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“I’m really excited!”
Fili looked fondly down at his little brother as they brushed their teeth before bedtime on Christmas Eve.
Fili was now ten-years-old and on the cusp of not-quite-buying the Father Christmas story. But, good and loving big brother that he was, he would face a fire-breathing dragon before he gave the game away. Kili still believed with all the thrumming excitement of a five-year-old and it made Fili smile when he remembered Christmases past because he would be every bit as excited then as little Kili was now.
Back then, Kili was just a babe-in-arms, too young to join in the fun with his big brother, but for the last three years the boys had shared in the magic of Father Christmas and his journey across the world to leave presents for well-behaved children. Fili had often wondered if naughty children still received gifts, eventually deciding that they probably did. A kindly old man like Father Christmas wouldn’t be that mean, would he? Though the ten-year-old reasoned that the badly behaved kids probably didn’t get as many presents as the good kids. That did, after all, seem fair.
After observing the usual procedure of laying out carrots for the reindeer with a glass of ale and a mince pie for Father Christmas, Dis and Thorin had ushered the boys upstairs, assuring the younger one that the sooner he went to sleep the quicker the morning would come.
“I won’t sleep, Fee,” Kili informed him. “Will Father Christmas still come if I’m awake?”
Fili wiped his mouth on a towel and grinned at his brother. “No, Kee, so you’d better make sure you get to sleep quickly.”
Kili gasped, horrified. “Oh Fee, what if I can’t?!”
Fili picked up a flannel and wiped away the toothpaste that his baby brother had somehow managed to smear across half of his face and took the boy by the hand. “You will, Kili. Just settle down in your comfy bed and imagine sinking through it into dreamland. That’s what Uncle Thorin always told me when I was your age and couldn’t sleep on Christmas Eve.”
Kili climbed into his bed and settled under the quilt, clutching his battered Teddy, peculiarly named Bilbo, waiting for Uncle Thorin to come in to read him a bed-time story while the boys’ mother, unbeknown to Kili, finished wrapping the presents for her sons.
Fili considered himself too old for bed-time stories but he secretly enjoyed Thorin’s stories because he always did great voices, especially the dragon as he huffed and puffed and demanded to know who was lurking amongst his stolen treasure.
Thorin didn’t disappoint. Fili thought he’d got Kili a little bit too excited to sleep when he told the tale about the dragon under the mountain and as if to prove him right Kili pouted when their Uncle came to the end of the chapter and kissed the boys goodnight.
“But Unca Thorin, I’m too excited to sleep!”
“Just close your eyes and imagine you’re falling through the bed, Kili,” Uncle Thorin suggested.
“That’s what Fee said,” Kili said, frowning slightly.
Thorin grinned and turned to his older nephew. “Did it work, Fili?”
Fili thought back to a year or two before when he still got really excited on December 24th. His face brightened. “Yes, it did, Uncle Thorin.”
“There you go then, Kili. If it worked for your brother I’m sure it’ll work for you.” Thorin leaned down and rested his forehead against his younger nephew’s before tucking him in then did the same for Fili. “Right, lads, it’s time to go to sleep or Father Christmas won’t leave you any presents if he finds you awake.” Thorin rose, putting his hand on the light switch on the wall, which the boys couldn’t see since the bedroom door blocked their view. “Goodnight. The morning will be here before you know it.” With that he blew a puff of air in the direction of the lamp and the light magically went out to an accompanying giggle from Kili. He never tired of Uncle Thorin blowing out the light.
*~*~*
Fili blinked open his eyes, wondering what had woken him. Was Kili out of bed already and feeling for his stocking at the end of the bed?
He was about to utter his brother’s name when he heard a dull thud and a muffled “Bugger!”
Under cover of the darkened room he turned his face into the pillow to prevent a giggle escaping him and smiled to himself.
Uncle Thorin could never pass muster as Father Christmas because he was too noisy and had a tendency to curse.
“Thorin! Language!” came an irritated stage whisper from behind the big man and Fili rolled his eyes. The two of them were going to wake up Kili at this rate; if he wasn’t already awake.
Luckily Kili was a sound sleeper, so still feigning sleep Fili listened in silence as Mama and Uncle Thorin went about filling the boys’ stockings then grinned in the darkness as they left the boys’ bedroom.
*~*~*
“Kili!”
The little brunette opened sleepy eyes as his big brother shook him awake.
“He’s been, Kee! He’s been!”
Kili didn’t need telling twice. He was up out of his bed, grabbing his stocking from the bedpost at the end of his bed and running across the landing to fling open his mother’s bedroom door to announce in a very loud voice “Mama! Mama! He’s been! He’s been!”
With Fili standing behind him clutching his own stocking both boys grinned at their sleepy mother as she sat up in bed. “Has he, indeed?” she asked. “Well then, you’d better get downstairs to see if there are any presents under the tree.”
Kili was gone, his little feet making a noise like a herd of miniature elephants in clogs as he ran down over the stairs, just as Thorin appeared on the landing from his own room, drowsily rubbing his eyes.
Fili followed his brother downstairs at a more sedate pace, though he was eager to see if the new bike he’d asked for was waiting for him under the Christmas tree in the sitting room.
Thorin stood beside his sister as they enjoyed the brief moment of peace before Kili started yelling in pure joy as he saw all the gifts under the tree.
“I take it he’s been then,” Thorin remarked, putting his arm around his sister.
“It would seem so,” Dis confirmed.
“Oh well, let’s make a cup of tea and sit back out of the way of the mayhem. Merry Christmas, Dis.”
“Merry Christmas, Thorin.”