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You wake up to the sound of excited yelling accompanied by feet pounding on the stairs. Confused, you look to Sans, but he appears just as lost.
“The heck is going on?” he asks sleepily.
You yawn. “No idea. Maybe they’re excited by the snow again?”
Sans makes a muffled noise of assent as he curls up closer to you, using your chest as a pillow. You’re nearly asleep again when the door to your room is forcefully kicked open.
“WAKE UP SLEEPY HEADS, IT’S CHRISTMAS FIRST!”
You jolt up in bed only to immediately regret your decision as a rain of hard objects showers down on you. You’re still sitting there stunned as Ferrin and Undyne high five before running back down the hallway.
“Uhh…?” Sans is holding one of the projectiles, inspecting the hooked shape. “The heck are these?”
You groan. “I can’t believe I forgot… It’s December first, isn’t it.”
“And humans throw weird striped things at people on December first?”
“Nope, just Ferrin. I hope,” you say, grimacing. “Trust me, you’ll be seeing a lot more where those came from. She loves candy canes almost as much as she loves Christmas.”
Downstairs is only more evidence of the Christmas takeover. Shopping bags litter the front room, tinsel strewn around the floors. Toriel and Asgore are watching in confusion from the couch while Undyne, with Papyrus standing on her shoulders, assists in stringing gold and blue lights from the ceiling. Frisk’s version of assistance seems to mostly be becoming a decoration themself - they’re covered from head to toe in garlands and tinsel with a few ornaments thrown in for good measure. Ferrin and Alphys have formed a team and are working on the fireplace.
“Oh, you’re finally up!” Ferrin says. “Hand over those candy canes to Paps, he ran out.”
“So, uh, how much did you spend on this?” you ask.
Ferrin won’t quite meet your eyes. “Enough? I mean it’s their first Christmas!”
You roll your eyes and start handing the candy canes up to Papyrus. “You just wanted an excuse to go all out.”
“Maybe!” Ferrin chirps, standing back to admire her and Alphys’ handiwork. “This looks great, thanks for helping, Alphys!”
“Sure thing,” Alphys responds. “What do w-we do n-now?”
Ferrin hums, tapping her chin. “We have the inside lights almost done, decorated the fireplace, replaced all of the soap with gingerbread and pine tree scents, thrown candy canes at everyone, and put up the inside reindeer, so the inside is almost done. But now, the best part! Drumroll please!”
Undyne and a recently re-grounded (and mercifully unhurt) Papyrus both oblige by creating as much noise as possible.
“Thank you! Aaaand…. it’s time to go choose a tree!” Ferrin announces.
“Ba dum tss,” Sans says.
“Nope, too late! Drumroll is over, time to go get your coats on because we are going to go get a tree!”
Undyne, Papyrus and Ferrin all dash off in opposite directions to get their stuff, leaving the rest of you behind.
“Are you certain that those three should be left to their own devices in town?” Toriel asks, helping Frisk untangle themself. “It is not that I do not trust them, but they are all… Oh, you know.”
“Energetic?” you suggest.
“Enthusiastic?” Sans offers.
“Excitable?” Alphys asks.
Amidst chuckles, Toriel says, “Well, yes.”
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll drive them over so I can keep an eye on them. I’ll even drag Sans along,” you say.
“I didn’t volunteer,” Sans points out.
“Yeah, that’s why I did it for you.”
Sans laughs as Papyrus comes charging back downstairs, closely followed by Ferrin and Undyne from their respective areas.
“Frisky, you coming?” you ask.
They shake their head, too busy explaining every single detail about Christmas to their captive audience. As you step outside, you notice colored light above you.
“Did you guys already got the outside?” you ask, looking up to find icicle lights draped over the front entrance.
“While you and my brother were napping the morning away, Ferrin and I were busy decorating the outside of our home!” Papyrus says.
“You guys should’ve seen Papyrus, he’s a total genius with lights! Didn’t get them tangled or anything,” Ferrin adds.
“But of course! I, the Great Papyrus, was the designated decorator of our home in Snowdin!” Papyrus boasts.
