Disclaimers: I do not own PLL or the characters.
Spoilers: None
Rating: K+

Thank you to those who have reviewed, followed, and favorited so far. Now that I have the storyline figured out, the updates should be steadier.

Notes: Christmas with our girls! Also, I am going to have Spencer believe in Santa Clause. I know most stories have her figuring that out at a young age, but I really wanted to do something different, so here, she, the girls, and their siblings (minus Charlotte, Vivian, Jason, Mason, and Melissa) are going to believe for several more years.

Enjoy! :)

*Hastings Residence*

For the last several weeks, directly after the Hastings and Aria got home from their Thanksgiving trip, Veronica had gotten the Hastings' Christmas tree out of storage, along with the lights and decorations.

They did the lights around the front door, the staircase, the fireplace mantel, and the bushes outside first.

Next were the lawn decorations – the inflatable Santa Clause, Reindeers, and Frosty the Snowman.

"Watch this, Ar!" Spencer had yelled out, when she saw Aria coming back outside after getting her hot chocolate that was on the dining room table.

She knows that Frost the Snowman was Aria's favorite movie, so she and her mom, over the weekend, had went to Wal*Mart to get a blowup yard decoration of Frosty the Snowman.

Aria was thrilled by it, and she excitedly pushed the button that would begin the air pump, which would blow up the snowman.

Afterwards, Aria and Spencer took a break to go hang out in the barn.

They watched some Christmas-themed TV shows, baked cookies that were vegan gingerbread and sugar cookies, and then decorated the playroom how they wanted – Veronica gave them a box of lights and decorations all to themselves.

December 14th, 2001

On Friday, the one before the week they get out for Christmas break, Spencer asks Aria to go home to her house because she needs to talk to her mom about a last minute present.

"Mammmmaaa…!" Spencer whines as she comes down the stairs from her bedroom. She was up in her room wrapping two of Aria's presents. She hopes her friend will like what she got her.

The first present actually had several "parts". It is VCR tapings of episodes of SpongeBob Squarepants, Aria's favorite TV show. She took 7 blank VCR tapes and recorded 4 episodes of Spongebob on six of them. The seventh tape has 6 episodes, recorded in the last couple of months.

Then, the second gift is a t-shirt. Veronica helped Spencer with this one. The young Hastings wanted something that would signify the friendship between the two girls. So, Veronica helped Spencer design a shirt, and then took that design to someone who could make it come to life.

The shirts are both red in color; the front proudly declares Team Sparia, above a picture of Spencer and Aria.

As soon as Veronica showed her the end result, Spencer was so excited to give it to Aria. She remembers last month, while they visited Spencer's family for Thanksgiving, that they officially became "Team Sparia".

*Flashback*

When: Thanksgiving break
Where: Alex and Tomás's house

"You know, Spence," Hanna says. "We should do a combination of yours and Aria's name, you know, like we did with ours."

Aria perks up at this, interesting in what exactly Hanna means. She asks and Hanna responds with, "Well, we took both of our names, and then put them together. Like mine and Spence's, we did Hanna + Spencer and we took away the 'H' in my name, and replaced it with the 'Sp' from Spence's name."

Seeing that Aria is a little confused, Hanna grabs a notebook and a broken orange crayon. She writes "Hanna" and then "Spencer" and then writes "S-p-a-n-n-a" below the two names.

"See?"

Aria understands completely now, and she nods. "That seems really cool! How do you say it?"

"It's just pronounced as 'Spanna'," The blonde answers. "We can do yours and Spence's, if you want."

Aria looks to Spencer first, to make sure the older girl actually wants to do it, and does not think it would be silly or weird or stupid to do it with someone she is not related to.

But Spencer smiles and nods, answering with, "If you want, we can do it, Little One."

Aria grins at that, now completely at ease with this new girl (Spencer's cousin), and she nods eagerly. "Yeah, let's do it! Will you get me a green crayon?"

Once the crayon is in her hand, Hanna gives her the notebook as well, and then two cousins gather around the younger girl.

Aria writes "Aria" and "Spencer" on the page.

"Let's see if we can add 'Spencer" to your name, Aria."

The three work at it for a while and come up with several, not-any-good choices:

Aricer – no! that looks horrible.

Arspencer – that looks a misspelling of 'sharpener'

Aspencer – sounds like that time Izzy had a lisp and couldn't pronounce my name correctly.

"Okay, Genius," Hanna finally says. "Why don't we do your name first, like we did with mine."

Aria thinks about it, looking to the top of the page, and then writing 'S-p-a-r-i-a'…

"Spar-e-uh… Sparia,"

Hanna nods approvingly. "It has a nice ring to it, don't you think, Spence?"

