Lorelai was following Luke around the hardware store, helping him restock the shelves. As she passed him several boxes of nails, she tried to convince him to embrace his Christmas spirit. "Luke, it's Christmas! We have to take the kids to see Santa!"

Luke took the boxes and stacked them on the appropriate shelf. "It's not Christmas, Lorelai. Heck, it's still November," he argued.

"Yes, but Thanksgiving is over, so now it's Christmas."

"Christmas is still a month away. We have plenty of time to decide whether or not to take them to see Santa."

"I don't understand why we wouldn't take them to see Santa."

"Because they're two and won't remember it. There's no point. I need the rest of the nails."

"There aren't any more nails here. I have nuts, bolts, and screws. What do you want next?"

"The bolts."

She handed him the boxes of bolts. "Santa is an important part of Christmas, especially for small children. Jess and Rory need to visit to Santa while they're still young enough to believe in magic."

Luke knelt on the floor to place the boxes on the lower shelves. "You're their mom, they'll always believe in magic."

"True, but we should still take them to see Santa."

Looking up at Lorelai, Luke saw the determination mixed with mischievousness clearly written across her face and sighed, "Is there any chance that I'm going to win this argument?"

"Probably not."

"Fine," he conceded. "We will take them to see Santa."

Lorelai grinned. "Good. Do you want the screws next?"

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"This place is a zoo," Luke said as he looked around in horror at the Christmas village that had been set up in the middle of the Hartford mall. Santa sat in the center of the Christmas village on an elaborate throne. The place was teeming with dozens of children, many of whom were screaming and crying, and their frazzled parents. "If we put the kids down, we'll never see them again."

Lorelai laughed. "You're exaggerating."

A woman carrying a crying baby and dragging a screaming toddler pushed her way between Luke and Lorelai prompting Luke to tighten his hold on Jess. "I don't think so."

"Okay, we won't put the kids down. Let's just get in line to see Santa."

"And then we can go home?"

"Yes, after we see Santa, we can go home."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"No stopping to shop?"

"Please, I know better than to try to shop when all three of you are with me. All any of you will do is complain. I'll come back some other time when I can do my Christmas shopping alone."

"Good. Let's get in line, so we can go home."

"You, my friend, are in desperate need of Christmas spirit."

"I have plenty of Christmas spirit. I just really don't like the mall."

"Whatever you say, honey," Lorelai said. Sheturned around to head for the long line of people waiting to see Santa.

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"We've been here forever," Lorelai whined miserably and hoisted Rory higher on her hip.

Luke checked his watch and corrected her, "It's been less than an hour."

"It feels like forever."

"We could leave."

"No!" Lorelai protested. "We're almost to the front of the line and they need to see Santa."

"So you've said."

"You know I'm right."

"Yes, dear," he placated her.

"You know what else?"

"What?"

"It's your fault that we have to wait in line for so long."

"How is it my fault?" Luke asked incredulously.

"You made us wait to see Santa until the Saturday before Christmas and now everybody is trying to see Santa and the line is a mile long and we will be waiting here forever."

"Again, it hasn't even been an hour."

"So far, but we will be here forever and it's all your fault," she accused with a glare.

"Okay. It's all my fault."

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"You can take your kids to see Santa now," a grumpy elf barked at Luke and Lorelai. Noticing the shocked expression on Lorelai's face, Luke caught her eye and nodded in the direction of Santa's throne, indicating that she should lead the way. Lorelai started to walk toward Santa, carefully stepping around the grumpy elf.

"Ho ho ho!" Santa greeted them cheerfully. "Don't mind the elf, he gets a little grumpy when he misses lunch," he whispered to Lorelai.

"So does she," Luke joked, earning an elbow to the ribs from Lorelai and a chuckle from Santa.

"Who do we have here?" Santa asked, opening his arms wide to accept the squirming toddlers.

"This is Rory," Lorelai said, settling the little girl on Santa's lap while Luke did the same for Jess. "And this is Jess," she added, stroking her fingers gently across Jess' forehead to push a few stray hairs away from his eyes.