“Well you’ve done a great job here too, the house looks amazing,” you say. It’s certainly colorful, and that’s more than close enough. You decide not to ask whether they’d used the ladder to get the golden reindeer up on the roof.
You’re shortly driving down the highway to town, heater blasting away on high. Papyrus had volunteered to clear the driveway last night but the roads into town haven’t seen a snowplow in a while. Luckily the place you’re looking for is close to the town. You park next to the pre-chopped trees and everyone gets out.
“We’re gonna get the biggest tree we can find!” Undyne roars, dashing into the trees.
“I will find it first!” Papyrus declares. He’s sprinting through the snow a moment later, closely followed by Ferrin.
“Welp,” Sans says.
“I think we may have lost our charges,” you note.
“Eh, they’ll be fine,” Sans says, taking your hand. “I-C-E no problem.”
You laugh, shaking your head. “You’re a dork, you know that?”
“But I’m your dork,” he says with a wink.
“You know, I’m used to seeing lovebirds in spring, but winter’s a new one,” a voice says from the right. A moment later the speaker, a tall, plump woman carrying a thermos, has pushed her way through the trees.
“Carol! It’s good to see you again,” you say, holding out a hand that she completely ignores in favor of a rough hug.
“Good to see you again too hun! I was wonderin’ who was making all this racket, shoulda known it’d be your sister. And who’s your sweetheart here?” she asks, eyeing Sans.
“Sans. Nice to meet you,” he says. Carol accepts his offered hand with a one of her own only to be surprised by a loud farting sound. Sans, snickering, holds up his hand in explanation, showing her the whoopie cushion.
“You know, I’m not sure why I’m surprised anymore,” Carol says, shaking her head. “So hun, you’re here with your monster friends? Lucky for you nobody else’s here yet. There’re some nasty ones in town.”
“Trust me, we know. But thanks for the warning. How’re sales going?”
“You all are the tail end of the first wave. Lots of the city folks down here this year, and they picked the apple orchards plum clean in autumn too. Gonna be a good Christmas.”
The three of you continue making small talk until the sound of running approaches. All three of the tree hunters come sliding through the trees together, and the next half hour is dedicated to judging the trees. Undyne wins by a narrow margin with a nearly flawless twelve foot tree, and with it paid for and just barely loaded into the back of the truck you head back home.
Papyrus insists on carrying it in by himself, and with a little bit of help in the form of eagerly shouted instructions it finally makes its way inside. The rest of you step inside over the scattered pine needles.
“No, no, no, Paps, it’s gotta go over here!” Ferrin cries, gesturing towards the corner across from the kitchen.
“But it should surely be the centerpiece of our room?” he asks.
“Everybody would be tripping over the cords, plus you’ve gotta have a Christmas tree in the corner! It’s practically a rule!”
Some more wrestling has the tree set into its stand. Everyone stands back to admire it, Papyrus glowing at the praise he gets for being the one to find it.
“Is this all?” he asks. “It is a magnificent tree, but I admit that I cannot help but think it might look better if decorated.”
“You’re right, and that’s the next step!” Ferrin cheers. “Come on, _____, grab the tinsel box, we’re decorating this sucker!”
The tinsel and garlands are applied somewhat haphazardly, and not all of it to the tree. Frisk once again ends up wearing their tinsel, much to Toriel’s exasperation. The lights go on next, colored bulbs dark against the other decorations. After that the troops are armed with boxes of ornaments - and yes, you do mean boxes, Ferrin has definitely gotten into the spirit of things - and set loose. The tree is very quickly coated, and people start getting inventive. Some end up chained together, others hung on the lights already up around the house, everyone enjoying the decorating.
Papyrus and Undyne are arguing over who can get an ornament higher up on the tree. Papyrus is in the middle of insisting that his is quite obviously of superior height when Undyne swoops down and grabs Alphys around the middle and brings her girlfriend up to sit on her shoulders.
“Woah, Undyne!” Alphys squeaks, hanging onto her for dear life.
“Alph, I need your help!” Undyne says, handing her a box.
“O-oh! Okay!” Alphys stretches as far as she can to place a glitter covered green orb, still failing to reach the top of the tree but getting close.
