Author's note: welcome to my 2020 Christmas story. This has been a little more difficult for me than writing the usual story. If you read the last installment in the series, Molly was making plans for a lovely family gathering with Sherlock's parents and her mother that would take place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So, there I was, having written my lovely Christmas Eve chapters when I heard the UK changed the rules. No more three household Christmas bubble. No more travelling anytime between 23-27th. Nope. One day only, and no travelling outside the local area either.

So, I have been furiously rewriting, changing significant portions of the story. As a result, I have still not finished the whole story, which will probably be four chapters. But, I do have the first two chapters finished, aside from editing/proofreading, which take place on Christmas Eve, and I hope to get the writing portion finished so I can publish the other 2 at the end of next week.

I've included some of the latest statistics at the beginning of the story.


Molly opened her eyes and looked over at Sherlock, whose eyes were still closed.

This was supposed to be such a wonderful day. It was Christmas Eve, their daughter Christina's first birthday. Just weeks earlier, she had been happily planning to have Sherlock's parents over for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, along with her mother.

Unfortunately, just a few days earlier, new restrictions and an elevation to a new tier 4 alert level for London and many surrounding areas had made these happy plans impossible. The new guidelines meant that Sherlock's parents could not travel to London from Sussex. Even Molly's mother was only permitted to spend one day with them, Christmas Day itself. And yesterday, it was announced that more areas of the country would be elevated to tier 4, including Sussex, as of Boxing Day. That meant 24 million people would be at tier 4. This was because of the new variant of the virus which was more infectious, meaning daily cases had continued to increase, with over 39,000 cases, the highest yet, being reported yesterday. The new variant was deemed responsible for three quarters of the newly reported cases. And yet another variant had emerged, which was believed to have originated in South Africa. The only positive aspect was that the vaccine was expected to still be effective, for the most part, against the new variants.

With these concerns and subsequent guidelines changes, the plans for celebrating Christina's birthday with extended family were scrapped. Preparing a big Christmas Day feast with a full turkey was no longer necessary, so, at Molly's instructions, Sherlock had purchased a turkey crown instead. Molly's mum would be bringing stuffing along tomorrow as her contribution to the meal. She had volunteered to bring a Christmas pudding for dessert as well, now that Sherlock's mother would not be there to provide her own.

Instead of Christina receiving gifts from her grandparents in person, they were delivered to the house. Sherlock's parents had sent both Christmas and birthday gifts, and several packages were now under the Christmas tree, aside from an enormous one labelled with Sherlock and Molly's name, that was currently beside the tree. Molly's mother had said she would just bring Christinas's birthday present tomorrow, along with their Christmas gifts. Sherlock was driving to her flat to pick her up, so he could help carry the presents.

When the packages from Sherlock's parents had arrived yesterday, Sherlock called to let them know they had arrived and to thank them.


Yesterday

"Thank you for the gifts, Mummy," Sherlock said, when his mother answered the phone. He had the phone on speaker so Molly could hear his mother. "You didn't need to send anything to us, though. It could have waited until we are able to get together."

"Nonsense, Sherlock, I don't know when that will be," responded his mother. "The presents were already wrapped and waiting. I'm just glad they arrived in time for Christina's birthday and Christmas. Even if we can't be there, at least you know we are thinking about you." She sighed. "This pandemic has been just dreadful. I miss the girls so much. You can't get the right idea on how they are growing with just FaceTime."

"We were so looking forward to you getting a special surprise as well," put in Molly, looking over at Victoria and Christina, who were both in the playpen. Martha was snoozing in her usual armchair. "Christina is walking now."

"Oh!" exclaimed her mother-in-law. Her voice became slightly muffled as she spoke away from the phone. "William, Christina is walking, isn't that wonderful?"

"Wonderful," William Holmes, always a man of few words, echoed the sentiment in the background.

"I'm so sorry we won't get to see her walking," Sherlock's mother said into the phone in a disappointed tone.

