I stood in the snow with Mom and Rory, building our snow woman to perfection. Yes, I was too cool for school when it came to a lot of Stars Hollow events but building snowmen, or snow-people should I say, really made my inherited love of the snow shine.

"How do you like that mouth?" Mom asked.

"It's not very mouth like," Rory commented, as I titled my head to the side.

"I think it works," Mom said defensively.

"It's tilted to the side," I informed her. "Come on Gilmore, you're better than this. We need to win this thing,"

"You don't think it gives her kind of a unique expression?" Mom tried.

"Like she had a stroke?" Rory retorted.

"Fine, I'll just use the Mrs. Potato Head lips,"

I groaned. Those were last resort kind of material. "We're doomed now,"

"Yeah, we're not gonna win this anyway," Rory agreed.

"Bad attitude,"

"Have you seen what is over there?" I said, pointing to the legitimately best snowman perhaps ever created.

"I'm sorry that snowman is way over the top, too showy," Mom scoffed. "It's screaming, 'I'm incredible, I'm special, look at me.'"

"Damn, I really wanted that set of new US quarters," I said, glaring over at the snowman builder, who waved at us.

Mom smiled at him as she said, "I hate that man with every fibre of my being,"

"Ignore him," Rory said, as we forged ahead with our own snow woman.

"Okay, what are we doing on your school break, ladies?"

Mom and Rory began discussing plans, as I focused on getting the wig just right.

"Well, you can't work the whole time," Mom said to my sister.

"I won't, I promise,"

"Well, what about you Miss Ava?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, read and draw," I hunted through the bag for a prop. "It's all I ever do,"

"Oh, I don't think that's all you ever do," Mom said with suspicious sweetness.

"Oh yeah, well sometimes I build snow women," I acknowledged. "But as we agreed, I have a rep to maintain and if anyone asks, you bullied me into it,"

"Is this rep of yours maintained by your association with a certain town bad boy?" Mom asked with false innocence, grinning evilly.

"Jess is my friend," I reminded her.

"So, will you two be spending a lot of time together over break?"

"Is that what you really want to ask me?" I asked, my gloved hands on my hips.

"Why, is there something you wanna tell me?" she returned quickly.

Rory sighed. "The whole town's abuzz since you stuck up for Jess at the meeting,"

"I know," I shrugged. I never particularly cared about Miss Patty and Babette's gossip. Nobody at school really cared about my friendship with Jess. I'm sure they all suspected more was going on, but there was usually far better gossip floating around to care what we got up to.

"Oh my God, he's power buffing," I said incredulously, and we all stared with forlorn expressions at the majestic sculpture.

"Come on," Rory said. "We can do this,"

"Absolutely," Mom said determinedly.

I opened my mouth to say something supportive, and then the head of our snow woman fell off.

"Coffee?" I said instead.

"Right behind you," Mom said, and we began to walk over to Luke's. "So Rory, do you know if a certain rebel will be there?"

I grabbed some snow from the ground, quickly forming a snowball and threw it at my mother's head. She shrieked and Rory laughed.

"I warned you, she's going to kill you,"

The Bracebridge Dinner was a huge deal to Mom and Sookie. They were fully recreating a nineteenth century meal, with the servers dressing in period clothing and even speaking in the English of the time. And it had just gotten cancelled by the huge company that had booked for it, because they were snowed in.

"I've got thirty pounds of aged beef, trays and trays of trout, mountains of prune tarts," Sookie exclaimed that night. Mom, Sookie, Rory and I were at Luke's, as they lamented the amount of stuff they were stuck with. "I diced pumpkins until my hands turned orange. I've got pumpkin hands!"

"Take a sip," Mom said, indicating to Sookie's coffee.

"How can you stay so calm about this?" Sookie asked.

"There's nothing we can do about it," Mom said.

"I can't believe they got snowed in," Rory said.

"I hate that," I spoke up. "Of the awesomeness that is snow, it has that one drawback,"

"Plus the whole being able to freeze you to death," Rory said.

"Oh yeah," I said thoughtfully, taking a sip of my coffee.