“Hah! Our teamwork beat you!” Undyne declares.
Papyrus spins around and points to Sans, who is helping you with untangling the lights. “Brother, I require your assistance!”
“Sure thing bro,” Sans says. One of the ornaments in Papyrus’ box floats up to the top of the tree, surrounded by a blue glow. “How’s that?”
“Perfect! Now, Undyne, you have seen the power of brotherly cooperation!”
“That doesn’t count! He didn’t do anything!”
“It does too! Besides, you cheated by using Alphys first!”
As their argument continues, you ask Sans, “Should we stop them?”
“Sorry, couldn’t hear you,” he says.
You lean closer and repeat yourself.
“Still didn’t catch it.”
You move closer and before you can say anything Sans presses his mouth to yours in a kiss. As he pulls away, he winks and says, “Nah, pretty sure they’re just having fun.”
Laughing you say, “You know, if you wanted a kiss you could’ve just asked.”
“It’s more fun surprising you,” he replies.
Undyne and Papyrus eventually settle on a draw, and the tree is declared decorated to perfection.
“And now for the final touch!” Ferrin declares. Knowing what she means you pick up the silver and gold star for the top of the tree.
“Yup, and as per Christmas tradition, the youngest person here gets to put it on,” you say, pretending to think. “Now, who on earth could that be?”
Frisk bounces on their heels, making grabby hands at the star. You laugh and hand it down to them. Asgore lifts them up gently, holding them over his head. They place the star and hook up the last light to it, clapping once they’re done.
“Alright, everybody stand back,” you say, kneeling by the light socket. “Everybody ready?”
A chorus of affirmations ring through the room, and you plug in the chord. Lights of every color imaginable shine from the tree, reflecting off of the silver and gold tinsel and glittering ornaments. Stepping back you can see the full effect of the last few hours. The towering pine tree is a glowing testament to the overflow of Christmas spirit - you’re pretty sure that if there were even one more candy cane the whole thing would come crashing down.
“It… It’s… FU- I MEAN, FLIPPING AMAZING!” Undyne cheers. “We’re the best tree decorators ever!”
“Of course we are!” Papyrus says.
“Now all it needs are presents!” Ferrin declares, rushing upstairs.
“There are presents?” Papyrus asks, shocked and delighted.
“Yup, and we all get to open them up on December 25th. We should do a-” you stop yourself, remembering Frisk. “I mean, we’ll all get visits from Santa!”
Frisk pouts. I’m already twelve, I know Santa isn’t real!
“Oh, my bad,” you say awkwardly. “Sorry Frisk.”
“So what were you going to say?” Undyne asks.
“Well, usually when you have a large group of friends you do a Secret Santa instead of getting gifts for each and every person. Everybody gets a random name and then gets that person a present, and if you want to get someone else a present you do, and the kids usually get presents from everyone anyways. That way you can get a more meaningful gift for one person without spending a bunch of money,” you explain.
“That sounds like an excellent idea,” Toriel says. “Shall we select names, then?”
“No need!” Ferrin says, coming back down the stairs with a gigantic armful of presents. She deposits them under the tree before spinning around with a fistful of papers in hand. “I’ve already paired everyone off, and it’s totally random so don’t worry!”
She passes out the little slips to each person. Yours reads ‘______, Undyne’.
“Oh, and also, the spending limit is one hundred and fifty, so don’t go over that!” Ferrin says sternly.
As everyone separates, you walk over to your sister. “You’re not fooling me you know.”
Ferrin presses a hand to her chest and gasps theatrically. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Like you’d ever pass up the opportunity to mess with the pairings.”
“You have no evidence!”
“I don’t know, does past experience count?”
Ferrin laughs. “Maybe. Besides, this way everybody gets maximum presents!”
She skips off to join Alphys and Undyne, who are sneakily comparing their slips. With the entire house lit up brighter than a floodlight, the floor covered in pine needles, glitter, and the occasional bit of tinsel, it's easy to see that Christmas is going to be quite the affair this year.
“It’s going to be one heck of a December,” you mutter to yourself.