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finalgilmoregirl · 5 months

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a Jess fic somehow related to winter/Christmas?

a/n : sorry for basically falling off the face of the earth lol, here’s something small i’ve had in my drafts for almost two years. no gender specified, no y/n

i’ll be home for xmas ☆ jess mariano x reader

there was nothing like the holidays. the cold weather, no school, warm drinks, and the beautiful snow that was soon to cover stars hollow. however this year's winter had been hard to enjoy ever since jess had left to california to visit his dad. you understood why he wanted to leave town of course and had been fully supportive of his plans, but now that he had actually been gone, you felt a void in your life. i mean, calls from payphones could only accomplish so much.

you thought you could handle it. its not like the two of you were completely dependent of each other, you saw each other around town almost every day and if you went a few without talking to each other, it was nothing to worry about. now, you wish you savored your time with him, maybe went on a few more dates with him.

you currently remained laid in bed, relishing in the warmth your countless blankets gave you. it was past 11 in the morning and as you didn't have school and your parents were at work already, you were in no rush to leave your solitude. that was, until your stomach reminded you of its presence and you realized you really couldn't just stay in bed all day without suffering from hunger.

slowly sitting up, you sucked in a breath as the cold air from your bedroom made its way to your body. its now or never, you thought. bracing yourself, you ran to pick up a sweater you had discarded on your desk, quickly putting it on to provide you with some heat. and after finding your slippers, you finally made your way to the kitchen.

as you prepared yourself to make a hot drink, you glanced at the calendar on your family's fridge.

december 22nd.

christmas was just days away. you of course were looking forward to it. good food, presents, classic christmas movies on every channel. but to think that you wouldn't be able to enjoy any of it with jess by your side was a bit of a disappointment. you had only been dating for around eight months, making this your first holiday season together.

what would he have gotten you? you couldn't help but wonder. clothes? cd's? something random, yet thoughtful like a candle of your favorite scent? you chuckled at the thought of jess browsing the candle aisle at a department store.

you took your drink to your room as you looked through your closet, deciding to go for a walk, maybe even picking up a pastry at luke's or the local bakery for breakfast.

picking out some warm layers you quickly got dressed, not wanting to leave your body vulnerable of the low temperature of your home.

as you laced up your winter boots, you spotted something in the corner of your eye. from underneath your bed you saw a book peaking out. as you picked it up you quickly realized that it was one of the many jess had been pushing you to read.

it was the catcher in the rye, a classic, you remember him saying as he handed it to you.

you had gotten only a few chapters in, schoolwork taking too much of your time up for you to actually enjoy it, however now seemed as a perfect time as any to continue.

you placed in in the crook of your arm as you placed the essential wallet and keys into your jacket pockets and prepared to leave your house.

you ultimately decided against going to luke’s as you approached the middle of town, knowing that jess’ absence from the restaurant would feel more prominent. you instead bought hot chocolate at the bakery and sat by the window, so you can take in the beautiful snowy view in the moments you weren’t reading.

you couldn’t help but start thinking of jess again. about how he and luke probably would have came over for christmas dinner. you’re parents were actually quite fond of them, your mother fawning over how sweet jess was to you, and your father surprisingly having a few things in common with your boyfriend’s uncle. maybe next year you thought, sighing as you took another sip.

you were two more chapters into the book before you decided to take a break, your hot chocolate being long empty. a walk sounds nice.

you plan was interrupted however, as the moment you stepped back outside, you saw him.

jess was standing on the frosty lawn of the town’s center with his back turned, looking around, looking for you. you gasped and slowly began walking towards him, maybe you were mistaken. he wasn’t supposed to be back until new years!

“jess?” you called out, and as you approached he turned at the sound of your voice, a smile forming as he saw you. the moment you realized for sure it was him you ran, almost knocking him over with the force you hugged him with.

“hey” he laughed, a small tease in his voice at your dramatic reaction.

“what are you doing here?” you asked him.

"they don't have snow in california." you chuckled at his answer, still trying to wrap your head around his presence.

"and i um", he hesitantly added on, glad your face was buried in his shoulder. "i really missed you."

you stepped back an inch, just enough to see his face and the warm color that began to shade his cheeks. his eyes traveled all over your face, taking in the features he thought about every moment he was away from you.

you smiled widely, "are you blushing?"

"what? no!" he quickly defended, eyebrows furrowing at the laugh you tried to hide at his response. "i'm just not used to the cold anymore!"

you let out a louder laugh at that, softly kissing him before placing your chin back on his shoulder as you resumed your hug.

"yeah, okay." you responded sarcastically. then sincerely, "i really missed you too."

happy holidays ☆

#jess mariano imagine #jess mariano x reader #jess mariano fluff #gilmore girls imagine

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officialyourdailyinspiration · 4 months

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A Christmas Carol (1984) George C. Scott and Edward Woodward (one of my favorite versions - Fred, YDI)

This is probably the only version of 'A Christmas Carol' in which Scrooge wears dress pants with a dress shirt, vest, and smoking jacket instead of his nightshirt, slippers, and cap. Rumor has it that George C. Scott openly reeled at the very thought of portraying Scrooge under such conditions, especially in an English winter. In the book, Scrooge wears his shirt, pants, vest, dressing gown, and slippers. Scott's clothing is very close to the book.

Although this movie was made for television, it was released theatrically in the United Kingdom in November 1984.

Many versions of A Christmas Carol depict Scrooge as beginning to understand his mistakes by the end of his time with the Ghost of Christmas Present. However, this is one of the few versions that makes a point of showing that Scrooge does not accept his mistakes until he spends a good amount of time with the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. As an example, when he is deserted by the Ghost of Christmas Present, Scrooge sits down and states "What have I done…to be abandoned like this."

This movie was filmed on location in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in the English Midlands. It originally aired on the American television network CBS on 17 December 1984, and was released theatrically in Great Britain.

The movie has run in syndication on local American channels since it debuted in 1984, and was released on VHS in 1989 (in the UK) and to DVD in 1999. This was because Scott himself (and later his estate through Baxter Healthcare, to whom the Scott family donated their copyright) owned the rights to this film. On 25 November 2007, it returned to national television on AMC for the first time since its debut, and the network continues to show it each December under license from the Scott estate and 20th Century Studios/Walt Disney Television (the latter's distribution rights the result of their owning the video rights). In 2009, the Hallmark Channel also ran the movie soon after Thanksgiving. It remains among the most beloved of the several adaptations of A Christmas Carol.

The fade outs for commercial breaks (as seen on television airings and original VHS releases) perfectly broke the story up into the five 'staves' as per Dickens' original novel (Marley's Ghost/The First of the Three Spirits/The Second of the Three Spirits/The Last of the Spirits/The End of It). However, these have been edited out for the more recent DVD and Blu-ray releases.

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gatheringfiki · 4 months

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The following ficlet was written by @i-am-still-bb based on this photoset.

Fili/Kili, Gen.

You might also be able to read this story on AO3.

If you’ve enjoyed this story, please leave a comment either in replies or on AO3. :)

Deck the Halls

—

December 1st

Kili opened the cardboard box that he had brought down from the attic days before. It was dented and soft around the corners, and there was a water stain from some long ago roof leak. He had dragged the ornaments down after he put the tree in its stand. He had intended to start decorating the tree. But then he just… hadn’t. He had gone to the tree farm and cut down the tree on his own, brought it home, and gotten it into the stand and it was more or less straight. That was enough. And it felt like it might be enough for the whole holiday season.

He pushed the box into the corner and turned on the television to watch a hockey match. He did not like hockey, but every other channel was playing Christmas movies, talking about Christmas, or airing the news. And he wanted to avoid all of those things. Right now he did not want to watch parades, see men be tricked into becoming Santa Claus, watch fathers run all over town trying to find the toy their child wants for Christmas, or the chaos of a family Christmas complete with a kidnapping and a house fire.

Fili and he had always watched those movies together—Jingle All the Way, The Santa Clause, Christmas with the Kranks, Home Alone 4, Merry Christmas Charlie Brown, others, and the whole plethora of animated Christmas cartoons from their childhoods.

They had spent the holiday season apart before. School, work, illness—all got in the way at one time or the other. So sometimes Kili put up the tree and FaceTimed Fili while he decorated it. Other times they would watch movies on their laptops, clicking start at the same time. But they always saw each other at some point even if it was just for a day. But since they had completed college, grad school, and internships they had spent each Christmas season together for nearly a decade.

Not this year. And probably not next year if the news of the expedition was correct.

Fili had taken a job as a Navigator on the HMS Dauntless. It was a tremendous honor to be chosen, but it still took Fili away and into the stars. Fili was going to spend Christmas on a different planet looking at different stars. He wouldn’t have a Christmas tree with colored lights and baubles flashing in a darkened room. There would be no light displays in the city center to look at with peppermint hot chocolate in hand. Instead Fili would have twinkling stars and maybe lights from a distant, alien city peeking through cloud cover. And Kili had his job on Earth. He had all of things things available to him. But he had not bought a single peppermint hot chocolate or gandered at the light displays.

—

“You brought what?” Fili asked incredulously.

“Baubles,” Matt said, grunting as he pulled a large tote out of the storage closet. “Tinsel, some fake garlands, lights.”

“On a space mission? Where we could very well be fired on at any given moment given how the negotiations are going.”

Matt shrugged. “And that’s a reason not to celebrate Christmas, why?”

“It’s not…” Fili faltered. “I just was not expecting it, was all.”

“And that’s part of the point,” Matt said. “No one is expecting it, so it will be a good surprise. And we need some good surprises rather than just all the bad ones that we’ve been getting so far on this voyage.”

“I suppose that makes sense.”

“I even had some honeyed hams put in the deep freeze.”

“Did you think about presents?”

“I did,” Matt admitted. “It’ll have to be crafts something”

“I have exactly one crafty skill, and only one. Mapmaking,” Fili held up his hands, “Not really a jumper or a scarf.”

“Well, make a map then.”

Fili grunted. “Who’s going to be doing the decorating?”

“That would be you,” Matt pushed an unlabeled, but heavy box into Fili’s arms. “Merry Christmas.”

Fili strung up silver and gold garlands over the doors into the common areas and around the windows in the navigation cabin. The captain saw him and rolled his eyes, but said nothing. Then there were the baubles in blue, silver, and gold, and the warm white twinkling lights. The refectory, the navigation cabin, and the recreation lounges were certainly more festive than before, but still sterile in the way that spaceships always were. Despite the definite cheerful bend it felt off for Fili. He had grown up with trees covered in eclectic ornaments; some were antiques, some were preschool crafts, some were hand made gifts, and some were mass produced spheres. Those were all hung on a tree that they had cut down themselves. Kili’s family had always used a fake tree, but once he moved in with Fili he had been initiated in the tradition of wandering a field and cutting down your own Christmas tree.

Fili had brought other traditions with him into the house that he shared with Kili. There was gold tinsel, multicolored lights, and a Moravian star on the top of their tree. Kili had brought origami snowflakes, stars, spheres, and his love for bells of all sorts.

