I would do almost anything for the sake of Paris. I would kill myself for the sake of Paris but I will not be tied in holy matrimony to someone who is more beast than man.
princess gisla in season three of vikings // 3.10 - the dead.
The celebrating, the food AND the drinking. The mad run to buy last-minute presents, the shitty movies (Cit.), and the shitty songs. (-Cit.)
He also likes the folklore and religious side behind it. So, he would follow Athelstan to church, but would also celebrate the Gods and their ancestors with the rest of the family.
He likes having his dysfunctional family reunited, even if just for one day and possibly a recipe for disaster, it makes him truly happy. The more the merrier.
His weakness at Christmas is the city lights. He literally goes all emotional the first night they turn them on.
His favourites things are EVERYTHING.
Athelstan:
December in general is a very precious moment of the year for him. He spends it preparing emotionally and faithfully to celebrate the holy birth of Jesus Christ our Lord and saviour. (-Cit.)
He basically resides inside a church, praying constantly. But all his prayers are basically devoted to protecting his loved ones.
He does funds raising and charity works in general... But at Christmas he goes nuts with it, covering his agenda with social events to participate to. And he is very, VERY good at his charity stuff.
He likes to reunite with the family. If you ask him, that is the nicest and richest part of the whole thing.
Being a humble man, he doesn't like much of what Christmas became through the media - which is definitely a topic he always brings up throughout the lunch hoping more people will agree with him. It never happens.
His favourites things are the connection to God and the Midnight mass on Christmas Eve. And Christmas movies, but that a secret.
Lagertha:
She is the organiser. Everything has to pass through her and get her approval before it gets done. From the Christmas presents lists to the Christmas dinner/lunch/snacks whatever it is.
She doesn't like Christmas. But Aslaug, Ragnar and Athelstan do, so she does too.
She makes sure to have a paid group of people who comes in and decorate the entire house for them. But always leaves a few bits for Aslaug to put up, because she still cares.
The same goes for the Christmas days celebrations - they have a full-on catering service working for them. But Lagertha leaves space to those (Aslaug) who love to cook for the family to do so.
She won't admit it, but she loves to have the house filled with warmth and laughter, even arguing, for days. She likes having the family around and she likes to have them safe and happy.
Her favourite things are the stress and panic and fuffing that she can control with a click of her fingers, and Ragnar and Aslaug being drunk and hilarious on Christmas day. (Also Aslaug's red lingerie.)
Trivia: SHE IS THE BEST AT CHRISTMAS PRESENTS BUSINESS.
Aslaug:
She is the Queen of Christmas. Just look at her. No doubt there, no argument. She is made of snow, and freshly baked mince pies, and tinsel, and baubles, and fire lit in the chimney, and... You got the gist.
Her Christmas starts on the 1st of November. And it is, of course, her favourite holiday.
THE WHOLE FAMILY REUNITED IN HER HOUSE?? The preparations must start as soon as she starts thinking about Christmas. Of course, the preparations are quickly passed to Lagertha, because Aslaug is extra excited and extra impulsive and if you leave it to her she'll have a herd of raindeers in the back garden and a full squad of elves around the house.
Her need to nest and create a suitable, lovely environment for her family and the hosting of their sons is out of proportion, but sweet as hell.
She does a lot of charity work with Athelstan, and around Christmas, they both go crazy on social events.
She is also the Queen of Homemade. Homemade Christmas decorations and presents, such as knitted jumpers, scarves, socks purposely ugly. Homemade food, she generally loves to cook and bake but around Christmas, Aslaug goes nuts. She hates the catering organised by Lagertha but never says anything about it.
Her favourite things are giving joy to others and spreading love, besides literally EVERYTHING ELSE.
Rollo Lothbrok:
He is exactly like his brother on this. He LOVES Christmas and he is NOT afraid to show it.
Living in another country with his wife Gisla means that is the only time a year he comes back home and sees the family, besides those times that his nephews come up to see him.
He is a competitive man, so also Christmas becomes a competition. He wants to give the best, personal presents to everyone, to let them know he cares.
It goes without saying that during the presents shopping, he would totally fight you to get the last thing on the shelf if needed.
He is an honourable guest. He is the first to arrive, the first to get drunk and then the last to leave. Never missing to be grateful for being invited, being given food and the comfort of a home to stay in. He is the greatest with the kids, keeping them as entertained as Floki would, but don't call him nanny or her will... Just burst into laughter with his arms full of everyone babies (even the bigger ones).
He will definitely force the family to play Monopoly or other stupid board/cards games, and it goes without saying that he would also force everyone to watch his favourite movie (How the Grinch Stole Christmas) either on Xmas Eve or Xmas day.
His favourite things are the anticipation of it all while packing to leave for the holidays, connecting his family to Ragnar's family, making sure Gisla and his kids don't forget his love and affection and of course EVERYTHING ELSE.
Princess Gisla:
She is a Princess, which means she is not really used to the love and affection, celebration and chaos that celebrating Christmas with the Lothbrok's means. (She also doesn't think the other side of Rollo's family likes her.)
She likes Christmas, but just the religious side of it. Which is one of the reasons why the only person she really likes from the other side of the family is Athelstan.
She tries her best always to impress the people around her, so convinced to be an outsider, with her accent, different lifestyle and stuff, not to notice that she is as welcome as anyone else. Aslaug, for example, really likes her.
