I've been out of commission for a few weeks. The reason being my laptop was buggered and my back up laptop was also buggered. I was really screwed and stuck on my back up back up which was slow and crashed a couple times. Thankfully everything is back up and running on my new laptop now and I have all my old stories back!

However, I am still putting a pause on my other stories for the moment. Only because I plan to post a chapter of this story every day on the build up to Christmas. And in order to do that, it will need to keep my full attention. So, update, Gothel's Perfect World and my oneshot prompts will continue at the end of this month and definitely in January.

Thanks to all the patient people and enjoy this endless fluff of Alice and Robin sharing their first Christmas.


The best kind of morning? One that involved being woken by true love's Kiss.

Okay, Alice wasn't under any curse that needed to be woken by the magical kiss, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it when it happened none the less. She kept her eyes shut for a bit longer but smiled into the kiss, leaning up and pushing herself forward into the warm feeling that was quickly rushing over her face. When she felt her love pulling away from her, Alice quickly reached up, wrapping her arms around Robin's shoulders and pulling her back down onto the bed sheets for another sweet embrace, deepening the kiss slightly and humming happily against her lips.

When Robin finally succeeded in breaking their kiss, Alice found she was forced to crack her eyes lids open, wincing at the sudden light that filled her vision from the nearby window. She continued smiling despite the brightness of the light and squinted through it, looking up at where Robin was still leaning over her. The other girl returned her grin, her long hair dangling down one shoulder to tickle Alice's chin. It really was the very best way to wake up in the morning – that was for sure.

"Good morning," Robin said softly. "I got you a present."

"A present?" Alice blinked, sitting up and brushing her own tangled hair out of her face, wiping the last sleep from her eyes at the same time. "What for?"

"You'll see." Robin giggled, reaching to a bag sitting by the bed and pulling out something. She made sure to sit at an angle to block Alice's view before dramatically twisting around and handing it to her. "Surprise! I got us matching Christmas Calendars!"

Alice blinked down at the calendar, taking it slowly from Robin's hands as she did. It had a picture of the cartoon fox from the old animated Disney film 'Robin Hood'. She glanced back up and saw Robin pull a second thin rectangle shape, only one with a picture from the animated Disney film 'Alice In Wonderland' and she held it close on her lap like it was precious to her. Each cardboard shape had a series of numbers littering the pictures, out of order, with odd little boxes circled around each of them. They were cute pictures and Alice knew what they represented, but Alice had a feeling there was more to it than just nice imagery.

"Um... Cool..." Suddenly Alice paused, a memory flashing in her head. A Tilly memory. They weren't always as clear as her real memories anymore (a side effect from the curse, due to the caster never actually crushing a heart like the spell asked for) but they still sometimes came through clearly enough for her to understand. And the one popping into her head now reminded her of what a Christmas Calendar was. She passed them in the shops often during the build up to the holidays, though didn't pay much attention to any of it at the time. Tilly was never one for Christmas celebrating...

"You okay?" Robin asked softly when Alice didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"Yeah, I just wasn't sure what it was at first." Alice smiled. "I never really had one before."

"I kind of figured." Robin nodded, sitting back slightly. "I remember you guys don't celebrate Christmas in the Enchanted Forest, but didn't you get a chance during the cursed years?"

"Not really. Tilly was all alone so there wasn't much point." Alice shrugged, sounding more factual about it rather than sad.

"Well, we can change that now." Robin said firmly, reaching over and placing her hands over Alice's on top of the calendar. "Because now we have all the amazing Christmas' of our lives yet to come. And we'll share all of them together and with the rest of the town."

Alice grinned at her, finding Robin's enthusiasm adorable. "So what's Christmas in Storybrooke like?"

"Oh it's amazing!" Robin laughed. "I don't know what it was like before I was born, but by the time I was older, it was like a living Winter Wonderland!"

Alice raised an eyebrow at the choice of phrasing but didn't interrupt her. She didn't quite understand Robin's suddenly excitement for today. But then, as she had already told Robin in the days before the curse was cast, the Enchanted Forest never celebrated Christmas, and even if they had, it wouldn't have meant anything to Alice. She would have spent it the way she spent every other day of her life. Locked away in her tower, all alone. During those days, Alice didn't do much beside wish for things to be different and dream of the day she would get to see her papa again… So she wouldn't have cared for the celebrations even if she had known about them.