Tubs now empty of decorations were now stored away and now released from duty Fili was reading over some navigation reports in the largest of the recreational lounges. The reports could have waited until tomorrow, but the appearance of the Christmas decorations had made him a bit melancholy. He had been excited to take this job, but he had simultaneously dreaded it. To spend almost 2 years aboard the Dauntless, but very possibly more, was a dream job, the very job that he had been working for most of his career working on navigation systems. But it also meant nearly 2 years away from his friends and family.

And Kili.

Fili shook his head and refocused on the reports, but his thoughts started to drift almost immediately.

A few of the younger crew members were seated around a television and they had selected a show to watch. The telltale introduction for Rudolf started with the introduction by the snowman.

Kili knew all of the songs. They had sung them together on more than one occasion.

Fili ended up watching the program from his spot at the table, reports completely forgotten. He wondered if Kili would watch any of the movies on his own.

—

December 7th

Kili had put decorations on the tree, but it was minimal; tinsel, lights, and the most meaningful ornaments—the one commemorating their first house together, baby ornaments, a felt bell decorated with puff pant and a photograph of Fili as a toddler with red cheeks and a cowlick in the center.

Snow had fallen the night before, and Kili could not yet be bothered to dig himself out.

So he set a photograph of Fili and him standing in front of a Christmas lights display on the coffee table, made himself a hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream, and settled in to watch one of their favorite Christmas movies.

—

December 10th

The alarm set for 7:50 pm always startled Fili when it sounded at the same time on every second Saturday. He expected and looked forward to this alarm with its chiming bells, but it always caught him off guard. His turn in the Communications room started at 8pm. He was always waiting at the door so he could use all of the time that was allotted to him.

—

Kili’s phone sat fully charged, screen facing up, on the coffee table. He sat anxiously on the edge of the brown leather couch, elbows on his knees, staring at the tiny black screen. He tapped the glass to wake up the display. It was still fully charged. There was still a full signal.

And it was only 7:58 pm.

The screen turned dark and Kili tapped the glass again.

7:59 pm.

Then 8:00 pm.

The phone never rang immediately no matter how much Kili willed it to. He knew Fili had to sign in with the attendant, find a terminal, sign in to the computer, and then dial Kili’s number. Tasks that ate up precious seconds and delayed their only means of direct communication.

They could also send emails back and forth. They took advantage of that, but the emails usually consisted of a list of things they did that day and that they missed each other. Kili looked forward to those emails, sometimes refreshing his Inbox every few seconds for hours waiting for the next missive to appear. But emails were not the same as video chatting.

And video chatting was a far cry from seeing each other in person. But it was the best they were going to have for… a while. Kili had an app on his phone counting down to the Dauntless’ anticipated return date. And for now he never looked at it. The number was far too large.

Then Kili’s phone rang.

Fili’s face filled the screen with a large green button that Kili swiped to answer the call. The photograph shifted from one of Fili smiling in their kitchen to him sitting in the Comm room with large black headphones covering his ears and a microphone extending from one earpiece.

“Hi!”

“Hi yourself,” Fili replied with a smile. “You are not going to believe or be able to guess what I did this week!”

“Discover a new planet? A race of aliens? Fixed a broken Nav-1500-K12 system yourself?”

“See, those are all things that would make sense given that I’m on a Space Cruiser with the specific mission of locating new planets and I am employed as a Navigations Specialist.”

“Umm…” Kili searched for less plausible activities, but he was distracted by Fili’s voice and face. He could have sworn that Fili looked different in each call, but Kili could never pinpoint exactly what was different. “Used a pogo stick in zero gravity?”

Fili laughed, “Now that would be a challenge.”

“I give up,” Kili grinned back.

“I put up Christmas decorations,” Fili said proudly.

Kili frowned, sure that he had misheard, “What?”

“Christmas decorations,” Fili repeated, “Let me see if I can…” Fili reached forward, fidgeting with the camera to change the direction it was facing.

Kili squinted, nose almost touching the small glass rectangle in, and tried to make out what Fili was trying to show him.

“See? There? Over the door?” Fili said, holding the camera up trying to give Kili a better view.

“I think so?”

“It’s not much. No trees or anything, though, now that I think about it, I am a bit surprised that Matt didn’t bring any of those on board. He had me hanging faux greenery garlands, lights, tinsel, and baubles. He also has a whole bunch of wrapping paper, tape, ribbons and such for presents.” Fill returned the camera to its stand and sat back.

“Are you going to be giving each other astronaut ice cream or other dried food stuff?”

“I don’t really know. It’s not like any of us can run out to the mall to buy something, or hop on the internet and have it show up on our doorstep within twenty-four hours. He did say something about crafting, but,” Fili shrugged. “You know how I am with crafting.”

“You’re just comparing yourself to Bilbo. And he’s practically a wizard.”

“I guess,” Fili said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Enough about life on a floating metal tube. What did you do this week.”

Kili sat back into the couch cushions. The light emitting from the woodburning stove flickered. “It snowed.”

“Oh? You know, I never thought I’d say it, but I actually miss the snow and cold. The ship is cold, especially in the hallways and lesser used rooms, but it’s cold without a purpose other than conserving fuel. Cold that brings snow? At least there’s an upside.”

“Are you sure you miss snow? Maybe you can take over shoveling when you get back. It took me hours to clear the driveway the other day. I did just leave it for a while. And then it snowed more, and I’m still not sure if waiting was a good thing or not because of that. I only had to shovel once instead of twice, but there was more to shovel in one go.” Kili ran a hand through his long hair.

“I’ll shovel all the snow you want me too when I get home,” Fili replied.

“Good.”

“As long as you make me that hot chocolate of yours.”

“I can, but it’s not that hard. I even taped the recipe card to the top of the cocoa tin.”

“It’s never right when I’m the one making it.”

“I’ve watched you make it. It’s correct.”

“Must be the love that you add.”

Kili stuck out his tongue to cover up his pleasure at Fili’s words. “Oh! I also saw an elk when I took a short hike before clearing the snow.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t a reindeer? It is the season.”

“It’s Colorado, not Sweden or Canada.”

“Did it have a red nose?”

“No,” Kili said. He leaned back on the couch, slouching deep into the cushions. “I miss you.”

Fili’s expression softened. “I miss you, too.”

“It… it doesn’t feel like Christmas without you here.”

“Are you going to put up any decorations?”

“I did put up some,” Kili shrugged despondently.

“Show me?”

Kili held his phone up and turned it so Fili could see the green tree standing in the corner of the room with its garland, lights, and ornaments.

“Looks good, Kee.”

Kili turned the camera back around. “Eh,” he shrugged. “I didn’t put on all the baubles. And most of the boxes are still in the attic.”

“You don’t have anyone ordering you to decorate. Do what you want. You don’t have to put up any decorations.”

“I know.”

“I’m glad you did though. I miss you and I miss doing the holiday activities with you, but I’d hate for you to just not do any of them because you enjoy those things as well.”

Kili nodded, but did not respond right away. “I watched The Santa Clause yesterday.”

“You did?” Fili leaned forward on his elbows, braids swinging over his shoulders.

“Yeah. I made hot chocolate and had some Christmas cookies that Bilbo had dropped off.”

“Jealous!”

Kili smiled a little. “I put on your Christmas jumper.”

“The jumper with the hole in the elbow?”

“That’s the one. And I had that ridiculous blanket you bought. That one with the ghosts wearing Santa hats and wrapped in Christmas lights over my lap.”

“It’s not ridiculous. It’s wonderful!”

“It was warm.”

“I didn’t think to pack one of your shirts,” Fili said a bit sadly.

“The jumper didn’t smell like you if that makes a difference?” Kili offered. “It smelled of laundry detergent and that stuff we always put in with the sweaters so they don’t smell all funky when we get them out of storage.”

“The herb sachets.”

“Yes. Those. Though I think the one in the bit needs to be replaced before next year.”

“I’ll send you the instructions whenever you need them.”

—

December 23

“Would you look at that?” Matt’s voice was full of awe and wonder.

He was talking about the planet that they had been approaching for nearly a week and now it was below them and the ship was orbiting the planet that had the familiar, blue, green, and brown of earth, but also some unexpected colors like pink and coral.

“There should be another moon,” Fili said looking from the planet back to his charts.

“It’ll show up,” someone said.

“Or it won’t,” someone else quipped.

As the line between daylight and darkness moved across the planet below lights started to flick on. There were clusters, but they were not near the oceans, like they would be on earth, and they were not connected by slender threads of highways.

“So which navigator gets to go on the cruiser to land on the surface?” Aaron, one of the other Navigators, asked.

The captain opened his mouth to answer the questions, but before he could speak another Navigator spoke up. “It should go by seniority.”

“You would suggest that, Zach,” Fili said. “Since you are the most senior member of the navigation crew.”

“And the most experienced,” Zach replied. “I have done this sort of thing before, and experience is invaluable in situations like this.”

“But the people are responding well to our communications,” Alexandra, the youngest Navigator said, “Do you really think that there’ll be trouble?”

“No,” the captain said quickly.

“But there’s always a chance,” Zach added.

“It would be a great learning experience…” she said wistfully. Alexandra had not finished her college degree before taking the job. She had accepted her position on the ship and her university pressured her professors into grading her work and awarding her degree in the middle of a semester. “Maybe I should join whoever goes, to help with any instruments and such.”

“We should draw lots,” Aaron said. “That’s the only fair way to do it.”

“Like drawing pieces of paper from a hat?” Alexandra asked.

“It will be Fili,” the captain said, interrupting the conversation about how people should draw lots, which methods were easier, and which ones were statistically more fair.

“That’s not fair,” Zach protested.

“But it is what I have decided,” the captain said firmly, giving Zach and any other Navigators who looked like they might protest a dark look from beneath bushy grey eyebrows. “Alexandra.”

“Yes, captain?”

“You may accompany us.”

“Thank you, sir! I won’t let you down!” she gushed.

“Both of you will be ready to depart at 1100 hours.”

“Yes, captain,” Fili and Alexandra said in unison.

Fili went back to his charts and calculations and tried to ignore the jealous glares that his crewmates were shooting him.

—

December 24

“You did what?!” Kili’s eyes went wide as he listened to Fili.

“The captain picked me to join him on the trip down to the surface,” Fili repeated, eyes bright and practically glowing in the dim light of the Comms room. “You should have been there, Kili,” he said dreamily. “It was something else. There were mountains unlike any that I have ever seen before. And we were received in a building that reminded me of that trip we took to Europe when we saw all of those cathedrals. Except this one had nothing to do with any sort of religion. It was just a standard building.”

“That sounds like it would be a bit weird.”

“It was,” Fili admitted. “Every building that we saw was ornately decorated.”

“Did the meeting at least go well? Or is that classified and I’ll find out the public version of events on the news in a week or so?”

