This had been exactly what Lauren had in mind when she imagined having a family; everyone coming together and laughing, joking, sharing, playing, and having the best time. Santa had come overnight and the kids woke up to presents under the Christmas tree. With his parents' help, Terran unwrapped his presents and smiled as he recognized a few fun new toys to play with. His face lit up from all the excitement of those around him and Lauren could recognize the joy and happiness in his little eyes.

Riley had been a source of joy from the moment she came down the stairs and saw the presents. She lit up the whole room and unwrapped all her gifts by tearing off the wrapping paper like Lauren had been trained to tear through Moogers. She screamed with glee and excitement when she opened her presents. Though she had had a rough month, Santa had gotten her everything she wanted and more. Her favourite gift had to be a chid size pink Ranger costume to go with the mask she already owned. Despite knowing her new mother was the real pink Ranger, Riley spent the entire day in her costume and would only answer to the name Pink Ranger.

The Samurai and their parents exchanged gifts as well and it seemed everyone got what they wanted. Lauren knew Ji had struggled to get a gift for Kate, but finally managed to find something that she loved. He bought her picture frames for the walls and had already placed pictures of Kate's families inside. Emily and Serena shared a frame, of course, because they were Kate's nieces. There was a picture of Kate and Ellie on a girl's day from a while back (Ji obviously had some help with the pictures). And there was a new picture which had been taking the night before. Antonio had gone around the rooms with a camera snapping pictures of the Samurai and he must have had an agenda because he had gotten the perfect picture of Ji, Kate, Lauren, and Jayden. Though there was no holy matrimony or wedding plans of any kind just yet for Ji and Kate, they were as much family as any other married couple. The gift almost made Kate cry, and Lauren was touched by it as well. Ji must have known, because after Kate gave him a loving hug and a very thankful kiss, he glanced to Lauren and smiled brightly.

But there had been so much joy and excitement that Lauren was feeling a little overwhelmed. While the party continued inside, Lauren stepped out into the field and then over to the barn. Like Serena and Emily, she had grown up with horses. She had spent a lot of her time training and many of her senseis thought it was important she knew how to ride. If Lauren could say she had a friend, it was certainly the horse she conjured up with Symbol Power – if it counted.

It was nice to be around real horses, though.

As she fed one of the horses a carrot, she heard the barn door slide open and looked over her shoulder. Jayden walked into the barn with his arms behind his back. He had a look around and then his eyes fell on his sister.

"It took me a while to get used to all the chaos too," he said with a smile.

Lauren nodded, "It's a good chaos, though. I'll never forgive myself for asking you to take my place as a Ranger, but I'm so glad you got this family."

"It's worth it," Jayden said. "Besides, you never asked me to take your place. Dad put us in this position. It worked out, but he's to blame."

"I don't like to think of it that way," Lauren shook her head and sighed, "Dad was a hero. I'm sure he didn't like this idea any more than we did."

"That's what made him a hero. He sacrificed everything for the good of others. We're both alive today because of him. We're still standing here thanks to him. Everyone owes him their lives. I don't want you feeling guilty for putting me in danger. It's not your fault and you're my sister. I'm supposed to protect you."

"I'm your big sister. I should be protecting you."

Jayden pulled his hands out from behind his back and offered Lauren a box wrapped in Christmas Paper, "I don't know if you noticed, but you were one gift short."

"I was?"

"I wanted to give you this in private," Jayden put the box in Lauren's hands and smiled, "Merry Christmas, sis."

Lauren opened the box with a little smile on her face, but when she saw what was inside her heart stopped.

"You might not remember it," Jayden said and shrugged his shoulders, "but it was what you wanted for Christmas before you left. I've never seen you get so excited for a present before and it was the only thing you wanted that year. You were taken only a couple of weeks before Christmas and… Santa never got to give it to you."

Lauren pulled out a plush puppy with a Santa hat on its head and a red nose and looked to it with tears in her eyes. She remembered it. She remembered wanting this present so badly and remembered how disappointed she had been when her first Christmas away from home rolled around and Santa had forgotten all about her. It all came back to her from when she was only a child and how much she had loved the holiday. After so many years away from family and friends and without any holidays she had forgotten all about them, but this one came back to her.

She squeezed the paw on the dog and the nose lit up and the dog started to sing jingle bells.

"You remembered?"

"Santa… dad did have presents for you. After the war and after dad died and you left, Ji donated your gifts, but he must have thought that present belonged to me because I got it on Christmas morning and…"

"You kept it?"

"It kind of got shoved into the very back of my closet. When Antonio and I moved out I rediscovered it and I thought…"

Lauren threw herself into her brother's arms and hugged him tight. The moment seemed to last a while, until something hit Jayden in the back of the head. Something cold.

"Kids are in bed! Snowball fight!" Emily cried and launched another snowball at the siblings. Jayden turned around just in time to receive it right in the face.

"Emily…"

"I had cookies!" Emily squealed and then ran out of the barn. Jayden and Lauren looked to each other before following her outside. They found they had stepped out into a war zone.

But it was a friendly war zone. Snowballs were flying through the air and smashing against puffy winter jackets and instead of drawing blood, they drew laughter and giggled.

"Girls vs. boys," Mia cried out as she ran by and grabbed Lauren by the arm, "Our fort is this way!"

Lauren was dragged a few feet by Mia before she stopped, but her toy dog back in the box to keep it safe and then continued to run, dodging snowballs from the guys.

Jayden looked around. He could see snowballs flying, but it was dark out and he couldn't see any of the guys. Suddenly, having the darker colour uniforms didn't seem like such a great idea. At night, blue and green didn't shine too brightly.

"Where do I go?"

"PST!" he heard someone cry and turned around. Antonio, dressed in his yellow-ish gold winter jacket was waving him over while staying hidden behind a snow bank. Jayden raced over and dove behind the snow before he could be hit in the face again.

"It all started when Emily teased Kevin about getting a new scale for his meals," Antonio explained. "He had enough, took her outside, dropped her in the snow, and the next thing we knew, snowballs were flying everywhere. Emily tried to use Mia as a shield, Kevin accidentally hit her in a face with a snowball and the teams were made."

"That would do it," Jayden nodded his head and chuckled.

"¡Feliz Navidad, mi amigos!" the boys heard Emily shout from behind them before they were each hit with a snowball. Before they could do anything to fight back, Emily had disappeared.

"She's high on sugar and amazing at this game," Antonio added. "And Mike may be a double agent. You know how he gets when Emily's having trouble coping with something."

"She seems fine to me," Jayden shrugged his shoulders.

"It's the sugar high. C'mon, we need a few fort. She found this one."

Jayden nodded and the two stayed close to the ground as they crawled to a different part of the farm. Most of the field was flat, but there were hills and some drops that would be perfect for placing forts. They were determined to win.