So... it's getting close to Christmas, decorations should be up and lit...(Even *I* have my tree up) presents should be bought and wrapped... (HA!)

I looked in on our favorite couple... they seem to be adjusting... LOL...

This is set AFTER the Fourth story ends... (and no it's not finished yet, but I know where/how it will end) It's just a quick peek into the Sachs-Priestly/Priestly-Sachs household.

Rated G I'd say... mostly a lot of talking. LOL

First Christmas

By Gin

As they finished their meal, a lovely pot roast Peggy had prepared, Miranda cleared her throat. "Andrea, the decorators will be arriving tomorrow."

Andy blinked and glanced at the girls' huge grins. "um.. decorators?"

"Of course, for the holiday accents to our home." Miranda placed her fork precisely next to her plate. "They will arrive at ten."

"Oh." Andy exhaled softly and looked at her plate, nodding. "I see."

"It's great Andy," Cassidy assured her Ma. "In the morning everything is normal, then when we come home from school everything looks so nice and festive."

Caroline nodded. "They put up the garland on the staircase, and in the hall. They hang the wreaths and set out the candles with the holiday candlesticks. We get red and green accents for the rooms…"

Well, that doesn't sound too bad… Andy thought and almost caught Caroline's enthusiasm, until Cassidy cut in.

"And they set up the trees…"

Andy's eyes widened. "Trees? Plural?" The girls nodded vigorously.

"Yeah! One in every room!"

Cassidy amended that, "Well, not in the bathroom."

Turning to Miranda, Andy tilted her head in question. "You let strangers decorate your Christmas tree?"

"Of course, they put all the holiday decorations in place." Miranda studied her wife's troubled face. "What's wrong, Andrea?"

"It's… nothing. I can see how a big house like this would be difficult to decorate without help." She pushed a bit of beef around on her plate with the tip of her fork. "It sounds great."

It was Cassidy's turn to tilt her head in question, but she didn't ask anything, she accused. "You don't like the idea at all."

Caroline watched the young woman's actions and agreed. "You're sad."

"What?" Miranda studied her relatively new wife and agreed with Caroline. It was unacceptable. Andrea cannot be sad! "What is wrong, Andrea?"

"It's just… some of my fondest Holiday memories are of my family and me decorating, putting up the tree, boxes of decorations scattered all over the living room floor, finding just the right ornaments, listening to carols and just being…a family, for a little while." She kept her focus on her plate, "I was just kind of hoping… since this was going to be our first Christmas together, that we might make a memory like that for ourselves, for our family."

Glancing at the girls, Miranda barely held her surprise in check and spoke thoughtfully. "The holidays are just so hectic. Having the decorations put up by someone else takes the stress out of that chore."

"Of course," Andy tried to smile at the older woman and remembered that she'd been raised in a Jewish household, in London. So the cultural difference became clear. Miranda had never experienced an American commercialized Christmas growing up. When Miranda had left home at a young age, the traditions of her family were also left behind. So between work taking up most of her time and her own crisis of faith, Christmas just gotten passed by. Professional decorators were Miranda's way of giving her daughters the holiday experiences she'd never had. "It will be great I'm sure."

Miranda knew a 'lets-drop-the-subject' comment when she heard one and turned her attention back to the last of her dinner. She knew Andrea's feelings on the matter of Christmas decorations, they had discussed it previously. It was why she'd had the special decorations shipped in. She debated with herself for a moment, but decided a little silence now would be worth the reveal later.

When the foreman of the crew sent to decorate Miranda Priestly's home knocked on the door, she had no idea that Miranda Priestly herself would answer.

"Oh!' She hesitated. "Ms. Priestly, I um.. didn't… is this a bad time? Should we come back later?"

"It's Miranda, and no, come in." Miranda stepped back and allowed the people to gather inside. "I needed to speak with you." She led the woman upstairs to the television room "There is a room downstairs called the 'living room', but it is here, "She indicated the room around them, "that we spend most of our free time together."

