#merrry christmas if you celebrate
headcanon #2: christmas at the avengers compound
Tony would definitely go all out when decorating the compound for Christmas. he hires a decorating team and the tree in the common room is the biggest, most expensive artificial Christmas tree, decorated to the nines with gaudy baubles, huge bows, and a strict colour scheme, all done by the decorating team. Quite frankly, it’s ugly and tacky and over-the-top - almost like the huge Christmas trees you see in Christmas films - but he did it because he thought that’s what everyone wanted, and because he knew they deserved the best Christmas he could give them.
When all the other Avengers see it, they all stare at it, unsure how to react, but they all go “wow” and go about their day. None of them really like it, but no one says anything because they don’t want to hurt him. But, after noticing too many people avoiding the common room, and too much tension, Tony confronts either Nat or Steve about it. They tell him that while everyone appreciates the effort, it’s not them - they all wanted to decorate the compound and the tree together as a family. They tell him not to worry about it though - everyone’s used to it now and maybe next year they can decorate together.
The next morning, everyone wakes up to see not a single Christmas decoration left in the compound - the Christmas tree, everything, gone without a trace. Tony walks into the common room, where everyone is staring around in confusion. He offers no explanation, just tells them that he’s “taking them somewhere, it’s a surprise, but dress warm. be ready in half an hour.”
An hour or so later, they end up at a Christmas tree farm. More confusion ensues. Tony explains that he had wanted to have cosy, familial Christmas with them, doing Christmassy things together, but he thought that the fancy, expensive Christmas was what people would have wanted, but that he realised he was wrong, and that they were going to spend the remaining days until Christmas with each other, doing all of the things everyone originally wanted to do.
Wanda knows how to pick out the perfect Christmas tree. She knows which one will last the longest, which one has the best needles, which one will fit in the common room, and most importantly, which one is right for them. Steve and Bucky chop the tree down and carry it to the area where they pay for it, and then they secure it to the roof of the car.
Back at the compound, Nat reveals that she knows the best sugar cookie recipe, and Sam makes an unmatched hot chocolate. Clint says he knows the secret to making a gingerbread house that doesn’t collapse every five seconds, but between Peter and Scott’s excitement, it does inevitably, anyway. The baking doesn’t end well - flour covers every surface, thanks to Sam and Bucky’s food fight. The cookies are mostly burnt because they forgot to set a timer, but the ones that were salvageable were delicious. It turns out that Doctor Strange is great at decorating cookies, but he doesn’t get very far, because Peter eats the icing straight out of the tub. The gingerbread lies collapsed in an unrecognisable pile on the counter, coated in all the icing and sweets that they could find. Either way, it’s perfect.
Scott knows the best Christmas movies and knows all the words when they do Christmas karaoke. Rhodey is surprisingly good at karaoke. Bruce knows how to make Christmas wreaths, which they all attempt, but give up on very quickly because it’s too complicated. Doctor Strange and Bruce, however, keep at it, and they end up with two brilliant Christmas wreaths for the compound.
Carol is the best any of them have ever seen at wrapping presents. Steve tries, bless him, but he’s not very good at it. He never had enough money before the war to buy presents, and even if he did, he’d just fold a sheet of newspaper around it, and no one taught him how to wrap presents properly after he came out of the ice and could afford gifts.
Thor and Vision don’t much understand what’s going on because they don’t celebrate Christmas in Asgard, but Thor does love the mulled wine and he’s heard that on Christmas day, there’ll be a huge roast turkey, so he’s looking forward to that.
The last thing they do is decorate the tree. Steve and Bucky insist on tinsel and multi-coloured lights, despite Nat’s claims that no one uses tinsel anymore, because they could never afford things like that growing up. “Don’t forget to decorate the back!” Wanda commands. The tree ends up covered in a mix-match of decorations, all of varying shapes, sizes and colours, some even of which were handmade. It’s crowded - some of the branches even droop at the weight of all the decorations. It’s messy but it’s perfect, and it’s them.
Tony stands back, watching his family all having fun with each other, all wearing joyous expressions on their faces. He watches Peter crouch down to Morgan’s height, sees him say something to her, but can’t hear it, sees him hand something to her, but he can’t see what. Then, Peter is turning around, and Morgan is climbing onto his back. Peter stands up and walks over to the wall by the Christmas tree, where he starts climbing up it, with Morgan clutching onto his shoulders and grinning brightly. Once he reaches the height of the tree, he stops. He keeps one hand on the wall, the other coming off to hold tightly onto Morgan’s back. Tony finally realises what’s in Morgan’s hand. She leans over Peter’s shoulder, towards the tree, biting her lip and furrowing her brow in concentration, and places the star on the top of the Christmas tree. Peter grins radiantly, telling her “well done,” as she beams and claps her hands together in front of his face.
Tony smiled. This was what Christmas was all about. And it was perfect.
