"Tara...wakey, wakey..."
"Mmhh..."
"Baby, wake up."
Tara scrunched her face up as the last waves of unconsciousness left her and she opened her eyes slowly, light from the window instantly blinding her. She brought a hand up to block the light and turned over in the bed to get away from it completely, where she was met by a grinning redhead lying alongside her under the covers, with a Santa hat on.
"Merry Christmas!" Willow said in a sing-song voice.
"Mmhh, and to you," Tara said sleepily, smiling up at the hat, "You're wearing a Santa suit?"
"Not exactly..." Willow replied with a coy smile.
Tara quirked an eyebrow before lifting the blanket and grinning when she saw he wife was completely naked apart from the hat. She laughed and rolled on top of the redhead, their nude forms fitting together, since Tara was naked as well, both of them having gone to sleep like that the night before.
"I like your version of Mrs. Clause."
Willow smiled as they met for a slow, sensual kiss that lasted several minutes until they naturally pulled apart.
"I really wish we could do this all day," Tara said, resting her forehead on Willow's.
"Well...tomorrow's Saturday," Willow replied, stroking the blonde's hair, "We can do this all day tomorrow. We've got to cook dinner for nine today."
"It's gonna be good, though," Tara smiled, "Isn't it?"
"It's gonna be great," Willow confirmed, "But we really need to get up now, 'cause I'm starting to become very aware of your naked body on top of mine and we definitely don't have time for that."
Tara gave the redhead another sweet kiss before rolling off her and throwing her legs over the side of the bed. She felt Willow shift on the bed before strong arms wrapped around her mid-section and soft kisses were being placed on her shoulder.
"Pancakes?"
"Of course," Tara replied, holding Willow's hands to her stomach, "And I did promise I'd teach you..."
"Will you show me how to make the funny shapes?"
"Definitely."
They cuddled in their sitting position for another moment before getting up and dressed, walking down the stairs hand-in-hand, where Willow pulled them into the living room. She broke contact with the blonde and went over to the tree, picking up a box, wrapped in shiny silver paper and shyly handed it over.
"Merry Christmas."
Tara brightened and sat on the sofa, patting the space beside her for Willow to sit as well. They had a deal about getting each other smaller gifts for Christmas and anniversaries, and then slightly bigger ones for birthdays, if money allowed. Tara carefully unwrapped the present, producing a plain white box. She opened it and peeled back the tissue wrapping that was inside to reveal a glass vase in the shape of a heart.
"I thought, you know, we could pick the flowers you plant in the garden and put them in there. 'Cause you said when we moved in that you wanted to start gardening again. There's also some seed packs in there, roses and lilies and dahlias and stuff. The woman in the gardening center said they were the best flowers to plant in the spring."
Tara looked up with shining eyes and smiled widely.
"Thank you. It's beautiful. And I can't wait to start growing these."
"We'll have a beautiful garden," Willow replied, beaming that her gift had been well-received.
Tara lifted the vase from the box and admired it in her hands for a few moments before placing it on the coffee table in front of them. Willow jumped up and ran out of the room, returning a moment later with a bunch of flowers that she'd hidden in the kitchen the night before.
"Until we have our own home-grown stuff to put in there," she said, handing the flowers over to her wife.
Tara brought the flowers up to her nose and inhaled the scent before snapping the elastic band that was holding all the stems together off and placing them in the vase, then pulled Willow into a hug.
"You're the sweetest girl in the world."
"You make it easy to be sweet to."
Tara grinned and pushed Willow back onto the sofa, before walking over to the tree and picking up a similar-looking box to what the redhead had given her, only wrapped in red paper and sat back beside Willow, handing her the gift. Willow bit her lip in excitement and ripped the paper off in a much more unsophisticated way than Tara did, which made the blonde smile.
"I love presents."
