Let It Snow

The Pegasus Galaxy’s ‘Hoth’ turned out to be rather like its namesake—a frozen, empty wasteland. People have been known to eke out existences on frozen wastelands, but it soon became apparent that none had settled here. Just as Rodney was about to complain that the trip had been a complete waste of time, he was hit in the back of the head by a snowball, hurled by Bridie.

For a moment everyone froze, save for Rodney’s indignant sputtering. A slow grin appeared on John’s face, and he knelt down and started packing ice and snow together into balls. Teyla saw that Carson, Zelenka and Bridie engage in similar activities. “John, what is going on?”

“Oh, we’re just gonna have a good old fashioned snowball fight is all,” he replied in his usual manner.

“Snowball fight?” The Athosian was puzzled, but before she could ask her question she had to duck as a snowball was lobbed in their direction, thrown by Zelenka. She saw that Rodney got hit again, this time by Carson.

“I suggest that you find yourself some cover and get some ammunition,” John suggested between, chuckling at Rodney’s predicament. “Otherwise you’re gonna find yourself in the same boat as Rodney.”

“But what is a snowball fight?” she asked, ducking again as another snowball was thrown, this time by Bridie.

“This,” John had no more time for words, being rather busy throwing his snowballs at Zelenka, Bridie, and Rodney before ducking behind a nearby snow bank for cover. He saw that the hapless Canadian doctor was still sputtering indignantly, and not in the least bit inclined to join in the fray. He turned back to the still puzzled Athosian. “Stick with me, and I’ll look after you.”

“I do not need you to look after me,” Teyla said indignantly. She changed her tune when she was not able to duck a snowball thrown by Carson quick enough. She joined John behind the snow bank. “And what does one do in a snowball fight? Just throw these snowballs at people?”

“That’s the general idea,” John replied. “It’s a fun old winter pastime on Earth. Come on, I’ll show you how to pack a snowball together.”

“It does not seem like much fun,” she commented, following his lead. However, once she joined in the snowball fight she found that it was quite fun. Indeed, everybody seemed to be having fun throwing snowballs at each other. All except for Rodney, who was getting hit the most often, and was only reluctantly retaliating; grumbling about immaturity and being cold.

“Why is everyone throwing snowballs more often at Rodney?” It did not seem very fair to her.

“Because it’s fun,” John replied. “Besides, Rodney asks for it.”

All too soon Carson called an end to the snowball fight. By this point Rodney was soaked through and complaining of hypothermia. While the medical doctor thought this was unlikely, getting a chill was more probable, and they still had a way to walk back to the stargate. So they set off, walking briskly to ward off the cold.

Soon Bridie began singing. “Sleigh bells ring, are you listening?”

“In the lane, snow is glistening,” Carson joined in.

“A beautiful sight, we’re happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland.”

“What song is this?” Teyla asked John when the singers paused for breath.

“ ‘Winter Wonderland’,” he replied. “It’s traditionally a Christmas song.”

“It’s not a Christmas song,” came peevishly from Rodney. “Christmas is not mentioned once in it.”

“It’s traditionally sung at Christmastime,” John shot back. The argument continued even as they came to the DHD and opened the wormhole back to Atlantis. They were still arguing when they crossed into the control room, much to the amusement of those on duty there.

Dr Elizabeth Weir eyed them in astonishment. “What happened to you?”

“I believe it is called a ‘snowball fight’,” Teyla replied.

“A snowball fight?” Elizabeth turned a reproachful eye on Sheppard. “John…”

“Don’t look at me,” that gentleman protested. “It was Bridie who started it…”

“It doesn’t matter who started it,” Elizabeth cut in. “I think all of you should get into dry clothes and have hot drinks before you catch your death of cold.”

“I agree,” Carson said firmly, ignoring Rodney’s protests that he was already there.

It was a thoroughly dry and warmed up Teyla who popped into Elizabeth’s office later that afternoon. “May I ask a question, Dr Weir?”

“Certainly, Teyla,” Weir replied. “What do you want to know?”

