Disclaimer: I own nothing of CSI
Jasmine's Christmas Present
"Hi babe" Jackie called when she heard her husband come in the front door.
"Hey" he said as he walked into the kitchen to find her baking chocolate chip cookies.
"You can tell Christmas is in a few days." Nick said.
"How so?" Jackie asked.
"Because you're baking, the only time you bake is around the holidays." He said with a grin.
"Oh hush." She said with a smile.
He just laughed.
"You know I've been thinking about what to get Jasmine for Christmas and I think we should get her a horse." He said.
Jackie stopped what she was doing and just stared at him as if he'd suddenly grown a second head.
"Did you inhale to much embalming fluid at work last night?" she asked him.
"No I'm serious, I think she would love it." He said.
"And where are we going to keep this horse? We can't exactly hide it in the backyard." Jackie said.
"No, we can rent a pasture." Nick said.
"Nicky we can't afford that and not only that but we don't have time to care for a horse, they are a lot of work and that takes time which neither of us have much of, we'd be lucky if we would even have time to take Jasmine to ride it."
Nick sighed
"Yeah, I guess you're right." He said.
The subject was dropped and the family went about their business the rest of the day.
The next afternoon Nick was sitting on the couch feeding their baby boy Houston when Jackie walked into the room.
"You know Nick, I've been thinking about what you said about getting Jasmine a horse and I came up with an idea."
"Yeah what's that?" He asked.
"Well we can't get Jasmine her own horse but what if we let her take horse back riding lessons? I think that would be so much fun for her. I did some research on the internet last night and they have lessons at a place not far outside the city limits."
"Jackie that's a great idea." Nick said with a big smile.
"Good, I'm glad you think so, that can be part of her Christmas present. I also stopped by that kids toy store up the road and bought her a doll house, as well as stocking stuffers for both the kids."
Nick grinned at her
"What did you get me?" He asked.
"You're holding your present, he just came a few months early." Jackie said with a laugh.
Nick gave her a smirk.
"Some present, he peed on me yesterday." He said with a laugh.
"Oh good he works then, that's what he is suppose to do." Jackie said with a grin.
Nick stuck his tongue out at her.
Jackie smiled and left the room.
A few nights later it was Christmas Eve. Growing up, in both Nick and Jackie's families they opened the majority of their wrapped presents on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas morning they look in their stockings and get the gifts that Santa brought them. They liked it this way growing up because in a way it felt like they got two Christmases so they decided to do the same for their children.
Jasmine loved ripping open her presents, she also enjoyed "helping" Houston open his.
She also loved the presents she got. Nick and Jackie got her a new baby doll along with a bunch of clothes for it as well as a stroller for the doll. Jackie's parents got Jasmine a new teddy bear as well as several other stuffed animals and Nick's parents got her a ton of pretty bows which Jasmine insisted Jackie put in her hair immediately. With all the different colored bows Jasmine looked more colorful then the actual Christmas tree.
Houston was also spoiled, he got a new stuffed animal, several new pacifiers, a ton of cute new outfits, and a new tummy time toy.
When it was time for the kids to go to bed Nick and Jackie had a hard time getting Jazz to sleep, she was way too hyper but she needed to go to sleep so Nick and Jackie-AKA Santa could "visit" their house. Jackie helped Jasmine put out milk and cookies for Santa and then read her a bedtime story, and after what seemed like an eternity Jasmine fell asleep.
"Ok she's down, let's hurry. Come help me get the doll house from the garage." Jackie whispered.
The doll house was heavy but finally they managed to get it into the house and by the Christmas tree.
"Ok what now?" Nick asked.
"I'll go get the stuff for the stockings, you eat the cookies and drink the milk." Jackie instructed.
She went to the upstairs closet and pulled out four bags and brought them back downstairs. The bags were labeled Nick, Jackie, Houston, Jasmine.
Jackie put the contents of each bag into the stockings with the matching label. After Nick had eaten all the cookies and drank about half the milk Jackie told him to go upstairs and grab the quilt that one of Santa's elves- also known as Nick's mom had made for Houston. He did and then Jackie laid it out nicely in front of the Christmas tree.
"Looks good, there's only one more thing left to do." Jackie said as she disappeared into the kitchen.
Minutes later she came back into the living room carrying a huge bowl. She set the bowl by the front door.
"Ok, put your boots on and then step in this."
"What?" Nick asked perplexed.
"Just do it." Jackie whispered.
Nick looked at his wife like she was crazy but he put his boots on. He then walked over to the bowl.
"What is that and why am I stepping in it?" he asked.
Jackie grinned at him "It's flour, you're going to make Santa's footprints. Just step in it and then walk around by the Christmas tree, the stockings, and then make a trail back to the front door." She said.
"Ahh very clever." Nick said with a grin.
"Santa always left footprints at my house when I was little, I loved it." Jackie said.
