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dolevalanAdvent calendar - day two!
Title: There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays
Fandom: Pride and Prejudice
A/N: Dedicated to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
blackdeathdenia. Because it had to be.
The first Christmas in which three of her five daughters were married off, Mrs. Bennett found herself faced with an unanticipated difficulty: deciding where the remaining family would spend Christmas. Obviously, they would not go to the Wickhams’. It was completely out of the question, as such an event would be unimaginably ghastly for all involved. Which left the Bingleys or the Darcys.
Now, had anyone taken her feelings, or even basic practicality into account, Mr. Bingley would have decided to holiday at Pemberly, and then the entire family could gather in one place. However, in his obstinacy, he had decided to remain at Netherfield, and Jane was no help in getting him to change his mind, as she hung on her husband’s every glance and he hers.
And so now, Mrs. Bennett was stuck deciding between the advantages of Netherfield, which had the distinction of being a much more convenient journey, and more likely to allow the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Wickham, at least for a short interval, and Pemberly, which had the distinction of being tenfold more elegant and more likely to entertain the family in a grand style. Further, whichever estate she chose, there would be the difficulty of convincing the occupants of the other to spend their holiday away from home.
Mr. Bennett suggested, though it secretly pained him to do so, that perhaps they should spend a quiet Christmas at home with Mary and Kitty, and allow their married daughters to establish their own housekeeping traditions. This suggestion his wife dismissed as patently ridiculous as soon as it was introduced. In an inspired solution, she sent letters to both Lizzie and Jane, inquiring as to what they planned to serve for Christmas dinner. This use of menu to break the tie struck Kitty as a brilliant idea, Mary as a sneaky one, and Mr. Bennett as an idea worthy of Lydia herself (though only the first two opinions were ever expressed).
Unfortunately for Mrs. Bennett, both sent back letters detailing very similar menus. Further, Lizzie went on to hope that the dinner at home wouldn’t seem too barren with only four, and that she and her husband wished them a very merry holiday. This postscript seemed to clearly indicate that Lizzie was unaware of the necessity of gathering the family together at the holiday season. Therefore, Netherfield was selected as the location for the Bennetts’ festivities, and it fell to Mr. Bennett to convince his favorite daughter and her new family to join them. The Wickhams, of course, were delighted to come, and expressed their joy at Mrs. Bennett’s invitation on Mr. Bingley’s behalf. Mr. and Mrs. Bingley’s opinion on the subject went unrecorded.
Lizzie was undoubtedly torn when she received intelligence from her father of her mother’s plot to reunite the girls for the season. While she would have been quite pleased to remain at Pemberly with Mr. Darcy and his sister, neither could she abandon Jane to their mother and Lydia for the entirety of Christmas. Mr. Darcy fully agreed that the Bingleys should not be so deserted, and in an act of moral courage unrivaled in recent memory, the Darcys prepared to spend a Christmas with Elizabeth’s family.
It had begun to snow on Christmas eve, and Lizzie and Jane sat up, watching the white blanket swallow the countryside. Mrs. Bennett had gone to bed early, in anticipation of a fainting fit at the realization that the Wickhams had decided not to come after all, thus upsetting the entire scheme of a reunion. Mr. Bennett, it should be noted, had not been seen for a good three days together, having locked himself in Mr. Bingley’s study while deprived of his own.
The two sisters sat, enjoying the peace that settled over Netherfield now that all the decorations and feasting and presents had been taken care of. Everything waited in expectation for the festivities of the next day, and it occurred to Lizzie that it was nice to put off, for one more year, the responsibility of staging an entire Christmas season on her own. As she and Jane exchanged a small smile, Lizzie privately vowed that her first would be spectacular. When Mr. Darcy caught her under the mistletoe the next morning, she decided that this particular Christmas was rather spectacular in its own right.
Title: There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays
Fandom: Pride and Prejudice
A/N: Dedicated to
blackdeathdenia. Because it had to be.The first Christmas in which three of her five daughters were married off, Mrs. Bennett found herself faced with an unanticipated difficulty: deciding where the remaining family would spend Christmas. Obviously, they would not go to the Wickhams’. It was completely out of the question, as such an event would be unimaginably ghastly for all involved. Which left the Bingleys or the Darcys.
Now, had anyone taken her feelings, or even basic practicality into account, Mr. Bingley would have decided to holiday at Pemberly, and then the entire family could gather in one place. However, in his obstinacy, he had decided to remain at Netherfield, and Jane was no help in getting him to change his mind, as she hung on her husband’s every glance and he hers.
And so now, Mrs. Bennett was stuck deciding between the advantages of Netherfield, which had the distinction of being a much more convenient journey, and more likely to allow the arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Wickham, at least for a short interval, and Pemberly, which had the distinction of being tenfold more elegant and more likely to entertain the family in a grand style. Further, whichever estate she chose, there would be the difficulty of convincing the occupants of the other to spend their holiday away from home.
Mr. Bennett suggested, though it secretly pained him to do so, that perhaps they should spend a quiet Christmas at home with Mary and Kitty, and allow their married daughters to establish their own housekeeping traditions. This suggestion his wife dismissed as patently ridiculous as soon as it was introduced. In an inspired solution, she sent letters to both Lizzie and Jane, inquiring as to what they planned to serve for Christmas dinner. This use of menu to break the tie struck Kitty as a brilliant idea, Mary as a sneaky one, and Mr. Bennett as an idea worthy of Lydia herself (though only the first two opinions were ever expressed).
Unfortunately for Mrs. Bennett, both sent back letters detailing very similar menus. Further, Lizzie went on to hope that the dinner at home wouldn’t seem too barren with only four, and that she and her husband wished them a very merry holiday. This postscript seemed to clearly indicate that Lizzie was unaware of the necessity of gathering the family together at the holiday season. Therefore, Netherfield was selected as the location for the Bennetts’ festivities, and it fell to Mr. Bennett to convince his favorite daughter and her new family to join them. The Wickhams, of course, were delighted to come, and expressed their joy at Mrs. Bennett’s invitation on Mr. Bingley’s behalf. Mr. and Mrs. Bingley’s opinion on the subject went unrecorded.
Lizzie was undoubtedly torn when she received intelligence from her father of her mother’s plot to reunite the girls for the season. While she would have been quite pleased to remain at Pemberly with Mr. Darcy and his sister, neither could she abandon Jane to their mother and Lydia for the entirety of Christmas. Mr. Darcy fully agreed that the Bingleys should not be so deserted, and in an act of moral courage unrivaled in recent memory, the Darcys prepared to spend a Christmas with Elizabeth’s family.
It had begun to snow on Christmas eve, and Lizzie and Jane sat up, watching the white blanket swallow the countryside. Mrs. Bennett had gone to bed early, in anticipation of a fainting fit at the realization that the Wickhams had decided not to come after all, thus upsetting the entire scheme of a reunion. Mr. Bennett, it should be noted, had not been seen for a good three days together, having locked himself in Mr. Bingley’s study while deprived of his own.
The two sisters sat, enjoying the peace that settled over Netherfield now that all the decorations and feasting and presents had been taken care of. Everything waited in expectation for the festivities of the next day, and it occurred to Lizzie that it was nice to put off, for one more year, the responsibility of staging an entire Christmas season on her own. As she and Jane exchanged a small smile, Lizzie privately vowed that her first would be spectacular. When Mr. Darcy caught her under the mistletoe the next morning, she decided that this particular Christmas was rather spectacular in its own right.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-02 12:38 pm (UTC)