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🎄✨🎁🎄✨🎁🎄✨🎁🎄✨🎁🎄
“Close your eyes!”
“Okay, but this better not be a trick, Col …. I still remember Christmas of ‘06 when we were kids.”
“Yeah, well I was 13 and stupid.”
“Well now you’re 32. What’s your point?”
“Is that any way to talk to your husband, Mrs. Bridgerton?”
Penelope giggled. This was their first Christmas married. There had been some ups and downs in their journey, but she would not have it any other way. They were stronger from their experiences, and they always resolved to move forward together.
Penelope met Colin when she was seven and he was nine, and she ran into him at the park with her yellow kite. It was her first time trying it and it did not get much height. It flew into his face and she immediately started to cry. He looked at her a bit dazed and with a soft smile said “Well that wasn’t well done of me,” and she coughed a laugh. The kite was ruined - it tore when it hit him - but from that moment on she became the ninth Bridgerton child, quickly becoming the friend that every sibling vied for time with. Colin loved to boast that he knew her the longest even if Eloise quipped that she met Pen four minutes later. He loved to talk about those four minutes, saying he needed four more minutes than everyone else with her every time she came over. Always stealing her away for small, quiet moments for them to be together. Their friendship grew deeper over the years, four minutes at a time.
And now they were married. She could hardly believe it. They had finally gotten together three years ago when Colin came home from a trip in early December, walked into Bridgerton House for family dinner, and kissed her under the mistletoe. He confessed his love for her, and she confessed in return, and from that moment on, they were inseparable. Yes, there were fights and growing pains and tears, but nearly 20 years of friendship was on their side in the transition.
“This is our first Christmas together. I wanted it to be special,” Colin explained as his voice got quieter as he walked away to retrieve her surprise.
“Well this is our first, just the two of us, so I guess that counts,” Pen acquiesced.
“Thank you! Now you’re getting it!” Colin’s voice was getting a bit louder as he spoke, so she assumed he was walking back towards her.
“When can I open my eyes?”
“Patience, my darling wife.” She groaned, but she loved how much he wanted to spoil her this year. It was special to celebrate alone. This year, the couples decided that Christmas Eve would be spent separately and that they would all gather together for lunch on Christmas Day.
She felt him kiss her cheek, and in her outstretched hands, he put something not heavy heavy, but definitely heavier than she expected. Also the texture was hard to describe, it was rough, but smooth in places.
“What is this?”
“Okay…. Open your eyes!”
Pen opened her eyes, gasped, and looked at Colin.
“... Is this what I think it is?!” Tears were forming in her eyes, as she looked at her sweet husband’s equally glassy look.
“Mum had to help me in the attic, but yes. It is.”
In her hands, she held one of their handmade ornaments from when they were little. It was a sphere with little thumbprints made to be Christmas trees and snowmen. And the snowmen were holding hands. She had not seen it in years. The Bridgertons only hung a few ornaments from each sibling, and this one was a bit too heavy (and breakable) to use after the first year or so.
“Look at how small our thumbprints were,” Pen mused, her eyes going soft.
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It was her first Bridgerton family Christmas. Her mum had given her permission to stay with them from the afternoon of Christmas Day through Boxing Day. She was beyond excited. She had never slept over before and could not wait to spend so much time with Colin, Eloise, and the rest of the Bridgertons.
When she entered their house, she was immediately pulled into a hug by Colin.
“Happy Christmas, Pen!!”
“Happy Christmas, Col, thanks for inviting me!”
“Totally,” Colin put his hand in hers, walking her to the living room where their tree stood, nearly four meters tall and beautifully decorated with all sorts of ornaments: some were handmade by the children, others were more delicate. Penelope loved the warm, cozy feeling she felt walking in; her Christmas tree at home was decorated solely by her mum. It had a theme and only certain colors were allowed. The ornament she made in school did not make the cut, to her dismay, so she brought it with her to the Bridgertons.
