#also i did this in the library this morning but i forgot my stencil so all the digital pieces were done using my finger on my phone lmao

[themyscirah]

Emerald Twilight Weekend | Day 1: Quote

Panel redraw of this scene from Green Lantern (1990) #50! Original panel below the cut : ) @hal-jordan-events

[rainbowsunshine67]

Christmas Eve at the Murphy-Becks

Here is my story for @dearevanhansensecretsanta​ 2017 for @ifyougiveagirlapencil​!  This is probably one of the longest stories I’ve ever written and although I did struggle with bits of it sometimes, it’s been fun to write.  I also made a thing in Photoshop referring to part of the story (I’m terrible at artwork).  I hope you enjoy it and have a wonderful Christmas!

Characters: Evan, Connor, Zoe, Alana and Jared

Original Characters: Lyra (Zoe and Alana’s daughter) - I don’t have a definite answer on who her dad is, but I was considered Evan as her dad at one point.

“Wake up, Uncle Connor!” an excited, high-pitched voice squeaked in a tall, long-haired boy’s ear.

“Yeah, wake up, Uncle Connor!” a bespectacled boy parroted the little girl.

“Shut up, Kleinman,” Connor retorted, rubbing his eyes to see his 3 year-old niece and his old college flatmate Jared Kleinman staring at him.  “Where’s Evan?”

“He’s in the kitchen with Mama Zoe,” said Lyra.  “We’ve been making gingerbread cookies for Santa.”

Connor stumbled into the kitchen where he found his little sister making cups of coffee for herself, Connor, Jared and Alana, as well as hot chocolates for Lyra and Evan – Zoe shuddered at the memory of once having to stay up trying to soothe Evan after he'd accidentally drunk too much coffee and was scared of throwing up the night before an exam in college – and his husband cleaning the dining table.

“Thank you,” Connor snatched one steaming mug of coffee from Zoe as he strolled past her and planted an affectionate kiss on Evan’s head.  “Hello, beautiful.”

“Hey!” Zoe called after him, exasperated.  “That was for Alana.”

“Well, it isn’t any more,” Connor turned and stuck his tongue out at Zoe.

“We’re going to be making cards for Santa in a minute if you want to join in?” Evan asked Connor, reaching up on tiptoes to kiss him back.

“Sure.  I’ll get the supplies and ask Alana to come downstairs too.” Connor swept Lyra into his arms and carried her upstairs to choose some stencils and stickers and find her ‘Mommy Lala’.

“According to NORAD Santa Tracker, Santa will arrive at around 3:20am.” Jared called out from the spot on the living room couch that Connor had vacated.

“I’m hoping my 3 year-old will have been in bed for a long time by then,” Zoe replied, “AND that you will have gone home.”

“Nah, I’m staying right here,” Jared stuck his tongue out, “it’s not a family Christmas without Fun Uncle Jared.  If I have anything to do with it, we’ll all still be sitting in here watching movies at 4am.”

Zoe sighed.  She did NOT want to be awake at 4am when her daughter would come bouncing into her room to wake her to open presents as early as six.

Connor returned with a big box of craft supplies in his arms, closely followed by Alana and Lyra. Connor set the box down on the living room floor and picked six blank cards out of the packet.  Heck, he thought, if we’re meant to be keeping up the charade that Santa is real, we’d better all be making our own Christmas cards to Santa like Lyra.

For the past few years after Lyra was born, Connor had made cards for Santa that depicted him and Evan using buttons from old shirts he’d grown out of, kissing under the mistletoe or doing other festive activities together.  This year, he decided to make a card that showed them ice-skating, even though they have never been to the local ice rink together because Evan is terrified of falling on the ice and breaking his arm again like when he was 17. Jared tapped on his smartphone’s screen, choosing a song to blast through the speakers he’d brought with him mostly to annoy Connor.

“Not this again,” Zoe complained as Last Christmas by Wham started playing.  “In the music video, the girl literally re-gifted a Christmas present from her ex-boyfriend to her new boyfriend.  Everybody knows that.”

“Well, what do you want?” Jared retorted.  “I’m fed up of your and Alana’s love of Christmas Wrapping by The Waitresses.  That’s all you two ever listened to over Christmas during the last year of college.”

“Ooh, I love that song!” Connor chimed in.  Jared raised his eyebrows at him.  “What? Zoe played it so many times that it grew on me, eventually.”

“How about In The Bleak Midwinter?” asked Evan.

“I don’t mind that, but I don’t think I have it in my library,” Jared replied, scrolling through his phone.  “I could find it on YouTube and we could sing along, I suppose.”

“In the bleak mid-winter Frosty wind made moan; Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak mid-winter Long ago.”

As they continued singing along, Alana helped her daughter to choose some stencils (a reindeer and a sleigh) and drew around them for her, before Lyra scribbled all over them with pink, red and green crayons.  Evan covered his card in black paper, then drew some trees with a silver pen and carefully glued on several tiny snowflake sequins that had been in the craft supply box since Connor and Zoe were little and had been making cards for Santa themselves.

“I found this paper chain kit in Target the other day,” Zoe announced, coming back into the living room with a packet full of different coloured paper-chain strips.  “You can have a go at this when you’re done with your cards and then put them on the tree.”

“Ooh, I haven’t made one of those in years,” Evan exclaimed, taking the packet from Zoe’s hand and opening it.  “Lyra, do you want to come and help me?”  He took a strip out, licked the end and formed the first circle to show his niece how to do it.  He took the next strip, threaded the end through the first circle, offered an end for Lyra to lick, and then stuck the two ends together to form a second circle.

