Christmas Decorating
Who: Anew, Lyle, Neil, Pluto
When: BACKDATED: before Christmas, obviously
Where: Hut 1
Rating: PG
Warnings: Mention of Mistletoe
Notes: Finished in comments
Summary: Anew learns about Christmas as everyone helps decorate the hut.
Anew had just gotten home from work not that long ago. She was curious about this thing she kept hearing and seeing. "Christmas" it was apparently called. She heard references to it in the music playing the flower shop and had seen references to it as well. She had decided to try and find out sometime. For now, she was in the kitchen baking some bread. She was wondering where Lyle was. He was usually off by now.
Lyle had taken advantage of his schedule to find a Christmas tree with Neil. It was more the tradition of finding a tree-and that he got to share it with his brother again-that made it special. He wrestled with his end of the tree, trying carefully not to let the branches drop too many needles. It still had to look good. “I think we’re almost there,” he called back to his twin, moving one hand to open the door, the other balancing the tree.
"That's good. It's quite heavy," Neil remarked. Not that he minded. It had been fun to go get a tree with Lyle and bringing it back was part of that. He had thought it would be fun to surprise the ladies in the hut by bringing back a tree. He tried to balance it a bit more by himself so his brother could get the door open.
Anew blinked, hearing the noise from outside. What could possibly be going on? Luckily what she was making didn't need her constant attention anymore. She left the kitchen and went to open the door to see what was going on.
Lyle nearly lost his balance as his hand came up empty in its search for the doorknob. He turned to find the door open and Anew looking at them. He smiled. “Anew! Merry Christmas! Thanks for getting the door.” He quickly replaced his hand on the tree again, steadying it. “Don’t mind us,” he added, as he slowly started backing into the hut.
Neil chuckled. "Thank you, Anew." He at least had the easier end. He could see where he was going. "We should figure out where we want to put it, then get the tree stand," he remarked, following his brother.
Anew nodded as they came in, holding the door open for them. "You're welcome." There was that word again... she really wanted to know what it was now. More importantly, she wanted to know why they were bringing a tree into the hut. It seemed rather odd to her.
Lyle glanced around the main room of the hut for a good location for the tree, one that wasn’t too far as the tree was fairly heavy. “How about the corner? It would be out of the way of us walking, but we could still see it.”
Neil nodded. "Sounds good," he said swinging around to move the tree in that direction. "And we can also put the tree so the best sides are showing."
Anew shut the door once they were both inside, watching the twins wrangling the tree into the hut.
Lyle nodded, before realizing Neil probably couldn’t see him over the branches. “That would be good.” He waited for Neil get in position before following with the rest of the tree. “About the tree strand…do we have one around here or will we need to buy one?” He spotted Anew watching them and winked at her.
"I'm fairly sure I saw one recently," Neil remarked, backing up into the corner so they could get the tree there. Now it was his turn to go backwards. "After we get it standing, I can go see if I can find it."
Anew saw Lyle blink and blushed a little. Even though she wasn't quite sure what she would be looking for, she offered, "I can see if I can find it."
Lyle chuckled at seeing Anew blush. “That might be quicker, actually-though I have no idea where it might be. Neil, are we almost there?” At this angle the tree felt more like a battering ram.
Neil nodded. "Yes, stop... I don't really want to get trapped against the wall," he said with a chuckle. "I think it's in the hall closet... on one of the lower shelves. It's red and green."
Anew nodded and headed to see if she could find what Neil was talking about.
“I’m not sure Pluto would be thrilled with you trapped back there either,” Lyle replied wryly. “The next question is ornaments. Those would probably also be in the hall closet?”
"Yeah, I can't imagine she would be," Neil said with a grin. "I think those would be in the closet too, but we should probably wait until Pluto gets home so we can all decorate together... or at least see if she wants to help with decorating."
A moment later, Anew returned with the stand. "Is this what you two were looking for?" she asked.
“That would be best probably,” he agreed, before turning to look at Anew. “Hey, you found it! Bring it over so I can quit juggling this tree. Oh, and we probably should put a sheet down to catch the needles when they drop. Hard to believe Christmas is so close; time certainly flies.”
"The sheet can wait for a bit," Neil said as Anew brought the stand over. "It'll be a bit before the needles start to fall." When she set it down, Neil dropped his end of the tree into the stand. "Anew, can you tighten the screws so it will stay up?”
Anew nodded and knelt down, reaching under the tree to tighten screws that Neil was talking about. She really did need to ask what the point of this was... since it didn't seem like just something they were doing to be random. "Alright," she said standing back up when she couldn't tighten them anymore.
Lyle started lifting his end of the tree in preparation of setting the thing right-side up. With any luck, it would just clear the ceiling. They hadn’t exactly measured it before chopping it down, although relative sizing seemed to have done well enough. “Alright, lets get this thing up.”