"All that work," Mom sighed. "All that extra help we hired. At least they paid for it already. We didn't lose any money."

"Yeah, I guess," Sookie said. "I could still make up dinner for the four of us,"

"Yeah, but then it would be like the four of us, all alone in the dining room," Rory said.

"Oh, it would be like The Shining," I said in my best creepy voice.

"Except instead of Jack Nicholson, we have Rune," Mom added.

"God, which is worse do you think?" I cringed. Jackson's cousin Rune was super creepy, and had it in for Mom for being tall.

Luke arrived with a pot of coffee. "Hey you girls want anything else besides coffee?"

"Hey, what about Luke?" Sookie suggested.

"What about him?" Luke asked.

"He eats, and Jess eats," Sookie said to Mom.

"I don't know," Mom said, unable to resist looking at me. "Does Jess eat?"

"No, he uses sarcasm as nourishment," I deadpanned.

"I could believe that," Mom said thoughtfully.

"Doesn't Jess eat?" Sookie said to Luke.

"What is she doing?" Luke asked Mom.

"I think she's inviting you to dinner," Mom said.

"Yeah, come on, join us, it'll be fun," Sookie said with a smile. "You like peacock pie?"

"I'm 100% sure I don't," he said.

"There'll be normal food too," Mom said.

"Thank God," I muttered quietly, knowing if Sookie heard a criticism about her cooking my life would be in danger.

"And decorations," Rory added, nudging me that she heard my comment.

"And music," Sookie contributed.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Mom said confidently.

"Well…" Luke hedged.

"You know what? Let's invite everyone," Mom said. "Everyone we know, everyone we like,"

All of a sudden, the entire town was invited.

Since school was on break, I headed to the diner for lunch and Jess took a seat at my table, even though he was supposed to be working.

"So, heard about this crazy dinner," he greeted me.

"Ironically, the entire crazy town is invited," I grinned. "You coming?"

"Are you?" he asked.

"Are you kidding? Sookie and Mom would kill me before letting me miss this thing," I said. "Which means you have to come, or else you'll be leaving me alone with the crazies. Then I'll become one of them and then you'll be the only sane one left. All alone. It will be sad."

He laughed. "I guess I have to come, then,"

I smirked triumphantly. "I guess so,"

"Jess, back to work!" Luke hollered from across the diner.

"Duty calls," Jess said with a roll of the eyes. "You know what you want?"

"Burger, chilli fries, coffee," I smiled.

"Coming right up," he said, sending a brief smile my way as he headed to the counter.

The following night was the Bracebridge Dinner. Rory was out helping Mom, while I was helping Sookie breathe into a paper bag. She was completely panicking.

"Sookie, you'll be amazing," I soothed her, wondering where Jackson was so he could try and calm her down. Nothing I was doing was working. She started ranting about Irving when Mom came in.

"I'm out, you're in," I said, quickly running out.

"Go help your sister and meet and greet," Mom called after me.

I went and stood with Rory. "Hey," I greeted casually.

"Hi," she said. "I invited Paris to stay for dinner,"

"Rory," I groaned. "First the grandparents now Paris? You're really gunning for that spot in heaven, huh?"

"Very funny," she said.

"So, who's checked in?" I asked.

She gave me a grin, which made me frown. "I just want to know in my new role of hostess, Rory. I don't care if Jess has arrived or not yet."

"No one mentioned Jess," she said with a smile. "You really like him, don't you?"

I gave her a look. "There's goes that spot in heaven. God doesn't like those who tease."

"Well then you're out," she said, poking her tongue out at me. Mom came rushing up to us.

"They're here," she said stiffly.

"Who?" Rory and I asked, looking over.

"The Joyless Luck Club," Mom said as Grandma and Grandpa arrived.

"Hello girls," Grandpa greeted brightly. "You look particularly lovely tonight,"

We had all dressed up for the occasion, but still, his reaction was a bit more jolly than usual.

"Thanks, Grandpa," Rory said with a laugh.

"You guys look nice yourselves," Mom added.

"Seems like the occasion called for it," Grandma said. She was also very happy.