Fili’s brows furrowed. “I think it went well, but, to be honest, I was not really paying attention to any sort of negotiations. My job stopped the second we got out of the cruiser pod and started when we got back in. I was mostly looking at the people and the architecture.”

Kili settled back into the armchair with the holiday ghost blanket pulled up to his chin, “What were the people like?”

“For the most part they looked like us, actually,” Fili said. “Which was not what I was expecting.”

“For the most part?”

“They had pointed ears, Kee, like Spock.”

Kili’s fingers went to his ears where he pinched the top to create a Spock-like crease. “Interesting.”

“But I want to hear about your day,” Fili said.

“Yours was much more exciting than mine,” Kili adjusted the blanket. “I went over to Bilbo’s for Christmas Eve dinner. He made ham. I took rolls like we always do.”

Fili nodded and listened as Kili told him about the holiday gathering and how the younger generation had started a game of Spoons that had ended when someone nearly got a concussion after being pushed into a wall but after someone had needed to use a first aid kit to treat a bleeding finger.

Fili leaned forward, his chin resting in his palm, “Did you play?”

“No!” Kili said emphatically. “But it is weird not being one of the kids, you know? I’m one of the grown ups now. Not that we’ve been kids or sat at the kids table in a longtime. It just felt more obvious this year. Bilbo managed to foist off planning the New Years’ planning on to Ori, Gimli, and I. I did warn him that he should expect to have just bags of chips and maybe some dip.”

“What did he say to that?”

“Uh,” Kili looked at the ceiling for a moment. “He laughed and then said, ‘Kili, my boy, you’re all in your 30s. I’m sure you can manage a sandwich platter from a deli at the very least.”

“And did that end up falling on you?”

“I put “ordering a sandwich platter” in my planner for Monday. Gimli can manage napkins, maybe.”

“And hopefully this year they won’t be wet and say Starbucks on them,” Fili laughed.

“Hopefully,” Kili echoed.

“So are you ready for tomorrow?” Fili asked.

“No,” Kili said.

“What are you planning to do?”

“I’ll probably sleep in since I plan to stay up late tonight watching whatever movies they decided to air on the TV. I ended up watching Last Christmas the other night on some such channel and it was decent. So I’m going to give some of those ridiculous holiday made-for-tv romcoms a chance on the off chance that they’re decent.”

“Sounds good. I think someone is hosting a Christmas movie marathon in one of the common lounges tonight.”

“You should go.”

“I’ll think about it,” Fili said with a shrug. “So you’ll be sleeping in because you’ll be up late tonight; what about tomorrow?”

Kili lifted his shoulders noncommittally and scootched lower into the corner of the arm chair. “Probably sleep late, like you said, maybe go on a run if it’s not too cold.”

“Heathen.”

“I know,” Kili replied before continuing. “Then probably some leftovers for lunch and dinner, read some, light a fire.” Kili shrugged again. “There’s not much going on tomorrow. All the group plans have already taken place and they avoided the day of Christmas to avoid conflicting with family plans. You?”

“I actually drew the short straw and I have to work most of tomorrow.”

Kili pulled a face, “Gross.”

“I know.”

“Hey, we’re almost out of time.”

“Already?” Kili whined and pulled the blanket up over his chin.

“And I have one final thing to tell you.”

“What?”

“After we hang up I want you to go look in my underwear drawer.”

“What will I be looking for? Holiday underwear? Boxers that say ‘Unwrap me?’”

“No,” Fili laughed. “No boxers saying that. Though maybe I’ll have to find some when I get home. No, you’ll know it when you see it.”

“Okay…” Kili said skeptically.

“Love you, Kee.”

“Love you, too.”

“Merry Christmas.”

The connection was lost before Kili could reply. He sighed and dropped his head back, his hand holding the phone dropping into his lap. Then he put his phone down and pushed the blanket to the floor.

The wood-burning stove kept the cottage fairly warm when someone was home all day to tend it, but the floors where air from the drafty doors was still cold on Kili’s feet. He pushed open the bedroom door and flipped the lightswitch which lit a couple of lamps that were positioned throughout the room. “What did you hide in with your underwear, Fili Durin?” Kili asked the empty room.

Fili’s drawer squeaked from long disuse when Kili opened it. All he saw at first were rows of Fili’s neatly folded white underwear. Kili pulled the drawer out a little further and caught sight of a glittery red ribbon. He fished the object out of the back corner of the drawer. It was a small package, wrapped in brown paper and tied with a red ribbon. The label said “To K, from F.” And there was a card tucked under the ribbon.

Open Me First

Kili flopped down on their bed, leaving the drawer open. He squirmed a little on the bed currently decked out in the gray linen duvet cover that was too warm to use during the summer, and some flannel sheets with a holiday themed fuzzy blanket thrown over one corner to get comfortable.

He set the wrapped package to one side. He ran his fingers over the slightly rough duvet cover absentmindedly while he stared at the envelope considering his options and savoring the anticipation. Kili flipped the envelope over, stuck his finger beneath the flap and tore the envelope to reveal a Christmas card with a standard scene of a snowy forest and a trite greeting on the front.

Kili opened the card.

Dear Kili,

I’m sorry that I’m not home for Christmas this year. I want you to know that I love you and I miss you, and I will be thinking about you all day. I did not want you to feel lonely this year, so I planned a surprise for you, but you don’t get to find out until Christmas morning! (Or you could find out now, I can’t enforce rules from 3,000,000 miles away.)

Love you and can’t wait to see you again soon!

Yours,

Fili

P.S. Have one of those wonderful hot chocolates of yours for me, please!

Kili considered the instructions for a few moments before taking the package in hand and returning to the living room with the wood burning fireplace and the Christmas tree. Kili carefully set the package down on the plaid tree skirt.

He straightened and considered the present for a moment. Then he picked up the blanket from the floor, folded it, and went into the kitchen to make the hot chocolate that he was supposed to drink for Fili. Once it was ready and loaded with whipped cream and chocolate shavings he returned to the living room, settled in on the couch, feet outstretched towards the stove, and turned on the television. He flipped through the stations until he found something worth watching.

—

Fili had gone to bed after ending his call with Kili. His bunk mate had lit a peppermint scented candle, and it felt a little festive. But if Fili had been on duty on the main navigation deck he would have seen the shadow of a sleigh drawn by reindeer pass in front of the double moons of the planet they were orbiting.

—

Kili drank the hot chocolate and watched the predictable foibles and shenanigans of the main characters. But he did not see how it ended. By the time that the happy ending had rolled around Kili was asleep, head lolled to the side, and warm beneath the blanket.

Outside his window the moon was shining bright and the world was light in the blue light of reflected moonlight. And then, across the moon, a silhouette briefly appeared of a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

#submission #Gathering 12 Days 2023 #Fili/Kili #FiKi #Durincest #the Hobbit

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matthewmadrigal · 5 months

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Look, Abuela, I'm on TV now! - Mirabel

I recently posted about Encanto on Japanese TV recently and now it aired on Disney Channel US for Thanksgiving a few minutes ago......

Well, we have seen Encanto broadcast on TV networks worldwide the last few weeks, of course starting on ABC last October for The Wonderful World Of Disney's Disney100 celebration (where Once Upon A Studio had its broadcast premiere) as well on Freeform the same month and just last week it was on Japan's most famous TV movie block Friday Roadshow where it generated loads of reactions over there (because cable and streaming is not that popular there, and before the TV broadcast an insta moot from japan told me that Encanto was not as popular there as they focus more on Frozen and other princess films) and now for Thanksgiving over on Disney Channel US. Who knows, maybe for Christmas it may air on UK Freeview TV on BBC One, as the BBC has a tradition of airing Disney movies at Christmas time, one year i think it was last year when Mary Poppins Returns was on BBC One. I do hope it comes to the BBC next month since its two years since Encanto was theatrically released.

The recent TV airings of Encanto reminded me of a post someone made over on X claiming that the encanto fandom was "expired" simply because Disney has no clear announcements on future encanto media (a sequel and/or a Disney+ series) and some say the hype died down. But somehow I do believe that as Abuela Alma said, "THE MIRACLE IS STRONG!" It is evident in the US Disney Parks, and apparently Encanto broadcasts on networks and cable may also rekindle memories of early 2022 and remind us that Mirabel is still so sweet and also how wholesome Encanto is as a movie... Maybe when someone sees it on TV soon maybe it will bring an encanto fan back to the time when talking about Bruno was the hottest thing on the planet.

(Screengrabs of the Disney Channel US airing of Encanto via TheTVApp for your attention)

#encanto #encanto fandom #mirabel madrigal #encanto brainrot #we dont talk about bruno #disneys encanto #la familia madrigal #bruno madrigal #luisa madrigal #dolores madrigal #camilo madrigal #casita #disney channel #youre watching disney channel #fa-la-la-lidays

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sheerfreesia007 · 4 months

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Fluffmas #18

Title: Fluffmas #18

Fandom: Marvel

Pairing: Tasm!Peter Parker x OFC!

Author: @sheerfreesia007

Prompt: Watch a Christmas movie

Words: 757

Warnings: Erection, spicy but no smut

Permanent Tag List: @paintballkid711, @fioccodineveautunnale, @phoenixhalliwell, @linkpk88, @weirdowithnobeardo, @athalien

Gif Credit: @uni-helps

Peter grinned wolfishly at you as he watched you walk into the living room of your shared apartment holding a large bowl of freshly popped popcorn. You held a hand up in preparation as you stepped over his stretched out legs that lay on the coffee table while he sat on the couch.

“Let me sit down first before you pounce on the bowl.” You chastise him and his grin widens as his hands reach out and grab ahold of your waist and pull you down onto his lap. “Peter!” You cry out surprised and he chuckles softly as he ducks his head and nuzzles into your neck.

“What? You’re sitting aren’t you?” He asks cheekily and you gasp softly as he shifts you into a comfortable position on his lap before his hand dives into the full bowl. Popcorn flies out of the sides of the bowl and you huff at him before grabbing the remote from the couch cushion at his side. You begin clicking through channels to see what holiday movies that have playing and find A Christmas Story playing on one of your favorite channels.

“Are you gonna let me sit on my own or am I stuck here for the movie?” you ask him softly. You’re a little embarrassed to be sitting on his lap like this but also you’re loving it. The two of you have been dancing around this unspoken thing between the two of you since you moved in with him two months ago. You were each other’s best friend and had only danced along the line between best friends and more than best friends, but ever since your shitty ex had kicked you out right before Halloween all because he got caught cheating Peter had been more bold with his touches and his flirting. It was honestly driving you crazy with how intense it would sometimes get between the two of you. But neither one of you had stepped over that line.

“Oh no, you’re stuck there sweetheart.” he says in a low tone next to your ear and you shiver in his lap as his arms wrap tighter around your waist. He nuzzles his face into your neck and you bite your lower lip to curb the moan that wants to break out into the air. “All warm and cozy in my lap while we watch a movie together. I think this is perfect.” he tells you and lounges back on the couch cradling you close to him.

