Chapter 13 - Merry Christmas to All (25 December 2021)

Tony shifted on the bed and slowly became aware of baby LJ beginning to fuss in the portable crib set up in his parent's bedroom. Ziva was curled into his side, snoring softly. He placed a soft kiss on her head and gently extracted himself from underneath her. He sat up and put his feet on the floor; he padded over to the fussy baby and picked him up from the baby bed.

"Hey there, little man, getting hungry?" he softly cooed to his youngest. "Abba's gonna take you over to Ima so you can get the good milk." He glanced at the clock on Ziva's nightstand: 0430; the baby had slept about five hours since his last feeding.

Ziva sat up sleepily, "Toda, Tony. What time is it?" She reached for the baby as Tony brushed his lips on hers and lowered the little boy into his mother's waiting arms.

"0430," he replied. "A bit over five hours since last feeding. At least we got some sleep…" he climbed back in his own side of the bed and rolled towards his wife. "Someone is hungry," he commented as LJ nursed greedily.

"He is a DiNozzo," Ziva quipped with a smirk. "I would not expect otherwise when it comes to his feeding. I hope he will go back to sleep for a while after this one."

Tony nodded with his head on his pillow, "I figure the others will be up between 0700 and 0730. Let me make breakfast this morning for everyone… well, except our little guy here. The kids will scarf up chocolate chip pancakes and that should fill them until we get to Gibbs' house. I'm glad we took the pans of lasagna and cookies over yesterday. Less to lug today with all the stuff in the diaper bags for LJ and the twins."

Ziva shifted the baby to burp him as Tony drifted back to sleep. She shifted him again to nurse on the other side and the little one dozed off while eating. Ziva also nodded off until LJ squirmed in her arms as he had filled his diaper. She rose and changed him, then placed the baby back in his crib. He settled in and went back to sleep quickly. Ziva climbed back into her side of the bed and snuggled up next to her warm furry bear. Tony sighed in his sleep and wrapped an arm over his wife.

~Merry Christmas~

"Abba," little fingers poked at his face and tried to pry open his eyes. "Abba."

Tony became fully conscious of the insistent little girls poking at him to wake up. "Hmm, what time is it?" he mumbled as he slowly opened an eye, hoping that the twins would not accidentally poke it.

"Me hungee," Riv tapped his face with her hand. "Bef hungee. No sleep Abba."

Tony focused on the face that was now inches from his own; the two little ninjas looked so much like their big sister. He remembered Tali poking him in a similar manner when she first came to him; she had been almost the same age as her younger sisters were now.

"Okay, but let's be quiet and not wake up Ima or LJ," he slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He glanced at the clock on his nightstand: 0648; close enough that he had called it. "Let me get up and we'll get some bananas and animal crackers. When everyone is up I'll make pancakes," he stretched as he rose from the bed and pulled on his robe.

"C'mere," he balanced a twin on each hip and headed to the kitchen, checking on LJ as he passed the portable crib. The baby was asleep sprawled on his back. "Shh, we don't want to wake up anyone else yet," he reminded his number two and number three mini-ninjas.

"K, Abba," Riv giggled. Beth joined her twin with giggles as their Abba carried them to the kitchen.

He placed the two on the floor by the counter and grabbed a banana to peel and slice for the girls. He split the slices between two paper plates, added a handful of animal crackers to each plate and poured two sippy cups partially full of apple juice. He carried the food to the breakfast nook table and placed it in front of the two chairs with booster seats. He lifted each girl into a seat, then returned to the counter for the juice. After setting a cup on the table for each twin, he sat next to them while they ate.

"Did you know that Tali and I bonded over food? She knew some Hebrew and some English when she came to me. I knew a bit of Hebrew for Ima, but I had to learn fast with Tali. Did you know that 'ani raev' means 'I'm hungry' and 'ani tsame' means 'I'm thirsty'? Tali loved to eat strawberries, peaches, bananas, Cheerios, animal crackers, fishies… just like you two," he grinned at the two little ninjas. The little girls were busy shoveling food in their mouths; he wondered how much of what he told them they actually understood. "I got really good at making the things Tali liked to eat like pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken nuggets, cheeseburger macaroni, and chocolate milk. Of course, she liked my secret recipe spaghetti as well.

"And now, all of you like those foods, and pizza too. I don't make my own pizza. Tried once and it was a disaster. I think I put too much yeast in the dough because it rose over the sauce and cheese and stuff. The crust was like the edge of a bowl holding all the other stuff inside. And the middle was kinda soggy; still tasted like pizza, but it was a gooey mess. We, me and Tali, ate it anyway, but I decided that pizza needed to come from a real pizzeria after that fiasco," he chuckled as he spoke.

