It had, in fact, snowed in Colorado Springs. Not nearly as much, and it had already been marred by a small army of plows, shovels, people, and dogs, but it counted. And it made Sam smile for Cassie's sake.

"No, wait," she called from the backseat as Daniel moved into the right-hand turn lane for her house. "Drop me at Janet's. I was gonna spend Christmas with Cassie."

The archaeologist glanced backward briefly, but couldn't really afford to keep his eyes off the road; it was Teal'c who spoke. "You and O'Neill are not the only ones to suffer misfortune this holiday. One of Doctor Fraiser's kitchen appliances has failed."

"Her fridge went out," Daniel explained. "And the stores were closed and the food was going to go bad and it wasn't cold enough outside to keep the ice cream frozen."

"Young Cassandra was quite displeased," the Jaffa added dryly.

"Right. So the two of us borrowed Jack's truck and moved the tree and the food and all the presents to your house. Janet didn't think you'd mind."

Sam laughed. "I don't. And there was plenty of room in my fridge."

Daniel chose – wisely – to leave that alone, though Teal'c said, "Indeed."

They pulled up in front of Sam's house mere moments later, and Sam and Colonel O'Neill had made it no more than two feet past the front gate when Cassie erupted from the house, bounded down the steps, and tackled them into a group hug. "You made it!" she cried. "I thought you were going to miss it, and then Uncle Daniel called and said they'd found you and they were bringing you home and I think it's going to be the best Christmas with all of you here!"

Sam grinned at the Colonel as he scooped the growing girl into his arms. "Oh, come on, you didn't think I'd let Carter miss Christmas, did you?"

Choosing to ignore that and let him be the hero for a moment, Sam made her way inside and to the kitchen where Janet bustled, cramming more pans than Sam had ever seen into the oven. "Finding everything?"

"Yup." Kitchen mitts on, the shorter woman hurried around the counter and hugged her briefly. "I'm glad you're okay. I hear the weather got bad out there."

"It was scary for a bit." She didn't mention how the evening had ended with the Colonel in her sleeping bag. "But it snowed, Janet, and it was... incredible. This sounds stupid, but it was like this perfect, gigantic snow globe, all glittering and smooth. It was so beautiful."

"What's a snow globe?"

The question came from behind her, where Cassie stood with the rest of SG-1. "Well," Sam said, "it's a... globe. It's a glass ball, full of liquid and glitter, and it looks like snow."

"People collect them," Janet told her.

The girl blinked, clearly nonplussed. "Why?"

"Because they're pretty," Sam said. "Some people collect ornaments, some people collect paintings, some people collect snow globes."

"A ball full of glitter? That doesn't sound fun at all," Cassie insisted.

Janet took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I don't suppose you have one to show her."

"Uh, I don't..." But she'd hesitated, and she was caught. "Yeah, I do. But I don't really bring them out. They're really old, and... and really fragile."

"I'll be careful, I swear!"

And so, against her better judgment, Sam crawled up the ladder to the attic and carefully slid the old, dusty box out into the open. Taking one off the top, she climbed back down and gingerly unwrapped it on the kitchen island.

"Wow, it's so cool!" Cassie exclaimed, her nose almost to the glass as she looked at the dozen figure skaters inside. "They're so tiny!"

Without picking it up, terrified of breaking it, Sam slid it in a circle just big enough to stir up the glitter inside, earning a cry of pure glee from the little girl.

"Changed her mind, I see," the Colonel said.

"Yeah." Tenderly, eager to have it back in its place, she resecured the bubble wrap around it. "I'll be back in a minute."

Only when her mother's box of snow globes was safely back in its place did her heart slow down enough to sit and enjoy dinner.

~/~

As ordered, Sam took the next day off, and it was noon when her doorbell rang. She opened the door to an empty porch, save a small red box by the door. Curious, she carried it into the kitchen and lifted the top.

Inside sat a brand new snow globe – a grand mountain range in the back and a thousand tiny, detailed trees. The only things missing, she knew, were a stargate and two chilly soldiers. She was grinning ear to ear before she even saw the card.

This one you can leave out.

Merry Christmas, Carter.

~/~

The End.

(I got it done! Woot!)