Hello everyone, and Merry Christmas!
For this long holiday themed one-shot, the turtles, April, Casey, and Karai decide to take a trip up to that good ol' farmhouse to spend their Christmas!
This is based two years after Splinter's Death in the 2012 universe, but it will not be sad. Warning: There will be lots of bonding and lots of fluff ahead, so proceed with caution! Lol.
Be sure to review at the end! Enjoy! :)
April and Casey shivered as they walked down the streets of New York City, cold air brushing against their faces.
"So...cold," April whispered to Casey as they rounded the corner to the alleyway.
"Yup. You got that right, Red." Casey bent down, looked in every direction he could to make sure nobody was around them and opened the manhole cover leading down into the sewers.
"Hurry up! It's freezing!" April rushed over to the hidden entrance way and started to climb down the ladder, which Casey followed soon after her.
April's feet dropped onto the stiff sewer ground a few moments before Casey.
"Ooh! It's warmer down here!" April exclaimed excitedly, a little more than intended too, which made Casey give a somewhat surprised look.
"Yeah. Last December when we came down, it didn't feel like this, something must be up. Don't you think?" Casey joked with her.
"Let's go!" April rolled her eyes at his comment.
With that, the two teenage humans picked up the pace towards the direction of the secret lair, the place that their hidden hero friends called home.
Mikey and Donnie sat on the couch side by side watching the ending credits of the movie they happened to just finish, when April and Casey walked into the lair.
"Guys?" April called out to anyone.
"Casey! April!" Mikey jumped off the couch to rush to them, as Donnie soon followed right afterward.
"Hey, Mikey," April greeted them with a smile. "Where's Leo and Raph?"
"Oh, they're in the dojo with Karai," Donnie answered. "They have been in there from before we started our movie, so they must be having a serious training session or something."
"Great! I want to ask all you guys something that I thought about last night! I think you guys will want to do it!" April exclaimed as she and the others walked down to the dojo.
"Really?" Casey asked in a sarcastic voice.
"Yeah. Really," April snickered back jokingly at him, which they both let out faint smiles.
When Mikey, Donnie, April, and Casey arrived at the dojo doors, Donnie opened them for an entrance.
Peering into the large beautiful room, they saw Raph, Leo, and Karai in a beginning fighting stance, but all three broke out of them when they saw the others enter the room.
"Hey, guys!" April waved.
"I didn't know you guys were coming today," Leo asked Casey and April. "I thought you guys said that your school was doing something after school on the last day of break, which was today?"
"Nah. That's boring! We've gone to that every year, we just want to be done with school already! And have a whole two weeks off!" Casey explained to the others, which April nodded in agreement.
"Well...actually, I wanted to come to ask you guys something," April started off, leaving everyone slightly confused. "What are you guys doing for the holidays this year?"
"I don't think we have anything going on really. It's not like we have any parties to go to or anything," Donnie joked.
"Yeah, plus there's not much left for protecting the city right now. I mean, we did defeat pretty much every one of our enemies in the past two years, right?" Leo said. "Wait...why?"
"Well, my dad is going out of town for the holiday with his fiance this year, and he said that it would be fine if we all went to the farmhouse for Christmas!" April excitedly told her idea to the others. "We haven't been there in so long, and I thought it could be a cool way to spend Christmas this year and change it up a bit. Also, I thought, considering it has been almost two years after Splinter's death, we could go visit his memorial, and pay our respects…"
"Yeah! That sounds super fun April!" Mikey shouted excitedly.
"I'm in, sounds like fun O'Neal," Karai admitted as she was now smiling at the idea.
"That's great Red!" Casey agreed. "I'm there for sure!"
Raph gave off a smile and looked to Leo. "So we're going back to the farmhouse for Christmas, huh? Sounds like fun."
"Yup, it would be nice to take some time off," Leo responded. "So when are we gonna leave April?"
"Umm...I was thinking that we could drive there tomorrow morning early? I mean, tomorrow is already Christmas Eve, so let's get there early!" April stated.
"Sounds good April—" Leo started but was cut off by Mikey.
"Why wait for tomorrow morning when we can just leave tonight?" Mikey questioned. "It's only four o'clock, and it's not like we need to pack that much stuff, so why not?"
