Elsa's 12 Days of Christmas: One Tiny Tree

Sorry I haven't been posting anything in a while. She has been using her laptop a lot more often and I haven't had the chance to blog. But now I'm back, and to make it up to you, I've decided to start a new thing. December has arrived, (obviously, indicating the date on this blog post) and the humans have starting talking about this thing called Christmas. Now, I don't know what Christmas is, but I've decided to find out. Each blog post I do from here until January will be about what I've discovered about Christmas. The music She plays is about Christmas too, and there's this one song I happen to like called The Twelve Days of Christmas, so that's what I've decided to call this special. I don't know if I'll only do twelve posts, but that's the only name I got at this point. So here goes nothing.
On the first day of Christmas a human gave to me a tiny doll Christmas Tree! Yeah, that was supposed to be sung. Oh well. Here's our first day of Christmas!

***

(the above picture is the three of us on the dresser)

The humans are acting strange. Today I saw them bring home a plate of sugar cookies, decorating in thick white icing and colored sprinkles. One of them is complaining that some strands of lights don't work, and another one wishes for snow on Christmas. Even though I knew the snow could probably be arranged, I didn't know what Christmas was. I heard the humans talk about it a lot, so it must be something to look forward too, at least. One night I asked both Loki and Olaf if they knew what Christmas was. Olaf only shrugged and chuckled, and Loki admitted that even though he was the first one found, he had no idea what Christmas meant, either. All this talk of it amongst the humans made me more and more curious. It wasn't long before I was determined to learn more about this Christmas. But how was I to do that without asking a human and breaking The Code of Dolls?

One day we were lucky enough to be left alone in the house for a while. I found this as my chance to explore the outside of The Room She Lived In, and to find out what Christmas was really about.

"Come on, guys! Let's go!" I exclaimed, jumping down from the dresser.

Loki only raised an eyebrow at me. 

"Where are we going, Elsa?" Olaf asked, jumping down from the dresser and following me excitedly.

"We're going on a journey." I explained.

"A journey for what?" 

"To find the meaning of Christmas."

"Huh?" Olaf asked, confused. 

"Nevermind. Let's just explore to see what's outside."

"Okay! You know, I've always wanted to know what Christmas was all about. The humans talk about it all the time! It has to be big or special in some way. But what does it mean? I want to find out."

"Me too, Olaf." I said, smiling in the snowman's direction.

"We shouldn't leave." Loki said. He was in one of his bland, serious moods today.

"Why not? The humans are gone." I gestured to the room around me. "I want to leave. I need to leave."

 I sighed and shook his head. "It doesn't seem right. The lights in the room are on and the door isn't closed. She put us here for a reason. I know it."
"She's gone, and probably will be for hours. Let's go." I inched closer to the door, which was cracked open slightly. That did seem a bit odd, but it was open at least, and that tempted me.

"You guys can go. I'll stay here. We're I'm supposed to be right now." Loki put the end of his staff thingy firmly on the dresser, as if to make a point.

"Fine. We'll go. Come on, Olaf. Loki's no fun." I threw a scowl over my shoulder before opening the door all the way.

What we saw stopped us in our tracks. I gasped, my hand flying to my mouth.

"Woah." Olaf gasped.

"Loki- you have to come see this." I said, somewhat speechless.

"What is it now?" Loki asked, frustrated. But he expertly jumped from the dresser to the ground and pushed Olaf and I away in order to see what all of the fuss was about. And his reaction was priceless. First, his eyes widened, and then his mouth opened in awe.

It was a green tree, I believe those ones are called fir trees. And the little fir tree was a complete mess. It had strands of green lights wrapped around it, along with silver and red beads. Multiple shapes and sizes of small toys covered nearly every bare spot on the tree. It was a child's tree.

"What is this?" I asked, stepping forward to touch the tree. I thought the branches would be soft, mostly because it was called a fir tree, and I think fur is soft, but it was actually quite rough feeling. My hand drew back in surprise.

