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The Connecticut air was crisp as Lorelai and Rory finally pulled into the driveway after making the journey home from Yale. The sun weakly shone through the trees, bouncing off of the snow and leaves in a splashing of light. They walked toward the house, Rory bone tired after final exams, but so happy to be home.
As they entered the front door, Rory took in the familiar spaces of home, the ever present smell of coffee wafting throughout the room. It was only days before Christmas, but her mother hadn’t decorated yet, wanting to wait until Rory was home to share in the holiday magic.
“I’ll go unpack while you grab the boxes?” she suggested to her mom, seeing her eyes light up at the promise of twinkling lights and hot chocolate. After so many years of the two of them celebrating the holiday, they had a routine that Rory loved and with the promise of holiday cheer, she swiftly unpacked the clothes she had brought home for the break.
When she walked into the living room Miracle on 34th Street was already playing, neither of them needing to pay particular attention given how many times they had watched it. Their plastic tree had already been set up, and Lorelai sat next to it, attempting to untangle the lights. Every year Rory argued with her about proper packing of their Christmas things and every year her mom ignored it; she loathed and loved it in equal measure because it meant she was home.
“Mom, I can do it,” she interrupted, grabbing the lights to set to work methodically untangling them. The process was slow, but it gave her time to catch up with her mom; even though they talked almost every night, it was nothing like spending time together.
“How’s the inn? Are we going to stop by and see Sookie soon?” she asked, eager to give Sookie and Jackson their presents and hopefully have some of the food at the inn.
“They’re stopping by after dinner,” Lorelai replied, and the closeness to dinner time caused them to rush to finish on time. They worked in tandem, the movie paused for the motivation of Christmas music that they sang along to as they hung up the stockings and ornaments. Gifts were pulled haphazardly from rooms and rearranged beneath the tree, and after the final ornament found its place amongst the branches, they sat together on the couch.
“Ugh, I never want to move again,” Lorelai exclaimed, attempting to starfish on their narrow couch. Rory let her, content to curl next to her mother as they basked in the feel of Christmas. The songs changed, moving between soft and somber or fun and upbeat, before finally landing on Santa Clause is Coming to Town. Suddenly, her mother jumped up, reaching behind her to tug Rory to her feet.
“No, I don’t want to,” she complained, her feet too sore for whatever she had planned. Her protests had been accurate; the next words out of her mom’s mouth were a simple “Dance with me!”
Without realizing it, she began to sway along, and as the song continued to play they began jumping around the room, embracing the motion even though they were fatigued.
“Hello!” a voice called through the door, interrupting their dance as the song drifted to an end. “Sookie!” Rory called, clamoring towards the entrance so she could hug her properly. “You’re home! I brought hot chocolate.”
“You’re my favorite,” Rory proclaimed, and they walked into the kitchen to grab mugs from the stack near the sink. Together they sat, talking like old times while sipping hot chocolate, and it was the best Rory had felt in weeks. College was worth it, but coming home was the best gift of all.