"I mean, we could just pack presents and things that we all got each other anyway, so theres not much of a fuss," Donnie added.
"Makes more sense that way instead of getting up super early in the morning," Raph spoke.
Leo nodded his head in agreement, and with a hint of excitement in his voice he said, "Well, then we better hurry if we're leaving soon!"
"Woah…" Mikey said in awe as he exited the party wagon. "It looks so much different than the last time we were here."
"Yeah, the farmhouse and area here is really pretty this time of year," April admitted as she and the others glanced upon the sight.
As they drove, they were battling against a snow blizzard, but they didn't know that it would have that big of an effect on the place they were staying. The blizzard they once were in, faded away, leaving the excess bits, slowly falling down upon them.
The sight was quite beautiful. Heavily packed snow layered the ground everywhere, making the world around them a winter wonderland. The snow layered perfectly on the trees in the woods, making it a perfect winter scene before their eyes.
The farmhouse was also a calm and beautiful sight. The roof was covered in a large amount of snow, too much that if someone would be chosen to stand by it, they would be afraid it was going to tumble off and pile up on them. The edges and rims of the house formed icicles of different sizes and lengths, all heavily pointed and sharp at the ends.
The sun was now setting, leaving a twilight type sky with colors of navy blue, light purple, and still the shine of the sun before it went down completely.
"Alright then, let's get everything unloaded and go into the farmhouse," Leo said as he was already getting a few things from the back of the vehicle.
The others followed, considering it was almost dark and they couldn't just stay out in the cold all night without any winter-wear.
With each teenager carrying a few things from the car, Raph in front of them opened the door to the farmhouse and turned on the light. "Nice."
Everyone got in and started to unload the things that he or she brought in.
"So," Donnie started as he was unloading some of the food that he brought. "What are we all going to do tonight?"
"I don't know dude," Mikey said as he was playing with ice cream kitty, who he just put onto the top part of the refrigerator. "We'll figure something out."
Karai now walked into the kitchen after she was done unpacking. "There's no rush. We just got here! Besides, we have tomorrow and Christmas day, so why worry?"
The others, who were done bringing in everything into the farmhouse, came into the kitchen to join in on the conversation.
"I got an idea!" April exclaimed excitedly. "Let's decorate the house! Just the inside, and we can do the outside tomorrow! I'm pretty sure we have some decorations somewhere in here from a long time ago."
"Dude…" Mikey said in amaze. "We must do that!"
"Then let's find the decorations then!" Raph demanded playfully, which the others, and himself, laughed.
"Took all night, but it was worth it," said Raph as he stared at the decorations before him.
All night, the group of teens spent hours decorating the house with lights, decorations, and many other accessories that people would typically decorate their house for the holidays.
The mantel, decorated by April and Karai with fake decorative moss and lights, which went over the side in a perfect way. Right above the hung down moss was a large wreath that was the same color as the fake moss, but very large in which it filled the width of the wall above.
Right above the fireplace, hung seven fluffy stockings, one for each of them, which April happened to find with all of the decorations.
All throughout the house, everyone decorated. April and Karai decorated the living room. Raph and Casey, who were the least excited of the idea but came to be proud at the end, decorated the halls and stairways by wrapping and stringing lights around the poles of the stairs, and evenly sloping the lights in the halls. Donnie, Leo, and Mikey decorated the extra rooms, the kitchen, and the other tiny spots that needed decorating around the house.
After they were all done, they met in the living room with Karai and April.
"Yup. Looks great," Karai admitted as everyone nodded their heads in agreement.
Donnie opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated, which earned a 'what?' from everyone.
"Don't you guys think that we are...missing something?" Donnie questioned the others to see what they thought.
Everyone studied the room carefully to understand what he meant.
"Oh, I know! We're missing a Christmas Tree!" Mikey announced, which made everyone come to a realization.
"Exactly! We can go out into the woods and get one tomorrow!" Leo said. "Then decorate it."
"Great," Karai said in a joking sarcastic voice. "Tomorrow."
Mikey yawned and looked to his left to face Donnie. "What time is it?"