"No idea." said Loki. The green lights on the trees were mirrored in his eyes, like he was hypnotized by it.

"Is this what the humans call a Christmas tree?" I asked him, almost certain that this is what it was.

"Maybe it is." said Loki. His words were slurred. Again, like he was hypnotized.

"So this is a Christmas tree," said Olaf, reaching his stick-hands towards the tree. "I love it."

"Hey!" a haughty voice called. "Snowman! No touching the tree!"

"What?" I asked. Who had said that?

Loki's eyes narrowed towards the base of the tree. The hypnotized glare was gone from his eyes. Olaf and I followed the direction of the voice and found that it came from a small nutcracker near the tree's trunk. The nutcracker had red cheeks and a black mustache, with white hair and a beard. He was dressed like a soldier. I noticed that he had a sword on his belt and my heart stared beating a little faster. Would he dare use it? The sword brought back bad memories. 

"Hey! Don't touch the tree!" he yelled again, yelling a wooden fist in the air.

"I'll handle this." said Loki. He gripped his staff and approached the nutcracker, then stepping onto a flat wooden ornament in order to make himself to appear taller. The nutcracker stared him down. Olaf and I stayed back. Let him deal with the angry nutcracker alone.

"Excuse me, sir," Loki began with a somewhat forced bow. "We come in peace. All we wanted to do was explore your Christmas tree."

"Who are you and who are you with?" the nutcracker asked, trying to get a good look of Olaf and I.

"I was going to ask the same thing of you." Loki retorted.

Good one. I wanted to say, but I was too nervous.

The nutcracker narrowed his eyes. "Fine. I shall introduce myself first. I am Sir Benedict Edgar Norbert Newton Yankovitch. The human girl here calls me Benny for short. I am with no one for now, just the various ornaments around me. They are not alive like you and I."

So She named him that? What an unusual name for a nutcracker! I thought. Then again, I had never met a nutcracker before until now, so that name could be a normal one with him.

"I am Prince Loki of Jotunheim. And," He looked behind him at Olaf and I to introduce us. I felt suddenly exposed. I could feel Benny the nutcracker looking at me. "This is Queen Elsa of Arendelle and Olaf of Arendelle."

"Ah, yes, the two that were touching my tree." Benny said in a slow, judging voice. I felt the urge to hide my hands behind my back. They were vaguely glowing blue. 

"Beg your pardon, it is not your tree, my good sir, but the humans'." said Loki. His words were extra polite, but his voice was not. I could almost laugh, but I didn't.

"Right. I am aware. But the humans were the ones who put me in charge of guarding this tree, and you, my friend, are a threat."

As I was watching the fight break out between the two of them, realizing that it wasn't going anywhere. No, it was going somewhere. It was going in the wrong direction. Olaf, I knew, was too afraid to step in and do anything, so I guess it had to be me. So I gathered what small amount of courage I had and faced the nutcracker.
"Sir Benedict- we're dreadfully sorry for invading your privacy. You clearly have an important job to do here, and we are being a nuisance. I apologize an behalf of all of us." I said with a somewhat shaky voice.
Loki looked back at me like I was crazy, but Benny looked happily surprised.