When Lorelai stepped away to join Luke near the photographer, Jess and Rory turned to look up at the strange man who was holding them. Jess stared at Santa with wide-eyed wonder, but Rory promptly burst into tears. Lorelai rushed to pick up Rory. "I'm so sorry!"

Santa waved her away. "Don't worry about it. Tell me, does Rory like stories?"

"They both do," Lorelai admitted, anxiously watching as her daughter continued to cry.

Speaking softly, Santa began to recite, "'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse." Rory quieted down and both children were listening intently to the story, so Santa continued, "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there." Lorelai slowly backed away to rejoin Luke and, when Rory remained calm, breathed a sigh of relief.

After finishing the story, Santa encouraged Jess and Rory to smile for the photographer, gave them each a candy cane, and returned them to their parents. "Thank you, Santa," Lorelai said when Rory was back in her arms.

"No thanks necessary. It's what I do. I am Santa after all," he told her with a wink before turning to greet the next family.

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Later that night, as the family sat around the kitchen table eating dinner, William asked, "How was the visit to Santa?"

"Total chaos," Luke grumbled.

"And?" Lorelai prompted.

"All my fault."

William raised one eyebrow. "The chaos was your fault?"

"No. It was my fault we had to wait in line."

"No," Lorelai interjected. "It was your fault that we had to wait in line for hours."

"One hour. We waited in line for one hour," Luke corrected her, his voice strained with exasperation.

Tilting his head to one side, William said, "I don't understand how it's your fault that you had to wait in line."

Before Luke had a chance to answer, Lorelai explained, "I wanted to take the kids to see Santa last weekend, but Luke decided that today would be better. Which would be fine, except it's the weekend before Christmas, so everybody is taking their kids to see Santa and we had to wait forever in a really long line."

William nodded his head thoughtfully. "I see. Luke decided when you would visit Santa, so everything that happened while you were there is his fault."

"Exactly."

"It may be my fault, but at least Jess and Rory got to see Santa like you wanted," Luke pointed out.

"Which is all that really matters," William said in an effort to pacify both Luke and Lorelai. "How did it go when the kids actually saw Santa?"

"I have pictures!" Lorelai exclaimed, sliding her chair backwards. She rushed out of the kitchen, but returned a minute later with two pictures that she passed across the table to William.

Eagerly taking the pictures, William quickly glanced at the one on top, which showed Jess and Rory's initial reactions to Santa, and looked up at Lorelai. "Why was Rory so upset?"

"We dropped her in the lap of a strange man and walked away, why wouldn't she be upset?" Luke replied sarcastically.

"We took her to see Santa and we were only a few steps away," Lorelai insisted. "And I didn't see you rushing to help her."

"Only because you did and I didn't want both of us running up there to scare her more or freak out Jess."

"Yeah, sure, whatever." She turned back to William. "Anyway, they're both happy in the other picture."

William shuffled the pictures in his hands to look at the picture of Jess and Rory sitting calmly on Santa's lap and smiling happily at the camera. "What changed?"

"Santa recited 'Twas the Night before Christmas. You know Rory, tell her a story and she'll be your friend for life."

"That's true," William agreed, chuckling. "It looks like it worked for Santa too."

"It did. It was actually kind of amazing how fast she calmed down and got all smiley."

"Well, I'm glad they ended up having a good time."

"Yeah, I think we may have started a tradition." Lorelai smirked at Luke.

"Fine," Luke conceded, "but next year we go at the beginning of December."

"That's what I wanted to do this year," Lorelai reminded him with a cheeky grin.

"I know, I know. It's all my fault."

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In the early morning hours of Christmas Day, Lorelai taped a bow onto the last present and added it to the pile of brightly wrapped packages that sat under the heavily decorated Christmas tree. Then, she fell backwards onto the living room floor in an exhausted heap. "Are you almost finished, Santa? This little elf is tired."

"Almost. I just have to finish screwing the head on Jess' rocking horse." Lorelai giggled. "Yes, I know. Dirty." Luke hurried to tighten the last few screws. When the rocking horse was assembled, Luke stood up and carried it across the room to set it next to the doll cradle he had already put together for Rory. "There. I'm done."