With that question, Donnie pulled out his t-Phone and checked the time. "10:56. We have been doing this for a few hours."
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted. I'm going to bed," Raph said as he started to go upstairs. "See ya guys tomorrow."
With that, everyone agreed and headed to bed to start their day tomorrow of Christmas Eve.
Raph walked down the decorated stairs and into the kitchen to see his friends and family sitting at the table waiting for Mikey to be done making them breakfast.
"Morning." Raph waved tiredly to everyone as he walked over to sit down.
"Happy Christmas Eve!" Mikey turned around to give Raph a plate of breakfast food.
"Thanks," Raph said. "So what are we doing today? Getting the tree?"
"Yeah, that's the plan right after we're done with breakfast," Karai said as she then took a sip of the hot chocolate in her mug.
The teens finished their small talk up as they ate their breakfast, now all heading for the door.
"Guys, hang on," April halted them, which made them all look to her. "It's got to be freezing out there! I'm going to grab some winter gear for us, so we don't freeze to death."
Within the next minute of her rushing up the stairs, she came back with a large box filled with winter clothes like gloves, scarfs, and hats at the bottom, but layered on top were a few large winter coats.
"Everyone pick something. Trust me, it will be a lot better than freezing our butts off." April laughed.
Casey, April, and Karai, who already had coats of their own that they brought with them, took some gloves, scarfs, and hats to wear, leaving the four large coats for the turtles, which they gladly took, along with the other materials in the bin.
Mikey, the first one outside, made a shocked expression as he stared at the sight before him. "Woah, dudes...it snowed again! Even more than last night! There's gotta be twice as much as there was last night, and there was a lot last night."
"Yup. The sights pretty too." Raph stared in awe as the beautiful tall pine trees of the woods, which had snow on them, glistened. "You guys ready to get the tree? I'd just have to go get the ax from the barn first, then we can."
"Does it really take all of us to pick out one tree?" Karai questioned. "I thought we were going to do decorate the house too today, not spend the entire day picking out a tree. Perhaps a few of us could get the tree and the others can go get the tree, then we can decorate it later tonight when we don't have anything to do?"
"Yeah, that sounds better," Leo admitted. "Who wants to go find the tree and who wants to decorate the outside of the house?"
At the end of the conversation, Casey, Raph, Mikey, and Karai headed into the winter-filled landscape of the woods, while Donnie, Leo, and April had headed back towards the house.
"Call me a loser for saying this, but isn't this place metal?! I mean, it looks way better than New York City during Christmas," Casey exclaimed to Raph.
"Yeah, but don't tell anyone I agreed with you!" Raph strictly told him.
Raph and Casey, who were in the lead, turned around to face Mikey and Karai.
"Did you guys find a tree yet?" Mikey asked.
"Yeah. It's the one I'm hauling on my back right now and is twenty feet long!" Raph sarcastically said. "If we saw one, we would've told you guys."
"They are all too big, it's not like we are staying a mansion," Casey gave up. "How long is it going to take to find a stupid Christmas tr—"
Casey's words were interrupted when Karai shouted to them. "Look! Over there!"
Their heads whipped around to where Karai was looking, and they stopped and stared.
The sight before them was a tree, somewhat big, that didn't seem like it wasn't going to fit inside the house. The tree was completely full, as any good Christmas pine tree should be, although, it stood their kind of thin, not that much on the thick side.
Raph, Casey, Karai, and Mikey walked up to the tree.
"You think it will fit?" Raph asked out loud for anyone to answer, although he didn't trade glances with anyone.
"Yeah, it doesn't look too big," Karai answered.
"Then let's chop this beast down dudes!" Mikey happily expressed.
With that, Raph, who was holding the ax, walked up, and started to chop it down.
"Donnie, could you pass me that strand of lights right below you?" April asked as she stood on the ladder.
"Yeah, sure thing." Donnie reached up to her and handed her the lights. "It's cold don't you think?"
"Yeah, but nothing compared to that time we were stuck on that ice planet up in space, am I right?" April joked, which earned a light laugh that was shared between the two. "Honestly though, I would do anything to have that heated spacesuit right now."
April, who was now almost done hanging up the last strand of lights around the rim of the house, looked to her right. "They're back with the tree!"
