The Christmas Character Tag

Hullo! Remember me? Possibly not, because I have been gone so long. But never fear, I am yet alive (and for those who care, yes, so is Moonscript...very much so).

Work has eased up a little bit, so I popped over to the blogging world and discovered this fun tag from a blogger friend, Sarah!

Here's how the rules go!

1. Acknowledge the person who tagged you. Thanking them is nice, but not necessary. You can be annoyed at them if you like. (Though, if you're annoyed, why are you doing the tag anyway?)
2. Pick your characters. I advise having several, though not too many. They can all be from the same story, or they can be from different stories. If they're from different stories, make sure to specify who's from the same story.
3. Answer the questions. This should be self-explanatory.
4. Tag people. If you want. Don't tag more people than you have characters in the tag. If you don't want to tag anyone, you can do that too.
5. Listen to your favorite Christmas song. Because putting the effort in to write a post deserves a reward, my friend!

So. My characters. I will pull them from my fantasy book, Moonscript.....I would LOVE to include characters from the entire series, but new characters or the development of the original ones is a bit...spoilery.

All right, so my cast.....Tellie, fourteen year old chipper orphan girl...her best friend, the dependable young Kelm...Errance, the distrustful former captive who barely knows what a good time is, so we'll see how this goes....Tryss, the mother hen who watches over them all....Coren, the swashbuckling smuggler and his sassy partner, Zizain.

1. If any of your characters are from Earth: what are some of their Christmas traditions? If your characters aren't from Earth: does their world have an equivalent to Christmas, and if so, how do they celebrate it?

Nope. Not from earth. From a world called Orim, and while there are indeed holidays in their world, there is not a Christmas one yet, because in this time of history God's redemption plan for the world has not yet happened, so really there is no holiday that could compare to Christmas exactly. BUT. Because they are *my* characters I tote them wherever I go, so if I want them to come and celebrate Christmas, they shall do it!

2. Which of your characters gets the most into Christmas? The least? Who gets annoyed at the commercialization, and who doesn't care because it's CHRISTMAS?

Tellie loves anything that involves family and love and cozy traditions, so celebrating Christmas would be like giving her a little slice of heaven. As mentioned before, Errance would not know what to do with Christmas. He's learning to live again currently, so we'll have to give him a measure of grace. However as the kids have more and more fun, he may start to unthaw....Tryss would be completely disgusted with commercialization, because what a disgrace to distract from true spiritual meaning and the joy of the heart-given gift (honestly what is the world coming to?) Kelm, on the other hand, is the apprentice of a merchant, so he would be totally about how to sell and buy the coolest things.

3. All the characters try to decorate a Christmas tree together. What happens?

Errance is the prince of Aselvia, kingdom of the earth elves, and he would not understand why you have to cut a tree when you could just grow one in your house and never let it die. Still, decorating trees is something that may have a special place in the vaults of his memory so he would watch on....muttering things about the tree being crooked and that's what comes of crummy tree stands.....Kelm and Tellie would argue over how to do decorations, and Tryss would go in after they were finished and fix everything.



4. What's each character's favorite Christmas song?

Tryss loves Silent Night. When you're a caretaker of noisy children, its the dream that matters. Tellie goes about singing I'll be Home for Christmas or There's Always Tomorrow and tries to get Errance to duo with her, but he's having none of it. Kelm would belt out Frosty the Snowman.Coren and Zizain love anything upbeat that they can dance to.

5. Can your characters agree on a Christmas movie to watch together? What happens if they try?

Tellie would love to watch Hallmark Christmas movies and Tryss would remind her that they aren't realistic, but she secretly enjoys them too. However, the guys are not going to go for that, so how about something more traditional......It's A Wonderful Life! And then at the end, Errance is going to be sitting there, quivering inside from both anger and desperate hope, wondering how he got suckered into a movie anyway.

6. Speaking of which, who cries at Christmas movies? Anyone? 

Tellie cries at happy endings because she herself wants one so terribly. Tryss might cry if the actor is doing a really convincing sob job. Kelm wouldn't cry unless a dog died. Errance only cries inside.

7. What's each character's favorite Christmas treat?

 Tryss would loooove creme brulee. Kelm would spend days on his Gingerbread house and then decide it deserved a place on the mantle instead of his stomach, which is an incredible sacrifice for a growing young man. Tellie drinks hot chocolate and starts to chow down sweet cakes, but then remembers she has a round little figure and worries over it getting rounder (silly thing, it's Christmas!) 



8. Who among your characters likes eggnog? Who thinks it's disgusting?

Tryss would love it, and say how much it reminds her of her people's milthi moth milk, and everybody else who had been enjoying it thoroughly would suddenly lose their appetite.

9. Who's meeting who under the mistletoe? Who's catching those people and teasing them about it forever?

Kelm would be waiting for Tellie to walk by, totally shy but stoically determined (and hoping he is not going to get his face laughed off). Coren and Zizain would both appear there at the same time, grin slyly at each other for a second and then coolly saunter on by (each breathing a little sigh of disappointment). If Errance or Tryss happened to come together under the mistletoe...............Errance would be out of there like a shot but not before Tellie and Kelm saw them and went "Ooooooooooooooo" and made Tryss blush like a rose.

10. Who makes all the Christmas cookies and other treats? Who eats all the Christmas cookies?

Tryss is the eldest of 13 children and is used to being her sibling's caretaker, so is quite handy on making a tasty snack. She'd try to get Tellie to stay and help her, insisting a girl ought to be able to cook, but after Tellie mixes up the measurements for the baking soda and baking powder, she lets the poor girl go. Kelm comes by and starts eating the cookies, but didn't realize Tryss likes her food spicy, so he is back to chugging eggnog. Coren and Zizain proceed to stuff the cookies in each other's mouths. Errance abstains because you just can't trust food that sparkles.

11. Who stays (or used to stay) up late waiting for Santa?  

Tellie. She's a dreamer like that. And if she'd been brought up believing in Santa Claus, she would be one of those poor little kids whose hearts are utterly crushed. 


12. What would each character say Christmas isn't Christmas without?

Tellie: Family is what matters most! Not that I would know....or...or maybe since I'm without one, I know most of all.
Kelm: You can't have Christmas without liiiights, and trees, and ho-ho-hos!
Tryss: It's the spirit that really counts. Christmas begins in the heart, and it supposed to be an unselfish season, so even if things aren't going well for you, you still can bring joy to others.
Errance: ........I don't know if I can even believe in Christmas.
Coren: There are always people out there without Christmas.....they're hurting, they're scared, and the best thing we could do on this holy day is get out there and bring them aid. *looks in interest at Errance*
Zizain: Mizoltole, of courze. (winks)

And here's an old comic I did of my character's celebrating Christmas...well, about half of these characters aren't mine, but a friend's. Because if you are friends with another author, its hilarious to see how your characters interact. (And no, these characters of mine are not limited to Moonscript time *gasp, spoilers*)

Now for the tag!

Bryn at https://todaybybryn.wordpress.com/
Shantelle at  http://shantellemaryh.blogspot.com/
Olivia at http://oliviakfisher.blogspot.com/
And anyone else who thinks this is fun!