"Finally! Someone who respects me and my work!" Benny puffed out his chest in pride. "And what is your name, young lady?"
"I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle," I replied. "Pardon me for touching your tree here. It's just so beautiful and... well, you see, we're trying to find the meaning of Christmas. It's our first one here, and we thought that this tree, your tree, might have lead us to the answer."
"Ah, you want to know about Christmas?" said Benny.
"Yes- do you know anything about it?"
Benny sighed. He suddenly looked as old as he really was. "I have been around here for years. Longer than you, or your friends, or most of the ornaments. I have lost track of time. Most of my life is spent in a box in the attic until December rolls around. I have seen many, many Christmases."
"So you do know what Christmas is?"
"I have an opinion on it, but it may or may not be the truth," Benny sucked in some air. "Christmas is...old."
"Old?"
"Christmas has been around for ages upon ages. It started centuries long ago, and it will remain for more to come. Traditions are formed, and traditions change. That is all I can say."
I stayed silent for a minute, trying to process the information. Nobody else could say anything, either. "Well, thank you, sir." I replied. I turned to leave. I wanted to see more of the tree, but we clearly weren't welcome here, and Benny only knew that Christmas was old. Somehow I knew it was something more.
"Wait!" Benny called. "Young lady- you may touch the tree." he shot a glance over to Olaf and Loki. Olaf looked awestruck that Benny had let me, and Loki stuck out his chin in protested anger. It appeared, though, that I had no choice but to go and touch the tree. I walked slowly over to it, aware that they were watching my every move.
I carefully began examining the ornaments. I recognized my shoe from the dresser in The Room She Lives In. My ice-blue handed nearly blended in perfectly with the shoe's surface. I smiled a little to myself. It inspired me to think of a plan.

"Excuse me, sir," I spoke. "I'm having a little trouble deciphering these ornaments. Perhaps my friends could help me find their meaning?"
"Um, are you sure you don't want my help? I know every single one of these ornaments down to the core." Benny argued nervously. I could tell he didn't want Olaf or Loki near the tree.
"Really? Do you know what this one is?" I pointed to my shoe, knowing that Benny wouldn't know a thing about it. It was a brand new ornament.
Benny squinted his eyes and frowned. "Is that... a shoe?"
I titled my head to the side. "I think so. But I still need some help trying to figure out what it means."
Benny shook his head. "Sorry, young lady. I can't help you with that one. It looks new to me."
"Yes, I think it is. Loki, perhaps you know something about this ornament?" I asked, trying to spell out a message to Loki through my eyes. He looked at me strange, then a slow smile spread across his lips.
"Oh, I know exactly what this one means," he approached the ornament and pretended to examine the shoe. Benny flinched whenever he touched it. "Oh, there's a very deep meaning behind this one!" he joked. I coughed, hiding laughter.
"Really?" I stuttered. "Could you tell me?"
"Hm...yes. I see it now...it's born of cold and winter air and mountain rain combining."
Okay, I couldn't help it. I had to laugh. "Really? All of that?" I asked.
"Yes. And there's more. This icy force- both foul and fair- has a frozen heart worth mining."
"A frozen heart? Now what could that possibly mean?"
"See? I'm an ornament expert. Maybe I could help you with some more."
Benny sighed again. "I suppose, young lady, if your friends want to help...then that is fine."
I lifted the sides of my dress in a curtsy. "A thousand thanks, Sir Benedict."
"You're quite welcome." He muttered.
So now it was Olaf and Loki and I, all in good spirits and all playing around with the Christmas tree. Benny watched us closely.
Every ornament was different and beautiful, and indeed very old. There were lots of handmade paper snowmen, angles with bells instead of feet, and small stuffed animals based off of different children's TV show characters. Definitely a child's Christmas tree.
At one point I found a doll-sized hat hanging off a branch on the tree and decided to try it on. It was so ugly, but at least it was warm. And it was just my size. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.

I saw Olaf looking at me in my hat. "So, Olaf, what do you think?" I asked, titling the hat the side slightly. I wasn't a fashionista, but I do appreciate it sometimes. This was one of those times.

"Um, sorry, Elsa. That hat's not really your thing."

"You think?" I asked, a little displeased with Olaf's reaction.

(above picture is me in my not-so-fabulous hat)

"No, not really." said Olaf admittedly.

"Fine then," I whipped the hat off dramatically and threw it. The gesture seemed somewhat familiar. The hat ended up next to Olaf. He picked it up and put it on his own head. It actually kind of looked good on him. The tiniest pang of jealousy flared up within me, but I got over it as quickly as it had come. I don't hold jealousy well, which is a good thing.