Leo, who was seeing the house from a distance, saw them hauling in the tree and went to walk alongside them to help. "Woah, big tree."
"Yup," Karai said. "It will fit though. We're sure of it."
Casey, Raph, Mikey, and Karai got the tree inside of the house as they laid it against the wall.
"It took forever to pick it out, but it was the best tree." Karai looked up to face the house. "How'd the decorations go?"
"I don't know, we'll have to see tonight," Donnie exclaimed.
"Guys...get your snow gear on again! We're going somewhere!" April called out to everyone in the farmhouse.
"Where?" Raph shouted back.
"Don't worry about it! Just get your snow gear on again...all of you!" April ordered as everyone hesitantly did so.
As everyone was getting on their coats, as they are told to by April, Leo spoke up, "April, just tell us what we're doing before we go out again."
"Is it really that big of a deal to know?" April asked annoyed.
"Yes. Yes, it is." Raph crossed his arms.
April growled. "Fine! We're all going sledding up at the mountain!"
"Sledding...at the mountain?" Donnie questioned. "Won't it take us forever to get there?"
"It won't take that long if we hurry!" April responded. "Plus, we can just take the party wagon up on the dirt roads, so it's not big deal! Sleds are in the trunk already so we're all set!"
April convinced them all to the point of which they were all now very excited as they hopped in the car to drive to the mountain.
The drive in the car didn't take as long as expected when they arrived, but they were still left annoyed at the fact they still had to haul up the sleds and walk up the mountain, but knowing them, they did it in a quicker than usual time frame, although they did not go up to the very top and tree-filled space, but to a more hill like section with little to few trees, and good heavily packed snow.
April, who had her sled in hand, spoke up. "Who wants to go for—"
Mikey interrupted April as he ran right past her at a fast speed, leaping onto his sled like a penguin, seeming to go the speed of a lightning bolt as he slid down the hill screaming out of pure joy.
Without waiting for him to come back up the hill, they all started to do the same thing as Mikey, enjoying themselves at the moment.
The group walked up the hill over and over again after every fast speed slide down the hill.
Raphael, who had just gotten back up on the top of the hill, paused in his stance as something caught his eye before heading down the hill once again.
He turned to face what he thought to be a fallen tree trunk, but to his great surprise, was something even better: a tree trunk that was split in half.
He walked over to it and smiled as he gathered an idea in his head.
He took the half of a tree trunk, short in length, and brought it over to the start of the departure of the sledding hill as he stepped inside of the inside parts, the two sides curling up a bit.
Before his idea could take place, he decided that he would practice his stance before his interesting take on log snowboarding!
As he practiced for a minute, he gave up and decided to give it a go. It couldn't be that hard...could it?
Raph leaned forward and immediately started to departure the slope. With the surprise of the steepness of the hill, he almost tipped over, but his arms saved him as they stood stiffly in the air.
His knees, bent, allowed him to have control over where he was to go, and balance as to how to stay upright as he went downwards.
Raph laughed out loud as he 'owned' the hill as he 'log snowboarded' down it, swerving from right to left in dramatic distances as he pleased.
"Woo!" he cheered and threw up his arms up in fists of excitement, but immediately put them back down to their original position so he could maintain his balance.
As he thought he was going great, and clearly was, Raph swerved uncontrollably when an uncalled for snowball was thrown directly in front of him. Raph, startled by the snowball that was thrown, made him try and dodge it out of instinct, which caused him to fly off of his log and land face first into the snow.
"Woah! Sorry, Raph!" Mikey shouted as he ran over to his hot-headed brother to make sure he was alright. "I didn't see you coming down, and I was just throwing snowballs at Casey!"
Raph, who now sat up and brushed off all of the snow off his face, growled at Mikey, but unnoticeably was sculpting a snowball in his hand with the snow beside him.
Mikey who now realized what Raph was about to do, started to try and run away to cover, which made Raph give off an evil smile.
"You just started a snowball fight with the wrong turtle, Mikey!" Raph hurled the snowball at Mikey, which started a full blown snowball fight between the two, then joined in by the others who wanted a piece of all the action.
