Chapter Text
A Home For The Holidays
The day after Thanksgiving, Christmas was in full swing at Deep DIsh Nine. Sisko, Julian learned, was a very big fan of holidays. Every year he went all out making the pizzeria a special place, decorating not just for Christmas but for the Bajoran winter holiday as well, since they overlapped. That Friday he spent the day helping Sisko, Jadzia, Kira and Worf decorate the restaurant.
Kira was given the job of decorating for the Bajoran holiday, which loosely translated into The Light Festival. She spent the morning outside directing Worf, telling the large man exactly how to hang the lights. This year she had gone for an all white color scheme. The lights lined the large windows and hung from the line of the roof in little strands that looked like icicles. They sparked, the lights blinking on and off, and Kira smiled wider than Julian had ever seen before.
Inside, Jadzia and Julian were put to work. Jake and his friends Nog and Ziyal came over and spent the afternoon cutting out paper snowflakes which Julian taped onto every available surface. Jadzia had the job of frosting the windows were soap and drawing patterns of snowflakes and frost on them. Then they got to work redoing the chalkboards that sat outside the restaurant, switching the normal drink offers to reflect the new winter drink selections and listing the new holiday dessert specials.
Sisko had created a number of winter themed special for the restaurant. There were peppermint bark cheesecake pops and calzones filled with seasonal vegetables. Mr. Sisko also had a great deal set up with Quark’s to serve hot mulled cider. Worf didn’t celebrate Christmas but he was happy enough to help out with the menu changes.
When Sisko came out of the kitchen to look around, he was excited by what he saw. Deep Dish Nine looked cheery and festive. He handed out a pile of flyers listing holiday hours and specials, instructing them to pin them up around town when they had a chance.
It was shocking to see the difference between how Sisko celebrated, and how Quark did. Quark’s Bar was decked out in lights just as bright as the ones on the facade of Deep Dish NIne, but where Kira had chosen tasteful white lights, Quark had gone for the exact opposite. He had ordered over a dozen boxes of the brightest multicolor lights and ordered Rom to hang them on every available surface.
Inside the bar Nog had hung tinsel on everything. The multicolor lights and tinsel made the place look like a disco ball had exploded, leaving glittering detritus everywhere. The shelves where the bottles were stored had been covered in a fluffy layer of cotton batting to mimic snow. There were loud pop music renditions of Christmas carols blaring from every speaker in the place, and the noise could be heard all the way out in the street.
The best part of the whole thing was Rom though. Quark had commissioned Garak to make a Santa suit for his brother, and it was amazing. The thing was a work of art, a crushed red velvet shirt and pants with white faux fur trim and gold stitching. The belt had a beautiful pattern of snowflakes etched into it. The hat was large (big enough to hide Rom’s ears, which was impressive) and lined with the same thick faux fur as the suit. At the end of the hat was a gold bell which would jingle cheerfully when Rom moved his head, and on the side were little buttons to hold the loops of the fake beard. Garak had even made a matching elf outfit for Nog to wear, crushed green velvet pants and a tunic, and a hat with a little silver bell. Nog didn’t like the outfit (Jake laughed when he first saw his friend wearing it), but he looked cute standing next to his dad, and they were good at attracting customers.
Quark had them stand outside ringing bells and calling out to the people passing by on the street. At first Quark had given Rom a big metal bowl for people to put change into, like the Santas on other street corners had, but Odo had put a stop to that soon enough, and made Quark donate the money he did get to the war orphan foundation.
The days leading up to Christmas Quark had a big hand written sign outside the bar.
“Come in and have a picture with Santa! Free with the purchase of any drink!” The edges of the sign had been been dusted with gold glitter, and the lettering lines in sparkly puff paint. It was obviously Leeta’s work.
It worked surprisingly well. The bar was crowded each night with people eager to get a picture with Rom and Nog in their outfits. Jadzia got one where she was sitting on Rom’s lap, Worf standing behind her with his normal scowl. Jake took one with just Nog (he bought a root beer at the bar), and set it as the background on his phone, laptop and as the profile picture for every social media website he used. Julian hadn’t planned on taking a picture, but Mr. Sisko decided to take the entire staff over to the bar for a drink and have them pose for a picture together. He used it as his Christmas card that year, and it was perfect. A frowning Kira was perched on Rom’s left knee, a smiling Jadzia on the right, both in their bright red uniform shirts. Behind them stood Ben and Worf in their aprons. Julian crouched down next to Nog on the side of them, his hat sitting slightly askew on his head.
When garak got his copy in the mail, he tacked it up on the wall next to his work table. If anyone asked he simply said he kept it because it was a good example of his craftsmanship. It certainly had nothing to do with the grin on Julian’s face, and the way the lights sparkled around him. Nothing at all.