Author's Note: Yeah, I finally found the time to start these! I'm going to try to do all of them before Christmas, and I hopefully will, but alas... who knows what will happen. Anyway, here's the first of the Ryelsi Fans Christmas challenges! I hope you guys like it. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own High School Musical or its character. I don't even own Christmas, though I most certainly have the Christmas spirit!

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We're Gonna Go Ice Skating and Eat Sugarplums!

Ryan woke up to the insistent banging on the door of his apartment. With a groan he rolled over in his bed, blinking drearily through the open archway that led to his room and to the front door. He glanced quickly at the clock through the dark--5:38 AM. Who the hell was knocking on his door at 5:40 in the morning on a Saturday?

With a groan Ryan propped himself up onto his feet, pulling on a pair of sweatpants on over his boxers before moving slowly towards the door. Whoever it was didn't seem to be wanting to let up anytime soon so he half-heartedly unlocked the door and opened it. Kelsi Nielsen blinked back at him in surprise for a moment before offering him a wide smile.

"Well, it's about time! I've been knocking for, like, ten minutes." She paused as she appraised Ryan in nothing but a pair of sweatpants, her smile widening. "Nice look, by the way."

"Thanks," Ryan muttered as he rubbed his eye lightly and stepped aside for Kelsi to come inside and the composer quickly went inside and headed towards the kitchen. Ryan didn't hesitate to close the door behind them and he quickly went to his room to find a shirt before he joined her. She had already gotten a pot out and had begun filling it with water. He blinked in confusion.

"Uh, Kels..." he started slowly, "not that I mind you stopping by, but... it's not even six in the morning. Isn't it a little early to be making..." he glanced at the packets on the counter, "cocoa?"

Kelsi shot him a bemused glance over her shoulder as set the water on the stove. "You haven't looked outside yet, have you?"

"Hey, I was kind of sleeping," Ryan whined slightly in his defense, but even as he did he still strode quickly to the window and pulled the blinds back to look outside. He couldn't say he was surprised to see the blanket of white that covered the streets and sidewalks below--he had kind of been expecting it from Kelsi's words--but an excited smile still spread over his face. "It snowed!"

Kelsi nodded emphatically, "I know! And I was thinking, it's our first snowfall in New York--ever, really, for me--right?" At Ryan's nod she continued, "And it's a Saturday, and we have all day--I looked up the times for the skating rink at Rockefeller Center, and I figured if we started soon we could walk and get there when it first opens! It would be practically empty!"

Ryan smiled softly at her as he let the blinds close again. "You really want to do this."

Kelsi reached over to turn the stove off as the water started shimmering with heat. "I've had this silly fantasy in my head since I was a kid, you know? Of going ice-skating with someone I really care about and, I don't know, eating sugarplums while walking around a snow-covered park hand-in-hand."

"You hate plums," Ryan pointed out jokingly as he approached her again, settling his hands at her waist as he pulled her in for a light kiss. He rested his forehead against hers and smiled down at her as he murmured, "Let me go get ready."

Kelsi smiled warmly at him and quickly upwards to kiss him again, embracing him tightly as she breathed in his scent. "Love you, Ry."

"Love you too." Ryan kissed the top of her head lightly before he pulled away, adjusting her hat so it was angled slightly to the left before heading off to his room. "I won't be long."

"Better not be," Kelsi countered as she poured the water into two thermoses, adding the hot chocolate mix with a small smile on her face, and she knew that today was going to be even more the perfect first snow day than she had ever imagined.