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The winter morning was cold and quiet, the first rays of sunlight beginning to sparkle off the fresh blanket of snow that sat outside of the little cottage, but inside the house was still warm and cozy as main bedroom’s residents slept away.
However, the calm serenity of the morning was about to be shattered by a very, very excited six year old girl.
“Dad! Daddy! Wake up! Wake uuuuuuup!!” Celestine bolted into her parents’ bedroom, bouncing up and down in her red-nosed reindeer pajamas, “Daaad!! Daddyyy!! Come on! Get up, get uuup!”
“Huh? No, no… Five more minutes…” Jougo drowsily rolled over, pulling the large blanket tighter around himself, “I don’t need any more apples…”
“Daddyyyy! Come onnnnnn!” Celestine climbed onto her parents’ bed and started trying to pull Jougo out of his blanket cocoon, “It’s Christmas! We gotta go see what Santa brought!”
Luckily for the sleepy brunette, Mamoru was much more awake and was quick to rescue his husband from their overly energetic daughter.
“Let your dad sleep a little longer, Celestine,” Mamoru laughed as he pulled his daughter away from his husband, “You know he’s not much of a morning person.”
“But Daaaaaaaad!” Celestine whined, still undeterred, “What about the presents? We’ve gotta see what we got!”
“We’re still going to open the presents, don’t worry,” Mamoru smiled, trying his best to reassure her, “How about we just go out and get things ready so we can let your dad wake up a bit, does that sound okay?”
“Okay!” Finding her father’s idea agreeable the little girl immediately lit back up and dashed off towards the living room, leaving her parents behind.
As she disappeared from sight Mamoru sighed and started to pull himself out of bed. She was always so excited yet so impatient, an apple that didn’t fall too far from the tree all things considered. And speaking of the supposed tree in question, Jougo once again mumbled something and rolled over in bed, rubbing at his eyes and groaning as he tried to wake himself up.
“Mamoooo, how early is it?”
“The sun’s barely come up, love.” Mamoru said with a small chuckle as he leaned over to give his husband a soft kiss, “But it is Christmas morning, you can’t blame her for being so excited.”
“I know,” Jougo giggled before kissing Mamoru back and letting out a yawn, “You go help her with the presents, I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Okay, but I won’t stop her from running back in here if she gets impatient waiting for you.” Mamoru said before walking toward the doorway.
Jougo whined from his bundle of blankets, “Noooo! You’re so mean!”
And Mamoru just laughed before walking out to the living room.
Paper snowflakes and shiny baubles hung from the walls of their little home, all of them hung up by the three of them just a few weeks ago after the first snow had begun to fall, and even without the light from the fireplace the large pine tree standing in the room still glittered and sparkled with all sorts of ornaments hanging from the branches colored in vivid reds, golds, and blues, and a bright red ribbon wound itself around the magnificent tree with a gold star perched on the very top like a beautiful festive beacon. Over the empty fireplace hung three stockings, each of them apparently filled with all sorts of candied fruits, chocolates, and peppermint sticks, and around the base of the tree sat presents of all shapes and sizes, each of them wrapped in vibrant colors and tied with some manner of shimmering ribbons and bows, which was where Mamoru found his daughter, kneeling in front of the pile of gifts with stars shining in her eyes.
“Dad, look! There’s so many presents! Look, there’s some for me, and you, and Daddy!” she practically squealed with excitement before running over to the fireplace, “And look, look! All our stockings are full of candy!”
Such pure unbridled happiness couldn’t be contained as she dashed around the room, and Mamoru’s smile grew even wider as he heard her loud gasp when she ran up to the kitchen counter.
“Dad! Santa ate all the cookies we made him! And he took the carrots for the reindeer, too! I bet the cookies were so good that he made sure to give us extra special presents!”
“Oh it’s a well known fact that only nicest kids and the best bakers get the best presents, and between you and your dad I think you’ve got that all covered perfectly,” Jougo had finally emerged from the bedroom, though he still had a blanket wrapped over his shoulders, and made his way over to the couch and snuggled himself next to Mamoru.
Celestine ran over, bouncing on her feet as she pointed at the tree and all the gifts underneath, “Daddy, Daddy! Look at all the presents!”
Jougo laughed, “I told you, Santa only brings the best gifts for the best kids, and you’re the best kid there is! Now come on, let’s get all of them passed out and start opening everything!”
While Celestine and Jougo worked on sorting the presents into their respective piles, Mamoru had managed to get a warm fire started in the fireplace, and soon enough the whole family was sitting together on the living room floor ready to open all of their Christmas gifts, and Celestine didn’t waste a second before tearing into hers.
“I got the dollhouse I asked for!” Celestine beamed as she pulled the paper off a bright green box, “Thank you, Santa!”
Meanwhile Jougo picked up a light blue present with a silver ribbon and handed it to Mamoru.
“Come on, you’ve got presents to open too.” he said with a cheeky little grin.
