"Welcome to Chrismukkah!" Sally announced throwing her arms wide in a dramatic gesture.
"We're not calling it that." Josh's voice could be heard coming from the kitchen as Kat walked into the room.
"Yes we are!" Sally cheerfully contradicted.
Kat hadn't been sure what to expect when Aiden had invited her to their first Christmas together with him, Sally, Nora and Josh. Everyone celebrated Christmas a little differently and she hadn't been sure what was coming when she opened the door. What she found was Sally waiting to greet her and the whole house decorated like someone had torn a page out of a Martha Stewart magazine. There was holly draped across the mantle in front of a Menorah, there was a tree shining bright with lights and covered in ornaments. The predominant colors were red and green, white and blue.
"What's Chrismukkah?" Kat asked, although she could already guess the answer.
"Chrismukkah," Sally explained, "is the best time of the year. It's our official celebration of Christmas and Hanukkah. Josh thinks Chrismukkah makes it sound ridiculous, but I think calling it the 'combined Christmas-Hanukkah celebration' is too long to say every time."
"I like it," Kat said, much to Sally's excitement to have someone on board. "You're combining different traditions into one celebration, I think it's a really great idea."
"I don't think Josh is objecting to the concept, just the name. Both of which were Sally's idea, in case you hadn't figured that out yet." Kat felt a thrill of happiness as she saw Aiden emerge from the kitchen, where he had apparently been helping Josh with whatever it was they were doing. He crossed the room to her and pulled her into his arms, nearly crushing the packages she was holding, kissing her softly.
"And I haven't even put the mistletoe up yet!" Sally chimed in, grinning at them.
Nora was next to greet her, helping relieve the presents from her arms before something fell. "I'm so glad you could make it. I know it's you and Aiden's first Christmas as a couple, I'm glad we can all spend it together. But you didn't have to bring anything."
"Of course I had to, it's Christmas or….Chrismukkah? And anyway, Aiden helped me pick them out, I certainly couldn't come empty handed."
Josh emerged from the kitchen, a plate of gingerbread men in hand.
Kat looked over the plate of meticulously decorated gingerbread cookies. She picked up one to inspect it more closely. It had tiny white fangs with red frosting at the tip of each. She looked up quizzically, "Is this a vampire gingerbread man?"
"It is," Aiden affirmed, "Sally firmly believes in non-traditional cookie decorating."
Kat picked up another cookie, this one was grey with pointed ears and fangs, "so that would make this a werewolf? And this one a ghost, I'm assuming?" The last one was completely covered in white frosting. "Sally, I must say that is very creative. I've never seen such a unique take on gingerbread men."
Sally gave Josh a triumphant look at that, "see, I told you it was creative! Not 'weird and creepy'."
Josh put up his hands in defeat. "I just thought everyone might not share your particular sense of whimsy when it comes to decorations."
Kat bit the head off the vampire gingerbread man she was holding, eliciting Aidan to give her an unreadable look that was beyond her to understand.
"Decorating cookies was always a big deal in my house when I was growing up," Kat said," My grandma put a lot of emphasis on the importance of baking, so when the holidays came around she always wanted to teach me all sorts of different cookie recipes. But the kinds you can decorate were always my favorite. I loved trying to see how interesting and unique I could make each one. Getting out her old recipes still makes me feel close to her. I think Christmas celebrations can say a lot about who a person is and where they came from. What about you, what did you do for Christmas when you were a kid?" She directed the last part to Aidan. He didn't share much about his past, and had never gone into what he did for Christmas' past.
"Our celebrations were very…traditional, I guess. We'd go to church and listen to the pastor read from the book of commons, that sort of thing. There would always be pine boughs up for decoration. The smell of pine always brings me back to that time, even now. I always thought the church thing was pretty boring, now a part of me wishes I could go back and relive that time again. I guess it's hard at that age, to really appreciate the way things are. You don't really expect what's going to happen later on."
She looked at him quizzically, "So you grew up in the 18th century?"
He laughed at that, a strangely forced sound, "No, but it did feel like it sometimes."
Sally's previous enthusiasm seemed to have drained away, her expression turning sad, "I used to love Christmas with Danny. He always made me feel so special. We would cuddle on the couch and watch movies, and one year he gave me an ornament that represented the twelve days of Christmas, every day leading up to Christmas. He said I was his true love." Sally trailed off at that, and Kat could see how much the memories hurt her. She regretted bringing it up the past.
"Okay, enough about the past. Christmas shouldn't be about reliving the past; it should be about friends and family, auld lang syne and all that. Besides, I'd much rather focus on gifts than the past."
They exchanged gifts after that, and she watched how Sally's face lit up with each new gift. Josh and Nora were so at ease, she was happy to see them together, Nora was a good person and she deserved to be with someone like Josh, who would treated her right. She hated all the pain they had all been through that had brought them to this point, but she was glad they were together now. She watched Aidan as he talked and joked, so comfortable in this place with these people. It reminded her why she loved him, he was good and kind. She didn't know everything about him, not yet, but she wanted to. One day she would unravel all the secrets that were a part of him, and she was sure that it would only make her love him more.
After presents she got a look at what Josh had been so intent in the kitchen over. He had made quite the spread, and she could tell how much work he had put into it.
After dinner the night grew on and Nora fell asleep on Josh's shoulder. It was quiet and in the peaceful lull she pulled Aidan aside, happy to have him to herself at last.
"There's one Christmas tradition I've always loved."
"And what's that?" Aidan asked.
"Mistletoe."
He looked up, then back to her, "we aren't standing under mistletoe."
"Aren't we? Well, we'll have to rectify that, but for now we can pretend."
He leaned forward and kissed her, soft and sweet.
"Merry Christmas Kat."
"Merry Christmas Aidan."
Whatever was to come, whatever struggles the year ahead may hold, she was glad they had this time together.