Except for one of her friendly neighbors occasionally stopping by, it wasn't often that the aging vixen got visitors to her home outside the city limits. Despite this, however, she always managed to turn her cozy space into the most festive kind that she could when the holidays rolled around each year. While most of the things she had, from the ornaments on the tree to the knickknacks on stands and the tops of shelves, were vintage decorations from decades ago, putting them out never failed to make her smile and feel as jolly as everyone else felt during the month.
This was especially true since a lot of it took her back to when her son was a little kit that shared the very same enthusiasm for Christmas as she did. With every piece she meticulously placed out the way she wanted to see whenever she walked into the room, the memories she cherished dearly of those holiday seasons came flooding back, of baking cookies with him and how he was always ecstatic to see what Santa Claws had left for him on Christmas morning.
Those special moments were the ones where she recalled smiling the widest, and she honestly couldn't wait to carry on those traditions with her grandson. This Christmas was going to most certainly be a special one, as she had a couple of helpers with her that came to help celebrate.
Mrs. Wilde's annual decorating was almost complete, with just as few finishing touches being all that was left to do. It was after she had done some digging through some of what she had stored in the closet that she came strolling back into the living room, carrying some red and green bins stacked on each other that had some of her favorite ornaments inside them. Strolling right behind her was her grandson Noah that had come to see her with his parents for Christmas Eve.
"I found it!" the young kit cheered. "I found the special star, Grandma!"
Mrs. Wilde chuckled and smiled back at him. "You sure did, Noah," she replied. "I almost wasn't sure you'd be able to find it for a moment there."
Noah laughed at his grandmother's idea. "I'm an expert at finding things," he remarked as he helped carry the star in his paws.
"That you are. Now let's go take this back to your parents and will finished getting the tree all ready."
Grandma and grandson both returned to the living room with the last of their decorations and set them down. On the couch sat Nick and Judy, both enjoying some of the tea blend that had been brewed them to warm up with earlier.
"There you are, Noah," Nick said as he set his cup down on the coffee table.
"I see you completed the special mission Grandma gave you of finding that star," added Judy as she smiled over at the fox kit. "Good job, Agent Noah."
Noah nodded his head excitedly as he showed them the golden-colored star. While he was always a kit that loved to use his imagination, he had recently an interest in secret agents after seeing them on a cartoon one Saturday morning. It was from then that whenever either of his parents needed his help with something, he liked to imagine that he had been given an assignment.
"Oh," said the kit upon recalling something, running out the room before coming back with something else. "I also found this. It has so many pages, and so many cool toys and stuff in it."
Nick smiled back at him once he saw what it was. What his son had found when he was helping look for that star earlier was none other than one of the old catalogs that they used to get around the time holiday shopping was to be done. "Yep," he replied, taking the catalog from him and looking through some of the pages. "It wasn't the holidays until that came in when I was around your age."
"This was back you could just go online and get all your shopping done," Judy added, explaining it Noah. "This was how you could for a gift for everyone. My siblings and I used to look through this every year and circle through the toys that we wanted."
"Now then," Nick said to Noah, returning back to the decorating. "We've got another little mission for you. Your mission, Agent Noah, should you choose to accept it, is to put that star up on the tree."
"It'll be my pleasure," replied Noah, "but it's pretty high up there." Given that he was shorter than the grown ups in the room with him, the top of the Christmas tree seemed far out of reach.
"Don't worry, buddy," his father chuckled. "I'll give you some help there."
Nick picked his kit up to the tippy-top and let him have the honors of putting on his grandma's star, completing the scenery. He and Judy applauded him once the decorating was officially complete, making him feel giddy on the inside.
Mrs. Wilde chimed in as she clapped her paws together for him. "That was really high up there, Agent Noah."
"It's all part of the job," Noah replied before looking back over at his father. "Good thing Dad was here to help."
"So, I hear you're going to be playing some music for your church later this month," his grandma said, curious to know more about that.
"Oh, yeah." The kit became more than happy to tell her about what he would be doing soon. "I'm gonna play tambourine when they sing."
"He's actually really good at playing it," Judy chimed in, "and he said that he wanted to play with the other kits when they do the songs before the preacher says his message."
"Oh, that sounds wonderful," Mrs. Wilde replied. "You know, Noah, your dad used to play music too when he was younger."
"He did?" inquired Noah with surprise.
"Mm-hmm. He used to play the guitar and I loved when he would play those Christmas songs for me."
"Haven't picked one up in quite awhile, though," admitted Nick. "I can't even remember the last time I played one."
His mother grinned back at him before walking out of the room for a moment. As soon as she stepped back in, she was holding a brown acoustic guitar that belonged to him in her grasp. "Well, today is the day you will play one for us again."
"I'd love to hear him play," Judy added.
"Yeah, play us a Christmas song, Dad!" proclaimed Noah thirdly.
The tod was taken aback as he took the old guitar from his mom and strapped it around him. He honestly couldn't believe that somehow she still had it in the house after all of these years. "Where did you find this?" he asked.
