It was expected that he would take a long time to recover. After all, here was a man who had been a Time Lord for his whole life, and was now stuck in one place, in a parallel dimension where they didn't even cook the meat right. And Rose was sick of it.
It had been half a year since her version of the Doctor, John, had appeared on the beach and kissed her. It was more than she had ever dreamed of, a Doctor that was human. But as he stayed with her, he became more and more unhappy. He would take her little car and go for long drives, frustrated that he couldn't go to a different time period, let alone leave the planet.
Here was this man, this magical wonderful man, stuck. And Rose, the love of his life, was sad. He was there, but he couldn't even give her a proper Christmas. The last holiday they had spent together, he was freshly regenerated and he had battled the Sycorax. And he couldn't make it all okay, but he could try, with a cup of hot chocolate, and some mistletoe, and a kiss for the woman that he loved more than anything.
And maybe, just maybe, that would be okay.