Neil nodded, lowering his end the rest of the way so it would stand up. He looked up as it was moved to standing position. "Ha. It's the right height," Neil said. There was still room for the star to be put on top.
"It looks nice," Anew said looking at the tree. After a moment, she said, "what's it for?"
Lyle paused and looked at her, a bit stunned by the question. “What’s it for?” He glanced over at Neil, before replying. “It’s a Christmas tree…to hang ornaments on and put packages underneath.” His surprise passed as something occurred to him. “Have you ever celebrated Christmas before?”
Neil moved out from behind the tree. He already suspected that she hadn't. Tieria hadn't heard of it either when he had first met Tieria so it possible that she hadn't either.
Anew shook her head. "I never have... I don't know what Christmas is," she added after a moment.
Lyle couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Never heard of Christmas? Well, okay, given her background he could excuse that. It was likely that Ribbons had never heard of it, or would not have bothered to tell her, since it kind of ruined the whole ‘Innovators are here to save you’ kind of theme. He smiled instead. “Then it seems like we need to have a Christmas story.”
Neil had gone to get the box of decorations, not to start setting up at the moment, but just to get it out so when they wanted to start, they didn't have to pull it out. "Probably," he remarked.
Anew blinked. It apparently seemed to be a well-known holiday since Lyle seemed rather surprised that she hadn't heard of it. She smiled. "I'd like to learn about it."
Lyle grinned. “Well, let’s see, where to begin…” He harkened back on his all too few memories of Christmas mass with his family and then launched into a retelling of Christmas, complete with barns, angels, and the star of it all: a baby in a manger.
Neil half-listened as he looked through the box of decoration. There was a lot in there... a lot of ornaments. He was looking through smaller boxes to see what was in there.
Anew, on the other hand, had given Lyle her full attention. She listened to the story so she would know about the holiday was coming up soon. That was one problem with being an Innovator. Ribbons didn't care about sentimental "human" stuff so he didn't bother to educate even her, who was supposed to be passing as a human, about it.
“…And that’s why we usually put a star at the top of the tree.” Lyle finished with a flourish, beaming. He hadn’t had someone pay that close attention to him in a long while and it felt good. Of course, since it was Anew that only made it better. “Anything else you want to know?”
"What's the tradition with... Santa, is it?" Anew asked. She had a better idea of what Christmas was, but she was still confused how some things fit in.
Lyle chuckled. “Santa is this big jolly guy that rides a sleigh pulled by 9 reindeer. Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, is out front. Basically, Santa lives in the North Pole, where the elves make toys, and then he delivers them to the kids by going up and down chimneys. There are other versions of Saint Nicholas depending on the country.”
Anew listened to this explanation then looked a bit shocked. Normally that would be called breaking and entering, but apparently that didn't apply for him? She wasn't quite sure about that part of it since it sounded so... random to her. "Okay..." she said, giving a slow nod.
Neil looked over in time to the see the look on her face and had to hide the chuckle that escaped.
Lyle didn’t bother to hide his amusement. “It sounds worse than it really is, but then parents encourage their kids to believe this so...” he shrugged. “I guess to each their own. Oh, and stockings. The stockings are important, as they’re hung by the chimney (with care) so that Santa can fill them with goodies. If you’re good, you get presents. If you’re bad, you get coal.”
Anew nodded. It was probably more that she hadn't been taught from a young age to believe that and the fact that she was an Innovator and thus her mind worked more logically. "Oh... that's good then." She leaned over and kissed Lyle on the cheek. "I know you're not going to get any coal."
Neil snickered a bit. Yes, that was girlfriend response right there. He randomly found a stuffed reindeer in the box and threw it at Lyle.
“Why thank you, Anew. It’s nice to know someone has some good will towards men,” he said as the stuffed reindeer bounced off him. “I think we know who’s getting coal this Christmas.” He looked pointedly at Neil, but the grin belied his threat. Instead of hurling the stuffed reindeer back at Neil, he handed it to Anew and kissed her.
Anew chuckled, taking the reindeer when Lyle handed it to her. She blushed a bit when he kissed her, but she kissed him back. When they parted, she turned the reindeer so she could look at it. It was rather cute.
Neil chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, we can light the hearth with all the coal I'm going to get," Neil said with a wink. He had actually intended for Lyle to give that to her. It was obvious no one was missing the stuffed reindeer, whether it had belonged to someone or just shown up with the hut and it was her first Christmas as far as they knew. "I'm going to make some coffee. You guys want some?"
“Sure,” Lyle replied. “Can I make a request for Irish coffee? It would be a shame to let all the traditions die.” He smiled at Anew’s reaction to the reindeer. “I think it’s Rudolph, seeing as how it has the red nose.”
