Christmas has always been Tara’s second favorite holiday (behind Halloween, naturally). There was something about the cheery spirit that Tara just couldn’t get enough of. Being an optimist at heart, she loved to see everyone so happy.
   Tara’s father, David, had always insisted on getting a real tree. Every year, no exceptions. Even when he fell ill, he still asked Tara and her sister to go out to get one. Tara’s sister, Lilly, started cooking a meal for them all as soon as she was capable. Prior to her learning, they tended to stick to basic dinners. Tara’s niece, Meghan, was the one that truly made Tara appreciate the holidays. There was nothing better than getting her niece the latest toy and watching her face light up on Christmas morning. Tara and Meghan would play in the snow for hours. Drink hot cocoa and read holiday stories. The whole family came together for dinner, and decorated the tree with Christmas music blaring in the background. They’d fall asleep watching Rudolph or Elf, and exchange the gifts that they could afford for one another (even when Tara was spending most of her income from minimum wage jobs on her education, she’d scrounge up what cash she could to buy gifts for everyone; the harmonica necklace that Tara is often wearing was actually given to her by Meghan one year [Tara has always worn it constantly, despite having no connection to harmonicas]).
   Christmas is significantly more bleak for Tara now. It reminds her of all she’s lost. Especially Meghan, Lilly, and her father. But she also holds the memories of Alisha, Denise, Noah Glenn, Abraham, and all the others close to her heart. Tara tries her best to combat the negative feelings in the only way she truly knows how, however. Gift giving was, and will always be, Tara’s favorite part. Happiness is contagious, in Tara’s eyes. That’s why she still tries to give people little gifts, even now. Typically, they’re just silly little things that Tara has found while on runs that just reminded her of one of her friends (i.e. the bobble head for Denise). Tara has been scolded for wasting space in her bag to bring toys home for the children of Alexandria, the Kingdom, and Hilltop. Yet, she’s been spotted handing them out anyway. She’s also been seen playing in the snow with the kids, telling what she can recall of the holiday stories she once read to Meghan, and singing Christmas carols through the streets of Alexandria.