Author's Note: I hope everyone enjoys this little thing I just wrote to celebrate the holiday season. Having large families can be very hectic!
"Hm," Taejo said with heavy disapproval, putting his cup down and narrowing his eyes at the occupants of the living room. "Who spiked the eggnog?"
Silence fell over the room. Wook sighed and covered his face with his hand, and Soo Yeon's eyebrows were raised in disapproval. Jung and Eun exchanged looks, quickly chugging the rest of theirs before someone stopped them. The fifteen-year-old and seventeen-year-old both turned towards their father, shrugging in unison and smiling innocently. "No clue," said Jung.
"Maybe it's Won," offered Eun, smiling widely and innocently. "Sounds like something he'd do."
Won stuck his head in from the kitchen, glaring at his younger brother. "I resent that!" he retorted.
"What? You did it last year!" Eun said.
"That was last year. I'm doing something different this yea- I mean-" Won avoided Soo Yeon's glare and ducked back into the kitchen to the sound of his brothers laughing.
From the couch, Baek Ah laughed, his arm around Woo Hee. "Well he put his foot in his mouth," he said, taking a sip of the eggnog. "Whatever, Dad. It's Christmas. Good cheer and all that." Woo Hee rolled her eyes.
"Hm," Taejo said, looking just as disapproving as his wife.
Setting his glass of champagne on the mantelpiece, Yo turned around with a raised eyebrow. "Yes, some of us have to be drunk to be able to do that," he added dryly.
Moo, balancing a bowl of snacks in each hand, looked over at him reprovingly. "Just because you're in a bad mood twenty-four/seven doesn't mean we all are. Good cheer doesn't mean you need to put in a ton of effort into getting drunk off expensive wine, like every Christmas."
"Getting personal now, are we? Should I talk about how you refuse to eat anything Won gives you since 2006, because of that one time he put salt in your coffee?" Yo rolled his eyes.
Yeon Hwa giggled. "It was never Won," she said. "It was Wook!"
Wook, who was adjusting the lights on the Christmas tree, flinched and started coughing. "Ah, tha- That was-"
Soo Yeon shook her head. "We'll be having dinner once everyone else arrives," she said, standing up. "Let's set the table."
Taejo clapped his hands together for everyone to start moving. The doorbell rang just as the massive ham was being brought out, and Jung jumped at the opportunity to get away from helping set everything up. "I'll get it!" he called.
Yo aimed a kick at him, placing a large plate with turkey down on the table. "Slacker."
Jung opened the door, a gust of snowy wind almost blowing him over. "Hey! Sis, Bro!" he said. "Come in!" He kept the door open as he yelled across the house, "Hey, everyone's here!"
So stepped in, brushing snow off the shoulders of his coat and off of that of his wife. Soo pulled off her gloves, flakes of snow dusting her hair, her cheeks red. "Whooh!" she exclaimed. "It's so cold there!"
Unwinding his scarf from around his neck, So shook his head. "This kind of weather should be illegal," he sighed. "It's going to be a nightmare driving back."
Soo brought her warm hands up to cup his cold cheeks. "Hey," she said, "Stop being so negative."
He made a face at her. She made one back. "As adorable as it is, watching you two fawn over each other," Yo drawled, his tone expressing the complete opposite of his words, "The rest of us can't eat until you two go and sit, and maybe say hello to Father."
"It's nice to see you too, brother," So said dryly. Soo stuck her tongue out at the two men and pulled So inside to say hello to everyone, Yo and Jung following, exchanging looks of mild disgust as Soo stood on her tiptoes to kiss So's cheek.
There were hugs and greetings, Eun tripped and knocked Yo's third glass of champagne over (resulting in multiple death threats, laughter – and then a bottle of Dom Perignon being opened), Wook trying to use the wrong end of the knife to cut the turkey to everyone's amusement ("Why isn't it working? Won, is this one of your dumb- Oh…! Whoops…"), and Yeon Hwa setting up a camera to take a large family photo (when Soo looked closely, she saw Baek Ah doing childish bunny ears behind So's head, but she didn't mention it).
They sat down to eat, the younger brothers fighting over who got more ham, until Taejo said the problem could easily be fixed by taking both of their ham and leaving them with equal portions of nothing. Yo opened another bottle of champagne. The cork flew across the table and hit Won in the eye, he jerked back, and then fell backwards, his chair tilting and throwing him to the floor. Soo Yeon spoke with Soo about work, and Moo tried to keep his little daughter from flinging cranberry sauce at him and Yeon Hwa.
