Chapter 33: Deck the Halls
Several weeks later...
"Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Jingle all the way!" Heather and Lorelai laughingly were singing at the top of their lungs in unharmonious harmony while decorating Lorelai and Max's Christmas tree. The guys–Max, Luke, and Logan were standing over in the corner, shaking their heads.
"I don't know them, do you?" Max asked the others.
Luke and Logan quickly shook their heads.
Luke secretly was greatly enjoying the whole situation. Heather and Luke had had family Christmases before. But never anything like this. Usually his sister Liz had ended up drunk and carrying on and on about whatever loser had just dumped her. But this–this is what a family Christmas was all about. Lorelai and Luke had agreed that they didn't want Heather to have to choose where she wanted to spend Christmas. So instead they decided to spend Christmas together. Logan had also opted to join them instead of spending Christmas watching his mother get drunk while his father openly flirted with one of the Christmas party guests. It was the same thing year after year and as far as Logan was concerned it was no way to celebrate Christmas.
Their thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell. Max went over and opened the door to Richard Gilmore.
"Grandpa!" Heather said excitedly, hurrying over to give him a big hug.
"Merry Christmas Heather!" He replied smiling while setting down his bag full of presents and the bottle of wine he had brought to accompany the dinner Max and Luke were making. He still loved hearing her call him "Grandpa."
"Hey Dad!" Lorelai hurried over, giving her father a hug.
"Luke, wonderful to see you again! How's business at the diner?"
"Steady."
"Wonderful to hear."
"And Logan, always wonderful to see you. Escaping from Mitchum and Shira's usual holiday bash I see?"
"Richard, it's good to see you too. I'm definitely in the mood for a quieter more subdued Christmas this year."
"Me quiet?" Lorelai chimed in immediately.
"Ok maybe not quiet...but" Logan trailed off not quite sure how to complete his sentence.
Lorelai smiled as she looked around the scene in front of her–in some ways, being with her daughter was as she had always imagined it. In other ways, it was nothing like she had imagined. However, she couldn't imagine being any happier than she was at that moment. Her daughter was finally back in her life again and she accepted Lorelai as her mother. Her daughter was beautiful, intelligent, funny, and more than she could ever have dreamed of. Lorelai wasn't naive–she knew that there would be more bumps in the road ahead. But whatever the future had in store for them–she knew that somehow they would be able to make it through it as a family.