“Happy Christmas, my darling Penelope!” Mrs. B exclaimed, pulling her in a tight squeeze when she walked into the room.
“Happy Christmas, Mrs. B. I brought an ornament, can I hang it on the tree?”
“Of course, my dear.”
Pen gently hung the wreath ornament made from her hand prints on a bare tree branch at her eye level. The tree was quite bottom heavy with all of the children’s ornaments, but it made it look more real and lived-in, which Pen loved.
“Oh, Pen, Mum set aside an ornament kit for you to paint with us. We do some kind of craft every year and it’s so much fun.”
Pen walked into their dining room and saw all the crafts and over a dozen paints and brushes strewn about. The remnants of a fun, chaos-filled activity left on the table. It seemed as if everyone else had completed their ornament, except for Colin.
“Did you wait for me?” She asked quietly.
He rubbed the back of his neck, “Um, yeah. I didn’t want you to feel alone.”
Pen just stared at him for a moment. It was rare that someone else thought about her that way. She was used to reading alone in her room, almost entirely forgotten except when it suited her family. Sometimes she was late to meals because no one told her that food was ready.
She gave him a soft smile as she sat down next to him.
“I wanted to decorate mine with snowmen and trees, and we use our thumbs instead of brushes. Mum showed us how yesterday. Can I show you?”
“Sure.”
Colin put a few colors of paint onto the paper plate and gently took her hand to put her thumb into the green.
“Now just press three times to make a tree. We can paint a star on top later.”
She loved the cold feeling of the paint, contrasting with the warmth of his hand on top of hers, guiding her. This was quickly becoming her favorite Christmas.
They spent about 20 minutes working on their ornament. She was surprised by how focused and quiet Colin was. He was usually running around with boundless energy, and it was nice to have time for just the two of them. Usually, by this point, at least one other sibling, typically Eloise, would interrupt to join or steal her away. Eloise was her best friend, but there was something about Colin that made her feel sparkly inside.
The next year, she and Colin made another ornament together and it became their tradition. They decorated one together, and Mrs. B made sure there was always a section of the tree dedicated to their shared ornaments. Over the years, Pen would occasionally buy him an ornament, but those handmade ones were extra special. The first one with their thumbprints was her favorite.
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Colin cleared his throat before giving her a beaming smile. “That’s not the only surprise.”
Pen looked up at him and noticed that he had one hand behind his back this whole time.
“Do I have to close my eyes again?” He nodded, as she gently set their childhood ornament down on the table.
She closed her eyes again, this time it was a sphere, though a bit lighter and a smoother finish.
Pen opened her eyes and started crying fully. It was a snowglobe ornament with two snowmen dressed in blue scarves. There was one that had a yellow bow like she wore when she was young and purple glasses like she wore now. It was just so cute and so them. On the bottom of the snowglobe was a yellow ribbon that read “Our First Christmas then and now.”
“Do you like it?” He asked tepidly with tears in his eyes.
“I love it. Though we will have to change it a little for next year.”
Colin furrowed his brow, “What do you mean?”
“Well next year, we will have someone added to our family and it will be their first Christmas.”
Watching it dawn on Colin’s face that she was pregnant may be the single greatest moment in her life, second only to the day before when she took a pregnancy test and saw the second line appear for the first time since they started trying nearly a year ago. It had been hard with each month, seeing only one line, and she was beyond ecstatic that they would be getting an extra present this year.
“You’re pregnant!” Pen could only nod with her tears fully flowing, as he pulled her in the tightest hug possible, joy radiating off him.
“Okay, this is the best Christmas hands down.”
“Until next year, of course,” she joked.
“And we can create our own ornament tradition with them.”
“But we do need an ornament with three snowmen next year.”
“Anything for you, my love. Happy Christmas.”
“We love you too, darling.” Pen took his hand and placed it on her stomach as they reveled in how much they loved each other and their new addition.
They spent the rest of the night sitting by the fire, looking at their tree, imagining the story that each new ornament will tell as their lives together unfold in the most beautiful, messy way.
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