Italics: Finnish
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ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Christmas saves the year
"With cheap décor and flavored cheer
You rest assured that Christmas saves the year"
For Anneli and her family in Switzerland, it was finally Christmas. Anneli's younger siblings, Rianna and Robin, had eagerly awaited the arrival of Santa Claus, who had been promised to deliver their gifts. Anneli knew better at her age but seeing her siblings get excited was something she loved.
Anneli hadn't been the most exciting child around Christmas, but she liked it a lot. Kimi and Minttu always put in a lot of effort with her, as they were with Rianna and Robin, so every year was still special.
Unlike many other areas of the world, it's a tradition in Finland to open gifts on what other countries considered Christmas Eve and the family had brought this tradition to Switzerland. It was natural for them, even if some of Anneli's friends found it crazy.
Honestly, Anneli never really cared about presents...not really. She wasn't a very materialistic person until it came to snowboards. She did like her snowboards and helmets. Otherwise, she didn't care about necklaces and tiaras.
Her parents, whom Anneli considered Minttu as as well, knew just that. So, when she was handed a very obvious-looking present, she grinned largely.
"You didn't!" Anneli gasped.
"Did you expect me not to buy you anything?" Kimi raised his eyebrow.
"It's just...I'm an adult so I would understand—"
"Shut up," Kimi muttered as he hugged his daughter. "I will never stop buying you Christmas presents."
"Love you dad," Anneli muttered.
Anneli tore the paper off the brand-new snowboard. Kimi got her a new board every couple of years but this was different...the board Anneli had broken when she broke up with Elijah had been her favourite. It was a gift from Mick and Sebastian the day she got into Formula 3 after the hard times she'd had.
They couldn't recreate that moment but they could make a new one.
Instead of the markings being for Formula 3, it now marked Formula 2 on the back of it, along with Anneli's racing number and the Finnish flag. The front of the board was decorated with snow mountains and the northern lights. It was simply beautiful.
To her amusement, the back of the board also had something inscribed on it.
Break her board and you die
by Kimi Räikkönen, Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher.
"Thank you," Anneli smiled gratefully.
"Neli, look what I got!" Rianna screamed. "Elsa!"
Ah yes, little Rianna was very obsessed with Frozen. Anneli had brought her a whole bunch of merch for her little sister while her brother also had a whole bunch of presents.
"It's beautiful Ria," Anneli replied.
"We also brought you a bunch of chocolate too," Minttu added.
In Anneli's opinion, Swiss chocolate was the best in the world. She knew some people would disagree with her but she really didn't care. She only ate chocolate once or twice a week so it was something of a luxury when she was on the diet she was on. She had to train harder than the men in the sport did so her diet had to be strict too.
"I know you desperately want to try that board out but you're having family time until you leave for New Years," Kimi made his daughter promise. "Then you can before you...what are you doing in January?"
"Hiking up a mountain," Anneli hummed.
"What?" Minttu gasped.
"I'm hiking up a mountain with Jack and Felipe," Anneli added. "Then I'm going to Sweden for the Race of Champions to support Finald but watch Seb, Mick and Felipe. After that, back to England for Red Bull seat fitting."
"Sounds busy," Kimi commented. "But safe."
"Hiking up a mountain isn't—"
"It's safe for you as I trust Jack and Felipe," Kimi interrupted. "You do it every year, even if it's usually with Seb."
Anneli rolled her eyes at her father. She found it hilarious that her dad was happy for her to snowboard and hike up mountains in the middle of nowhere but he still got nervous when she raced (even though he didn't like to say so) when they were surrounded by safety measures and medical.
Oh and Kimi was still moody when she used to bring boys home but she knew it was just a protective father thing. She dreaded what he'd be like after Elijah.
Elijah had tried to contact Anneli in hope the Christmas time meant she'd be willing to at least answer her text...but Sebastian beat Anneli to her phone. Sebastian didn't like to spy on people or cross boundaries but when he saw 'Elijah - dickhead' come up on his goddaughter's phone, he just had to answer.
Elijah didn't call again.
Sebastian never told Anneli what the conversation was, just that the man was in the past and he'd been blocked from her phone. For a while, it was odd that Anneli wasn't texting someone at least a couple times a day.
Now she was.
Max Verstappen.
She knew she shouldn't. It wasn't a good thing at all...it never was. With Robyn Saunder's 'friendship' with Charles Leclerc turning into a starstruck relationship, Anneli did not want the press to think the same about her. She had enough to deal with when it came to Felipe!
But Max got her humour, or therefore lack of, and he seemed to understand her broken sentences and blunt responses. It made an odd conversation to onlooking but they could it because it was just a Dutch and Finnish thing, wasn't it? ... Or maybe it was just a Max and Anneli thing.
"Anneli, you promised to make gingerbread with us!" Robin begged.
"I did," Anneli hummed. "What do you say...mum and dad vs us?"
Rianna nodded excitedly as Minttu laughed, nodding her head in agreement. Kimi narrowed his eyes at her, both knowing he couldn't bake at all. He barely cooked unless it was something simple.
Anneli was an average baker and she had no interest in design but she was good at technical aspects. She knew the measures needed for a gingerbread house to go together and aspects like that.
As expected, Kimi barely did anything while Minttu had their entire plan covered. She baked it but Kimi came to the rescue to help her construct it. In the end, it still fell apart despite all the laughter filling the room.
To the outside, they may have been the family of f1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen but inside their house, they were an average chaotic family.