Christmas arrives on both NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles on Dec. 15. As an early holiday gift to fans, the franchise’s executive producer, Shane ‘Santa’ Brennan, has dropped a sleigh-load of 2010 scoops down my chimney. The most exciting tidbit: after a longgg dry spell, Mark Harmon’s Agent Gibbs is finally going to have someone to kiss in the new year! So hang up that mistletoe.

“It’s snowing for our nostalgic Christmas episode on NCIS, with Agents Gibbs, DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and McGee (Sean Murray) all involved in personal stories,” previews the EP. “For Gibbs, it’s the return of his father (Ralph Waite), who has a secret. Something’s clearly wrong, and what is discussed will offer insight into the way Gibbs lives his own life.” Along those same lines, in January, DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) will learn an unexpected truth about the way his dad, Anthony Sr. (Robert Wagner), made a living. But don’t expect DiNozzo to receive much comfort from Ziva (Cote de Pablo), as their relationship will remain “status quo,” says Brennan. “There won’t be any long-term arcs for these two.”

Meanwhile in sunny L.A., “a shocking arc with a massive twist” will launch in early 2010 that will deeply impact LL Cool J’s Sam Hanna and not be resolved until May. “It will involve a man from his past,” hints Brennan. As for Chris O’Donnell’s Callen, the reopening of a cold case will reunite him with a woman he fell in love with (but lied to) five years earlier during an undercover gang infiltration. Similarly, Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah) will reveal something about her (up till now) unseen father – the truth of which her teammates come to question.

Now for that Gibbs kiss news. Brennan let slip that “there is a kiss in Gibbs’ future – his first since Col. Hollis Mann back in season four.” This new female will stick around for a while, but Brennan warns her kiss may be “romantic or a Judas kiss” – meaning that mistletoe may be intertwined with hemlock. Beware Gibbs!