For the Jily Secret Santa on Tumblr. Merry Christmas Imi :D

Cinnamon Holidays

On the twenty-fifth of December in the year 1979, the Irish country-side landscape was beyond beautiful. Everything for miles was completely blanketed in snow. From the tallest of trees to the rolling hills, everywhere you looked was pure white. It was truly a Winter Wonerland. It seemed to anyone foolish enough to eave the warmth of their home, that they were the only people in the world.

In the tradition of men hopelessly in love everywhere, James Potter only thought of his wife as he trekked expertly through the white fields on his way to the town. He needed to find supermarket and get the ingredients for chocolate chip pancakes. Taking care of her was the only way to separate himself from the onslaught of emotions that would surely come over him if he let the fact that it was only him and Lily together for Christmas sink in.

Normally, people spend Christmas in their homes with the ones they love surrounding them, but that year had not been kind to the Potters. Lily had lost her parents earlier that year and her sister detested her, she had no family to spend Christmas with. James usually spent his Christmases with his family at their manor up in Ireland, but his entire family had been attacked by Death Eaters in October. His parents and his baby brother were dead and they were the only family he had had to boast of. He couldn't face going to the manor, but he had lived his entire life in Ireland and every Christmas he'd had, was in the arms of the Irish Winter being covered by snow.

It only seemed right to spend Christmas in Omagh. Well to James anyway. He was his parents' son and Gwendolyn and William Potter had had the most roundabout logic in the world. Because William was English and Gwendolyn was Welsh, they decided to live in Ireland. Because their boys were getting into too much trouble at schools, they gave them new quidditch gear because it was obviously too much energy. Because they had loyalties to different quidditch teams, both being former captains to the Harpies and Wasps, they created their own team for their family to support; The Potter Pelters. They were eccentric and odd and loyal and loving. They were his parents. They were the ones who chased away the monsters under his bed and healed countless quidditch injuries. He couldn't believe that 1980 was a year that his parents will never live, a year in which his little brother won't turn sixteen. They were just gone.

James hurried as the snow began to fall again. It would have been easier to apparate, but Omagh on Christmas Morning was too busy to chance. He saw the lights of the town in the distance and a small smile found its way onto his face. He would make this Christmas brilliant for Lily.

As he entered the house, James smelt the distinct smell of cinnamon. It took him back to Christmases up at the manor where he and Harry would run down the stairs to the kitchen looking for Gwendolyn's famous cinnamon cookies. 'It's the holiday of cinnamon, boys' she'd always said. She always made sure that the entire house smell like cinnamon. It got to the point where the cinnamon aroma signified Christmas for the Potter household. In an attempt to overcome the sudden wave of emotion, James headed to the kitchen to find his wife.

He found her trying to reach the topmost shelf and failing miserably. A real genuine smile crinkled his face as he watched the woman he loved being exactly the person he fell for. For the moment his grief was put to the side; only he and Lily existed. She finally gave up and her entire body slumped forward.

He came up behind her and wrapped his arm around her dejected figure. He gave a small kiss to her temple and rested his chin her head.

"You know love, there's this thing called magic that we happen to be able to do. Those seven years we spent at that castle...Ring any bells?" He watched as she took in his words then hit her head on the cupboard, marvelling at her ridiculousness.

"I cannot believe that I forgot I was a witch," she turned to him with her green eyes opened wide "I've been trying to get that cooling tray down for the past ten minutes."

She looked so indignant and annoyed at herself that James couldn't help but press a small kiss to her nose. He'd realised he was completely, head-over-heals in love with her during a fight of theirs. The way she would simply take everything to heart but still fight as hard as she possibly can till the other person admitted defeat.

"James! I'm being serious." She narrowed her eyes at him the same way she did when she thought he was going to try to act like she was adorable and not take her seriously. Then, belatedly, she realised her mistake.

"I swear if you make that jo-"

"No, you're not. He's meeting Marlie's family this Christmas." James gave her the patented Marauder smirk that he knew would get her even more annoyed. In his eyes. she was simply beautiful when angered.

Lily decided that her husband was an imbecile and deemed him not worthy of an answer. She turned from him and moved to the other side of kitchen to wash the bowls and whisks she'd used.

