It's always been a tradition of her family's, to wrap all their presents together (except those for each other of course). James seems a little sceptical but she wheedles and he relents and maybe he's absolutely terrible at it and maybe he uses two and half rolls of tape for every one but she's smiling so wide her face might break and 'tis the season to be merry and she certainly is.
They spend hours and she really means long, frustrating hours, trying to pick out a Christmas tree because this is their very first as a married couple and it has to be perfect. But nothing is right, absolutely nothing and she almost cries she's so frazzled. James is baffled and when he asks what's wrong she's embarrassed to say but he doesn't laugh just smiles and holds her and tells her that he feels exactly the same way. So maybe they spend the rest of the day searching and maybe they go home without a tree and maybe it takes till next week before they have the perfect one and maybe they both know that it will be perfect simply because they are together but the tree isn't so much about making it perfect for her or for him but for each other and for everyone they share it with because Christmas is all about giving and they want nothing more than to give the world all the joy they're giving each other.
Lily's always been big on Christmas traditions but as James pulls her close, lips warm on hers, she comes to the decision that mistletoe is, and will always be, the best tradition of all.
Sirius spikes the eggnog because of course and they get so, so drunk, prancing around the kitchen slurring the lyrics to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and she laughs so hard her eggnog plus nearly comes out her nose. Peter sways beside her and she pulls him into the living room and she realizes this is the first Christmas she's spent without anyone in her family but before she can even start to feel melancholy, Remus scrambles onto the dining table, wobbling and proceeds to belt out the very worst version of White Christmas she has ever heard. James and Sirius immediately begin doing a jig terribly out of time with the music and Peter tries to waltz with her, tripping over her feet with a dazed smile on his face and she realizes that she was wrong, completely wrong because her family is here, right here and she couldn't ask for more.
The snow is thick outside but their bed is warm and she wakes to James' sleeping face, mouth slightly open and she doesn't think it could be possible to feel any warmer. She smiles, tracing his cheeks with her fingers and his face twitches and she knows she wants every Christmas morning to be just like this one, waking up to a sleepy James and knowing she'll get to spend the day, and every day after, with him.
And one day she thinks, one day they'll have kids and they'll come pouncing in, desperate to see what Father Christmas has brought them and she feels joy swell up inside her at the thought.
"I love you." She whispers and he smiles and yes, she thinks, I want to do this for the rest of my life.