"The air seems crisper here than Hartford," Grandpa noted. "It's wonderful,"

"Grandpa, you didn't eat some funny tasting brownies, did you?" I asked.

"What?" Grandpa asked, eyes wide.

"Nothing," Rory said quickly, bright smile on her face.

"I think she was making one of her funny jokes," Grandma said.

Grandpa laughed. "Oh, went straight over my head,"

"The brownies do that," I whispered to Mom, who tried to hide her snigger.

Grandpa refused help with their bags and cheerfully departed to their room when Rory gave him their key. Grandma stayed to let us know he'd been like that for two days and had no idea why but she was taking the credit.

I spotted Jess by a painting and headed over to say hi. The group at large chatted, and then Mom revealed her surprise of horse drawn carriages. I was standing beside Luke and Jess, who groaned simultaneously while the rest of the room seemed delighted.

"You're actually excited to go on a horse drawn carriage, aren't you?" Jess said in amusement.

"Hell yes," I said.

"She seems sullen and sarcastic, but the snow turns her into Lorelai Jr.," Luke said to Jess.

I poked my tongue out at him and joined the crowd outside to get a carriage.

I hopped in and pulled the fur blanket over my lap, perfectly content to be alone. The sleigh started to move when Jess jumped in.

"Oh my God!" I said. "What are you doing?"

"I heard it was two to a sleigh, no more no less," he quoted Mom.

"Why didn't you get in with me like a normal person?" I teased.

"In this town?" he scoffed.

"You could have hurt yourself," I said.

"I live on the edge," he bragged and I laughed. He always had to make himself out to be such a rebel. "I can jump out if you want,"

"No," I said. "Just don't mock the snow. I will mock everything in the world but snow,"

"Wow, Luke was right," he nodded.

"If you call me Lorelai Jr. I will push you out of the sleigh," I said sweetly and he held up in hands in surrender. I looked around at the snow, a smile appearing on my face.

Then I remembered something. "Hey, heard you got into a fight today,"

"Oh yeah?" he said.

"It was all over school," I said. "What did Chuck Presby do?"

"He was a jerk," Jess said.

"Oh yeah, he's a total jerk," I agreed.

"This whole town is weird and full of jerks," Jess commented. He sounded so bitter.

"Not that I'm complaining," I said. "But why haven't you gone home for the holidays?"

"My mom didn't want me to," he said simply.

My heart broke at that. No matter how over the top my mother could be, she would always want me home, especially over the holidays. "Did she say she didn't want you home?"

"Nah, Luke told me it was his idea that I should stay," Jess shrugged. "It wasn't his idea," We came around past the snow people. "That's good, your snowman, or snowwoman I should say,"

"Oh yeah," I said passionately. "It took us forever to get the mouth right…" I faded off, embarrassed. "You tell anyone I was all holiday spirit-y I'll kill you,"

"The secret's out as soon as you look at snow," he said, giving me a fond look.

"You like the snowwoman then?"

"It definitely has the most personality," he said. "It kind of looks like Bjork,"

"That's what we were going for," I said excitedly. "But the one on the end is going to win, have you seen it? It's insane!"

"Really? It's so overdone,"

"Totally," I agreed.

"You should win," he said.

"True," I said. I paused for a moment, and then said, "I know you hate it here. But I'm glad you're here."

"Here being the holidays or here being Stars Hollow?"

"Both," I said simply, giving him a genuine smile. Underneath the blankets, his hand took mine. We didn't look at each other for the rest of the ride. I just sat back and enjoyed the view, while he held my hand in his.

Dinner was amusing, and I enjoyed Luke and Jess' sarcastic comments throughout, adding my own every now and again. I sat between Jess and Babette, and by the time dinner ended knew more about toilet training a cat than I ever wanted to.

Just when I thought this night was turning out to be a great one, Grandpa revealed at the dinner table that he had retired. He had not informed Grandma of this previously. Apparently it was not the brownies who were responsible for his good mood.

"It's nice to end a big, festive mean with a big festive pall hanging over the room," Mom said, coming out of the bathroom. Mom, Rory and I were sharing a room.

"Most people didn't notice anything," Rory said.