In response, James simply trailed after her and took up his earlier position with the new and improved addition of kissing her from her ear then slowly down to her shoulder and up again. The one thing that had never failed to break the tough Lily Exterior when she was giving him the silent treatment. He trailed his lips along her skin, almost forgetting why he was doing it in the first place, causing her to shudder and try to suppress a gasp when he got to her most sensitive part. Smirking momentarily in victory, James carried on with even more gusto than before.

Just as he was beginning the ascent back to her ear from her shoulder, Lily decided to talk to him because at the rate he was going they would be unwrapping each other instead of the presents under the Christmas tree.

"That joke stopped being funny half-way through First Year." she said pointedly.

All she got back was an agreement muffled by her skin as her husband's mouth was preoccupied.

"James" She tried to admonish him, but it was half-hearted at best. She wanted this Christmas to be perfect. She wanted gift unwrapping by the tree and off-tune singing and perhaps even sledging. Then again, this was terribly fun.

Sensing her inner turmoil, James ceased his ministrations with a small kiss to her shoulder and then sat on the counter next to the sink. He took a strawberry from the bowl on the window ledge and popped it into his mouth as slowly as he could. Then after he'd devoured it, he licked the juice of his fingers and flashed his wife a devilish smile.

"I'll be good. Scouts honour."

Lily, already feeling flustered, turned away from him to at least pretend like she wasn't imagining something that was definitely not the washing up. She tried to change the subject, or you know make conversation to begin with.

"Why did you leave so early? I nearly had a heart attack till I found your very vague note."

The mischievous gleam left James' eyes as he hopped off the counter and opened the grocery bag. He turned to Lily with an almost shy look in his eye, and tried to explain to her his idea.

"Well, I've never actually slept through Christmas Eve before. Har-" He cleared his throat "Harry and I would always stay up all night then run down the stairs in the morning. So today, there I was and I realised that I'll never stay up all night with Harry again. And I looked over and there you were sleeping" He cupped her cheek with his hand "And it suddenly came to me that you are my family I remembered you said how your mum used to make you and Petunia chocolate chip cookies every Christmas Morning so I thought I'd give it a try..."

James looked up to find Lily's eyes scrunched up and overflowing with tears.

"Oh shit! What did I say?" James tried desperately to stop his wife's tears. It killed him when she cried. Her beautiful green eyes should always be filled with the gleam of happiness, not the sparkle of tears.

Lily put her hands on his shoulders to stop his frantic rubbing of her arms.

"I'm fine" she managed

James cocked an eyebrow at her.

Lily smiled through the tears. It wasn't like during a funeral or some great tragedy when you wanted to seem like you were perfectly fine. They weren't tears of sorrow though, they were tears of happiness.

"This morning when I woke up you were gone and I was completely frantic. I was scared that something had happened, but then I found your note. It was just 'I'm going to town' and that's not you James. You always make the simplest memo into something that has Marauders written all over it. There weren't any moving little pictures or writing that re-arranged itself. I knew where you where, but that note was so lifeless that it scared me" Lily took a deep breath and continued. "You usually love Christmas so much and I just can't bear the thought of you just not being you. And I need you to be you more than ever because our family of two isn't going to be a family of two for much longer."

Lily looked on as James processed her words. She could almost hear his brain working and the smile that lit up his face drew one of the same proportions from her.

"Are you?..."

Lily nodded vigorously as James picked her up and spun her round. He dropped to his knees and put his hands on her still-flat stomach. He looked up at Lily with a look of complete love and adoration. He looked back at the little miracle that was the life they created and pressed a soft kiss to it.

"You're going to be so loved baby. And every christmas we'll make you chocolate chip pancakes and you'll get brilliant gifts. You and I will play quidditch and Uncle Pads will come over probably with his and Aunt Marlie's baby because I'm sure they'll be married in the next few months. And Uncle Wormy and Julia will come over and she'll make those brilliant pies. And Uncle Moony might even have a girlfriend by then baby boy."

"James you don't know it's a boy."

"Please. It's going to be a boy a little stud just like his father."

Lily snorted.

"What stud?"

James looked at his wife and then at their little baby (boy) and he knew. Just knew that Christmas next year will be filled with noise and laughter and love. And every Christmas from then on after will be filled with a family steadily growing. The house will be filled with little Potters running around and little Blacks running around with them and it will smell completely of cinnamon.