“Are the cookies ready yet?” Jared asked, still scrolling through his phone.

“They’re on the cooling rack, but they haven’t been iced yet,” Zoe slumped onto the couch next to Alana. “And no, you can’t eat them yet.”

“They’re for Santa,” Lyra explained.

“But can I ice them?” Jared bargained.

“I don’t see why not,” Zoe gave in.  “It’s about time that you made yourself useful.  But you’re helping Lyra to ice them.  And you’re still not allowed to eat them.”

Jared scowled, but put his phone down, held Lyra’s hand and took her into the kitchen.

“Is there anything you need from the supermarket?” Connor asked.  “I couldn’t see any milk in the fridge or carrots for Rudolph in the cupboard. Evan and I can take the car to get anything else.”

“I forgot the cranberries for the sauce we’re making tomorrow,” Alana remembered, starting to list items on her fingers.  “We can have pizza for dinner tonight, so two or three pizzas please.  And some yoghurt dip and popcorn for later.”

“Got it,” Connor made a shopping list on his phone, before he and Evan put on their coats and boots and left the house.

 ***

“Where is Santa?” Lyra asked as Connor helped her to wash her hands after dinner.

“Santa won’t come until you’re fast asleep,” Connor reminded his niece.  “Your mama said that Santa will just go round and round in the sky in his sleigh waiting until you’re asleep.”

“Please can you and Uncle Evan read me one more bedtime story?” Lyra pleaded.  “Please.”

“Okay,” Connor sighed, drying both their hands and then carrying Lyra to her bedroom where Evan was waiting.  “ONE more story and then Mama Zoe and Mommy Lala will come to tuck you in.”

Evan had picked a picture book edition of A Visit from St. Nicholas from the bookshelf in the corner of Lyra’s bedroom. It had been his favourite Christmas story when he was a little boy and he had gifted the book to Lyra for her first Christmas.  Evan and Connor sat on each side of Lyra on her bed and began to read the story to her together while she looked at all the pictures.

“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas would soon be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap – ”

 Connor suddenly felt something heavy on his arm.  He looked down to find Lyra fast asleep with her head leaning against him.  He smiled and whispered to Evan to tiptoe downstairs to find Zoe and Alana so their could kiss their daughter “Goodnight”, before gently removing his arm from behind Lyra’s head and gently resting it on her pillow, slipping the picture book back into its place on the shelf and leaving the room as Zoe and Alana came in.

 “Connor, we’re gonna need to borrow your boots,” Zoe told her brother once she and Alana were back downstairs after tucking Lyra up in bed.

“Why?” asked Connor.

“Alana thought it would be a cool idea to make some flour footprints in the kitchen to make it look more like Santa has been, and you have bigger feet than Jared and Evan.”

“Thanks,” Connor replied sarcastically, but willingly walked through the plain white flour that Alana had scattered on the kitchen floor near the back door.

Zoe brought a bag of presents wrapped in pink Disney Princess wrapping paper from the cloak cupboard into the living room and started stuffing them into Lyra’s stocking by the fireplace and under the Christmas tree for each of the friends.  Jared searched for the gifts with his name on the label and tried to guess what could be inside before Zoe scolded him and told him to wait until the morning.  Evan peeled and cut the carrots that had been left on the table for Rudolph and brought a bowl of carrot sticks and yoghurt dip into the living room to share.  Each of the five friends picked a cookie from the plate for Santa, leaving only a scattering of crumbs for Lyra to find in the morning, and Connor finished the milk.

“What movie are we watching?” Jared asked from his spot on the couch.  “I vote The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

“Me too,” Connor agreed.                              

“I’d like to watch Miracle on 34th Street,” Evan chimed in.

“Zoe and I usually watch The Holiday together after putting Lyra to bed on Christmas Eve,” Alana added.

“I’m down for that,” Jared changed his vote.

“The Holiday, it is,” Zoe picked the DVD from the cabinet next to the 40-inch flat-screen television.

“Or we could watch Miracle on 34th Street, then you three can watch The Holiday after Evan and I have gone to bed?” Connor interrupted.

Zoe glanced at Alana and Jared for approval, knowing that they would be awake for much longer than Evan would be.  Alana nodded and Jared shrugged his shoulders.

“Okay, just because we love Evan almost as much as you do,” Zoe replied, swapping the DVDs from the cabinet.

 ***

 “Why don’t we take Lyra to see the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in a couple of years?” Alana suggested to her wife as the movie ended and she was changing the DVD to The Holiday as planned.

“That’s a good idea,” Connor agreed.  “Maybe I can try to teach Evan to ice-skate again in Central Park.”

“N-n-n-n-no,” Evan stuttered, suddenly nervous.  “You know what happened last time.”

“But you’ll have me to hold your hand,” Connor reminded him.  “You’ll be safe.”

“Or if you DO fall over, Connor will fall over with you,” Jared joked.

“Shut up, Kleinman,” Connor, Evan and Zoe automatically replied in unison.

“I love you all,” Evan sighed happily, resting his head on Connor’s chest.

“We all love you too,” Connor giggled, gently kissing Evan on the forehead again as he started to drift off to sleep.  Zoe and Alana kissed and snuggled closer together on the opposite couch.

As snow started to fall outside the living room window and The Holiday finally started, Jared watched his friends as he munched on the bag of popcorn Connor had bought at the supermarket.

“This is going to be the best family Christmas EVER!”