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mystical-flute · 2 years

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All is Calm, All is Bright

Merry Christmas, @sassyandclassy94! I was your Secret Santa! I hope you enjoyed this Teen Swanfire Christmas with Henry!

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The cold, Bostonian winter was howling outside, snow covering everything it could reach. It was a far cry from last Christmas, when they’d been in Tallahassee and Henry had only been four months old. They hadn’t had much then, just a small, light up statue of a tree and a few crudely wrapped gifts from the kind old couple next door. It hadn’t been much, but with a four month old, Emma hadn’t exactly been sure what they should have done.

Now, though…

Bing Crosby’s voice warbled through the large CD player, twinkling lights they’d snagged at a garage sale were draped across the doorways of the small apartment, and a tiny, three-foot Christmas tree was tucked in the corner, a mishmash of cheap ornaments and lights dangling from it. The topper was a precariously perched Super Mario star plush Neal had scored at a resale shop the day after they learned they were going to be parents.

Henry, despite being a newborn, had cried the minute Neal showed it to him, so it had been put away for the rest of the year. Emma had made a joke that he wouldn’t be one for video games, much to her chagrin.

Thankfully, when they’d put it on top of the tree this year, Henry had been too distracted by the pretty lights to notice it.

It wasn’t much, but it was something, and for Henry’s second Christmas, that was all Emma could ask for. Henry wouldn’t remember it anyway, and hopefully by the next year, she and Neal would be able to give him a bigger Christmas tree and more gifts than the two sets of clothes and small teddy bear she’d bought with her Christmas bonus. She hoped she would be able to give Neal more than the couple of worn books she’d found too.

She wouldn’t trade her life for the world, but a little more money wouldn’t hurt, if for nothing else, for the ability to give Henry what he deserved - which was a much better Christmas than she or Neal had ever had, and while that wouldn’t be a stretch, Emma’s goals seemed to be a little too lofty given their current financial state. The $20,000 they’d gotten from the watches hadn’t stretched as far as they’d hoped, with Henry’s unexpected arrival and the eventual move to Boston. Even though they were making more with their new jobs, it still wasn’t exactly everything she’d hoped.

She let out a soft sigh and kissed the wispy hairs on Henry’s head. “Sorry we can’t do things the way you see on TV, Henry. But at least we’re together, right?”

Or, they should be together, but Neal was taking an awfully long time running errands, which, given it was the week of Christmas, wasn’t too surprising, but as the minutes ticked on, Emma grew more and more concerned.

“Where do you suppose your Papa is?” Emma asked Henry softly as ‘White Christmas’ began to play in the background. “It’s not like him to be this late, is it? Especially without a call or a text.”

Henry let out a babble, reaching for the stuffed lamb on the table, which she handed him. He was happy and safe, and that was all that mattered.

The sound of keys turning in the lock had her glancing over as Neal stumbled in the door, covered in snow. His arms were laden with gifts and groceries.

“Neal, what is all this stuff?” she asked with wide eyes, lifting Henry into her arms and following him to the kitchen.

“One of the guys at work was talking about an Adopt-A-Family program the high school was doing. I guess it was the band’s idea and a bunch of other clubs jumped on board with it too, so I signed us up, and then…” he said, gesturing to the bags of food. “There was a food pantry down the street. I tried to get some Christmas staples for us. They threw in some softer foods too, that we can have Henry try.”

Emma stared as Neal began unpacking the bags. “Wait - so all of this stuff was given to us? You didn’t steal it?”

“Emma, we barely got away with the watches. Do you really think I’d be able to get away with all of this if I stole it?”

“I guess not…” she said, glancing into the pantry. She couldn’t remember the last time it looked so full. She then set Henry down in his high chair and began to look through the bags of gifts. She saw toys - some she had enviously looked at in some of the stores - clothes, but what caught her attention was the red leather jacket - an adult’s sized jacket - laying at the bottom of one of the bags.

“Neal, why do I see an adult’s jacket?” she questioned.

He turned and closed the fridge. “Adopt-A-Family isn’t just for kids. They ask what the adults need or want too. I told them you needed a new coat, but weren’t into the super girly stuff. I guess that’s what they got you. Is that okay?”

Emma ran her hand along the smooth leather. “All of this is for us?” she whispered. “But why?”

Neal shrugged. “People like to help out around the holidays. I wouldn’t question it.”

It was a dream come true, which in Emma’s experience usually meant there was a catch somewhere. That a shoe would drop and everything would go to hell… and she was scared that would happen now.

“Emma,” Neal said, breaking her from her thoughts. “Everything is okay. This is a good thing. The Adopt-A-Family is anonymous, unless we sign and send them a thank you card. The food drive was at St. Peter’s, run by a group of nuns. They aren’t going to chase us down either - helping people like us is what they do.”

Emma sighed, then glanced at the bags of gifts again, and thought of the food they now had. “I guess this means we can skip grocery shopping this week. We can put our money into savings…”

“The nuns said we’re free to come back to the pantry at any time,” Neal said. “We just have to call them and tell them we’re coming.” To make his point, Neal pulled a card out of his pocket and stuck it to the fridge with a magnet. “Hey, I know you’re not used to this - accepting help without strings attached, but I know we can trust these nuns.”