"I recorded her first steps and a little bit of her walking, if you want me to send you the clips via Facebook Messenger," offered Molly.

"Oh, yes please. One thing that has kept me going these past few months has been the way you often post pictures of the girls on your Facebook page."

This was something Molly had been doing faithfully for several months, with the specific intention of enabling her mother and inlaws to at least see up-to-date pictures of their granddaughters. "I'm glad I was able to share them. We are so blessed with modern technology," said Molly.

Sherlock spoke again then. "Mummy, how are you and Daddy doing? Mycroft told me last week that he'd arranged an invitation for you and Daddy to have the vaccine at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospital last Friday. Did you go to your appointment?"

Sherlock's mother gave a slight huff of laughter. "Of course we did. Mycroft would have been most upset if we had not done so. Your father and I had the first dose, and we are to return on the seventh of January for the second one."

Molly listened with interest. Sherlock had not informed her of this. She knew there could be some side-effects to the vaccine. Not being one of the front line workers who dealt with infected patients, she was not among the first wave of NHS workers to be vaccinated, but her inlaws, who were both over eighty, were certainly eligible. "How did you tolerate the vaccine?" she asked. "Did you experience any of the side-effects?"

"Your father-in-law had a little more difficulty than I did. We both had fevers, but his lasted an extra day. Panadol brought it down each time, though. And our arms were a little sore. But I guess the fever is a good sign."

"That's true," said Molly. "It means your bodies are producing the antibodies needed to combat the disease. Are you still experiencing difficulties?"

"Not at all," her mother-in-law assured her. She sighed. "That makes it even more disappointing, because we feel as if we could have safely travelled to London for Christmas."

"Well," said Sherlock, "we shall just have to have a special celebration when we are able to be together again. Perhaps we can plan to be together for Easter instead."

"That would be lovely," his mother said.

"Mummy, we'll FaceTime you on Christmas Day so you can see the girls."

"Thank you, Sherlock. We'll look forward to it," said his mother.


Now, Molly sighed and looked over to the monitor which displayed a sleeping Christina. She couldn't help feeling wistful that her daughter's first birthday would be such a quiet one, but it couldn't be helped. Even though it was still early, she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep, so she might as well get up and ready for the day. She still had to make Christina's birthday cake.

She was about to get out of bed when Sherlock's voice startled her. "What's wrong, love?" he asked, and she felt his arms come around her from behind.

"Can't you tell?" she countered, turning in his embrace to look at him.

"Undoubtedly you are disappointed at the disruption of our plans for this Christmas," he said, kissing her forehead tenderly.

"Yes. It just seems that things continue to get worse, despite these lockdowns. I imagine a lot of people out there who've lost loved ones are wondering why God is allowing this to happen."

He stroked her cheek gently. "Molly, my love, the world is full of sin and sinful people. Who are we to question the wisdom of God? Look at the way the world is slipping into moral decline. People are so determined to go their own way, to do what feels good, they've lost sight of what really matters, and that is to show love and compassion for one another, as Jesus did. All we can do is pray that people's hearts will be turned towards God, rather than away. It is Satan causing all this, not God. He loves nothing more than inciting division, especially in the body of believers, trying to make us doubt our faith."

Molly's own hand came up to touch Sherlock's cheek. "It amazes me how secure you are in your faith, for someone who has been a believer for a relatively short amount of time. I think God has given you an extra measure of wisdom."

He smiled. "Perhaps it is because I've seen so clearly in my life how He has been with me, even before I believed. I know there's a plan for each of us, and I know we can't always see the plan when we are going through situations. I also think we have been particularly blessed to not have lost a close relative to the virus, and I pray that continues."

"I'm glad your parents have had their first dose of the vaccine. That's really kind of a miracle, that it was developed so quickly."

"And we can thank God we possess the technology for scientists to create something so complex in such a short amount of time."

