A.N/ This is a special chapter we wrote as a Christmas special thing so it is not part of the main arc of the story (it acts a little like an interlude) and is just a little bit of fun :D It caused a bit of confusion when we did it for Halloween so I hope I cleared things up a little this time!

Christmas Bonus – The 'Tinsel' Fairies

Seph's POV

"Seph wake up!" I immediately jerked up into a sitting position which caused the person who had been leaning over me to fall backwards off the bed. I lit my bedside candle and crawled to the edge, peering over. On the floor sat a large pile of tinsel. I reached a foot out and poked it with a toe. The tinsel began to shake itself off and stood up.
"Good morning Pippin. What sane reason do you have to wake me up at..." I glanced quickly at my clock. "Quarter past five?" Pippin grinned and began to bounce up and down like a monkey on drugs.
"IT'S YULE" he squealed, delighted, and began to run around the room, throwing tinsel over any object within firing range. Pippin himself was also the subject of a Yule (aka Christmas) makeover. He was covered in tinsel from head to toe, no pun intended. It was in his hair, around his neck and attached to any garment he had on, namely his sleep clothes, dressing gown and slippers.

Kels peeked her head around the door and rolled her eyes.
"I see that I am not the only one who was woken up at this ungodly hour by the tinsel fairies," she chuckled. "The whole house has been redecorated by these two munchkins." Merry suddenly burst in through the door in a shower of light and colour.
"Let's wake Frodo up!" he shouted excitedly. Pippin and Merry rushed from the room leaving a trail of sparkles behind them.
"I'm going to sort out the living room. It's the only room salvageable." she winked and disappeared from view.

I took this as my chance to change and quickly slipped my 'lovely' Legolas night dress up over my head and changed into a much more suitable red day dress. Staring out of my small, round window I noticed that it had snowed overnight. The whole garden was white and shined faintly in the light from my candle. It certainly was a winter wonderland. We never had winters like this in Athens. I pulled my now waist length curly hair up into a ponytail and tied it will a leather band. Upon arriving at the living room I was surprised to see that everyone was already up. Frodo was sitting in his favourite armchair in the corner while Kels and the tinsel kings sat in front of the fire playing go fish. I looked around the room and was pleased to say that there was minimal tinsel. Six stockings hung above the fireplace and a small, hobbit sized Christmas tree sat next to the door. It was decorated with some tinsel and other Christmas ornaments, a tiny golden star perched on top. Underneath was a pile of colourfully wrapped presents of varied shape and size.
"Go fish!" yelled Kels and the tinsel clad hobbits groaned, they had lost again.
"The Christmas tree does look wonderful with all the tinsel and decorations," I acknowledged.

"Christmas? What's that? And what's 'tinsel'? Is it a type of food?" questioned Pippin, peering inquisitively at me.

"Oh, Christmas is just what we call Yule and tinsel is the sparkling decorations we like to put around our houses at this time of year. I didn't know what yours is so I just called it 'tinsel' because they look similar," I explained to the confused hobbits.

"Of course! That shiny stuff was a gift from Gandalf, he said they were made in 'Dale', a human town where lots of interesting things are created. I think Bilbo's gone there before. I'm not sure what it is though, just thinks it looks really nice," exclaimed Merry.
I sat myself down on the seat next to Frodo's and affectionately ruffled his hair.

"I get it now. But do they really do this every year?" Frodo looked up and grinned.
"Why of course! What did you expect from the 'tinsel' kings of party?" we both laughed happily and I rolled my eyes as Kels beat them yet another time.
"Our first Christmas at the Shire." I sat back and glanced at Frodo. "A Christmas to remember."
"Seph!" I turned to look at Kels who was lying on her stomach with a deck of cards in her hands.
"Do you want to play cheat with us?" I grinned. I was going to make the most of this day. We had played numerous different card games and sung several Christmas songs when there was a knock on the door. Frodo opened it and in came Sam clad in a big warm coat. He was freezing cold and snow dripped off his nose. I rushed forward and hurried his shivering form over to the fire, taking his coat and hanging it on one of the hooks. I made my way to the kitchen and prepared some hot chocolate to warm us all up. The drink was accepted happily and we were soon all sitting in front of the crackling fire, mugs in hand and thoroughly warm.

"Present time!" announced Frodo and Pippin and Merry began bouncing up and down and squealing like fangirls. We all exchanged gifts and I was really pleased with what I got. From Pippin I got a cookbook 'All you need to know about food!', from Merry, a hobbits guide to wild mushrooms, from Sam, a leather cord necklace with a carved wooden pendant of a Smaug dragon (made by old gaffer) and most importantly, Frodo gave me a new night dress, plain green with blue edging. I hugged them all and grabbed the stockings down from over the fireplace. One for each of us. Almost the only thing in each stocking was sweets, special hobbit chocolate truffles (utter heaven), sweets and more sweets. Mine did, however, contain some ribbons for my hair.
"How about we go out and about and enjoy the snow." suggested Frodo. "We could go down to the old lake in the forest." We all readily agreed and stood up to go outside. I grabbed a coat, a woollen scarf and some leather boots from my wardrobe before joining everyone on the porch.
"I think I'll stay here if you don't mind." said Sam. " there are some last minute preparations to be made." We all agreed and began to trudge out through the snow, away from the warmth and comfort of the hobbit hole. The snow was knee deep and the going was tough, almost impossible for the hobbits, but with several piggy back rides from Kels and I we all made it to the lake. The once glittering body of water which I had bathed in only a couple of months ago was now covered in a thick sheet of ice.