"Um… okay, so you want this room decorated in some special way?"

"Yes," Miranda agreed, "Special." She spelled out for the woman exactly what she wanted done and where to find the decorations for this room. Dawning comprehension assured the editor that her instructions would be carried out. Miranda made sure the woman knew what was at stake. "This is very important to me."

The woman smiled and nodded. "Yes, Miranda."

Andy's day at work was uneventful, luckily. Her mind was much too occupied with what was happening at home. As she shut down her computer, she wondered, for the millionth time, what the townhouse would look like when she got home. Trying to imagine the changes the professional decorator would make was just too much for her though. It'll probably look perfect, like something right off of the cover of a magazine. She'd always seen those pictures, the covers of Good Housekeeping, or Martha Stewart's Living… and try as she might, she could never imagine actually living in the places they showed. But being honest with herself, she knew that the townhouse was almost always a picture from a magazine anyway. But this is different, she thought, this is Christmas!

Stepping out of the Mirror offices, into the darkened street, Andy was surprised to find Roy waiting for her. "Um... Roy, what…?"

"She sent me." As if that answered everything, which it did.

Nodding, Andy climbed into the car, barely paying attention as the vehicle began to move. Miranda did things like this fairly often. Sending the car so she didn't have to walk or take the subway was one of the more common things Miranda arranged. Most people would be amazed to know that the editor they called Dragon Lady and the Devil in Prada was actually quite romantic. Thoughtful gestures from Miranda didn't exactly surprise Andy, but they almost always gave her a moment's pause to remember exactly how much she loved Miranda and how much Miranda loved her.

She was met at the door by Miranda and the twins.

"Andy! Look at the decorations!"

The girls' enthusiasm was contagious and Andy laughed as they grabbed her hands, practically dragging her through the house to show her what the decorating crew had done. Against her own better judgment, Andy was impressed with the way the townhouse looked. It was, just as she suspected, directly from a magazine. Room after room, floor after floor, it was all wonderful and fantastic and oh so festive. She just couldn't make herself feel it. Having it all done for them just didn't seem like Christmas to her.

Miranda followed them through the house, gauging Andrea's response to the changes in their home. "Girls," Miranda spoke gently to the children. "I think the tour has been informative, but perhaps a movie is in order for the rest of the evening?"

"Sure, Mom," Caroline grabbed Cassidy's hand. "C'mon, Cass."

Andy moved closer to Miranda and whispered. "I'm sorry. I know the girls are really excited about all this, but…"

"Andrea," Miranda wrapped her arms around the young woman's waist. "Don't apologize, I understand that this is all quite new to you."

"Christmas for me is not about picture perfect decorations and immaculately wrapped presents." Andy gently outlined Miranda's face with her fingertips. "It's about family, sharing memories, snacking on sweets, singing along with carols and just generally spending time together."

Miranda spoke quietly. "So you would believe stringing popcorn and making paper chains to decorate the tree will give the girls a better Christmas experience than what I've offered here?"

"Not better." Andy hastily tried to clarify her thoughts. "But some of the best memories I have of Christmas are of my family decorating the tree, just being… a family." She tried to make Miranda understand. "I want that for the girls so badly, I want them to have great memories of their childhood." She rested her forehead against Miranda's. "I just want them to have great memories." She sighed and tilted her head, bringing their lips together for a brief moment. "I want you to have some great memories. I love you so much, Miranda. I'm always looking for ways to show you that."

"Andrea," Miranda smiled at her wife. "You do show me that, every day, in a hundred different ways." Linking her arm with the brunette's, Miranda began to lead her toward the television room. "Shall we go discover what horrid science fiction fantasy the girls have in store for us this evening?"

Laughing at that, Andy leaned into her wife playfully. "You know you secretly love that stuff, Miranda."

"I do not." The editor's jaw clenched and her lips twitched trying in vain to keep a smile from appearing.

"C'mon, Miranda." Andy's dark eyes twinkled at the love of her life. "Admit it, you like that stuff."

