My little Xmas present for you... A one-shot about a Christmas day at the Cullen's... hope you enjoy it! MERRY CHRISTMAS! AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

-Cullen Christmas-

Carlisle and Esme were sitting in front of the open window in their bedroom. They simply enjoyed the sight before them. It had snowed overnight and everything was covered in snow and glittering icicles hung from the branches of the trees. It looked magnificent. It was still early morning on Boxing Day. Later Bella would come over to celebrate with them but for now everything was silent in the house, that was until the door to the garden banged open and Emmett, Jasper and Edward ran outside. They were laughing loudly and throwing snowballs at each other, fighting like children. Carlisle sighed behind Esme. "And there goes our calm morning…" he whispered and bent his head to kiss Esme. She smiled against his lips.

They were only kissing for a few moments when a snowball hit Carlisle on the side of his head, successfully interrupting his kiss with Esme. He stared down in the garden to see Emmett smirking widely, Jasper and Emmett stood a few feet behind him, laughing. Carlisle reacted quickly. He disentangled himself from Esme and jumped down in the garden to go after his sons.

Carlisle landed securely on his feet and lunged himself at Emmett. Having the moment of surprise on his side, Carlisle was able to knock Emmett into a huge snow drift. But only seconds later Jasper and Edward were on Carlisle, shovelling snow on top of him. Carlisle was trying to get away from them, but he was powerless against the three of them. It didn't take long and he was halfway buried in snow.

Esme was shaking with laughter, watching from their bedroom how Carlisle was fighting in the snow with his three sons. All of them were behaving like little children. But while Edward, Jasper and Emmett were at least wearing coats and boots, Carlisle was barefoot, only wearing a t-shirt and a pair of his boxers. It looked hilarious!

After Carlisle had managed to dig out of the mountain of snow the boys had built over him he chased them through the whole garden. Edward was of course able to dodge his attacks but he landed quite a few quite snowballs on Emmett and Jasper. He finally even managed to get a grip on Edward. It could come in handy he had centuries of practice hiding his thoughts. But while Carlisle was struggling with Edward, trying to drag him into a snowdrift to repay him for earlier, Jasper and Emmett were already planning the next attack.

"Jazz! Come, let's get dad!" Emmett shouted and both lunged at Carlisle, sending him falling to the ground. Being outnumbered by one to three again Carlisle fought a lost battle trying to get away from them. "Hey dad?" Emmett asked, mischief twinkling in his eyes. "What about a bath in the morning? Cooling you down a little?" he asked. The guys laughed and were running towards the river. Carlisle struggled harder but it was futile. Carlisle was already seeing himself in the water… He was a mere yard away from the river…

Esme shook with laughter as she watched how four grown-up and, relatively, mature Vampires battled in the snow. She was laughing so hard that it took her a while to catch enough breath to stop the boys from throwing Carlisle in the river. "Emmett! Jasper! Edward! Stop that instantly or you are all getting NO presents for the next century!"

Looking like their worst nightmare had come true the three boys dropped Carlisle and ran back inside, still laughing like mad.

Carlisle got to his feet and looked up at Esme who had still difficulty reining her laughter in. "Well thank you but you could have saved me earlier! I already saw me taking an unintended bath…" He said acting disappointed. Esme smiled. "I'm sorry honey, but you should have seen the four of you… You were just hilarious!" Esme defended herself.

Carlisle smiled and shook his head as he went inside. He believed that it looked really funny as they chased each other through the snow. It was fun actually. Carlisle chuckled softly to himself as he went upstairs. His outfit had not been the best for a snowball fight.

Esme watched as Carlisle entered their bedroom again. The snow on his clothes had melted as he entered the house and left him in relatively wet clothes, his hair was dishevelled. He really looked like he was only 23.

"What are you grinning at?" Carlisle asked her, also smiling. "You. Your look to be exact…" she answered. Carlisle smirked. "So Mrs Cullen… you like my look?" he asked as he stepped closer. Esme laughed lightly. "I do… actually…" she purred, gently kissing him on the lips. "You should act your age more often. I haven't seen you this carefree in a while." She whispered. Carlisle smiled. "Yes, it was fun…" he agreed. "I'm going to take a shower now… so I'll be ready when Bella comes over." Carlisle said after a minute and went into the bathroom. Esme smiled at him. "Yes, you better do that. I'm downstairs, decorating some last things… I'll shower after you." Carlisle smiled. "Okay."

Around 10 am Edward went to pick Bella up. Esme had set up everything and was now looking at the Christmas tree for a last check as Carlisle snaked his arms around her waist and slowly pulled her to the window with him. "Hey, look what we are standing under…" he whispered in her ear. Esme smiled. She knew perfectly well what hung above them – mistletoe. She had hung it up herself. Esme turned in Carlisle's arms and looked at Carlisle. "Well, I think tradition says you're getting a kiss now…" she teased. Carlisle grinned, his lips slowly tracing her jaw line. "And we wouldn't want to break with the tradition, would we?" he asked lowly. "Surely not." Esme replied before she pressed her lips to his.

"I didn't know you celebrated Christmas." Bella said as she was seated in Edward's car. He smiled. "We do, since 1921, actually." Bella looked curiously at him. "That's when Carlisle found Esme. When it was just me and Carlisle we never celebrated, not really." He explained.

