Day 0—December 25th

Eric woke up Christmas morning to the smell of –well, something delicious—wafting under his door. Oh, yes, the crock pot breakfast casserole Nell had put on last night. He slipped out of bed, shaking down his polar bear pajama pants that had somehow ridden up so the ankles were over his knees overnight, and silently opened his bottom left-hand dresser drawer. Underneath a pile of undershirts and socks was an opaque shopping bag. He swiped his reindeer antlers off his bedside table before padding out into the living room to stuff Nell's stocking.

With her gifts properly concealed, and poking the stocking out in any number of intriguing directions, Eric turned slipped into the kitchen, turned on all the Christmas lights, and put on the coffee.

A few minutes later, Nell walked in from her bedroom, her hair tucked into a santa hat that coordinated with her fleece penguin pajama pants. "Merry Christmas, Eric."

He gave her a 'good morning' hug. "Merry Christmas, Nell."

Two poured mugs of coffee later, after Eric plugged his iPod into her sound system and started quiet Christmas music, they settled onto the sofa to open their stockings. Nell realized another thing she hadn't known about Eric—he liked to wrap presents. Each object in her stocking was wrapped in tissue paper or wrapping paper and topped with a bow or ribbon. It made her glad she had always wrapped Randy's stocking presents, to prevent peeking; the habit had carried over to Eric's. His unruly hair poked away from his head in several directions around the reindeer antlers as he carefully extracted the top parcel. "So…who's going first?"

Nell grinned; Eric's inflection had sounded so much like Randy. "You do one, I do one."

She sat back expectantly as Eric slipped the ribbon off.

xxxxxx

After stockings came breakfast and dishes, (they had decided that on Christmas Eve), and then Eric and Nell set to opening the dozen packages under the Christmas tree. Nell felt around the mound of packages before extracting a large but fairly short box, labeled "Day 1." Placing the package in Eric's lap, she perched on the edge of the trunk-turned-coffee table.

Eric ripped open the paper and flipped the box open. Inside he could see a pair of scissors, a pack of glue sticks, several different sheets of decorative Christmas paper, a stack of stencils, and a pack of blank greeting cards. Fifty blank greeting cards. "So, who are we making cards for?" Eric inquired.

"The nursing home between here and OSP. Don't look scared; Kensi, Deeks, Callen, and Sam's family are coming this afternoon to help make and deliver them."

Eric walked over to the glass whiteboard and wrote in green marker, "Day 1: Make and deliver Christmas cards to the nursing home". The techie grabbed a large silver and gold wrapped box, graced with a gigantic bow, from under the tree and set it next to Nell's feet.

She grinned. "That's a big bow, Eric!"

"A larger-than-average package deserves a larger-than-average bow."

After extricating the box from the paper, Nell cut the packing tape holding it closed, and opened the flaps to reveal a stack of games, running the gamut from Candy Land and Sorry! to Dutch Blitz, Apples to Apples, and Clue. A DVD of Despicable Me topped off the stack.

"Games and movie night?" Nell guessed.

Eric nodded. "The lady who coordinates events at the women's and children's shelter almost started crying when I called her. When I confirmed yesterday, she told me some of the kids were already asking whether it was Thursday yet."

Nell smiled somberly. "That's a great idea, Eric. Spending Christmas in a shelter has got to be…lonely."

He nodded. "I would love to take the credit, but it was Deeks' idea. I got the feeling he spent at least one Christmas in a shelter."

"Makes me glad that my mom could always find friends we could spend Christmas night with. New Year's, too."

Eric sighed. "I almost wish I could have spent a couple of Christmases at a shelter. But what's over is over, we're both here, and we get to spread some joy!"

Nell laughed and headed for the whiteboard. 'Day 2: Game and movie night at shelter.' "We have any help with the spreading?"

"Deeks and Callen are for sure, and probably Kensi, Sam, and Michelle; I think her mom is stealing their kids for the day. Hetty said she might pop in, too."

"Sounds like you planned a full-scale party, Beale," and she slid a huge box up next to his chair

"Ooo, the biggest present under the tree. I wonder what it is!" Eric declared gleefully. A few moments of ripping later, and he opened the packing tape to reveal—well, he wasn't sure exactly what, beyond the memory stick on top. A little more investigating revealed a pair of speakers, a sound mixing board, and a tabletop disco ball. "Well, speaking of parties," Eric began.

"We're hosting a Christmas dance at the retirement community near Pendelton."

"I can tell one thing: this is my Christmas of new experiences."

"Not just you—Sam roped in Callen and Deeks. Well, Kensi helped."

The list on the whiteboard grew as the pile of presents diminished. Day 4 was revealed as 'Christmas crafts with military kids,' while Eric surprised a charity thrift store with the gift of a network, to be installed on day 5. On day 6, the pair would join Deeks to help serve New Year's dinner at a food bank, while the package, or rather, envelope, for day 7 left Nell puzzled. The only contents were two guest passes to Pendelton and a letter of entrance to the Pendelton Communications Technology Center, signed by Hetty. "You asked Hetty for an idea?" Nell inquired, shocked.

"Kensi's idea. Had to get the logistics ironed out by Hetty. Pendelton usually runs a day of video calls to wherever their units are deployed so all the families can see their soldiers for Christmas. This year it was a victim of budget cuts, so we're going in to do the calls for free."

Nell remembered the miracle that those Christmas calls were, first when her dad was deployed and then again with Randy. "That's…amazing, Eric. I'll have to be sure and thank Hetty."

Day 8 promised to put Eric out of his element, as Nell had arranged with a child life specialist at LA Children's Hospital to host a special coloring day for all the kids who were able. The next day was Eric's self-chosen out-of-comfort-zone project, which also involved the most 'ninja skills' on his part since he had to swipe flour, sugar, and spices out of the cabinets without Nell noticing. With recipes from Hetty, Eric gathered all the supplies necessary to make dozens of Christmas cookies to decorate with students at the Los Angeles School for the Deaf.

Day 10 promised a good workout, as the entire team would join the community and help assemble the new Everybody Can Play playground.

Day 11 was Nell's gift to the random dad working in Ops, and dozens of parents like him, as she and Eric would install the security cameras at The Rainbow Preschool of the Valley. Eric's plans for day 12 were most directly from Sam but more distantly put into motion by Hetty; when OSP upgraded their computer systems in the fall, she had arranged to have all the computers completely erased and then donated to an after-school and daycare center for at-risk inner city kids. The computers were ready and waiting to be installed on the twelfth day of Christmas.

With the list on the whiteboard complete, Nell and Eric sorted through the wrapping scraps and attempted to bring some semblance of order to the Christmas tree side of the living room before starting preparations for Christmas dinner.