“This Christmas holiday that people keep talking about. Aidan told me a little about it last year, but he was more concerned with remembering his own family traditions. It did not explain the history of it. And people were rather quiet and depressed about it last year that I did not like to ask.”

“And you wish to learn about it?” Elizabeth concluded.

“If you do not have the time, I can always ask someone else.”

“That’s okay Teyla, I was just wondering where to begin.” She began by explaining the religious beginnings of the holiday, the birth of the Christ child, and went on from there. Elizabeth was careful to explain that while Christmas was celebrated world wide, not everyone celebrated the holiday. Jewish people celebrated Hanukkah, Muslims had Ramadan (which was not necessarily around Christmastime), and so on. She even pointed out that it was the Roman Catholic Church who picked the date December 25th to celebrate Christmas—it was impossible to determine the exact date of Christ’s birth.

“Why was that date chosen then?” Teyla wanted to know.

“Well, there was a pagan winter solstice holiday around that time called Saturnalia, so that probably had something to do with it. The Church used to convert pagan holidays to Christian ones as a way of turning people away from their pagan ways.”

Teyla’s expression was unreadable. “That does not sound very tolerant.”

“The early Christians weren’t very tolerant, but they were doing what they felt was best to save the souls of those people. I’m sorry to say that that sort of thing still goes on today back on Earth.”

“I think it does all over,” the Athosian replied.

“Is that all you wanted to know?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yes, thank you… No, wait. Is Christmas purely a religious holiday? Because from what Aidan said, and what I’ve heard, it seems much more than that.”

Elizabeth smiled. “Christmas has become much more commercialised over the years. Over a thousand years ago a kind gentleman used to anonymously give presents to the poor, and when he died, others carried on.” She went on to explain the history of St Nicholas and Santa Claus. “Now Christmas seems to be as much about presents and decorations and such as the religious holiday. Personally I believe that the holiday season is about being with family and friends and enjoying their company, as well as the religious connotations. Everything else is just window dressing.”

“It must be hard for you, being so far from your home, when the time for holidays like that come,” Teyla observed. “Christmas is coming up soon, is it not?”

“Yes it is. It’s next week, in fact. Last year I left everyone alone to observe the holidays as they wished. Now I’m wondering whether that was a mistake.”

“We Athosians do not have a holiday as large as your Christmas seems to be, but we do have our celebrations. They involve being with our family and friends as well. It is always a good thing to get together in celebration.”

“Thank you, Teyla; you’ve just given me an idea.”

“Thank you, Dr Weir, for explaining things to me,” Teyla replied.

“Anytime.”

The next day an e-mail appeared on the computer of every Atlantis crew member, and even those of the crew of the Daedalus. It read as follows:

“As you may or may not be aware, the Christmas/holiday season is upon us. As such, I would like to invite you to a feast next week in the mess hall here on Atlantis.

“PS. Don’t stand on ceremony with regards to gifts. Just give them as you normally would.”

Naturally, it was the first topic on the agenda at the meeting that morning. Opinions were varied: Rodney had a pessimistic view of attendance, and even of getting the appropriate provisions together for a proper Christmas dinner. Elizabeth was unperturbed—they were in another galaxy, substitution was fine; the point was getting together, not what was on the menu. Teyla volunteered to scout various worlds to barter for foodstuffs needed, and John backed her up. Carson declared that it was a good idea, and to the argument began again. It was with difficulty that Elizabeth managed to get the discussion on more important matters.

John hung around after everyone else left when the meeting was adjourned. “I think you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, Elizabeth,” he said.

“Who, me?” she returned with mock innocence. “I think it would be good for us. I know that not everyone will come, but some people were a little depressed last year, and this gives them an opportunity to get out and enjoy themselves.”

“If you say so.”

“Will you be there, John? It won’t be the same without you.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he grinned, gave her a mock salute, and followed her out of the meeting room.

As Elizabeth had told John, not everybody agreed to attend; some—like Kavanaugh—were openly derisive about it. This did not bother Elizabeth, as enough people agreed to go to encourage her that she had made the right decision. Teyla and John had met with success in their “supply” missions, and had acquired suitable food to approximate a reasonable Christmas feast. Teyla herself was looking forward to the affair, as well as Halling and some of the other Athosians—invitations had been issued to promote cultural exchange and friendship. Even Ronon had agreed to attend, though he was rather confused as to exactly what it was about.

