Lorelei Wentworth 🍦 Alice Longbottom (harmonize) wrote in dunhavenic, @ 2019-11-20 21:47:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, * jeanne, * terri, c: foster wentworth, c: lorelei wentworth |
WHO: Foster & Lorelei Wentworth
WHEN: Sunday, November 17, 2019
WHERE: Their Home
SUMMARY: Holiday Adorableness
WARNINGS: None!
BINGO: The Grinch because Foster isn't one
Last year had been Foster and Lorelei's first Christmas together. They'd been dating since that April, and had lived together since October, but- for whatever reason- she'd still been a little nervous to let all of her… holiday spirit show. Maybe because, then, she'd still felt a bit like it was just his place, and he was just letting her occupy the space along with him. That mindset had gradually shifted away since then, and had been well and truly gone by the time Foster proposed. Last year, Foster had more than willingly hung lights outside, and hadn't protested when Lorelei had bought three stockings (for him, herself, and Mrs Buttersworth) and hung them up in the living room. But it had been the Sunday a full week after Thanksgiving, then, and they still hadn't gotten or even mentioned getting a tree. Lorelei had finally asked the question in an imploding rush, Canwegogetatreepleaseit'snotChristmaswit This year was different. They'd gotten the tree well before Thanksgiving, at Foster's urging. Now it was home and in the tree stand- with Mrs Buttersworth already curled up beneath it- as Lorelei started to unwrap ornaments and lights. "We'll have to go get another year ornament," she offered, thoughtfully. Last year they'd found one, our first Christmas together. -- The previous year, Foster had been a little dense about embracing the holiday spirit in the way that Lorelei loved most. He had been happy to string up the lights outside, and hadn’t protested any indoor decoration that she had shown up with, no. He just hadn’t really invested in his own ornaments and tree since moving out on his own with it just being him. Their mother had let it slide as long as he put a small tabletop tree up, seeing as the outside of his house had always been duly festive. His then-girlfriend’s wish for a tree hadn’t been something he had understood until she’d busted out with it. Now that he understood the way that she liked to celebrate Christmas, he was more than happy to oblige her. Especially now that they were married, he thought it was important to establish their traditions, old or new. Now, the lights were already up outside, their tree had been hand-picked and brought into their home for decoration, and Foster picked up a freshly baked, frosted cookie shaped like a jolly Santa to nibble on while Lorelei unpacked the tree decorations. Christmas music was gently playing on the radio, and it really solidified the whole mood they were going for. He grinned, part of Santa’s hat in his mouth when she said that they needed to get another ornament for this year. He had known how excited she was about the tree and the ornaments last year, so he had purchased an ornament to commemorate their first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. Wentworth as a surprise. A few weeks ago, he had wrapped it up with the rest of the ornaments and slipped it into the box that she had in front of her now. He figured he would just...let her find it at her own pace, “One of these days, we’ll have a really impressive collection. One that requires a whole tree just for year ornaments.” He set his cookie on a plate, and grabbed one of the strands of lights. It wasn’t terribly tangled, having been put away neatly, but he could go ahead and make sure that all of the bulbs were still burning, just in case any needed replacing. -- This had been Lorelei's favorite holiday for as long as she could remember. It was full of traditions and sentiment, some of which had gotten bittersweet over the years, but all of which she treasured for what it was. Now, with Foster, she was willing (and eager) to meld her own ideas of the holiday with his, to create a new celebration that was entirely them. They'd made cookies earlier, with the specific idea that they'd then be warm and ready to eat while they decorated the tree. "That'll be a really good day," Lorelei replied, a small smile tugging at her features. She hadn't brought a lot of her own ornaments or decorations when she'd moved in, since most of the things she had at her family's house belonged to, well, her family. So the box in front of her had more or less been populated last Christmas by herself and Foster. Grabbing up the end of the string of lights that Foster had quality checked, Lorelei started tucking the strand into the lower branches. "Hi, Mrs B," she added, as she leaned down closer to where their cat was already napping. -- Foster