#I WAS BLESSED WHEN CASSIE CAME TO SCOTLAND LAST YEAR

[wikitpowers]

🕯️LET ME GET THIS FOR TLKOF BOOK TOUR🕯️

[cassandra-acton]

ADVENT CALENDAR: TASK ONE. ❄

TRADITIONS:

Are you a Grinch, or do you enjoy the holidays?: Okay, so Cassie really loves Christmas. Like actually loves. Put bells on this bitch.

On which day do you celebrate Christmas?: Christmas Day.

Is it a religious celebration or non-denominational?: With her parents, it always had religious themes, but with Harrison’s, and the subsequent ones she spent by herself, non-denominational.

Who do you usually spend the holidays with?: This is a difficult one. Originally, it was always her family. Then, from her late teens onward, it was with Harrison’s family, until he passed. Since he’s been gone, it varies depending on how she’s feeling/the circumstances. Cassie hs spent a couple with Sharon and John, Harrison’s parents, one with her own family, and then the rest by herself.

What does your typical Christmas dinner include?: With her family, a fat fucking roast, mate. Turkey, ham, beef, venison. All the trimmings. Dad’s best roast potatoes. She and Elizabeth always demanded Yorkshire puddings, much to her mother’s despair. Enough pigs in blankets to give you heart disease. Kerststol and Janhagen. Gingerbread. All the marzipan. Christmas pudding with a coin inside. Don’t forget the sherry. If mum’s not pissed on sherry, it isn’t Christmas. 

Do you open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?: Christmas Day.

Do you still have a stocking?: Yes! Cassie and Jessica still put together a stocking for each other every year because they’re children.

Do you still get an Advent Calendar?: Multiple.

Do you leave all of your Christmas shopping until last minute, or are you organized?: Every year she tells herself she’s going to be more organized, but it never actually happens. She definitely ends up leaving it until the last minute and stressing out that she’s forgotten someone/something.

Do you take charge of the day, or are you in the corner sipping Baileys?: Cassie goes with the flow. If mum is around (which she usually is) then there’s no room for anybody else to take charge.

Any traditions passed down through the family?: Cassie’s family has a big meal on Christmas Eve night because her grandma Hélène was Catholic, and used to demand one before Mass. Even though she’s since died, Anita continues the tradition in her mother’s honor. The family tends to get to the house just before, and all stay overnight so they’re there ready for Christmas morning.

Any weird things your family does that others don’t?: Not that she’s aware of.

Do you go all-out with decorations, or keep it basic?: All out. Walking into her house is like walking into the North Pole.

Post a picture of what your Christmas tree looks like: Doesn’t do a real tree because of the doggo paws, but this is her lovely fake tree.

Do you ever spend the holidays away from home?: When Harrison was alive, they would always spend it together in Oxford with his family, so sort of? It was handy because her parents lived just across the road, so she could pop in and see them for a minimal amount of time (just enough that she didn’t feel guilty) and then spend it with the people she actually wanted to be with. Cassie would always make sure to give plenty of time to grandma Renske, though. ♥

Do you like to get a bit tipsy, or is it an alcohol-free zone?: Have you seen her family? Tipsy is a must to get through the fucking day.

FAVOURITES/FUN BITS:

Favourite Christmas song: Christmas Time - The Darkness.

Least favourite Christmas song: Fairytale of New York - The Pogues. 

Favourite Christmas food: Pigs in blankets. The bacon kind.

Least favourite Christmas food: Sprouts, because why is that a thing.

Favourite Christmas movie: The Holiday.

Least favourite Christmas movie: Miracle on 34th Street.

Favourite Christmas tradition: Buying a new ugly jumper every year. Cassie’s collection is impressive. It’s not Christmas until the jumper is bought.

Ever re-gifted?: Nah. If she ever gets something she doesn’t like, she’ll either hoard it away out of guilt/give it to a charity shop, instead. 

If you had an unlimited budget, what would you buy for the three most important people in your life?: To be honest, most of the important people in her life have everything they want already. Rich ass bitches. So, the gifts would be extra as fuck to take advantage of no budget. For Jess: a private jet to cater to her excessive traveling. For Spencer: a chalet in Chamonix, because they have a lot of nice memories there, and she could guilt him into letting her use it whenever she liked. For Sharon: everything she wants for the rest of her life because she fucking deserves it. 

If you could have any gift in the world, unlimited budget, what would it be?: A really nice Stradivarius violin would be lovely. 

Weirdest Secret Santa gift ever received: A bottle of bleach, a ruler, and some raw sweet potatoes. There was a £5 budget and choices were limited...

If you could kiss any fictional character under the mistletoe, who would it be?: Josh Lyman from The West Wing, for sure.

If you were forced to wear an ugly sweater to an ugly sweater party, what would it look like?: This one.

What’s your go-to outfit for festive fancy dress?: The cutest reindeer to have ever lived, obviously. Brody gets matching antlers.

Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve?: Christmas Day.

White Christmas or snow-free?: White Christmas.

MEMORIES: (feel free to write any of these as separate drabbles, and link them in later)

Earliest Christmas memory: Grandma Hélène shouting at her for helping herself to the chocolates hanging on the tree before Christmas Eve dinner. Cassie was only about five, and she’d run to her room crying because she was so harsh about it. To his credit, dad came up with another handful of chocolates shortly after, sat with her until she stopped crying, and told her the woman was a witch. 

Best Christmas memory: One year, she and Harrison went up to his parents' castle in the Highlands for Christmas. It snowed so hard (yes, even for Scotland) that they were stuck there, and their airport ended up being closed. It meant the three-day trip ended up being closer to a week. They lost power, so dinner was a mess, but it was easily the best Christmas she’s ever had. Everything was by candlelight, and they spent the day crowded around the fire, wrapped in blankets, drinking Scotch. It was nice not to be distracted by the TV, or the Internet or any of that stuff. If she could relive that day for the first time once more, she would be pretty fucking happy.

Worst Christmas memory: The first Christmas after Harrison died was certainly one of the hardest things she’s ever had to deal with. There was nothing wrong with the day itself; she spent it with his parents, Jasper, and Jasper’s girlfriend at the time. It was just the feeling of him not being there? It was crushing for all of them, and they weren’t particularly good at hiding it, but there was no way in hell she could have made it through the day by herself.

Best Christmas present ever received, and who was it from: Besides the shares in Match.com that Alice bought her? Brody. Harrison bought her Brody for Christmas, and he was the best gift ever. The rest of you can sit down.

Best Christmas present ever sent, and who was it for: Uh, definitely Silas’s mug. 

Someone you wish you could bring back for one last Christmas: I think one more Christmas with Harrison would be nice.

Have you ever been stuck somewhere else for Christmas?: The same as her best memory. Getting stuck in Scotland for the entire Christmas period was an absolute blessing. Also the best excuse to avoid family ever.