And then even after she had escaped, she spent her time travelling around and not staying anywhere long enough to celebrate even her own birthday with anyone else, let alone celebrate anything else with others. And that didn't change all that much after Robin came into the picture. She was so used to not celebrating by the time she met with her, that short of occasionally exchanging presents further into their relationship, it was always as typical a day as any other. The only time things really began changing was after the curse when Alice had been Tilly. And, to continue a cycle, Tilly never celebrated the holidays either.

It wasn't that surprising. Tilly was practically all alone in the world – except for Weaver who didn't celebrate much either – and she lived in a crate by the train tracks with no money to do much of anything besides paying for her day's meal when she couldn't get Weaver to do it for her. What was the point in celebrating a holiday that was all about being with family and loved ones when you didn't really have any?

"Hey, day-dreamer?" Robin laughed, tucking her finger under Alice's chin and lifting her head up to look at her. "You still with me?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking to past Christmas'." Alice admitted. "They were all basically the same for me."

"Well, mine wasn't really varied either." Robin confessed. "I guess once you settle into tradition, it's hard to break them."

"What kind of traditions?" Alice asked, finding herself eager to hear what Christmas was like for her wife before they met.

Robin hesitated, thinking it over for a moment before she smiled and reached for Alice's calendar. She opened the number one door and pulled out a small square of milk chocolate. It was unclear, but it looked like it had a small star shape on its surface and Robin held it up to Alice's lips with a patient smile. After a second, Alice opened her lips and let Robin slip the chocolate into her mouth for her.

"Well, we start with eating the chocolate from our calendars!" Robin grinned, leaning forward and kissing Alice's softly as she chewed sweet. "Then we'd open our presents and after, go for a walk through town to the clock tower. Everyone would be there and we'd all have lunch and say hi to friends and wish everyone a merry Christmas and all the corny, over the top, things mum, Snow, Emma and Henry saw on TV. To be honest, I never really liked that stuff, cause I was always cold and I always figured we could just call everyone to wish them a good day from our homes or something easier. But we had to do it anyway because everyone else did and mum was obsessed with getting me out of the house. It was better once we got home because then it was a really chill day until evening, then Snow would come round and pretty much kidnap anyone under eighteen who couldn't fight back, taking us for a long caroling."

"I'd like to try caroling." Alice noted suddenly, reaching for Robin's calendar and copying her, taking out the first chocolate and holding it out for her.

Robin happily took the chocolate between her teeth, grinning before flicking her head back and letting it fall into her open mouth. "We can do that sometime if you like. I wasn't really into it at the time, but I'd love to go if I could hear you sing all the old Christmas tunes."

"So what was it like later?" Alice pressed. "After you've sung carols on Christmas night?"

"Mostly it was just relaxing. We'd have a special dinner and mum and me had this private tradition where we'd make homemade apple tarts and then eat them while watching A Nightmare Before Christmas together." Robin explained. "Mum loved that film, though I couldn't tell you why." She laughed. "It was an okay flick but I never saw the appeal she had. And I always saw it more as a Halloween films than a Christmas one."

"I don't think I've ever seen it." Alice confessed.

"We'll watch it." Robin said immediately. "Whenever you want!"

"I'd like that." Alice said, then paused and laughed. "It's only the first and we've already got a list of things we need to do!"

"Well we have a full month to do them!" Robin shrugged cheerfully.

"You think we can do it all in just one month?" Alice giggled.

"We can sure as hell try." Robin smirked. "And if not, there's always next year!"

Alice laughed again, putting her calendar to the side and moving forward to crouch on her knees. She leaned towards Robin and smiled slyly. "So... What shall we do for our first day of the Christmas month?"

"I have a few ideas." Robin replied, smirking back and leaning towards her.

"Oh? Just a few?" Alice asked, reaching to drape her arms over Robin's shoulders, leaning against her now.

Before Robin could say anything else, Alice tightened her hold on her shoulders and pulled her back down onto the bed and in between the sheets. They didn't stay there all day. But they made the most of the time that they did.