She opened the black box that was under the wrapping and held up the picture frame that was inside. It was a black, metal frame, simple and elegant in style with 'Forever Yours' etched in swirly silver letters across the top. What intrigued Willow more was the photo that had been placed in the frame; it was of the two of them, obviously taken when they didn't know the camera was on them. It showed their side profiles, they were facing each other, with their hands tightly locked by their sides and their faces inches apart, as if they were about to kiss, looking as if their noses were nuzzling.
What was more interesting to Willow was that she had never seen it before.
"When was this...?"
"I'm not sure," Tara replied, an amused grin on her face, "I got an email from Alice last week with a load of attached pictures she'd found on an old memory stick. I think it's around my birthday last year, though, judging by the other photos that were there. Do you like it?"
"I love it," Willow smiled, tracing their bodies on the photo, "I'm gonna put this in my office so I'm reminded every day. Thank you."
She put the frame next to the vase, still happily gazing at it.
"You're welcome," Tara responded with a satisfied smile, "You ready for breakfast?"
"Mmhh, pancakes can go in bellies," Willow replied, just as her stomach grumbled, making her blush, "My belly definitely agrees."
Tara took the redhead's hand and stood them both up, grabbing the vase with the flowers she'd been given on the way so she could put some water in them before walking them into the kitchen where she guided Willow into making the pancake mix that her mother had taught so many years ago until the batter was just right and ready to be cooked.
"And to get the funny shapes you just..." Tara held the ladle of batter over the hot pan and poured it out with several flicks of her wrist, making it form an unusual shape as it sizzled.
"That doesn't look too hard," Willow said as Tara used a spatula to flip the pancake, letting it cook on the other side.
Tara let it heat through for another minute before placing the pancake on a plate that they'd set out, then turned to her wife.
"Your turn."
Willow nodded her head and scooped up a ladle-full of the batter, before closing her eyes, as if she was giving herself a pep talk. Tara bit back a laugh, instead just giving an encouraging smile when the redhead opened her eyes again and moved the ladle over the pan.
"And then I just..." she whispered to herself, pouring the mix into the pan with the same hand movements Tara had, resulting in a pancake that resembled the number six. She turned to the blonde, her eyes wide, "I did it!"
Tara put a hand on the smaller girl's shoulder, looking at the pancake.
"Well done. See, you're a natural."
Willow smiled a quite smug smile, shifting the pancake slightly with the spatula before what she considered to be a great idea and picked the pan up by the handle. Tara sensed what was about to happen and quickly interjected.
"Uh, honey, I wouldn't do..."
She trailed off as Willow went ahead and flipped the pan upwards, the pancake flying up into the air and off to the side, landing and falling off the smaller girl's head in what looked like something from a comedy sketch. Willow blinked a few times as she processed exactly what had just happened before turning to Tara, her face ashen.
"Can we pretend that didn't happen?"
"No," Tara shook her head, unable to contain her laughter, "But you can try again. With the spatula this time."
Willow grumbled in embarrassment, grudgingly repeating her actions as before but flipping it without the use of gravity this time, her efforts winning out this time as she produced a golden-brown, funny-shaped pancake. She managed to make a whole batch, with only a couple ending up burnt in the trash.
"Delicious, Will," Tara said as she cut a square off a pancake that bore a resemblance to a giraffe and popped it in her mouth, "I've never tasted a nicer pancake."
Willow ducked her head shyly at the compliment as she took a bite from her own guitar-shaped pancake. They ate relatively quickly as they became more aware of the time-constraint they were under. When they finished, they got stuck into the preparation for the meal they were cooking, having decided to go the traditional route of turkey with all the trimmings, but using turkey breasts instead of the full bird.
They spent the next while peeling, chopping and preparing potatoes, stuffing and other vegetables. About an hour before everyone was scheduled to arrive, Tara lightly coated the turkey breasts with salt and pepper and spread some melted butter over, before popping them in the oven, so they'd be ready within 45 minutes of the guests arriving.
