Hot Wheels!
Christmas 2026: Tony, Tim, and Jimmy get into the boys' Hot Wheels sets.
Anthony tore the wrapping paper off the large box from Aunt Abby; "Oh, cool, Hot Wheels tracks. Thank you, Aunt Abby," Anthony held up the box for the others to see.
No sooner did the family ooh and aah at the large playset than John tore the paper off his present from Aunt Abby. "I got one, too!" he yelled out to his cousin. "Mine has a purple car and a yellow car."
Anthony looked at his set again, "I have a red car and a blue car. Mine says it has over forty feet of track plus the loop and two turns. What do you have John?"
"A launcher, thirty eight feet of track and a stunt jump," John read from the box.
Charles tore the paper from his gift from Aunt Abby, "I got Hot Wheels, too!" He showed his cousins the set he had received with thirty six feet of track, two speed boosters and a green car and an orange car. "We should go set these up!" John and Anthony nodded their agreement and all three boys turned to their mothers.
Ziva spoke first, gently reminding the boys that the family gift opening was still underway. "We still have presents to open. Let us finish that first."
"Look at what I got!" Katie held up her radio controlled car from Uncle Clay and Aunt Ellie. "Thank you Aunt Ellie and Uncle Clay!" She loved the shiny pink car, showing it to Tori as Tali unwrapped her gift from the Reeves family.
All of the kids got RC cars from their aunt and uncle, no two exactly alike. Each one had a vehicle in his or her favorite color, some of them cars, others trucks. Uncle Leon had given each of them RC helicopters, another popular gift with the kids.
After the gifts were all opened, the DiNozzo family room was a sea of piles of presents, bags of torn gift wrap and stray bows and ribbons. Ziva, Breena, Gibbs and Delilah moved through the room gathering bits of paper and ribbon as the kids all went outside to play with their RC vehicles. Jimmy carried most of the Palmer family gifts out to their SUV as Tim put most of the McGee's gifts in the back of the minivan.
"Those are some cool Hot Wheels sets that Abby got for the boys," Jimmy remarked. "Reminds me of the track sets that I had."
"Yeah," Tim agreed. "I had quite a bit of track myself. I always liked to set it up in the hallway to make the layout as long as possible."
Tony heard his brothers talking as he came from putting two large trash bags of wrapping paper in the recycling bin. "I had some of the original Hot Wheels; and I had Matchbox cars too. I wish I knew what Senior did with them…" He turned to the other two with a glint in his eye.
"Uh oh, I know that look, Tony," Tim grinned at his brother. "What are you thinking?"
"How about we set up the Hot Wheels in the playroom? We can put the sets together and use what Anthony already has and see how big we can make the track," Tony grinned at the others. They followed him inside and each grabbed one of the new playsets and headed to the playroom.
Tim figured that they had close to three hundred feet of track with new sets and the track that Anthony had. They had the new loop set, the stunt jump, the curves and the speed boosters from the new sets as well as a corkscrew loop set, four more speed boosters and eight more curves.
Tony pointed to the top of the bookcase, "I'm gonna attach the launch gate up there." He figured the drop would be about seven feet to the floor, giving them plenty of length to build speed.
The three men set to work building their "ultimate" layout; the mother of all layouts.
Meanwhile in the kitchen, Ziva, Breena, Abby and Delilah were preparing the family Christmas dinner. Ellie was feeding four month old Savannah and then getting her down for a nap. Leon, Clay and Gibbs were outside with the kids. Ziva had just taken the turkey from the oven to let it sit before Gibbs carved it. Delilah was heating vegetables as Breena mashed potatoes and Abby set the tables.
"Has anyone seen the guys?" Delilah asked her sisters.
"Last I saw Jimmy and Tim, they were taking gifts out to the cars," Breena replied.
"Tony took the bags of wrapping paper out to the recycling bin," Ziva added. "But that was a while ago. I have not seen any of them since."
Abby came back into the room, "None of them are out back with the kids and Gibbs said that he hasn't seen them." She shrugged her shoulders and went back to setting the tables. "They'll be the first ones at the table when we call everyone to eat."
Ziva chuckled, "That is for certain. Do not get between Tony and food. Only Anthony gets there faster than his Abba!" The four women continued to get the meal ready, chatting about various things. Ellie came into the kitchen after getting Savannah to nap in her portable crib that had been set up in Ziva's office.
"How can I help?" she asked Ziva, swiping a black olive from the condiment dish. She popped the food in her mouth as Ziva replied.
