Hello and ack! Sorry we are so late in posting! (Ruth wasn't done until this afternoon and this story is so long it took some time to edit lol) BUT! It's here now and I just know that you'll all going to love it! We have Zarter today(night) and it's honestly so amazing. I hope you all enjoy and please review!

Written by Ruth

Disclaimer: Let's all say it together, shall we? "WE DONT OWN WHAT RICK OWNS!" There, that should satisfy FanFiction for what? Never.

(Sorry for being bitter but seriously!)

Christmas Countdown: Today is December 21 which means that we only have 4 days until Christmas! WOOT WOOT!

Carter walks into my room. Well, not walks, but barges. I turn to look at him from where I'm folding clothes at my dresser. I quirk an eyebrow at him.

"How come you didn't mention that this is your first Christmas, Zia?" He asks.

"Because, I didn't. There really was not point in it."

"No point?!" Carter asks, raising his arms. I stare at him weirdly. "It's December 21st, which means I've only got two days before Christmas Eve and Day. And it's the night, so we can't really do anything today, but I am going to make this the best Christmas you've ever had."

"But it's the only Christmas I've ever had," I point out, but I'm touched that he's willing to do this for me.

"Still. Now excuse me, I'll be planning this out." He tells me.

I shake my head, smiling, as he walks out the room.

The next day goes by smoothly, no random Christmas attacks, until Carter drags me out the Nome to do stuff.

"Carter, where are we going?" I ask, looking at him.

"To go see Christmas lights. Some people go all out with their Christmas lights and it's amazing to look at. Dyker Heights in Brooklyn has amazing lights there. The whole neighborhood is lit up," Carter says as we get on the subway.

"And we're going there?" I ask, holding onto the pole as people load in the cart and then the train takes off.

"Yep. You'll love it." Carter tells me. I smile at him and he returns it.

"So, what are some traditions you guys used to do for Christmas?" I ask, looking at my boyfriend.

"Well, me and my Dad would always give each other one present on Christmas Eve and make my Mom's cookies, even if we had to alter the ingredients because the location we were at. And then of course there was Christmas Day when some more presents were exchanged. We used to ask the towns people for a small tree to use as a Christmas tree and we'd make our own ornaments. That was always my favorite part, spending time with him when he wasn't busy because he'd send anyone away when they bothered him. It was our time, just the two of us." Carter says, smiling softly, almost as if he was transported back to those memories. I squeeze his hand and he looks at me, still smiling.

"That sounds very nice, Carter." I tell him.

"It was. So, what are yours?" He asks, then stops. "Whoops, forgot, you never celebrate Christmas."

I nod.

"Well, then I guess we get to make our own memories," Carter says, pulling me into a side hug. I lean into it before pulling away.

"Yeah, I guess we do, don't we?"

"Yep. And it's going to be amazing memories," Carter says. The train comes to a stop. "Oh, look, we're here."

Carter and I get off the train, walking through the subway station until we walk up the stairs heading to the city. Carter leads me around the city like he knows it like the back of his hand, which he probably does.

We come up to neighborhood that has thousands of people there. Carter pulls me along, so we can start walking through the neighborhood. It's amazing. Lights are everywhere at every house and it's beautiful.

"Look," I say, pointing to a miniature neighborhood in one of the houses. It has lights on the little houses and stuff. There's even a train running through it.

"That's so cute," Carter says, taking my hand.

We continue throughout the neighborhood. There's Santas, snowmen, reindeer, and a whole lot more. It's amazing.

"Hey, do you mind getting a picture of us together?" Carter asks, turning to someone.

"Yeah, of course." She says, taking Carter's phone.

Carter drags me over to the Christmas tree in one of the people's houses. We turn inwards a little, Carter placing an arm around my waist and me putting a hand on his chest.

"Okay, one...two...three," the lady says, angling the phone to take a picture. The lady puts the phone down, walking up to us. "Okay, I took two."

"Thank you, so much." Carter says, taking his phone and smiling at her. I give her a small smile.

"Of course, Merry Christmas," the lady says.

"Merry Christmas!" Carter calls. "Alright, let's get another one."

