Christmas Is Not Christmas Without…
Tony, Ziva, Tim, Delilah, and the DiNozzo and McGee kids reflect on Christmas 'must-haves.' Christmas 2023.
Chapter 1 – Tony
"They are called snickerdoodles or ugiyott qinamonn," Tony opened the tin of cookies that he brought to the office holiday party. "My mom used to make them when I was a little kid; then my dad tried to make them one year when he visited at Christmas…"
He thought back to the year Senior had been at his apartment, and then decided to invite the nosy neighbor in for some holiday frolicking. The old man had basically violated Tony's personal space, made a mess, and pissed off the son in one fell swoop. Tony shook his head to clear his thoughts, remembering that was also the year that his father had left the family signet ring under the tree that Senior had insisted on putting up. And… the same year that Senior had left the ring… his mother's engagement ring… the ring that now was on Ziva's finger since just after midnight on Christmas day 2016 and with the wedding band he'd placed there just after midnight on New Years' Day a week later.
He opened the three other tins of homemade cookies that he and Ziva had packed up the night before; crowd-favorite chocolate chip, peanut butter, and iced sugar cookies In shapes of Christmas trees, stars, Santa hats, and wreaths.
"Ooh, homemade cookies!" several of his team moved in like vultures to fill plates with the goodies from the makeshift buffet table in the employee breakroom.
"Who has time to bake anymore?" one of the women from HR mused as she filled her plate.
Tony grinned, "My family makes the time to bake cookies every year. Even with my wife being busy with her classes, we set aside time for making cookies. The kids all help as well, even LJ got in the act this year. He helped Tali cut the sugar cookies."
"No way; isn't he just a baby?"
"Nope, LJ is two now. The twins are almost four; Anthony is six, and Tali is nine," Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket and found the picture of the kids that he'd taken a few days before with the family dog and a pet store Santa Claus. "Asher is like one of the kids as well."
Others entered the break area, filling plates with holiday food, and marveling at the variety of food brought by all.
Tony grabbed a plate and moved along the table, adding food to the growing pile. He made sure to save some room for cookies, especially the ugiyott qinamonn. The desserts were at the far end of the table from the stack of plates.
He reached for the cookies, and came up empty-handed. All of the snickerdoodles were gone!
"Hey, anyone wanna trade for a snickerdoodle?" he glanced at the tables where his coworkers were seated, enjoying the festive holiday foods. With no one taking him up on the offer, he shrugged and sat with two of the other division managers.
"Got enough food there, DiNozzo?"
"Yeah, we've heard plenty about your appetite from the NCIS folks…"
Tony grinned, "I'd trade this entire plateful for a snickerdoodle… one cookie for all of this." He gestured at the full plate, grabbed one of the stuffed mushroom caps, and popped it into his mouth. "Even though I brought the ugiyott qinamonn, and there are more at home, I was really looking forward to having my first one for the holidays… Ziva is a meanie when it comes to sneaking cookies early."
One the drive home, Tony thought about the cookies; his memories of his mom and aunts baking for the holidays flooded back. Aunt Isabella always let him have a taste of the cookies, often sneaking one or two to the boy as he tried to swipe some from the cooling racks.
He remembered the first Christmas with Ziva on the team and how she'd deliberately 'forgotten' his gift so that she could give it to him alone. The ugiyott qinamonn became a favorite again, along with new memories with Ziva.
At home, he parked his truck in the driveway, noting the minivan in its parking spot. Ziva was home from her last final exam of the term already. He pressed the button on the remote for the garage door opener, grabbed the bag of empty cookie tins from the passenger seat of the truck, and headed inside. He glanced around the garage, looking at Ziva's usual places for storing the tins of cookies. He tried to remember which ones had the ugiyott qinamonn… Usually Ziva used the same color and pattern of cookie tins for all of one flavor. The snickerdoodles that he took to the office party were in a tin with blue and white snowflakes… where were the others with that design?
He spotted the stack of tins and moved quickly to the shelf to swipe a single cookie from the top tin. He slid the lid from the container and put his hand on one of the cookies.
"What are you doing, Anthony D. DiNozzo, Junior?" Ziva's voice from behind startled him.
"Um… nothing?" he grinned sheepishly.
Ziva glared at him, "You were sneaking cookies, yes?"
"Just one… one ugiyott qinamonn… I didn't get any at the party…" he held up the single cookie. "Please?" He noted her 'Ima glare' and added, "I love you, Ziva."
"ONE," she took the cookie tin from his hands, and put the lid back in place. "Akhat!"