You sigh softly as your body begins to relax back against him, resigning yourself to the fact that he’s not going to let you up. While the two of you watch the movie and enjoy the popcorn you don’t realize that your legs have become tangled with his until Peter shifts his hips and your pajama pants covered legs slide together. You jolt in surprise and begin to try detangling yourself from him but his large hand comes down on your knee firmly and stops you from moving.

“Don’t move sweetheart.” he says in such a low tone that it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand at attention. “If you do, I’ll be found out.” he confesses and you frown softly at his words before his hips grind against your backside and you feel how hard he’s gotten just by lounging with you in his lap. You gasp softly and he wraps his arms fully around your waist and drags you back against him causing you to feel him completely pressed against your back.

“Pete.” you say softly and try to calm your racing heart.

“I know sweetheart. I know. We’ve been dancing along this line for so long.” he reassures you gently as one hand tilts your head back over your shoulder. “I wanna step over the line sweetheart. What do you say?” he asks you softly and you sigh quietly before tilting your head fully back on his shoulder and pressing your lips to the underside of his jaw. Peter whimpers softly before tilting his head down to you and covers your lips hungrily with his own.

“Movie’s over.” you tell him softly when you both break away and he huffs softly before gathering you in his arms and begins walking towards his bedroom.

“Good I’ve got so much more I want to watch than a Christmas movie.” he tells you sultrily and you shiver in his arms knowing how much sleep you won’t be getting tonight, thankfully neither of you work tomorrow.

#my writing #fluffmas 2023 #marvel #tasm!peter parker x ofc #tasm!peter parker

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wolferess · 1 year

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Dec 8th - 🆆hite 🅲hristmas

White Christmas~ a Christmas during which there is snow on the ground.

You and your heating bag of a boyfriend, don't get put much, due to your introverted nature and his lack of care about the outside world, most would say it's the same thing just worded differently.

You both just lounge on the couch, bodies intertwined and watching TV, trying to pass the day. You're in his dark purple Hoodie with his basketball shorts, How you two meet? It's kind of a long story, well okay not that long. You two can't stop but clash at that little convenience store, to turn from day greetings to a 'hey' to small conversations to dates and to where you guys are now.

You know what he is, you know what he do but you just can't seem to care with all the love you have for him, that’s he fell for you you don't turn your face in disgust when you see him you rather smile that's sweet smile of yours that can't seem to stop making his heart flutter. Of course for dates society see him as a scary being which is why he goes with a mask and hoodie and as the loving girlfriend you match with him just so he won't feel left out or embarrassed, he doesn't, some people thinks you guys are celebrities but you don't care all that matter is you and him.

It's currently 9 am and you guys are watching Christmas movies that still show on TV that he was forced to watch with you (he doesn't care if it's boring as long as he has you in his arms). "Do you plan to watch movies and lounge on your ass all day?" He commented "Oh yeah? then why are you still here huh!?" You exaggerated the last part, you titles you head up to meet your boyfriend's ocean blue eyes and the next thing you know it was completely dark. You chuckled at his antics and turned your head back to the tv, watching some show that is now playing on the channel. "Doll?" He called out your perfect name which you acknowledged with a 'hm', "Wanna take you out today, to see something" puzzled, you give him your undivided attention, tilting your head back up to him. Take you out? So random though knowing what your boyfriend does it’s not likely that he’ll just choose a random date to go out without consulting you so this has to be important, maybe special is the right word to use. You felt him raising up from the hand rest of the couch and of course to make it easier despite not wanting to get up, both feet sit flat against the carpet while his hands rest at the edge of the couch, holding him up. Getting up with ‘hmph’ and walking to your shared bedroom then returning with his fluffy jacket, hat mask and shades before heading towards the door, looking back towards your figure and saying “Get ready and meet me where we always meet” a wink was thrown at you and that is when he left the room.

Get ready!? “It’s so sudden but I guess it has to be good right?’.It has been a while since you two went out, you began to squeal on the couch and that’s when he walked back in causing it to be short lived before saying ‘be ready in an hour’ before slamming back the door leaving you to the silence once again. Rushing out of the furniture to do a quick relaxing shower before changing into something comfortable, also warm enough to keep you from getting hypothermia.

You were finished by the time it struck 09:55, realizing that there is not much time remaining so you head out quickly with of course your hat and ear warmers and mittens. Closing the door behind you, you were hit by cold air causing a shiver to run down your spine, shaking off the cold feeling you pull the coat closer to your body and begin walking down the streets. Taking in your surroundings and inhaling the cold air which turns to cold carbon dioxide when you exhale and the tree trunks that no longer has it leaves and its bark turning to a darker shade of brown, people were walking down the streets with their family, friends and significant other so freely if only society didn’t treat villains less than what they were worth maybe you won’t have to be meeting up secretly or hiding both your faces from the public eye.

Your foot stops in its track as you look up to see your boyfriend by the old park. It was abandoned years ago and this has always been his and now yours hanging spot. Walking up to him and saying a flirty ‘Hey’ to which he redirects with a ‘pretty’ at the end and pats his lap for you to join him on the steps of the slides. Resting your back on his chest as he smokes his joint and passing it to you to which you refuse, his hand on your waist draws irregular patterns as his head rests on the junction of your shoulder and neck. “What did you wanna do today?” you asked curious to what his plan is “Just wait a little more longer”. And so you did.

Hours passed and your bum was starting to hurt from sitting on him for too long, sometimes you wonder how he could hold your weight for so long. Getting up and deciding to get a little stretch and walk around the park till you meet up back with him. He looked at you as you stand in front of him a small smirk on his lips, “Something up love” as a response you just grabbed him his arm as you try to pull him up to his feet, a chuckle escaped his lips as he made the job easier for you and once he is on his feet. Planting a kiss on lips since you didn’t do so when you arrived since you don’t like he smoke and now that he is done your warm plush lips are on his, feeling the burn from his lips on your as he gently glides across your own so he doesn’t bruise yours. He has always been insecure of the burns around his body but you made him feel like he shouldn’t be, he has gone through a lot growing up and he needs to learn to brace them instead of hating them. One day he tells himself, one day.

Breaking apart to inhale the so-called oxygen that keeps you alive and resting his forehead against your own and just staying there for a while. Not long after you saw white things falling out the sky, removing your forehead from his and looking up to the sky, small white dots continued to fall, catching one in your hand and it melted into the gloves. SNOW!!. “Oh my gosh it’s snowing!!” you exclaimed as it continued to fall more and more amounts. Looking at dabi you saw a genuine smile on his face, it isn’t often you see one and when you do you treasure it at the back of your mind ‘Surprise’ you heard him say, you couldn’t help but chuckled and smiled. He wanted to experience the snow with you and you couldn’t help but feel honored, having moments like these with him is something to never forget.

“It’s so pretty, it reminds me of your white hair” you say, comparing them causing him to tug at a bunch of strands in his hand before muttering a ‘you’re right ’ Looking up at the sky one more time, it's no longer blue but cloudy and instead of rain falling its snow. He tapped your nose bringing you back to look at him before trapping you in a case, your wrapped your arms around his neck tip toeing slightly to not tumble over, one arm are situated on your waist while the other one holds your jaw not wanting to break away from the kiss. After a good couple seconds of not breathing you both unlatch taking gulps of breaths.

“Love you doll” you heard him say, face red and pupils blown and so were you. “”Love you too” putting your head on his chest with closed eyes as you listen to his heart beat and the hand that was on your face meet the other as he rested his chin on your hair and slightly rocked you from side to side in silence. You could do this all day without a care in the world, society could burn for all you care, nothing beats quality time like these and nothing was going to stop you from having this. Gosh you couldn't wait to settle with him.

Didn't mean for this to be late, things were happening but here it is as well as post will be frequent to 'make up' for what I didn't do.

This is also my first kinda second time writing about dabi so it's nit really my best both I hope you like it

Have a restful night / day

-🐾

#dabi x reader #dabi fluff #dabi x y/n #bnha #dabi is touya #mha touya #touya todoroki #touya x you #Christmas Calender 🎄#touya fluff

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awildtei · 5 months

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the summer day

[this is just a little ficlet I wrote based on my HC that Alvarez is Argentinian. It's also on AO3 here]

Catalina Álvarez has never had a white Christmas. She has never had a winter Christmas, actually.

On the flight to the States when she was fifteen (not her first one, but her first one without a return ticket), she told her dad she was excited about all the Christmas songs and paraphernalia (the pinetree, the Santas with their winter hats and gloves, the Disney songs about it being cold outside) aligning with the reality of the holiday for once.

Her mom didn't bother removing her eye mask as she said, “Cata, we’re going to California.”

Since her mom couldn’t see her, Catalina rolled her eyes. “Well, yeah, but we could go somewhere else for the holidays. New York, maybe, kill two birds with one stone: white Christmas and the ball drop on New Year’s.”

“We are going somewhere else for the holidays,” said her dad without putting his book down “Home.”

Home.

—

Summers in Buenos Aires are scorching hot, the pavement, concrete, and bricks of the city’s streets and buildings absorbing the heat and becoming a furnace, slow-roasting its sweaty inhabitants day and night. It’s a humid, heavy heat, one that sits on your skin like a physical weight and becomes the sole topic of small talk for the months it comes to stay.

The holidays are scattered throughout the summer holidays, three long months of school break sprinkled with Christmas, New Year’s, and Reyes Magos. They always celebrated Reyes at home, just the three of them with their gift-full shoes under the tree. When Catalina’s dad still had his mom and wasn’t yet estranged from his only brother, they spent New Year’s with them and Christmas with her mom’s side of the family.

Hebe Rodríguez’s house was squat and painted a soft blue, halfway down a quiet residential street where stray cats could still be spotted. Inside, it was teeming with plants (which Catalina loved) and pictures of her late husband, Roberto Álvarez (which Catalina found creepy as fuck).

(Two months before she died and five months before most of the remaining Álvarezes moved to the northern hemisphere, Hebe pulled Catalina aside. “Promise me this, Cata,” she asked. “Don’t do like the yankees and take your husband’s surname when you get married, okay? Just because they’re stuck in the Dark Ages doesn’t mean you have to put up with it. You are Catalina Álvarez, remember that.”

“I’m a lesbian, grandma,” she reminded her with a smile.

Her grandma blinked at her. “Oh. Right, I forgot. Alright, carry on, then,” and she patted her only grandchild on the shoulder with a decisive nod.)

Her uncle Luis would spend most of New Year’s Eve stuck to the TV screen. Some years, he would pop his head into the kitchen and grimly inform them, “Blackout tonight,” and they would all sigh, resigned. Better announced than unannounced, they supposed.

No blackout is welcome in 35°C temperatures, though. When the dark wave swept through the neighborhood, drowning out the lights of each house one by one like in the apocalyptic movies Catalina’s dad liked, they would have flashlights and candles ready, but the click of the ceiling fan and air-con turning off felt final and ominous.