Willow took over the last of the preparations as Tara started making the eggnog, using a recipe Michelle had given her, which had apparently been passed along from her grandmother. When everything was ready to go, including the table being set and the Christmas tree lights being turned on, with a CD of holiday songs being played in the background to add to the festive mood, the two girls went into the living room and sat on the sofa, having a quiet moment together until the doorbell rang, signalling the start of the arrival of the guests. Willow stood up and pulled Tara up to her with a smile.
"Come on, baby. We've got entertaining to do."
They walked over to the front door and opened it, Willow lighting up as she saw who it was.
"Dad!"
"Merry Christmas, darling," Ira replied from the doorway, giving his daughter a hug, before embracing Tara warmly as well, "And to you, Tara."
"Thank you, Ira. Merry Christmas," Tara greeted warmly, stepping aside to let the man inside, "You're the first one here. Can I get you an eggnog?"
"Oh, yes, that would be delightful," Ira replied as Willow took his jacket and hung it on the coat hanger in the foyer.
"Come in here," Willow said, guiding her father into the living room as Tara went off to retrieve the eggnog.
"What a beautiful tree," Ira admired, going over and touching one of the branches, "It's wonderfully decorated."
"We did it at the weekend. It's the first time we've had a real one."
Tara walked back in at that moment with a cup of eggnog and handed it to Ira.
"It's still a bit hot, you might want to let it cool down for a minute."
Ira smiled his thanks as they he took a seat on one of the sofas, as Willow picked up a bottle from under the tree and handed it to him.
"I know it's your favourite Scotch. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," Tara added as her and Willow sat on the sofa as well.
Ira put his eggnog on the coffee table and turned the bottle around in his hands, smiling.
"Thank you. I normally only ever bought this when we were having some important dinner guest over, I never had a bottle just for myself. I'll enjoy this immensely. Thank you."
He placed the bottle on the table and reached into his back pocket, fumbling with an envelope he pulled out.
"I racked my brains trying to figure out what you get you for Christmas, since I'm still really properly getting to know the two of you. But I think you'll like this. And before you protest that it's too much, which I know you will, then it's also to make up for all the birthdays and holidays I missed, not to mention a wedding gift, okay?"
The couple exchanged a glance and Willow took the envelope, opening it and pulling out the contents, her eyes widening in shock.
"Dad, this is..."
Ira gave a nervous smile.
"I remember Willow telling me you studied there for a while, Tara and she visited for a weekend but you always wanted to go back. And I knew your anniversary was sometime in the spring, but I wasn't sure exactly when-"
"February 25th," Willow interrupted quietly, showing Tara the contents of the envelope as Ira continued speaking.
"Well, the tickets are open to any travel dates in the next six months...Obviously you can choose when you go yourselves...and those hotel vouchers should cover seven nights. I just...I always thought it was wrong you didn't get a proper honeymoon."
"This is one of the nicest hotels in Paris," Tara said in awe as she saw the name across the vouchers, shocked that Ira had bought and paid for an entire trip to Paris for them, "Ira, this is..."
"Just tell me you like it," Ira said, smiling at the two.
"Dad, we can't even begin to thank you," Willow replied, wrapping her hands around her father's neck and hugging him, "It really is too-"
"Ah," Ira interrupting, shaking his head with a grin, "I told you not to say that."
Willow jumped up and walked towards the door.
"I'm gonna go put this somewhere safe."
Tara shuffled forwards and hugged Ira as well as Willow left the room.
"Thank you. That is an amazing gift. I've always wanted to show her the city properly."
"Well I'm glad I could facilitate that happening. And just so you know, it has nothing to do with our conversation regarding money last Friday. I had already purchased your gift at that stage."
They both smiled at each other in understanding, just as Willow came back in the room, beaming and holding two cups of eggnog, handing one to the blonde as they settled into some easy conversation, before the doorbell rang again and Willow jumped up excitedly.
"More people! Christmas is officially starting!"