Thank you so much for giving my writing your attention, it is so much appreciated!

Now something I have hardly done so far in this story, I am going back in time to tell Laura's whole Christmas day.

Disclaimer: I don't own BSG, only my OC's.

25th of December 1803

A Roslin Christmas Day

Laura Roslin

Christmas day came and, despite everything, a tiny bit of excitement started to bubble up in Laura. She would not be alone today, no, today there would be a family around her, a family she nearly considered her own.
After getting dressed and styled for the day, she had her breakfast and read some letters she had recieved, all Christmas wishes from dear friends from Hertfordshire, especially Billy. It made her smile. Maybe she could have gone to Caprica Manor and not been lonely after all. Maybe her outlook on the world yesterday had been too grey. Maybe...

St. George's at Hanover Square was packed with people, but Laura supposed that Westminster Abbey or St. Paul's would have been even worse. At least this way, she didn't have to get through the whole city by carriage, traffic would be horrible today anyway. Also, the clientel of this church was far more distinguished, more what she was used to. All the people from her neighbourhood, religious or not, let themselves been seen, making conversation, showing off new coats and hats and bonnets. It was ridiculous, a fair of vanity, lacking any devotion, but still Laura felt somehow at home. It was simply the waay she had always known it, she knew how to deal with it, how to swallow down her annoyance at these peacocks. Well, she herself was probably one of the biggest peacocks of all with her azure velvet coat, but that was simply a reputation she had to uphold. Being a devoted Christian herself, this was more show than anything else. Unfortunatedly, she was seated next to a woman who was a horrible singer and who made all the hymns exceptionally uncomfortable. Just now Laura was wishing she was in one of the backrows with Tory and Maya, in their good but still much simpler dresses blending in with all the other servants who the high society had brought with them.

Conversation was already flowing in front of the church when she exited the building and the lady was involved straight away. Whether these people were genuinely interested, whether they were looking for insider information on politics (not that Laura had any at the moment) or whether they were simply hoping to hear about a scandal in her rather unconvential life, Laura wasn't sure. Probably the latter, it would make a great topic for conversation at Christmas dinners, she thought a bit cynically. While effusively (well, as effusively as Laura Roslin got) admiring Ms Houston's engagement ring (a horribly big thing that ozed pretenciousness and a lack of taste), listening to how she got engaged to a gentleman of impeccable reputation, her thoughts drifted off to another young man. Had Bill heard from his son? How was he doing? At least Laura knew that Robert Agathon was well, he had written to the family for Christmas. Distantly she wondered whether she would see any of these men again.

In the afternoon the whole extended Agathon family arrived, including the Dittons with Lila, their little boy had been left at home with his nurse. The girl was excited beyond reason, telling everyone who would listen that she would eat so much pudding that she would burst that night. It was a merry celebration indeed, the food was extraordinary and far too much and the candles didn't seem to burn down. There were games, of course, harmless ones such as charades at first, but when Lila had fallen asleep on the sofa they became more dearing. Now the aim was to snatch raisins out of a bowl with inflamed mulled wine without burning the fingers. Nobody was surprised when Laura and Karl turned out to be the fiercest opponents.

It was late when the others left, leaving the dark-haired women once more rather alone in Roslin House. She decided she was still too worked up to go to sleep, so she spent another hour or so just sitting in front of the still burning fire, letting her thoughts wander. At first, these thoughts were more neutral, rather analytical - about when she would return to Caprica Manor, if the dress she had comissened for the New Year's ball was really a good idea or too daring and whether she should get herself a cat. Then, they slowly started to change to memories of her family, to Jamie and her sisters laughing in the candle light. Finally, when her eyelids already started to become heavy, she fell asleep to the image of very blue eyes and a whiskey voice.

I hope you enjoyed this, as I had problems finding information about Christmas customs (even though I did heaps of research), I took some liberties in creating this day but I hope it is still rather accurate.

See you soon and stay safe!

xxx