"Best day ever!" Mikey shouted in his happy-filled tone as they were all walking to the farmhouse, that was just in their sight.
"Definitely one of the best things we've done this year without a doubt." Leo opened the door.
"How long were we out there? Like nine hours?" April asked Donnie curiously.
"What? Definitely not. If we were out there for nine hours we could have all suffered from hypothermia," Donnie told her. "We left at one and it's six right now, so I would say that we were out there for five hours or so."
"Well, that's still pretty long," Karai added as they were all finally in the warm house.
Donnie, who was standing by the tree that they all managed to fit through the door earlier that day said, pointed to it, which everyone understood what that meant: decorating the tree!
"I'll get the lights!" Mikey shouted as he rushed outside to the box of extra lights.
"I'll get the ornaments," April said as she rushed up the stairs to find them...wherever they were. "Donnie! Come help me find the star!"
"Y-yeah," Donnie said flattered, but still surprised as he began to follow her up the stairs, leaving Casey with a snarling look, which made Raph give off a slight smile in a way to mock his best friend.
A few minutes after Mikey returned, April walked down the stairs gracefully, and Donnie, who offered to carry the ornaments for her, carried the large bin of fragile decorations down.
"Well...let's get to it!" Leo cheered as everyone reached into the bin to carefully pick up decorations.
"Now… we just need the star," Raph commented.
"I got it." Karai grabbed the stool, stood on it, and with perfect precision, she placed the golden star on top of the tree.
"I'll have to admit," Casey started. "This tree and the house decorations look great!"
"Yeah," Raph said with a smile and added, "You don't have to tell me twice."
The group admired the brightly lit Christmas tree and its festive gold and red lights, the stringed beads around it, the shiny golden star, and finally, the fresh smell of the pine tree until their long admiration was interrupted.
"Guys we almost forgot!" Mikey shouted out of thin air.
Everyone traded confused glances and all asked 'what?' in unison.
"The outdoor lights! We got to see how they look!" Mikey reminded them, in which they all soon remembered.
Everyone but Donnie rushed out of the door and onto the snow ground, a somewhat far distance away from the farmhouse in order to get a good look at it.
Donnie, who was making sure that every cord was correctly attached, and the electric power on was turned on, finally came onto the snow with everyone else, but was holding the plug for the great display of lights on the house.
Within the next few seconds, Donnie attached the two large cords, which made the whole house light up as bright as the sun. The pillars were each wrapped perfectly in gold lights, along with the poles of the railing and the sides of the stairs. The roof and the rim of the house were stuck with red and green lights, making each color a different contrast.
Everyone cheered and laughed as they took in the marvelous sight of the farmhouse and its beautiful holiday decorations.
"Great job guys," Mikey complimented April and Leo who were both sides by side to him and shouted to Donnie the same thing.
"Woah, you guys actually did do a good job," Raph sarcastically snickered at Leo, who stuck out his tongue in a brotherly haze.
Karai looked around to face all of her friends and family. "Not too bad at all for a Christmas Eve in the farmhouse."
"Wake up, everyone!" Mikey chirped pretty loudly as everyone was awakened by the sudden sound made by the orange-clad turtle. "It's Christmas!"
Everyone had fallen asleep Christmas Eve night in the living room around the tree as they attempted to try and watch as many holiday-themed movies as they could, but only achieved the memories, not the goal.
With that sudden mention of it being 'Christmas,' everyone sprung up to a sitting position, but still attempting to get adjusted to real life and out of 'sleepy-land'.
"I made you all hot chocolate!" Mikey exclaimed as he brought his sleepy friends and family each a mug of the festive drink.
"Thanks, but...hot chocolate?" April raised a brow. "In the morning?"
"It will wake us all up for presents! Oh! I also unloaded all of the presents we all brought and got them under the tree, so we can do it right away!" Mikey said in that 'over-excited' tone, which made everyone chuckle a bit.
"Alright, who's first?" Donnie asked Mikey as his younger brothers randomly picked a present from out from under the tree.
"This one is to Leo, from...Raph!" Mikey handed the small thin present, wrapped in a reflective blue wrapping paper, to Leo.
Leo traded glanced with Raph before opening it. Leo tore open the present gently to reveal something that made Leo smile heavily.