The meal was a big success, aided in part by a fermented drink that Teyla and John brought back from one of their missions. It had promptly been dubbed ‘wine’ though they unsure what it was made of; it tasted good and, being fermented, gave them a bit of a buzz (though not enough to actually cause intoxication) and that was all they cared about. Much to Elizabeth’s amusement, John, Zelenka, and Rodney fashioned a number of what passed for Christmas Crackers. They went off with a bang, but unfortunately only contained the obligatory bad jokes (owing to the lack of time and materials).

After the meal was over, Ronon asked what traditionally came next. This opened up a whole new discussion, as different people had different traditions. However, as carolling was a popular choice, the general consensus was to have a sing-a-long. Singing was optional—no one had to sing if they did not want to—and the songs would not be limited to Christmas Carols, to accommodate those who did not celebrate Christmas. So dradle songs and other such were thrown into the mix of traditional Christmas songs such as ‘Silent Night’, ‘Away in a Manger’, ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ and so on. Bridie sang ‘Christmas in Killarney’ a carol about her beloved Ireland, a song that appeared on Bing Crosby albums; which started other cultural carols such as ‘Feliz Navidad’ and ‘Buon Natale’.

Rodney made his usual protest when songs like ‘Winter Wonderland’ and ‘Let It Snow’ were featured—claiming that they could not be Christmas songs as they did not mention Christmas. Even the beloved ‘Jingle Bells’ came under this tirade. No one really cared, as they were traditionally sung at Christmastime anyway; but it did not still his protests.

Finally, the lady from New Zealand grew tired of his griping and pointed out that the Australian version of ‘Jingle Bells’ did mention Christmas, thank you very much. “After all,” she pointed out. “When you live in the southern hemisphere, Christmas falls in the summertime, and songs about winter and snow don’t make much sense.”

She was unfazed when it was pointed out that New Zealand often did get snow in summer. “Most of Australia doesn’t, and I have relatives over there. I am well aware what a scorching summer Christmas is like.”

“Do you know this version of ‘Jingle Bells’?” John asked.

She nodded and began to sing:

(she had to interrupt at this point to explain to chortling Americans that ‘thongs’ in this case meant flip-flops, not a certain item of underwear!)

Rodney had to grudgingly admit defeat when she finished the song. He even admitted that it was better than the variation of ‘Jingle Bells’ that he learned at school: “Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin flew away…”

John snorted. “That’s better then the version one of my cousins came out with.”

“Why, what was that?” Elizabeth wanted to know.

He was hesitant in reciting it, but was worn down.

Needless to say, the singing turned away from ‘Jingle Bells’ after that! They finished the singing with ‘I’ll be Home for Christmas’.

After the meal was over, and everything cleared, John was the perfect gentleman and saw Elizabeth home—with consisted of accompanying her to her quarters. On the way, she hummed ‘Let It Snow’; the tune was in her mind from the sing-a-long, and it was one she always liked.

She also got the song stuck in John’s head. “When we finally kiss goodnight…” he sang as they stopped by her door. He then stopped, embarrassed, when he realised just what the lyrics he was singing were. “I’m sorry,” he apologised. “It must be the wine.”

“Oh, must be,” she agreed with a little smile.

“Was tonight everything you hoped, Elizabeth?” he asked.

She nodded. “More.”

Later, John would never be sure why he had done it. It may have been the local ‘wine’; even though it did not have that much of a kick. It may have been the song that put the idea in his mind. All he knew was that he had leaned in and kissed Elizabeth before he realised what he was doing. The kiss started out gentle, but when she responded it became something more.

“I’m sorry,” he apologised again when he drew back.

“Don’t be,” she whispered.

There was a silence then; one that should have been awkward, yet somehow it was not. “I’d better get going.” John said.

Elizabeth watched him go, and then went into her quarters. Leaning against the wall, a smile broke out on her face. “But as long as you love me so,” she sang. “Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.”