Neil nodded. "Sure, why not. You want some too, Anew?" he asked as he got up and headed towards the kitchen.
Anew looked up and nodded. "Sure." Then she looked back at the reindeer. "Oh, so Rudolph is the only one with a red nose then?" she asked, again looking at the reindeer.
Lyle chuckled. “Yep, poor reindeer, he was always laughed at and called names; never could join in any reindeer games. All because of that red nose. There are seven others though, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen…” he paused doing the math then nodded. “Yep, that’s all of them. Unless you count Olive the other reindeer.”
Neil chuckled from the kitchen, hearing his brother reciting that.
Anew blinked. "Wow... that's sad that he was mistreated like that." She looked at the reindeer again then set it down beside her, looking back at Lyle. "So is there anything else about Christmas?"
“Hmm, Jesus, Santa, there’s the Grinch, but he’s just a kid’s story…” He looked towards the kitchen and pitched his voice so it would carry. “Neil, did I leave anything out?”
"No, I don't think so," Neil replied, returning with three cups of coffee. "And the coffee is done," he said with a smile.
Anew smiled. "Thank you, Neil," she said taking the cup when Neil offered it to her.
"Thanks Neil," said Lyle, taking his cup from Neil. "Mmm, smells good." He took a careful sip and sighed happily. "This is gonna be the best Christmas ever."
Neil nodded. "I think it will be," he said with a smile. They'd both have their girlfriends and each other. He took a sip of his coffee. He had made his and Lyle's coffees to the normal strength that they were used to. He hadn't made Anew's as strong since she didn't drink alcohol much.
Anew smiled. "I'm pretty sure it will be," she replied, taking a sip of her coffee. If she had known that Neil hadn't made hers as strong, she would have been glad since it wasn't something she was used to.
Lyle glanced over at the Christmas tree, which was looking rather bare of ornaments. “Well, hopefully Pluto won’t be too long in coming, so we can decorate.”
Pluto came back to the hut, blinking as she walked in. She saw the others sitting around, eyes sliding over to the tree in the corner. "All of you are decorating for the holiday?"
Neil nodded. "Yeah, we started getting everything out for decorating. We decided to wait for you to get home."
Anew smiled, "Welcome home, Miss Pluto."
Lyle grinned at Pluto. "You're just in time to help us decorate. Interested?"
Pluto smiled faintly, taking her coat off and nodding. "I'll help. How much decorating were you going to do today?"
Neil shrugged. "At least the tree... it looks kind of sad just sitting there without ornaments. I guess after that we can figure out what else we want to do."
"That sounds good to me," Anew remarked. She still didn't have much experience with Christmas even though she knew about it now so she was just going to go along with what they wanted.
"That sounds all right." Pluto walked over to the tree, looking it over. "Just as long as there's no mistletoe."
Lyle sighed. "Is that really the best you all can come up with? Our first Christmas together and we're just going to decorate the tree? What about stockings?"
Neil leaned over and poked Lyle. "Today... there's still more time until Christmas. We don't need to get it all up today."
Anew chuckled then took a sip of her coffee.
There was no better response that Pluto could have other than just shaking her head at the twins. Really, they were such children around each other at times even with how old they were. "At least the tree. Maybe some mistletoe in one room."
Lyle grabbed for Neil's finger, missing by scant inches, before turning to look back at Pluto. "Mistletoe would be great--definitely can't skip that tradition." He winked at Anew, figuring she would soon ask about it.
"We can stick the mistletoe in yours and Anew's room," Neil remarked with a chuckle, setting down his coffee.
Anew indeed looked confused. "What's... mistletoe?"
Pluto sighed, giving Lyle a small glare before answering Anew's question. "It is a rather silly tradition that I wish we could skip. You hang some mistletoe, and whoever is underneath it has to kiss." She had been the victim of that tradition too many times, and thoroughly hated it.
Lyle chuckled. "It's all in good fun, though."
Neil chuckled. "See why I said it goes in your room?" he said to Lyle. Yes, he was whipped. His girlfriend didn't want it up, so he wasn't going to argue.
Anew blinked. "If you don't want it up, Miss Pluto, we don't have to put it up."
"It goes up in your room or Lyle's, not mine. I've just had it sprung on me too many times, and I'm expecting Uranus to try it again. She always does."
Lyle started to open his mouth to argue, before closing it again. He wasn’t going to ruin their first Christmas in a long while by arguing about something as stupid as mistletoe. Besides, he could always put it up later when no one was paying attention. “Alright, fine, we’ll leave the mistletoe aside.”
Neil chuckled. "Alright we should probably start on the tree," he said getting up and going back over to the box of decorations. Off the topic of mistletoe and on something more pleasant.
Anew set her coffee down and went over to the box as well. She hadn't looked through it yet. She pulled out a strand of... were they lights? But they were tangled.