"Another one? Why do we need so many photos?" I ask, looking at him. He stares back at me, the Christmas lights reflecting off his brown eyes.

"Memories." Carter says. "Now I'm going to pull you into a kiss and take a picture."

"Are you just doing this to kiss me?" I ask, crossing my arms. I raise an eyebrow.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Carter says, pulling my arms gently apart.

"I'm sure you don't."

"Come on."

"Fine."

Carter holds up the phone before leaning in to kiss me. I kiss him back, hearing the click of the camera once. Then twice. I pull away.

"Okay, let's keep looking at all the lights," I tell him, pulling him along.

We continue through the neighborhood, looking at all the lights and having fun.

I end up waking up the next morning around six. I look out the window to see the sun just rising. I watch it from my window, enjoying every second of it. This is always the best. When it's quiet through the Nome and I can just watch the sun rise.

Of course that's all ruined when Carter busts into my room, dressed and everything.

"Zia, we've got to leave now." He says urgently.

I turn around, slightly startled by the intrusion.

"What?" I ask, wondering what he's doing up so early and why he's already dressed.

"Christmas shopping. The busiest, craziest, most brutal part of Christmas. The stores are going to be packed with people doing last minute Christmas shopping." Carter explains.

I frown. "Okay...is anyone else coming?"

"Yeah, Sadie and Walt are getting ready. Well, Walt is ready and Sadie is still getting ready," Carter says.

"Okay, I'll get ready, I guess." I tell him.

"Okay, great!" Carter rubs his hands together.

I nod. When he doesn't move, I give pointed look to the door and then him. His eyes widen, skin darkening.

"Right. I'll be downstairs. Come down when you're done," Carter rushes, quickly walking out my room, slamming the door closed in the process. "Sorry!"

I sigh, shaking my head. I pull close from my dresser and closet, heading to the bathroom to get ready. I took a shower last night, saving me from taking one this morning. I do everything else in my routine though.

Finally, I walk downstairs to see Carter and Walt talking. Carter looks at me and smiles, eyes lighting up. I hold in a blush from the look on his face.

"Hey, where's Sadie?" I ask.

"Probably upstairs doing something else besides getting ready. I'll go get her," Carter says, clearly annoyed. He walks up the stairs.

I turn to Walt. "So, what's this Christmas shopping?"

"Nothing too special. You just get presents for people to give them on Christmas Day. Only problem is, we don't have a Christmas tree, so we'll probably have to buy some lights and ornaments," Walt says.

I look around and see that yes, there's no tree in the Nome.

"Carter, I was literally ready," Sadie says as the two siblings walk downstairs bickering.

"No you weren't. When I got up there, you were listening to music. You didn't even have your shoes on." Carter fires back. Sadie rolls her eyes as the pair gets up to Walt and I.

"Carter, putting on shoes doesn't take that long," Sadie tells him. Walt and I share a look before turning back to the siblings.

"That's not the point." Carter says.

"Okay, let's get going before stores get even more crowded." Walt says.

"Yes, please," I agree. "But what about the tree? We don't have one." I mention before we leave.

"All covered. Stupid and I picked out a tree already. It's on the roof." Sadie says, getting jabbed in the side by Carter. She jabs him back.

Walt shakes his head.

"Good. So all we have is ornaments and lights." He says. The two nod.

"Well, now we can leave." I say.

The four of us leave the Nome, leaving everyone and all the animals, hoping it won't burn to ashes by the time we get back.

"So, what should I get your brother?" I ask as Sadie and I walk through Kohl's. The boys are in a different store together.

"I don't know. Maybe some new clothes. Boys are always in need of new clothes." Sadie suggest. "Speaking of which, I should probably get Walt some."

"Want to head to the men's clothing?" I ask.

"Yeah." Sadie says, looking at her iPod.

We make our way over there.

"Ugh, she's so lucky her boyfriend did that for her," Sadie mumbles, still looking at her phone.

"What are you talking about?" I ask, looking over at her.

"My friend's boyfriend back home made her this box thing that contained some of her favorite things and pictures of them for her birthday," Sadie tells me.

"Let me see," I say. She shows me the picture and it's exactly like Sadie described. I start getting ideas.