"You can let Gibbs know that it is time to carve the turkey. If you see Tony, please let him know that it is time to make the gravy. That is his favorite job." Ziva looked towards the family room to see if Tony was there; no sign of him nor Tim and Jimmy.
Ellie sent Gibbs inside to carve the bird and decided to stay outside with Clay and the kids. "Have you seen Tony?" she asked her husband.
"Not since we finished opening gifts," Clay responded. "Why are you looking for him?"
"It's just that Ziva was wondering where he went; seems no one has seen Tony, Tim, and Jimmy for a while." She shrugged and turned to help LJ with the remote for his helicopter.
In the kitchen, Gibbs grabbed the carving knife and fork. He started on the bird as Delilah asked him if he had seen the three men. "Nope."
"They must have found something interesting," Breena stated to nobody in particular. "Most likely they are up to something…"
"Oh, those three can stir up more trouble," Delilah smiled at her sister. "I'd bet they are planning some prank on the family!"
Ziva rolled her eyes; Tony most likely had roped the other two into some prank that the rest of the family would soon be the recipients. Her big kid was often her most troublesome. And then he wondered why their five were all pranksters!
In the play room, Tim and Jimmy connected track pieces while Tony laid them out creating two separate pathways for the cars to follow. They had used almost every bit of available space in the playroom, making it so that they had to step carefully over track pieces to move about the room. Tony had moved a small step ladder by the bookcase and attached the launcher's clamp to the top of the structure. Since the launcher had two gates, there were pairs of cars lined up on the top shelf for the race along the track. The initial pair was ready for the start once all the track pieces were connected.
Tim adjusted a series of books that they used as supports and ramps under some of the track to make bridges and underpasses. He gave Tony a thumb's up that his side of the track was ready. Jimmy checked the speed boosters on his side one more time and gave Tony a thumb's up as well.
Tony climbed the stepladder, perching on the top platform. "Ready?" Tim and Jimmy nodded. "Okay, here they come!" Tony pressed the button to release the first two cars. On Jimmy's side the orange car flew through the corkscrew spiral as the red car on Tim's side passed through two loops. Both cars hit the first turns and the speed boosters sent them hurtling towards the first in a series of stunt jumps.
"WHOA!" Tim watched the car on his side jump from one track to the next over about twenty inches of air.
"OH, YEAH!" The car on Jimmy's side flew over the car from Tim's side as the two miniature vehicles switched sides of the room. After another semicircular curve on each side, the cars hit another set of speed boosters.
On Tim's side the increased speed sent the car airborne on the first set of hills. "HANG TIME!" Tony yelled. On Jimmy's side the car jumped through a hoop and landed on the opposite side. Jimmy had placed several of the Hot Wheels trucks under the path of the car, daredevil jump style.
"Send the next set, Tony!" Jimmy was excited to see that his set up had outperformed his expectations. Tim nodded at Tony.
"Yeah, get them going and send another set after these ones pass through the first curves. Let's see how many we can get in motion at the same time!" Tony grinned and let pairs of cars loose from the launcher. When they had ten cars moving through the track, he sent another pair too quickly. The stunt jump where the vehicles crossed sides of the room was the scene of a major crash of three vehicles.
"HOLY COW; DID YOU SEE THAT MID-AIR CRASH?" Jimmy was like a kid.
In the kitchen, Ziva heard Tony yell "Hang time" from the direction of the play room. Delilah had heard Tim shout something and both women met glances. Delilah grinned and rolled her eyes as Ziva smirked. The guys were definitely up to something!
When Jimmy was heard over the other two, "MID-AIR CRASH?" Breena couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. She motioned to the others to follow her; Ziva was still smirking. She looked over at Gibbs, who was still working on carving the turkey. He nodded to her to follow the other three.
"I'll get the drippings into the pan to start the gravy; go find Tony." Gibbs figured his three boys were plotting some prank. He just hoped the four girls wouldn't get too upset if they were the victims.
"Try to make them crash again, Tony!" Jimmy suggested. Tim adjusted the speed booster on his side to help a crash happen.
"WHOA!" all three yelled out as a pair of cars collided in flight. They looked up at the sound of laughter; Breena, Abby, Delilah and Ziva were standing at the doorway to the play room watching them.
"Boys will be boys!" Ziva chuckled. "And now one of them has to come make the gravy." She looked at Tony who met her gaze.
"But, Ziva…" Tony pretended to whine. "We're having fun here!"
Merry Christmas
Feliz Navidad
Fröhliche Weihnachten
Joyeux Noël
Buon Natale
חג מולד שמח