"Yeah," Mom laughed. "I guess Bootsy singing Hotel California accompanied by spoons drew people's attention away."

"Do you think Grandma's killed Grandpa yet?" I asked.

"I don't know," Mom said, looking worried.

"Which bed am I in?" I asked.

"Share with your sister, your old mama needs her own bed," Mom said, putting on an old lady voice. "You go next to the window,"

"Okay," Rory said, and pulled back the cover to reveal Ugly Baby. I hadn't been home when Rory had gone through the Christmas cards, but Mom had tried to spook me with Ugly Baby several times since. Sadly, it worked every time. That baby really was frightening.

I shrieked as Rory gasped, "Mom!"

"That is a nasty trick, Lorelai Gilmore," I said, my hand on my chest.

"What?" she said innocently.

"You set Ugly Baby on us!" I exclaimed as Rory held up the picture.

"I didn't, I swear," Mom said, on the verge of laughter. "That baby is stalking us,"

"Poor baby, it's not his fault," said the ever kind Rory.

"I think it's a she," Mom said helpfully.

"Poor baby, you picked the wrong parents," Rory quipped.

I threw the picture at Mom as we got into bed.

"Hey, you heard from Dad recently?" Rory asked casually, while I scowled at her. Apart from the grandparents debacle, tonight had been a good night. Why ruin it with talk of Christopher?

"What dad? Your dad?" Mom asked, making me look at her suspiciously. That was a weird reaction.

"Yeah, my dad," Rory said.

"Why?" Mom asked.

"Because six times out of ten he checks in the time of year," I said.

"There may have been a call," Mom said, sounding guilty.

"There may have been? You don't remember?" Rory didn't sound impressed.

"Things have been so hectic with the Bracebridge Dinner and building a snowwoman, and planning the ugly baby gag, that took time," Mom rambled.

"Mom…"

"Yes, he called! He called and invited you both and it's not too late to go!" Mom said loudly. "He called and invited you. There you go. I'm sorry I didn't tell you both, so there."

"Why did he invite us over?" I said incredulously. "To spend time with him and the latest girlfriend?"

"Why didn't he invite us himself?" Rory asked. "Is he worried Ava won't go?"

"Ava's not going," I said firmly.

"He's pretending to be considerate by running it past me first," Mom said.

"Was he maybe not pretending to be considerate and actually being considerate?" Rory said.

"No," I said bluntly. "What, he all of a sudden wants to play happy families with this Sherry chick?"

"Ava," Rory said warningly. She turned to Mom. "Why didn't you tell me? He may be waiting on an answer, holding off his plans."

"Because I have dibs on this time of year with you girls. Not him, me," Mom ranted. "Yes, he acknowledged that and that was cool, but still, it stinks. We had all these plans, even Miss Pretends To Hate Christmas over there,"

"Hey!" I said indignantly.

"And then you'd be over there hanging with your stepmother!"

Wow. Rory and I exchanged looks.

"She isn't our stepmother," I said gently.

"She practically is," Mom countered.

"You're wigging," Rory said in awe.

"There is something wrong with her," Mom said, wagging her finger at us.

A knock on the door got Mom off her tangent, thankfully, until Grandma walked in right in the middle of one. She was demanding a new room, refusing to stay in a room with Grandpa.

"There are no other rooms, Mom," Mom said to Grandma, who was in a dressing gown holding onto her makeup bag tightly.

"Then I'll go home!" she exclaimed.

And that's how Mom and Grandma ended up in a bed together, with Rory and I in the other. That lasted about five seconds before Grandma decided to take a walk.

"Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Gilmores of our lives," Mom quipped. We all fell into silence.

"Hey Ava," Mom whispered loudly.

"What?"

"How was the sleigh ride with Jess?" her voice full of innuendo.

"How was the sleigh ride with Luke?" I retorted.

She paused. "Yeah, okay, touché. Night, girls,"

I wondered if Rory was going to take Christopher up on his offer to spend time with him and Sherry over the holidays. I sighed, knowing if I thought about it I would get all worked up and wouldn't be able to sleep. So instead, I thought about a hand being held under the blanket of a sleigh. My perfect moment.