Aria watches for her reaction. She smiles. "Yeah, it does. Team Sparia. What do you think, Little One?"

Aria's smile stretches bigger. "I like it."

*End of flashback*

The video tapes and shirt equals two presents, but Spencer really wants something else. She feels like two just… isn't enough.

So, she goes downstairs to where her mom is doing some work on her laptop.

"Maaaammmmaaaa…"

Veronica tries to hide her smile. Spencer likes to act as if she is all grownup, but at the end of the day, her little girl is still just 11 years old. So, she shuts the laptop and places her glasses on top, before turning to look at her daughter.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"I think I want to get Aria another present, but I don't know what to get her! I've thought about it and thought about it, and nothing seems good enough. This is our first Christmas together, and I want it to be perfect!"

Veronica bites her tongue at the I'm pretty sure just spending Christmas with you will make it perfect, because she knows Aria adores Spencer just as much as her daughter adores the artist.

Instead, she places her hands on Spencer's shoulders and makes the suggestion of, "Why don't we get her something you two can share?"

Spencer scrunches up her eyebrows, her nose wrinkling in the process. Veronica thinks she looks adorable but would never actually say that…

"Like what, Mom? We already have matching shirts, that we share."

Veronica nods her head, smiling a bit, saying, "I was thinking something along the lines of… maybe a charm bracelet. You already have one, but how about we get Aria one, as well? You could pick out a few charms you'd think she would like and give that along with your other gifts."

Spencer thinks about it for a moment. She already has a charm bracelet of her own. She received for her tenth birthday, and since then, for birthdays and Christmases, she has gotten charms as her presents.

It would be something for Aria that she could customize all on her. Things like a paint palette and brush maybe, and definitely her birthday, and maybe even matching 'BFF' charms, and oh, a little piggy charm because Aria's favorite animals are pigs.

The more she thinks, the more excited she gets. Veronica smiles in amusement as her daughter's inside excitement bleeds out of her and she begins bouncing up and down on the heels of her feet.

"I take it the answer would be a 'yes'?" She teases and Spencer nods enthusiastically. "Well, then, I need to make a call to Miss Ella, to make sure it is ok we get Aria such an expensive present, but if she says yes, then how about we go in a couple of hours?"

"Okay, Mama! I'm going to go shower and get dressed, just in case!"

She rushes up the stairs not even hearing Veronica yell out 'no running on the stairs!'. Once the phone is made – which Ella agreed happily, and even asked to come along because there is a couple of charms she would like to but for Aria, herself, – Veronica gets dressed, braids Spencer's hair, and then two head to the mall in Philly.

*2 hours later – Philly mall*

"Hi, Miss Ella!" Spencer greets as she climbs out of the backseat.

"Good morning, Spencer. Are you excited for Winter Break?"

"Yep! I hope it snows because I really want to make a snowman."

They head inside and go to JC Penney. After making sure they still have bracelets and plenty of charms to choose from, Veronica lets Spencer go about looking at them. Surprisingly, they find a bracelet that is identical to the one she has so all they need to do is pick out the charms.

"I know she loves to draw, Mama," Spencer says not really speaking to Veronica as much as she is just thinking aloud. "So I think we should get her something that is artsy."

The salesclerk, who has been standing by in case she is needed, speaks up, "Miss, you may find what you are looking over here," She points to a certain area of charms. "This has things like a pencil, pad of paper, art easel, paintbrush, etc."

"Oh, thank you!"

There are several different types of charms, in sizes and different colors. Pencils, pads paper, a painter's hat, a paint palette, both colored and black and white, a brush, a calligraphy pen, scissors, a ruler, etc.

All things an artist might need. In the end, Spencer gets the colored paint palette, brush, and painter's hat.

"Miss Ella, Ari's birthstone is diamond, right? Because she was born in April." Spencer asks just to be sure. She knows all her cousins' birthstones as well as her own, her parents', and Melissa's stone.

Ella confirms this and shows Spencer the little diamond pendant charm that she is going to buy herself. They look at the rest of the charms, and Spencer chooses two 'BFF' charms, one for her, one for Aria, as well as an S and an A for both girls.

In the end, between Spencer and Ella, they have nine charms. They are going to give Aria 5 plus the bracelet for Christmas. The other four will be given to her four months from now, in April, for her birthday. Spencer also picked out two charms for herself.

Spencer can barely contain herself as they walk out of JC Penney to go to the food court for lunch. She is so excited and can't wait to see Aria's face when she opens up the bracelet. She loves getting charms for her own bracelet and she really hopes Aria will enjoy hers just as much.