She bent forward to kiss him. "Thanks for making me feel better, honey. I need to keep reminding myself of the silver lining, that our family is okay, that God has protected me at work."

"We'll get through this, Molly. Next year, this will just be a distant memory."

"I hope so." She brightened then. "Now that I'm quitting breastfeeding, perhaps we'll even have another baby on the way by then."

"So, last night was definitely the final time you put Christina to sleep whilst breastfeeding? You still wish to wean her even without your mother around to rock her to sleep as she had offered? You could wait till tomorrow, when she is here for Christmas."

Molly shook her head decisively. "Nope. I made up my mind that the one year mark was the cut-off, and I'm sticking to it. Either you or Martha can rock Christina to sleep tonight."

He brushed his hand down, along the curve of her breast. "Well, I will not complain about having your breasts to myself again. You know how much I disliked you wearing that maternity bra to bed almost every night."

"I had to, so I wouldn't leak milk everywhere," protested Molly. "Anyway, my milk supply has been so limited recently that I haven't been wearing a bra to bed anymore."

"And I am not complaining." His hand caressed her breast provocatively. He looped his leg over her body to keep her close and kissed her.

Molly had a fairly good idea of what he planned, but a sudden cry from the monitor distracted them both.

Sherlock let out a little huff of annoyance. "Too much talking. I missed my chance for a bit of early morning loving."

Molly giggled and drew away from his embrace. "We were talking for all of five minutes. No way you'd have been finished before Christina woke, so I guess you should be grateful we didn't really get anything started."

Another cry came from the monitor, and Molly scrambled out of bed to put on a dressing gown and tend to the birthday girl.

Fifteen minutes later, Victoria was also awake, and everyone was dressed and ready for the day.

Molly buckled Victoria into her booster seat at the dining table while Sherlock placed Christina in the high chair.

They were sitting down to a breakfast of scrambled eggs when Martha entered the kitchen.

"Martha, there's scrambled eggs in the frying pan for you too," said Molly, raising a spoonful of egg to Christina's mouth.

"Thank you, dear." Martha stopped beside the high chair and bent down to kiss the top of Christina's head. "Happy birthday, poppet."

"It's Chwisty's birfday," said Victoria, nodding in agreement. "Chwisty is one years old."

Molly suppressed a smile at the way Victoria used the plural. Victoria was becoming quite chatty these days.

Martha kissed the top of Victoria's head. "Yes, she is." She headed towards the cooktop to get her eggs.

At least Martha was with them to commemorate Christina's birthday, thought Molly.

After breakfast, Sherlock took their daughters into the front room so Molly could bake Christina's birthday cake. She also wanted to get a head start on the Brussels sprouts recipe by cutting and roasting the sprouts. That would make it a little easier when she did the rest of the preparation this evening for the dish.

"Let me help you, Molly," said Martha, and Molly accepted the offer gratefully. Martha cut and seasoned the sprouts while Molly got the cake ready for the oven.

"I'm sorry that Sherlock's parents and your mother can't be here today," commented Martha as they worked together. "God certainly has a morbid sense of humour in putting us all through this mess."

How ironic that Sherlock and I were discussing this earlier. It must have been God preparing me for this conversation, thought Molly.

"Martha," she said, choosing her next words carefully, "God isn't responsible for the pandemic. The virus originated in China, not from the hand of God. God doesn't play games with people's lives like that. He loves us. We are all God's creation."

She poured the batter into two round cake pans as Martha responded, a little crossly. "Then why is this happening? Can't God just put a stop to all of this? So many people have died from this... this plague!"

Molly thought for a moment before answering. "As I see it, God is intervening, in a way. He has provided scientists with the technology and advancements that have enabled them to isolate the genetic code of the virus and produce a vaccine to combat it years earlier than any has ever been developed before. It's unheard of to have a vaccine available in a matter of months. Usually it takes years of research and clinical trials. To me, that is a small miracle right there."

Martha's stiffened posture relaxed somewhat. "I suppose you are right. I just hate seeing so many people suffering, and I can't stand feeling like at any moment I could get sick and be the next victim."

