#to be fair though i do enjoy an ungodly amount of salt on my foods

[ashadeofpemberley]

The Perfect Christmas

For @anneelliotscat my dear giftee!

Prompt: “Well, that wasn’t so bad.”

Rating: G (Literally this might give you a cavity)

Summary: A super short and sweet ficlet about Gideon’s first Christmas. 

AN: Sorry for any mistakes, I procrastinated to the max and didn’t have time to send it off to a beta! Hope you enjoy anyway!

Rumpelstiltskin slumped back in his chair with his sleeping son resting in his lap. Having never really been a fan of the holidays either in Storybrroke of the Enchanted Forest, he still couldn’t wrap his head how in a matter of two weeks his wife had managed to turn their home from a cluttered mess of Gideon’s ever-present toys and magical antiquities into a cosy Christmas wonderland that would have made even Martha Stewart turn positively green.

This was Gideon’s first Christmas and as far as Belle Gold was concerned, it was to be the grandest affair since the invention of glitter. The library had been ransacked for information about what would constitute the perfect family Christmas. Luckily for them, family was something they had in abundance. The whole clan had been enlisted to help with preparations right down to the former Evil Queen, who had been charged with bringing an assortment of apple-flavored pastries to dinner. Despite her recent good behavior, most of the guests, save Henry, opted for the pumpkin pie Ruby had brought with her from Granny’s.

Baelfire and Emma had been put in charge of finding a tree for the family room, and in hindsight Gold could admit that it might have been a mistake to give his daughter-in-law an axe, sheriff or not. For not having had very many family Christmases, both of them had very, very strong opinions about what constituted a good tree.  

“Are you insane?! This one looks like someone you’d see in a Peanuts special!”

“Well at least mine will fit through the door! Yours needs its own zip code!”

After six hours of heated debate and threats of frostbite, the couple returned to the house hauling in what could quite possibly have been the largest pine tree ever created along with a three foot sapling that had lost a fair amount of its needles on the drive back. It had taken several mugs of hot chocolate with cinnamon and a promise to simply buy a plastic one for next year from Belle to get the two back on to speaking terms long enough to do some light trimming. Gideon even participated as he “helped” put the stars on top with a little assistance from his older brother Bae, who was by far the tallest of the Gold men (though Henry was giving him a run for his money.)

After the trees had been suitably drowned in tinsel, various holiday knick knacks they all had found in the attic from his days spent as Mr. Gold, pawnbroker, curse victim, and apparent reindeer enthusiast, Rumple thought the worst was over.

Then came the food.

Now, Rumpelstiltskin was no stranger to a good feast. He had seen plenty in his time as the Dark One, and plenty more after whatever curse they were under currently was broken, but nothing could have prepared him for the absolute sugar-coated insanity that had descended upon his kitchen for the last two weeks. One thing he had always admired about Belle was her tenacious spirit. If she wanted something, she would go after it whatever it took. Unfortunately, that spirit was the same one that told her that making enough food to feed Storybrooke and a good portion of Maine was an excellent idea. If the oven could speak, it probably would have asked for an attorney or a therapist by the end of the first week. By the end of the second week of marathon type cooking, Rumplestiltskin could confidently say that a grand total of two pigs, three lambs, four turkeys, seven Cornish hens, and one terribly unlucky duck had all met an untimely end in his kitchen. Normally, Belle was an incredibly gentle person, but she had tenderized that duck like it owed her money.

Of course, that only covered the main courses. His wife had outsourced several side dishes to various guests since her kitchen was currently serving as the clove-scented hell of the animal kingdom. Snow White had graciously taken up the task of making the potatoes…all eight variations of them. Potatoes had been scalloped, baked, roasted, mashed, smashed (“Yes there’s a difference, Rumple!”), fried, shredded, and covered with cheese. At promptly five o’clock this morning Mr. Gold watched as a seemingly endless parade of dwarves marched dutifully to his kitchen, each of them armed with an aluminum pan fill to the brim with some combination of starch, butter, and salt. Looking back, he really shouldn't have been surprised. The Nolan’s and their dwarfish friends personally catered Emma and Baelfire’s wedding reception in a matter of two days, it was a wonder that hadn’t caused another famine with two weeks to work.

