Kitty experiences Boxing Day charity with the Gardiners. The sounds of hungry children rising drove Kitty from her bed. After brief ablutions, she made her way to the morning room, work bag in hand. Her letter to Lydia balanced on top of the chemisette. Aunt and the children already circled the table. Margaret labored over a picture book whilst Alice carefully sewed something—a doll’s dress perhaps? The boys marched tin soldiers across the plains of … Continue reading →
Mrs. Bennet sets quite the table for her Christmas feast. Later that night, Elizabeth paced the very clean drawing room, waiting for their guests to arrive. Fresh evergreen and holly filled the room with the season’s fragrances, tied with cheery red bows. It should have been a very pleasing scene, but the tension in the room threatened to suffocate her. “Why do you not take a seat, Lizzy?” Aunt Gardiner asked. “I should surely run … Continue reading →
The new Darcy family gathers around the yule log to celebrate the season. Elizabeth sat in the upstairs sitting room, reading. Now things were returned to normal, a few minutes on her own proved pleasant, not isolating. Earlier that day, Darcy and Fitzwilliam had taken the children and Georgiana to cut decorations for the house. Evergreen boughs and Christmas roses adorned the mantle and filled vases on the tables throughout the house, the fruits of … Continue reading →
The arrival of the mumpers doesn’t seem like such a blessing. A few more stitches, and the embroidery on the bodice would be done. Kitty examined the hoop of pale yellow muslin in the morning light. Drat! Several tiny stitches fell wrong, yet again. A soft rap on the door demanded her attention. “Miss Bennet?” Hill poked her head in. “The mumpers are coming up the lane.” “St. Thomas Day already?” Kitty dropped her tambour … Continue reading →
What is wrong with a kissing ball? It was Christmas Eve. At home, Kitty and her sisters—no wait, no one would be left at Longbourn to go out to cut evergreen and holly boughs for decorating the house and making a kissing ball. She stopped and sank down to the stair step, face in her hands. Even being at the Darcy townhouse in London could not make up for the arsey-varsey tumult her life had become. All … Continue reading →