"Daddy, daddy!" Sarah exclaimed as she leaped into her parents bed. She crawled up in between the two of them and nuzzled up against her mother.

"Oof," Ahsoka groaned.

"What's wrong, princess?" Sarah's father asked.

"Nothing! He came, he came!" Sarah answered emphatically.

Sarah's father smiled. He and Ahsoka woke up at 3:00 AM to put presents under the tree while Sarah was sound asleep. He wished he could have slept in a little longer, but he was glad to know Sarah was excited.

"Is that so? Mommy and I will be downstairs in a moment to check," he told her. Because Sarah and he had attended the children's Mass from the night before, there was no need to rush this morning.

Ahsoka's husband shocked her once again when he kissed one of her white cheek markings. She looked up. Once again, he caught her under the mistletoe. She decided to kiss his cheek before he walked over to the tree.

"It's my turn to kiss you," she stated with a teasing grin.

With everyone downstairs, Sarah looked at her side of the tree with the eagerness and curiosity of a four year old girl.

"Why do I have a big one and a little one?" Sarah asked.

"Open them up and find out," Ahsoka replied.

Sarah quickly grabbed the larger present and ripped the wrapping off as quickly as she could.

So much for patience, Ahsoka thought.

"What is it?" Sarah asked curiously.

"It's a backpack, Sarah. This fall, you'll be starting kindergarten. A new student needs a new backpack for her schoolbooks," Ahsoka explained.

Sarah smiled and surprised her parents by using the Force to pull the smaller gift out from under the tree. Once again she quickly opened the present up and looked at it curiously. She pushed the button on top of the device, but nothing happened.

"It's your first datapad. But it's not activated yet and the battery isn't charged up yet. Once you start school, you can use it for some of your lessons," her father told her.

"You have one just like mommy?" Sarah asked.

He nodded as he replied, "Yes. And when you start to learn to be a Jedi, you'll be using it more often."

Sarah's smile widened. "When can I use it?" she asked.

"I'll set it up for you this summer."


Later in the afternoon, Ahsoka reviewed information on her own datapad while her husband watched television. Ahsoka still wasn't sure why the men bounced a round, orange ball. She also tried to figure out why they would throw or stuff it through a raised ring. Although her husband explained the game to her in the past, she still thought Earth sports were a bit unusual.

Finally, with the contest at an intermission, it was time to eat. Ahsoka's husband had already put the food on the table.

"Merry Christmas, honey," Ahsoka said as she passed the platter.

"Merry Christmas, you two," her husband replied. Sarah smiled before sinking her teeth into the meat.

"Hey, look, it's finally snowing," Ahsoka said. Sure enough, a look out the window revealed a stream of flurries falling the ground.

"I wonder if we will get all six inches [15 cm] they predicted," her husband said.

"We'll find out tomorrow morning. I'm sure Sarah is anxious to play in it, aren't you?"

"Uhh huh," Sarah replied affirmatively.

As dinner ended, Sarah's father noticed something and grabbed a napkin.

"Hold still, Sarah, you have whipped cream on your nose. Someone might think you have markings on the front of it," he said as he wiped it off.

Sarah giggled.


"So, did you like your presents?" Ahsoka asked Sarah.

Sarah pulled her covers up to her neck as she nodded yes.

"You're getting to be a big girl now. It seems like you were just born," Ahsoka stated. She then kissed Sarah's cheek, adding, "Good night, Sarah."

"G'nite, mommy," Sarah replied as she curled up for the night.

Across the hall, Ahsoka and her husband talked quietly in their own bed.

"Sarah seemed to like her presents. But I sensed she wishes she could use them now," Ahsoka said.

"Well, the datapad will have to wait for now, but could she use the backpack for preschool?" her husband asked.

"We'll see. Oh, and thanks for the blue dress. It looks like it will compliment my skin rather nicely."

"And thank you for the latest anthology of Lincoln the Cat. I can't believe that comic is still being published 40 years later."

Ahsoka's eyes suddenly narrowed. "Wait, you have one more gift for me?" she asked in amazement.

Her husband opened up the drawer of their nightstand and pulled out a small box. Ahsoka took it and opened it up. Inside, there was a pin with the insignia of their Jedi Order.

"If you ever want to wear something besides your other jewelry, you can wear this instead. That way, everyone knows you're a proud Jedi,"

Ahsoka kissed his cheek before snuggling closer. "Thanks," she whispered.


The next day, Sarah screamed happily as she ran into the backyard. All the predicted snow had fallen on the ground.

Her father waited until she was distracted before he reached down and scooped a small snowball. He grinned as he tossed it. Sarah, however, turned and saw it coming towards her. She quickly put her hands up and the snowball fell harmlessly to the ground.

And this is why Jedi rarely start snowball fights, he thought before he shrieked. Ahsoka sneaked up on him and dropped snow down his back.

"Gotcha," Ahsoka said with a grin. Sarah started giggling as her father did his best to get the wet snow out from the back of his jacket.

He shook his head. "One of these days I'll get you," he promised.

"We'll see. After all, my montrals help me sense anything up to 20 feet away," she reminded him.

"If you insist," he replied before gesturing and using the Force to flick snow up against the side of her right head-tail.

"Hey! That's not fair," Ahsoka protested.

"Neither was your stealth attack. So now we're even," he told her.

Meanwhile, Sarah giggled until she fell into the snow. Undaunted, she decided to make her own version of a snow angel.


Chapter Commentary: This chapter takes place about eight months before the start of Both Worlds.

In trying to write this chapter, I struggled with writers block. I eventually decided that in addition to Christmas traditions, I wanted to have the family spend some time together with the snowball fight. I can imagine an all-Jedi snowball fight might not go as expected.