Christmas Morning, not unlike most other days, frankly, Jethro woke up a few minutes before the redhead in bed beside him did. He did better with less sleep than she did; a skill Jethro had picked up while he was in the Corps and had to quickly learn to get his sleep whenever and wherever he could.
The curtains in their bedroom were drawn, only small cracks of light peeking through and illuminating the room. Jethro yawned as he took one of Shannon's red locks and absentmindedly twirled it with his fingers.
Shannon fidgeted a bit, scrunching her nose up slightly before blinking her eyes open and turning onto her side. She then gave Jethro a sleepy smile.
Still only half-awake, Jethro spoke softly. "Mornin'."
"Good morning, Handsome." Shannon then gave him a quick peck on the cheek before speaking again. "Merry Christmas."
Jethro smiled at his wife. "And merry Christmas to you too, Beautiful." He then gently pulled Shannon in for a deep kiss.
When they separated, they rolled over onto their side again, just laying there, neither one wanting to get up just yet.
Shannon hummed. "You're so warm."
"Glad to be of use," he said with a soft chuckle.
She glanced briefly at the clock. "We should get up."
With a rather cheeky grin, Jethro gently pulled Shannon back into his arms. "Yeah, we probably should," he agreed, "but I'd prefer bed, all day, with you."
His wife gave a little hum. "Tempting."
"Good," he replied with a smirk.
He and Shannon both laid there resting for another ten minutes or so before finally forcing themselves to get up and actually start their day.
The pair took their time getting dressed, but heading downstairs finally, Jethro noted that both his father and his daughter were already wide awake and enjoying a cup of coffee while chatting away enthusiastically in the living room.
"Merry Christmas you two," he and Shannon chorused as they made their way into the living room after pouring themselves a coffee.
"Merry Christmas," Kelly and her grandfather replied.
"Breakfast and the presents?" Shannon suggested.
"Sounds good to me," their daughter readily agreed, picking up and waving Christmas stocking as she spoke. "I already went through this."
He ruffled his daughter's hair, amused. "Shocking, Kellz."
The twenty-seven-year-old just smirked.
"And you got yours, Dad?" he inquired.
"Yep," his father replied. "Thank you."
His father gave both Jethro and Shannon a bit of a hard time for having slept in, but Jethro really couldn't be bothered to care, though. It was not something that Jethro did often and he simply opted not to dignify the quip with a response.
After chatting for a few minutes, Shannon got up and started making everyone some pancakes for breakfast, Jethro giving his wife a hand as much as she'd allow given she typically preferred to have the kitchen to herself when cooking.
After breakfast, they all headed to the living room, taking a seat on either the couch or the electric recliner chair and exchanging gifts.
He'd gotten his father a modern turntable, knowing that the man's older record player was broken and the Gibbs patriarch still liked to listen to his records from time to time. As for his wife and daughter, Jethro had gotten his wife a SodaStream, his daughter a Yootech Wireless Charger for her cellphone, as well as a couple of other smaller gifts for each of the girls. Shannon had filled the stockings, but Jethro had managed to beat his wife to filling her own, bringing a huge smile to her face.
They'd gifted him a magnetic tool wristband to hold screws and such, a leather watch, and a couple of other clothing items, the girls being of the opinion that he could use a bit more variation in his wardrobe. Jethro didn't overly care either way.
His father had absolutely loved the gift that Kelly got him.
Kelly ended up playing some songs for them on the piano so they sang a few different Christmas carols, and then they turned on the radio, and, Christmas carols playing softly in the background, chatted happily until it was time for them to get food for Christmas dinner on the go.
Maddie Tyler and Shannon's parents were coming over at 1600. Maddie didn't really have any family, all of them having passed, so they'd invited her. So, it was dinner for the seven of them. His mother-in-law was bringing a few things, but that left Shannon in charge of most of it. So, while Kelly and Jethro's father were chatting in the living room, he gave his wife a hand in the kitchen.
They were running around the kitchen for quite some time, but eventually, they had everything prepped that they could, and went to spend some time with their daughter and his father, who was currently telling Kelly a ridiculous Christmas story about Jethro from when he was ten-years-old. Kelly was attentively hanging onto her grandfather's every word, clearly enjoying it, so Jethro couldn't even be upset that the chosen story was a bit more on the embarrassing side of things for him.
His father proceeded to share a few, thankfully, non-embarrassing holiday stories after that, and Jethro even found himself smiling and laughing at some of them and hearing a couple of stories from his father's childhood for the first time.
"Wait," Kelly said in surprise, "you actually did that, Grandpa?"
His father immediately chuckled. "I did. And more than once, Kid. Grew up on a farm, remember? Very different from city living."
"Fair enough," Kelly replied said with a grin.
This Christmas was definitely different from the last, but even the prep work in the kitchen didn't seem like work or an inconvenience. It was hard to see it like that when all he'd wanted for years were even those small nuisances back.