Nick stepped in the flour and walked all around the living room, leaving perfect white footprints all over the place. When he got back to the front door he opened it.
"What are ya doing?" Jackie whispered.
Nick grinned at her "Leaving half a footprint. It makes it look like he walked right out the front door, since we don't have a chimney."
Jackie laughed.
Nick then took off his shoes and cleaned them off.
"We did a good job, I think Jazz will really enjoy this tomorrow morning." Nick said with a smile on his face.
"Yeah I think she will. Oh Nicky, before I forget get the baby gate and then set it up at the top of the stairs, I don't want Jasmine to sneak down here without waking us first because I want her reaction on video."
"Ok" Nick said as he went and fetched the gate.
Jackie surveyed the living room one last time. Everything looked good except for one thing: Nick's stocking wasn't quite full. Jackie ran upstairs to the master bedroom, grabbed an item that would fill Nick's stocking, and ran back downstairs to the living room and placed it in his stocking.
"Perfect" she said out loud with a grin on her face.
"Baby gate is up." Nick said as he came back into the living room.
"Great, thank you." She said and then she noticed Nick was staring at the footprints intently.
"What are you looking at?" Jackie asked.
"These footprints, there is something odd about them." He said.
"What's that?" Jackie asked.
Nick gave her a smirk "Well, the footprints indicate that he got in through the front door, but there are no signs of forced entry and I don't recall giving Santa a key, do you?"
"Oh hush Mr. CSI." She said with a laugh and then she added "Come on, let's go to bed, I'm tired, and I have a feeling it's going to be an early morning."
"Sounds good to me." Nick said.
The happy yet tired couple went to bed.
Just like Jackie had predicted Jasmine came bouncing into their room at 5:30 A.M.
"Mama" she said.
Jackie groaned slightly, she was hoping Jasmine would at least let them sleep till 6:00.
When Jackie didn't open her eyes Jasmine grabbed Jackie's nose and gave it a hard tug.
"Ouch, ok, ok, I'm up." Jackie said with a laugh.
"Nicky, go get the video camera." Jackie said as she nudged him awake.
Nick yawned as he very slowly crawled out of bed.
"Come on Jazz, while daddy's getting the camera why don't you and I go get Houston?"
Jackie and Jasmine walked into the baby's nursery.
"Houden, no seep, Anta" Jasmine said rather loudly.
The poor baby's eyes shot open and he began to cry.
"Not so loud kiddo, you scared him." Jackie said as she smiled at her little girl and picked up the baby.
"Houden, no cry, Anta" Jasmine said a lot quieter.
Jackie smiled at Jasmine once again "That's better." She said as she patted Jasmine's head with her free hand.
It didn't take Jackie to get Houston calmed down again.
"Anta" Jasmine said excitedly as she tugged on Jackie's arm.
"Hold on kiddo, we have to wait until Daddy's ready with the camera." She said.
"Nicky, hurry up, she's running out of patience, I don't think I'm going to be able to keep her up here much longer." Jackie called down the stairs.
"I'm almost ready." He assured her.
Finally Nick was ready so Jackie carried Houston downstairs as Jasmine practically sprinted down the stairs after Nick removed the baby gate.
"Ohhhh" Jasmine exclaimed excitedly when she saw her doll house.
She played with the doll house for a few minutes before she started pulling things rapidly from her stocking.
"Doggy" she said as she looked at the cute little doggy movie that was in her stocking.
When she had finally reached the bottom of her stocking she went over to Houston's quilt and picked it up.
"Petty" she said as she stared at the quilt.
"That's Houston's" Jackie said with a smile.
"Houden" she repeated.
"Yep, Houston." Jackie said.
"Houden" Jasmine said again as she went over to Houston who was on Jackie's lap.
She tried to lovingly wrap Houston in the quilt, and with Jackie's help she managed to not smother the poor baby in the quilt. Houston didn't appreciate being wrapped up like a burrito and let everyone know about it by starting to cry.
"Uh-oh" Jasmine said.
Jackie chuckled "I think it's too hot for him Sweetie, let's unwrap him."
"Yeah" Jasmine said with a shake of the head.
Jackie looked over at Nick who had the video camera in his hand, he also had a huge smile on his face. Jackie just looked at the camera and smiled.
"Jazz, go get Houston's stocking and bring it over here." Jackie said as she pointed to the three untouched stockings on the floor.
"Houden?" Jasmine asked as picked up one of them.
"Nope, that's mommy's" Jackie said patiently.
Jasmine put that stocking down and picked up another one.
"Houden?" she asked.
Jackie smiled "Nope that's daddy's"
Jasmine frowned and put that one back as well.
"Houden?" she said as she picked up the last one.
"Yep that one is Houston's bring it here." Jackie said.
"Houden" Jasmine said happily, appearing relieved that she finally had the right stocking in hand.