With a much put upon sigh, Miranda spoke quietly, conditionally agreeing to Andrea's crude accusation. "I will admit that some of those shows have some rather fascinating clothing designs in them." She rolled her eyes at Andrea's grin. "The elves in the Lord of the Rings movies wore some very interesting designs, as did the Queen in the Star Wars movie."

"I knew it!" Andy leaned over and kissed her wife's cheek as they walked. "You're a closet geek."

With another sigh, Miranda scoffed playfully. "Now you're just being ridiculous." They reached the tv room door and Miranda gestured for the young woman to enter.

It was the scent that hit her first. Pine. Andy looked around the room first noticing the boxes strewn around the floor before she realized there was another Christmas tree standing in the corner. The difference with this one was, it was completely bare. Andy now became aware of the jazzy Christmas music playing through the room's surround sound system. "Miranda?"

"Christmas is for family, Andrea." She urged the brunette toward one of the boxes and smiled as the young woman sat cross-legged on the floor to open it.

"Oh my God… Miranda!" Tears threatened to spill out of dark liquid eyes. "How did you do this??" She lifted one of the ornaments she remembered so clearly from her childhood from the box. Looking up she met loving blue eyes with an awed gaze. "How did you get these?"

"How do you think?"

Andy blinked at the new voice and looked around. "Ma?"

"You bet it is."

Caroline held her phone out for Andy to take.

Holding the device up to her ear, Andy repeated. "Ma?"

"Miranda called a few days ago and asked me to send some of the old ornaments to you." Dorothy could hear the emotion in her daughter's silence. "I know it looks like I sent everything, and actually I did send most of it. Miranda has asked us to spend Christmas with you in New York."

"She did?" Andy looked startled and found Miranda's calm face to gaze on even as she continued to speak to her mother. "Will you?"

"I wasn't sure if you would want us there… I mean, it will be your first Christmas together." Dorothy was sure Andy would want to spend the holiday with her new family. "I thought you might just want to spend it with Miranda and the girls."

"Christmas is for family, Ma." Andy stressed the word. "My whole family, it would be great if you guys could be here."

"We'll see you then." Dorothy wished she could hug her daughter. "Enjoy the decorations, Sweetheart."

"Thanks, Ma." She closed her eyes for a second. "See you at Christmas."

"You bet you will." Dorothy chuckled. "Bye now."

"Bye, Ma." Disconnecting the call, Andy handed the phone back to Caroline. "Thanks, Munchkin."

"Sure, Andy." Caroline slipped the phone into her pocket. One of the ornaments in the box caught her eye. She lifted it carefully out of the container. "What's this one?"

"Oh! Wow." Andy laughed at the colorful yarn wound around crossed popsicle sticks. She pointed to the date on the end of one of the sticks. "I made this in kindergarten…"

The twins laughed along with their Ma, until Miranda cleared her throat. "It's amazing how little things change in schools." She walked to a normal looking box and lifted the lid, then reached inside and pulled out two ornaments very similar to the one Andrea was holding.

"What are those, Mom?" Cassidy moved closer to the white haired woman.

"These are the ornaments that you made in kindergarten." Miranda looked at the bits of yarn and wood in her hand and smiled softly, obviously remembering when she'd received the trinkets.

"You kept them?" Caroline looked dubiously at the poorly constructed things. "Why?"

Andy dropped her arm around Caroline's shoulders and leaned down to answer the girl in a stage whisper. "Because she loves you," glancing over at Cassidy, she added, "both."

Eerily similar eyes met, and Miranda found herself sandwiched between her daughters in a double assault hug. Liquid blue eyes narrowed at the smug expression on Andrea's face, "What?"

"This is it." She walked toward the mother-daughter trio and when she was close enough, reached out to cradle the older woman's cheek in her palm. "Can you feel it?" Andy sighed. "I can feel it now."

Miranda leaned into the touch, but asked. "Feel what, Andrea?"

Andy smiled and leaned in to kiss Miranda's lips, lightly, before answering.

"Christmas."

Fin.