Pluto sat down, opening another box to find garland in it. "Do we want to put the lights on first, or the garland? And it looks like we need to untangled the lights."
"I'll take care of the lights," Lyle volunteered, grabbing his irish coffee and shifting so he could get into a more comfortable position. "It depends, I guess, whether you want to cover the lights with the garland or not."
"We can probably do the garland first," Neil remarked. "It doesn't really matter each way."
Anew shifted to hand Lyle the lights. When she did, she took the reindeer that had at least temporarily been given to her and put it under the tree for the moment.
Pluto nodded, taking the garland and getting it draped over her arms so she could start putting that on. "Can I get a little help with this while Lyle untangles lights?"
Lyle quickly finished his mug of coffee before sorting out the tangled light strand.
Neil nodded. "Of course," he said walking over to help her with the garland. He smiled, rather glad that they were decorating together.
"Do you need any help, Lyle?" Anew asked. If he didn't, she was going to help Pluto and Neil with the garland, but she figured she should check.
Pluto smiled, doing her part to drape the garland over the tree, making sure that it wasn't going to be pulled off by a Haro rolling by. She was glad that she got the chance to decorate with Neil, just because it made everything better.
Lyle grinned at Anew. "Well, if you wanted to help, you could plug in the string of lights and replace the burned out bulbs." He could untangle them whether they were lit or not as the bulbs didn't get too hot.
Neil smiled, assisting Pluto in putting the garland up.
Anew nodded. She went and plugged in the lights then started looking for bulbs that had burned out to replace them.
Pluto stepped back only after she and Neil had gotten the garland on, waiting to see how much Anew and Lyle had finished with the lights.
Lyle gave one more twist to the string of lights and let out a triumphant grunt. "Hah, got 'em straightened out. Should be good to go on the tree shortly," he added, helping Anew finish replacing the burned out bulbs.
Neil chuckled. "That's good... you always did like untangling the lights," he teased his brother.
Anew finished replacing the last burnt out and bulb. "I think the lights are done," she said.
"Then should Neil and I put the lights up, or should we start taking out the ornaments while the two of you do that?"
Lyle flicked a burned out bulb at Neil for his comment. "That's only because you were too busy playing with the mistletoe." In answer to Pluto, "Feel free to pull out the ornaments. I think Anew and I can handle a string of lights."
"I was not playing with the mistletoe," Neil protested. But he wasn't going to argue, just simply starting to get ornaments out. He wasn't going to ruin this by overexaggerating it. He smiled at Pluto as he pulled ornaments out.
Anew smiled and got to her feet. She started picking the strand of lights so it could be wrapped around the tree. Even though they hadn't done much, she was rather enjoying it.
Pluto chuckled, sitting down so she could get some of the ornaments out. "Should I be worried that you'll find a way to sneak some mistletoe in the bedroom, Neil? Since I now know that you liked playing with it when you and Lyle had Christmas together."
Lyle helped Anew wrap the lights around the tree, while listening to Pluto and Neil. He couldn't help but chuckle at Pluto's sudden suspicion that Neil might sneak some into their room. "Would that be reason enough for someone getting coal in their stocking?" he asked wryly.
"Yes." Really, did Lyle have to ask that question? She hated the tradition, and for good reason.
"I'm not going to put mistletoe in our room," Neil remarked. And he was telling the truth. That didn't mean Lyle and Anew's room was safe.
Anew smiled, winding the lights on the tree the best she could. She wasn't too terribly tall and she had never done this before.
"Party-poopers," Lyle muttered under his breath as he fixed a few of the lights nearer the top of the tree. He let Anew carry on with the decorating; she was doing a pretty good job.
"At least one of you is being sensible." Pluto sighed, taking more of the ornaments out and smiling a little at Neil. At least it seemed like her room was going to be safe.
Neil chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, we never have any fun," Neil said with a grin. He then smiled at Pluto again.
"Am I doing alright?" Anew asked Lyle. She wanted to make sure it was okay.
Lyle nodded. "It looks good as far as I can tell. Pluto? Neil? What do you two think?"
"It looks good so far." Pluto smiled, looking at the tree. "Maybe two of us should get the ornaments ready to be hung, and the other two put them on the tree?"
"Looks good to me," Neil remarked. "That sounds good." He started putting ornaments onto hooks so they could be hung up.
Anew glanced back at Neil and Pluto, smiling then went back to putting the lights on the tree.
Pluto started putting ornaments on hooks as well since there were enough of them out for now. "So they're ready whenever the two of you get the lights on."
Lyle nodded. "Okay, great." He bent down to grab a couple of the ornaments, as the lights were strung. He started adding a few to the tree, careful not to overload the branches.
"And make sure that anything breakable is above Haro height," Neil remarked. "They will probably be over here to see what this is."