"Mo, Abba… pweese?" Beth held out her empty plate with her best puppy eyes look.

Riv shoved the last piece of banana into her mouth and held out her empty plate as well, "Mo?"

Tony took the two plates from the girls and walked over to the counter, "One more banana to share and then you have to wait until everyone is awake for pancakes."

"Pancakes? When?" Anthony came in the kitchen still waking up. His hair was sticking up in many directions from sleeping. "I can eat a big stack, Abba!" The four-and-one-half-year-old held his hands about six inches apart to show his father the size stack of pancakes he wanted.

"Morning," Tony put the sliced banana at the twins' places as he greeted his older son. "As soon as everyone is awake, I'll make pancakes. Would you like some banana or juice for now?"

"Both," Anthony sat at the table with his sisters. "But don't slice my banana. Please."

Tony handed the boy a whole banana that he'd started the peel and filled a cup with juice for the boy. "One banana for Anthony!" he winked at the girls who giggled at their Abba's antics.

"Boker tov," Ziva greeted her family as she entered the kitchen with LJ in the baby sling. The infant had awakened as Ziva was heading out of the bedroom;; she put him in the sling and he settled in to watch the world from his Ima's chest.

"Hi," a sleepy Tali came in from the other side of the kitchen. "Merry Christmas everyone!" She grabbed a banana and a juice box and sat at the counter.

Tony stood up from his chair at the breakfast nook table, "Now that everyone is awake, it's time to make pancakes with chocolate chips." He started mixing the batter and heating the griddle.

"When are we gonna open presents?" Anthony looked at his Ima as she sat where Abba had been sitting. "Hi, LJ," he placed a soft kiss on his baby brother's head.

"After we have breakfast," Ziva replied. "Remember that we are also going to Grandpa's house later today for lasagna with everyone."

"Pwesents?" Rivka perked up at the mention of the gifts.

Ziva reiterated, "After we eat breakfast, yaldati. Abba is making pancakes for everybody."

"Okay, pancakes!" Beth grinned at her Ima. "Mmm, good."

Tony flipped pancakes onto four plates, two each for the twins, three each for Anthony and Tali. He carried them to the table to place in front of the kids. "Yours will be right up, Zi. I figured the kids should get theirs first…"

He poured batter for another ten pancakes on the griddle and soon had a stack for Ziva and refills for the hungry children. With the last of the batter, he made another four pancakes for himself, finally getting to sit at the counter with Tali to eat his own breakfast.

Ziva nursed LJ as the family finished breakfast. After getting the kids cleaned up, and dishes in the dishwasher the family moved to the family room.

"Santa came!" Anthony stared at the stack of gifts around the tree.

Tony put the Santa cap on his head and handed each child one of their gifts. He handed Ziva one for LJ and one for herself. "Okay, open your gifts!" he announced to the sound of paper tearing. The little girls decided they would help their baby brother and tore the paper from LJ's gift also. Soon the family room floor was a mess of torn paper, opened gifts, and excited children.

Ziva laughed at Rivka when the toddler opened a package containing her Christmas outfit. The little girl frowned and shook her head, having expected another toy instead of clothing. Her curt 'no' at the clothes was captured on video by both parents.

An hour later all gifts were opened, the kids were exploring new toys, LJ had been fed again and was sleeping in his rocker/carrier, Tony was trying to gather the shreds of paper from the family room floor, and Ziva was planning for the rest of the day. She packed diaper bags for LJ and for the twins, kid-sized backpacks for Anthony and Tali, and a large tote with assorted other items. Thankfully, they had taken the pans of lasagna and tins of cookies over to Gibbs' house the day before, along with all of their presents for extended family.

"Time to get dressed to go to Grandpa's house," she announced to the others in the family room. "Tali and Anthony, your clothes are laid out on your beds. Rivka and Beth, Abba and I will help you get dressed in your Christmas outfits."

Finally, all were ready to head out. Tali and Anthony climbed into their booster seats in the rear of Ziva's mini-van. Tony placed LJ's carrier in the base between them as Ziva buckled the twins into their car seats in the middle row. Bags, backpacks, and totes were stowed in the rear cargo area. Tony backed out of the driveway for the fifteen-minute drive to Gibbs' house. The DiNozzos arrived at the same time as the McGee family. Tim helped Tony with the bags as Ziva carried LJ and the tote. Tali and Anthony each had a twin by the hand. Dee followed the others up to the front door.

Clay had noticed the group approaching the house and swung the front door open, "Welcome and Merry Christmas, everyone!"

Anthony and John returned the greeting, "Merry Christmas everybody!"

A/N Merry Christmas to all. Thanks for the reviews, favs, and follows. May 2022 bring us all a better year!