"Good." Lazily lifting her arms in the air and reaching toward Luke, Lorelai demanded, "Help me up."

Grasping her outstretched hands tightly, Luke hauled her to her feet. He gave her a quick kiss and said, "Come on, Mrs. Claus, let's go to bed." With an arm around her waist, he began leading her away from the Christmas tree, determined to get them both upstairs and into bed as soon as possible.

Lorelai leaned heavily against Luke's side. "I don't think I've ever been so thrilled about the chance to get three hours sleep."

"Maybe, if we're lucky, we'll get four."

"Wouldn't that be nice?"

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"Mama! Dada!" Jess called over the baby monitor. "It Cwismas!"

"Too early," Lorelai whined. Luke's only response was a grunt of displeasure. From their bedroom, they could hear Jess pounding on the door, which they had closed the previous night to keep Jess and Rory from opening their presents before the adults were awake. It had worked because neither Jess nor Rory was tall enough to reach the door handle on their own. As Jess' pounding continued, Lorelai swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat up, groaning, "Coffee, I need coffee."

Luke sat up behind her, brushed her hair to one side, and kissed her neck. "You get Jess and Rory. I'll make your coffee."

"Angel. You've got wings, baby."

"You're a junkie."

"Definitely," Lorelai readily agreed as she drug her weary body out of bed. Grabbing her bathrobe, she told Luke, "We'll meet you downstairs." When she reached Jess and Rory's bedroom, she opened the door slowly in order to avoid hitting Jess. "Merry Christmas, Jess," she said softly.

Jess appeared in the open doorway with a wide smile. "Cwismas, Mama!" he cried in delight, raising his arms above his head.

"Are you excited?" she asked, picking up Jess, who nodded enthusiastically. Entering the bedroom, she saw Rory sitting patiently on her bed, playing quietly with her Raggedy Ann doll. "Merry Christmas, Rory!"

Rory looked up from her doll to smile at her mother. "Hi, Mama!"

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Luke carried two mugs of coffee into the living room. He sat down on the couch next to William and handed him one of the mugs.

"Where're Lorelai and the kids?" William asked. "With all the ruckus Jess was causing this morning, I thought they would have beat us here for sure."

Grimacing, Luke apologized, "I'm sorry he woke you up. They'll be here soon. Lorelai probably had to change their diapers before she could bring them down."

William shrugged off the apology. "I expected to be up early today."

"We all did," Lorelai commented as she walked into the living room with a wiggly toddler on each hip. Rory still clutched her doll. Carefully, Lorelai sat down on the floor near the Christmas tree before releasing her hold on Jess and Rory. While the kids raced across the room to the rocking horse and doll cradle, Lorelai reached for her coffee and sighed in pleasure after taking her first sip. "That's a very merry Christmas," she moaned, eliciting laughs from Luke and William.

From across the room, Rory asked, "Me?" The adults looked up to see Rory standing near the doll cradle. She had already placed her Raggedy Ann doll inside.

"Yes, Rory. That's for you," Luke told her.

Next to Rory, Jess had climbed onto the rocking horse. "Horsie," he declared triumphantly.

Lorelai laughed. "Yes, Jess, that's your horsie." She looked over her shoulder at Luke and said, "I guess we didn't need the other presents. I wish we would have known that, we could've saved Santa a lot of trouble."

"They're just distracted," he replied before calling to Jess and Rory, "Are you ready to open the rest of your presents?"

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By lunchtime, the living room was littered with the evidence of a thoroughly enjoyed Christmas morning. Shredded wrapping paper, discarded boxes, and new toys were scattered across the floor. In the middle of the mess, Jess and Rory sat playing cheerfully with their new G.I. Joes and Barbies.

Luke and Lorelai had curled up together on the couch to watch their children play. Putting on the blue baseball cap Lorelai had given him, Luke vowed never to take it off. Lorelai was already wearing the delicate teardrop earrings she had received from Luke, who claimed the blue stones were an exact match for the color of her eyes.

Nearby, William sat in his recliner, daydreaming about the weeklong fishing trip that Luke and Lorelai had arranged for him to take with Luke in the early part of the summer. Under his breath, he muttered, "A very merry Christmas indeed."