Those years (blackout-in-the-middle-of-New-Year’s-Eve-dinner years), they would sit out on the small patio in their white clothes to watch the stars and sip chilled wine. Conversation was hard to keep going when the humid air made breathing laborious, but the silence wasn’t bad. The electricity would usually return before midnight, and they would turn the TV on to a news channel and chant along to the countdown: cinco, cuatro, tres, dos, uno, ¡FELIZ AÑO NUEVO! before eating twelve raisins (which Catalina replaced with chocolate-covered cereal because she found raisins disgusting), one for each month, and running outside to see the fireworks.

Christmases, however, were always Catalina’s favorite. Her mom’s side of the family was a very different story from her dad’s: loud where they were quiet, numerous where they were sparse, posh where they were normal (her dad’s words, the ‘chetos’ said with undisguised derision, ignoring his mom’s resulting elbow to the ribs).

Catalina and her parents would make the forty-minute drive to Santa Bárbara, the definition of a swank gated community. Once past the guard booths, they would make the slow fifteen-minute drive down winding streets with their “Children Playing” signs to the big house at the end of the lane where Aunt Soledad and Uncle Tomás lived with their 2.5 kids and golden retriever. It was always lavishly decorated, with a life-size nativity scene on the front lawn and unseasonable snowflake cutouts and colorful strings of lights on the windowsills.

The afternoon before Christmas Eve was for riding bikes and swimming in the wide backyard pool and roller skating up and down the long wooden bridge over the expansive pond that was Santa Bárbara’s hallmark. Cousins Marcos, Agustín, Lara and Constanza were older than Catalina; Milagros, Sebastián and Santiago were younger. Then there were the babies, Benjamín and Pilar, but they stayed home with their respective parents, doing whatever babies did while kids played, so Catalina barely registered them for a few years.

At noon, they would run back to the house, Catalina and her cousins, and sit down for lunch under big striped patio umbrellas with minimal eye-rolling at their mothers’ fussing that they would get heatstroke and would they please play inside where it was cool? Uncle Tomás would serve the asado, delicious, juicy meat that was as much cultural ritual as it was meal, an excuse for the men to hover around the grill as though the whole thing would go up in flames without their combined expertise.

After lunch (an hours-long affair that included lengthy, inescapable post-lunch conversation), some of the adults would retreat to guest rooms to nap, others would lounge around on plastic chairs to sip mate and keep talking, and the kids would run again. Christmas Eve Eve always felt endless to Catalina, lovely and sweltering and carefree. Playing in the street was out of the question back in the city, had stopped being safe when her parents were children, but here it was fine, and she felt that freedom coursing through her veins with every running step she took down quiet streets lined with Aguaribay, American Ash, and Plane trees.

When the sun began to set, they would all, parents and children, slowly amble down to the pond to watch the orange-pink-red spectacle play on the water’s surface. Besides the two weeks she and her parents spent on the coast in Mar del Plata each February, it was the only time Catalina saw the horizon, the perfect straight line usually hidden by towering buildings.

Back at the house, the adults would start setting everything up for Christmas dinner, and the kids would banish the heat that still hung heavy in the air by playing mermaids and Marco Polo in the pool. When they were called inside, they would climb the pool ladder, grass sticking to their feet, trailing water all the way back into the house, and get changed into white dresses and shorts, airy and fresh, wet patches immediately appearing from their dripping hair.

Barefoot, smelling of chlorine, and worn from a day spent playing in the sun, they would sit at the table set with the good cutlery and linen napkins, jittery with the looming promise of Papá Noel’s visit (Catalina would never get used to the way U.S. Americans open presents on Christmas day instead of Christmas Eve, couldn’t fathom asking a child to go to sleep with that anticipation hanging over them). Dinner would be light due to the heat, salads and cold cuts, chilled wine and champagne for the adults, lemonade and Coke for the children, dessert for all.

When the excitement got to be too much for the youngest members of the family, one of the adults would say, “Hey, why don’t we go outside to wait for Papá Noel?” and guide a band of eager children to the backyard to search the stars for signs of an approaching reindeer-pulled sleigh. They were brighter here than in the city, and Catalina thought any one of them could be him.

Somehow, Santa always arrived when they were outside looking for him, and they would run back in to find a towering pile of presents waiting for them underneath the huge plastic Christmas tree. The rest of the evening usually unraveled in a loud mess of bright, noisy toys and sugar-high kids wanting to play with them even as the day caught up with them and made their jaws crack with their lion yawns.

The ones left standing by midnight were welcome to a glass of champagne to toast with the adults. Catalina always fought tooth and nail against her tiredness because she refused to miss out. After a sip or two of the bitter, bubbly liquid, she would kiss her parents goodnight and drag herself into the guest room she shared with her female cousins. The sheets smelled clean, the fan droned its merciful reprieve from the heat, and her heart felt full as she fell asleep.

On Christmas day, the boys would go to the fútbol field by the restaurant and wouldn’t let the girls join them, so Lara, Constanza, Catalina and Milagros would claim the backyard and invite the neighbors’ girls to play Exy with them. For years, that’s what Exy meant to Catalina: running with a pack of fierce girls under a furious summer sun, sweaty and happy and in charge. They would take pool breaks now and then, a quick dip and a pit stop for sunscreen reinforcement before resuming their game.

Lunch would consist of assorted leftovers and a dozen empanadas ordered from the restaurant two streets down. The knowledge that the day was about to end made it a less ebullient affair than the previous day, even the wildest of her cousins subdued by their impending departure.

After lunch, Aunt Soledad and Uncle Tomás would dress their kids up and walk down to the chapel five minutes away for Christmas Mass. Everyone else was allowed to join them, but only Aunt Carolina would sometimes go.

When the day slowly trickled down into night, the guest families would leave one by one, causing tantrums and loud protests as playmates were forced to say their goodbyes.

Catalina would get in the boiling car with her hair still dripping wet and an inevitable sunburn where she neglected to put on sunscreen. She would watch the trees pass them by on their slow crawl to the gates. Somewhere between the house and the highway, she would fall asleep. On the ride home, she would dream of grass and swimming pools and laughter and Exy and family.

—

The holidays are inevitably different now that she’s an adult. She goes from USC straight to LAX and meets her parents there. She sleeps most of the flight.

Buenos Aires is always the same, except for the ever-changing billboards and many old houses in her neighborhood being demolished to make room for mammoth apartment complexes. The summers are still scorching hot, only getting hotter with global warming.

Grandma Hebe is gone. Uncle Luis kept her house, but he and Catalina’s dad haven’t spoken in years, so she doesn’t know what became of that blue jungle, whether her grandad’s pictures still sprout among the plants like weeds.

Catalina and her parents spend both Christmas and New Year’s in Santa Bárbara with her aunt and uncle now. She and her cousins don’t run around all day anymore, but they do still sometimes play Exy in the backyard, with racquets they’ve outgrown and complaints from her opponents that being a college Exy player gives her an unfair advantage, which she gleefully ignores.

There are still long evenings spent floating on her back in the swimming pool until her fingers prune and her skin smells of chlorine. There are still asados, even if Uncle Román isn’t part of the grill committee anymore since Aunt Carolina divorced him.

There is no searching for Santa among the stars, but presents are still exchanged, toasts still made. There are new guests, Agustín’s girlfriend, Marcos’s best friend, Milagros’s girlfriend. Their junior year of college, Catalina brings along Laila.

There are long lunches that stretch into longer conversations. There is sunscreen and chilled champagne and the sun setting over the pond.

And on the plane ride back to California, where she will exchange gifts with Jeremy and Jean and the other Trojans, where she will train and study and keep growing up, Catalina dreams of grass and swimming pools and laughter and Exy and family.

#aftg #all for the game #alvarez #catalina alvarez #usc trojans

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gacmediadaily · 3 months

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Awesome news, movie watchers! We now have an air date for the 31st Annual Movieguide® Awards, which will air on Great American Family.

I received this press release today from Sundari Public Relations that gives full details on the event. See below...

PRESS RELEASE:

GREAT AMERICAN FAMILY STARS

DANICA MCKELLAR AND

TREVOR DONOVAN HOST

31ST ANNUAL MOVIEGUIDE® AWARDS ON

GREAT AMERICAN FAMILY,

TO AIR ON THE NETWORK

ON MARCH 7 AT 8PM ET

Los Angeles, CA – January 30, 2024 – Great American Family stars Danica McKellar and Trevor Donovan are set to host the 31st Annual MovieGuide® Awards Gala, Friday, February 9 at the Avalon Theater in Hollywood, CA. MovieGuide® honors the best in family-friendly entertainment across linear, streaming, and theatrical films and will be broadcast exclusively on Great American Family, Thursday, March 7 (8 p.m. ET). “Danica and Trevor bring tremendous talent and joy to every role, and we know they will bring the same caliber of excellence to hosting the MovieGuide® Awards,” said Robby Baehr, MovieGuide® CEO. “Talent and a passion for creating values-oriented content makes Danica and Trevor the perfect fit to host our annual awards show,” Baehr concluded. The MovieGuide® Awards Gala is the premiere awards event in Hollywood that exclusively honors movies, television, and streaming content that promotes inspiring and positive interactions, morals and values, and Biblical teachings. Dr. Ted Baehr, Founder and Publisher of MovieGuide® said, “For more than 40 years, MovieGuide’s extensive research has proven that movies with more inspirational content that include biblical values such as redemption, forgiveness, self-sacrifice, and good conquering evil, outperforms content at the box office that contains excessive violence, language and sexual content.” Bill Abbott, President & CEO, Great American Media said, “MovieGuide® showcases and rewards content that uplifts, inspires, and encourages us all to be the best that we can be. We are grateful to Ted and Robby and the entire MovieGuide® organization for remarkably positive contributions to our culture, and we celebrate our mutual commitment to content the entire family can watch together.” Iconic TV star Danica McKellar said, "I'm incredibly grateful to make movies for Great American Family because of the joy and inspiration each provides to audiences. What a thrilling opportunity to co-host the MovieGuide® Awards with my friend, Trevor Donovan, and to celebrate film and television that uplifts and inspires." Donovan demonstrates his commitment to positivity with his anti-bullying campaign. “If you’re doing positive things in life that creates happiness and productivity in your own heart, you end up meeting like-minded souls. Great American Family is producing entertainment for a vastly underserved audience, and I am proud of the stories we create,” Donovan said. Great American Family continues to rise in popularity since its debut. According to Nielsen Media Research, the linear channel retained its position as TV’s fastest-growing network in 2023 with the largest gains in Total Day Households (+161%) and Total Viewers (+166%); and 2022-2023 Season Total Day Households (+152%) and Total Viewers (+150%). In 2023, Great American Family achieved these milestones:

Twelve consecutive months as TV’s fastest-growing network year-over-year in Total Day Household ratings

September 2023: Ranked #1in both Total Day Household ratings (+185%) and Total Viewers (+193%) vs. September 2022 **

2023 Year-to-Date: Fastest-growing network on TV in Total Day Households (+161%) and Total Viewers (+166%) ***

2022-2023 Season: Fastest-growing network on TV in Total Day Households (+152%) and Total Viewers (+150%) ****

For more information on the 31st Annual MovieGuide Awards Gala and Great American Family, please visit www.greatamericanfamily.com

###

My Quick Take:

So... mark your calendars, everyone, for this special awards show that honors faith-filled and family-friendly programming. If you're curious about the nominees, I have the full list - *here*.

