I Saw Mommy Kissing Mrs. Claus

[Prudence Silvertree]

December 24th

Prue wasn't in the habit of waiting until the last minute to do things and shopping for presents was not an exception to this rule. She'd already gone through the trouble of procuring appropriate gifts for all the significant people in her life (there were many and it had been quite tedious, in the end) and yet she still found herself at the toy shop on Christmas Eve. Two days prior, she'd received a letter from a friend announcing the safe (and early) birth of her first child and, despite the inconvenience of the infant's appearance, Prue couldn't justify waiting until after the holidays to send something along. 

So, here she was, browsing the shelves for something that would appease both a newborn and its mother. She could've settled for a blanket or some harmlessly enchanted plush toy, but she felt obligated to prove something unique and interesting. Ugh. 

After picking through yet another shelf and coming away from it empty handed, Prue turned to round the corner into the next aisle. As she did so, she was forcibly stopped by some unseen force and remained stuck in place despite her efforts to extricate herself. Merlin, this whole thing was turning out to be more trouble than it was worth. 

@'Elladora Black'
@'Helena Macmillan'

  

[Elladora Black]

Had Elladora been offered a choice she would have done away with the notion of Christmas altogether. It had a sour taste of having been bastardised by muggles about it and she resented having to part with her apportioned allowance for the sake of filling Ursula’s bedroom with yet more clutter, but obligations were such for a reason. It would almost have been bearable if a general muttering did not seem to be following her wherever she went in the High Street and even Ella’s ability to ignore lesser mortals was being severely tested.

Fortunately the rabble of excitable children that made up the current population of Denbright’s didn’t seem at all bothered by her presence and, for once, Ella was glad for them. Acquiring a last minute gift for Sirius was a necessary chore – of course it needn’t have been a chore at all but for that fact Ursula had left it till the very last moment to tell her she had bought the same thing for him – and she had high hopes of being able to get this over with as quickly and painlessly as possible.

Which was a perfect plan right up until the moment she turned into the next aisle and found herself firstly face to face with another woman, and secondly quite unable to change that fact.

“If this is some kind of joke on the part of the management they can rest assured I am unamused.”