liked the idea of hiding their yearly ornaments into the rest until the point when they began to take over all the other things that they wanted to hang up. Then, they could do a smaller, secondary tree as long as they bought an ornament for each year. He supposed they could control the number by only buying them every five years or so, but if one day they wanted an entire tree of nothing but ornaments from each year that they’d spent together, he would make it happen. They’d bought several ornaments last year. He’d had a few that his mother had given to him over the years, and she’d brought a few of her own. The rest they had picked out together, though they’d agreed last year not to over buy so they’d have room to increase their collection over the next few years without maximizing the capacity for what the tree would hold. Any empty space, they had filled with garland or clipped photographs of the two of them into the branches instead of hanging glittery baubles. He grinned as he checked a second string of lights, and their cat mewed sleepily up at Lorelei when she was addressed, “She’s found her favorite napping spot on the tree skirt already.” Foster plugged in a third string of lights, and quickly checked those out, too, before he moved to help Lorelei wind that first strand around the tree and into the branches, “There really is something great about having a real tree.” -- It had been Foster's idea to decorate last year's tree with pictures of the two of them. Most of those pictures, then, had gotten tucked back in with the rest of the ornaments for storage- but Lorelei rather thought that they, too, would be a nice little memory of how far they'd come. It was, perhaps, a little self-indulgent. She didn't care. "I mean, the tree is basically just a glorified cat indulgence, anyway. Don't you know." Lorelei's little smile betrayed her playful words. She'd stood back up, sliding in her (Christmas) socks on the wood floor as she helped Foster move around the tree with the string of lights. As it got closer to the top, he'd have to do the ends of it- while she could have reached on her tiptoes, it was certainly easier for him. "Do you know, I read a story online about these two kids who kept getting sick at Christmastime, and it turns out they were allergic to the real trees that their family had for the holiday. Can you imagine? I mean, I know they make candles and all that smell good and Christmasy, but it's not the same." -- “We definitely are putting up the tree for her. Not for us, at all,” Foster’s grin was crooked, and he winked as she slid in her socks, scooting around the tree and rearranging lights as they went. At it was, they would be certain to sit in the glow of that tree every evening from now until sometime in the beginning of the year, enjoying the festive decoration that gave to their home. “Let’s go ahead and send up a little Christmas prayer now that any future additions to our family don’t have truly unreasonable allergies,” he added playfully, keeping that comment somewhat vague on purpose. Though going to therapy seemed to have helped Lorelei immensely over the last few months, he knew that there had been moments when she’d been uncertain if she still wanted children. Future additions to their family could be children, pets, or even just...in-laws of their various siblings. -- She glanced over to Foster as he mentioned future additions, and though he'd used the vague language no doubt on purpose, she still smiled and nodded. It was easy enough to imagine sharing their Christmas traditions with miniature Wentworths one day, and though parenthood- motherhood- still sometimes left an uncomfortable ache in her chest, it was moments like this that helped reassure her of all the goodness that their future held. Lorelei pressed her palms together for that would-be prayer, casting her eyes toward the living room ceiling for the brief moment of silence. Stepping past him, Lorelei leaned up on her toes and pressed a kiss to Foster's cheek before she returned to the box of ornaments. Some were already unwrapped from her previous efforts, and she handed these over to Foster once his hands were free. Lorelei wasn't particularly fussed about placement or order of appearance on the tree itself. This was for them. Reaching back into the box, the next ornament she reached for was unwrapped, but... surprisingly unrecognized. It took Lorelei a moment, even, to realize what she held in her hands, but... Foster, it seemed, had done one up on her already. An ornament, engraved and decorated... Our First Christmas as Mr & Mrs Wentworth. Turning back to Foster, Lorelei once again slid closer, but this time she reached for the front of his shirt and pulled him firmly down into a much more ardent kiss. -- He grinned