The Burkhardt family was sitting on the couch, watching television when a commercial game on advertising ornaments that could be passed down from one generation to another as a Christmas tradition.
"What were some of the things you did for Christmas, mom?' Diana asked.
"Actually sweety, I didn't celebrate Christmas. My mother's side has always celebrated Yule."
Surprised about just finding this information out about his wife, Nick asked, "Adalind, why didn't you say anything?"
The hexenbiest shrugged. "I thought since you had to change so much of your life for me, and after everything I did to you, that the last thing I should expect was for you to change your holiday traditions."
Nick, who had Adalind wrapped in his arms tightened his hold and said gently, "You and I are partners. We are a family. You have every right to expect we celebrate whatever holiday you want and to pass those traditions that come with it on to our children. So, what is Yule and how to we celebrate it?"
Adalind twisted around, wrapped her arms around Nick's neck and kissed him enthusiastically. She was so grateful to have him in her life.
She then explained to her family that Yule was a kind of witch's holiday, celebrated long before christianity. It officially starts on the winter solstice, December twenty first and goes through to the end of January first. Twelve full days of celebration.
"Is that were the twelve days of Christmas started." Nick asked
"Pretty much. The catholic church realized they couldn't stop people from celebrating their pagan rituals, so they gave the symbols and traditions new meanings. A lot of what is considered Christmas tradition, actually has deep roots in pagan Yuletide tradition."
Nick claimed Adalind's mouth with his own and kissed her breathlessly. His hand dug through her hair, holding the back of her head while his arm was wrapped around the middle of her back. The passion and hunger in the kiss made Adalind feel like her thighs were trembling and her heart race wildly in her chest.
When they pulled apart, it took Adalind a moment to recover. When she did, she asked, "What was that for?"
"Do you have any idea how sexy you are when you talk about all of the amazing stuff that you know?" Nick was smiling broadly at her, eyes filled with love and pride. "I can't count the number of times I wanted to just have you, back when we were in the "fome". I am really grateful, this holiday season, that I no longer have to hold myself back and I can show you how much I want you whenever you're being so cute and nerdy."
Adalind blushed a bright red at Nick's confession. "I wouldn't have stopped you had you given in before."
Nick gave an exaggerated groan. "Now she tells me!"
She giggled at his antics, then looked around and asked, "Where are the kids."
Upon investigation, they discovered Diana had taken Kelly to the playroom, just in case mom and dad decided to have adult play time.
Nick and Adalind decided to get Diana a very special present, for being so thoughtful and considerate. And also to make up for the nearly constant trauma they seemed to cause her because they had a hard time keeping their hands off one another.
The family got started on making preparations for their Yuletide celebration. Adalind was very adamant that they needed to have a tree they would be able to replant once the celebration was over for the year.
Replantable trees were very easy to deal with. There was plenty of land around the house, as well as around the trailer Adalind had given to Nick the year before for planting a tree the Burkhardt family had used and would use again.
Nick asked the eisbiber if they could help him get ahold of the things that were part of the traditional celebration of Yule. Like a tree that could be replanted, as well as natural holly, evergreen wreaths and of course mistletoe.
They of course were more than happy to help. They provided him with the location of places he could go for a tree he could replant and where he could take his family to gather the items to make their Yuletide decorations.
Nick and Adalind had both felt it was important for their whole family to participate with as much as the activities as possible. And that included making their own wreaths and garlands, instead of buying them.
Nick made sure to personally tell Trubel what was going on and when she was expected to be at the house to join in on the festivities.
"I'm not really good with arts and craft stuff." Trubel had said, worried about messing up and making Adalind upset if things weren't perfect. The she grimm hated the idea of ruining someone's holiday. Especially someone she loved and respected.
"You can place a hook on a tree." Nick told her. "It would mean a lot to Adalind to have you help out. She considers you a member of our family, just like I do."
That made Trubel feel better. She promised to be there and help with whatever she was asked to. She really got excited when she discovered all of the baking that was necessary for a traditional Yule celebration. And was more than happy to volunteer to taste if the caraway cakes soaked in cider would be alright for the kids.
Adalind lost track of how many cakes and cookies Trubel "tested" and felt the need to send her to help Nick hang the lights so there would be enough treats left for the upcoming days.
When the two adult grimm came back inside the house, flush faced and chilled from the frosty winter air, Adalind greeted them with mugs of homemade hot chocolate, spiked with a bit of brandy, as a special reward for their hard work.
Nick took his mug with one hand, then reached for Adalind and pulled her close to him with the other, burying his nose in her neck and causing to to squeal and giggle at the feel of his freezing nose on her warm sensitive skin.
Trubel took advantage of the moment by slipping back into the kitchen and stealing a couple more cookies, while the hexenbiest was distracted by her husband.
