Grace Stark was tired. Not just tired, but a bit despirited thanks to a long day trying to convince the Council of the Court that the culture of Asgard would not collapse if she introduced Shakespeare to the annual rotation of plays presented to the court. She had even promised not to produce Titus Andronicus, but to no avail. Of course, none of them actually knew what the plot of that play was, so her promise had needed some explanation.

When she returned to her empty quarters, she checked the calendar she had been keeping for years as a tie to Midgard. Dates in Asgard were kept differently and even Midgard no longer counted the days the way they had a milennia ago. Holidays were certainly different.

She, however, still kept the holidays she had kept with Tony. Thanksgiving was a little different- Asgard feasted so often that one more feast would not have been special, so instead she had decided to spend the day thanking the palace staff. She convinced the family to give them the day off and to bring their families to the palace for dinner. There were, of course, some folks who wanted to help cook for everyone, and their hands were welcome in the kitchen, but the message of gratitude was clear- the people who kept the palace running were important and deserved acknowledgement of that.

Halloween had been a difficult holiday to keep, but there were enough people in the palace who liked the idea of a masquerade ball that the idea stuck. Costume parties sprang up throughout the city and blended with harvest traditions to create a day of feasting and games.

Grace had not attempted to introduce Christmas to the family, though. She kept that day to herself and when she looked at the little calendar, she realised that today was Christmas day and she had nearly missed it. She settled down with her movies to remember years past.

When Loki came home from an exhausting day overseeing an inspection of the armory, he found the lights dim except for a small tree on a tabletop covered in tiny coloured bulbs. He had seen it before, and he had asked about the tradition, but Grace had always been very general in her explanation. He found her huddled on a couch under a fluffy blanket, a mug of something steaming in her hands, a bowl of popcorn balanced on the arm of the couch.

"What is this film?"

"It's about a skeleton that takes over Christmas. It's awesome."

"The skeleton sings quite well for a creature without lungs."

"Yeah, well, movies are like that."

She seemed melancholy, "Gracie, are you quite alright?"

"I will be. I'm just thinking to much."

"Care to speak of it before our Alice returns home?"

"It's just this day- it's Christmas and I miss Tony. And I miss celebrating. Did I ever tell you about our first Christmas together?" He shook his head, "He asked me Thanksgiving weekend what I wanted for Christmas and I looked at him like he had three eyes. 'You're looking at me like you think I'm crazy.' 'I haven't had a Christmas present since I was 6.' He just stood there like he had no idea how that was even possible. 'OK, kid. Here's what we'll do. We're going to go out shopping. You can pick out whatever you want. And on Christmas Day, we can go get dinner and see a movie. Does that sound good?' I was ecstatic. I was even more excited when we got to our first store and the whole place was empty just for us. He reminded me that they did this because they wanted our money, not because they liked us, and that I should always remember that people can be huge assholes when they think you'll give them money for something. But I had a great time. I got a ton of clothes, I bought my first record player, and I got the first pair of new shoes I'd had since I moved in with my aunt. It was amazing. And we did dinner and a movie on Christmas until the year he died."

"If the day means so much to you, why have you not asked to celebrate it here?"

"Because things change here, and I need something to just be how Tony and I did it."

He cuddled up to her on the couch and filched some of her popcorn, "Then let us mark this day quietly, but please allow us to share it with you."

The following year, after the work of the day was done, Loki cooked dinner just for the three of them and they curled up together on the couch to watch Christmas movies late into the night. Alice was curious as to just what Christmas had been and so Grace lent her the old family Bible that had probably not been read since Tony had been a child, as well as a few books on biblical scholarship. This triggered Alice's insatiable curiosity and she dragged her father to the library to research the religious beliefs of other cultures within the realms. Loki, while not entirely enthusiastic about this research, let Alice lead and eventually began to see it as an extension off his other research on the fairy stories of foreign lands. He thought there might be a book in it. A few months later, Alice brought him a rough draft she had been working on without him knowing. By the following Christmas, Alice had published something that many Asgardian scholars said was as good as what her father wrote.

Grace thought that was a fine way to celebrate Christmas.