"I know," Iris said. "I was trying to speed up the process."  She walked over to the couch and sat down the remaining boxes. "So for fun! I thought we use decorations we haven't used in awhile." She clapped her hands. "Let's start on the mantle." Iris's eyes drifted to the box that contain the stockings. She was regretting bringing it down.

Gabriel nodded as he looked over the decorations. He remembered most of them, but some were old enough to have faded into the background of his memory. He walked over to Iris to pick through one of the boxes when his eyes fell on the stockings she was staring at. He frowned for a moment before wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Adrien asked as he walked over. They'd lingered too long without grabbing any decorations.

Iris felt Gabriel's comforting touch. She leaned against him. Thinking about the stockings caused her emotions to overwhelm her again. It reminded her how much she has missed since her disappearance. She then jumped at the sound of Adrien's voice.

She moved away from Gabriel and turned around to face Adrien. "Uh looking at the stockings." She turned back around and grabbed Adrien's. She then faced him. "Do you want me to make a new one?" Iris accidentally clenched it in her hands. "Seeing how you're older now.."

Adrien closed the distance between himself and Iris and reached to touch her hand, comfortingly. "We can put this one up for now. Then you can surprise me when you make a new one," he answered, hoping that would be enough to make her feel better.

"I will," Iris said with a feint smile. She handed him his stocking. "Why don't you put up the stockings then? There are hooks on the fireplace."

She needed to take her mind off the of the past. Iris turned back toward the boxes.  "And I'll put up the garland." She opened up the box which contained it. Iris started to pull it out.

Adrien took the stockings to the mantle and hung them up with his parents' stockings next to each other and his on the end. He took a step back and studied the stockings, barely remembering his own from his childhood. Growing up with a fashion designing father was enough for him to see the wonderful craftsmanship, no doubt full of his mother's love. It was too bad he couldn't use this stocking for a few more years, but it was obviously designed for a child.

Gabriel looked into the box and grabbed a few knickknacks for the top of the mantle. He never really cared for knickknacks. A lot of knickknacks looked tacky, but at least Iris knew how to pick out acceptable ones.

Iris worked along side of Gabriel as she put up the garland. She was starting to feel better as they decorated. However still she felt the need to talk about her feelings, but with Gabirel. She didn't want to upset Adrien. Iris took a step back when she finished and smiled.

"Looks lovely! Now we can go decorate the fireplace in the dinning room," she said cheerfully. "And we really should go all out! Seeing how we'll be hosting my sister's family this year."

Gabriel's attention snapped to Iris, confusion clouding his expression. "We're hosting your family this year?" He asked. Why? He had hoped they could have a nice, quiet Christmas this year. Not that Elise's family wasn't welcome, but this was the first Christmas they were going to spend as a family in six years.

Iris froze. She forgot to tell both Gabriel and Adrien about having her sister over for the holidays. She laughed sheepishly. "Why yes. I would like to..I uh told her we would." She sighed. "I'm sorry, but I didn't think about you guys when I offered. I was just so happy to see my sister again. It won't be on Christmas. I promise. That day is only for the three of us. They can come over dinner sometime after."

Adrien nodded, with a shrug. It would be nice to see his cousins again, and he had no problem with spending a day near Christmas with extended family.  "Cool," he said with a smile.

Gabriel paused for a moment before also nodding. "I guess that's fine. It's been a while since we've had anyone over for Christmas." He would make himself enjoy the company. It's not like he could keep Iris from seeing her family if she wanted, and he did like Elise and her husband.

Iris breathed in relief. "Glad you two are okay with it." She then walked over to the boxes. "Well let's put together the dinning room mantle." She grabbed more garland from its box.

After they decorated the dinning room mantle, they moved on to putting up other non tree christmas decorations. It took them about an hour to put everything up. Seeing everything put together really upped Iris's mood.

They were standing in the living room admiring everything. Iris couldn't help, but hug both the boys. "Everything looks great! When we get the tree, it will look grand!"

Iris let go of them and waved her finger at Gabriel. "Oh no you're helping us. Even the kwamis can help too." She walked over to the couch and sat down.

She had to think for a minute about when to get the tree. She crossed her leg over her other leg. It needed to be close to Christmas. "So maybe we'll get the tree on the first Saturday of December?" She looked directly at Gabriel. "I would like all of us to go and pick it out."

Iris held back rolling her eyes. Of course Gabriel complained about the cold. She nodded her head. "Of course we can." She then stood up. "Welp I'll be in my sewing room." Iris gave Gabriel an intense stare. She then turned around and started to walk out of the room. "I got get started on my new project." Iris left the room and went upstairs.