at that silent prayer and the kiss to his cheek that followed, as she went back to the ornament box while he tucked the end of the light strand amongst the branches towards the top of the tree. He gladly took the ornaments that she handed to him, placing a few along some of the upper branches where she couldn't as easily reach. He had glanced toward her a time or two, seeing if she would come across that ornament that he had purchased for the two of them. He hadn't realized when she did find it, however, because he'd been hanging one of their ornaments from last year on the tree. Certainly, however, when she pulled him in for that kiss, he realized that she must have found it. He leaned into that kiss, his hands falling to the curve of her waist. For a long few moments, he stayed right there, a slight grin curving his lips even into that kiss, "Ah, so you found it, then? Did you see both sides?" The front commemorated their first year as a married couple, yes, but the back notated that it was their second Christmas together, even if it felt like it had been many more. -- Lorelei had imagined herself as one day being Mrs Wentworth as far back as six months into their dating, and she'd admitted as much to Foster in the moments after he'd proposed to her in April. There had never been a doubt or a question in her mind that they'd share that surname. But to see that name now on an ornament for their Christmas tree just seemed to really bring home how far they'd come and all the wonderful moments the last year had held for them. She didn't step back from him, even as he grinned and separated from the kiss. "Both...?" Lorelei trailed off, reluctantly pulling one hand from him- she still held the ornament, even where she'd also been gripping his shirt. Flipping it over, she smiled, a slight warmth coming to her cheeks as she exhaled a happy sigh. "God, I love you so damn much, Foster." -- Although they’d been married for a few months now, Foster was really enjoying all of the firsts they were getting to have as a married couple. Even with all the memories that he had in his head of Frank and Alice, all of this with Lorelei was still new and exciting. He hoped for a long lifetime of memories with her. He wanted more than the unfair hand that the Longbottoms had been dealt. His grin tilted crookedly when she flipped the ornament over and saw the side that matched the style that they’d found for their very first ornament the previous year, “I love you, too, Lorelei.” He leaned in and claimed another sweet kiss, his fingers tightening a little at her waist as he pulled back, “So. Where do you want to put it? Where’s the perfect spot?” -- That crooked grin of his had gotten her into all kinds of trouble, the last year and six months. But Lorelei didn't regret a single moment of it- especially not as he held her just a touch closer, however briefly that lasted. There might not have been much rhyme or reason to the placement of ornaments on the tree, but Lorelei did at least want to make sure that this one was in a place where it could be easily seen- not tucked behind or facing the wall. With that in mind, she reached up and hung it on a branch just slightly above her own eye level, but lower than (what she imagined to be) Foster's. "There, I think," she offered, once she'd withdrew her hand. -- He watched as she let her eyes roam over the tree and finally chose a place to hang it right where they could both easily see it. He wrapped his arms around her from behind, brushing a kiss there behind her ear, “I think that’s the perfect place.” After a moment of thinking about it, he smirked a little and shifted his position just slightly so that he could tug Lorelei against him and sweep her off of her feet entirely, giving them both a little spin as he toted her over to their couch and sat down with her still in his arms, settling her across his lap. He gestured towards their still only partially decorated tree, but emphatically announced, “See? Look. Even from here, we can see it.” -- Lorelei had leaned back into him as Foster wrapped his arms around her middle, her eyes half closing when he kissed just behind her ear. Though she felt him move after that, she was just distracted enough that his impulse to sweep her up into his arms took her completely by surprise. She gave a little squeak, but leaned her head against his shoulder as he carried her over toward the sofa, the sound having easily segued into a delighted laugh. Settling into his lap, Lorelei glanced back over to the tree, and the ornament in question. "So we can," she agreed, biting at her lower lip even as she smiled. -- Foster’s decision to try to see if they could see the ornament from the couch where they often stayed curled up in the evenings, talking or watching tv, wasn’t