Personally, I was pleased to see the nominees for two of Great American Family's wonderful movies, but I was also surprised not to see MovieGuide nominees for these Great American Family movies: 'Twas the Text Before Christmas, A Christmas for the Ages, and My Christmas Hero. Plus, even Hallmark had movies in 2023 that I feel should've made the nominee list: The Blessing Bracelet, Heaven Down Here, and Miracle in Bethlehem, PA.

Nevertheless, I will be cheering on my favorite nominee, A Christmas Blessing, which remains one of my best-loved new films from the 2023 holiday season.

I hope you'll join me in watching the 31st Annual Movieguide® Awards on Great American Family on March 7th!

Blessings,

Net

#danica mckellar #trevor donovan #great american family #movieguide awards

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 4 months

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The Walt Disney Home Video logo that wouldn't leave...

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While the image of Sorcerer Mickey in this pose, with his hand out, next to the words "Walt Disney Home Video" had existed in print form since at least 1980, the motion graphic logo the lot of us '90s-borns all know wouldn't debut until September 1986. It first appeared on a random assortment of live-action Disney movies that hit shelves at the time, such as TEN WHO DARED and NO DEPOSIT, NO RETURN. Many more tapes released for a then-massive "Bring Disney Home For Good" campaign followed in mid-October, many of these releases containing this iconic logo... Some of these releases included the first ever volume of "Disney's Sing Along Songs", a couple of classic cartoon short compilations, and a clipshow called JIMINY CRICKET'S CHRISTMAS.

And Disney's home video department would keep it in circulation for a looooooong time in North America...

By early 1995, it was but gone internationally. All of the international arms of Disney's home media division replaced the Sorcerer Mickey intro with this rather cutesy, childlike "Disney Videos" logo that - to my knowledge - made maybe a fleeting appearance here in the states.

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Here in the states (and Canada, too), the Sorcerer Mickey logo stuck around for a bit...

By the middle of 1992, the much simpler gold WDHV logo was more commonplace on VHS openings:

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And yet, the older, longer logo was still in use... Sometimes it would be on the same tape as the gold logo!

The logo's appearances began dwindling by the mid-1990s.

In 1994, the logo would appear on all the first Masterpiece Collection releases, before the proper Masterpiece Collection logo was created and immediately showed up afterwards. (For example, I have two VHSes of the SNOW WHITE release. My September 1994 printing has the Masterpiece logo, and that was a month before release date.) Was the logo an eleventh-hour decision or something? THE RETURN OF JAFAR has the '86 logo, too, I think this is the only direct-to-video animated film to have it.

By 1995, it seemed like the destination for the Sorcerer Mickey intro was Sing Along Songs volumes, compilations of episodes from various Disney TV Animation series, that series about the puppy SPOT, and random WINNIE THE POOH VHS tapes. Almost as if it became synonymous with those titles and lines. You also had some sorta-kinda Cartoon Classics VHSes, like "Mickey Loves Minnie" and "Sweetheart Stories"... That stuff came out from '95 to '97... Masterpiece Collection tapes sometimes used the gold WDHV logo, sometimes they didn't. Ditto live-action movies and other releases. A few Sing Along Songs releases, titled "Collection of All-Time Favorites", debuted in 1997 featuring the logo but with the Sing Along Songs intro music playing over it.

Surprisingly, in 1998, the Sorcerer Mickey intro showed up on the Masterpiece VHS of MELODY TIME. And even more surprisingly, on the VHS of RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA, the TV movie starring Brandy. (In fact, there's an upload of a TV airing of this movie well after it had initially aired on ABC. The channel broadcasting it ripped the film from the VHS, so it opens with the WDHV logo.) It also appeared on a Sing Along Songs volume called "Happy Haunting Party at Disneyland!" Disney also had the home video license to SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK at this time, a couple volumes released around this time have it too.

In 1999, a re-release of A WALT DISNEY CHRISTMAS had it, in addition to the Sing Along Songs volume "Flik's Musical Adventure".

In 2000, A WALT DISNEY CHRISTMAS would see a re-issue of sorts that had it as well, plus the re-issues of a series of WINNIE THE POOH VHS tapes called "Storybook Classics".

Lo and behold, the logo made one last appearance in 2001, but this seemed to be by accident?

Two Sing Along Songs titles were re-issued that year, the 'Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah' volume (which was the very first title in the line, all the way back in 1986) and 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'. The former seemed to cut-and-paste the Sorcerer Mickey intro from the 1986 VHS release, as it still uses the "presents" byline that sparkles in below the logo. Weirder still, an ooooold bumper for the series with Ludwig von Drake as the announcer is on this tape, too. A real cut-and-paste job for a 2001 release. Whereas the Christmas one seems to have cut-and-paste the WDHV logo from the 1993/94 release, which arrives after a series of early 2000s previews and bumpers. It's surreal seeing that logo share a tape with the surround sound-like "Feature Presentation" bumper of the era.

Someone at Walt Disney Home Entertainment must've really wanted to keep this logo around!

It even made appearances on DVDs (!) in 2006 (!!)... But, in the case of one DVD release, this seems to be by mistake. MY DOG, THE THIEF, after you click play movie on the menu, begins with this logo. It must've been left on, suggesting that this was a rip from the then-latest VHS of the title. Some of the Sing Along Songs tapes saw DVD re-issues in 2006 as well, and some of their programs begin with this logo. Almost as if it's treated as part of the overall program, even though it's merely a general home video intro that appeared before several other movies, shows, and titles...

But perhaps the weirdest appearance of this logo in the 2000s...

Was at Disney Parks resorts...

Back in the mid-to-late 2000s, TVs in the parks' resort hotel rooms had something of a hidden channel. It was like, 99 or something, if you kept flipping. You'd be brought to a nonstop loop of classic Disney short cartoons, and this was a trip to see! I saw some shorts for the first time via this channel, such as ALPINE CLIMBERS and THE AUTOGRAPH HOUND. But, watch it a little more... And you saw this logo show up!

Before what, you may ask? The Disney Sing Along Songs volume 'Heigh Ho!'

It took me by surprise when I saw it on that channel, while staying in Walt Disney World in April 2007... That was just all kinds of wild to me!

Elsewhere, a channel called Fearnet would sometimes air the live-action television film MR. BOOGEDY, complete with the Sorcerer Mickey WDHV logo attached. MR. BOOGEDY was never given a VHS release here in America, so I assume Fearnet sourced the movie from a UK VHS release.

It just lingered and lingered... For a good reason, though, it is the probably *the* logo that is synonymous with Disney VHS tapes for Americans around my age.

#Youtube

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hallmarknostalgia · 9 months

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Hallmark fans will likely think of When Calls the Heart first when it comes to Erin Krakow (its star and an executive producer), but she’s also all over the network’s movies, both rom-coms and Christmas. When TV Insider caught up with Krakow in April about her latest Hallmark Channel film, The Wedding Cottage, we also took the opportunity to have her reminisce on some of her past work — including the first season of the long-running drama.

“I feel like I’m really living it out with every project that [Hallmark] offers me. I’m so grateful for the characters I’ve had the pleasure of playing and that I’ve been able to executive produce on When Calls. It’d be an interesting new challenge to direct something for Hallmark maybe one day and maybe write something someday,” she told us of her Hallmark bucket list. “I don’t know. I would be curious to know what others would want to see from me if maybe there’s a different kind of character they’d be curious to see me play. But I don’t know that there’s anything that’s screaming at me right now. I’m feeling very happy and grateful with what I’ve been given.”

Scroll down for her thoughts on the Father Christmas trilogy, A Cookie Cutter Christmas, It Was Always You, and more.

Eike Schroter/Crown Media

When Calls the Heart Season 1 (2014)

“Season 1 feels like a lifetime ago and sort of just yesterday all at once. It’s this bizarre feeling. But it was a really exhausting and incredible chapter of my life. And I continue to feel so proud to be a part of When Calls the Heart and grateful that the Hearties have kept us on the air all these years, that Hallmark continues to believe in our show. Season 1, I think we filmed it in 2013, [and] it aired in 2014. It was a long time ago. And the show has changed and grown a lot since then. But looking back, I just feel a lot of pride to be a part of it.”

Alexx Henry Studios, Jeremy Lee/Crown Media

Chance at Romance (2014)

“This was my first Hallmark movie and I remember just being so overwhelmed when it was offered to me. It was such a fantastic script. Working with Ryan McPartlin was great, Patricia Richardson, these people were incredible. And then of course, our young Donny [Ian Andrew] who orchestrated the whole thing. That was a really fun project that continues to air, and I think it’s a favorite of our viewers.”

Diyah Pera/Crown Media

A Cookie Cutter Christmas (2014)

“Oh man, the late great Alan Thicke. Also super fun. What a treasure. And that was where I first met Genea Charpentier who joined us on When Calls for a while. And Jaeda Lily Miller was also in that movie as was Gracyn Shinyei. These are all some of our young talent from When Calls. So it was fun to get to work on a movie with them as well.”

Katie Yu/Crown Media

Father Christmas Trilogy (2016, 2017 & 2018)

“This is when I first worked with Terry Ingram, who directed The Wedding Cottage. He directed Finding Father Christmas. That was a great trilogy. The books were written by Robin Jones Gunn. I’m not saying that to toot my own horn, I truly felt like they had a lot of heart, and they were important stories to tell because not everyone has the cookie cutter family with the happy traditions around the holidays. And I heard from a lot of viewers that being able to see Miranda’s perspective around family and around the holidays was refreshing for them, to get to see something reflected back to them that represented their own journey. So I was proud to be a part of something a little different in that story.”

Ryan Plummer/Crown Media

A Summer Romance (2019)

“Any opportunity to get back on the horse. That was a lot of fun, to play a kind of cowgirl, and I worked with a lot of the same crew from When Calls. So those people are like family to me. It was a really good time.”

Eike Schroter/Crown Media

Sense, Sensibility & Snowmen (2019)

“This was really fun because Luke Macfarlane and I went to college together in New York, and he was an upperclassman, so I looked up to him, but we didn’t really get to work together in school. But it was a lot of fun to get to work together on this movie and reminisce about our time at school and just become closer pals. He’s a really great guy.”

