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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 25, 2010 23:03:19 GMT -5
Hitoshi didn't like to admit it, but secretly, he really, really loved Christmas. Maybe it was the smell of fresh baked gingerbread cookies, or the fact that it was the only time of the year when a person could actually find peppermint mochas in any coffee shop, or the fact that -- mostly thanks to his grandmother -- every Christmas in his childhood had been white.
He could even, if only for this one day, almost tolerate his sister's husband. Almost.
From somewhere in the other room, Hitoshi could hear the sound of Christmas specials playing. This time it was How the Grinch Stole Christmas -- the original cartoon, because Hitoshi absolutely loathed Jim Carrey and refused to rent anything starring him -- which was, admittedly, rather a relief after five hours of claymation.
Most of the food was done by now; the only things still cooking were the parsnips and the pumpkin pie. This would be the first Christmas in a long time that he hadn't spent at his grandmother's house, and thus the first Christmas that Hitoshi had cooked the entire meal himself. At least, aside from the deviled eggs and two kinds of cake that Hitomi had insisted on bringing.
Hitoshi wiped his hands off on the towel hanging by the oven, then leaned back against the counter. He gave a soft, content sigh. Hitoshi really did love the holidays.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 25, 2010 23:38:47 GMT -5
Alex also loved Christmas, though mostly because Hitoshi did.
The warmth and cheer bit was nice, he supposed, though it never seemed that much warmer than Thanksgiving or birthdays or a nice summer bonfire. The charity bit was a great idea, but usually bullshit, and charity given one month out of the year was often less than useless. He didn't care about presents. The decorations were pretty. Traditions and massive family get-togethers were things other people did, much less snow in San Diego.
Hitoshi letting all the sappy nonsense get under his skin, very subtly, in ways even Alex might not have picked up if he hadn't known the man forever? That he could get behind. Seeing him like that made Alex a little giddy.
The tree was trimmed, the halls were decked, the child (he was still getting used to that, honestly) was dressed and contented, and the whole house smelled like delicious things. He slipped into the kitchen, and, finding Hitoshi's hands finally unoccupied, set off to distract him in the remaining moments before dinner.
"Think you're about contented, or are we going to have to get your cousins down to finish an extra course or three?" he said, slipping his arms around Hitoshi and pecking him on the cheek.
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 26, 2010 0:06:32 GMT -5
Hitoshi grimaced slightly. "I think I'm going to enjoy spending a Christmas without those two ransacking the house." He smirked, glancing back at Alex. "Besides, I'd like to give Alyn one normal Christmas before the rest of the family scares her away."
Hitoshi twisted around in Alex's arms and nuzzled against Alex's neck, then pulled back to wrap his arms around Alex's neck. "Enjoying yourself? From the sound of Hitomi's incessant chirping from the next room, you haven't been wanting for conversation."
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Dec 26, 2010 14:47:34 GMT -5
"Oh, I'm sure I'll live one day without crowds of people." He attempted to sigh dramatically, but it broke into soft laughter, and he looked down into Hitoshi's eyes with affection.
"Do you plan on coming out to join us? I think 'Tomi's about to drag you, now that her kids have gone off to play somewhere." Alex smiled. "I think the idea of driving out after dinner to look at Christmas lights was also put forward. What do you think?"
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Dec 26, 2010 21:57:25 GMT -5
"Somehow, even without Rudeth and Thrall, that sounds like a dangerous idea, but I'll think on it." Hitoshi grimaced. "At least we won't have to deal with any drunken caroling from those to this year."
Hitoshi laced his fingers through Alex's. "Speaking of Christmas traditions, Rivienne's presents came in the mail the other day. They're under the tree with the others, but from the packages, I can already guess that she's sent a pair of tacky sweaters and few books."
He gave Alex's hand a gentle squeeze. "I suppose we should join them. The children are probably ready to mutiny if we don't let them open their presents," he said dryly, "and I don't want to have to clean blood out of the carpet."
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Post by Jaymie Elderton on Dec 26, 2010 22:34:58 GMT -5
Jaymie, meanwhile, was spending the day trying to pretend he didn't hate Christmas.
It was nice that at least this year, they were over at 'Tomi's brother's. Most years before he'd married Hitomi he'd spent either at his parents'- with his dad's thousand Hollywood people he didn't care about, mostly getting drunk and acting stupid- or at some work thing- which was pretty much the same thing, except with a lot more flamboyance and somewhat less English. Since then, they'd switched it up some years by going to 'Tomi's grandma's house- which just meant tons of people he didn't know, and the ones he did included her frightening uncle and the creepy cousin who kept blatantly leering at him while talking to his boyfriend.
It was cold, the music sucked, shopping was a choice between battling with the mail and braving seas of people, and... geh.
He had wanted to get some sketches done today, as delusional as it sounded to him now. At the moment, he would count it as an accomplishment if he managed to keep from snapping at anybody, or collapsing onto Hitomi out of pure exhaustion.
Jaymie sat by his love and kept an ear on the kids upstairs.
