HEARTHSIDE STORIES: A Very Wonderland Holiday, by Aislinn Honeycutt

'Twas the night before… Wonderland doesn't have any set kind of religious holiday in place. Festivals got carried from town to town, from family to family, until everything just sort of… melded together. Drinking, dancing, and gifts… that's what everyone in Wonderland celebrates. So this really doesn't work, does it?

Let's start over.

'Twas a cold and snowy night in Wonderland. The world outside the pearlescent walls of the Palace of Hearts was quiet and still. Fires burned in hearths and lights danced against the soft ice filling the streets. Children were nestled under covers. Lover's embraced each other. Dreamer's watched the snow fall from the stars and thought of the magic in their winter Wonderland.

A fire crackles in the hearth of the Queen's bedroom. She watched the prange and yellow flames rdflected in hee crystal windows over looking the expanise gardens of her home.

"Love," Rorie kissed her neck, hands cupping her shoulders as he laid his cheek against the top of her head. Sometimes hed lace crown felt so heavy against her mind; it was nice to have her king there to ease her tensions.

Alice shifted and buried her face against Rorie's warm chest. The beating of his heart below her lashes tempted her lips to press a soft kiss on his shirt. A gift for the fluttering bird locked away in his ribcage.

The king wound his arms around Alice's small frame. Cradling her in his warm embrace.

"What's on your mind, love?" He whispered into her blonde hair.

A shiver ran through her as he spoke.

"Nothing, love." She assured. "Only thinking of this past year and how many things have changed so suddenly."

"And so drastically you've found yourself a second husband." He teased as Alice broke from his embrace. A smirk pulled at her lips as she crossed the room to the foot of her bed.

She opened a chest there and pushed aside the quilts and garments, looking for something buried beneath the fabrics.