Diana, who had been happily helping her mother make cookies in the shapes of sun, handed a few to Trubel, and beamed excitedly when her favorite big sister complimented her on how cool the cookies looked and how good they tasted.
When Sean Renard was told by his daughter that mom and dad Nick had announced the family were celebrating Yule from now one, he realized he should help Diana get a present for Adalind. So he took her to store that sold things suitable for a princess to give as a gift.
Sean remembered how Adalind had always been very meticulous about her appearance. Never going out without her makeup on and always needing to have the very best in quality. She had never worn anything that was not designer. Sean figured Adalind missed all of her nice things since being with Nick and suggested that Diana give her mother a Cartier watch.
"Most woman would love to have something this nice." He assured his daughter, who was not certain her father was right. But she agreed to give the fancy watch to her mother, anyway, not wanting to upset her father.
Later that same evening, after Sean had dropped her off at her mother's house, Nick found Diana sniffling in her room.
"Diana, honey, what's wrong?" Nick asked gently, sitting beside the little girl and putting his arm around her to comfort her.
"Daddy bought this really fancy watch for me to give to mommy. He said woman like things like this. I think he wants something like this for Yule, but I made him a scarf." She wailed the last part of the sentence. "I worked really hard on it and I thought he would like it. But now…"
A part of Nick was tempted to punch Sean in the face, but that was not going to resolve the situation at hand.
"Diana." Nick said firmly, but gently. "Your father sometimes does not understand what is really important. Some lessons need to be learned the hard way. I think that when you give him that scarf, he will love it because it was made by you. And he will see and feel the love you have for him in that scarf."
"Really?" Diana smiled, filled with hope.
"Really." Nick assured her.
The little hexenbiest thought for a moment and said, "I want mommy to see and feel the love I have for her, too. I don't think the watch is going to do that."
"Then how about we make her something. Maybe a jewelry box for her to keep her new watch in." Nick suggested.
He had a feeling that the watch will end up spending all of it's time hidden away. Adalind may have spent a lot of time and money on her appearance when he had first met her, but that was long before she had found love and happiness.
Since becoming a mother, she cared more for her children than she did herself. Adalind didn't want to waste a lot of time on her hair and makeup when she would rather spend it with her children.
Makeup was also a little pointless when she had a very passionate husband who could never keep his hands or lips off of her.
While she still bought decent quality products, she was no longer interested in having the very best or looking sexier than other woman.
All of the time and effort she had put into her appearance had been about trying to appear good enough for people to accept her. Adalind no longer had that problem. Now, she could be wearing a pair of old sweatpants and shirt and Nick would still think she was the sexiest woman to ever exist and want to kiss her breathless.
Her children certainly didn't care what she looked like. Since the opinions of her family were all that mattered to her, Adalind no longer had much interest in the so called finer things in life. To her, there was nothing finer than an evening cuddled up with her family, eating popcorn and watching a classic comedy.
Nick was irritated that Sean still could not see how Adalind had changed, and that she was much happier for that change.
The grimm let go of his irritation and instead focused on helping his daughter make a gift for her mother.
Nick also decided that a homemade gift from Kelly would certainly make Adalind's season that much brighter.
Once again, the eisbiber were a big help in supplying the scraps of wood needed to make the children's gifts to their mother.
Nick was also making his gift to Adalind. Though, he had been planning it for several months, long before Adalind had said she celebrated Yule.
It was strange, then, how well his gift would fit into the theme of the season.
Nick chose a day he knew Adalind would be gone for several hours, quite possibly the whole day, with Rosalee as the day he and the kids would make the children's gifts to their mother.
He imagined he looked quite the site, going into a hardware store with a baby in one arm and holding the hand of a little girl in the other.
He certainly didn't need his special hearing to pick up the aws from several of the shoppers as the father of two moved them throughout the store.
"We need small screws and paints for both projects and hinges for your's, Diana." Nick said. "You also could pick out a handle, if you don't want a wooden one."
The little girl picked out what she needed to the style she had in mind and Nick paid for the items.
The back room of Bud Worstner's shop was the ideal place to construct the gifts.
"Help out only when Diana asks." Nick told the eisbiber firmly. "It's important to her to do most of it herself. And she is capable of doing a lot. So please let her. She wants it to be perfect, so she won't hesitate to ask for help if she needs to."
Bud promised not to interfere. And was both impressed and highly intimidated by the little girl who could indeed to quite a bit herself.
Nick helped her when she asked for him specifically, but mostly he concentrated on holding Kelly and making a frame and photo holder that would have enough room to put the little boys hands and footprints beside his picture. The feel were easy enough to do, but Kelly did not make it easy with his hands, and it took several tries before he was able to get both of Kelly's whole handprints next to his picture and right above his feet.
