A/N: Goodness, I haven't posted in this fandom in almost three years. It's great to be back. I knew I wanted to write something for Christmas, but I couldn't find any inspiration in my current fandoms. This just popped out in about twenty minutes, and I think it's pretty cute. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!
Of course they did not have Christmas on Tamaran. Robin felt foolish for assuming that she would catch onto the idea just like that.
They all made attempts at explaining it to the wide-eyed, smiling girl, but she would just gasp with joy and ask, "So it's Santa Claus' birthday? Do we give him gifts?" For she could only associate the name "Jesus" with the waiter at the Mexican restaurant who had slipped her his phone number. And when Cyborg passed her a Bible and opened it to the chapter of Luke, she absorbed it five minutes and said, "What a sweet story! Who wrote it? Did they write anymore?" They let that pass, because no one felt like explaining religion to a girl who thought the electric sockets in the wall were connected to the Sun.
She understood presents. Beast Boy taught her that much with little difficulty, much to the ado of the others.
"It's mainly about size and quantity," he said, one finger pointed smartly in the air.
Her eyes sparkled as he went into vivid descriptions of bright packages and shiny new possessions.
Raven told her about the decorations; Christmas trees, bright lights, little snow globes.
"You put up a giant tree and hang things from it," she explained, "like glass balls and popcorn."
Starfire grinned like a little child as her imagination roamed.
Robin took it upon himself to explain Santa Claus, a unfamiliar bearded man who wriggled down the chimney and left candy in stockings.
"You generally hang them over a fireplace," he told her, "but we don't have one. We just set them out on the table."
The idea of a fat man coming into the Tower in the middle of the night was not a pleasant one. Starfire sank into her chair, her eyes darting nervously.
But throughout the complicated clarifications and frustrated groans, Starfire thought she had a grasp on the holiday.
Robin awoke Christmas morning to a familiar buttery smell. Puzzled, he wiped his eyes, threw a sweatshirt on, and stuck his head out into the hallway.
The first thing was the glitter. Red and silver, it littered the dark carpet like a breadcrumb trail to the living room. He followed it with anticipation; what had Starfire-
The living room door opened to reveal what he could only describe as holiday shrapnel. Tinsel was draped over the doorways, the sofa, even a small potted plant. Strands of pumpkin-shaped lights hung from pegs on the walls, next to five tube socks tacked up and filled with God-knows-what. And right in the middle of the room was a giant fir tree, set on its side so as not to brush the ceiling. More tinsel was draped from every limb, along with every manner of cheap, mismatched Christmas ornament Robin could fathom.
And standing beside it, a large bowl in her arms, was Starfire. Humming "Deck the Halls" to herself, she took a fistful of popcorn and tossed it over the tree. It landed in the branches like salty snow.
"Merry Christmas," she said when she saw Robin. She motioned to the socks. "Did I get them right? Stockings?"
Bewildered, Robin could only nod.
"I found this tree out in the forest and it sounded just like Raven's description! And I put up the stockings, but I filled them myself since we don't have a chimney. Oh - and is this the kind of 'shiny' Beast Boy spoke of?"
She lowered herself to the floor and held up a box of tin foil.
When Raven went downstairs that afternoon to get the mail, she found a large sofa and two end tables piled in front of the door. A piece of notebook paper was taped to the window:
Keep out Santa.