Molly's lips curved upwards. "I have no doubt if you contracted the virus you would come through it smelling like a rose, Martha. But just think, you are over eighty, so I'm sure it won't be long before you receive an invitation to have the vaccination, and I'm sure that will make you feel more positive."

She put the cake pans into the one oven and set the timer, then reached for the Brussels sprouts, which were ready to go into the second oven as Martha spoke again.

"Molly, once I've had my two vaccinations, I'm going to return to Baker Street. I've imposed upon you long enough."

Molly put the sprouts into the preheated oven and closed the door, set the second oven timer, then looked at the elderly woman. "Martha, it has been no imposition having you here. You've become part of the family even more than you were before, and the girls adore you."

"Nevertheless," Martha's voice was firm, "I need to get back to my home. To be honest, I do enjoy my independence. This COVID thing has made me feel a bit like a prisoner. Going home will give me back a sense of normalcy, and I can't wait to just be able to go shopping whenever and wherever I want. Can you understand that?"

Molly placed a hand on her shoulder. "Of course I understand. Sherlock and I will stand by whatever decisions you make. We just don't want you to feel as if you need to be in a hurry to leave."

"Thank you, dear. Ideally, I would like to get back to Baker Street by the end of January." Then she gave Molly a sly look. "Besides, I am quite sure you and Sherlock would like to have a nice quiet evening for Valentine's Day next year, and if I am back at Baker Street, I can babysit your daughters to give you a night alone."

Molly couldn't help thinking how lovely it would be to have Sherlock all to herself for a whole evening and night. They hadn't truly been alone like that since before Christina was born. A smile spread over her face as she said, "Well, I must admit, that idea does sound appealing. We'll see what happens."

The women walked to the front room to join Sherlock.

Christina was standing at the coffee table, watching Victoria assemble one of her puzzles. When her little hand reached for a piece and started to raise it to her mouth, Sherlock took the piece away. "No, Christina, that is not food, nor something to chew on."

Sherlock turned to look at Molly. "When should we help Christina open her birthday presents?"

"I think we can wait until after lunch. It will give us something to do this afternoon. Then, tonight we can watch the sermon Pastor Briggs prepared for Christmas Eve, and see how the Hallelujah Chorus turned out."

"Did you send my parents the link to our church's YouTube account? I know Mummy wants to see that."

Molly nodded. "Yes, I sent a message to her with the link last night and told her it should be available to watch this evening."

The morning passed. The cake pans were taken out of the oven and left to cool for half an hour, after which Molly decorated the cake with chocolate icing, as Victoria watched. Molly allowed Victoria to lick the icing spatula afterwards. The roasted Brussels sprouts, after also being left to cool, were put into the fridge.

After lunch, Molly said, "I think it's time for the birthday girl to open some presents." She looked over at Sherlock, who had just finished cleaning up Victoria as she had done with Christina. "Honey, would you go upstairs and get the big bag of presents for Christina, please?"

"As soon as I've unbuckled Victoria," he said, doing just that and lifting her down from her cushioned booster.

By the time he returned with the bag, Molly was on the floor in the front room with Christina in front of her, Victoria beside her to help open the presents.

"Don't forget there's a birthday card from Mycroft on the mantel," said Sherlock, handing her the envelope, which had Christina's name on it. The card had arrived two days earlier, along with another one that was addressed to "The Holmes family." Molly had opened that card and found a cheque for ?300 and a folded note from Elizabeth. The message read,

Dear Sherlock and Molly,

Mycroft, Mark and I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas. Seeing as we are unable to be together for Christmas, please use this money to buy something special for your daughters and yourselves. Mark wanted me to request that you give his cousins an extra cuddle and kiss from him, and to tell them he misses them.

Hope we will be able to gather once again soon.

Love,

Elizabeth.

