Because of the dire lateness of this chapter, it will be simply starting where we are now, which means we get another Castle Christmas! And, with Secret Santa just out, I assume Castle Christmases are on everyone's mind! I know I've already done a Christmas chapter with these guys before, so I'll try and make it a little different.

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"Mommy, come on, get up!" Lucas cried, shaking the shoulders of his mother gently as she rolled over and groaned.

Sighing in frustration, Lucas jumped down off the bed and went running off into the living room, crying out, "Mommy won't get up! Mommy's being a lazy sleepy head!"

It wasn't that she didn't want to get up – well, okay, maybe it was, but somehow, Kate just couldn't seem to muster up the energy to move. Rick had been up at least two hours ago, most likely organizing the children. Both Jessica and Elise would be up as well, meaning Rick was wrangling both babies as well as the three older kids.

Thinking that, Kate knew she would have to get up, if only to relieve him of Mr. Mommy duties. Slowly, she rolled herself up into a sitting position, taking notice of the sore spots and of the particularly nasty headache that was forming. She couldn't exactly pinpoint why she felt this way; last night had shaped up like most others lately. Rick would pick up the kids from school, they'd go walking to the coffee shop that was on the corner, where the kids would be treated to hot cocoa and baked goodies, before they walked a little further to Kate's office for when she finished work. Rick always had Kate's coffee of choice, although, at this time of the year, it was now whatever festive hot drink he felt like bringing her along with a gingerbread man.

They would then go home, Kate and Rick would cook dinner while Jessica and Elise had an afternoon nap. Alexis, David and Lucas would usually be upstairs playing games or downstairs watching television. After dinner, they would do something together, watch a movie, play a board game or something. Sometimes Rick would read them a story that would eventually lull the babies, and on occasion, Lucas and David, to sleep.

Alexis was always the last to be in bed at 8:30pm, after which Rick and Kate would retire to the couch to relax or the study if they had work to do. Last night, Kate had had a case file to read over, so Rick had written a chapter or two for good measure. It hadn't been a particularly eventful evening, nor a late one.

It was because of this, Kate had absolutely no idea why she felt so miserably shocking. Still, she managed to shuffle her way into the living room, where she was greeted with the usual muffled and incoherent voices of her kids. Elise was now beginning to speak almost all the time, and Lucas had come into what Rick called his 'eloquent stage' where he could now hold a full conversation with his parents.

As she watched the kids, it hit her at how fast they were growing up. Last Christmas time, Alexis had been at least a half a foot shorter, and less grown up. She was, for a six year old, a very sophisticated young girl, and was adamant she could do everything herself now, which, she basically could. She had adapted to the role of the eldest child very well, and had taken to school even better. Kate's favorite part of the day was listening to Alexis tell her all the things she'd done at school, and all the new discoveries she'd made.

David had grown up just as much, looking more and more like Rick every day. He was soon to be five, a prospect which to David seemed immensely fantastic. The most exciting part about turning five, in David's opinion, was that he was able to start school, albeit it still many months away. Although, because of this, the young boy had felt he really ought to start working on his reading and his words, which delighted Rick greatly.

Lucas too was getting more and more intelligent as the weeks went by. His reading ability was, to Kate, unseemly good, and he could already read most of the books he owned by himself. He had continually been asking Kate for a 'grown up book', and in fact read some with Kate before he went to sleep. His favorite 'grown up book' so far was a children's version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It didn't have as many pictures as his other books, something that delighted Lucas very much, as he told his mother it felt like he was reading like a grown up.

As Kate wandered around to Elise, who was now sitting at the big table on top of a cushion to eat, she thought about just how much like Alexis she was, yet so different at the same time. Elise was now in her own bedroom upstairs, was beginning to speak more and use her words, and often had quite the conversation with Rick from time to time. Her favorite thing to do was help Daddy around the house, and Rick would often set her to putting things back where they belong. If she wasn't helping Daddy, she would be at the kitchen island opposite Mommy helping her cook or put together her siblings' lunches for the next day.

Jessica was still only very young, almost five months old, and spent most of her time in the arms of her mother or father. At the moment, she was sitting with Alexis, who was cuddling her furiously. Jessica was a content little baby, Kate though, and didn't seem to mind all the attention, and was fairly placid when her siblings were playing with her. Her favorite game was with David, who poked his tongue out her, and she would do it back. Rick was trying furiously to teach her how to blow a raspberry, much to Kate's dismay.

Alexis giggled as Jessica's little hand reached up to her nose, poking it gently and squeezing it, although her attention was quickly turned when she saw Kate.

"Hey, Jessie girl," Kate cooed, reaching down to stroke the young one's cheek. Both of Jessica's hands reached up to touch Kate's squeezing her fingers gently before releasing and reaching up for her mother, kicking her legs expectantly.

Every time the young girl was in her arms, Kate couldn't stop grinning. She was often caught by Rick, who chuckled a little at Kate's captivation, but in her opinion, there was no one more captivating to her than her kids.

"Hey, Mommy?" David began, turning in his seat to face Kate, her eyes looking briefly away from Jessica to David, "Are we going to get a Christmas tree today?"

