It's Christmas Eve and nearly Eleven o'clock at night when Kristoff was finally able to leave his Mom's Christmas Eve party with a chattering Anna in tow.
After saying goodbye to all of his brothers and sisters and cousins and aunts and uncles and continuously promising that he would bring Anna for Christmas Day dinner tomorrow, the couple was able to leave.
Anna was still bouncing up and down in Kristoff's truck on the way back to her apartment.
"Kristoff your family is just the sweetest! Every minute I spend with them is just amazing! And that dinner was even better than last year! And-wait where are we going?" Anna's bubbly enthusiasm halted as soon as she realized that they had missed the turn for the apartment she shared with Elsa.
Kristoff continued steering his truck but rubbed the back of his neck nervously with his left hand. "Oh um I uh wanted to show you this spot I need to show you. B-but I can take you home if you don't want to?" Kristoff went to turn the truck around his mind yelling at him,
"You idiot why would you think this would be a good idea. Your trying too hard. It's not even Christmas Day-"
He was pulling into the U-turn lane when he felt Anna's gentle hand on his shoulder,
"It sounds great, let's go see this spot of yours." Her blue eyes were sparkling and he could tell she was tired from little kids dragging her this way and that and begging her to play with them, yet her smile was still shining. Kristoff could feel his face burning bright red, they had been dating for a year and a half now but he still flushed at every touch and got nervous every time he looked at her the way she did.
"Okay, let's go."
It was a short ride during the summer and fall, but during the winter the drive to the hill overlooking the lake took a half hour rather than five minutes. Kristoff put the truck in park and with a lopsided smile he cheered "We're here!" Anna had dozed off half way through the drive but bolted awake as soon as the car stopped, "We are? Hooray! But um, Where is here exactly?" The strawberry blonde squinted her eyes and blinked at the mounds of white snow everywhere she looked. Kristoff smiled, a sweet excited smile, "A really... Important place. Come on." The burly blond grabbed a box from under his seat before opening up Anna's door.
They walked up the snow covered hill, Anna nuzzled into Kristoff's arm with her hands stuffed into her pockets as, per usual, she had forgotten her mittens.
"Okay here we are." Kristoff reluctantly let his arm slide of her shoulder and let Anna around, waiting for her to remember.
It took barely a minute for Anna to turn around and beam up at him. "You took me here on our first date! We had a picnic and then you tripped into the lake, and I laughed at you, so you pulled me in." Kristoff grinned and nodded, his hair in desperate need of a haircut flopped in front of his brown eyes.
"I wanted to pick a special place to give you an early Christmas present." Kristoff handed Anna the medium sized box wrapped in reindeer wrapping paper.
Anna giggled, and tore off the paper like a little kid, joy radiating off her face.
Inside the box was a large leather book with gold letters on the cover, "Book full of Memories." Anna let her fingers trace over each curve of the letters before opening it. What she saw inside brought tears to her eyes.
Pictures from their first date, paper snowflakes that they made their first Christmas together, movie stubs from the first movie they saw together, a pressed flower from the first bouquet of flower he bought her, carnival tickets, chocolate wrappers, pictures of them everywhere, even one of them passed out on the couch. The rest of the pages were blank, but open for more memories.
Anna closed the book and pulled it close to her chest, tears streaming down her face while she smiled from ear to ear at Kristoff.
"It's beautiful Kristoff, all of our memories I- I love it." Kristoff beamed and let out a sigh of relief, not realizing he had been holding his breath the entire time.
"You do? Really?"
Anna nodded, squeezing the book tighter. Kristoff rushed foreword and lifted her into a hug.
"I'm so glad. I though it might've been corny or trying too hard. But my ma helped me make it and Elsa snuck into your room to find most of the tickets and the flower but I'm just so happy you like it."
Anna nodded against his chest and then stood on her tip toes, head leaning up at him for a kiss. Kristoff leaned down and kissed her hard. His hand holding the back of her head and his other hand wrapped around her waist. They were out of breath both from the kiss and the cold when they parted, both red in the face.
"I can't wait to fill it up with more memories." Anna whispered on the way back to her apartment, falling asleep already but holding the book gingerly in her lap. Kristoffs cheeks turned pink and he grinned, "Me too, Freckles, Me too."