When Bella and Edward stepped into the house everyone else was in the living room gathered around the Christmas tree. Bella smiled as Alice flitted over and hugged her. Jasper was smiling politely, reserved as always. Emmett grinned widely. "You're here! Great! Now we can start unwrapping our presents!" he winked at her. Bella smiled shyly. "Hello Bella, merry Christmas." Carlisle said as he hugged her gently. "Merry Christmas." She replied. "I'm happy you're celebrating with us, sweetie." Esme said sincerely. "Yeah, your first Cullen Christmas, he?" Emmett boomed.

Bella and Edward followed as the whole family seated themselves on the couches around the tree. Esme and Carlisle then took three envelopes from the pile under the tree. "Well, first Rosalie and Emmett." Carlisle read on the card and handed them the envelope. Emmett took the little package from Carlisle and smiled. They seated again, waiting for the others to get their presents. "Okay, Alice and Jasper." Esme said and handed a similar envelope to them. "And Bella and Edward." Carlisle said. He handed the last envelope to Edward. Simultaneously all three envelopes were opened. Bella stared at two tickets for a classical concert in Seattle. A philharmonic orchestra would play pieces of Debussy. Edward smiled. "Of course you are staying in a hotel overnight and are under parental supervision so Charlie won't worry." Carlisle added with a wink at Bella. She smiled. "Th-thank you." She stammered. Esme stood up and hugged them both. "We're happy you like it." She said. Emmett and Rose were the next to thank Esme and Carlisle. They had gotten plane tickets to spend a weekend in New York, they would see a musical on Broadway, go shopping and eberything. Alice then almost knocked Esme and Carlisle to the ground as she hugged them. She and Jasper would be spending a weekend in Milan, shopping.

"Okay, now our present." Alice said and looked at Edward. The both took a small box from underneath the tree and handed it to Carlisle and Esme. "Here for you!" Alice said enthusiastically. Carlisle and Esme slowly opened the box and found brochures from the Louvre in Paris, the Vatican museums in Rome, the Globe theatre in London and a seashell for some reason. There was an envelope on the bottom. Carlisle took it out and opened it. He unfolded the sheet of paper in it and read: "first day: London, visit Madame Tussaud's and meet old friends, enjoy a play in the Globe theatre, take a ride in the London Eye and see the city at night; second day: Rome, take a trip through the undying city and enjoy the sights, visit Vatican city and its museums and enjoy Italian art; third day: Paris, the city of love, do a little shopping, walk along the alleys, see the city at night from the top of the Eiffel tower and later take a flight to Isle Esme." Carlisle looked at Esme. She was smiling. "Well, it's all taken care of. You start on the 4th January, the hospital is already informed. You have 12 days of but can have more if you decide to stay on the island longer…" Edward explained. Esme stood up and hugged all of her children, not even letting Bella out. Carlisle did the same after her. "Thank you." Esme said again. "That is really an amazing gift." Carlisle said.

The next minutes were filled with the couples exchanging their presents. Rosalie got some tuning stuff for her car, Emmett three paintball guns, Jasper a Ducati motorbike, Alice earrings and a beautiful bracelet, Carlisle two medical books and a scarf, Esme pencils and paints for her drawings and a silver necklace from Carlisle, Bella had gotten Edward a wristwatch and was herself given a necklace with the Cullen crest on it and the initials E and B engraved on the back.

After all the presents were exchanged some stories were told. When it was Edward's turn her started: "Well Bella, I told you we celebrated Christmas first in 1921, when Esme joined us. We had a huge Christmas tree which took Esme hours to select…" he looked pointedly at her. Bella smiled. Esme was cuddled up to Carlisle, her head resting on his shoulder as they listened. "…I had to carry the monster tree home and it almost filled out the whole living room… one could hardly walk into the house anymore…" Carlisle chuckled. "You liked it!" Esme complained. Edward nodded. "Yes, because it forced you and Carlisle to be closer than you were these past months… and it worked eventually…" he said. Carlisle kissed the top of Esme's head, lovingly. "It would have worked out without the tree…" he muttered. Edward sighed. "But not in a measurable period of time…" he added. Everyone laughed at that.

The next one to tell a story was Alice. She grinned. "Well, I have not been with this family very long and I have no memories from my human days but I also have a story for you, I just need something else…" with these words she flitted up the stairs and returned a moment later with her laptop. She finally set it up on the table and turned it so that everyone could see it. She then started a presentation…

It only took a minute until everyone was laughing loudly. Carlisle was staring at the screen not really believing what he saw there. These were pictures from this morning. Obviously Alice had taken pictures of him and the three boys while they had their little snowball fight in the garden. The pictures would have been not half as embarrassing or ridiculous if Carlisle had been wearing more than boxer shorts and a t-shirt. Carlisle shook his head and laughed also. He couldn't deny that it was funny.

When the presentation was over Bella wiped her eyes from the tears she had from laughing so hard. "Well Bella, that's what happens on a Christmas morning at the Cullen's!" Emmett explained. Everyone laughed again.

Liked it? Don't? Tell me!

PS: Again: I wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!