9 days later – December 23rd, 2001

*Hastings Residence*

Today is a big day. While Aria has met nearly all of Spencer's cousins, mostly back in November on Thanksgiving, she has yet to meet one particular girl.

Alison Dilaurentis.

She thinks she should be worried or many nervous to meet Alison. She has never met anyone who is as… mean?

She's unsure of the right word.

Alison did sound mean, though, by what Spencer's cousin Hanna said she did.

But she has never met anyone that acts or acted like Ali supposedly does. And she is sure, even at just 11, that Logan, Alexander, and Steven would never do anything as bad as to lock a kid with Autism (or any kid, for that matter) in a locker. Especially at the end of the day when the kid could be locked in there for hours.

So, she wonders, as she sits in Spencer's window seat while her best friend is getting ready in the bathroom, why does she not feel nervous? If she were to face the boys without Spence with her, she would be scared.

But not with Ali.

Not with someone who teases her siblings, picks on them, bullies kids at school…

It just does not make sense.

And that is exactly what she tells Spencer when the older girl asks if everything is ok.

"Well, you know," Spencer hops onto her bed, in a sweatshirt/sweatpants outfit, hair brushed out and still wet, "Sometimes, she really is nice. Sometimes she is nice to Izzy and Hadley, and she plays dress up with them. And sometimes, she helps AJ or Kai with their homework. And sometimes, we can watch movies together and she does not try to start a fight."

Aria nods. Yeah, that is what she is thinking of right now. Even though she has never met Alison, and Spencer mostly talks about how mean or rude or annoying she is, and even with that story from Hanna about what Ali did to the little boy with Autism…

Even after all of that, Aria just cannot bring herself to be nervous about meeting her.

Is that weird?

She wonders this aloud, and Spencer just smiles.

"No, it isn't weird, Ar. It just means you want to find the good in people, even after you only hear the bad stuff. It's sweet, and it is what makes you a good person."

Aria ducks her head at this, trying to hide her blush. A few minutes later, Aria has to ask.

Because it would be mighty embarrassing if the Dilaurentises showed up and she can't remember.

"Um… Spencer?" The two are drawing with Aria's art supplies. They are doing new "name" drawings, this time in Christmas colors. They are going to be for Melissa, Veronica, and Peter.

"Yeah, Ar?"

"Can you, um… Could you tell me your cousins' names again?" She sighs in irritation at her timid tone. This is Spencer she is talking to! There is no need to be embarrassed or timid around Spencer! "I-I mean, I didn't forget or anything!" She rushes to explain. "I-It's just… A lot of names to remember, ya'know?"

But Spencer just smiles and nods, seeming to not be put-out at all. She is even eager as she hops off her bed, and walks to her bookshelf, where she grabs a photo album. She comes back to the bed, hopping up and bouncing a little when she lands in a seated position, making Aria giggle at her goofiness.

"Okay, so I am going to go youngest to oldest." Aria nods to this. "Now, I don't know if we told you or not on Thanksgiving, but all of my cousins from Aunt Jess and Uncle Ken are twins!"

Aria's eyes widen. She did not, in fact, know this. She just thought a couple of the Dilaurentis kids were super close in age, like a year apart or something. Obviously, Hanna and Ali are twins, she was told so, and Hadley and Isabella, but the others?

Wow!

Spencer responds to Aria's expression with, "Yeah! It's cool and weird at the same time. People joke about how they need to stop having kids because they will never not have twins. It is so funny when they go to restaurants, and people ask how old they are, and are told they are all twins!"

After this, they get comfortable on the bed against the pillows. And Spencer begins…

She flips open to a certain page of the album, pointing to two little girls who look similar but are not quite identical twins.

"This is Hadley Joy. And this is Isabella Hope. We call them "Haddie" and "Izzy". They are 5 years old right now, but Izzy was held back to preschool while Haddie is in Kindergarten."

The two little girls resemble their parents closely. Like all the Dilaurentis girls, Hadley and Isabella have blonde hair – Hadley's is curly while Izzy's is not – and both have dark blue eyes. Haddie is freckled while Izzy is not, and they both have dimples.

They are about the same height and seem to both enjoy wearing girly dresses, hair bows, and little kids jewelry like bracelets, necklaces, and clip on earrings.

"Next are Ashton and Malachi. They are nine years old. See?" She points to two little boys that – wow! – could not be more identical if they tried. Same brown hair, same green eyes, same dimples in the same exact place on their cheeks, they are even what seems to be the same exact height. The only difference?

"Woah!" Aria whispers. "How do you tell them apart?!"

Spencer chuckles.