She’d been to a private school once, at one of her foster homes, and the Mother Superior had been charged with embezzlement the year after, so she glanced up at Neal and raised a brow.

He sighed. “These are different nuns, Emma. And the toys came from teenagers with big hearts - ”

“ -or that need extra credit.”

“So what? Them needing extra credit doesn’t hurt us in any way. We get new stuff, Henry gets food in his stomach and a proper Christmas, and some random teenager bumps their grade from a B to an A and pleases their overbearing parents. Win-win for everyone involved, right?”

“I guess…” Emma replied, looking at the bags of gifts again. “It’ll be nice to see stacks of presents under the tree, right? And we’ll have normal looking pictures of Henry opening them, with a bow on his head…”

Neal smiled. “We can pick up wrapping paper tomorrow.”

Emma looked at their small Christmas tree, imagining the brightly-colored wrapped gifts beneath it, and felt her worries ease and her smile grow larger. “Yeah! Oh Neal… I can’t believe it’s really happening. A proper Christmas, with people that I love and who love me…”

Henry let out what must have been the baby version of a yell, distracting both of them.

“It’s five o’clock. He must be hungry. We’ve got leftover spaghetti, right?”

“In the fridge,” Emma confirmed, going to tend to Henry, and the small apartment was lighter with the promise of a happy, brighter Christmas.

On December 25th, they were awoken just after dawn by a fussy Henry. They took him into the living room where Neal switched on the tree, illuminating the room in the pretty multitude of colors and catching Henry’s attention immediately.

“You like the colors, Henry?” Emma giggled, holding one of the gifts out to him. “Look! I think Santa brought you something special!”

She had no idea if Henry was comprehending ‘Santa’, but he squealed in excitement and took the gift from her hands, tiny fists ripping at the paper anxiously, to her amusement, while Neal snapped pictures behind them with their beat up digital camera. They would take family photos with her old Polaroid.

After presents and breakfast, they lounged on the couch, watching A Christmas Story and White Christmas. Henry hadn’t taken his eyes off either, but had appeared to like the music and dancing in White Christmas more than the comedy of A Christmas Story.

“What do you think, Henry? Do you want to become a famous Broadway singer and dancer? Maybe perform at a ski lodge in Vermont?” Neal asked, swaying with Henry as the final notes of White Christmas rang through the apartment.

Henry laughed and squirmed in the grip, clearly wanting to dance on his own, so Emma switched on the CD player, setting it to the radio, where all Christmas music would be playing all day. Neal set him down, and they laughed as Henry bobbed along to Jingle Bell Rock. Emma couldn’t remember the last time her heart felt so light - so free.

They had a feast that night for dinner - well, in their eyes, it was a feast. Ham steaks, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, and cupcakes she and Henry had made for dessert (well, she had made the cupcakes and dabbed some frosting on Henry’s nose so she could get a funny picture).

And when Henry was down for the night, she and Neal snuggled together on the couch, the music low as they watched the snow fall gently over the city.

“This was the best Christmas ever,” Emma said softly. “We got to give Henry the first Christmas he deserved.” The first Christmas they all had deserved, really.

He held her close. “I know. After so long, it feels impossible, but we’ve finally done it, baby. We might not be in Tallahassee, but we are home.”

And there was nowhere she’d rather be.

#swanfiress2021 #swanfire #emma swan #neal cassidy #ouat

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pensbridgertons · 2 years

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SWANFIRE SECRET SANTA 2021

In honor of the holiday season, I thought it would be fun to hold a swanfire gift exchange to show some love for our favorite characters and spread the holiday cheer!! This is open to anyone who likes swanfire and would like to participate, no matter what type of content you create (gifsets, fic, graphics, moodboards, playlists, etc).

HOW IT WORKS

❆ To participate, enter your url on the form linked in the comments. You have until November 20th to sign up. I'll compile the list of entries and add them to a Draw Names group, and then once signups close I'll dm everyone a link to the Draw Names group so you can draw the url of the person you'll be making a gift for. Make sure you have dms open so I can get this link to you, and once you have your name keep it secret until posting your gift.

❆ Once you have your person, you can begin making your gift! You can make any type of content you prefer, and there are no requirements in terms of length or detail. This is all for fun! The gifts do not need to be holiday/winter themed either. The only requirement is that it focuses around swanfire. If you like, you can send them anonymous asks to see what they like, ask for prompts, etc. Make sure you use the anonymous feature so you don't reveal your identity!

❆ Starting December 24, gifts can be posted. You can post any time between December 24th through December 31st. Post your gift on your blog, and don’t forget to tag who it’s for in the caption! Use the tag #swanfiress2021 as well so we can all see your creations!

IMPORTANT DATES

❆ November 6-20 → sign ups are open

❆ November 21 → names can be drawn

❆ December 24-31 → gifts are posted

If you have any questions about how this works or anything related to the event, feel free to reach out to me! Also, if you’re interested in participating consider reblogging this to spread the word! I’m excited to see what everyone creates, happy holidays!!

#swanfiress2021 #swanfireedit #swanthiefedit #swanthief #swanfire #ouat #once upon a time #events #im so excited for this!!!

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