We rooted around the tree some more until Loki found some beaded snowflake ornaments. They were handmade with skill, and I laughed at the thought that I could do the very same thing, only for real snowflakes. I couldn't help but pose while holding a few of them, imagining a white Christmas, whatever that means.

As fun and as pretty as the tree was, we weren't finding what we were looking for. The meaning of Christmas seemed harder to find than we thought. 

"Well, thank you for your time, sir, but it appears we haven't found what we were looking for. We should be leaving now."

"Are you sure you don't want to check on the other side of the tree?" he offered. What a change of heart for Benny! I took up the generous offer and peeked around to the other side of the tree. Nothing much was there, just other ornaments that were old and childish at the same time. Olaf, Loki, and I split up and divided the tree up into thirds. Olaf found some stuffed animal friends on his side, (he was disappointed that they didn't speak, and I worried that he'd find out he was a toy, but I was lucky) but besides that, even the three of us working on separate sides of the tree didn't add up to much. After five more minutes of searching, combing each layer of the plastic branches, we gave up, not finding anything that would show us the meaning of Christmas. For now all we knew about Christmas is that it was old. Perhaps we'd have to try another day.

"Okay, we're done now-" Loki began, but he didn't get to finish his sentence. The loud slam of a door echoed around the house. The humans were home. 

Olaf shrieked, and Loki clamped his mouth shut quickly. Fortunately, I don't think the humans heard. 

"Hide!" Benny whisper-shouted. "Hide!"

As if we needed to be told what to do! Loki tried making a beeline to the room, but Olaf had closed the door behind him, and now we were trapped with no time to spare. She would probably notice if we were off the dresser, but she would definitely notice if we were in the hallway on the floor. I panicked, my hands glowing a strong ghostly blue. 

I remember hearing a nature program on the humans' TV from the downstairs say that when a certain kind of frog is threatened, they play dead. I didn't feel threatened, but I did feel nervous, and I couldn't play dead, but I could play "doll." I collapsed under the tree by Benny and tried to make my most plastic-like expression. Loki and Olaf quickly followed my lead. I hoped we wouldn't get caught.

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs, in time with the nervous beating of my heart. She turned the corner and entered the hallway where we were laying under the tree. And, to our misfortune, she noticed us immediately.

Fortunately, though, she laughed. "My little friends? What are you doing under the tree? We don't get our presents yet!" She scooped all of us up in her arms and opened the door to her room. I gave Benny a small wave goodbye. He nodded respectively.

She said something about how Olaf's hat looked adorable on him (Hm) and placed each of us on the floor, then pulled a small red box from the hallway. I hadn't noticed it before, probably because it looked empty, but it certainly wasn't!

She opened it, and inside was treasure that seemed to be worth a thousand pirates!

Or at least that's what I thought. It probably looked normal to her. She seemed happy to see it, but I could tell that the stuff in the box wasn't the thing that made her happy. She turned to face us with a light in her eyes and a smile on her lips. 

"We have our own Christmas tree outside this room," She explained to us. "It's a children's tree- it's held the same ornaments and decorations since I was a baby. It's pretty old," she laughed through her nose. "But here I have a new tree for you. Well, it's sort of new. It was a present from my grandmother one or two Christmasses ago. Who knows how long she kept it?" She laughed from her nose again, a little more real this time.

She pulled a something from behind her back. It appeared to be like the humans' tree outside the door, only doll-sized and without decorations. She hummed a strange and lovely mixture of holiday carols and The Phantom of Opera soundtrack to herself, while spreading the branches on the tiny tree apart one by one. We watched and listened carefully, hoping She might give us a clue to what Christmas meant, if She knew.

Once the tree's branches were all facing outward, She connected the base of the tree to three plastic legs so it would be able to stand up on its own. 

She drew a circular piece of fabric out of the box and wrapped it around the legs of the tree. She said the thing was called a "tree skirt" and then added jokingly, "to protect it from the cold."

