Wreathed in Cheer

When Poppy peeked her head out her door in the early morning, it was with the high hopes of seeing a package on her front step. She’d paid extra to have it expressed to her - so it had better fucking be there… And hopefully she could get it inside before any of her neighbors realized what she’d had delivered so urgently.

…it looked a lot bigger than she had been expecting.

Big enough that she pulled out her phone to double check the listing. Maybe she’d had too much and misunderstood the dimensions Amabun had listed…?

…okay yeah, she had definitely misunderstood that, she realized, reading it. It was, perhaps, a little less embarrassing than having a wreath for a dollhouse express mailed to her, but what the hell was she going to do with a wreath for her actual door?

The answer seemed obvious after a moment, and she covered her face with her hands, beginning to giggle as she sat rather forcefully on the ground. Ohhh she had definitely had too much to drink last night, she needed to put a lock on her credit card after 7pm if she was drinking at home… She was not fit to be hanging a real life wreath right now - one for the dollhouse would have been fine, but this?

Her mamoo, Buttons, danced around her feet, trying to get to her lap - she hadn’t even noticed him following her out the door. At least he wasn’t inclined to wander… She pet him, still giggling to herself. “Buttons, how the fuck am I going to get this thing up?”

After a few moments of pondering that, she decided to push the box inside the door and bring Buttons back inside. The first step for both of them was going to be some food - she was too hungover to have any business using a hammer just yet. (She was probably also too hungover to have any business being awake just yet, but having started her life in Burrowgatory as a baker before she’d pivoted to being a tailor, she’d never been able to shake the early hours, even when she stayed up late. (Admittedly, her ‘late’ was about 10pm).

She pulled out a tupperware of premade cinnamon rolls, and tossed some onto a plate. “Don’t tell my old boss,” she sternly told Buttons as she plopped the plate into the microwave. She grabbed a paper towel and ran it under the sink, then squeezed all the water out of it. That done, she carefully draped it over the plate of cinnamon rolls. Finally, she punched the time she wanted into the microwave.

While the microwave heated the cinnamon rolls, she pressed the button on her coffee machine so it would start working, and set about tearing the box open.

The wreath was pretty plastic, gold and white branches twined together and a beautiful red ribbon at the top.

At least it would definitely look good on her place’s black door, even if it wasn’t the right size for the dollhouse in her living room.

Fortunately, the box included the materials to hang it, and she wouldn’t even need a hammer, since the hanger was designed to fit over a door frame’s top. (She did have to appreciate the hanger, which was a lovely matte black - it would blend nicely into the door). “Thank you last night me for not buying something that uses nails,” she murmured as she lifted the hanger up.

As her microwave and coffee maker began to beep at the exact same time, though, the simultaneous and competing tasks overwhelmed Poppy. She was way too hungover for this- should she hang the wreath first? Get the coffee? What if Buttons stole her cinnamon rolls and coffee while she hung it? The beeping continued as she stared into space, slowly becoming distressed.

Nononono whatever she did she needed to make the beeping stop…

Hurriedly, she slapped the cancel button on the microwave to make that stop, and then hit the power button on the coffee maker, breathing in the silence again as those stopped. “I hate whatever bun decided everything needed to make loud noises,” she grumbled.

She could have her food once she put the wreath up, she decided, going back to the door, hanger and wreath in hand. Buttons stayed put near the microwave, whining piteously and clearly wondering why his pet bun wasn’t just getting the food.

Poppy opened the door once more, holding it with her foot. She slid the hanger onto the top of it, and then shut it so she could stand outside and fuss with the wreath as she hung it. Once it was arranged to her preferences, she took a moment to snap a picture of it. It wasn’t the size of wreath she had hoped for, but hey, maybe later she could swing by the craft store and make a little one for the dollhouse anyways.

A suspicious crash from inside caught her attention though, and she grimaced, hurrying back inside. She stopped in her tracks as she saw Buttons (his white spots suspiciously coffee colored), the pieces of a smashed mug, and coffee all over the floor and cabinets.

She was still way too hung over for this, she thought, as she accepted her fate and pulled out a bottle of wine from the rack on top of the fridge. If she had to clean up this mess before she’d even eaten, she was not doing it fucking sober.

At least she’d gotten the wreath hung…