Anew chuckled, taking some of the ornaments and hanging them up on the tree.
When: BACKDATED: before Christmas, obviously
Where: Hut 1
Rating: PG
Warnings: Mention of Mistletoe
Notes: Finished in comments
Summary: Anew learns about Christmas as everyone helps decorate the hut.
Anew had just gotten home from work not that long ago. She was curious about this thing she kept hearing and seeing. "Christmas" it was apparently called. She heard references to it in the music playing the flower shop and had seen references to it as well. She had decided to try and find out sometime. For now, she was in the kitchen baking some bread. She was wondering where Lyle was. He was usually off by now.
Lyle had taken advantage of his schedule to find a Christmas tree with Neil. It was more the tradition of finding a tree-and that he got to share it with his brother again-that made it special. He wrestled with his end of the tree, trying carefully not to let the branches drop too many needles. It still had to look good. “I think we’re almost there,” he called back to his twin, moving one hand to open the door, the other balancing the tree.
"That's good. It's quite heavy," Neil remarked. Not that he minded. It had been fun to go get a tree with Lyle and bringing it back was part of that. He had thought it would be fun to surprise the ladies in the hut by bringing back a tree. He tried to balance it a bit more by himself so his brother could get the door open.
Anew blinked, hearing the noise from outside. What could possibly be going on? Luckily what she was making didn't need her constant attention anymore. She left the kitchen and went to open the door to see what was going on.
Lyle nearly lost his balance as his hand came up empty in its search for the doorknob. He turned to find the door open and Anew looking at them. He smiled. “Anew! Merry Christmas! Thanks for getting the door.” He quickly replaced his hand on the tree again, steadying it. “Don’t mind us,” he added, as he slowly started backing into the hut.
Neil chuckled. "Thank you, Anew." He at least had the easier end. He could see where he was going. "We should figure out where we want to put it, then get the tree stand," he remarked, following his brother.
Anew nodded as they came in, holding the door open for them. "You're welcome." There was that word again... she really wanted to know what it was now. More importantly, she wanted to know why they were bringing a tree into the hut. It seemed rather odd to her.
Lyle glanced around the main room of the hut for a good location for the tree, one that wasn’t too far as the tree was fairly heavy. “How about the corner? It would be out of the way of us walking, but we could still see it.”
Neil nodded. "Sounds good," he said swinging around to move the tree in that direction. "And we can also put the tree so the best sides are showing."
Anew shut the door once they were both inside, watching the twins wrangling the tree into the hut.
Lyle nodded, before realizing Neil probably couldn’t see him over the branches. “That would be good.” He waited for Neil get in position before following with the rest of the tree. “About the tree strand…do we have one around here or will we need to buy one?” He spotted Anew watching them and winked at her.
"I'm fairly sure I saw one recently," Neil remarked, backing up into the corner so they could get the tree there. Now it was his turn to go backwards. "After we get it standing, I can go see if I can find it."
Anew saw Lyle blink and blushed a little. Even though she wasn't quite sure what she would be looking for, she offered, "I can see if I can find it."
Lyle chuckled at seeing Anew blush. “That might be quicker, actually-though I have no idea where it might be. Neil, are we almost there?” At this angle the tree felt more like a battering ram.
Neil nodded. "Yes, stop... I don't really want to get trapped against the wall," he said with a chuckle. "I think it's in the hall closet... on one of the lower shelves. It's red and green."
Anew nodded and headed to see if she could find what Neil was talking about.
“I’m not sure Pluto would be thrilled with you trapped back there either,” Lyle replied wryly. “The next question is ornaments. Those would probably also be in the hall closet?”
"Yeah, I can't imagine she would be," Neil said with a grin. "I think those would be in the closet too, but we should probably wait until Pluto gets home so we can all decorate together... or at least see if she wants to help with decorating."
A moment later, Anew returned with the stand. "Is this what you two were looking for?" she asked.
“That would be best probably,” he agreed, before turning to look at Anew. “Hey, you found it! Bring it over so I can quit juggling this tree. Oh, and we probably should put a sheet down to catch the needles when they drop. Hard to believe Christmas is so close; time certainly flies.”
"The sheet can wait for a bit," Neil said as Anew brought the stand over. "It'll be a bit before the needles start to fall." When she set it down, Neil dropped his end of the tree into the stand. "Anew, can you tighten the screws so it will stay up?”
Anew nodded and knelt down, reaching under the tree to tighten screws that Neil was talking about. She really did need to ask what the point of this was... since it didn't seem like just something they were doing to be random. "Alright," she said standing back up when she couldn't tighten them anymore.
Lyle started lifting his end of the tree in preparation of setting the thing right-side up. With any luck, it would just clear the ceiling. They hadn’t exactly measured it before chopping it down, although relative sizing seemed to have done well enough. “Alright, lets get this thing up.”