"When I was cleaning out the attic and getting some stuff down," his mother replied, "I found it behind some boxes. And when I heard that you guys were coming down to celebrate Christmas Eve with me, I thought maybe you could play us something to get us all in the holiday spirit."
Playing a guitar was like riding a bike, and by that it was something that Nick never could forget how to do once he had gotten it down properly. He might not sound as good as he once used to awhile back, but he couldn't say no after his mother had went through getting it down specifically for him. He slowly strummed each of the strings, surprised to hear that they were in the exact same tune even after all this time. "How is it-"
"In perfect tuning?" Mrs. Wilde returned a smirk back at him. "I made sure it was."
Nick grinned back at him, seeing once again where he had gotten his slyness from. He then looked back at his family before strumming a chord that rung out around them, making a pose that looked like the kind Elkvis made when he performed for his audiences. "Are you ready for Nicolas Wilde's Christmas show?"
"Yeah!" Noah, Judy, and Mrs. Wilde exclaimed in unison.
"Good!" Nick said back enthusiastically, getting his paw into the right place so he could play the first chord he needed to. "Now who's ready for some of their favorite Christmas songs?"
Later...
Noah's eyes were all aglow as he looked out into the backyard. "These lights Grandma put up are really pretty, aren't they, Dad?"
"They sure are," agreed his father Nick.
The fence that encompassed the spot where he used to play when he was a kit had strands of white lights all around, as well as some of them wrapped around where the spot he and his son were at had been constructed. In the middle of the yard was a treehouse that had been adorned with its fair share of holiday decorating, and the two of them looked back out at the house from behind the wood railing as they sat back on two chairs that had been sitting up there.
"So nice up here," Noah said as he put his paws behind his head and looked up at the sky.
"You know," Nick said, "this used to be one of my favorite spots when I was your age. Matter of fact, this used to be my fortress when the winter came."
"Oh yeah?" his son asked.
"Yep." Nick nodded before getting out of his seat and walking over toward a piece of wood that had a carving on it, smiling as memories from when he was a kit coming back to him. "A long time ago, I called this treehouse the Castle of Wilde, and this was where my friends and I would hang out."
The sound of crunching against the snow came from below where they were sitting. Father and son looked back out to see Mrs. Wilde walking up while carrying a white plate in her paws.
"Look, Noah," called out Nick as he pointed down to where she was standing. "Someone's trying to enter Castle of Wilde."
"Who goes there?" chimed in Noah as held his paws out for her to stop where she was, going along with his father before breaking out into giggles.
Laughter from his grandma was what ensued. "I've come bearing gifts for the castle," she called back up to them. "And they're very delicious ones too."
"What do you think, Noah?" inquired Nick. "Can this guest be trusted?"
Noah thought about it for a brief moment before calling back, "And what kind of gifts are they?"
"Sugar frosted," his grandma called back. "And they sure smell good."
"Very well." Nick turned and looked back at his son. "Noah, let us head down and sample what we've been brought."
The vulpine slowly got back down from the treehouse, not exactly as quick at doing so than when he was his son's age. Noah followed shortly afterwards before rushing over to where his grandma was standing.
"Grandma made some to give out to the neighbors," Mrs. Wilde told him. "These ones I saved for you and your mom and dad."
"Yummy!" Noah reached out a paw and took one in the shape of a snowmammal and took a bite. The smile on his muzzle once he got a taste of it grew wider than it was before. "Thanks, Grandma. You make the best Christmas cookies."
His grandma smiled back at him. "You're welcome, Noah."
"Don't mind if I try one or two," Nick chimed in. As soon as he tried to reach for more than just one of the plate, he received a tap on the paw from his mother.
"Just one, Nicky," remarked Mrs. Wilde. "You know the rules. No more until we have our Christmas supper."
"Come on," Nick replied jokingly.
"Santa will know if you didn't follow the rules. His mother wagged a finger back at him the way she did back when he was a kit and getting in trouble. Turning to Noah, she then said, "And I just heard on the radio that a pilot flying into Zootopia saw Santa's sleigh flying by."
The kit, upon hearing this, was now full of excitement. "Really?"
Nick pretended to sigh before only reaching for one of the cookies. "I guess I don't want to wake up Christmas morning with a lump of coal in my stocking." He didn't know how long it had been since he had tasted one of the Christmas treats made by his mother, but the memories of making them with her came back to him when he took that first bite of it.
"Now why don't you two come inside and warm up? Supper will be ready to eat in just a few minutes..."
Author's Note: Hey there, everyone! :)
I absolutely love writing these stories that feature Noah in them, and so I just couldn't resist the opportunity to come with a short and sweet scene with him and his family during Christmastime. I ended up typing this out pretty quickly, but I hope that it was still an enjoyable holiday read.
Of course, I had other stories that I had planned for the holidays but not enough time to share those ones, but I might be sharing those ones even after Christmas is over. After all, sweet stories centered around this time of year are enjoyable any time, if I do say so myself. :)
As always, let me know what your thoughts are on this. Your feedback, whether good or bad, is gladly appreciated.
'Til next time! :)