Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas in July

(July meaning it's posted in July; the fic is set at Christmas. Might as well pretend that this is the first Christmas after the events of "Phantom Lover," although that fic is not referenced here at all. Sorry.)

Found this while rummaging through unfinished fics; decided not to wait until next Christmas to finish it. For those counting the number of song titles in this one, I come up with 29 (including the title and not double counting "Jingle Bells." And counting titles that only have one small word changed.)

"Knock knock," came the sound and the words as Angela sat cooped up in her home office, not at all concentrating on work, but on the sight of the falling snow outside her window creating a winter wonderland.

"Who's there?" she played along.

"Your Yuletide Ambassador of Love."

"My Yuletide Ambassador of Love who?"

Tony's demeanor changed from silly to jealous faster than Santa put away cookies and milk, "what do you mean who? How many Ambassadors of Love do you have?" Of course having his arms full of boxes of Christmas decorations probably didn't help his mood.

Angela laughed and opened the door; she gazed very fondly; very, very fondly at the vision of Yuletide cheerfulness that greeted her. Tony was standing there with the eagerness of a puppy dog, ready to decorate the house; he'd already started decorating himself by donning a Santa hat. She didn't know how he did it, but he even made that look good. Too bad he wasn't wearing a bow, that would be one present she'd unwrap in a hurry; oh she was going to have to indulge in that fantasy for a little bit.

Her mind wandered, thinking about Tony wearing nothing but a red ribbon around his hips which tied in a strategically placed bow in front. Her eyes grew more unfocused as she thought about taking one end of that ribbon and pulling.

"Yo, Angela..." Tony noticed that Angela was lost in her own little world; too bad he didn't know that world was centered around him, he wouldn't have interrupted her daydreaming.

"Huh, what?" she answered blushing.

"You ok?"

"Fine," she said far too quickly.

"Uh huh."

"You want to give me a hand with this?"

"I'll give you a hand anytime." Did she just say that out loud? Oops, she did; but from the way Tony was grinning, he didn't seem to mind.

"Let's get the decorating done and then we'll see about...other activities. Let's deck those halls."

"You can deck my halls anytime." Oops, she said that out loud too. She covered her mouth in false modesty and shrugged. Tony wondered if anyone would notice if the decorations wound up strewn around the room rather than expertly placed. He decided, unfortunately, that they would notice.

"Come on, Angela; it's the most wonderful time of the year. Let's get that mistletoe up."

"OK!" Angela flew across the room to where the mistletoe was patiently waiting on the coffee table. That was one eager woman. Tony trudged over, putting the boxes down near the couch.

"Where should we put the mistletoe this year?" Tony asked innocently.

A very feral grin spread across Angela's face as her eyes took in the full measure of Tony, head to toe then back up again. Even though he was fully clothed, Tony felt absolutely naked, and strangely uncomfortable, he felt like he was in a game of 'Pin the Mistletoe on Tony'. "Angela?"

She licked her lips, not bothering to tear her attention away, "hmmm?"

"Ahem, Angela? I hate to interrupt whatever happy holiday you have going on, but we need a little Christmas."

"Of course," Angela agreed, managing to control her passion for the time being.

Tony went to put on a special Christmas decorating music mix tape he'd made. At the time he put the tape together he had no idea the first cut was going to be so detrimental to the decorating agenda, but as he just happened to choose the sexiest version of "Jingle Bells" ever recorded, that being Peggy Lee singing about how much she liked a sleigh ride, Christmas decorating didn't stand a chance.

"I like a sleigh ride," Angela sang along, emphasizing those two words. She was still holding the mistletoe and she twirled it in her fingers.

"I like a sleigh ride too," Tony answered.

"I know you do."

The two lovers gazed at each other for a moment or two, then simultaneously decided to delay decorating for just a little while. They lunged at each other, throwing their arms around the other, they created a new mistletoe custom, it didn't have to be hanging over anyone's head, close proximity would do just fine.

Peggy Lee continued singing about her love of sleigh rides which drifted into The McGuire Sisters asking to "Give Me Your Heart For Christmas," which segued into The Beach Boys singing about "Little Saint Nick." "Why did I break the mood with that one?" Tony wondered as Angela pulled away toward the end of the song. He needn't have worried for as Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters launched into their own jaunty version of "Jingle Bells," Angela whispered, "you can jingle my bells anytime." She wasn't even bothering with false modesty anymore.

She was, however, concerned about the rest of the family coming home. Even though the family was happy over their wedding, there were times when Mona, Jonathan and Samantha had enough of their over the top newlywed lovey-doveyness. And they did have decorating to do, "we'd best stop for now, don't want Jonathan coming home and complaining that he saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus, she said as she touched his hat.

"Good plan, Angela. When we get the decorating done we can sit by the fireside."

"With hot chocolate?" she asked eagerly, her eyes lighting up like a Christmas tree.

"Yes," he answered, thinking that kisses were nice, but chocolate tasting kisses were better.

"Let's decorate!" Angela was thinking the same thing. They quickly worked through a couple of the boxes, not really concerned about finishing the task completely, the whole family would be together for that. Their job today was just to start the process.

After finishing, they sat in front of that roaring fire with their hot chocolate. Tony looked around and said, "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

"I like where you placed the silver bells," Angela clinked her mug to his, creating her own bell-like sound.

"Looks like a cold, cold winter," Tony noted as he glanced outside.

"Let it snow, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas."

"The winter weather is here, we could have another picnic in the snow."

"Been there, done that," Angela answered, "baby, it was cold outside."

"I've got my love to keep me warm." He sure did, in fact he even managed to make Angela blush with that truth.

"Speaking of warmth, 'Mele Kalikimaka'," she clinked her mug to his again.

"Oh, Angela, I'd love to spend Christmas on Christmas Island with you."

"We could tell little Jack Frost to get lost," Angela agreed.

"Could always enjoy moonlight in Vermont instead," Tony suggested playfully.

"There's no place like home for the holidays," Angela settled their non-existent argument.

"Waiting for the man with the bag?" he asked.

"No need. You're all I want for Christmas," she answered truthfully.

"Angela, what are you doing New Year's Eve?"

"Oh, I have plans."

"You do?"

"Uh huh," she grinned and leaned in for another kiss.