sandandwater

She's keeping the fact that this Christmas is bittersweet to herself. No one else needs to know how heavy her heart is or that her thoughts keep drifting towards difficult conversations she doesn't want to have, at least not yet. Pippa won't ruin Christmas, wants 'just one more' happy occasion with Rory. She would like to celebrate something with him, anything at all, even if it is a holiday that she treats as a secular tradition instead of a religious event.

No loud Christmas parties for her this year. No crowded solemn midnight mass for him. Tonight, it's just...peaceful here in her apartment. The dog is sleeping under the coffee table where her very brightly lit (and incredibly pink) tree sits surrounded by stacks of presents. The stereo is on low, old holiday standards adding to the atmosphere as Bing Crosby dreams of a white Christmas and Rosemary Clooney counts her blessings instead of sheep. Everything smells of cranberries and gingerbread, plates full of cookies are on the dining room table(cooling, except for the ones Rory keeps popping into his mouth) and Pippa is partially following the trials and tribulations of Ralphie as she watches the television on mute.

With a playful smile, she takes a bow off one of the presents and presses it to Rory's chest when he joins her on the sofa. "Do you think you can stop biting the heads off gingerbread men long enough to open presents?" Pippa nods at his stocking, which she has filled with mostly unwrapped gifts: polishing cloths and guitar wax, replacement strings, new picks and a fret board cleaner. There may also be plenty of chocolate in there as well. He's a musician and a púca, the stocking is full of necessities.

The rest of her gifts for him are a bit more heartfelt. There's the leather portfolio she's filled with blank sheet music, a box filled with postcards already stamped and addressed to his family members (so he can keep in touch when Breaker Street begins to tour) along with an atlas and a felt-tipped pen (to keep track of where they have been and where they are going), sweaters Pippa picked out to replace some of his more worn clothing, jeans that she knows will flatter him on stage, and lastly the watch she picked out for him. Rock star appropriate, simple and beautiful and Italian made.

Pippa picks up her mug filled with tea and sips it as she waits for Rory to make up his mind about unwrapping things.