#matildamas day 6

[maybeimamuppet]

matildamas day 6: getting the christmas tree

helloooo and welcome to day six!! halfway through already jeepers!! i also just realized how inconsistently i’ve been titling these so apologies for that!!

anyway. enjoy day six!!

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“Matilda!” Jenny calls after her daughter as she runs through the rows of trees as best as she can in the nearly knee-deep (to Matilda, at least) snow. “Matilda, dear, slow down!”

“Just look at them all!” Matilda yells back, holding her arms out to her sides and spinning around in a circle like a ballerina in a music box. “They’re all so beautiful.”

Jenny pants to catch her breath as she catches up with her. “They are, aren’t they?”

Matilda nods and tenderly runs a finger over some sweet-smelling branches. “I’ve never smelled a real Christmas tree before, isn’t it delightful? My old parents always just had an artificial tree.”

“It is a lovely smell,” Jenny agrees. “Artificial trees don’t tend to drop as many needles, though.”

“Oh, but you can just feel the spirit in these!” Matilda says. “Real trees are so much nicer.”

“I’m glad you’re excited,” Jenny chuckles. “Let’s go on a little bit, these are a bit small.” Matilda sets to take off again. “At a reasonable speed, Matilda.”

“Fine,” Matilda huffs. “I suppose going slow is better for seeing the details anyway.”

“It is. If you rush everywhere you’ll miss the trees for the forest,” Jenny hums. Matilda gently slips a little mittened hand into hers. Jenny gives it a squeeze as they walk to the next size of trees.

Matilda looks around when they make it to the ones that are a bit taller. Jenny notices the almost solemn look on her face, and she frowns. “What’s the matter? You were dancing around a second ago.”

“We have to cut it down to take it home,” Matilda says quietly. “I don’t like the idea of picking one to… kill.”

“Oh,” Jenny agrees softly.

“The smell only lasts so long, and I don’t want to pick one to hack it to death.”

Jenny chuckles. “Have we had a change of heart?”

Matilda looks up at the tall tree and shakes her head. “No. It hasn’t changed, I just only noticed how I felt now.”

Jenny laughs. “Fair enough. Tell you what, they sell sachets that smell just like real trees at the counters up front. What do you say we get a few of those and go to the shops for a fake tree?”

Matilda turns around to look at her and nods with a massive, bright smile on her face. Jenny smiles back and takes her hand again to lead them back to the front of the tree farm. It was a short visit, but quite pleasant.

—————

They go to the store the following day to pick out an artificial tree. They bought enough of the scented pouches to make their entire house smell like Christmas until Matilda is in university, so Matilda was contented with that and leaving all the real trees in the ground where they belong.

This shop has all sorts. They both tip their heads curiously at one that’s completely upside down, apparently intentionally so. One is a rainbow so bright it makes their eyes ache a bit, though it is fun. Others have torsos to make the trees look like they’re wearing dresses.

“Oh, look at this one!” Matilda coos eagerly.

“Matilda, dear, that’s twenty feet tall,” Jenny chuckles.

“But it’s beautiful,” Matilda says.

“It is, but our ceilings are only fifteen feet,” Jenny replies. Matilda deflates a bit.

“Oh yeah.”

“They have more like it that will actually fit in our house,” Jenny says. “Look at these here, what about one of these?”

Matilda twirls her way through them, considering all the medium-sized trees carefully from every angle. Jenny gets a bit dizzy as she watches her flit from one to the other and back again over and over and over and -

Jenny shakes her head and turns around for a moment, carefully examining a branch of one through a dizzy haze.

“I like this one,” Matilda says after a long time. Jenny shakes her head one last time and heads to her side.

The tree is just barely small enough to fit into their house, and Jenny knows they’ll have a hard time fitting the topper on, but it is beautiful. The ‘leaves’ are a rich, dark green, covered in fluffy white fake snow that clings to the branches. A few tiny red holly berries are speckled around the thing, all coalescing into the image of a tall, old pine caught in a snowstorm and lovingly brought home.

“Oh, it’s lovely,” Jenny says. “Shall we get this one?”

Matilda smiles up at the tip-top of it and nods happily.

“You’re absolutely certain?” Jenny asks, just to double check. Matilda nods again. “Alright then, let’s go find it.”

Matilda checks the tag dangling from one of the branches and memorizes the item number. They head for the trees that are boxed up and ready to take home in the aisles of the shop and hunt for one with the right number. “Here it is!”