Neil nodded, lowering his end the rest of the way so it would stand up. He looked up as it was moved to standing position. "Ha. It's the right height," Neil said. There was still room for the star to be put on top.
"It looks nice," Anew said looking at the tree. After a moment, she said, "what's it for?"
Lyle paused and looked at her, a bit stunned by the question. “What’s it for?” He glanced over at Neil, before replying. “It’s a Christmas tree…to hang ornaments on and put packages underneath.” His surprise passed as something occurred to him. “Have you ever celebrated Christmas before?”
Neil moved out from behind the tree. He already suspected that she hadn't. Tieria hadn't heard of it either when he had first met Tieria so it possible that she hadn't either.
Anew shook her head. "I never have... I don't know what Christmas is," she added after a moment.
Lyle couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Never heard of Christmas? Well, okay, given her background he could excuse that. It was likely that Ribbons had never heard of it, or would not have bothered to tell her, since it kind of ruined the whole ‘Innovators are here to save you’ kind of theme. He smiled instead. “Then it seems like we need to have a Christmas story.”
Neil had gone to get the box of decorations, not to start setting up at the moment, but just to get it out so when they wanted to start, they didn't have to pull it out. "Probably," he remarked.
Anew blinked. It apparently seemed to be a well-known holiday since Lyle seemed rather surprised that she hadn't heard of it. She smiled. "I'd like to learn about it."
Lyle grinned. “Well, let’s see, where to begin…” He harkened back on his all too few memories of Christmas mass with his family and then launched into a retelling of Christmas, complete with barns, angels, and the star of it all: a baby in a manger.
Neil half-listened as he looked through the box of decoration. There was a lot in there... a lot of ornaments. He was looking through smaller boxes to see what was in there.
Anew, on the other hand, had given Lyle her full attention. She listened to the story so she would know about the holiday was coming up soon. That was one problem with being an Innovator. Ribbons didn't care about sentimental "human" stuff so he didn't bother to educate even her, who was supposed to be passing as a human, about it.
“…And that’s why we usually put a star at the top of the tree.” Lyle finished with a flourish, beaming. He hadn’t had someone pay that close attention to him in a long while and it felt good. Of course, since it was Anew that only made it better. “Anything else you want to know?”
"What's the tradition with... Santa, is it?" Anew asked. She had a better idea of what Christmas was, but she was still confused how some things fit in.
Lyle chuckled. “Santa is this big jolly guy that rides a sleigh pulled by 9 reindeer. Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, is out front. Basically, Santa lives in the North Pole, where the elves make toys, and then he delivers them to the kids by going up and down chimneys. There are other versions of Saint Nicholas depending on the country.”
Anew listened to this explanation then looked a bit shocked. Normally that would be called breaking and entering, but apparently that didn't apply for him? She wasn't quite sure about that part of it since it sounded so... random to her. "Okay..." she said, giving a slow nod.
Neil looked over in time to the see the look on her face and had to hide the chuckle that escaped.
Lyle didn’t bother to hide his amusement. “It sounds worse than it really is, but then parents encourage their kids to believe this so...” he shrugged. “I guess to each their own. Oh, and stockings. The stockings are important, as they’re hung by the chimney (with care) so that Santa can fill them with goodies. If you’re good, you get presents. If you’re bad, you get coal.”
Anew nodded. It was probably more that she hadn't been taught from a young age to believe that and the fact that she was an Innovator and thus her mind worked more logically. "Oh... that's good then." She leaned over and kissed Lyle on the cheek. "I know you're not going to get any coal."
Neil snickered a bit. Yes, that was girlfriend response right there. He randomly found a stuffed reindeer in the box and threw it at Lyle.
“Why thank you, Anew. It’s nice to know someone has some good will towards men,” he said as the stuffed reindeer bounced off him. “I think we know who’s getting coal this Christmas.” He looked pointedly at Neil, but the grin belied his threat. Instead of hurling the stuffed reindeer back at Neil, he handed it to Anew and kissed her.
Anew chuckled, taking the reindeer when Lyle handed it to her. She blushed a bit when he kissed her, but she kissed him back. When they parted, she turned the reindeer so she could look at it. It was rather cute.
Neil chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, we can light the hearth with all the coal I'm going to get," Neil said with a wink. He had actually intended for Lyle to give that to her. It was obvious no one was missing the stuffed reindeer, whether it had belonged to someone or just shown up with the hut and it was her first Christmas as far as they knew. "I'm going to make some coffee. You guys want some?"
“Sure,” Lyle replied. “Can I make a request for Irish coffee? It would be a shame to let all the traditions die.” He smiled at Anew’s reaction to the reindeer. “I think it’s Rudolph, seeing as how it has the red nose.”
Neil nodded. "Sure, why not. You want some too, Anew?" he asked as he got up and headed towards the kitchen.
