Chapter Text
Johnny awoke at the crack of dawn and sat bolt upright in his bed. It was Christmas. The morning light filtering in through his sheer curtains had a distinctive blueish hue that could only mean one thing. He ran to the window and climbed up on the cushioned bench below it. It had snowed overnight. In all of Johnny’s six years of living, it had never snowed on Christmas before.
He ran out of his room, stopping at the door to slide on his fuzzy, blue bedroom slippers and thundered down the hall to Nicholas’ room. He slammed the door open to find Nicholas already awake and buttoning up a starry nightshirt just like the one Johnny had on.
“Snow!” Johnny called out to him in place of a greeting.
“Snow!” Nicholas replied with equal enthusiasm.
They ran together down the stairs and out of the house. They left behind two sets of footprints in the fresh powder, one set much smaller than the other. Six or seven inches had fallen over night. It was the kind of snow too cold and fine to pack into a snowball, but perfectly good to roll around in. They played and wrestled until the cold became too much for their fleece pajamas and they were forced back inside where the staff had started a fire in the large parlour.
Beside the hearth stood a massive fraser fir, draped elegantly with golden ribbon and ornaments. The two boys sat beneath it as they waited for their parents to wake, warming up and drying off clutching a cup of hot chocolate each.
By the time George and Anne entered the parlour, Johnny was already clutching a box with his name on it, holding it to his ear in an attempt to figure out what was inside. They each got a fresh new pair of soft, leather riding boots and a beautifully carved wooden statuette of a horse. Johnny also got a model steam engine and Nicholas had gotten a beautiful ivory and ebony chess set. A box addressed to the whole family by George’s parents contained several smaller boxes of decadent chocolate.
At the end of a long day of playing with their gifts, eating the chocolate, and another trip out in the snow, the family sat together in the dining hall for an extravagant feast that the kitchen staff had spent all day on. A roast duck lay at the center of the long table, surrounded by seemingly endless side dishes.
Exhausted by the long day and stuffed from the huge dinner, Johnny fell asleep on a couch in the parlor not half an hour after dessert, and George gently carried him up to bed.