"Dammit Mattie!! Why is it SO FLIPPING COLD here?!?!" Canada sighed for what was about the fifth time as he lugged the axe up the hill in his backyard, Noelle, Jenny and America following him. Jenny was, thankfully, wrapped up in a large winter coat with boots, a scarf, mittens and a toque. Canada thought he'd heard her mention Niagara Falls once, which might be why she was so much better prepared than his brother - clad only in his runners and aviator jacket. Noelle scoffed and dragged the toboggan, skipping around in the snow; both she and Canada were fine in their respective parkas and sweaters.
"It's cold because it is, but if you want a tree to trim we need your help to bring it back in this cold." America started whining about his hands being frozen and his ears falling off and every possible body part he could name being frostbitten so Canada tried to do something to diffuse it. When that failed and America's volume only increased, Jenny tugged on America's sleeve and he looked towards her.
"Here," she held out the mitten for her right hand, and America slipped it on.
"Don't I need 2 mitts? My left hand will still-" His cheeks coloured almost imperceptibly when Jenny took his left hand in her own still warm one with a wide grin.
“We can keep each other’s hands warm, right?” America, silenced for once, just nodded and followed the Canadian siblings. Noelle jumped up ahead, pointing to a tree with a small lump of snow beneath it. The lump rustled and yawned; it was really just Kumajirou, serving as a marker for the tree they wanted to use. The tree itself was at the top of a small incline, a tall, full fir with plenty of space underneath for a lot of gifts.
“So! We will cut this down and carry it in through the back door, oui?” Noelle asked, standing beside the tree.
“Exactly,” this was punctuated with Canada swinging the axe once, and lopping the large tree down with that single strike. Jenny in fact had jumped, clinging to America’s arm. His first reaction was to hug her closer and when the rest of his brain kicked in, he made absolutely no move to push her away, finding it cute how her cheeks were red – from more than the cold. Noelle moved a step or two forward, the tree landing right in the center of the toboggan. “Well, it’s a strong tree, I hope not too many branches get broken.” Noelle looked at the house, a small tower of smoke rising from the fireplace, and accessed their distance.
“Matthieu, it seems you were mistaken, we did not need Alfred’s help. So then I do think it would be polite to allow the copain et copine to go down first?” Canada couldn’t help but smile softly – Jenny and America were understandably confused – and as he picked up Kumajirou, he pointed to the toboggan.
“Here you two, climb on beside the tree.” Jenny was apprehensive, but America literally picked her up by the sides and plopped her on the other side of the tree, taking her hands and staying on his respective side.
“A-And now what?” With her arms reaching over the tree and her feet balancing kind of precariously over the edge, her insecurity about what was going through Canada and Noelle’s heads was justified.
“And now… This. Sorry Miss Jenny!” Noelle then pushed the back of toboggan with the heel of her boot, sending America, Jenny and the tree speeding down the hill, screaming all the way. The siblings only laughed, watching the pair and the tree slide right up to the back porch and crawl to a halt just in front of the door. Canada and Noelle came up behind them soon enough, having jogged down the hill after them.
“WHOO HOO!” America jumped off the toboggan and laughed heartily. “That was
fun!! Let’s do it again!” Jenny kind of wobbled off while America shouted to Canada, falling backwards into the snow. Noelle approached behind her and helped her up, while the two guys carried the tree inside. The decorations were already set up in the sitting-room; three huge boxes of brightly coloured tinsels, ornaments and other festive items. Noelle ran ahead to prepare the tree’s base, pulling it from the first box and setting it up in the middle of the room. Jenny also rushed to grab the stuff she wanted to put up most and pulled it out.
“So, we want to decorate this room and the dining room so… Uhm, who wants to do what?” Canada’s soft voice almost wasn’t heard underneath all the rustling and setting up that everyone else was doing, but America threw his arms into the air.
“I CALL DECORATING THE TREE WITH JENNY!!” The tree, without America’s support, fell backwards towards Canada, who groaned and tried to keep it upright. Noelle scrambled to help her brother while America laughed his ‘hero laugh’, hands on his hips as if he’d saved the world. After a struggle, the Canadian siblings managed to somehow right the tree and huffed with the effort. Jenny, who had been preoccupied with the ornaments, spun around and nodded with a wide smile.
“Yeah, I can decorate with Alfie!” Noelle nodded with a slight glower in America’s direction before picking up the other box and moving into the dining room with Canada on her heels. “So… Do you think this is enough?” Jenny basically had the entirety of the box’s contents splayed out in front of her, consisting of mostly red and white ornaments. There were a few green ones, and yellow ones, and little figurines like Santa Clauses, reindeer, snowmen and other Christmas-y characters.
“… There’s no blue ones. Why is Mattie missing the BLUE ones?? We can’t have red, white and blue with NO BLUE!!” He frowned and crossed his arms, right then and there deciding he wasn’t going to decorate anymore. Jenny could tell what he was thinking, and she thought quickly to try and find some way to end his mini-tantrum. Digging in the box, she found a package of wrapping paper and stick-on bows. She tore open the package and stuck a bunch of blue ribbons onto some of the red and white ornaments before tugging on the bottom of America’s shirt.
“Can we decorate now Alfie?” She made an adorable pouting face. America of course, seeing the now ‘blue’ decorations beamed and started setting them up on the tree. Jenny joined him soon enough, and between the two, the tree was decorated in barely a few moments seeing as Jenny had jokingly suggested they race. And race they did, competitive spirits blazing until the entire tree was covered in glittering ornaments, and the two were laughing their heads off at each other, the picture of a happy Christmas moment.