Luba Popovic/Crown Media

It Was Always You (2021)

“This was my first time working with Tyler Hynes, and he was fantastic and so just present on set and a great person. This was also a very bold script written by Kathy Kloves. I think we were both really taken by how different this story was, and it was a really brave choice for Hallmark. I think they were doing something outside the box a little bit here. The story of a woman who falls out of love with her fiancé and into love with his brother is a tricky line to walk. So Tyler and I were very cautious about how we handled it, but I think we were both super proud of that love story. And it seems like our viewers must have loved it because they’re still talking about it and really campaigning for a sequel.”

#when calls the heart #finding father christmas #sense sensibility and snowmen #chance at romance #a summer romance #hallmark #a cookie cutter christmas

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watchinghallmark · 1 year

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I'm personally feeling like the movies lately haven't been very good and that's disappointing. It feels like things are starting to slip when it comes to quality. There's been a few gems but overall I can't say I'm very satisfied. I'm also really frustrated by the lack of LGBT representation. It's been great to see gay characters in The Way Home and Ride but where are they in the movies? We haven't had any decent representation since Sweeter Than Chocolate (which was the only movie out of 23 that have aired on both channels to actually have couples with meaningful involvement). I don't understand why we're not seeing it. There's no excuse. It takes literally no effort and it's not being done. I haven't seen any talk of same sex leads in upcoming movies either so we might have to wait until Christmas to see that again. Where is this progress and celebration of all types of love they keep talking about? It's like we're going backwards.

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fairytale-poll · 7 months

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O shit I forgot to backup copy the very long propaganda for iconic Czech-German Cinderella before I sent the form, pls tell me you received it and I don't have to retype it all

That particular Cinderella had three submissions so far, one of which were very long. I'll assume it's that one and copy paste it under the cut for you to back up yours! :) Note that Tumblr automatically made the links embeds when I copy pasted it

She has so much personality. She's funny, smart, kind, has a lot of spunk, and she really does things instead of just waiting for miracles to occur. Also, she's a great rider and has a deadly aim with bow and arrow.

She finds three hazelnuts that grant her wishes by giving the clothes to do what she wants. Beautiful dresses. The prince puts a ring on her finger while she’s in her huntsman’s outfit.

I don't know how it's faring in modern day Czechia, but here in Germany, Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel is still THE (non-Disney) Cinderella adaptation and a yearly rewatch for many, despite literally turning fifty this year. It's just so fairytale and also just... good? And she hangs out in the woods and shoots with a crossbow and saves deer and gives the prince riddles and then the music aaa the music!! I guess this isn't just a submission of this version of the character but this version of the story. For those who don't know: This adaptation is based on a Czech author's retelling of the Grimm version of the story, the film was a co-production of Czechoslovakia and East Germany and it slaps so hard it gets played at least 10 times (usually more) on public german television in and around December every single year. This is not an exaggeration, you can look it up, they even make a special, official info graphic with all the air dates every year that people can (and do!) share on social media. In Germany, the main event of Christmas is the 24th, Christmas eve, and on that day they play it at least 4 times (often more) at different times of the day on different public channels (ALL of which any German with a hooked up tv has access to) so anyone who wants to watch it gets a chance to. And Aschenbrödel herself in the movie STILL holds up as a (within reasonable expectations) feminist character, she's skilled, she's smart, she's witty, she and the prince actually talk and they like each other for their personalities, like... yes, there's a couple of flaws with the movie that time has pointed out, but mostly small, background things or things you simply cannot expect a movie from 1973 to get right. It's SO well made and just plain charming, it has truly stood the test of time and I would be devastated if it weren't included. It's also my mum's favourite movie (she's from East Germany and was born in 1969 so she's had regular access to it basically all her conscious life) so we would actually usually watch it multiple times each year and even record it (first on VHS, later again on DVD) so we could rewatch it any time and yet, I literally never got tired of it. It's just good & magical & I love it. Even my brother, who usually didn't care for fairytale movies at all and would much rather play video games in his room, would come down and sit with us to watch this one, THAT'S how good and magical this movie is.

And if all that hasn't convinced you yet but you speak German, here it is on YouTube, go watch it:

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(I won't provide a Czech link since I can't vouch for any of them as I don't speak czech)

Anyway, dear tournament runner: Have a pic of Aschenbrödel, in my favourite of her magically provided outfits, for the poll:

#ask #not a poll

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jmrothwell · 1 year

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“They’ve been showing Christmas movies since November. I vote to watch one Halloween movie.” for Writer's Choice!

Movie nights at the Molina’s had gotten weird.

They were still better than the possibility of getting pulled to work a shift at the club for Caleb simply because he’d been home that night.

But still the atmosphere was not as relaxed as it once was. Willie really missed the laid back relaxed atmosphere. They just weren’t sure how to fix it.

The trouble began when, with the cooler winter air, Ray had insisted the group move movie night inside the main house. And for some reason it was like everyone forgot how to be comfortable with each other.

Alex stiffly sat in a separate chair from everyone else, a wary eye almost constantly on Ray if he showed up. While Reggie and Luke for some reason had opted to sit on opposite ends of the couch rather than piling in the center with Julie like they usually did. Granted it was normally one massive cuddle pile but there was no denying the three of them gravitated towards each other more than the others.

Then Julie ended up missing whatever movie they opted to watch. Her attention was usually torn between the guy’s weirdness, her dad’s random check-in’s, and Carlos trying to be part of the group.

Honestly, the only normal ones seemed to be Flynn and themself. The both of them quickly broke down any awkward ‘we’ve never actually been this close in the cuddle pile’ energy that first ‘inside the house’ movie night. It helped that Flynn loved messing with hair and knew an encyclopedia’s worth of hairstyles.

“All right,” Reggie declared, waving the remote around as they all settled into their corners for what Willie was sure to be another awkward movie night. “Who’s up for some classic Christmas claymation today?”

“Please no. At work they’ve been showing Christmas movies since November.” Flynn groaned, her fingers already dancing through Willie’s hair. “I vote to watch one Halloween movie, at least.”

The others perked up as they all threw out overlapping suggestions. Among the many suggestions Willie heard a handful of Burton film’s, a few Disney options, Casper and the Addams family.

Then there was a bit of debate if Ghostbusters qualified as a Halloween movie. At least they all still talked with each other like nothing was different. Even though the physical distances between them were almost painful to look at.

“No like,” Flynn loudly exhaled, “Like maybe Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street, or The Conjuring. Just a really good horror movie.”

Willie wasn’t sure if he imagined how everyone in the room either stiffened up or gone paler. He was really only half paying attention to them, Flynn has sparked a whole new idea. “What about a Christmas horror film?”

“You mean like Gremlins?” Flynn’s nose scrunched up uncertainly. There was some audible shuffling as someone, or maybe more than one someone, shifted in their seat.

Willie’s smile grew as he twisted to better face them, “Gremlins, Krampus, Black Christmas. It’s like a whole horror subgenre.”

“Yeah ok, I’m willing to give one of those a shot.” Flynn beamed. When they both looked around the room for any objections they were met by stiff pale smiles, an awkward thumbs up and a couple of high pitched ‘sure’s.

Willie briefly wondered if maybe they should keep discussing but Flynn was already setting up Krampus. As soon as they had the movie playing they grabbed Willie and announced they’d get snacks, no need to help.

As the two of them waited for the popcorn to pop Willie leaned against the counter. “Where do you work again?”

“O’Brady’s,” Flynn stated as she collected an assortment of drinks and candy.

Willie was only vaguely aware of the restaurant. Though it was their understanding it was a sort of sports bar. “Oh, so what? Because it’s the holidays they eased up on the sports channels or something?”

“No.” Flynn snorted as they shot Willie a mischievous smirk.

Willie was sure their jaw was on the floor, but quickly recovered with a loud laugh that Flynn shushed and they tried to muffle. “Wait, then why?”

Flynn’s smirk grew as Willie transferred the popcorn into bowls.

“That bunch of scaredy cats hate horror films, almost as much as they hate admitting they hate horror films. Not once have they ever vetoed me on a horror film even though they could all totally outvote me. I think they just like to use it as an excuse to get cuddlier than usual.”

Willie stifled another laugh as they worked together to grab all the snacks and drinks. Sure enough when they walked back into the living room it was an entirely different set up than they had left. Alex had moved to the end of the couch where Reggie had been. Reggie and Julie had both slid to the other end with Luke, the three of them leaning heavily into each other.

Flynn exchanged a knowing smirk with Willie as they were pulled into Alex’s side and she returned to braiding his hair.

#julie and the phantoms #Movie Night #More in the tags:#in other timelines/universes I am sure the others are just as mucha fan of horror

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thru-the-grapevine · 1 year

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Tangled-Up Knots

Characters: Kim Sunwoo, Choi Chanhee/New

Summary: Making his roommate a Christmas present good enough to apologize for all his shenanigans from the rest of the year turns out to be harder than Sunwoo thought.

Word Count: 2.4k

Tags: idiot best friend roommates, fluff, humor, college au

Author’s Note: this is a little late for the holidays but ! Happy late holidays!

This was the stupidest looking heap of tangled knots Kim Sunwoo had ever seen.

He tilted his handiwork side to side, nose wrinkling in disgust at himself. You can’t give this to someone. Not unless they’re your enemy.

Which, granted, people often wondered whether Chanhee was his enemy. Even Chanhee. Which wasn’t Sunwoo’s fault at all, not even a little bit. Sunwoo merely liked to prank Chanhee out of fun and friendly affection. Constantly. Nonstop, one might say. With no explanation at all.

Okay, maybe that could easily be construed as enemy behavior.

But it was December, and Sunwoo always started to feel bad about things like that around the holidays. He blamed it on the constant presence of the Hallmark Christmas movies Chanhee liked to watch (and insist he didn’t like watching whilst refusing to let Sunwoo change the channel, holding the remote away from him in a death grip). People were always insufferable and trying to do right by everyone in those movies, in “the spirit of Christmas”. Disgusting.

But Sunwoo was a sucker with a conscience, no matter what everyone else thought. And the disgusting goodwill in the Hallmark movies would be nice of him to try, especially since Chanhee put up with Sunwoo practically nonstop as a roommate.

The deal was sealed when a gift labeled “Sunwoo” appeared under the mini Christmas tree in their living room. After all of Sunwoo’s constant torture, Chanhee had still gotten him a gift. Thus began Sunwoo’s quest for a “sorry I’m an asshole friend” gift that might make up for at least some of his worse hijinks. Sunwoo’s one unnecessary stipulation for himself was it had to be made, not bought. That was the “spirit of Christmas” part. Simple, surely.

The first attempt was a painting. In retrospect, it had felt a little too easy to Sunwoo, since it was from a wine and painting night their friend Kevin had gotten him into for free. It had been fun, to his surprise, and had made him feel a bit guilty for all the times he’d made fun of Chanhee for enjoying them. And it must’ve been too much to ask to have fun while making the gift, because once Kevin got a look at Sunwoo’s painting he’d laughed so hard he’d fallen out of his seat. And if Kevin had laughed, then Chanhee most certainly would.

So the painting was out.