"Oh, it is not easy! But, look." She points to that one difference. The one thing that sets these two little boys apart. "AJ always wears this bracelet with his name on it on his left wrist. It is blue and green. And Malachi? He always wears his bracelet on his right wrist. It is black and brown."

"Also," She adds, "he goes by Malachi except for by my mom. We don't know why, but only his Aunt Veronica is allowed to call him "Kai". AJ is in the fourth grade, but Kai skipped and is in the fifth grade."

"Wow! He must be really smart."

"He is," Spencer nods, adopting an proud older cousin expression. "He learned to read when he was only four, and he could do fifth grade math when he was only in the third grade, which is why Aunt Jess and Uncle Ken let him skip the fourth grade. But, he is also like the baby of the family, for the boys. He loves for Aunt Jess and Uncle Ken to tuck him in at night, and he likes to sit close to you on the couch, and share a blanket, and he loves playing with action figures, Legos, and things like that."

"Well, my brother likes that, too. They would probably be best friends! Mikey loves getting a new box of Legos; he could spend hours in the playroom building with them!"

"I think if Mike and my cousin Malachi ever met, they would be like long-lost brothers." Spencer says, laughing a bit.

"Well, maybe we can spend Christmas together so they can meet!"

Aria is so enthusiastic about it that Spencer can't help but smile, big and dopey. She hopes that she can spend Christmas Eve and Day with Aria, but is unsure if the Montgomerys have something planned with their own family, therefore meaning the two cannot see each other for the next several days.

Shaking her head to clear it of that thought, Spencer flips a couple more pages of the photo album.

"Next are Ali and Hanna. You met Hanna at Thanksgiving."

She points to two girls – blonde hair, blue eyes, dimples, and similar looking.

Drawing from memory, Aria points to one girl, "That is Hanna, right? I remember she had curly hair."

Spencer knows it may sound dumb, but…

The fact that Aria paid enough attention for that?

To be able to tell her cousins apart instead of just saying, wow! That's a lot of names, I don't think I should really try to tell them apart.

Trying to hide her smile, Spencer nods. "Yep. Ali usually wears her hair straight and down while Han's is curly. They are both 12 and in the sixth grade, like us. But they live several hours away, which is why we only see them on Holidays or in the Summer."

Aria is quiet for several moments. Spencer can tell the younger girl has something on her mind but is probably afraid to ask. She is shy like that, but Spence is helping her with it.

She waits for about two minutes, but when Aria is still silent, she says, "What's on your mind, Little-Big One?" And the tiny artist sighs heavily.

"Do you think she regrets what she did last month? To that boy, Taylor?"

Now it's Spencer's turn to be quiet. She has a pensive look on her face and Aria fears that she may have stepped over a boundary she is not know about, or maybe asked a question that Spencer would rather not have to answer, because, maybe, she is not actually looking forward to Alison coming over, or perhaps, she does not care whether Alison understands that what she did was incredibly stupid.

"I don't know," Spencer finally sighs out. "I really, really don't, Ar, but I hope so. I hope that Ali is not just a bad person who like bullying other kids or people. I hope that, one day, Ali changes, because I think I would like to be her best friend, instead of her being my cousin who I do not talk to because of her past actions and choices."

Aria reaches over, taking her hand, trying to fight off the blush that warms her cheeks as she notices how well their hands fit together, and also wondering, why the heck am I thinking about that?

"I hope she does, too. I would like to her friend." Aria watches as a smile grows on the older girl's face. "If she likes me," She rushes to add after a second thought. And Spencer frowns at that, knowing she has to tell Aria the truth.

"I don't know if she will like you."

It is definitely not something she wants to say, but…

"And I don't mean because you are an unlikable person, just that, well…"

"She's Alison?"

Spencer sighs at that.

"Yeah, 'cause she is Alison."

Spencer goes over the next several cousins she has – Charlotte and Vivian, who are 16, and then Jason and Mason, who, yeah, have rhyming names.

Aria cannot contain her giggles as she asks, "Why?" Because she is laughing so hard that she is unable to put together a full sentence. Spencer gives in, laughing, as well, saying,

"Yeah, Aunt Jess and Uncle Ken hates their names – well, actually, they do not hate their names, but they do regret giving them names that rhyme like that. They wish they would have done something like Jason Matthew and James Mason, or maybe Jason and Matthew or Mason and Matthew, which would not be any better, because their start with the same letter, but, ya'know, it would be better than Jason and Mason."

Aria asks questions, Spencer tells stories, and they both laugh their heads off at some of the crazy things her aunts, uncles, or cousins have done over the years. By the time they are finished, lunch is ready, and they go downstairs to eat.

I am going to end it there because the next chapter has Alison in it and I really want her interactions with everyone separate.

Please review and let me know what you thought!