1990
It is on December 26th. The little Gibbs family celebrated Christmas yesterday. It was a great day and the little family had a great time. Kelly spends most of the day playing with the new toys she got for Christmas. Then in the afternoon she and her parents went to the park to go sledding. In the late afternoon when they came home they had hot chocolate and watched a Christmas movie together. It had been nice but also a long day. Kelly had fallen asleep at around 11.30 pm when she snuggled up to her dad on the couch and finally past out. Until then she had been running around playing with her dad. She had also spent some time in the basement with him working on a small Christmas project together. Gibbs had done a lot to try and run his little girl tired, but nothing had seemed to outrun the sugar-rush she was running on from all the Christmas candy and Christmas cookies.
Gibbs slowly wakes up by the bright light coming in through the master bedroom window. He looks over at his wife, Shannon who is still peacefully asleep. He gets out of bed and walks downstairs. Shannon is still asleep and most likely is his daughter Kelly too. She was up late last night playing with her new toys so Gibbs is expecting to have a few hours of quiet time before his wife and daughter wakes up. As Gibbs walks down the stairs he notices there has been someone moving around in the snow. It had snowed all night so the snow in the front yard was supposed to be undisturbed. Instead, there are big paths in the snow where the snow is gone. It doesn't seem like an animal who has run through. He walks closer to the door and now catches a glimpse of his little 6-year-old daughter Kelly out in the snow. It seems like she is rolling a big snowball, which explains the big path in the snow. Snow is up to her knees, so it is a bit difficult for her to maneuver through the snow and push the snowball at the same time but the little girl seems to have a blast. Gibbs puts on a coat and his winter boots before he gets outside.
"morning Kelly. You are up early." He says.
"morning daddy." The little girl greets and then continues to push the snowball.
"what are you doing?" Gibbs asks.
"a snowman. You want to help?" the little girl asks excited and looks up at her dad with her big smiling eyes.
"I would love to but how about some breakfast first?"
"I had breakfast daddy."
Gibbs looks bewildered at his little girl.
"my last Christmas pancake from yesterday," Kelly explains. That makes Gibbs chuckle.
"Okay, that sounds delicious. But how about a little more breakfast?"
"oh alright daddy," Kelly says and they walk to the door together.
"Please brush off the snow…" Gibbs says as he steps in, but before he finishes his sentence he sees his little girl who is covered in snow on her clothing… standing in the middle of the entrance brushing off the powdered snow inside the house. "outside the house." Gibbs says when he looks at Kelly.
"ups," Kelly says and steps outside the door and brush the last few snowflakes of her jacket. Most of the snow had already come off on the floor in the house.
"place your booths on the doormat please, Kelly." Kelly does as she is instructed. Once she has gotten her outdoor clothing off and handed it to her dad, she walks into the kitchen. Closely followed by her dad.
"how about we make French toast for breakfast?" Gibbs asks while he is setting up the coffee. His little girl nods eagerly.
"can you help me find the ingredients?" the little girl gets down from her chair and walks to the refrigerator to take out the ingredients.
Shannon wakes up to the sound of Kelly's giggling coming from the kitchen downstairs. It makes Shannon smile hearing her little girl giggle. Shannon gets out of bed and walks down the stairs. She can hear her husband and daughter are in the kitchen, probably making pancakes, which has become their favorite breakfast to prepare together. Shannon walks into the kitchen and sees her husband and daughter standing in front of the stove. Kelly is preparing the French toasts while Gibbs is cooking them. Shannon loves the sight of her husband and daughter in the kitchen. She knows her husband is a great cook and her daughter enjoys so much spending time with her dad.
"mommy," Kelly exclaims loud once she notices her mom is standing in the doorway and is observing them. Kelly runs over and hugs her mom.
"morning," Gibbs says leaning against the kitchen counter, smiling at his beautiful wife. Her long red hair is falling perfectly along her face and down over her shoulders. He isn't sure how it is possible but she seems to more and more beautiful every day he sees her.
"mommy," Kelly says eagerly looking up at her mom. Her mom seems to be lost in something. She isn't paying attention to her daughter. Shannon is getting lost in her husband's shining blue eyes. Shannon often gets lost in those shining blue eyes and she loves that sweet smile he has on his face when he is looking at her. she feels in love with that smile the first time she saw it. "mommy." Kelly says again impatiently and tucks at her mom's arms. That snaps Shannon back to reality.
"yes, sweetie," Shannon says and kneels down to her daughter.
"Daddy and I are going to build a snowman today." Kelly looks back at her dad with a big smile.
"Really?" Shannon asks impressed and that causes Kelly to nod her head eagerly. "can I help?" Shannon asks.
