Rapunzel says.
"I look good in everything" Eugene wiggles around as he is being wrapped tighter and tighter in ribbon, "Why does this feel so familiar? Oh, I know because this isn't the first time you have tied me up"
Suddenly, they hear footsteps and look in the doorway to see Rapunzel's parents.
"Hi, Mamma. Hi, Papa" Rapunzel says.
"What have you done to poor Eugene?" Caroline chuckles.
"I decorated him. Personally I think he looks better like this and it keeps him out of trouble" Rapunzel says.
"Very funny Blondie, now undecorate me…please?"
Rapunzel runs around Eugene in circles taking off the ribbon, by the time all the ribbon is removed she is a little dizzy.
"So, where do we start?" Rapunzel asks.
"That's up to you. You're in charge " James says.
"Hmm" Rapunzel places a finger to her chin. She stares at the tree like it is a blank spot on her tower wall that she is about to paint, "We start with the ribbon, then we add the candles"
Rapunzel and Caroline start decorating from the bottom and Eugene and James decorate the top. When she's finished at the bottom, Rapunzel stands on her tippy toes and adjusts the ribbon up top.
"Excuse me, I was wrapping that ribbon perfectly" Eugene says.
"You were doing good, but not quite perfect" Rapunzel says.
Rapunzel is digging through the boxes to get the candles when she finds a big purple circular piece of fabric . Rapunzel thinks it looks like a skirt so she starts to tie it around her waist.
"What are you doing?" Eugene asks.
"It's a skirt!" Rapunzel says
"It's a tree skirt. It goes around the base of the tree" Eugene explains.
"Why does a tree need a skirt?" Rapunzel is confused.
"It just looks nice" Eugene shrugs. Eugene places the skirt around the base of the tree and then they start decorating with the candles. James lights them and hands them to the others to put on the tree.
"Okay, so you have to space the different candle colours out evenly. There can't be too many green ones or red ones or white one in one spot" Rapunzel instructs
When they're done hanging the candles, Rapunzel stands back to take a look at the tree.
"Oh, it's simply wonderful!" Rapunzel exclaims.
"It's not quite finished though. There's one thing missing" James hands Rapunzel a golden Corona sun tree topper.
Rapunzel climbs onto the stool and places the sun at the top of the tree.
"Now it's perfect. It's the best Christmas tree we've ever had because you decorated it with us" Caroline hugs Rapunzel.
The decorating of the tree isn't the only new holiday tradition Rapunzel is getting introduced to that day. Later that night, Caroline places a wreath with some candles around it on the fireplace.
"Mamma, what's that?" Rapunzel asks.
"It's an advent wreath. You light one of the candles on each of the four Sunday's leading up to Christmas. It's used to countdown the days until Christmas. We're going to light one right now" Caroline says. Rapunzel gathers at the fireplace with her parents but Eugene stays behind. He doesn't want to barge in on a family moment. To his surprise though, the Queen extends her hand to him as she did the day he returned Rapunzel. He takes it and joins them at the fireplace. First, James reads a bible passage and then they each take a smaller candle and together they light the first candle in the wreath. They join hands and say a prayer. This moment was the most heartwarming event thus far in his life along with when Rapunzel reunited with her parents. During this moment though, Eugene feels something that he has never felt before, like he is a member of someone's family.