Mamoru gave a soft chuckle as he pulled the ribbon off and opened it. Inside was a beautifully crafted leather-bound journal imprinted with intertwining lines along the border on the front and back cover and a sturdy metal clasp to hold it shut.
“You said your other journal was getting full, right?” Jougo said with a smile, “Well, I wanted to make sure you had a really nice one for when you need the next one.”
A couple of years ago Mamoru had started keeping a journal of his thoughts and his memories, partially as a way to keep track of things and clear his head, and partially as a backup of some sort if he somehow developed amnesia again. Though this one was much nicer than any of the more simple books he had gotten for himself, and it looked to be very well crafted too, at least he certainly didn’t think he’d have to worry about any pages falling out of it.
“I love it, thank you, Jougo,” Mamoru smiled and kissed his husband’s cheek before reaching for another present, this one wrapped in red with a gold ribbon, and handing it over.
Jougo excitedly tore into his present, pulling out a long red scarf knitted in a pattern that looked like similar intertwining lines and decorated with little golden sunbursts.
Mamoru rubbed the back of his head, “I know it’s not much but I saw that your other one was starting to get worn out and I thought this one would suit you.”
Honestly, he’d had no ideas for what exactly to get for the person who’d brought so much sunlight back into his life, and he’d probably spent far too much time overthinking what a good gift would even be. There was a reason why Jougo took charge on finding presents for Celestine, after all.
But Jougo just beamed anyway, “I love it!” he quickly wrapped it around his face, his bright brown eyes smiling as he nuzzled into it, “It’s so warm and soft! Thank you, Mamo!”
He pulled the scarf down to kiss his husband’s cheek, laughing as Mamoru’s face grew red with a sheepish little grin.
“I love you, Mamoru. Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas. I love you, too.”
They shared another kiss as they cuddled together under Jougo’s blanket, both of them perfectly warm and cozy despite the snowy, frosted over windows outside.
Meanwhile, Celestine had already opened nearly all of her presents, sitting happily in a pile of toys, stuffed animals, and new hats and mittens. At last, she pulled over the last box that had been addressed to her.
“What’s this one?” Celestine asked as she finally opened her last present.
Inside the box was a set of large spoons and spatulas with light blue wooden handles engraved with little shooting stars.
Jougo answered her with a smile, “Well, since you’ve been enjoying cooking with your dad so much, we both thought you should have your own set of cooking stuff to use!”
The child’s eyes lit up with stars, and her smile grew until it nearly split her face. “Really?! These are all mine for cooking with Dad?!” her parents nodded and Celestine squealed as she leapt into their arms for a hug, “Thank you, thank you, thank youuuu!!”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart.” Mamoru smiled as he hugged his daughter, “You can use them now if you want to help me make breakfast.”
“Yeah!” Jougo chimed in as well, “Come on, we can make those cinnamon pancakes! That sounds so good for Christmas morning!”
Mamoru laughed, “Okay, okay. Let’s go get everything ready then.”
“Wait!” Celestine stopped them before running back over to the tree.
After a couple moments of digging around behind the tree she popped back out holding a rather roughly wrapped present that had been tied with a red string.
“Here, I got you both a present,” she handed the gift to her dads with a bright smile, “Oh, but you have to be careful opening it! Or else it might get broken a little…”
Mamoru pulled the string and Jougo carefully unwrapped the paper, revealing a small bouquet of red paper roses tied together with string.
Celestine practically shook with excitement as she watched her parents open her gift. “I heard you guys talking about how much you like those special roses that Daddy grew before, but flowers don’t grow when there’s snow outside, so I made you some so you can have them even when it’s cold out! Do you like them?”
Both Jougo and Mamoru felt tears brimming in their eyes as they pulled their daughter in and held her tight.
“Of course we love it,” Mamoru smiled as he kissed her forehead, “Thank you, Celestine.”
“Thank you so much,” Jougo tried not to cry as he held his family tight, “We love you so much, Celestine.”
“I love you both, too!” Celestine laughed as she hugged her parents, “Merry Christmas, Dad and Daddy!!”
“Merry Christmas, Celestine.” the both said as they held their daughter close.
The whole family sat there together on the living room floor, everyone feeling so warm and full of love despite the harsh winter chill outside, it was everything that the holiday season was meant to bring. Back in the castle people were probably busily running around the lavishly decorated halls preparing grand feasts and other festivities even though the royal family wasn’t even there, and off in town the people were most likely already parading the streets with their loud and spirited celebrations, but the three of them didn’t need any of that for their holidays to be the best they could possibly be. They had all they needed here in their little house bundled together in this mess of paper, presents, and blankets.
At last Jougo was the one to break the group hug as he wiped his eyes and grinned, “Now come on, let’s find a vase to put these in and go make some pancakes!”
“Yeah, pancakes!” Celestine followed suit, grabbing her new spatula off the floor and running to the kitchen.
And Mamoru laughed once again, picking up some of the bits of paper before following his family into the kitchen to make breakfast.
Yes, a perfect little holiday like this in their perfect little home was all any of them could ever ask for.