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Post by Hitomi Gilespi on Jan 3, 2011 0:43:54 GMT -5
Hitomi might not have had quite the same sentimental devotion to Christmas as her brother -- though god knows he would never admit it to anyone -- but whatever she lacked in emotion, she made up for in enthusiasm. Hitomi had an unfortunate tendency to become competitive over the holidays, particularly with regard to decorations, and by Christmas Eve, the Christmas lights around the Elderton house could probably be seen from orbit. (Thankfully, Hitoshi had talked her out of attempting to import live reindeer, but it was a very close call.)
Currently, Hitomi was working on jabbing a needle and thread through kernels of soft white popcorn, with every intention of stringing them up all over the house. She smiled fondly and looked back at Jaymie.
"I've done this every Christmas since I can remember," she said quietly. She stabbed through another kernel. "It's a little silly, really. It hardly feels like Christmas without popcorn garlands. But when we were kids, Mom never really had the money to go all-out on decorations, so we basically had a little box of ornaments we made at school and strings of popcorn."
Her eyes softened a bit, and Hitomi leaned back on the couch. "The only thing we ever bought for the tree was the star. It wasn't that expensive, I don't think -- just something we got at the grocery store -- but it was beautiful. It was a big glass thing, with flecks of silver and gold all over it." Hitomi glanced down, pursing her lips. "My mother always put the star on top of the tree herself, but the last Christmas we had together, I begged to put it on myself. She was afraid I'd drop it, but I threw such a fit..."
Hitomi sighed, wrapping her arms around herself. "So she let me. I slipped, and I dropped it. It broke all over the carpet. We got a new one, but it just wasn't the same." Hitomi gave a soft, humorless laugh, then threaded another piece of popcorn on the string.
She shook herself slightly, then passed the bowl of popcorn back to Jaymie. She gave him a slight smile and patted his leg. "Come on, make yourself useful. You know how to use a needle, don't you?"
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Post by Jaymie Elderton on Jan 3, 2011 1:29:03 GMT -5
Jaymie shook himself out of his little annoyance-musings and gave Hitomi an awkward half-grin. "You put the pointy end in first, right?" He wasn't a true meaning of Christmas kind of guy, but he felt pretty chastised by her story; and then he kicked himself, as he sometimes did when Hitoshi mentioned her childhood. Pitying himself for not knowing what it was like to lose a family member was about the stupidest reaction there was.
He took the needle and string and began threading popcorn, glancing at what Hitomi'd been doing to see where the best place to stick it through was. "Sounds like it was beautiful, while it lasted."
Soft music came out of the desktop sound system in the corner, and on impulse, he leaned over and kissed Hitomi.
Well, there was one Christmas tradition he liked. Mistletoe was always fun.
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Post by Alex Meriweather on Jan 3, 2011 1:37:02 GMT -5
Alex tsked. "No drunken caroling? Well, I suppose it's less fun with only four people-" he joked, and tugged Hitoshi out into the living room.
"Found him. Are we about ready?" Alex dropped into his chair across from the couch. "Oh, are we on the Grinch already? I love this one."
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Post by Hitomi Gilespi on Jan 4, 2011 2:43:33 GMT -5
"Mm. It was a bit silly, I suppose, caring so much about the star. It seemed so much more important at the time. It wasn't really the star that mattered, you know?" Hitomi smiled and leaned over to give her husband a peck on the cheek. "Not that that's going to stop me from decorating like crazy, of course," she added, in case Jaymie got the wrong idea.
She settled herself against her husband and looked back up at Alex and Hitoshi. "We're about halfway through it. We're watching It's a Wonderful Life after dinner, and I expect everyone to watch it."
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Post by Hitoshi Gilespi on Jan 4, 2011 3:16:46 GMT -5
Hitoshi winced slightly at the mention of It's A Wonderful Life, perching on the arm of Alex's chair. "I appreciate the longstanding tradition of watching some barely-palatable 'Christmas classic', but couldn't you have chosen something a bit less..." Hitoshi considered it for a minute. "...Cliché? I could live with A Miracle on 34th Street or A Christmas Carol, but frankly at this point I'd be willing to settle for Home Alone if it means not having to watch this movie again."
His sister could give him those big, 'but it's Christmas' eyes all she wanted. He was not going to feel guilty. He had seen that damn movie far too many times, and frankly, thanks to Alyn, he had seen so many cartoon parodies of it throughout the past month that he had lost any remaining affection he might have had for the movie. (Hitoshi was still working on how to say no to Alyn when she asked things like 'Will you watch cartoons with me?' and 'Can we please read one more chapter before bed?'.)
It occurred to Hitoshi that the children had been rather quiet since he started cooking, and that was a while ago. He hoped they weren't up to anything. Separately, they were reasonably good children, but even good children had an inexplicable tendency to cause mischief when put together.
He pursed his lips, his gaze traveling up to the ceiling. "They're being awfully quiet up there. When was the last time someone checked on them?"
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Post by Jaymie Elderton on Jan 4, 2011 3:41:33 GMT -5
He grinned. "So long as it doesn't get into my studio or the bedroom, I don't care."
Jaymie bit his tongue before he made up some tale about loving the damn movie just to be contrary. Hitoshi always made him feel like that. "I checked..." He thought about that for a moment. How long had it been? A little before Alex had gone off to find his husband and do whatever else it was he'd been doing. That was-
"-How long is this movie again?" He grimaced.
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