Fic: Festive Decorations: G

[smallhobbit]

Title: Festive Decorations
Form/Word Count: 404
Characters/Pairing: Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson, Ferret, Mouselet, Aemelia Vole
Rating: G
Warning/Content: Christmas decorations at 221B

 

The shelf over the fireplace is normally where all sorts of articles are put for safekeeping.  Mr Holmes’ correspondence is speared to it, Dr Watson keeps his tobacco pouch up there, various odds and ends are picked up and left on the shelf, retrieved, and returned there.  Sometimes there will be coins left there in readiness for visits by the Irregulars.  The occasional invitation card is displayed there until Mr Holmes removes it and the invitation is ‘accidentally’ forgotten.  And above all else, this is the shelf Mouselet sits on to survey the room.

However, just before Christmas this all changes.  For the shelf is needed for a festive display.  Dr Watson removes his tobacco pouch and anything else he needs, and the correspondence is relocated.  The shelf is cleared by the simple expedient of the Ferret walking across it and knocking off anything which is left.  The shelf is then dusted, and everything is ready for the decorations.

In centre stage is a simple stable, with a manger.  Mouselet normally sleeps in the manger.  Mary and Joseph are lost (Mary went home one year with an Irregular and has yet to return), but there is a donkey and a camel.  (One year it was a zebra, and the following year a kangaroo – neither were deemed particularly appropriate).

On either side of the stable the greenery is arranged, with Mouselet and Aemelia Vole ensuring that the two sides match.  At either end of the greenery Dr Watson places a pair of brass candlesticks.  There are no candles, a matter insisted upon by the Elf of Safety (Ferret in a green cloak) and everybody else.  Then Mouselet and Aemelia hang trailing ivy and holly berries down from the candlesticks, so that the fireplace is framed.

The Ferret then dons a red cloak and carries a bag of glass baubles onto the shelf, so Mouselet and Aemelia can select a few which they place neatly amongst the greenery, ensuring the two sides are mirror images of each other.  One year the Ferret mixed the baubles up after they had been put on display.  It turns out that Aemelia, when armed with a darning needle, can be an extremely formidable vole.

All that remains is for Mr Holmes to place the star above the stable.  He has a keen eye, and he places it exactly in the centre.  Then the decorations are ready for all to admire.

 

Comments

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

Aw. A lovely look at the seasonal decor.

[smallhobbit]

Thank you.

[debriswoman]

Highly festive:-)

[smallhobbit]

Thank you!

[scfrankles]

There are no candles, a matter insisted upon by the Elf of Safety (Ferret in a green cloak) and everybody else. ^______^

A charming visual Christmas palindrome ^____^

[smallhobbit]

Thank you - I was initially stumped and then this came to mind :)

[gardnerhill]

Good thing the 221b humans have such sterling live-in decorators.

[smallhobbit]

Quite. It certainly wouldn't get done otherwise.