Anew looked up and nodded. "Sure." Then she looked back at the reindeer. "Oh, so Rudolph is the only one with a red nose then?" she asked, again looking at the reindeer.
Lyle chuckled. “Yep, poor reindeer, he was always laughed at and called names; never could join in any reindeer games. All because of that red nose. There are seven others though, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen…” he paused doing the math then nodded. “Yep, that’s all of them. Unless you count Olive the other reindeer.”
Neil chuckled from the kitchen, hearing his brother reciting that.
Anew blinked. "Wow... that's sad that he was mistreated like that." She looked at the reindeer again then set it down beside her, looking back at Lyle. "So is there anything else about Christmas?"
“Hmm, Jesus, Santa, there’s the Grinch, but he’s just a kid’s story…” He looked towards the kitchen and pitched his voice so it would carry. “Neil, did I leave anything out?”
"No, I don't think so," Neil replied, returning with three cups of coffee. "And the coffee is done," he said with a smile.
Anew smiled. "Thank you, Neil," she said taking the cup when Neil offered it to her.
"Thanks Neil," said Lyle, taking his cup from Neil. "Mmm, smells good." He took a careful sip and sighed happily. "This is gonna be the best Christmas ever."
Neil nodded. "I think it will be," he said with a smile. They'd both have their girlfriends and each other. He took a sip of his coffee. He had made his and Lyle's coffees to the normal strength that they were used to. He hadn't made Anew's as strong since she didn't drink alcohol much.
Anew smiled. "I'm pretty sure it will be," she replied, taking a sip of her coffee. If she had known that Neil hadn't made hers as strong, she would have been glad since it wasn't something she was used to.
Lyle glanced over at the Christmas tree, which was looking rather bare of ornaments. “Well, hopefully Pluto won’t be too long in coming, so we can decorate.”
Pluto came back to the hut, blinking as she walked in. She saw the others sitting around, eyes sliding over to the tree in the corner. "All of you are decorating for the holiday?"
Neil nodded. "Yeah, we started getting everything out for decorating. We decided to wait for you to get home."
Anew smiled, "Welcome home, Miss Pluto."
Lyle grinned at Pluto. "You're just in time to help us decorate. Interested?"
Pluto smiled faintly, taking her coat off and nodding. "I'll help. How much decorating were you going to do today?"
Neil shrugged. "At least the tree... it looks kind of sad just sitting there without ornaments. I guess after that we can figure out what else we want to do."
"That sounds good to me," Anew remarked. She still didn't have much experience with Christmas even though she knew about it now so she was just going to go along with what they wanted.
"That sounds all right." Pluto walked over to the tree, looking it over. "Just as long as there's no mistletoe."
Lyle sighed. "Is that really the best you all can come up with? Our first Christmas together and we're just going to decorate the tree? What about stockings?"
Neil leaned over and poked Lyle. "Today... there's still more time until Christmas. We don't need to get it all up today."
Anew chuckled then took a sip of her coffee.
There was no better response that Pluto could have other than just shaking her head at the twins. Really, they were such children around each other at times even with how old they were. "At least the tree. Maybe some mistletoe in one room."
Lyle grabbed for Neil's finger, missing by scant inches, before turning to look back at Pluto. "Mistletoe would be great--definitely can't skip that tradition." He winked at Anew, figuring she would soon ask about it.
"We can stick the mistletoe in yours and Anew's room," Neil remarked with a chuckle, setting down his coffee.
Anew indeed looked confused. "What's... mistletoe?"
Pluto sighed, giving Lyle a small glare before answering Anew's question. "It is a rather silly tradition that I wish we could skip. You hang some mistletoe, and whoever is underneath it has to kiss." She had been the victim of that tradition too many times, and thoroughly hated it.
Lyle chuckled. "It's all in good fun, though."
Neil chuckled. "See why I said it goes in your room?" he said to Lyle. Yes, he was whipped. His girlfriend didn't want it up, so he wasn't going to argue.
Anew blinked. "If you don't want it up, Miss Pluto, we don't have to put it up."
"It goes up in your room or Lyle's, not mine. I've just had it sprung on me too many times, and I'm expecting Uranus to try it again. She always does."
Lyle started to open his mouth to argue, before closing it again. He wasn’t going to ruin their first Christmas in a long while by arguing about something as stupid as mistletoe. Besides, he could always put it up later when no one was paying attention. “Alright, fine, we’ll leave the mistletoe aside.”
Neil chuckled. "Alright we should probably start on the tree," he said getting up and going back over to the box of decorations. Off the topic of mistletoe and on something more pleasant.
Anew set her coffee down and went over to the box as well. She hadn't looked through it yet. She pulled out a strand of... were they lights? But they were tangled.
