"Idiot. Why did you go outside if you knew you'd freeze?"

Alfred sniffled somewhat pitifully and wiped his runny nose on his shoulder. "'Talia," he whined. "Help me out, my hands are too stiff to move!"

Natalia sighed and grabbed the stack of firewood from his arms. Honestly, they had more than enough already, but he'd insisted on going out and getting some more. She let the pile fall carelessly to the side of the hallway and unzipped his puffy winter coat. Alfred make an attempt to remove his gloves but ended up wincing instead. In the end Natalia had to remove his coat, gloves, hat, and direct him towards the fireplace.

"I don't know how you've managed on your own this long," she muttered as Alfred gratefully collapsed into an armchair near the pulsing flames. He grinned at her cheekily and held out his hands towards the fire. His fingers were a bright, painful red (almost white at the tips) and he held them straight out. It would have hurt to try and make the frozen joints bend.

Instinctively, Natalia cupped her hands around his to warm them. Alfred winced again but held his hands still. Once they'd turned pink, she rubbed them gently to help the blood circulation.

As she worked, Natalia glanced out the window and minutely shook her head. They were spending Christmas in eastern Washington (the state, not the capitol) and it was becoming apparent that snow was the last thing to watch out for during the winter. No, it was the wind that whipped the freezing rain into ice overnight. The wind would slice through clothes to stab at any skin available with no mercy. The lack of snow made the cold even worse - there was no layer of insulation.

Then again, her boyfriend was a wuss in cold weather.

After a while Alfred surprised her by grabbing her waist and pulling her onto his lap with a laugh. She struggled for a bit but eventually nestled into his hold. His nose was cold against her neck and when she turned to look at him she saw it was pink. She kissed it and he grinned.

"I've gotta go get frostbite more often if you're gonna be this sweet," he joked. She swatted him halfheartedly and he repented with a peck on the lips.

Tino hummed happily as he pulled the last batch of Christmas cookies out of the oven. The scent of the gingerbread mingled with the tangerines that hung from the Christmas tree in their living room to produce a marvelous cacophony of scents.

Peter poked his tousled blonde head into the kitchen. "Mama, Hana wants a biscuit," he informed his "mother" seriously.

Tino nodded gravely as he scooped the gingerbread men onto a cooling rack with a spatula. "Of course, just grab one from the other rack, these cookies are hot."

Peter grinned and made a big show of grabbing two. "She's really hungry!" he said. Tino nodded again and turned away. He pretended not to notice as Peter grabbed a third cookie before running off.

"'nd ya call me the soft one," a voice called from the other doorway.

Tino grinned at his wife. "It's Christmas!"

Britta gave a small smile and hurried over to embrace her husband. Tino quickly set the pan down and hugged her back, nestling his nose against her collarbone. Britta bent her head a bit to kiss Tino's forehead and sighed contentedly.

Matthew nimbly dodged Julchen's grasping hands and escaped to the bedroom, where he locked the door.

"Hey! No fair! Zhat's my room too!" Julchen yelled through the door.

"I know," he replied. "And you can come in as soon as I'm done wrapping your presents."

Julchen began pounding on the door with her fists. "Vhy can't I just get my presents nooooowww?" she whined.

Matthew pursed his lips and grabbed the wrapping paper, scissors and tape he'd hidden underneath the bed before going shopping. If he didn't hurry, Julchen would get the idea to climb in the window to see her present. She'd tried it before.

"Just see if you get anyzhing tomorrow!"

Good, the first present was wrapped. Matthew moved onto the next one.

"I mean it! I'll make sure Tino throws out all of your presents!"

Matthew chuckled. They both knew the threat was empty. In another minute three brightly wrapped parcels were set out before him on the floor. The pounding on the door had stopped, which meant that Julchen was probably sneaking outside to try the window. Quickly grabbing the presents, Matthew just as quietly snuck out of their bedroom and skittered downstairs to where their enormous Christmas tree was waiting. Anything under the tree was considered off-limits until the twenty-fifth (that was what Julchen had agreed to anyway).

He tiptoed back into the room just in time to see Julchen fall headfirst onto the bed from the window. Snow dusted her shoulders and head, making her pale skin and hair even whiter and causing a stark contrast against her black shirt. Her ruby red eyes glared up at him and she stuck out her tongue.

"I suppose I'll have to vait until Christmas?" she asked. Matthew nodded and she groaned, flopping over onto her back. Matthew leaned over her, letting his elbows rest on the mattress. Julchen stretched her neck out just far enough to kiss his chin. The Canadian kissed her softly on the cheek and let his head rest next to hers.

"I love you."

"Ja, ja, unawesome present-hider."

Carmen pouted sadly. She sniffled, sighed, moaned, and groaned. Her face and posture were the definition of abject melancholy. Anyone who looked at her tragically beautiful face would want to cheer her up.

Romano remained unmoved.

"No, dammit! I'm not dancing!" he growled. The people crowded around them in the ballroom eyed him distastefully.

"Why did we even come here then?" Carmen demanded sulkily.

"Because you forced me to come!"

The collar of Romano's dress shirt was itching him, and he irritably tugged at it until the top button came loose. The ballroom was hotter than Hell, and the people in it as ugly as sin. Well, except for Carmen. She looked absolutely beau- annoying in that red dress.

Carmen impulsively leaned in for a lingering kiss before Romano could protest or block her.

"One dance, please? It's Christmas Eve."

"I… I didn't know vhat to get you," Monika muttered slowly.

Feliciano looked down at the envelope in his hands. This Christmas morning had been very good so far. He'd made them both breakfast and then they'd sprinted - well, he'd sprinted - for the tree to see what Finland had left that night.

Now though, Monika had handed him an envelope and was nervously brushing her short blonde hair out of her bright blue eyes. Feliciano grinned his customary grin. "I'm sure it will be perfetto!" Monika gulped and crossed her arms.

"J-just go ahead and open it!"

Grinning even wider, Feliciano giggled and tore open the envelope open. He eagerly grabbed at the contents, then looked at them in confusion. In the envelope were a bunch of index cards. Written on each card was:

1 hour's worth of cuddles

or

For 1 week you will be exempt from laundry duty

They all were like that. They were all different, but they were all amazing.

Feliciano looked up in amazement at his blushing fiance. Monika hid her face in her hands.

"I think I'll use one of these cards right now~" he laughed, springing over to her side of the couch for a hug.

Merry Christmas everyone! Have some fluff! X3 There's so much I want to say about each pairing, but I feel that'll take away from the general ambiance or whatever it is.

I have something I would like to say about each of these! One word: kawaii :3

XD Well, that's what I was going for! I'm glad I succeeded to a certain extent. Thank you, Themusicalcat, for editing this btw.

As usual, I did very little. Oh well, I guess you don't do a ton when I have you edit for me, either.

That would be correct! My thanks to all of you who read and enjoyed this, and have a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Saturnalia or whatever you celebrate this season!

Happy holidays! And let Viva know how much you like this, because she is an epic turtle.