So, as I promised, here's my festive, holiday-themed arc of Bayley's Universe I am titling 'Christmas With the Gems'. Curious to find out just what Christmas with our Gems is like? Read on to find out, my loves. =)

Sitting on one of the stools surrounding the kitchen island, Sasha couldn't help but find herself curious about why Bayley, Dean, Seth, and Roman were hanging balls and other shapes on a fairly tall pine tree. When she saw Dean come in the house with the tree earlier that day and saw Bayley get pretty excited about it, the magenta-haired Gem wasn't quite sure what to make of all of this; throw in the other Gems decorating the chopped down fir now, and Sasha just wanted to know why they were doing this. 'This is obviously a human custom that I don't know of,' Sasha thought. 'I just don't know why Dean, Roman, and Seth are doing this with Bayley.'

Looking over to see Sasha staring, a look of curiosity quite apparent on the Gem's face, Bayley asked "Sasha? What's up? Something on your mind?"

"I, um, I'm just trying to figure out what it is that you four are doing. Why are you hanging things on that tree?" Sasha asked.

"Well, because it's almost Christmas. It's another one of my favorite holidays in the year to celebrate," Bayley smiled.

"Christ...mas?" Sasha asked, a splash of not knowing getting added into her curiosity.

"Wait. You don't know what Christmas is, either?" Bayley asked, surprised to hear this. The ponytailed brunette already knew that Sasha didn't have the firmest understanding of human customs, so to hear her sound confused about Christmas just seemed a bit weird. "But, wait. You've been alive for as long as the guys have, haven't you? How do you not know about it?"

"Well, it might be because I spent a lot of my time around in a brooch. Other than that, I've never really had contact enough with humans to really learn about many of their customs," Sasha said.

Turning to look at the other Gems, Bayley asked "Guys? Is this true?"

"For the most part, yes it is," Seth nodded. "You see, Bayley. While Sasha has been around for as long as the rest of us, she never really had much of an interest in wanting to interact with humans. Even though we're their protectors, Sasha never really interacted with them. So, it's because of this, Sasha has a bit of an inherent distrust of humans. But, now that she's back in her human form, she wants to try to work on getting to know humans."

"And, who knows?" Dean said as he hung a few balls on the tree's limbs. "Maybe that'll mean you can help with teaching her some of your favorite human things to do, Bayley."

"I think I'd like to try that, Dean," Bayley smiled. Turning back to Sasha, Bayley asked "So, what do you say, Sasha? You want to celebrate your first Christmas with me and the guys?"

"Um, sure, I suppose," Sasha offered a slightly nervous smile to the ponytailed brunette. Sliding off of the stool, Sasha walked over to join her fellow Gems at the tree. "So, how do humans typically celebrate Christmas?"

"Well, for starters, we usually decorate one of these." Gesturing to the tree next to her, Bayley said "This is called a Christmas tree, and we usually decorate it with stuff like lights and ornaments and something to go at the top of the tree."

"Huh. That's rather interesting," Sasha looked up at the partially decorated tree. "It's pretty different that humans actually do things like this."

"It is, I guess. It's also pretty fun. You want to try helping with the decorating?" Bayley held the box of ornaments she had out to Sasha and said "Here. Take an ornament or two and hang them wherever you want on the tree."

"Um, OK," Sasha nodded. Reaching into the box, Sasha pulled out to ball-shaped ornaments, one a light purple and the other pink. Walking over to the tree, Sasha proceeded to hang the ornaments on two limbs that were right next to each other. "I...don't see the fun here just yet."

"Well, you don't really feel the fun of tree decorating just yet. It usually takes hanging a few more ornaments on the tree for the fun of Christmas to start," Bayley smiled. "Just don't try to rush it. I'm sure you'll come to really like Christmas."

"I'm sure I will," Sasha offered up another slightly nervous smile while the main thought that seemed to flow through her mind was 'At the very least, I hope I will come to like this holiday' as she continued to help her fellow Gems with the tree decorating.

And, with this begins my Christmas arc of Bayley's Universe. I feel that this is going to be an interesting take on something holiday-oriented as I'm writing about both celebrating and helping someone celebrate their own first Christmas. So far, Sasha doesn't seem all that enthused with the jolly holiday, but all she's done is help decorate the tree. Hopefully, Bayley will get to show the magenta-haired cinnamon roll just why she loves Christmas so much. We'll get to see more of how Bayley and the Gems celebrate Christmas next time, so until then, don't forget to R&R please. =)

(And, I'm sorry for such a short start. It honestly seemed like I was typing a lot more than I was, but I guess that's just the weird powers of one's own perception at work. ^^, )