Baek Ah broke out his guitar while he talked, and gently strummed a tune while Woo Hee and Wook both took turns feeding Moo's daughter, seeing as Moo had given up, wiping cranberry from his hair. Wook told a joke that earned polite laughter from those who realized it was supposed to be funny, while everyone else stared at him in confused silence – his wife patted him on the back, comforting him. So told the story of when he and Yo were children and Yo had- Yo didn't let him finish and opened another bottle of champagne at So, the cork hitting him straight in the middle of his forehead among general laughter.
"Do you want to die?" So growled, flinging the cork back at his older brother, as Soo laughed so hard she almost choked on her turkey.
"Hey, what happened to 'Holiday Cheer'?" Yo asked catching the cork, and then pouring So a glass.
Taejo raised his glass. "Let us have a toast."
"To what?" asked Tae Joon.
Woo Hee smiled. "To many more nights like this?"
"To good business in the future!" Yeon Hwa added.
Soo raised her glass. "And to family!" she said, at the same time as So. They looked at each other and smiled as Jung glanced at Eun and gagged.
"To good wine," Yo said, eyeing the bottle appreciatively.
"To getting along well like this, always," Wook said, smiling.
"Says the guy who put salt in my coffee," Moo muttered.
Jung grinned, raising a glass of fruit juice. "How about to lots'a presents tomorrow?"
"Hear, hear!" Eun seconded.
Won smiled widely. "Ah, yes – to consumerist attitudes taking over the original familial and religious meaning of Christmas – of course!"
"Shut up, Won," said Yo.
Soo Yeon stood, smiling a rare smile. "To all that and more. But Soo is right. To family."
Taejo nodded. "To family," he said officiously.
Everyone clinked glasses and drank.
Later, in one of the guest bedrooms of the house, Soo and So sat on the bed, cuddled together, with the blanket around them, looking out the frost-covered window, the space heater blasting in the corner. The snow fell softly, the moon shining brightly above, the lights in the house turned off. It was already past midnight, and the cozy inside of the house was sleepy, and So had his arm around Soo as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "I don't think I've ever seen Yo that drunk," So said, shaking his head. "He was singing."
"I heard. He was actually pretty good, considering…"
"He's not going to be happy when he wakes up with a hangover on Christmas morning and finds out that Moo let his daughter play 'Makeup Artist' with his face."
Soo snorted. "I'll tell Baek Ah to bring his phone so he can film the reaction."
"Yeah… You know, Gyeong Hwa wants to be just like you, Soo," So said laughing softly.
"Actually," Soo said, "About that – there might be another child that wants to be like me."
So looked down at her. "Who?"
Soo smiled, looking down at her stomach. "Well, you haven't met her yet, but she'll be a beautiful girl who looks just like her father."
So's eyes widened. "You're kidding."
"No, I'm serious. Why, are you-?" Soo looked up at him, her eyebrows furrowing.
"I- I'm so happy, I think I might start dying any moment now," So said in an odd voice, clearing his throat.
"Don't make our child an orphan before she's born," Soo told him sternly.
"Our child." So grinned, shaking his head. "Wait, how do you know it's a girl?"
"I just know," Soo said, shaking her head.
"Okay. That's cool. A little girl who looks like both of us- Oh my God." So couldn't stop grinning. "What are we gonna name her? Let's take out the wall between the guest room and the kitchen and build a nursery!"
Soo laughed.
They both fell into a comfortable silence, pulling the blanket comfortably around themselves. "Seol?" finally asked Soo. "Like the falling snow…"
"Sounds good," So said. "Seol…" He looked down at Soo's stomach, and lay a gentle hand on it. "Hey, kiddo. Your name's Seol now…"
Soo laughed again, and So joined in.
They fell asleep in a tangle of limbs in the cozy room, awakened early on Christmas morning by Yo's enraged yell and Moo's loud roar of laughter. "I got a picture!" yelled Jung. "Dad, can we frame this? …Oh shi- A-agh! Wait! Bro! I'm too young to di-e-e!"
So covered his face. "I'm stabbing each and every single one of them when I wake up," he said.
"You haven't had your coffee yet, love," Soo said, sitting up with a yawn. "You might have a better chance of catching them after that."
"What would I do without you?"
"Hm… I don't know. Not murder your family members?"
"I love you."
Author's Note: Happy Holidays to everyone and an extremely Merry Christmas! Even though we occasionally feel like murdering our relatives, we have to restrain ourselves. This is for all those people.
