A/N: So here's Mairead's third Christmas at Downton...the Christmas season is long over, but I'm going to continue posting these as they are written.
Disclaimer: I don't own Downton Abbey, only Mairead
1918
True to her word, she stayed for the festivities that followed dinner, though she was quickly worn out after several carols, and she knew work would pick up again tomorrow. Tom escorted her out of the servants' hall, just as tired as she, but he wished her a merry Christmas and gave her a kiss on the top of her head, just as he had when they were children (or more correctly, when she was a child, as Tom was hardly able to be called a child by the time she was old enough to declare him her favorite cousin, not with fifteen years between them), and both went their separate ways for the night.
She could be heard humming carols and hymns as she changed for bed, draping the shawl that had arrived from Isibéal with the morning post, no doubt as a Christmas gift, around her shoulders. She caught herself smiling at the color, which was her favorite blue-grey, with enough blue to make her hair seem more red, but enough grey that the blue wasn't too gaudy for her tastes. It was the perfect gift, practical and beautiful at the same time, and it'd come just in time, despite Isibéal's fears (which she'd expressed in the letter that accompanied the gift) that it wouldn't make it for whatever reason.
A merry Christmas indeed, she thought, settling under the covers and turning on her side, reminding herself as she had throughout the evening that even though tomorrow was Christmas, that didn't mean she wouldn't be working, and that meant getting up early, as usual, holiday or not.
A/N: That's it for now! Thank you for reading and I hope my fellow US-residents enjoy the season premiere tonight.