His second attempt was a batch of cookies Sunwoo knew Chanhee liked. In retrospect, the recipe was a little too ambitious for a baker like Sunwoo, the kind of person whose name didn’t belong in the same sentence as the word “baker”. But in his defense, there were instructions; it shouldn’t have been hard to follow step-by-step instructions and get results. Except when he’d been too proud to ask Chanhee the difference between the different measuring cups and spoons, or how cold “chilled” was, or why the self-cleaning option on the oven was on the same knob as the rest of the temperatures. Frankly, it’d been a miracle Sunwoo had convinced Chanhee not to call the fire department and to just let their apartment air out.

“What the hell were you trying to do?” Chanhee had asked through the haze of smoke in the kitchen.

“Annoy you,” Sunwoo had said in a panic to not ruin the surprise, and Chanhee had smacked him upside the head.

So the cookies were out, too.

By the third attempt, Sunwoo was rapidly running out of time. The holidays were only a handful of days away, and both he and Chanhee would be leaving the apartment to celebrate with their families. He had to have it done and ready before they left, or it wouldn’t count. Not according to Christmas spirit.

He’d wracked his brains trying to think of something whilst un-booby-trapping the apartment (a demand made by Chanhee after realizing Sunwoo had managed to reverse the shower knobs as a joke). He couldn’t make him a song, since they liked completely different types of music; how many times had Sunwoo been working on a rap verse only for Chanhee to bang on his bedroom wall and shout at him to keep it down?

This is all his fault, Sunwoo had griped to himself as he opened Chanhee’s closet and dug out the hidden fog machine he’d planted. If he wasn’t so nice all the time….if he wasn’t so thoughtful….if he wasn’t so easy to bother….

He’d found himself glaring at a crocheted dragon on Chanhee’s desk when it came to him. Hey. In a surprising twist, Sunwoo knew how to crochet. He’d learned in an arts and crafts course Chanhee had dragged him along to last semester. It was surprisingly easy and relaxing to do.

He probably couldn’t do an animal like the dragon; that was probably too out of his league. But on god, Sunwoo could make a scarf. Chanhee had been complaining about the cold lately…

Maybe I have some yarn left over from the class. Sunwoo had lugged the fog machine back to his room and done some digging. He hadn’t found yarn, but he had found an old craft store gift card he’d been meaning to gift to his mother for her birthday last year. Sorry, Mom. Chanhee needs it more than you do.

By the next day, Sunwoo had procured several skeins of festive-colored yarn and had dug his old crochet hook out of a desk drawer, and had gotten to work. His friend, Hyunjae, had smirked at him when Sunwoo pulled it from his backpack during lectures, but Sunwoo had ignored this in dignified silence. This was gearing up to be one hell of a scarf; Sunwoo could do the stitches fast, and he even decided to get fancy and swap back and forth between colors.

He’d been so engrossed in his work for the past several days that he hadn’t stopped to check how the entire thing looked. By the time Sunwoo cast off the last stitch, most of the skeins he’d bought were gone. But that’s okay. Sometimes scarves just use a lot of yarn.

Well. Sunwoo realized his mistake that afternoon, when he came home early to wrap the gift and put it under the tree before Chanhee got home from classes. It could have been a bit out of a three stooges scene, Sunwoo pulling and pulling and pulling yard after yard of knobbly scarf out of his backpack. By the time the entire thing came free, the pile of scarf was large enough to completely obscure the toaster oven it sat in front of on the kitchen counter.

“What the hell,” Sunwoo muttered to himself, digging through it and trying to figure out what to do. How long were scarves normally? Maybe he could cut it at some point? No, he couldn’t cut it or the entire thing would unravel. It already looked a little tenuous as it was; Sunwoo had opted for speed over precision.

Sunwoo rubbed a hand over his eyes, hard. This was God punishing him for being a jerk all the time, surely. The moment he’d actually tried to do something nice…

Sunwoo jumped as the door to the apartment clattered open.

“I am cold and I am tired and I am starving!”

Sunwoo leapt in front of the pile of scarf as Chanhee trudged into view, haphazardly kicking off his shoes and shrugging off his coat.

“I need a bottle of wine and some takeout and maybe a Hallmark movie and I don’t want to hear a single complaint about it or I’ll kill you where you stand.”

“Mmm,” Sunwoo managed out as Chanhee opened the fridge door and slumped against it, scouring the contents within.

“I swear to god my professor is trying to kill me. She wants me to review three of the students’ final projects for that intro class I’m TA-ing. Three! The projects are supposed to be all her thing, I’m only supposed to be her homework lackey. What do I look like, someone with a form and analysis Ph.D?”

Sunwoo knew a loaded question when he heard one. “Long day?”

“You have no idea,” Chanhee mumbled. He pulled wine out of the fridge and promptly yelled, losing his grip on the bottle.

Sunwoo dived across the kitchen and caught the loose bottle. “Whoa.”

Chanhee smacked Sunwoo’s arm. “Yah! Didn’t I tell you to de-booby-trap the apartment?”

“I did, I did…” Sunwoo spluttered, trailing off as he caught sight of a few rubber snakes on a shelf in the fridge. “…oh, yeah. Forgot about those.”

Chanhee scoffed and took the bottle out of Sunwoo’s hands. “Idiot. Get rid of them, please. Nearly cost me a bottle of cab sauv.”

“Yeah, a whole seven bucks,” Sunwoo muttered, digging around on the shelf and grabbing all the snakes.

“What’s this, then?”

Sunwoo whirled around to see Chanhee standing next to the scarf pile, looking at it as he uncorked the wine.

“Nothing! It’s nothing!” Sunwoo scrambled to close the fridge, losing the handful of rubber snakes in the process. He huffed in frustration and crouched down to grab them again, tossing them in the trash bin.

“It’s certainly a whole lot of nothing.”

Sunwoo fought a wince as Chanhee picked up one end of the scarf between his thumb and forefinger, staring curiously. Oh, god. He was going to have to explain this mess. He was going to have to say with his mouth that he’d tried to make Chanhee a gift and failed, that this was the most recent in a long line of failures, and that it was all an attempt to apologize for being an ass all the time, and this was embarrassing, he didn’t know how to make things, he should have just bought some stupid thing instead, he should have just not been an asshole, why was he like this, why couldn’t he just be a normal, nice person, and Sunwoo hated this, actually, he couldn’t bear it. It was too much for one man, even a jerk like him.

Chanhee cleared his throat, and Sunwoo snapped back to attention.

Sunwoo cleared his throat. “Oh, um. Right. It’s….well, it’s a….”

Chanhee studied the scarf again as Sunwoo stammered, then hummed in recognition.

“Ooo. It’s perfect. Where did you find it?”

Sunwoo stopped scrambling, confused.

“I, uh….I made it. Wait, perfect for what?”

“You made this?” Chanhee raised his eyebrows, looking at the scarf with new eyes. “I didn’t know you knitted.”

“Crocheted, actually. Chanhee, I—”

“This is damn good for you making it. I’m actually impressed.”

Sunwoo snapped his mouth shut, blinking. This…was not right. Something about this wasn’t right.

Before he could take the scarf back and explain or apologize, Chanhee scooped the whole thing up and walked into the living room. “Help me with it?”

“I…uh.” Sunwoo stumbled after him, lost.

Chanhee sat on the floor by the hearth and handed Sunwoo one end. “Here.”

Sunwoo took it slowly, unsure what the hell needed to happen next. Was he supposed to…drape it over Chanhee’s shoulder…?

He blinked as Chanhee straightened out a considerable length of it and tucked it into the lower branches of their little Christmas tree.

“What are you, uhm…” Sunwoo trailed off as Chanhee scooted a couple feet to the right, picking up more of the scarf length and continuing to tuck it in.

Chanhee looked up at Sunwoo with a raised eyebrow. “What, are you going to tell me you’re the angel on top of the tree that holds the other end?”

“I…I’m…” Sunwoo blinked stupidly and looked from the tree, to Chanhee, back and forth.

Chanhee sighed, laughing in exasperation. “Hang up the garland, Sunwoo.”

Sunwoo raised his eyebrows. “The…the gar—” Oh. Oh. Well, that…made sense. That was a far more reasonable conclusion to draw about Sunwoo’s disaster knots than “scarf”.

…He should correct him. This was far kinder than Sunwoo’s sad, sorry, knobbly, thirty foot scarf deserved. Much kinder than what Sunwoo himself deserved.

Chanhee looked at Sunwoo curiously. “Why did you make a garland, anyway?”

Sunwoo opened his mouth, shut it, then repeated the process a few more times. “I, um….”

Chanhee cocked his head, and Sunwoo sighed.

“It….it was supposed to be a gift. For you.”

Chanhee blinked. “A…gift?”

Sunwoo couldn’t look at him anymore; he was too embarrassed. “Yeah. I hadn’t gotten to wrap it yet.”

There was a long silence, the rustling of the mini pine tree’s branches the only sound in the room as the two continued to put up the garland.

“You got me a gift? You made me something?”

“Well, yeah, it’s Christmas,” Sunwoo said, as though it was obvious. “And you’re my best friend. I can’t just not get you something.”

Sunwoo glanced at Chanhee and wished he hadn’t when he caught the touched look on his roommate’s face.

“That’s….so nice.”

Sunwoo groaned. “Come on, man, this isn’t a crying kinda thing.”

“Shut up,” Chanhee sniffled. “You’re just….you’re you, all the time, you know, the snakes in the fridge kind of guy, and then you do something like this—”

“It was supposed to be a scarf!” Sunwoo cried. “Okay? A scarf! Not a garland!”

“Don’t you dare badmouth my garland that you made for me!”

Sunwoo groaned. “You can do so much better. I can do so much better than that. This isn’t a bar you want to set.”

“I didn’t set it, you did,” Chanhee sniffed, wiping and eye and then staring in disgust at his hand. “Ew. The tree’s leaking sap, I think.”

“A lovely addition to your garland,” Sunwoo muttered as Chanhee stood up and moved to the kitchen.

“Shut up, you made it for me and it’s a perfect garland and I love it, wasn’t that the goal?”

Sunwoo pursed his lips. “…just feels like I’m getting off too easy.”

Chanhee looked like he was biting back a smile as he made his way to the sink. “Well….it’s Christmas. I can let you off easy, just the once.”

Sunwoo was reminded, for what must have been the millionth time, how astronomically lucky he was to have a friend like his roommate.

Chanhee turned on the sink and immediately yelped, water spraying him directly in the chest. Fumbling around frantically, water going everywhere, Chanhee reached for the faucet knob and shut it back off.

Sunwoo stood frozen, staring in surprise. Oh, shit. Right. “I, uh…I forgot about the rubber band on the sprayer head. Um, sorry…”

Chanhee stood there for a long moment, entire front soaked, before turning to Sunwoo.

“I change my mind. You’re buying our takeout tonight. And extra dumplings. I’m not sharing.”

“I….” Sunwoo rubbed the back of his neck. “….Yeah. Totally fair.”

“And lunch tomorrow.”

“Done.”

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