From the moment they opened the doors to the downtown bakery, the smell of cinnamon and other spices used in holiday baking permeated the air. The scent was sure to put the much-needed smile on anybody's face, since it simply wasn't the holidays without enjoying some sort of delicious sweet treat.

This bakery wasn't exactly the same as Gideon Grey's was back in Bunnyburrow, but Judy had been to it before and found some of their desserts to be pretty good. She hadn't taken a trip to it during the peak of the holiday season, though, so the choices in the glass display case had changed a lot since she had last visited. Replacing some of the desserts she liked to get were a bunch of festive treats, from peppermint brownies to some of the largest gingerbread mammals she had ever seen.

While both of their husbands were out doing some holiday shopping, Judy and Skye both thought it was best to do some of their own. Maybe see what they could get for them that they might not have been able to find anywhere else.

Even though baked goods weren't exactly something that could be gift wrapped with a bow on top, since they would certainly perish before then, it didn't hurt to stop and grab some local food. And Judy knew that Nick would never say no to something sweet, especially if it had blueberries incorporated into it somehow.

"Pretty good coffee they make here, right?" Skye said to her friend.

Judy nodded in agreement as she held onto the to-go cup she had ordered from the bakery. "Nice to have something other than Snarlbuck's every now and then."

"That I can agree with," the vixen on the seat away from her responded. "So, any luck on finding anything to get Nick for the holidays?"

"I've got a couple ideas about what I could get for him," the doe said. "Sure I'll be able to find what I'm looking for at that clothing store right across the street."

Skye let out a sigh, pushing the plate that once had the dessert she finished eating to the side. "I have zero ideas on what I'm gonna get Jack," she admitted. "He's not hard to buy for since he likes anything you get him, but I just want to buy something that'll really catch him by surprise."

"Just no surprises that might scare him this time," Judy warned, her mind coming back to something from earlier in the year. "You remember his reaction to that surprise box you gave him at the Halloween party. You know, the pretty box that released a fake spider that jumped out at him."

Skye tried to hold back a chuckle upon remembering Jack's face that day, but she couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I remember the way he jumped. Even though the spider was completely fake, it looked pretty lifelike. But I don't mean that kind of surprise. A more pleasant one is what I'm hoping to find for him."

"We should probably stop in that country store that opened up earlier this month," the rabbit suggested to her friend. "Maybe there's something in there that's unique."

"Now that I think about it," Skye mentioned after a pause, "I think I know something I could get. He said that he's never had one of those ugly sweaters before, so I think maybe I should get him one and buy one for myself that matches."

"Awww, that's a nice idea," Judy returned.

"And while I'm here," the vixen added, "I figured I'd put my order in for what I need made in time for our Christmas celebration. Our table doesn't have food that you'd find in the average setting."

"There's nothing with doing things a little bit differently."

"I agree. After learning what Jack liked when it came to dessert, I decided to mix things up every time we prepared our holiday dinner." In a lowered tone of voice, Skye muttered, "Even if it isn't the recipes his mom thought he liked."

"What do you mean by that?" Judy inquired.

"It's a bit of a story," Skye answered. "It was our first Christmas together as a married couple, and I wanted to make it the best one he ever had. So one day when I was on the phone with my mother-in-law, she mentioned these Christmas cookies with her special royal icing recipe. She told me that they were his absolute favorite when he was growing up and that she'd gladly give me the recipe, so I thought I'd make them for him."

"So what happened?" the rabbit wondered.

"Well, my cooking skills at the time were still on the rusty side," the arctic vulpine replied, "so it was a hot mess. I poured too much of some of the ingredients, the mixture didn't turn out the way it was supposed to…" She shook her head and placed a paw against the side of her face. "Gods, it was a nightmare. And then it made way more than I was hoping it would. I didn't think that wasn't going to be a problem, though, since they were his favorite and I was sure he'd eat them pretty quickly."

"How did they turn out?"

"The final product was surprisingly good for my first time making the recipe. I followed her recipe for the icing as best as I could and let them cool until he came home, since he had to work that Christmas Eve. I told him I had this surprise for him and got them out of the fridge. He kind of just smiled back and started to eat one, but he wasn't beaming with glee like I thought he'd be."

"So he didn't like they way they were made?"

Skye shook her head. "No, he said they tasted just fine the way I made 'em. That wasn't even what it was that surprised me. I said to him, 'Aren't those your favorite from when you were a child?' He went on to tell me that his mother made them for him and his siblings all the time, and that he was never the biggest fan of them. Matter of fact, he wasn't even that fond of that royal icing like his mom said he was." The vixen had a good laugh about her story from several Christmases ago. "In-laws, am I right?"

Judy laughed alongside her, knowing that not everybody's in-laws were as nice as Nick's mom was to her. "I know what you mean," she said.

"Her giving her advice that I didn't ask for on how to keep my house as well," Skye mumbled. "But anyway, from there on in, I decided not to take anymore advice on his favorite recipes from her. And that is why the two of us have had baklava as our Christmas dessert ever since."

Author's Note: I know this was kinda lame, but I hope you all enjoy this little story of mine. After browsing for recipes for Christmas desserts, this just came to mind and I wrote it rather quickly. Got some other holiday stories that I'm working on that'll be a bit better than this one was.

And as always, your feedback, whether good or bad, is gladly appreciated.

'Til next time! :)