Henry had volunteered to make the gravy and stuffing (with the supervision of Regina), Leroy offered to bring drinks (including non-alcoholic options for those who were still breastfeeding), and Mulan had kindly brought in an assortment of fruit from her latest travels. Ariel and her husband had been sent an invitation but unfortunately had to decline due to a recent hurricane, they did however send a lovely (albeit a little soggy) fruitcake as an apology and a promise to visit at New Year’s.

That left the cookies. Although Regina was taking care of the rest of the desserts, Belle has insisted that she be the one to make and decorate cookies. He had to admit, the spool-shaped ones were certainly clever, and Henry adored the book-shaped ones, Belle had even managed a batch of swans for Emma, but it was Gideon who had been positively delirious with excitement as he mounted an ungodly amount of frosting and sprinkles onto each of his wizard hat cookies. He was certainly his father’s son. Rumple hadn’t bothered trying to count the number of cookies that had been made, consumed, and then remade within the last two weeks, if for no other reason than he was convinced they were spawning when he wasn’t looking.

All in all it was a party to rival even the grandest event in the Enchanted Forest, let alone Storybrooke.

Guests had started to trickle in right after lunch. Bad and Emma were the first to arrive, but only because they were each trying to ensure that the other wasn’t planning on sabotaging their respective trees. Ruby had brought along Dr. Hopper as her guest, to absolutely no one’s surprise. Those two had been dancing around each other long before the first curse took place, though being no stranger to silent pining, Gold supposed he should keep that little observation to himself. Mulan had carpooled with the dwarves, seeing as she didn’t have a car in this world and there were no appropriate places to park a horse in the Gold’s driveway. The Nolan/Mills clan had arrived last seeing as there was some debate about how best to transport five dozen apple turnovers with three gallons of gravy.  

If you were to tell Rumpelstiltskin a year ago, that he would be having Christmas dinner with the Charmings, the former Evil Queen, a Chinese warrior, a werewolf, a former cricket, several dwarves, the Savior, the son he’d lost, his grandson, his True Love and his newborn son he probably would have asked what curse they would be under and how much alcohol there was in this new curse.

After dinner was over and everyone was properly comatose with food, they all adjourned to the living room to watch the children open their gifts. Gideon had received several new books from his mama and papa along with a small cape that was a gift from his big brother (“You know, so he can practice that dramatic woosh thing,”) and a tiny dreamcatcher from Emma and Henry.

The festivities continued on long into the night. Stories were shared, jokes were told, and a few even decided to dance (that might have been due to Leroy’s special eggnog though).

The last of the guests had finally left just as Gideon settled himself into a deep sleep on his papa’s lap.

Looking around all he could see was colorful paper, stray cups and plates, and the odd scarf left behind. And strangely it didn’t bother him at all. Seeing his wife so content surrounded by family and friends was more than he could have ever wished for her.

There was only one thing left.

“Rumple, look it’s snowing!!”

Gently removing himself from his son’s sleeping form, Gold smiled as he walked over to where Belle had been collecting the last of the plates by the bay window.

She looked at him quizzically, “I thought it wasn’t supposed to snow until next week?”

He shrugged, “Well, I was put in charge of exterior decoration.”

“Rumple, you didn’t use magic did you? You know how I feel about altering weather patterns…”

“Sweetheart, I promise I didn’t use a single drop of magic on this.”

“Then how,”

“Let’s just say,” Rumple cut her off with a quick kiss to her lips, “I called in a favor from a certain Snow Queen who happened to be in town recently.”

Belle only smiled as she shook her head.

“This wasn’t so bad, was it Rumple?” She asked resting her head on his shoulder as they both looked out at the softly falling flakes. His only reply was another kiss to the side of her head.

If having their home be covered in tinsel and obscure family members for one day a year made his family this happy then, well, that wasn’t so bad at all.

#rumbelle christmas in july #anneelliotscat #rcij #ashadeofpemberley #my writing