Molly had made sure to give those extra cuddles and kisses last night, telling Victoria they were from her cousin, because he could not see them over Christmas.

Now, Molly, with Victoria's "help", opened the birthday card for Christina. There was a ?50 note in the card, which had been signed individually by Elizabeth, Mycroft and Mark.

Victoria pointed. "Money," she said.

Molly smiled at her daughter. "Yes. Isn't that kind of Uncle Mycroft, Auntie Elizabeth and your cousin?"

She replaced the card in the envelope for now, and Victoria helped tear the wrapping off of Christina's presents, with Molly grasping one of Christina's hands on the paper to at least make it seem as if she was opening her own presents.

By the time they were finished, there was quite a large pile of discarded wrapping paper, and an even bigger pile of toys, including block puzzles, baby books and a Pusheen toy holding a little cake that had a 1 on top of it. Molly had seen this one on Amazon, and had suggested Sherlock buy it, seeing as Christina seemed so taken with the detective Pusheen Victoria had grown out of. Martha's contribution was a ?20 note in a card and a Laugh and Learn Puppy. Of all the presents though, it was the Pusheen toy Christina took notice of and immediately took hold of, refusing to let go.

Molly looked up at Sherlock, who had recorded the whole process of opening presents.

"Chwisty get lots of pwesents," declared Victoria, looking around her.

Sherlock returned his phone to his pocket. "I'm sure she will share all her new toys with you, Victoria."

"Wanna play with that one," said Victoria, pointing at the Laugh and Learn puppy.

"Let me get it out of the box, and you and Christina can play with it together," Sherlock told her, as Molly gathered up all the wrapping paper to throw it away.

She and Sherlock walked together to the kitchen, he holding the puppy toy in its box.

Molly threw away the wrapping paper and watched as Sherlock cut off the ties holding the puppy in its box.

Back in the front room, Sherlock put the puppy toy on the floor and said to Victoria, "Why don't you show it to your sister?" He pressed the pad on its foot that read "foot".

"Foot," came the puppy's voice.

Molly grinned as Sherlock ended up doing the demonstration for both girls rather than Victoria. The toy was cute how it not only said words but also played music.

After the demonstration of the puppy's various features, Sherlock pulled Christina onto his lap and guided her fingers to press a button, then allowed Victoria to take a turn. As usual, Molly felt her heart fill with love and adoration for the way her husband interacted with their daughters. She took out her phone and took a quick photo. She could never have too many candid photos of Sherlock with their children.

Victoria grew restless and got up, then walked to Molly. "Mummy, want cake."

Molly smiled at her daughter. She placed an affectionate hand on Victoria's head. "After dinner, princess. Do you want to watch a Disney film for now?"

Victoria nodded. "Watch the doggies."

Molly knew she meant Lady and the Tramp, so she turned on the television and found the film on Disney Plus.

After the film, Victoria showed Christina how to assemble a block puzzle that had animal shapes which were divided into two pieces which fit together. Not surprisingly, Christina wasn't particularly interested. She was more concerned with sucking on her new Birthday Pusheen.

Sherlock received birthday calls for Christina from the Lestrades and the Watsons.

When Victoria heard Sherlock speaking to John, she said, "Wanna see Wosie."

"We'll do a FaceTime call tomorrow so you can see her, sweet pea," promised Sherlock, and he made arrangements to do a FaceTime call after lunch the next day. The Watsons too were having a quiet Christmas, but Kayla's parents were coming over to spend Christmas Day with them.

At five o'clock, when Sherlock had just returned from taking Victoria to the toilet, Molly said to him, "I suppose we should order our dinner now from Nando's." He had insisted that Molly not cook tonight, seeing as she would be doing the meal tomorrow.

Sherlock brought up the website on his laptop to order. "Looks like they've made some new rules because of COvID," he commented to Molly, and she read over his shoulder.

Step 1:

Head to the restaurant as usual. If there's a queue please wait outside the restaurant maintaining a safe 2m distance. Please don't forget to wear your face mask when collecting your order.