Being that it was Saturday, Kate had the day off, and Rick had worked hard to finish the chapters he needed to by today so that the family could go in search of a tree. If they didn't do it today, Kate didn't know when they'd get a chance, as she was working next weekend, and the following weekend would be Christmas party preparations.

"I think we could probably go looking for a Christmas tree today, what do you think, Rick?" Kate asked, watching the children in the room go very quiet as they all looked expectantly at their father. It was no secret that the Christmas tree was the favorite part of the Castle household. Not only did they get to go and choose it themselves, but the decorating was fantastic fun for everyone. Usually, Kate's parents and Martha would come over to help out, and on occasion, Lanie, although Kate was sure Lanie had her own plans this year.

Rick was standing in the kitchen, wasting time and making the kids very anxious as he scratched his chin thoughtfully, sighing.

"Well, you see, we could go today," he began, his eyes darting amusingly between Alexis and David, unsure who was more nervous at the moment, "but you know, it's just been snowing, so there's all the pretty, soft snow everywhere, perfect for snow angels, actually, and the sun is out and everything –"

"Come on, Daddy, please can we go?" David pleaded, "It's the perfect day outside!"

Shaking her head in laughter, Kate watched as Rick gave another quick huff before saying, "Oh, alright then, we're going Christmas tree shopping!"

There was a unanimous and exuberant cheer from the kids as they all quickly scrambled from their seats and ran upstairs, the four kids chattering excitedly as they went.

"Careful up the stairs, kids!" Kate called after them, muffled 'Yes Mommy's' meeting her in reply as she wandered over to Rick.

"Here, take Jessie, get her organized, I'll go wrangle the munchkins upstairs," Kate said, giving a delighted Jessica to her father and leaving a kiss on both her cheek and his lips before wandering up the stairs herself. She could hear Rick quietly chattering to Jessica, saying or doing something that was clearly funny, hearing the five month old shriek with laughter as they made their way into the nursery downstairs.

Reaching the top landing, Kate walked first by Alexis' room on the left, to find her neatly arranging her clothing on her bed. There was a pair of white stockings laid out beside a red skirt, one of Alexis' favorites, a white t-shirt with stitched flowers, a white sweater with pink cuffs and finally a pink and red parka. On the ground were a pair of red, leather boots, ones Alexis had received from Martha for her birthday in October, and Kate saw the young redhead emerge from the cupboard carrying a cream, woolen scarf and gloves.

Knowing Alexis was perfectly capable of dressing herself, she moved across the hall to find Lucas and David both playing in David's room instead of getting ready. She blamed Rick for this one; both boys had lightsabers, and of course, to be original, last night's movie choice had been Star Wars.

"Come on, boys, you can play Jedi later," Kate said, chuckling as she walked into the room, pushing past them to the dresser and wardrobe. From inside both, she pulled a pair of jeans, a blue t-shirt with Artoo-Detoo on it (just to stay with the theme!), a white sweater and a blue parka. She left the clothes on David's bed, before she gestured Lucas out of the room.

"Put on your boots when you're dressed, okay David?" Kate added, with a nod from the young boy, who was delicately putting away his lightsabers.

Kate followed Lucas out of the room, to find Rick in the hallway with Jessica, who was all rugged up in a mixture of pink and white.

"Rick, can you go and help Lucas out?" Kate asked, "I've just got to go check on Elise."

With a nod, Rick turned to see Lucas standing bewildered at his wardrobe doors, so far only able to pull out his own jeans and a belt.

"Come on, Jessie, let's go see Lucas, huh?" Rick murmured to the baby in his arms, who was fiddling intently with his ear.

With a chuckle, Rick set her down on Lucas' bed, leaving her with a stuffed dinosaur to play with and taking a seat beside her, one hand on her back, the other on his knee.

"You good, buddy?" Rick asked, giving the young boy a smile as he turned around.

Nodding, Lucas took a minute to take in what his father was wearing, then went to his dresser and began rummaging. Soon after, he pulled out a plain green t-shirt, ran over to put it on the bed beside his jeans, then ran back over to his dresser and found a different drawer to rummage.

"Shut the other drawer, Lucas," Rick instructed, "you might hit your head."

"Thank you, Daddy," Lucas murmured, pushing the other drawer carefully closed then continuing with his new search for a sweater. He soon found a pale blue one, and shuffled over to his bed carrying it.

"Is this okay, Daddy?" Lucas asked, to which Rick simply nodded.

"Although, I think you might need a parka, Mr. Lucas," Rick added, "It's a bit cold outside."

With a quick nod, Lucas ran over to pull out his favorite, white parka from the wardrobe. Deciding his son was set, Rick stood up gently, reaching down to pick up the still thoroughly enthralled Jessica from the bed and wandered out of the room.

Looking across the hall, he saw Kate helping a fidgety Elise into a purple dress, having already put her in a pair of tights of a lighter shade of purple. With Kate helping, Rick knew Elise would be ready very soon, while he looked down the hall to see Alexis and David chatting to each other as they walked down the stairs together, parkas and scarves in hand.

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Last time, we didn't get to see the family pick out their tree, as Kate was injured from the car accident. However, this time, we will see it, just in the next chapter!