AN: I'm so very sorry my dears. Mocks and various other things happened.

This is for GRock 87. This was an absurdly hard prompt for what it was. That sentence made sense...

Lily

I have always loved Christmas. Ever since I was a child, even at Camp Bastion we always celebrated Christmas, whatever ward or platoon I was working with. I made sure of that. So, sod's law, I would get myself involved with a man who, it turns out, is the human embodiment of the Grinch.

I'm not kidding. Right down to the weird long fingers and sarcasm.

Fortunately, I had managed to work out (with my apparently tiny brain) that I shouldn't try any of my usual tricks to make myself feel Christmassy but unfortunately, Mrs Hudson hadn't.

So, having returned from the messy and rather frightening crime scene that Lestrade had given to us (man garrotted with a string of fairy lights. Lestrade turned up in a santa hat) Mrs Hudson had 'decorated' the flat.

Now, I'm not a particularly religious man. I wrote Jedi on my census form, but if god turns out to be real and I (by some fluke of nature) get to heaven, I still reckon I will never again see as many angels in one place. I kid you not, they were everywhere. The only reason they weren't stuck to the floor was because she had to clean. Our flat looked like a small girl's ballet class (but not in a creepy Jimmy Savile kind of way). But anyway, enough of the decor.

Anyway, having stepped through the door in a very good mood, Sherlock immediately transferred to a state of vengeful boredom. He rolled his eyes and flopped down on the sofa. I sighed, knowing I was in for several hours of whining and sympathy 'Sherlock please, she was only trying to help...'

'Yes and turning a flat, that she constantly claims she isn't the housekeeper of, into some sort of religious shrine is helping, is it? I'm fairly sure that, in fact, it's breaking and entering.'

I sighed again from the kitchen and rested my head against the cabinet in front of me 'She had a key Sherlock. It doesn't count as a felony.'

'I'm sure we can get something on her, little old ladies are always up to something...'

'You cannot simply accuse our landlady, who looks after us considerably better than either of us ever could, of committing any crime that comes into your head, Sherlock!'

He popped his head up over the back of the sofa 'And why not?'

I am ashamed to say, I actually had to think about it. I stood in the doorway of the kitchen, pointing my finger at him and opening and closing my mouth like a goldfish for a few minutes while I thought of a reason that didn't include the phrase 'Because I'll starve to death.' 'Because... because she'll start charging us full price on the rent.'

Oddly, that seemed to scare him. 'Really, John, Christmas is simply a commercialised version of an ancient religious festival...'

'Yes, I know Sherlock, I went to Catholic school...'

He stared at me like I was barmy 'I wasn't talking about Christianity John, I was talking about Saturnalia.'

I pinched the bridge of my nose and leant back against the sofa 'Ok, I know I really shouldn't get involved with this but what is saturnalia?' I swear I heard all the angels groan.

'Saturnalia was an ancient Roman festival in honour of the deity Saturn originally held on December 17 and later expanded with festivities through December 23. The holiday was celebrated with a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn in the Roman Forum and a public banquet, followed by private gift-giving, continual partying, and a carnival atmosphere that overturned Roman social norms: gambling was permitted, and masters provided table service for their slaves. The poet Catullus called it "the best of days."

In Roman mythology, Saturn was an agricultural deity who reigned over the world in the Golden Age, when humans enjoyed the spontaneous bounty of the earth without labor in a state of social egalitarianism. The revelries of Saturnalia were supposed to reflect the conditions of the lost mythical age, not all of them desirable. The Greek equivalent was the Kronia.

Although probably the best-known Roman holiday, Saturnalia as a whole is not described from beginning to end in any single ancient source. Modern understanding of the festival is pieced together from several accounts dealing with various aspects. The Saturnalia was the dramatic setting of the multivolume work of that name by Macrobius, a Latin writer from late antiquity who is the major source for the holiday. In one of the interpretations in Macrobius's work, Saturnalia is a festival of light leading to the winter solstice, with the abundant presence of candles symbolizing the quest for knowledge and truth. The renewal of light and the coming of the new year was celebrated in the later Roman Empire at the Dies Natalis of Sol Invictus, the "Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun," on December 25.

The popularity of Saturnalia continued into the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, and as the Roman Empire came under Christian rule, some of its customs may have influenced the seasonal celebrations surrounding Christmas and the New Year. '

He looked even more pleased with himself than he normally did.

'Well thank you for that... riveting history lesson.'

'Piece of cake.' Floated over from the back of the sofa.

I wandered away singing 'Tis the season to be jolly. And oh, how it is.

AN: The description of saturnalia was copy and pasted directly from Wikipedia. So, my exams start of 9th January and end on the 23rd. Fun. So for that period and some considerable time before, I will be disappearing off the face of the earth. Sdo, if I don't update between now and christmas, merry Christmas! Tell you what would make a good present for your devoted writer, maybe a review or two?

Lily