She always brings a piece of their home decoration over and puts it up somewhere in their room. And she likes when Aslaug let her cook something typical of her own home country to bring to the table.
Her favourite things are Christmas Carols and Carolers, waking up between Rollo's arms on Christmas morning, and her husband and kids' smiles.
Bjorn Ironside:
He doesn't like Christmas.
He doesn't like reuniting with the family and being surrounded by the Christmas spirit.
Which is why, most of the time, especially in the last few years, Bjorn uses the months of November, December and January to travel around the world with his best friend Halfdan. They like to visit countries in the southern hemisphere just to skip through Winter.
It happened that his brothers would sometimes follow him in his travels.
The only thing he likes about Christmas, his own words, is Die Hard.
If he happens to be around the family for Christmas, then you can bet he will eat all the food, drink to no end and argue with his little brothers. He would also have a new girlfriend to present to the family.
His favourite things are the travel agencies Christmas deals.
Ubbe Ragnarsson:
He loves to celebrate Christmas.
He likes to go Christmas shopping with his mother, to help Lagertha organise stuff, to spend time with his father and with his brothers, even with Ivar. He even enjoys helping Athelstan with his churchy, charity things.
As much as spending quality time with the family, he enjoys going to party and Xmas festivals, clubs and whatever activity with his brother Hvitserk throughout December.
Of course, he does all his Christmas shopping last minute, literally, on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th. He is convinced that doing so is better, even if it's always a matter of organisation. Besides this, he is really good with presents even ignoring the presents lists given by the others.
With Rollo, he would definitely force people to play board games. And as his uncles (Rollo and Floki, of course), he loves to look after the younger kids.
His favourite things are the celebrations and the parties, getting drunk with Hvitserk and singing Christmas songs in the middle of the night all around the city, and drinking hot cocoa with Aslaug after a long day spent around shops.
Hvitserk Ragnarrson:
Exactly like his brother Ubbe, he loves to celebrate Christmas.
Throughout the whole December he makes a point to spend more time with his family and friends. Particularly, he enjoys cooking with his mother and stay for dinner and going fishing with Ragnar. As Ubbe, he does his best to help Lagertha with the organisations, as much as she let him.
He is also the one who drags Ubbe to parties all around town. Because for Hvitserk having fun and be a party animal is also as important. Celebrating, for him, means also that.
He loves Aslaug's cooking. He loves food in general. And to drink. So, clearly, he is the one who enjoys the feast the most and always have to have a nap afterwords.
He is the best at guessing games. Not as much at boards games but he is still competitive enough to play anything.
His favorite things are odd baubles, receiving Xmas cards (not as much writing them), dressing up as Santa Claus for the youngest kids, watching Home Alone for the twelve-thousandth time with his brothers, and blast Fairytail Of New York song all over the place with no shame.
Sigurd Snake in the Eye:
He doesn't like Christmas or spending time with the whole family.
He is a very busy man now, probably a famous musician too, so he spends all his time either working on his music, being on tour or working with other musicians.
He would say "talent doesn't stop to celebrate".
He generally misses out on the Christmas Eve dinner, or on the Christmas day lunch... But sometimes he'll make an appearance on Boxing Day, even if just for a quick drink because even someone like him cares a little.
He doesn't make presents, he truly doesn't have time for them.
He would never ask or assume to deserve any, but always enjoys when his mother prepares him a bag with leftovers from the meals. Of course, he doesn't show it and act like such a thing disgusts him.
His favourite things are not much. But if he releases a Christmas theme song around Christmas people loses their minds.
Ivar the Boneless:
He will never admit it, but he secretly loves Christmas.
He likes to spend time with his parents and brothers, he even likes to help Athelstan with his charity events, even if often Ivar's take on charity is too... Aggressive, and for the love and wellbeing of Aslaug, he even makes an effort with Lagertha.
He takes Aslaug everywhere through the Christmas period. It's his favourite thing. Shopping, choosing the tree, to the grocery shop, to the cinema. He and his mother have a specific routine and lovely, little rituals all around December mostly composed of spending a lot of time together on dates.
Sometimes he joins Hvitserk and Ubbe at their parties. And sometimes he would even enjoy himself.
He won't make Christmas presents to anyone but Aslaug, Hvitserk and Floki, but he definitely expects them.
His favourite things are the snow, spending time with his favourite people, mulled wine and orange flavoured chocolate/hot chocolate, not being angry all the time, going to see the Christmas lights with his father.
GUEST STARS
Floki & Helga:
They love Christmas.
Since the beginning of times, they always spent it with Ragnar's family, to the point now their traditions are mixed with one another.
Helga is always present to help Lagertha or Aslaug, while Floki spends most of his time either with Ragnar or his sons.
Floki even tries to be helpful with Athelstan - this mostly means he tries his best to stay out of Athelstan's way.
They don't have a big family of their own, so of course, they invest all their love, affection, time and resources to show how much they care for Ragnar's family.
Floki is the one who brings all the booze for the celebration days. While Helga is the one who cooks the breakfasts throughout the days and often offers to help to tidy and clean around.
They do like spending time together, and when they are not invested in the Lothbrok's big celebrations, they can be found walking around town hand in hand looking through windows, wondering about life, stopping by a cafe to have a hot drink and a piece of cake (to share of course) and just do all those things that make them look like a happy couple in a Christmas movie.