Kels opened the bag she had brought with us and pulled out some ice skates. I slid my feet inside and tied the laces. I then proceeded to help Merry who was having a hard time standing up. I stepped tenderly onto the ice to check that it was safe before pushing off and gliding gently across. The ice was smooth so I skated quickly, whooping as I nearly fell over from the sheer force of my momentum. Kels and the hobbits joined me and we skated, skidded, slipped, fell over and had the time of our lives trying to see who the fastest skater was. I did a simple spin and chuckled lightly as Merry fell flat on his face again. Kels skated past humming swan lake, I moved to skate next to her and we began to perform the ballet on ice. Swan lake had been our year 7 production. I was about to do another twirl when something whacked the side of my head. I turned to see Pippin and Merry holding snowballs. I gave them a hard stare and they immediately began to skate away as fast as their little legs would carry them. I made my way to the edge where Frodo had a pile of snowballs prepared. Nodding my thanks I picked a couple up and hurled them at the hobbits. Pippin landed on the ice with a splat and skidded a few meters, Merry, who had been watching my progress, ducked out of the way and grabbed Pippin. They ran from the ice closely followed by Kels, Frodo and I. We followed them through the forest, chucking any snowballs Frodo gave us. We continued to chase them until we caught up with them in the town square. I picked up Pippin and put him on my shoulder, Kels did the same with Merry. We carried the squealing hobbits to the garden outside Bags-end and dumped them in the snow. They emerged coughing and spluttering with their tinsel caked in snow.
"Never mess with the queens of snowball fights. Kels was captain of the volleyball team for a reason ya know." I gave Kels a high five and turned to enter the hole.

When we opened the round, oak door the strong smell of cooking in the air wafted out and our mouths began to drool. We all settled down and Sam came in holding a tray of cookies.
"Yay!" squealed Pippin as he grabbed one off the plate and devoured it whole. Sam shook his head at the mess the snowy, tinsel covered hobbit was making. Thanking Sam I took myself a cookie.
"Who wants to sing Christmas songs?" asked Kels. "Anyone?"
"I dunno Kels..." She grinned and played one of the Christmas albums on her iPod (she has Christmas albums, I know right!). Frodo stepped forward and offered me his hand.
'May I have this dance?" I giggled and placed my hand tenderly in his, Frodo had taught me the dance of this world but I still found the customs weird. It was hard to dance with someone half your size anyway. We danced around the living room and soon Pip and Merry joined us, dancing together. I threw my head back and laughed as Kels changed the song to something more lively. I made my way back to the chair and curled up under a blanket, watching as Kels danced with Sam and Frodo stoked the fire.

After we had all calmed down we made our way to the dinner table and Sam brought out the roast chicken with all the vegetables and trimmings.
"Thank you Manwe for this glorious meal prepared by master Samwise. Please bless this food." we paused for a second. "Let's eat!"
"Pass the chicken Pip." I reached out and took the plate from him and sliced some meat off for Kels and I. Rule number one when dining with hobbits, always take first share, otherwise there is none left by the time you get passed the plate. Kels scooped out a portion of roast potatoes for me and I dumped some vegetables on our plates before passing the food out for everyone else. As I munched on my food I briefly wondered how Fin and Di were. They were probably back at home by now, eating Christmas dinner at Di's house like every other year. Sitting in front of the fire with hot chocolate or making a snow fort in the garden. They were probably with their families enjoying the fun and festivities. Fin's birthday was in a few days' time come to think of it.
I wonder what my aunt is doing...
I missed her. She had done so much for me, she had cared for me since I was nine and put up with my little quirks and the problems I had. She had put me into therapy and had been ecstatic when I made friends. I looked around the table at the smiling faces of my new friends. She would be happy for me, I smiled to myself, and yes she would. My thoughts turned to Aragorn, the fearless ranger, who would most likely not be celebrating this holiday with anyone.
Poor him...
He had helped us but being the man he was he would be trekking through the wilderness on a new adventure rather than spending time with his adoptive family in Rivendell. I did hope that he had delivered our message.
After we had all finished our food and mopped up the gravy, Sam brought out the Christmas pudding and custard. I opted for just the pudding (I don't like custard) while Kels took double helpings of the gelatinous substance.

When we were all done we sat down by the fire and drank the hot chocolate that Sam had so helpfully provided. I watched as Kels took out the book of Grimm's fairy tales I had given her that morning and began to read.
"Once upon a time, in a faraway land there was a King and Queen, they were much loved by all of their subjects. One day, the queen had a child, a beautiful girl with golden hair. All the people adored the princess except one..."
I listened intently but slowly I found myself drifting off into a deep sleep, still sitting in the arm chair by the fire.
Merry Christmas Fin... Merry Christmas Di... Merry Christmas Aragorn...
And then I let myself drift off into the dark world of sleep. That night I didn't dream. I did however imagine that someone placed a thick woollen blanket over me and kissed my forehead before turning out the lights. I could not see their face for it was too dark, but their presence comforted me. I found that as long as this person was with me all negative thoughts were banished from my mind.
"Quel kaima." A voice breathed in my ear and the beautiful language swirled around in my mind, elvish. I felt the presence depart as it left me to rest. I did not know what they said but promised myself that, in the morning, I would find out what it meant and hopefully who the speaker was. Hopefully...

A.N/ MERRY CHRISTMAS! :D