She hurriedly brought it over to the couch next to Jackie and the baby.
"Help him see what's in it." Jackie said.
Jasmine pulled out a rattle and shook it in front of Houston's face. Houston started moving his arms around happily, and he gave his big sister a huge smile, he clearly loved the noise the rattle made.
"Houden funny" Jasmine said with a giggle as she continued to shake the rattle.
Jackie smiled, it melted her heart to see her two little one's playing with one another.
"Not so close to his face though Peanut, I'm afraid you'll knock him out." Jackie said as she gently moved Jasmine's hand a little farther from Houston's face.
Jasmine continued to play with Houston for a few minutes and then she grew tired of shaking the rattle.
"Jazz bring daddy his stocking." Jackie suggested.
Jasmine hurriedly went to Nick's stocking, picked it up and took it to Nick who was sitting on the other couch with the video camera still in his hand.
"Thank you." He said with a smile as Jasmine handed him his stocking.
He put the camera down and then started digging in the stocking.
He looked confused as he pulled his wallet out of his stocking.
"My wallet? Santa stole my wallet?" he asked with a grin as he looked at Jackie.
She grinned back at him "I'm sure Santa just needed something to fill up the stocking dear." She said.
Nick laughed "Santa's a thief, who knew?" he said.
She laughed and said "Yeah well, you could dust your wallet for prints but you probably won't find any, everyone knows Santa wears gloves, and even if you did somehow manage to find a print I highly doubt Santa is in the system." She said with a smirk.
Nick laughed as he continued to go through his stocking. His smile turned into a frown as he pulled out some of the remaining contents.
"A new toothbrush and a new razor, I wonder if Santa is trying to send me a message?"
Jackie burst out laughing.
Nick finished going through his stocking.
"Alright, its mommy's turn, go hand her stocking to her" Nick said.
Jasmine brought Jackie her stocking.
"See honey, don't feel bad, Santa brought me deodorant." She said as she pulled deodorant out of her stocking.
She grinned as she held it up so Nick could see it.
Nick laughed.
After Jackie had finished going through her stocking she and Nick noticed that Jasmine was staring intently at the floor.
"Wat dat?" the little girl asked as she pointed at one of Santa's footprints.
"That's Santa's footprint" Jackie said.
"Uh-oh, Anta mess" Jasmine said as she followed the trail of footprints to the door.
Nick and Jackie looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"Well the footprints weren't a huge success, oh well." Jackie whispered in Nick's ear.
Nick grinned at her.
"Hey Jazz, Santa has one more surprise for you in the garage." Nick said.
Jackie looked at him perplexed.
"It says neigh." He whispered in Jackie's ear with a smirk.
"Nicholas, you didn't, we talked about this." Jackie whispered back sounding somewhat angry.
"Just bring the kids outside in a couple minutes." He said as he disappeared into the garage.
"Nicholas" Jackie called after him but he didn't answer.
Jackie was standing in the living room thinking about what his COD would be until the couple minutes were up, after they were she grabbed Jasmine's hand and led her into the garage.
"Horsey" she exclaimed happily.
Over in the corner of the garage stood Nick, he had a big grin on his face. Right next to him sat a rocking horse, and on top of the rocking horse was an adorable pink cowboy hat.
Jackie exhaled relieved.
Jasmine ran over to the horse and Jackie followed her with Houston in her arms.
"I told you I was going to get her a horse." Nick said quietly to his wife with the grin still on his face.
She smiled back.
"Here Jazz put this on." He said as he placed the cowboy hat on her head, she giggled in delight.
He then picked her up and put her on the rocking horse.
"Say ride um cowgirl." He said with a smile as Jasmine giggled hysterically as she rocked back and forth on the horse.
"Ride cowgul." She said as she continued to giggle.
Nick looked over at Jackie "So did you ever call on the riding lessons for her?" he asked.
"Yep, I signed her up, they start in a couple weeks." She said.
"Good, I think it's safe to say that she will like it." He said with a laugh as he looked at the happy child on top of the rocking horse.
"I think so." Jackie agreed.
"Houden horsey?" Jasmine asked.
"Oh no sweetie, Houston's too little to ride the horse, but that is very nice of you to want to share, what a good big sister." Jackie praised.
"Houden no horsey?" Jasmine said.
"Nope, he'll fall off." Jackie said.
"Houden fall down, uh-oh." Jasmine said before she burst into another fit of giggles.
A couple hours later the family got ready so they could go to Christmas dinner at Jackie's grandmothers house. When they were ready to go Nick and Jackie managed to get both kids out the door and into the car. After Nick had securely strapped Houston into his car seat he climbed into the drivers' side of the mini van, he looked over at his wife.
"What a great Christmas so far huh Jackie?" he said.
"Yes the best Christmas yet." She agreed with a smile.
The end! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and happy new year! I would love your thoughts!