one he had really thought through beyond that moment. He had just been curious and feeling silly enough to test that theory for the both of them. He hadn’t wanted to be parted from her in the process, and that laugh that he had gotten out of her had been entirely worth it. “We’ll have to commit it to memory, so we know just where to put it next year, even if the tree is a little different,” Foster told her sagely, hands still at her hips. -- Lorelei tapped her temple, twice. "Got it. Right up here. I never forget a single moment with you, Foster." There was... something, perhaps, to be said about how that hadn't been the way their story had played out, as Frank and Alice. How they had forgotten one another, in the end. But Lorelei didn't mention it aloud. They weren't Frank and Alice. Not here. "Have I mentioned how grateful I am that you indulge my... festive idiosyncrasies?" -- He grinned and shifted just a little so that he could brush a kiss to her temple where she had tapped it just moments before, swearing that she wouldn’t forget, “All of our moments are pretty memorable.” Even the simple times when they were curled up on this very couch or just...driving down the street to go eat at Grandma’s. The smallest moments sometimes meant the most in the end. He knew to cherish them. “I love seeing how happy it makes you. That’s all the reason I need to wholeheartedly join in on the festivities. You make me enjoy the holidays more than I did before,” he admitted. He had his own holiday spirit without her, of course, but being around her did encourage him to be a little more carefree with it. -- If Foster had been a complete Grinch before her, Lorelei might have had more of an issue reconciling their respective opinions about the winter holidays. But, luckily, he was more than willing to go right along with all of her… her-ness. "Well," she offered, thoughtfully, "I suppose I did vow to make sure that I would keep your life interesting. I think this," she gestured to the tree and the other assorted half-unpacked decorations around them, "certainly falls in line with all of that." -- He laughed as she pointed out that the early decorations could be attributed to her promise to keep his life interesting, "You know, that's very true, and I appreciate you keeping your vows." Though that was one of the lesser things that they'd promised to one another, Foster wouldn't take any of it for granted. He was comfortable enough that he could have stayed right there, but they'd just gotten started, really. "We still have a lot of ornaments to put up, but I think I can accept getting up if we vow to come back to this spot to survey our Christmas Kingdom once everything is properly put together." -- "I only promised you things I knew I could keep." Which, of course, was rather the whole point of wedding vows- whether they were serious or silly or anywhere in between. "Or," Lorelei seemed thoughtful, for a moment, even tilting her head as she mused over the unspoken idea, "and- now, just hear me out- we could just turn on the Christmas Fireplace on Netflix and then make out for a while and then take a nap." -- “As did I,” he promised, even crossing his heart to drive home the point. They had made a lot of very serious claims on their wedding day, but he had meant every one of them. He gave her his rapt attention as she puzzled out this moment, though an amused grin settled onto his lips the longer that she spoke, “That sounds like the absolute perfect afternoon, especially after our morning of tree picking and baking.” His fingers drummed against her knee just a moment, as he considered, “You’re sure the tree will survive without ornaments until this evening?” It was, he knew, a dramatically stupid question that barely warranted a serious answer, but it was still his way of making certain that she was OK with postponing the decorating that she was so excited about, even with the revision of plans being her idea. He had been the one to derail their progress, after all. -- Lorelei crossed her own heart as Foster did the same. Not that any of their vows really needed the reinforcing or were otherwise in doubt. "I'm sure," she nodded, once. Lorelei slipped her hand under Foster's, where he'd been tapping her leg, and instead laced their fingers together. "We've still got time left on our weekend," which was usually a free Sunday and Monday, in the off season, "so I don't mind delaying for a very good cause." -- He gave her hand a small squeeze where their fingers were laced, and agreed, “That sounds very reasonable.” With his free hand, he did turn on the Smart TV, which went directly to Netflix where it was easy to scroll over and click on that fireplace. With that televised fire burning away, he grinned and leaned in close, “Now, where were we?” |