Once the legs and skirt were on the tree, it was started to look more like the tree outside. I decided it was quite pretty. Little did I know how pretty it was about to become!

Apparently She wanted us to join in the fun, too, so she began posing us in various ways to make it look like we were helping to decorate the tree. I kind of wished we could do it in real life, but we couldn't break The Code of Dolls, so we cooperated with what She was doing as we pretended to put things on the tiny tree.

Olaf helped with the garland.

 I was given the task of holding a small, doll-sized basket of ornaments to put on the tree later.

 She found a small glass snowflake in the red box and posed me to hold it once or twice.

Okay, so it was twice. But who cares? I loved it.

Loki even got into the Christmas spirit by using his staff thingy to hang up some of the bells.

She decided that She wanted us to be able to see the tree all the time, so She lifted it up and put it on the dresser, but not before a small silver bulb fell and crashed, breaking into three pieces on the dresser. She groaned and tried to pick them up. I saw Loki bite his lip in worry. He didn't want her to get cut by the glass shards. But She didn't, which was good for all of us. Pretty soon we (well, She was doing it, us dolls were just pretending) had the tree wrapped in silver tinsel and some small gold bells laid on various branches.

The next round were the bulbs, small glass spheres painted red, green, blue, silver and gold. We had learned by now that these bulbs were very delicate and shattered easily, but She trusted us to "put some on" the tree.

After all the bulbs had been used, (including the ones I had in my basket) She found a small red box of nutcracker ornaments inside the bigger small red box and decided to use them, even though there were only six of them. Loki was once again able to use his staff to put these on the tree.

She posed me against the bottom of the dresser balancing one of the nutcrackers in my hand. I smiled, remembering Benny guarding the tree outside. Even though ornaments don't come alive like most dolls, I thought that these nutcrackers could do well with guarding our doll's tree.

 The tree was starting the look better and better! I decided that I liked this tradition.

(above picture is the tree with the tinsel, bells, bulbs, and the nutcrackers)

 The final layer of decoration were tiny plastic dolls with bad paint jobs and washed out faces, so we glossed over that one quickly. She thought it would be fun to put one on Olaf's nose, though.

She found two more snowflakes in the red box and lined them up on the dresser, then told me to pick my favorite to hold. I couldn't say anything, of course, but I very quickly and very carefully looked over at the blue beaded one. She took this as a subliminal message to have my hold the blue one for another pose with Loki and Olaf, who were both holding their favorite ornaments as well.

 (the picture is a little small, so it's a bit hard to see, but Loki is holding a bell on his staff)

When we ran out of ornaments to put on, She posed me by the tree, but she didn't claim it done quite yet. She kept rooting through the box, until She found what She was looking for; a giant shiny red star.

 Of course each of us had to take turns holding it.

Olaf had to hold it by a stick of hair!

 But in the end, it was decided that Loki would be the one to put the star on the top of the tree. She said that the tree topper was the most important part, and that it is an honor to do such a thing, so She picked her little elf-man to do the job, much to Loki's pleasure. She held him up carefully, with the star on his arm, and then took it off and placed it on the highest branch.

Ta-da! A finished tree! (with a tired Loki in the background) Too bad the star refused to keep straight.)

As a final touch, She placed three tiny presents under the tree by the skirt. I knew that they were probably just decoration, small blocks of Styrofoam wrapped in shiny colored foil and tied with gold string, but I still felt a strange hopeful curiosity that there was more inside. 

 She set each of us by the tree and left the room to get something downstairs. I think it was called "hot chocolate." When the door closed behind her, we all let out a happy sigh. It had been a long, adventurous happy day, and a good one at that! Loki was grinning like an idiot, thrilled that She had let him put the tree topper on. Olaf always grins like an idiot, and I'm pretty sure I was, too. Mostly because of all that I happened, but also because I realized something while looking at our tree.
Christmas is beautiful.
My first step into discovering the meaning of Christmas.

Beautifully Christmasy,

Queen Elsa