I could do this for Carter, but bigger and better. Who says guys can be the only one to do this?

"I'm going to walk around and I'll meet you at the check out," I tell Sadie. She shrugs.

"Okay."

I make my way away from her, walking throughout the store to start putting together Carter's Christmas gift. And everyone else's.

By the end of the day, we got all the shopping done plus bought ornaments and lights for the tree.

The next day I actually get to sleep in. When I do get up, I make some tea in the kitchen before everyone else gets up. I wait for them all and then we all eat breakfast outside.

"So, I was thinking we could all decorate the tree today," Carter says.

"Finally. I was wondering when we were getting around to that," Julian says. I cut him a look and he shrugs.

"Yes, well today is the day. And then after, well, I guess you guys can do whatever." Carter says.

I turn to look at him. "What are we going to do?"

"I was thinking ice skating in Central Park." Carter tells me. I smile a little.

"That sounds like fun."

"Yep. Now let's finish our breakfast, so we can do this tree," Carter says, saying the last part louder.

We all eat, talking and laughing with each other. Finally, we finish and go inside. Carter and Sadie use magic to get the tree from outside inside and all set up. Now just lights and ornaments. Khufu, Walt, and Carter start hanging the lights on the tree as the rest of us pull out all the ornaments that were bought.

"Zia and Carter, get together." Cleo says. We do. "Now take this ornament and I'm going to take a picture of you two hanging it. It is Zia's first Christmas. Well, along with some of us as well, but still."

She hands us a glass heart ornament with words inscribed in it. 'Our First Christmas Together' is at the top, in the middle 'Zia and Carter' and at the very bottom the year. I smile at Carter.

"Did you get this made?"

He rubs his neck. "Yeah. I thought it would be cute."

I give him a wider smile. Cleo takes a picture of the two of us hanging the ornament on the tree, smiling at each other. Some cheers go up. I laugh lightly.

We all continue to hang up the ornaments with Christmas music playing in the background. The ornament of the year: a red wood ornament, the first letter of each person's first name. There's Santa hats atop each letter. Once the tree is done, we take a group picture in front of it.

Carter and I escape from everyone to head down to Central Park for ice skating.

"Have you ever done this before?" Carter asks, looking at me as I put on my skates.

"No, but I'm a fast learner, so it shouldn't be that hard." I tell him. He nods.

I stand up and almost fall. I grab Carter's arm to hold me up.

"So, maybe it'll be harder then what I thought," I mumble causing Carter to laugh.

"Come on," Carter says, holding me. We walk out on the ice and my hand instantly shoots to the wall.

I hold on as my skates keep slipping around.

"Uh, Zia." Carter points to my feet.

I look down to see the ice melting under my skates. I clam my nerves, knowing that fire and ice shouldn't mix. I get completely calm and the ice stops meting.

"Ready?" Carter asks.

"Yeah, I think so." I reply. I grab onto him as we slowly start making our way around the rank, Carter teaching me. Soon enough, I've got it down and we're just holding hands, skating around.

"Oh, this has been one of the best weeks in a very long time," I tell him, looking over at him.

"Go..good. I'm glad you're liking it," Carter says.

"So, tomorrow is Christmas Day. Are you excited?" I ask.

"Oh, yes. And I'm more then certain you're going to love your gift."

"And you are going to love yours."

"Oh, can I have it now?" Carter asks, smirking slightly.

"No. You have to wait."

"Rude." I laugh at him.

We skate around for a while, getting pictures. And then when we're done, we walk around Central Park, drinking hot chocolate.

The next morning, I walk downstairs to see gifts galore under the tree. Cleo's curled on the couch, reading a book. She looks up at me.

"Good morning." She says.

"Morning." I say. I look at the clock hung up on the wall. "Everyone else should be up soon, so I'll make hot chocolate and breakfast. Want to help?"

"Yeah, totally." Cleo says, closing her book and getting up.

She follows me into the kitchen and I pull out the Christmas cook book I bought at the store when we went shopping. It has breakfast, deserts, and dinner. I wanted to make homemade meals for this Christmas seeing as how it's some people's first time celebrating Christmas or first Christmas in a while.

