Who: Kate Kate (Batwoman), Elsa of Arendelle, Anna of Arendelle When: Christmas Eve! Where: Arendelle Manor What: Exchanging Holiday presents Rating/Warnings: Low/None Status: Complete
Kate was mostly here for Elsa and Anna. She was still trying to find that balance between her own heritage and Elsa’s. But any excuse to give presents and if Elsa could put up with Hanukkah as it had just started today, Kate could deal with Christmas. Besides, she really did appreciate any excuse to get Anna and Elsa gifts. She just hoped they liked them, she was proud of her wrapping skills!
Anna didn’t know all that much about Chanukah, but she knew that Kate celebrated it. So she went to the library and grabbed a couple of kids books about the event, and then decided that eight days of presents sounded like the best thing ever. So she got eight small gifts for Kate and Elsa, wrapped them delicately, and brought them with her, along with the two, slightly bigger, Christmas presents that she’d already purchased for her sisters long ago.
She was in the living room, hanging stockings by the fireplace, and adjusting the beautiful Menorah she’d purchased to surprise Kate. All the while she was singing one of the tunes from Moana.
Christmas was an interesting time in the Arendelle household, it didn’t honestly hold any religious meaning for Elsa but she liked celebrating having her family around her so embraced it for that. And of course she made sure that Hanukkah was as important as Christmas. She too had eight gifts for Kate to open, in that way she and Anna thought alike.
“I think somebody is excited” she commented to her wife as they entered the living room, loud enough for Anna to hear of course.
The family that Kate had married into was small, but affectionate and thoughtful. “It sounds like it. And unlike me she can carry a tune.”
Kate appreciated the Menorah, and walked over to Anna to wrap her in a tight hug. “Happy Holidays. And thank you.”
“I can’t help it!” Anna loved celebrating Santa. Though the family had never been religious, Anna reveled in the secular joys of the holiday. She watched “Charlie Brown Christmas” and “Elf” with glee, decorated a Christmas Tree, and put lights up all over her house (or, well, made Stefan do it, since he was taller than she was). She pretty much got gifts for everyone she knew.
“You’re welcome!” Anna returned the hug, tightly, grinning. “Happy Holidays! I hope you’re having a good one so far?”
Celebrating Christmas might not be as loud as it was for Anna but Elsa enjoyed it all the same. She had a good group of friends to buy gifts for and she couldn’t deny she may have made Kate watch Muppet Christmas Carol and The Holiday with her. Some things just had to be done.
Well, Anna was definitely the loud one in Elsa’s family, and Kate didn’t mind. She didn’t think she could have kept up if both of them had been equally as energetic, though sometimes she wondered if Anna mainlined 5-hour energy.
“It’s been a good one. My step-mother always hosts some charity events, so I’ve helped out with those.”
“That’s wonderful! I did a Toys for Tots thing this year. And by that I mean I took the amount of money that our accountant guy said I should spend for charity and went shopping! Toys R Us is absolutely INSANE this time of year.” Anna’s brightness and enthusiasm was par none. “I love donating to charity. Maybe I should look into charities for a job once I’m finished with school.” She still didn’t have a plan, which almost worried her.
“So, we should open a present! And I want to hear more about Hanukah. I don’t know all that much about it, except that you get eight small presents to unwrap every day.” Anna’s expression went a little cheeky as she motioned toward the presents. “I couldn’t help myself.”
The idea of going to Toys R Us at this time of the year filled Elsa with horror, she couldn’t honestly imagine anything worse though of course she was proud of her sister for doing such good for others. She had the kindest heart of anybody Elsa knew.
“Let’s sit down then, open gifts and Kate can tell us all about it” she smiled at her wife before they all moved to sit.
“I can’t believe you went shopping anywhere this time of year.” Kate lived and died by mail order and the internet. She settled down. She’d lit the second candle before coming over, just in case they stayed over late. She gave the cliffnotes version at first. "It's not a huge holiday, like Christmas is. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kipper are considered more important. Passover too and a couple others, but Hannakuh is still a lot of fun to celebrate. It commemorates a revolt, and a miracle that kept the sacred Menorah's flames burning for eight nights, on a single day of oil."
Anna shrugged her shoulders. Hey, shopping was fun! And she wasn’t on a deadline. If Anna had a place to go, was in a rush, whatever, that might have made her stress out. But she went on a day when she had hours to spare, and didn’t mind being stuck in long lines.
“You’ll have to tell me more when Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kipper come up, too. I’d love to learn more about them and celebrate them with you.” Anna said, beaming, as she slipped back into her chair. “We’ve never been all that religious, but we sort of celebrate the generic holidays.”
Elsa wasn’t the sort to brave the shops in crowded times either, but she knew Anna liked people and never minded it being busy. She had a lot more patience than either Elsa or Kate did. She listened to Kate with a smile and nodded in agreement when Anna spoke, “I think that’s like most people now, it’s less about religion and more about going with the tradition”
“I definitely will.” Kate was really happy that Anna was so interested in it, and genuinely so. She tended to keep her religious side to herself, but still liked to observe the holidays. It brought her a little closer to her real mom.
“But we should start our own traditions too. This time of year as much about bringing people together, and about hope, as anything else.”
“Yes!” Anna agreed. She bounced over to the fireplace and pulled the two “big” presents (small boxes, but big pricetags) she had there into her arms. “So, tradition number one for the Arendelle Household… presents! We have to have presents as part of our traditions, right?” She brought the boxes over to Elsa and Kate and passed them over. “You should open these.”
Elsa moved to retrieve a gift for Anna, suspecting they had all had similar ideas as they exchanged boxes, “Our own traditions sounds like a very good idea” she said, “Open yours too” she encouraged. Tears sprang to her eyes when she saw what her sister had picked out for her, the sisters had definitely thought alike in choosing their gifts, “Oh Anna, it’s beautiful”
Kate was touched. Anna hadn't really needed to get her anything, but it was a beautiful necklace. She pulled it out and held it up. "It's beautiful, thank you. And just my style, too."
She put it on, then pulled out a package herself. She'd always figured pretty girls and jewelry were a good call, too. "Happy Holidays."
Anna laughed when she saw that they’d all gone to Tiffany’s. She felt warmth flooding her heart at the sight of the presents, then wrapped her arms around her sister and sister-in-law in turn. “Happy Holidays.” She repeated, beaming at her family.