Decorations

     Decorating for Christmas was now in full swing. Most of the cookies were baked, but there were still good smells of spices, chocolate, and apple cider all through the house. Upstairs in the attic always smelled good in the winter, and no decorating was needed there. It was a big room under the roof, and all the produce from the garden was there, heaped on the floor, filling boxes, strung from the rafters... The box of Christmas decorations was up there as well. Some of the decorations were made new every year, like the wreaths and garlands, and the tree was cut from the woods, after having been carefully pruned through the year. The box was full of ornaments, ribbons, tinsel, and magical strings of little bulbs of differently colored lights – one of the wizard’s own inventions. 
 

     Some of the dragons were helping with the decorating, and a few were helping in the kitchen. Some were having a snowball fight. Sandy, Calumet, and Gil were exploring and gathering things in the woods. Forager and Linus had moved to another family’s house and were probably exploring all the new things there. Blueberry was, of course, getting in the way, or standing on the mantle with his guitar and singing slightly off-key Christmas carols. Aeglos and Flicker were outside, safely out of earshot, and they seemed to be watching for something. They were building an igloo with Neville and Tuor, and they kept looking all around at the edges of the sky.

     Back indoors, there were two new dragons who were especially enjoying helping with the decorations. Their names were Holly and Jolly, which presented Blueberry with all sorts of song options. They were quite an unusual pair of dragons, nearly twins. They had hatched on the same day, at the same time, in the same place. One hatched from a red egg, the other from a green egg. Holly was green with red spikes, wings, feet, and belly, and Jolly was bright red with green wings, spikes, belly, and feet. They had hatched in the box of decorations. Ever since, they had been joyfully running and flying all over, doing their best to be helpful. Of course, as they were so young and exuberant, they more often found themselves tangled in the lights, stuck inside a wreath, or wrapped up in a garland, which provided plenty of comic relief for the others.