How Green Becomes Wood

"It has pockets," Daizi smiled, tipping her head to the side when Dark touched her shoulder. "It was the first time I'd worn it since Ivy, actually."

"It fits you just as well," Dark said, and she knew from how he behaved last night he meant it. She wasn't insecure about any of her physical changes, at least not a year after, but she loved her husband complimenting her nonetheless.

"I don't have any plans," She told Xander when he asked, "No plans besides having a simple, quiet day anyway."
 
"Cool. I was thinking of getting started on a Christmas gift for Ivy," Xander said, getting up to clean up.

Alec followed him. "Actually," he said very quietly, I was wondering if maybe... maybe we could do something together today?"

Xander gave him an odd look. "Do you want me to help you clean your room? Or did you want to help me in the shed?"

"No, nothing like that," Alec said hastily. "I was thinking maybe we could do something fun together. Just you and me." He looked away. "I'm trying not to be awkward or childish about this, but, um, I've missed you. My twin. I thought maybe today, we could... I don't know." He shrugged awkwardly and started to shuffle away.

Xander reached out and put his arm around Alec, drawing him close. "I've missed you, too. Yeah. We'll find something."
 
"Did you hear that, sweet Ivy-Qadira?" Daizi asked, lifting Ivy out of her chair and holding her in her lap, "Your very sweet, kind brother Xander is going to make you a Christmas Gift!"

"I cannot believe it is already almost Christmas." Dark frowned. He didn't like the thought of the year ending. Not at all. "Are we doing Christmas as we did last year?"
 
"Nothing really," Daizi shrugged, resting her chin on Ivy's head while she played with her spoon, "We gave each other gifts because we'd give Cooger and some of my friends a gift. I'd celebrate the winter solstice, but that doesn't fall on Christmas, so on the day, when Cooger was with his family, we'd not really do anything for it."
 
"I dunno," Xander said, looking at Ivy. "I guess we just do it because... it's what you do, and I want to keep doing something."

"I agree, I want to do something, too, but it should be something Ivy will be happy to be included in, too," Alec said. "Solstice, Christmas, whatever."
 
"If it's something we don't celebrate and you do, then we'll do it," Daizi told them, "Just like last year, if you'd like that, when we invited the Hollises, Ciara, and Cooger. I suppose Lex and Toby if they aren't going to New Jersey. And Tristan this year, too," She thought about it for a few moments and than nodded to herself, thinking that was just, "Or we could do something different, but since it's not a holiday we celebrate, of course we'll still celebrate it. Whatever we do Ivy will grow up feeling included by so it doesn't matter."

Dark finished his coffee and stared dimly into the now-empty cup, "I do not want to each year have to debate which holidays we are celebrating. I only need to know if we are having guests over so I know to cook for it."
 
"I'm sorry, Ba," Alec said meekly. "We can do it just like last year. Last year was a lot of fun. I just don't want you to feel extra pressure to do something like this."

Xander leaned against the counter, watching Dark. "Look at it this way, Alec," he said, "we're not celebrating a holiday: we're having a holiday that celebrates being with family. I think we can all get behind that."

Alec relaxed at that explanation and smiled. "Yes. That's perfect! Yes, we can all celebrate the season. The season of family. I like that a lot."
 
Dark held up one hand, "There is nothing to apologize for, I only think it does not serve us to debate each year whose traditions we are following and we need time to plan because people are busy in December. If we want to do it like last year, we can. If we want to do something different, we will do that. I have little interest in raising Ivy to believe in Santa Claus but besides that," He waved his hand, "I do not care what we call. If it is not Christmas we need to pick a day and it does not need a specific date, only a random weekend." He was fairly certain if he didn't express this directly, they'd spend all morning talking in circles instead of anyone just saying explicitly what they wanted to do.

"From what I recall last year was quite nice, I don't have a problem doing it again," Daizi said, "I was barely awake for most of it, but what I could attend to was lovely."
 
"I liked what we did, too, so I think we should follow that blueprint," Alec suggested. "Unless some year is different, which is fine! But I liked what we did last year, and I look forward to seeing everyone again. And this year, Mama will be able to really join in! And Ivy!"
 
"And your father, he was sleep deprived last year too," Daizi pointed out.

"Are we inviting the same guests or are we also inviting Tristan and Lex?" Dark asked, just wanting to easily get it all sorted.
 
Alec went over the list Daizi already outlined in his head. "Yes, I think that sounds like a good list. Unless, like you said, people are traveling elsewhere, but we can still invite them."

"Sounds good to me," Xander agreed.
 
Dark nodded and stood to clear the table, "Good. We can call to invite them today to give everyone plenty of time to respond."

"You slept through most of Christmas last year habibti," Daizi cooed to Ivy, helping her to stand up, "But you'll get to enjoy it now that you're such a big, clever girl."
 
"It'll be fun to watch her tear open some gifts," Xander remarked.

"Are we going to verbally invite them or send invitations? If we sent invitations, can I help design them?" Alec asked hopefully.
 
"If you would like, I suppose we can send physical invitations," Dark reasoned cautiously, "but it is something we need to do quickly. If we send physical invitations we need to account for it times to take to mail them, so really they ought to be in the mail no later than Tuesday, ideally tomorrow."
 
"At a decent hour I'll make the phone calls," Daizi smiled, knowing she was more personable and friendly than her husband, "Until then, it's playtime. Your sister is getting restless."
 
Xander glanced at Alec. "Want to go to the music room for a while?"

Alec brightened and nodded. "That sounds fun," he agreed, trying not to make a big deal out of it while internally turning cartwheels.
 
Of course, Dark and Daizi were pleased their sons were planning to spend time with each other again, so they let them go without any debate and brought Ivy down to the living room to play with her. Given how late they were up last night, keeping up with someone who had seemingly boundless energy was assuredly exhausting but there was absolutely nothing for it. Soon enough, they were wrapping Ivy up in blanket burritos which, inexplicably, delighted her.
 
The twins spent a couple of hours in the music room playing. Sometimes they played real songs, Sometimes made up their own songs, and sometimes they just goofed off with random noises. Eventually, they came down and checked with Dark and Daizi that it was okay to make a convenience store run for snacks! Xander drove since it was cold despite being in walking distance of the store, and he picked out the majority of the snackage before they headed home again. They then spent a fair amount of time sitting with Ivy and passing snacks back and forth while watching a movie turned down low. They shared the safe and appropriate snacks with Ivy and gave her some of her own so she wouldn't feel left out.
 
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