Thankfully, by the time Rosalee messaged him that she and Adalind were done shopping and headed home, both Kelly's and Diana's gifts were finished.
Nick made arrangements with Bud to pick up the items the following day, giving the paint plenty of time to dry.
The kids were washed, removing all evidence (paint) and ensuring Adalind would have no clue what her husband and children had been up to that day.
If Monroe or Rosalee could smell the pain that had been on Nick or the kids when they came over for dinner that night, they didn't say anything. Monroe, however did comment on the abundance of mistletoe that was hanging in the grimm's and hexenbiests house.
"I don't think this much mistletoe is traditional for Yule." The blutbad coomented.
"It is when there's a beautiful witch in the house and her husband wants any excuse he can get to be able to kiss her." Nick replied with a cheeky grin.
"Yeah right. Like you need an excuse." Monroe rolled his eyes. He knew his best friend all too well.
Diana furrowed her brows. "While you were hanging them up, you said you wanted to make up for all the times you wanted to kiss mom, but didn't think you were aloud to."
"That too." Nick said. Then his eyes drifted over to the woman he loved. His smile warm and affectionate as he gazed at her helping put Kelly and the triplets in a fenced in area so they could play safely.
He walked over to her and, wrapping his arms around her, kissed her tenderly on the neck.
"Maybe we should just have dinners at our house until January second." Monroe mumbled to his wife.
"Or we could take advantage of all of this mistletoe?" Rosalee replied suggestively.
"That's actually not a bad idea." He pulled his fuchsbau in his arms and kissed her very enthusiastically.
"Ok, if you guys are going to start making out, me and the kids are getting into that cake." Trubel called out, already making her way to the kitchen where the edible version of the yule log was practically calling her name. Diana very quick to follow right behind her.
The adults quickly stopped what they were doing and chased after the kids to halt their eating of the yule log before dinner.
"My parents and Rosalee's mom and sister will be arriving the day before Christmas Eve and spending until the new year at our house." Monroe said as they all sat down to dinner. "We'll have cornish game hens for Christmas Eve dinner and honey glazed hand and roast goose for Christmas day dinner."
"Are you sure there's enough room for people and food in that house of yours?" Nick smirked. "If anyone even takes a deep breath, they could knock over one of the christmas trees."
"Oh, that reminds me, please tell Renard to watch his head. There are a lot of decorations he might bump into." Rosalee warned Adalind.
Nick didn't bother suppressing his laughter.
In an attempt to show good will during the holiday season, and trying to be kind for Diana's sake, Sean Renard had been invited to several of the get togethers. Especially for the Christmas Eve and Christmas day dinners, so Diana would not feel torn about who she was spending those days with and Sean would not have to feel lonely, though he would never admit it.
Adalind had also agreed to let Diana spend the night Christmas Eve and Christmas night at Sean's home.
"We'll be seeing her all day both days anyway." The hexenbiest had reasoned.
Plus, it gave Nick the perfect night to give Adalind the present he felt was absolutely perfect for her.
Kelly and Diana had given Adalind their gifts that morning. Their mother had gotten teary eyes and had hugged both of her children tightly at their thoughtfulness. (Of course Nick got a special hug and kiss for being the one to come up with Kelly's gift.)
Adalind had smiled appropriately at the watch Renard had picked out for Diana to give, and had said a sincere thank you, before placing the trinket inside the handmade box.
Nick was not the least bit surprised that she never wore the thing, or even bothered to take it out of the jewelry box, though the handmade box stayed on her vanity for years.
WIth Diana had her biological fathers, Kelly sound asleep and Trubel in a food coma, it was time for Nick to present Adalind with his gift.
In the privacy of their bedroom, Nick handed Adalind a small package wrapped in silver and tied with a deep blue ribbon.
Unwrapping the gift revealed a black velvet box.
Adalind gasped when the lid was lifted and revealed a beautiful pendent. In the center was a white pearl circled by diamonds and on each side were two crescent moon shaped clusters of diamonds.
"I saw that this is the wiccan symbol of the goddess. And since you're my goddess, it just felt right that you should wear it." Nick said reverently as he lifted the trinket and placed it around Adalind's neck.
"Nick. It's beautiful." Adalind spoke in a breathless whisper. Her fingers were trembling as she touched the ornament below her neck."
"Only because it was made for you. By my own two hands, thinking of you the entire time." Nick explained. "I found and bought the various items from a junk shop near where Hank and I were investigating a crime scene. I asked a couple of wesen who know how to make jewelry to show me." He looked deep into her eyes and requested, "Wear this as we make love tonight."
Adalind felt breathless. All she could do was nod, but that was all that was needed for Nick to pull her into his arms and claim her lips with his own.
Adalind was Nick's goddess and the only gift he would ever desire. He was going to worship her the way she deserved that night, and the first step was to remove everything from her body but that necklace.