Cleo and I start making waffles, sausage, bacon, eggs, and hot chocolate. Right when we finish, everyone comes running downstairs sounding like elephants. Cleo and I laugh at them as they all go to the tree.

"Hey, breakfast first before it gets cold." I tell them, waiting at the door.

"But there's presents. Santa came!" Felix shouts, pointing at them.

Julian goes to say something, but Sadie wacks him upside the head. Julian grumbles something, looking at Sadie.

"Breakfast first. If you hurry up and eat, then we can get to the presents faster." I tell them, looking at Felix.

"Fine." He groans.

"Carter, I do not like your girlfriend right now," Sadie says, looking at her brother. I roll my eyes.

"Why are you telling me this?" Carter asks. Sadie ignores him and takes a seat.

I take a seat as well as everyone starts serving themselves.

"I'm giving you your main gift later." Carter tells me. I nod.

"Me too."

Everyone scarfs down their food before rushing back inside to the tree. I calmly walk in, taking a seat next to Carter. I help distribute the gifts to everyone.

"I say we do youngest to oldest."Walt suggest.

"That'll work." Carter agrees.

"Yes!" Felix pumps his fists, going to open one of his presents.

"Wait!" Cleo says, standing up. "Let me get my camera."

"Hurry up!" Julian yells. She waves him off as she runs upstairs.

Cleo comes back down with her camera, taking a seat again.

"Okay, we're good now."

Felix rolls his eyes before tearing his gift open. He gets super excited at the fake snow he got. It's a lot of fake snow and it's actually cold. Weird.

The rest of us go around opening ours: Sadie got new combat boots; Cleo got some new books, I gave Carter a new shirt, Khufu got a box of Cheerios; Walt got some clothes; I got some jewelry and Carter got me this box thing that includes a notebook, pen, rose hibiscus spray, bath salts, body polish, chocolate bar, some tea, some face mask, and a card; Shelby got some crayons and coloring books; Alyssa got some clay and pottery things for her to practice with. It's really nice.

Dinner is...well, it's crazy. Between cooking, fingers stealing food when people aren't looking, and trying to get everyone under control, it's chaotic. And then sitting down and actually eating is a whole thing in itself. But it's all part of the fun, I guess. We're like a big family.

After dinner though, I go upstairs to finish Carter's gift. I then call him upstairs, so we can exchange the last gift for each other.

"Okay, I want to go first," I tell him as we take a seat at the table on my balcony. I give him the wrapped box and watch him open it.

He smiles widely at it, looking at everything. I did that box thing that Sadie's friend got, but for a guy. I put some candy in there, a really nice watch, a wallet, a key chain that say 'My best gift was you' with the date we got together, a beanie from his favorite basketball team, and a brand new shirt. It has a bunch of pictures of us that I got from our time dating and this Christmas.

Carter looks across the table from me, smiling so widely it makes me warm inside.

"Zia, this is so amazing and...I don't have words." He tells me. He then pauses. "Thank you."

"Of course, it's the least I could do." I tell him.

"Okay, well stand up, turn around, and close your eyes." He tells me.

I do as he says. I feel something cold hit my collarbone as my hair gets lifted. Carter does something, causing the cold thing to move.

"Okay, you can open." He tells me.

I do and look down a Kendra Scott rose gold pendant with a crystal in the middle of it. I stare at it before turning to Carter who looks sheepish and worried.

"I love it. Thank you for giving me the best and first Christmas," I tell him.

"Yeah. Of..course," he stutters slightly.

I lean up to kiss him which he returns. I pull away, smiling slightly.

"We should probably, um, go downstairs before people start asking," Carter says.

"Yeah, we should." I agree.

Carter grabs his present and we walk inside. We make our way downstairs to watch Christmas movies with everyone after Carter puts his gift in his room. We take a seat on the couch as everyone is settled around in the living room. The only source of light is the fireplace and Christmas tree. Sadie puts on a Christmas movie.

And halfway through watching it, I realize how truly amazing this holiday is and how amazing the other religion's holidays are. Maybe I'll have to introduce Carter to some of mine that my family and I used to do. But for now, I'll celebrate his.