"Wow! You've got to be yanking my shell! The new holiday Space Heroes limited addiction comic?! How did you get this Raph, it's amazing!" Leo heavily thanked Raph with clearly, a lot of gratitude.
"Oh you know, I have my ways," Raph brushed it off as it were not a big deal.
"Okay, next gift is to Raph from Karai!" Donnie announced as he gave Raph a flimsy present wrapped up in a striped red and gray paper.
Raph opened the present and was immediately surprised by the gift that she has gotten him, and was lost in words.
"It's for Chompy. You know, a little comfy bed for him to sleep on," Karai told him, which he smiled at her.
"Thanks, Karai," Raph thanked her. "He's gonna love it!"
"Woah, this big one is to...me? From April?" Donnie said as he kept the present at his spot.
"Yup. I put some thought into it if you couldn't tell," she admitted.
The present was quite large in size, all wrapped in a science-themed paper, which caught Donnie's eye when he first saw it.
Donnie gently unwrapped it to find a box, which he opened from the flaps on the top. He was left in awe as he saw quite a few things in there including a new lab coat for him, some science goggles for him to use, and a tiny fire extinguisher that made everyone laugh at the inside joke.
Aside from the science part of the present, the other half were a few framed pictures, both of April and Donnie together, and a few of everyone together. Looking at the presents, Donnie smiled at April.
"Wow...thanks April," Donnie said, clearly grateful for it all. He looked down to glance over it all once more but found the card he had missed. "Oh! I forgot to open up the card."
"Wait! Don't do it right now." April blushed for an unknown reason as she began to feel nervous. "Open it sometime else...please."
Before Donnie could say anything else, Mikey pulled out the next present. "Yay! To me, from you Donnie!"
Mikey opened the orange present up and held it up for everyone to see! "Donnie! This is legendary! The whole series of Crognard?! I think I'm going to explode!"
Donnie laughed as a way of saying, ' you're welcome' to his little brother.
"Casey! This one's for you from me!" Mikey slid the present over to him.
Casey opened the present he received from Mikey. "Dude...where did you find this?! It's the hybrid-extreme-metal-soul destroyer-skateboard! How did you manage to get this?!"
"We shall have that story told another day my friend, another day," Mikey jokingly lectured.
"This one is to April, from...Casey!" Mikey handed the small present, wrapped in a golden yellow paper, to April.
April traded glances from Casey before opening it. "This is hilarious! A karaoke machine? Really Jones? Hope you're ready, cause I'm making you all use this with me!"
"You like it? I got it yellow too!" Casey said.
"Of course I like it! It's great! Thanks so much, Casey!" April thanked him with a smile afterward.
"And finally, the last gift is to Karai, from...Leo." Mikey read the label before handing it over.
Karai opened her gift up from Leo and smiled. "Leo…I can't have this."
"Please, I insist." Leo moved over to her. "I want you to have it, at least this second copy, and I'm sure Splinter would have wanted you to have it too."
Karai smiled down at the framed picture of her human father, human mother, and herself as a child. A faint happy tear filled her eye as she read the engraved part of the frame: Hamato, Miwa.
"Oh, thank you," she said to him as she went in to hug him, which he gladly accepted.
"But your Hamato too! Me and your brothers Leo!" Karai accused in a shocked way.
"Believe me Karai, I know. That's why I got you another picture frame!" Leo pointed down to the remaining present, which had a picture of the turtles, Karai, and a picture of Splinter, which they took long ago. Engraved into the frame read: The Hamato Clan.
Once again, Karai thanked Leo, which we gladly accepted.
Later that day, the group made their way down the field, each one with a respectful face, and flowers in hand.
Reaching their destination, they stopped walking, but gazed down kindly, in a way of remembrance.
After a while of silence, Leo had bent down to his knees to lay the flowers in his hand in front of the stone that stood silently in the snow. "Merry Christmas Sensei. Let your day's in heaven be as bright as your soul."
With that, everyone took turns saying a thing or two and laying the flowers in front of the stone on the ground before turning back towards the farmhouse to finish their holiday trip.
Thank you guys so much for reading! Be sure to review!
Merry Christmas :)