“Wow,” Jenny says when she sees the size of the box Matilda is trying to tug off a low shelf with all her might. “Careful, love, don’t hurt yourself.”

With a bit of help from Jenny the box slides off the shelf and to the ground with a dull thud. They both pause a moment and look at the large thing they have to deal with now.

“Um.” is Matilda’s only advice.

Jenny is in a similar boat. “Hm…”

“I’ll go ask if they have a phone we can use and give Mrs. Phelps a ring,” Matilda says. Jenny nods.

“Mind strangers, but go ahead. Thank you, lamb.”

Matilda just nods and goes running through the store towards the cash registers. Jenny is left alone with the box on the ground and tries to use her knowledge of physics to see if there’s any possible way the two of them could really carry it home without having to bother Mrs. Phelps. Somehow, the process of actually getting the tree home completely slipped her mind. And Matilda’s, which is arguably more shocking.

She’s started wondering if Matilda’s telekinesis might return on this one occasion when the girl herself comes running back. “She laughed a lot, but she said she’ll be here in ten minutes.”

“I’m sure she did,” Jenny chuckles in response. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of how we’d get it home.”

“I was just excited to have a tree, I didn’t think of that bit either.”

Jenny smiles at her. “Well, if our rescue shows up in a timely manner, you’ll have an absolutely beautiful first tree.”

“We’ll,” Matilda corrects softly. Jenny nods.

“We’ll have an absolutely beautiful first tree.”

They sit on the ground next to it and wait. Matilda sits in Jenny’s lap with one arm resting protectively over the box of their tree.

True to her word, Mrs. Phelps arrives in all her spectacular glory in as close to ten minutes as they could’ve hoped for. She’s changed the berries on her hat for holly and the bird for a styrofoam partridge in celebration of the season, even though she doesn’t celebrate any holidays this month. That combined with her thick down coat and wool mittens creates quite the visage that appears at the end of the aisle.

“Hello, dearies,” she greets warmly. “Let me see this tree then.”

“This way,” Matilda says, leaping up and taking her by the hand to show her the display one she’d picked and leaving Jenny behind. Jenny leans back against the cold metal shelves and takes a deep breath. Her daughter and the librarian return after a mere moment. “Well, you’ve picked a good one. I’ve got the bus parked outside, if you lot are ready to go.”

Matilda nods and starts trying to pick the box up. When that doesn’t work, she tries to drag it. That only results in her toppling over backwards and lying in a defeated sprawl on the ground. Jenny leans over her with a chuckle and offers her hands to help her up. “Let us get it going, you can help once we’ve got it off the ground, hm?”

Matilda accepts the hands with a quiet grumble about her telekinesis coming in handy, echoing what Jenny was thinking earlier. She and Mrs. Phelps hoist the large box up and rest it on their shoulders to carry to the check-out area. Matilda tries to help, but can’t quite reach. She chases after them, jumping the whole way, and eventually settles for standing in between the two adults with her arms straight up in the air; little fingertips just barely brushing the cardboard.

Matilda eyes the cashier carefully, almost suspiciously, as the transaction happens. The walking process is repeated as they carry their newly purchased tree out of the store and into the bus. Matilda sits next to it the whole drive home, carefully adjusting it so it doesn’t slide into anything and get damaged.

Mrs. Phelps helps them get it into their house once they’ve got it home, and leaves with two hugs and a fond, “See you soon!”

Matilda helps Jenny push the box into the sitting room. Matilda gets to very carefully slice through the tape and open the top of the box. She squeals when she sees the tree inside, in all its plastic glory. Jenny can’t help but feel quite similar, but not wholly at the tree itself.

They spend the evening putting it up, snapping all the pieces together and separating the branches. Some of the powdered snow comes off on their hands, and the branches are rather prickly. But, after a couple of hours, they have a beautiful, tall, majestic tree in their front room. Matilda dances around it in glee. “Our tree!”

“What do you think?” Jenny asks when Matilda pitches herself at her and winds her little arms around her waist. Jenny rests a hand on the back of her head and the other on her upper back. “Does it look as nice as it did in the store?”

Matilda stays tightly wound around Jenny, but she turns her face to see their Christmas tree. “Better.

“This one is ours.”

—————

hope you enjoyed!! see you tomorrow :))