Step 2:

One of our team will greet you at the door and invite you into the restaurant when it is safe to do so. To avoid unnecessary crowding please enter the restaurant on your own to collect your order.

Step 3:

Your order will be placed by one of our team on the handover table. You will then be asked to step forward and collect it.

Step 4:

Enjoy your PERi-PERi!

"I had thought to take Victoria along with me for the ride, but it says to go alone," Sherlock said.

"Probably just as well. I know it would have been nice for Victoria to go outside, but that would mean putting on her winter coat and hat, and then you still have to carry the food," said Molly.

"True."

Sherlock brought up the menu. "Should we just get the boneless platter? We can get chips and coleslaw as the sides." He looked over at Martha. "Is that okay with you, Martha?"

"That's fine with me, and I'm paying for the meal," she said.

"No you aren't," said Sherlock.

She glared at him. "Young man, I have been living here with no expenses for the past two months. The least I can do is pay for this meal."

"But-" began Sherlock, and Molly elbowed him. Sherlock found it difficult to accept kindness from others. He had complained before about Mycroft's generosity, and Molly had told him that being able to accept kindness from others was important, because it made the other person feel good.

"Accept kindness graciously," she murmured, and he nodded, understanding.

"Thank you, Martha. That's very generous of you."

"Will twenty-five pounds be enough?" she asked, beaming.

"Yes, the platter is-" he consulted the menu price, "Twenty three pounds and twenty pence."

"I'll just go upstairs and get you some money." She set down Christina, who had been sitting on her lap, and stood.

Victoria was on the floor, pressing the buttons on the Laugh and Learn puppy, and Christina toddled over to sit next to her sister.

While Martha was out of the room, Sherlock completed the order.

"Thank you, sweetheart," Molly said.

He didn't pretend to misunderstand. "You were right. She looked so happy at the idea of being able to do something for us." He leaned to kiss her. "Glad I have you to keep me in line."

Molly grinned and stood at the doorway of the room to watch Sherlock put on his Belstaff.

As soon as he had it on, he joined her in the doorway and pointed up at the mistletoe he'd placed there a few days earlier and had made ample use of at every opportunity. "Guess I need to kiss you before I leave."

He did so, offering her a lingering kiss, which Martha interrupted.

"My goodness, you two are always kissing. You still act like newlyweds." She chuckled.

Sherlock smirked and pointed upwards. "At least this time I have an excuse."

"Well, sorry to break up your mistletoe kiss, but I'm sure you'll make up for it later." She winked at them both, then held out her hand. "Here's the money."

"Thank you, Martha." Sherlock tucked the money into his coat pocket.

Molly had to grin as the sound of "Bye bye," came from the puppy, as Sherlock opened the front door. Victoria had obviously pressed the on/off button.

"Be back soon," Sherlock said, "unless everyone is out buying Nando's tonight for Christmas Eve."

Molly watched as he exited in the usual swirl of his Belstaff, then returned to the sitting room with Martha to await his return.


Author's note: So, I thought this would be a decent place to end the chapter.

Thanks to comp1mom for a little suggestion she made to me on how interesting it would be to show Sherlock having a little crisis of faith because of the pandemic. I decided to switch it around and have Molly be the one, not questioning her faith, but at least wondering why it was happening. And of course, that opened the opportunity for her to talk with Mrs. Hudson later.

I literally copied and pasted the Nando's instructions from their website.

I know my Christmas stories aren't the angsty ones of writers who use the Christmas theme to bring Sherlock and Molly together, but I hope you still enjoy the married Sherlolly fluff and family time I put into my Christmas stories!

So, are you the kind of person who finds it difficult to receive kindness from others? Someone once told me that when you deny another person the opportunity to show you kindness by insisting you do everything yourself, you are actually denying them the chance to receive the blessing of feeling good about doing something kind. I've never forgotten that.

Don't forget to put your review into the box below. Merry Christmas!