Pluto sat down, opening another box to find garland in it. "Do we want to put the lights on first, or the garland? And it looks like we need to untangled the lights."
"I'll take care of the lights," Lyle volunteered, grabbing his irish coffee and shifting so he could get into a more comfortable position. "It depends, I guess, whether you want to cover the lights with the garland or not."
"We can probably do the garland first," Neil remarked. "It doesn't really matter each way."
Anew shifted to hand Lyle the lights. When she did, she took the reindeer that had at least temporarily been given to her and put it under the tree for the moment.
Pluto nodded, taking the garland and getting it draped over her arms so she could start putting that on. "Can I get a little help with this while Lyle untangles lights?"
Lyle quickly finished his mug of coffee before sorting out the tangled light strand.
Neil nodded. "Of course," he said walking over to help her with the garland. He smiled, rather glad that they were decorating together.
"Do you need any help, Lyle?" Anew asked. If he didn't, she was going to help Pluto and Neil with the garland, but she figured she should check.
Pluto smiled, doing her part to drape the garland over the tree, making sure that it wasn't going to be pulled off by a Haro rolling by. She was glad that she got the chance to decorate with Neil, just because it made everything better.
Lyle grinned at Anew. "Well, if you wanted to help, you could plug in the string of lights and replace the burned out bulbs." He could untangle them whether they were lit or not as the bulbs didn't get too hot.
Neil smiled, assisting Pluto in putting the garland up.
Anew nodded. She went and plugged in the lights then started looking for bulbs that had burned out to replace them.
Pluto stepped back only after she and Neil had gotten the garland on, waiting to see how much Anew and Lyle had finished with the lights.
Lyle gave one more twist to the string of lights and let out a triumphant grunt. "Hah, got 'em straightened out. Should be good to go on the tree shortly," he added, helping Anew finish replacing the burned out bulbs.
Neil chuckled. "That's good... you always did like untangling the lights," he teased his brother.
Anew finished replacing the last burnt out and bulb. "I think the lights are done," she said.
"Then should Neil and I put the lights up, or should we start taking out the ornaments while the two of you do that?"
Lyle flicked a burned out bulb at Neil for his comment. "That's only because you were too busy playing with the mistletoe." In answer to Pluto, "Feel free to pull out the ornaments. I think Anew and I can handle a string of lights."
"I was not playing with the mistletoe," Neil protested. But he wasn't going to argue, just simply starting to get ornaments out. He wasn't going to ruin this by overexaggerating it. He smiled at Pluto as he pulled ornaments out.
Anew smiled and got to her feet. She started picking the strand of lights so it could be wrapped around the tree. Even though they hadn't done much, she was rather enjoying it.
Pluto chuckled, sitting down so she could get some of the ornaments out. "Should I be worried that you'll find a way to sneak some mistletoe in the bedroom, Neil? Since I now know that you liked playing with it when you and Lyle had Christmas together."
Lyle helped Anew wrap the lights around the tree, while listening to Pluto and Neil. He couldn't help but chuckle at Pluto's sudden suspicion that Neil might sneak some into their room. "Would that be reason enough for someone getting coal in their stocking?" he asked wryly.
"Yes." Really, did Lyle have to ask that question? She hated the tradition, and for good reason.
"I'm not going to put mistletoe in our room," Neil remarked. And he was telling the truth. That didn't mean Lyle and Anew's room was safe.
Anew smiled, winding the lights on the tree the best she could. She wasn't too terribly tall and she had never done this before.
"Party-poopers," Lyle muttered under his breath as he fixed a few of the lights nearer the top of the tree. He let Anew carry on with the decorating; she was doing a pretty good job.
"At least one of you is being sensible." Pluto sighed, taking more of the ornaments out and smiling a little at Neil. At least it seemed like her room was going to be safe.
Neil chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, we never have any fun," Neil said with a grin. He then smiled at Pluto again.
"Am I doing alright?" Anew asked Lyle. She wanted to make sure it was okay.
Lyle nodded. "It looks good as far as I can tell. Pluto? Neil? What do you two think?"
"It looks good so far." Pluto smiled, looking at the tree. "Maybe two of us should get the ornaments ready to be hung, and the other two put them on the tree?"
"Looks good to me," Neil remarked. "That sounds good." He started putting ornaments onto hooks so they could be hung up.
Anew glanced back at Neil and Pluto, smiling then went back to putting the lights on the tree.
Pluto started putting ornaments on hooks as well since there were enough of them out for now. "So they're ready whenever the two of you get the lights on."
Lyle nodded. "Okay, great." He bent down to grab a couple of the ornaments, as the lights were strung. He started adding a few to the tree, careful not to overload the branches.
"And make sure that anything breakable is above Haro height," Neil remarked. "They will probably be over here to see what this is."
Anew chuckled, taking some of the ornaments and hanging them up on the tree.