"Yeah. Right daddy?" Kelly looks back at her dad. He nods affirmatively with a smile before he turns back to flip the last French toast on the pan.
"breakfast is ready." Gibbs declares and flips the French toast from the pan to the plate with the rest of the toast they made. Gibbs places the plate in the middle of the nicely set breakfast table that Kelly made a big effort to set.
"I need to go to the bathroom." Kelly says and walks through the living room. "don't start without me." she yells back as she reaches the bathroom door.
"We won't," Shannon yells back and then they hear the bathroom door closes. Shannon walks over to her husband. He is leaning against the corner of the kitchen counter. She loves the sight of him in lose sweatpants and his marine t-shirt. She places her hands on his chest and he wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her closer to him. she leans in and kisses him passionately.
"Morning to you too." She says with a smile once they break the kiss and they both start chuckling. Shannon looks back to see if Kelly is coming back before she looks at her husband again and asks almost whispering.
"I thought she was going to sleep in today. She was up late and high sugar rush."
"yeah, I had hoped that too. When I came down she was out in the yard building a snowman." Shannon smiles at her husband and leans in and kisses him again before she asks in a lower and a lot more suggestive voice. "what where you hoping to do while she was sleeping in?" Shannon is suggestively and flirtatiously running her finger down his jawline.
"I could think of a few ideas." He says in the same low voice with a sparkle in his eyes.
"hmm…" Shannon says with the same sparkle in her eyes. Gibbs leans down and captures her lips in a passionate kiss.
"what are you doing?" They are interrupted by Kelly who is standing in the doorway leading to the living room. Kelly has her hands placed on her hips. She looks very suspicious of her parents.
"Waiting for you," Gibbs says casually while Shannon is hiding her face in his chest to not show her daughter that she is laughing. He can feel her laughing against his chest and it isn't making it easier for him to not smile or laugh. It has been a long time since they have been busted by their daughter in a passionate moment. Kelly used to just run over to her parents and wanted to join in but as she has gotten older she seems more suspicious of her parents when she catches them and they have also become more aware of her presence. Especially after she came home from school one day and asked if she could have a baby sister, which had completely cut her parents off guard. Kelly keeps staring at her parents.
"how about we have breakfast?" Gibbs asks Kelly after he can feel Shannon as stopped laughing. She is still leaning against him and resting her head on his chest as she is hugging him and looking over at Kelly and smiles. Gibbs is hugging his wife and doesn't really want the contact to end.
"I want a hug too," Kellly says and breaks into a big smile and runs over and hugs her parents.
After a nice breakfast proudly prepared by Kelly, the little family all put on their winter clothing and went outside to build a snowman. Kelly rolled the head of the snowman, Shannon rolled the middle part and Gibbs rolled the bottom. Then it was time to assemble the snowman Kelly helped Gibbs with the heavy lifting of the parts while Shannon assisted with some lose snow that could help stabilize the snowman and attach the parts to each other. When it was time to make the snowman's face, Gibbs and Kelly went into the garage and found an old hat and an old scarf for the snowman to wear while Shannon went inside to find a carrot for the snowman's nose. Once they were all together again around the snowman Kelly ordered her mom to find two sticks for the snowman's arms, while Gibbs was assigned the duty of finding two rocks for the eyes and Kelly assigned herself the duty of collecting smaller rocks for the snowman's mouth. Kelly runs around in the yard digging under the snow to find the small rocks while Gibbs and Shannon slowly walk around.
"you are okay with her being in charge, Gunny?" Shannon asks with a joking smile.
"ahh… for now," Gibbs says looking over at Kelly and they both smile. Shannon is leaning close into her husband. She is cold. Gibbs stops walking and wraps his arms around her and hugs her tight.
"Kelly asked me while we were making breakfast if we could do Christmas like this all the time." That makes Shannon laugh.
"all the time?" she asks.
"Yeah. Well, I think she meant every yeah."
"as much as I love having my parents and your dad to visit for Christmas... I really do enjoy just the 3 of us spending the holidays together." Shannon says and kisses her husband.
"yeah me too. I think Kelly does too." Gibbs says and they look over at Kelly how is laying on her stomach in the snow while digging deep into a hole in the snow to find the perfect rocks for the snowman. It amuses her parents.
"I found some," Kelly announces loud while her head is halfway in the snow.
"I think we should do Christmas like this every year. You, me and Kelly." Shannon says. Gibbs nods. he couldn't agree more. Christmas every year with his two girls would make every Christmas perfect.
Note: I know… I know… we all know that is not going to happen for the little Gibbs family, but… it was a wish for the little family.