This was written for the 2014 Criminal Minds Christmas Gift Fic Exchange. I got AhmoseInarus for my gift person. The Song was the 12 Pains Of Christmas, and the prompts were Department 56 Dickens Village (which I had to look up sadly…), Fresh Pine, and Candy Canes. I used all the prompts. I hope you like this fic. Not beted so all mistakes are mine, also I don't own the tv show Criminal Minds or any of the characters within and I made no money from this it's pure fiction. Please don't forget to review.
To AhmoseInarus I really hope you like this little story. Merry Christmas!
Normally Spencer liked Christmas, not as much as Halloween granted but it was almost the next best thing. This year…well this year was different. At eight and a half months pregnant (to a normal person because really pregnancy was ten months not nine) he was having a bit of a hard time this year. He and Derek and Aaron had finally moved into a bigger house which Derek had fixed up so that they could accommodate the baby and a growing Jack. Things had all fallen into place very quickly and everything was compressed time wise towards the end of the year so that hopefully everything would be settled by the New Year in time for the baby to be born. This created some scheduling conflicts and a compressed timeline for the holiday festivities however with all of them still working so that there would be time off for when the baby finally came.
Spencer who was supposed to be on light duty both at work and at home for the last two months of his pregnancy hadn't really been doing anything he was supposed to. Thus with two weeks to go before the big Christmas day he and his boyfriends were scrambling to get everything finished. Family/team portraits had just been printed on Christmas cards which had been taken to the post office just that morning while Derek and Aaron had been stringing up Christmas lights. Spencer was reluctant to leave them as they were hung-over from the FBI Christmas party last night but the cards needed to go out and he needed to pick up Jack's coveted Transformers action toy present from the store. He was going in the morning so that he could with luck find a parking space up front as the tiny lot always filled up quickly. The cards were all bundled together with a sticky note list of things to do since with late pregnancy Spencer had become a little spacy. Everything seemed to be under control and going well until late afternoon.
Apparently the Transformers action figure didn't come with batteries and the bills that had piled up the previous month and from all the moving and preparation for the new house had not been in the bundle of Christmas cards. Spencer was going to have to make a second trip into town as both Derek and Aaron were trying to coordinate which of their family was going to come over and which they would see for a late Christmas and keep Jack occupied with Christmas specials so he would stop asking when they were going out to get their Christmas tree.
They had all debated whether to by a fake tree and spray it with pine scent or to get a real tree with that fresh pine scent that may or may not aggravate Spencer's pregnancy sensitive nose or Jack's allergies. In the end they went with the fresh tree and they could get an air purifier for the living room and the bedrooms. Derek had had to hide the candy canes that he bought for decorating the tree as Spencer found that both he and the baby quite liked eating them at any and all times. Aaron had gotten him a giant bag of peppermints to hold him off from eating the candy canes once they were out to hang on the tree.
Spencer took his time on the second trip out to run errands and ended up taking a detour to the bank to get a decoratively wrapped roll of quarters for Jack for when they went out so he could drop some in the numerous red donation buckets of the Salvation Army charities that were in front of half the stores in town. When he returned home he was happy to see that the guys had turned on the newly hung Christmas lights, and Jack was down for a nap when he entered the house. Derek allowed him a candy cane as they all looked over the schedule made up for family and in-laws visits. This would be the first time that they were all together and telling all the family once and for all that they were together, all three of them. Spencer was able to get a small nap in himself before they all got ready to go foraging for their Christmas tree. Aaron had found a place outside of town that would take people on tractor rides through fields of trees where families found the perfect one and cut it down themselves. The little tree farm also had a small house you could order food and eat at while waiting to go out to find a tree that included a live group of carolers to entertain them. It should have been perfect, except that all the fresh pine caused Spencer to sneeze the whole time. Jack was generous and gave him his candy cane for desert.
Once home with their tree Spencer took Jack up to get ready for bed while Derek and Aaron set the tree in the stand in the front room and watered it. They all had plans to decorate it together tomorrow morning and the rest of their team mates would bring over some extra decorations to celebrate their friends first Christmas all together in their new house. They would have a nice pre-Christmas dinner as well as JJ was going off with Will to see his family this year and Emily had agreed to meet with her mother for the holiday and Garcia and Kevin were going on a cruise. Rossi, well no one knew exactly what Rossi was doing but he had assured them that he would be just fine thank you. Spencer had to promise that Jack could watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer again tomorrow before he went to sleep. Spencer was very happy to be joined in bed by Derek and Aaron after the long day even if he would be getting up to pee at all hours of the night.
The next morning and into the afternoon was spent decorating almost every available surface that wouldn't be needed later with the combined decorations collection from each man. At first Jack directed them on where everything should go until Spencer needed to rest. Then Jack made him overseer and went off to watch more repeated Christmas specials until the afternoon when he helped with setting up the table for dinner with the team.
The team arrived bearing bags of gifts and decorations that Spencer wasn't sure would all fit on the tree or even in the house. But he was surprised when half of the bags contained a large set of Department 56 Dickens Village houses and figurines. The team had all decided to band together and get the current years collectable homes as a mixed welcome home and Christmas present. Every team member had brought a house, two figures to with the house and a few extra things to go around the house. Derek and Aaron had had something like or of it before but Spencer never had and he was fascinated by the whole thing. He knew about them and had seen some of them but never thought much about owning any.
They all decided it was best to put a few of the actual tree ornaments that had been brought to go up first. The tiny Christmas village could wait till after dinner when everyone could help out with setting it up. Much later Derek and Aaron with the help of Rossi and Will brought in a small extra table from the new garage that just barely fit in next to the tree to set up the village on. Garcia had come prepared with some fake cotton snow to spread on the table around and between the houses. Jack and Henry had the most fun setting up the village and stood back in awe as it was lit up for the first time when they deemed it complete. Thanks to Spencer's pregnancy hormones he got slightly teary eyed and had to have two candy canes to calm him down.
Later that night when all the team members were gone and Jack had fallen asleep watching the older version of A Miracle on 34th Street Spencer couldn't help being reluctant to turn off the lights of the little village. He enjoyed helping set it up and the scenes made him feel warm and good and it was very pretty to look at all lite up. He decided that he would get a house each for Jack and the baby every year and they could set it up as a family. It would be like setting up a part of home every year with his loved ones and as emotional as that would likely be it felt right to him. It had helped with calming his mind from everything that still needed to be done and watching Jack and Henry's faces was calming. It was something he would like to experience and see over and over. Despite the light scent of the fresh pine that tickled his nose which would fade and he hoped Jack's allergies as well when he grew he would like to continue having a real tree for Christmas as well.
This year was the start of a new chapter in his life and even with the rushed pace this year and the cramped schedule he was enjoying everything. Next year would be more relaxed and planned, or least he hoped and this, this is what he wanted to do again and again. It was something to celebrate his life with his boyfriends and his BAU family with and a tradition he would love to pass on to Jack and the baby. His family. He smiled and thinking of the future Christmases to come turned off the village lights, then any remaining lights before going to bed with his future.